3607 Slinky dropping, refrigerator shopping

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

From the 1985 movie "Bliss":  "The entire economy of the Western world

is built on things that cause cancer."

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Todd Akin is screwing the GOP even though they asked him not to.  I wonder if there's a word for that.

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I bought a refrigerator yesterday.  I had shopped online for my ideal refrigerator, and I'd visited a few  local stores.  I wanted a not-too-big model, 20 to 22 cubic feet, bottom freezer, one piece (as opposed to the side-by-side two-door things), nothing fancy like ice maker or drink dispenser (I won't use them so they're just sources of problems, like leaks), and a reasonable price.

I was getting very discouraged.  Durn things are horribly expensive.  And the bottom freezers I looked at were all drawers.  None had a swing door and pull-out basket like I wanted.  Those drawers would be difficult for me because I'm so short.  I'd have to lean over the drawer at about belly level (my arms would just barely reach the bottom of the drawer) and in that position lift out, say, a heavy turkey.  That could be very hard on my back.  With a swing door and pull-out basket I can skooch and lift with my legs.  I was very sad.  I finally picked one online from Sears that looked likely, at least it was slightly under $1000, and I printed out the info to go look at it, but I still wasn't enthusiastic.

I heard that Sears was going to have a big sale on refrigerators over Labor Day, so on impulse yesterday, on a trip to the post office, I decided to go to Sears.  The refrigerators are already on sale, and if they go lower over the weekend, I can get a refund for the difference.  The salesman, hearing what I wanted, showed me a white one that looked likely, for $1050(ish).  I said, well, I really need almond, and right around the corner was the same refrigerator in almond - for only $750!  I asked why the big difference in price, and he said because almond doesn't sell as well (yeah, this was the first almond I'd seen in all my searching), and it has the textured finish instead of gloss (yeah, I hadn't seen many textured, either, and I prefer textured), and, a feature no one likes, it has a swing-out freezer door instead of the drawer.

I about fell over, and bought it on the spot!  Incredible!

It will be delivered Thursday.

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The following video is from "theslomoguys".  They do slow motion videos, some of which are sophomoric, and some of which are fascinating.  It has me missing Jay.  He'd be fascinated by this one, produce an explanation, and then perform some experiments to verify his theory.

Proposition:  What happens if you hold a Slinky out by one end, and then drop it?  The answer is interesting.  It's a spring and it wants to contract (which they say), but I'm left with my own additional question - i.e. once it has contracted, does the top fall faster, or slower, or continue at the same rate?  Once the top and bottom meet, note that the bottom seems to fall faster.  That's counter intuitive.  (I haven't mentioned what happens.  Watch the video to find out.  2 minutes.)

[http://youtu.be/rCw5JXD18y4]
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