Done Since 2023-09-17

[mdlbear]

A fairly busy week; not a particularly pleasant one, though it had its moments.

So... Monday we (me, G, and N) made our reservations for OVFF. Which means that I will be going there instead of the Columbae reunion in the Bay Area. I'm going to be second-guessing that until the end of time, I think. It's just barely possible that I could do both, but it would be more flying and hotel time than I want in a week. I will attempt to attend the reunion via Zoom.

I also got my flu and RSV shots, and made appointments for COVID and my second Shingrix stab. COVID was the most complicated, because the major chains were scheduling out in late October, which would have meant that I wouldn't be at full strength for OVFF. Safeway, however, had appointments. So did Island Drug. My guess is that the chains don't actually have it in stock, but are counting on getting some over the next month. All of the chains are using the same miserable scheduling software; Safeway's was different but still tedious. All require entering at least some data before you can see the available appointments, which means that it takes more time and more typing before finding out that they don't have any.

Meanwhile I have a prostate MRI scheduled for Wednesday.

Some of this weekend was spent looking at the 20-odd pounds of accumulated, mostly-dead hard drives. Most are IDE; some are SCSI, which I probably won't be able to read because I appear to have gotten rid of all my SCSI boards, cables, and terminators. Blarg. So those will have to be shredded. I have also been looking through boxes, some of which contain treasures. Which means I have to triage their contents and attempt to scan the photos. And figure out what to do with the stuff I can't scan... And deal with the fact that I've fallen way behind.

The language app I've been using, Mondly, started the week still broken; it came back on Tuesday but by that time I had started with Duolingo, which on the whole seems to be an improvement. I'll do a review at some point. Both are annoying, but in different ways.

Under links, take a look at Single-bladed floating wind turbine promises half the cost, more power (Single-bladed is a bit of a misnomer; it's one piece but provides two blades at 180°. Dutch company -- windmills are in their DNA.)

Notes & links:
0917Su
  * up 7:05, S=6:01, BP=122/79, P=66;
  % apparently I was really out of it yesterday evening and made some bad decisions.
  & tried reading my CPAP card; it used an outrageous amount of disk and ran out.
    -> git restore worked -- 1.3G, but no telling wtf happened.
  * second day with duolingo; mondly still broken.
  @ Single-bladed floating wind turbine promises half the cost, more power
    " Dutch company Touchwind has an interesting spin on the idea... It's designed around
      a massive single-piece rotor, sitting on the end of a pole that's draped over a big
      barrel, with a large floating buoy hanging beneath it. "
  * 15min:  went through the archived hard drives:  3*2TB and a 750.  Some are from 2016
    and earlier, and have Ricoh files on them.  Maybe now in /vv?  some on nova.  one of
    the 2TB drives says "old nova/errors"
  * 15min:  drag the remaining mothballed hard drives up from garage.  22lbs.
    2 SATA, 4 SCSI-3, 3 SCSI-1, 8 IDE
    Secure Hard Drive Destruction Services in Seattle, WA $5-$15 per drive
  : Going to be a long trip -- 1 boat due to lack of crew
    -> they actually got the second boat into service just after loading the first
  % 22:14 L QL twinges -> heat.  Itching.  Decided to go to bed with a heating pad rather
    than take naproxen or something like that.
  * started bottle of Dry Fly gin.
    Dry Fly tasting note:  a bit of an odd taste -- not sure what I think about that

0918Mo  * litter boxen
  & awake 1ish?? with computer in lap, no mask; apparently didn't put mask on :P
  * up 6:25; S=7ish? no mask, W=198.4; exercises, Dutch (Duolingo), guitar
    * guitar:  Wheelin'
  % eyedrops: L eye, outside corner
  @ Fatigue patient’s case prompts discovery that may help with long covid - WaPp
  @ Willingham Sends Fables Into the Public Domain
  : The archive.ph captcha loop didn't appear on panther.  It went away on sable when I
    switched from ethernet to WiFi (and did not reappear when I switched back).  WEIRD.
    Mondly is still broken though, on both machines.
  @ The [BMI] can't tell us if we're healthy. Here's what we should use instead
  @ Getting from Generative AI to Trustworthy AI: What LLMs might learn from Cyc
  @ Tarot Mythology: The Surprising Origins of the World’s Most Misunderstood Cards
  * make room reservations for OVFF.  Set password on HH account.  Probably new number.
    -> lots of trouble connecting with my HH account; eventually resorted to calling.
       Their password reset workflow is broken; but it finally worked.  Even doing it in a
       private window had problems, but at least the PW got changed.  (Used the same one)
    G booked the flights, and N booked the cat boarding.
    % I'll be second-guessing whether I should have skipped the Columbae reunion until the
      end of time, I suspect.
  % 20:45 off to the Lair
  : Ticia picked up a lump of wet food and carried it over to the rug to eat.  Cat.

0919Tu  Int'l Talk Like a Pirate Day
  @ International Talk Like a Pirate Day
  % 02:45 still unable to get back to sleep.  Reading Science didn't help. down 03:26
  & up 8:15; S=6:16, BP=120/78, P=80; exercises, Dutch
  : ... and now Mondly is working again.  Go figure.  I'll use both for a while.
    -> email from  support@mondly.com via zendesk.com
       " We experienced a temporary issue on our website but it has been sorted out now. "
  @ 38TB of data accidentally exposed by Microsoft AI researchers | Wiz Blog OOPS! WOW
    Microsoft mitigated exposure of internal information in a storage account due to
    overly-permissive SAS token | MSRC Blog | Microsoft Security Response Center
  @ What do we do with the Twitter-shaped hole in the internet? – Chelsea Troy
    I remember reading a version of this, probably on Birdland or Mastodon, but I don't
    seem to have logged it.
  & walk, with m, to Monkey Grind.  Mexican mocha.
  & pick up meds for j, cash for N
  @ The Pandemic Had a Silver Lining for Cypriot Cats - The Atlantic (FIP)

0920We  * litter boxen
  & awake 5am; no mask;  maybe 3am before that.  Total sleep maybe 4-5h
  * up 6am; S=0:55, BP=143/78, P=63;
  @ Humans Have Exceeded Six of the Nine Boundaries Keeping Earth Habitable
  @ SSH Can Do That? Productivity Tips for Working with Remote Servers | Smylers
  * call Fidelity about uncashed check  -> 7-10 days; sent to RE
  * pay for OVFF membership (S@S PayPal)
  * 5:40pm Bartells on 85th flu, RSV vaccine conf#  1048161250
  * load drugs

0921Th
  & Awake 4:35; S=6:12;
  * up 7:30ish; S=7:47, BP=133/82, P=82; exercises,
  % 09:47 no side effects from either vaccine so far
    11:41 feeling chilled, more than this morning, so probably vaccine reaction
    12:14 G turned on the heat, after replacing the filter.  So maybe that.
    14:53 headache, brain fog, ..., so, yeah.
    15:35 should get some NSAID.  not _too_ uncomfortable, but not getting much done either
    -> 15:53 500mg acetaminophen -> next 8pm
  @ Let's Write a Tree-Sitter Major Mode - Mastering Emacs
  % 20:24 still rather stiff.  house temp is 73 but I still feel cold.
    20:47 meloxicam -> next dose tommorow 20:45
  % still feeling stiff, cold; the fact that the air temp. is 67 can't help.
    earworm sortof (sung to Ticia)
    " It had become a glimmering girl, with apple blossom in her hair
      Who called me by my name, and ran, and faded through the brightening air. "

0922Fr  * litter boxen (E')
  & awake 3:30ish? no mask
  * up 7:40; S=3:32; Dutch (in house)
    -> strip bed; sheets to duffle for washing.
  @ 95% of NFTs are Worthless: Report | PetaPixel
    Are NFTs Dead? - Trends, Predictions & Statistics 2023  yes
  @ Lemmo bike transforms from analogue to electric with simple attachment
    " while "VanMoof did a great thing for the bike industry, becoming the new benchmark",
      the company was hampered by developing most of its components in-house to achieve a
      "unique" integrated design... only VanMoof can fix a VanMoof. "
  @ World's "most well funded e-bike brand" VanMoof goes bankrupt
    " According to Dutch financial newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad, VanMoof's financial
      troubles are down to the outsized costs of manufacturing and repairing its e-bikes,
      which consist of various patented parts that cannot be fixed by or replaced in a
      regular bike shop. "
  @ How to Connect Your WordPress Blog to the Fediverse - We Distribute
  @ Incomplete disclosures by Apple and Google create “huge blindspot” for 0-day hunte
  @ Archaeologists discover world’s oldest wooden structure - University of Liverpool
  @ 25 Years of Whatever | Whatever | John Scalzi
  * pack:  fuzzy red hoodie

0923Sa  September Equinox, Bisexuality Day
  @ Celebrate Bisexuality Day - Wikipedia
  @ September equinox
  * up 6:50; S=7:32, BP=114/79, P=61, W=191.2; exercises, shower, Dutch
  % 12:38 eyedrops - both eyes.  L eye was getting hard blobs on the eyelashes
  * 15min:  sorting.  Some Druid stuff inc. photos, Colleen's genealogy
    box of VoIP hardware plus two i586 boards.  My old scarab paperweight.  photos.
  . Surety needs to be paid by check, and I left all my checkbooks at RS.  Stupid.
  * SL: RE: crushed red pepper (small), eggs
  % 18:11 feeling a little flaky -- probably because I need to eat
  * 15min:  more work on the bramble by the propane tanks.  The stuff on the shed roof is
    detached (or nearly) and could be pulled down easily.
  * 15min:  some exploration in the back bathroom closet yielded some twin (I think) sheets
            and what looks like a fringed bedspread hand-printed? in blue 
  * 15min:  one of the boxes has poetry from Carleton, various photos including one of my
            parents and one of Playboy Piggie.

Comments

[spiffyvoxel]

Wow, your mention of SCSI drives takes me back to the 90s when those were the only game in town for large-capacity hard disks, as well as most tape drives and CD-ROM drives. As someone who wrote tape duplication software back then, I got intimately familiar with the jumper settings on the various Adaptec cards we had installed in various PCs at work, and the corresponding jumpers on each drive so that each would be seen and the chain would be terminated somewhere. Suffice to say, I do not miss that way of hardware configuration.

I've used Duolingo in the past, and have a love-hate relationship with it, particularly that darn owl! >.<

[mdlbear]

Yeah, I remember those. And terminating coax ethernet cables as well.

Of course now that I could really use a set of SCSI cables and terminators, I can't find them.

[scrubjayspeaks]

I've used Duolingo for several years to brush up on my Japanese, which I took classes for in college. I've just recently started using it instead to learn Italian, in which I have no background beyond the familiarity that comes from knowing other Romance languages.

In Japanese, Duolingo annoyed me by sometimes using technically accurate but conversationally or culturally absurd/inappropriate translations. I'm curious to see what my annoyances will be in a language where I don't know any better.

I'm mainly in it to get comfortable enough with the language to better enjoy/sing along with the Italian band I've taken a shine to (Pinguini Tattici Nucleari). So my bar for a successful experience should be fairly low, at least!

Columbae reunion

[patoadam]

Steve,

Thanks for letting me know about the Columbae reunion. Is that the one organized by Adrienne Amundsen?

See you at OVFF!

Alan

Re: Columbae reunion

[mdlbear]

Yes, it's the same one.