Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

I read Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time, this is past weekend. I was a small book but very interesting. It was an amazing story about an amazing man.

With no formal training or apprenticeship, John Harrison revolutionized clock making and succeeded in a lifelong quest to finally solve a problem that caused nightmares for all sea faring adventures. That nightmare is not knowing where you were. The sun could be used to determine your latitude but there was no way aboard ship to tell how far West (or East) you had sailed. This caused many deaths and much waste of time and money.

Knowing what time it was at a set point on the globe could tell you where you are. Because the difference in that time to local time (determined by the sun), directly correlates to your longitude.

Almost everyone else was attacking the problem via the planets/stars/sun/moon positions. Harrison, working alone, was sure he could create a time piece that would do the trick. When he started watches, even on land, lost minutes a day. As a navigation device that would not do.

I will stop there.

I highly recommended this book.

Atkins Diet

I have been on Atkin’s diet since the beginning of May. When I work, I consistently eat the same things: McDonalds breakfast = two orders of scrambled eggs and a large diet coke; lunch = a bowl of veggies with Mandarin chicken from Panda Express; Dinner = Some meat I cook at home i.g. hamburger patties or chicken wings. When I go out to eat It is easy to get meat and substitute veggies or a salad for the bad things they always want to add to your meat order. On the weekends I usually go off the diet but try to eat smartly. You can see the little “weekend spikes” in the chart. Below are the results.

I feel good. It is nice going back through old clothes that I haven’t worn in years.