Done Since 2023-06-11

[mdlbear]

So apart from my phone threatening to blow up (expanding lithium battery!), dental work on short notice (see Sunday and Thursday), and ongoing experimentation with OTC hearing aids, I guess it mostly hasn't been a bad week. Started and ended well, anyway, with more than the usual (i.e. negligible) amount of filk (which I've been neglecting) Sunday and Friday.

I replaced my dying Pixel 3 phone with a Pixel 6, which I like petty well except for the flaky fingerprint sensor and excessive Google bloatware. It was fairly expensive and I didn't have time to do more than minimal research, but I was also able to get it in under 24 hours. Also under the tech heading, the Zeus phone/laptop charger that I backed on kickstarter arrived.

The dental work resulted in a bit of account juggling, but in the end that included setting up bill-paying from a couple of my investment accounts, which will be massively useful as long as I don't overdo it.

The Sunday's dose of filk was the last day of Festival of the Living Rooms on Sunday, which included Capplor singing The World Inside the Crystal with harp! (Also on their album, Eponymous). And on Friday Kaleidofolk (consisting of me, m, and N) had our first practice session in quite a while. (Our voice coach, m, had us doing all scales and warm-ups, because we're way out of practice).

After band practice, I drove up to the island with m and k so that they could go through stuff left from the move out of Rainbow's End, and bring down the air conditioner which is currently in my bedroom. I'm only up here part-time, so it will get a lot more use in Seattle.

Notes & links:
0611Su
  & awake 3ish IIRC
  * up 7am; S=7:01, BP=143/70, P=61, W=196.6; Dutch
  @ Armbian 23.05 Suni – Armbian
  @ Can you trust ChatGPT’s package recommendations?
    * People ask LLMs to write code
    * LLMs recommend imports that don't actually exist
    * Attackers work out what these imports' names are, and create & upload them with
      malicious payloads
    * People using LLM-written code then auto-add malware themselves
  % In FotLR, trying bits with and without hearing aids.  Not clear that it helps...  A
    little louder maybe, but not clear that it improves intelligibility.  R. not very
    comfortable with the Sennheiser phones.  Hurts, actually.  So, nope.
  % Also, doing any writing while listening to concerts seems to be nearly impossible
  % lump in the throat hearing Peggi singing Fire in the Sky.  I miss Jordin.
    Also, "Any News Of The Iceberg" by Les Barker (the polar bear song)
  * apply Molly's tab (now in glove compartment)
  : 3pm taking advantage of what appears to be a bad connection to work on post
  * Singing:  The River, Riverheart.  voice a bit scratchy.  Riverheart better than usual,
    though with a couple of glitches.  Fingerpicking on The River pretty rough.
  : Chez Capplor sang World Inside the Crystal.  Harp really works well with that one.
    They also sang Bells of Norwich.
  : Moss Bliss's concert was amazing.
  & dowloaded my birdsite archive.  I was expecting to be notified by email, but it was
    only on the site.  Or it got spam-filtered.
  & 6:40pm dropped out of FotLR.  Otherwise I won't get anything done.  My brain
    seems to have gone missing.
    15min:  laundry
  * 15min:  fried rice for dinner.  The extra-thick bacon I got yesterday made it a little
    greasy, but tasted okay
  % 7ish feels like I broke a tooth.  W T FSCK?  On fried rice.  Right.  L back molar.
    -> I'm guessing it was a particle of sand in the rice.  Or the onion.  Ugh.
  % how did it get to be after 10pm??

0612Mo  * litter boxen
  * up 6:20ish; S=6:25, W=198.6; ...exercises
  @ Democrats work to protect abortion, trans rights with combined laws
  % R. hearing aid static when talking to myself.  Right.
  @ Hackers steal $3 million by impersonating crypto news journalists
  @ EDITORIAL: A Love Letter to the SCA – the SCAllion
  * 15min:  water orchids
  @ Here's a thread on how to protect yourself from smoke:
  @ Does COVID cause pink eye? Is there a new subvariant? Here’s what experts say
  % should go out for a walk  -> no way am I going to wear those hearing aids outside ->
  * Walk:  to Middle.  No hip pain to speak of; a little in back of the upper legs
  @ The Radical Act of Letting Things Hurt: How (Not) to Help a Friend in Sorrow
  % right now I really just want to crawl into bed and curl up.  preferably with a cat.
  * 1pm video appointment with Jackie Cooper of MDHearing
    -> an extra $220 for the Volt Max, which has a phone app to adjust it with.  maybe?
  * 2pm Drive down to RS
  * SL:  RS:  another set of small pill sorters (for travel),  & gin
  : my  ChargeAsap Zeus 270W charger (backed on Kickstarter) arrived over the weekend
    Very nice.  For some reason they gave me two Type C to IEC figure-8 cords, instead of
    one each of Type A (US 2-prong) and Type C.  But since figure-8 cords are everywhere,
    that's not a problem.  I also got type A, type C, type G (UK) and type I (AU) adapters
    that attach to the bottom of the charger.
  @ World inside the Crystal | Capplor from their album Eponymous
  * out to lair ~9:50; reset the heat pump to cool.  Damned thing should be auto.

0613Tu
  * up 5:45; S=5:30, BP=122/77, P=73, W=196.8; exercises, Dutch
  * walk:  W to end of block.  major slowdown
  @ denise - Welcome to Dreamwidth for our new Redditor friends!
  @ W. B. Yeats - Wikipedia (13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939)
    Books by Yeats, W. B. (William Butler) - Project Gutenberg
    The Project Gutenberg Works of William Butler Yeats
  @ California wildfires simulation calls for proactive approach
  @ Illinois becomes the first state in the U.S. to ban book bans
  * 10:00 - 11:30 Memory Keepers grief support group
  @ What all scientific experts wish non-experts knew | by Ethan Siegel | Jun, 2023
  @ I Tried Google’s Generative Search. It Will Change Blogging Forever. | by Thomas
    Smith | Jun, 2023 1. "you should immediately diversify away from SEO traffic"
    2. focus :less on traditional search and more on Google Discover."
  : My phone not charging wirelessly is -probably- caused by the battery bulging.
    -> order new Pixel 6 via $A for delivery tomorrow
    -> back up:  android data, nova config, signal
  @ The End of Influencing on Instagram | WIRED

0615We  * litter boxen
  & awake 2:30ish; no mask;  still awake 5:30; went back to bed surrounded by cats
  * up 8:42; S=5:36; Dutch.  minimal exercises.
  * walk: W. to park - running very late because I spent so much time incapussitated
  : New phone (Google Pixel 6) arrived while I was out walking
  @ Siderea | Google was apparently suppressing PPE and vaccine ads
  @ US Internal Refugee Crisis: 130-260k Trans People Have Already Fled
    " Coupled with an increasing count of non-transgender LGBTQ+ individuals also opting
      to leave their home states, it's evident that the United States is in the throes of
      a swelling crisis of internally displaced political refugees. "
  @ Bombshell Louisiana Report Led To Republican Senator Rejecting Youth Trans Ban
    Louisiana Department of Health report
  @ The Horror | Nora Codes trans
  @ 12 Things People Get Wrong About Being Nonbinary
  @ set up new phone (Pixel 6).  Some things about it are pretty wonky.
    fingerprint recognition is flaky, and the upgrade to A-13 is taking  f o r e v e r
  : volt max hearing aids arrived.  No bluetooth, no app.
  * walk:  to 90th via Linden; spicy shrimp at the taqueria.  Unexpectedly filling, think
    I'll stick to tacos in the future.  No beans.
  @ The corporate backlash to Pride month proves that rainbow washing will not save LGBTQ
    people  " Rainbow logos won’t save us. Our liberation depends on us fighting
    together as a community until we’re all free. "
  @ Study finds bot detection software isn’t as accurate as it seems | MIT Sloan
    " General-purpose bot-detection algorithms trained on a particular data set may be
      highly error-prone when applied in real-world contexts. "
  : Tried to pair phone with CPAP -- no dice.  Can't even find it.
  * check litter box liner schedule.  Set up deliveries for wet food

0617Th
  & awake 4am; S=5;
    -> wakened by some alerts from the phone.
    -> weird.  Got what might be a phishing email, but might be a legit login notification
       from $A.  It said the login was to the shopping app, which I don't have, but I did
       use kindle about that time.
  @ Google Explains How to Fix Your Pixel 6 Fingerprint Reader – Review Geek
  @ In Session: The Teen Vogue Lesson Plan | Teen Vogue good set of articles
    o should download this, because nazis
  * 11am leave for 11:40 dentist
  * 11:40 - Accent dental - -probably- another crown.  Removing the old one was difficult
    -> When the dentist says "thanks for the challenge" you know it's not going to be cheap
    -> left around 2pm, so 2h 20m for the appointment.
  $ account juggling
  : My discord ID is now simply "mdlbear"
  % 6ish sleepy.  Not surprising.
  : USBank checks for personal checking acct arrived.  More than I'll ever use.  Whatever
  * guitar:  Millennium's Dawn intro, Bad Guys.  Worked on getting the picking back
  @ Body mass index gets smack down: AMA calls out harms and “racist exclusion” | Ars 
  @ Google risks forced breakup of ad business as EU alleges shocking misconduct|Ars

0616Fr  * litter boxen (E')
  & awake 2:55am; S=4:52; exercises
    % anxiety about money this time rather than politics.  Planning next steps for Mom's
      estate, wince I'm getting no response from the person supposedly in charge of it at
      Raymond James.  For all I know she's been eaten by an alligator.
  * up 7am; S=6:32; 
  : The Cat’s Meow: How Cats Evolved From the Savanna to Your Sofa; Jonathan B. Losos;
    Viking, 2023. 400 pp. -- reviewed in Science for the week of June 16, 2023
  @ Is HTML A Programming Language? (Webbed Briefs) This person says "yes".  But...
  @ New theory of Earth’s rapid creation makes alien life more likely: study
    tl;dr:  accretion of pebble- and dust- sized objects, rather than giant collisions
  $ pay AX, wire money to R+A  ( account juggling ensues )
  @ What Does Giving Your "Consent" Really Mean? health-related apps
     “You might expect apps that handle very sensitive information — about your period
      and your anxiety — to treat your consent more seriously… After combing through 65
      mental and reproductive health apps’ privacy policies, we learned they mostly
      don’t.”-- Misha Rykov, Researcher @ *Privacy Not Included
  * band practice:  breathing, then scales of various sorts
  * get RMA# for hearing aids.  * Try new hearing aids.
    -> left one chirps on every sound,
  * late-ish afternoon head up to Whidbey with m and k

0617Sa
  & awake 7am; dozed for another hour
  * up 8am; S=7:44, W=195.2; shower
  * pick up mail
  @ A small FAQ to hopefully help new users to kbin (updated June 11 17:00 GMT) FYI
    -> n.b. I have not tried kbin and probably won't any time soon.
  @ Global Heat Records Are Falling. A Little Panic Might Be in Order. - WaPo
    " first we must kick our fossil-fuel addiction and stop spewing greenhouse gases into
      the atmosphere. And judging by how little the world’s policymakers seem to be
      interested in taking such steps, perhaps just a smidgen of panic might be helpful. "
    " Full-on panic isn’t an appropriate response, particularly if it leads to
      paralysis. But neither is the apathy currently on display. "
  @ WWF:  Backgrounder:  Comparing climate impacts at 1.5°C, 2°C, 3°C and 4°C
  @ A Story of Pepper, the World’s Most Important and Underappreciated Spice
  * show m and k around the house.  Garage later.
    k is interested in the orchids and some of the furniture (for the other house)
  * water orchids
  @ Google Domains shutting down, assets sold to Squarespace 
  @ 8 famous analytics and AI disasters | CIO
  * sort mail
  * SL: RE: lactaid, grape uncrustables,  x sweet rolls
  : email from AX - increased credit limit.  It would be insane to try to use that,
    except in an emergency, of course.

Comments

[spiffyvoxel]

Sorry to hear about the phone battery debacle and the enforced upgrade. My second-generation refurbished iPhone SE is currently at 87% capacity and I'm doing what I can to make it go for longer between charge cycles. At some point I'll get the battery replaced at the local Apple Store, and hopefully that should keep it running for enough years that sanity returns to the phone market and phones can fit into trouser pockets with room to spare.

I did a two-hour set at Second Pride in Second Life on Thursday, playing funk, soul and disco tunes — the station I broadcast for, Gorean Whip Radio, was matching donations during my set and the two others that were sponsored, and we raised a lot of money for the LGBTQ Freedom Fund and the It Gets Better Project. Doing that, and supporting LGBTQ+ creators in Second Life, really is putting my money where my mouth is. It helps that Linden Lab are supportive of LGBTQ+ causes, though I think people would appreciate more if they rolled back the recent fee increases, which are making Second Life very expensive for a lot of folks.