Done Since 2021-10-03

[mdlbear]

Mixed.

On the positive side: last Sunday, N and I drove up to Bellingham (well, actually, N drove and I navigated), where we went for a walk in Maritime Heritage Park and did a little practice photography for $project. I did quite a lot (for me) of posting: two Computer Curmudgeon posts, a review of Apple TV's Foundation series (so far), the usual Done Since and Thankful Thursday posts, and one last Tuesday that you might want to skip if you dont want to read anything that includes grieving, or sad anniversaries. Not much singing, but some.

On the negative side, there was the aforementioned sad anniversary on Tuesday (someone unsubscribed shortly after I posted that; should I make more use of cut tags and content warnings?), and I have another coming up next Tuesday. Expect me to continue being weird around the edges, and to make at least one State of the Bear post.

I think the Foundation series has to be put in the "mixed" category -- there was the disappointment of a good idea gone wrong, but I got a good review out of it. The cinnamon buns N and I picked up at the Red Hen Bakery in Coupeville last Sunday fall into that category too -- they were okay, but not the outstanding, sweet, sticky buns we used to go to that bakery for.

Notes & links:
1003Su
  & Awake 4:30ish; down 6:35
  * up 7:50; BP=131/74, P=63, S=6:10; shower
  * Freeland  -> Bellingham = 84mi; (Freeland -> White Rock = BC 110mi)
    Stopped in Coupeville for cinnamon buns.  Nowhere near as good as before.
    Maritime Heritage Park in Bellingham
  * */1    CPAP:  change nosepiece, change paper filter,  * wash tub
  * pack  * antifungal ointment  * microfiber cloth for glasses  * -headphones- _earbuds_
  * pack  * envelopes  ~ screws  * metric allen wrench set.  ? blue tool bag?
  & pointed c at "Things I Won't Work With" -- unfortunately not currently available as a
    category since the blog moved to science.org (In the Pipeline)

1004Mo
  & awake 2:30;
    % queasy stomach, itch on my arse -> tums, heat, hydrocortisone ointment.  Finding the
      latter required going out to the LR and getting a flashlight.  Too much fast food
      yesterday?  Temp. 98.6, O2 97%
  % dream involving an earthquake and the train viaduct currently under construction
  * Home | Aurelia JS framework.
  @ The Key to Mastering Goulash, the World’s Most Famous Stew
  & up 7:10; S=6:41; 
  * before leaving RE collect  * night guard  * drugs  * CPAP
  * before leaving:  * order bagels  * remove CPAP humidifier tub
  * Bagels: 4 salt, 2 everything, 1 cinnamon raisin. 6 plain 2 tubs plain cream cheese
  & rebbit-hole via (In the Pipeline
  * make a payment or do other paperwork
    -> set up withholding on SS - have to mail in a W4  -> W4 22% to SSA
  * plan on leaving ~noon (N has an 11am call)
  @ Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram suffer outage - BBC News
    Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram suffer worldwide outage
    Facebook Apps Went Down for Hours Worldwide - The New York Times
    Why Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp All Went Down Today | WIRED BGP (routing)
    Facebook Is Weaker Than We Knew - The New York Times
    Whistle-Blower Says Facebook ‘Chooses Profits Over Safety’ - The New York Times
    ... 
  @ California spill came 52 years after historic oil disaster
  * 6:20pm finished Second Foundation
    # damned if I know why I consider times like that significant enough to record.
  * with N to learn the route to j's soccer practice.  85th St, 8th Ave, 65th St, 15th Ave
  % 9:50 restless.  unable to concentrate
  % 10:15 meloxicam with pm drugs

1005Tu 1-year anniversary of Mom's death (email from Al)
  * Up 5:30ish; S=6:51, BP=127/80, P=59; heat
  @ Understanding How Facebook Disappeared from the Internet
    Update about the October 4th outage - Facebook Engineering
    What Happened to Facebook, Instagram, & WhatsApp? – Krebs on Security
    More details about the October 4 outage - Facebook Engineering
    Beginner's Guide to Understanding BGP
  @ [FB] whistleblower Frances Haugen details company's misleading efforts on 60 Min
  @ Company That Routes Billions of Text Messages Quietly Says It Was Hacked 
    Syniverse responds to data breach
    Criminals were inside Syniverse for 5 years before anyone noticed - Malwarebytes 
  @ Designing Low Upkeep Software
  * make a payment or do other paperwork -> Safeco $2299.80 due 10/15. EFT from UBOC
  % 4pm everything is feeling kind of pointless today
  & reading Foundation's Edge -- it's a poorly-proofread OCR of a scan.  i.e. pirated

1006We
  * up 7ish; S=7:49;
  @ Windows 11 drops Oct. 5: Mark your calendars - TechRepublic Windows 11 upgrade: Five questions to ask first | ZDNet
  @ AT&T ActiveArmor - Wireless, Internet, Cybersecurity (details)
    according to reviews it is, like most AT&T bloatware, somewhat worse than useless.
  @ The entirety of Twitch has reportedly been leaked | VGC 
  * two curmudgeon posts:  
    Public Service Announcement: Recent leaks and other news
    What happened to facebook yesterday?
  @ The Facebook Files - WSJ (PAYWALL, unfortunately)
  : N is borrowing my cane (the one in the LR at RS); I haven't needed it for a long time
    She's having knee trouble.
  @ There's No Good Reason to Trust Blockchain Technology | WIRED Bruce Schneier
  % 10ish meloxicam with pm drugs

1007Th
  * up 5:30; S=6:34, BP=111/77, P=59; exercises, heat
  @ Signal Messenger Review: Secure Messaging with Drawbacks
    This little-known trick lets you use Signal without giving out your phone number 
  * spent most of the morning working on computer-curmudgeon.com, doing the imports and then rewriting "about-me" and
    "hire-me" to reflect the fact that all I'm really up for right now is writing.
  @ Thread by @hockendougal on Thread Reader App – (supply chain)
  @ Frances Haugen says Facebook's algorithms are dangerous. Here’s why | Tech Review 
  * `make publish` needs to be fixed -- should use rsync if you can build locally
  * rename master->main in ssavitzky.github.io
    and computer-curmudgeon.com
  : UPS says I'm getting a package from Amazon tomorrow.  gift??  not in $A/orders
    -> dishwasher pods.  Must simply have missed it.
  : it's Friday on the East Coast, so episode 4 is available.
  % 9:50 very restless.  Stopped episode 4 at 9:37 in case I need to re-start is
  % meloxicam 10:05 with pm drugs

1008Fr
  * Up 6:23; S=7:23;
  & wikipedia dive on shipping containers.
  & track down the effects tracks for the version of Vampire Megabyte on CC&S.
    (most in Albums/coffee/Tracks/effects. the Nyquist code is in users/steve/Archive)
  @ Twitch confirms it was hacked after its source code and secrets leak out - Verge
  @ Build The Ultimate Natural Disaster Survival Kit good advice, not a checklist
  @ GitLab turns 10!
  :  Foundation (the TV series) has gone so far off the book that it will never get back
  @ Foundation (TV series) - Wikipedia
    Foundation review – a galaxy of money can’t save Apple’s Star Dreck | Guardian
    Review: The Math of ‘Foundation’ Doesn’t Add Up - The New York Times
    " It could have been better, if only, like Hari Seldon’s disciples, it had faith in
      the plan. "
    Foundation Review: Apple TV Show Unfaithful to Sci-Fi Classic
    " They Said Foundation Couldn't Be Filmed, and It Still Hasn't Been "
    " For people who don’t know or care about the source material, the result is extremely
      pretty but not particularly compelling sci-fi. For people who know or are fans of
      Isaac Asimov and his work, I feel compelled to warn you that if you watch the show
      you will see a scene so enraging that you will tear your TV in two with your bare
      hands; then you’ll realize how utterly unnecessary the scene was, and tear it into
      four. "
  @ xkcd: TSP vs TBSP Teraspoon vs Binary Tsp
    What that means for Spoon Theory is anybody's guess.
  @ Facebook has just suffered its most devastating PR catastrophe yet | The Guardian 
  % 9:45 meloxicam with pm drugs`

1009Sa
  & up 2:40; S=4:32; down 2:45; give up 3:20; down 5:20ish
    % I probably shouldn't have spent the last two hours on my Foundation review.
  * up 7:25(alarm); S=6:35;
  @ What if emotions aren’t universal but specific to each culture? | Aeon Essays
    (elf | Word of the day is 'lexithymia')
    " These differences can be startling. ‘I ask my American participants how they’re
      feeling,’ she tells me. ‘I give them a list of emotions. They are done with that
      list in under a minute.’ With Chinese participants, the same task would take many
      minutes to complete. In Ghana, the experiment verged on ‘a disaster’. ‘My students
      would sit there with this one page of emotion terms for 30-40 minutes, just that
      page. And when I ask them what is happening, they would say: “Well, I understand all
      the words … but how am I supposed to know what I feel? "
  * Singing:  Lily et. al.
  * before leaving RS collect  * night guard  * drugs  * CPAP
  : ferry on weird schedule: 1-hour intervals.  Probably a boat out of service somewhere
  * Back on Whidbey:  * let N know that I'm home.  * Mail for c in backpack
  * after arrival: ~ water orchids  * sort mail
    * check tissue paper supply; order if necessary
  * start 375ml bottle of Cultus Bay Mortal Gin small and pricey, but I'm not up here much
  * posted mdlbear | Review: Foundation TV series
  * make a payment or do other paperwork -> verify that dental plan is on autopay
  * meloxicam with pm drugs

Comments

[jcfiala]

Hang in there!

These months are always a little sad for me - my late wife was born in September, then our anniversary was in October, and then of course there's the "Family Holidays" in November and December. Ugh.

Just keep swimming, like the blue fish said. :)

[kaberett]

I am absolutely fine with your use of cut tags & content notes.

[mdlbear]

Thanks. I worry, though -- I'm not very consistent in my use of them, and it's hard to predict what people will have problems with.