Flat Roofs - The Devil's Doing
Yesterday I did a one-hour phone consult with a young man in Chicago. He's got two flat roofs that required an exorcism.
He's suffering from leaks and wasn't getting anywhere talking with roofing contractors. Within a few minutes I zeroed in on how the water was getting
in.
I shared how to test my hypothesis. An hour later he texted me confirming I was right. He had quickly located at least two leaks sources.
It was all about capillary attraction and surface tension.
Remember when you grumbled in high school algebra. chemistry, or physics class saying under your breath as Sister Mary Holywater yammered on and on about quadratic equations, "I'm NEVER going to use
this in real life. What a waste of time!"
Well, if you did say those words, get out a fork and enjoy your piece of humble pie because just about everything taught in those classes comes into play with how things work inside and outside your home. You can also use that knowledge to identify sources of problems.
The bottom line is don't ever consider buying a house with a flat or nearly flat (less than 3:12 pitch) roof. Don't say I
didn't warn you.
BTW, although Latin is considered a dead language, it helps to pay attention in that class too. Why? Keep reading.
Word of the Day
I subscribe to the online Merriam-Webster Word of the Day series. It's fun to discover new words or be reminded of ones that I've not used in a long time. You often discover the roots of words and many have a basis in Latin or
Greek.
Being a writer, I'm smitten by lots of words and how they're created.
For example, think of the word recreation. What usually happens when you do this? You have fun. it should be relaxing. You may end up exhausted after playing tennis, ping pong, sailing, hiking, jarts, etc. but you're refreshed after it in almost all cases.
The activity re-creates your spirit. You come back energized and ready to work again. Clever...
But I've often wondered how the editors in charge of the M-W Word of the Day choose their words. For quite some time I thought it was random to a very large degree.
However, over the past two years, I've seen words that are strangely linked to current events. Far too often to be a
coincidence.
After seeing yesterday's word, carceral, I'm pretty convinced the M-W editors are playing you and me like a cheap fiddle.
As Hook would say, Bad form, Merriam-Webster!
P.S. Remember, I'm on the lookout for OLD hard-bound dictionaries. Brad, from the Midwest, sent me one a month ago. It's 4 inches
thick!
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