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A jaunt to services this morning and the rest of the day is vacation! Growing up, we did not shop on Rosh Hashanah (and I still wouldn't on Yom Kippur) but I've come to terms with how I want to celebrate these holidays while I'm on my own in Michigan. This year, it included a run and trip to Borders for When We Left Earth and Iron Man on DVD and The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The bonus is that I had gift cards so it cost me nothing. I'm not even sure what to dive into first!
I finished The Alchemy of Air yesterday and enjoyed it very much. For a book about chemistry history, it was a surprisingly quick read.
Like many critical scientific discoveries of our time – antibiotics, vaccinations, combustion engines – the ability to create fixed nitrogen from air is now a fact, a given. There is food on our table because someone, somewhere was able to grow it and most first world citizens give it little more thought. What Thomas Hager illustrates strikingly well in The Alchemy of Air is that it's only for an invention called the Haber-Bosch process that billions of people escaped famine and starvation 50 years ago.
The Alchemy of Air is the story of Fritz Haber & Carl Bosch – brilliant men whose drive and genius changed the world for billions. It's the story of ambition, loss, regret, and the butterfly effect of science. Even today, as we all benefit from Haber-Bosch, there are seen and unforeseen ramifications that continue to shape the world we live in.
Read The Alchemy of Air and I assure you you'll put the book down with a wildly different perspective on what it takes to put food on your family's table each day as well as the true costs of that food.
Now is where I turn to all of you for help in three areas.
1. Podfic recs: Do you have any? I've never listed to podfic but I'm thinking it may be fun for my drive to and from Chicago. I'd listen to any rating and most any pairing in any of the following fandoms: SPN, SGA, SG-1, Whoverse, House, BSG, HP, West Wing, Iron Man.
2. iTrip product rec: I bought the Griffin iTrip Auto SmartScan when I was out earlier and it doesn't work. My car doesn't have a tuner it only has the "seek" function so I can't settle on a station that doesn't transmit. I've had this problem with iTrip products in the past but I can't possibly be the only person with this problem. Does anyone have an iTrip device they love and recommend?
3. Fringe: Who's watching? Do you like it?
[Poll #1269918]
When I finished up my run this afternoon there was a creepy guy in a white pick up coming down the street. He let me cross, drove down the road, and then turned around to drive past me again. It freaked me the fuck out and I walked up to my neighbor's house as if it was mine because I don't want him to know where I live. I don't care if it's paranoid - sometimes I get nervous living in a house by myself and I don't want to go to sleep tonight worrying that creepy guy is coming back for me.
I haven't watched daytime tv in ages but I caught a bit of Y&R. I watched Y&R back in the early 90's and, yet, there were Jack, Jill, Kathryn, and Kathyrn's maid still on the show! I love that it's been at least 17 years since I watched the show and I still know the characters. It's also ridiculously easy to get sucked in again. (Reason #1 why I never watch GH, these days.)
Last up for this post, an insta-rec: An Angel Close By Me by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zelda_zee. This is the Dean/Castiel fic I’ve been waiting for since the season four premiere. It’s raw, powerful, terrifying in it’s intensity, and hot as sin heaven.
I finished The Alchemy of Air yesterday and enjoyed it very much. For a book about chemistry history, it was a surprisingly quick read.
Like many critical scientific discoveries of our time – antibiotics, vaccinations, combustion engines – the ability to create fixed nitrogen from air is now a fact, a given. There is food on our table because someone, somewhere was able to grow it and most first world citizens give it little more thought. What Thomas Hager illustrates strikingly well in The Alchemy of Air is that it's only for an invention called the Haber-Bosch process that billions of people escaped famine and starvation 50 years ago.
The Alchemy of Air is the story of Fritz Haber & Carl Bosch – brilliant men whose drive and genius changed the world for billions. It's the story of ambition, loss, regret, and the butterfly effect of science. Even today, as we all benefit from Haber-Bosch, there are seen and unforeseen ramifications that continue to shape the world we live in.
Read The Alchemy of Air and I assure you you'll put the book down with a wildly different perspective on what it takes to put food on your family's table each day as well as the true costs of that food.
Now is where I turn to all of you for help in three areas.
1. Podfic recs: Do you have any? I've never listed to podfic but I'm thinking it may be fun for my drive to and from Chicago. I'd listen to any rating and most any pairing in any of the following fandoms: SPN, SGA, SG-1, Whoverse, House, BSG, HP, West Wing, Iron Man.
2. iTrip product rec: I bought the Griffin iTrip Auto SmartScan when I was out earlier and it doesn't work. My car doesn't have a tuner it only has the "seek" function so I can't settle on a station that doesn't transmit. I've had this problem with iTrip products in the past but I can't possibly be the only person with this problem. Does anyone have an iTrip device they love and recommend?
3. Fringe: Who's watching? Do you like it?
[Poll #1269918]
When I finished up my run this afternoon there was a creepy guy in a white pick up coming down the street. He let me cross, drove down the road, and then turned around to drive past me again. It freaked me the fuck out and I walked up to my neighbor's house as if it was mine because I don't want him to know where I live. I don't care if it's paranoid - sometimes I get nervous living in a house by myself and I don't want to go to sleep tonight worrying that creepy guy is coming back for me.
I haven't watched daytime tv in ages but I caught a bit of Y&R. I watched Y&R back in the early 90's and, yet, there were Jack, Jill, Kathryn, and Kathyrn's maid still on the show! I love that it's been at least 17 years since I watched the show and I still know the characters. It's also ridiculously easy to get sucked in again. (Reason #1 why I never watch GH, these days.)
Last up for this post, an insta-rec: An Angel Close By Me by
zelda_zee. This is the Dean/Castiel fic I’ve been waiting for since the season four premiere. It’s raw, powerful, terrifying in it’s intensity, and hot as 