mdlbear | Done Since 2025-04-27 (Reply)

It's been a busy week. G and N have been in Paris since Tuesday, celebrating their (10th?!) anniversary. (I can't think of a more romantic place to celebrate it, but maybe that's just because of the flashback scenes in Casablanca, which was one od Colleen's and my favorite movies.) They're getting back tonight. Meanwhile, I've been taking care of four cats on three different feeding schedules, and trying (with mixed success) to get my guitar-playing back into shape for recording.

I've also started to get websites switched over to my current favorite set of fonts -- Merriweather for headings, and Atkinson Hyperlegible Next for body text. I like the contrast between serif and sans-serif for headings and text; in print it works better the other way around, but only if you have the extra resolution and contrast to pull it off. I started with Going Sideways, which is probably worst case because of the convoluted way WordPress deals with styles.

(makes a note to work on that rant about WordPress...)

I've been having a lot of trouble concentrating lately. Perhaps relatedly, I have been having a lot of trouble making decisions. From what to work on next to what to eat for dinner. I frequently wind up sitting -- or standing -- frozen in place for minutes. Sometimes, I think, nearly an hour, although my memory for such things is extremely unreliable.

... so, being decision-paralyzed about what links to give you, here are Daniel Kelly singing "Moon Song" by Mildred Plew Meigs. (See also my post about it, with lyrics, from 2007. It used to be one of Colleen's favorites), and Rodin's Celle qui fut la belle heaulmière. More about that under Friday, including links to the poem that inspired it.

Notes & links:
0427Su * sift litter boxen
& awake 3ish
% dream included being in a passenger plane making an emergency landing on I280,
candy-making, and that merge sort I wrote in InterLisp when I was at Xerox. Which led
to me falling into a perfectly predictable rabbit-hole when I came downstairs.
* up 7ish; ; Dutch
* drugs: first am 7:15ish; rest am 08:46; 2*coffee; pm 20:47
@ GitHub - SorkinType/Merriweather: (official repo)
Merriweather (Font History) - Graphic Design Resource
@ Female bonobos keep males in check -- not with strength, but with solidarity (ysabetwordsmith)
@ The Plane That Accidentally Ended Up in Space - YouTube SR-71, obviously
* make web/Common/fonts atkinson-next-variable, Merriweather
*- Tell G what I want to eat while he and N are gone
* guitar: bad-guys, october-country, river

0428Mo * change litter boxen N"
& awake 3:50ish
* up 7:30; W=90.7; exercises (inc. kegels), Dutch,
% actually managed one or two almost-acceptable sit-ups.
* drugs: first am 7:40; rest am 08:56; 2*coffee; pm 19:09
* N" * get phone# * ensure enough cash (tikkie 100 to G)
@ The first 100 days: Why we must mobilize - Robert Reich
@ In Poland, we know all about fighting illiberal regimes. Here are our lessons for the
Trump age | Jarosław Kuisz and Karolina Wigura | The Guardian
@ Trump Executive Order Raises Alarm Over Women's Financial Independence - Newsweek
@ Car Subscription Features Raise Your Risk of Government Surveillance | WIRED
* working on web/Common, esp. web/Common/fonts
$ €1380 auto-pay from VGZ; call tomorrow to find out why it's so high
In any case, by then I'll be able to pay it.
* track down urology questionaire
* load drugs -- switch to 100mg/day for aspirin.
@ Brewster Kahle Accepts Project Uil Award from Dutch Wikipedia Community
Wikipedia:WikiUilen

0429Tu * sift litter boxen
& awake 5ish
* up 7ish; BP=125/69, P=69; exercises, laundry, Dutch (lots), kegels
Threw my maroon shirt into the laundry and put on a short-sleeved shirt. We'll see.
* drugs: first am 07:30; rest am 08:32; 2*cofee; pm 21:34
* cats: 14:45 Brooklyn; 15:34 time with Cricket; 18:30, 23:05 feed B
* order cat fud, Pilot G2's, sokken
Good chance the socks won't fit -- one size fits some. But we'll try.
* N and G leave for Paris
& tried (again) to make all headers on goingsideways.blog use Merriweather. Mostly
succeeded -- changing the default font for all headers doesn't actually change all the
headers -- there's some per-template styling that overrides it.
@ MAGA-Friendly Website PublicSquare Backfires | HuffPost UK Politics
@ EFF Leads Prominent Security Experts in Urging Trump Administration to Leave Chris
Krebs Alone | Electronic Frontier Foundation
@ Perplexity CEO says its browser will track everything users do online to sell 'hyper
personalized' ads | TechCrunch
~ try again to load up Bunq -> Looks like 3/month is all I get
x call VGZ to find out why the requested payment is so damned high
-> looking at correspondence in the app, it includes payment for the months before
they enabled my account, back to 3 Oct. Fair.
: found the bamboo bookcase on Bol. Twice as much as $A.nl. ∃shorter alternatives
* guitar: Freight Train, Ship of Stone, Riverheart,... Lord of the Buffalo, Wheelin'
Riverheart sung because it's hard _not_ to. Pretty good expression thie time
C $20/month to Union of Concerned Scientists via AX Au
* fish (probably cod) and rice for dinner.
* answer urology questionaire
& order dishwasher capsules. Marcel's Green Soap, but couldn't find the boxed version
that we use -- closest was capsules in bags. Bol next-day delivery.
: The dishwasher tablets arrived -- in boxes, not bags like the picture on Bol. We've
been using boxes. Pictures on Bol, apparently, can't be counted on to be accurate.

0430We * sift litter boxen Beltane eve (starts at sundown)
@ Beltane | Wikipedia
& awake 3ish
* up 6:30; ; exercises
* drugs: first am 6:35; coffee, rest am 08:00; pm 20:58
* Brooklyn 07:00 feed+sift; Cricket sift; 09:51 feed B and my cats after returning them
to their respective rooms. must have fed B noonish too. 18:50 feed B.
* Matzoh brie for breakfast.
* walk: 10:ish just around the block, which turned out to be about as much as my back
would take. DO NOT LIKE.
@ Kate Hildenbrand: "Yesterday, I learned that camel-casing your hashtags...
" not just personal preference of some but essential to those using screen-readers. "
@ 'Free For All' review: This library documentary is worth checking out : NPR
@ Failure Modes of Traditional Media Distribution
@ Digital Accessibility Toolbox - Digital Accessibility | Univ. of South Carolina
Example: Alt Text Steps in Action - Digital Accessibility|Univ. of South Carolina
Examples of Alt Text - Digital Accessibility | University of South Carolina
@ Sony WH-1000XM2 review - SoundGuys the only _useful_ thing I've found on Quora in
a long time. Downrev, so inexpensive on eBay. the X3 is an incremental improvement
and has USB-C charging. But the Shure AONIC 50 adds
USB-C passthrough and physical controls, but is more expensive.
* apply new insurance sticker to Scarlet. Nothing in glove box, so maybe putting the
policy sheet there wasn't necessary. Should copy it.
* walk around block after the above -- not as bad this time.
@ Daniel Kelly: Moon Song by Mildred Plew Meigs - YouTube lyrics posted on LJ (mirrored to DW) in 2007
* guitar: Wheelin', Stolen Child -- very rough. My playing has absolutely gone to hell
% feeling very unmotivated, especially about making dinner. Or eating it.
* 21:44 naproxen 440mg

0501Th * sift litter boxen N" Beltane, Labor Day / International Workers' Day
@ Beltane Labour Day International Workers' Day - Wikipedia
& awake 3ish
* up 6:30; ; Dutch
* drugs: first am 6:40; 2*coffee; rest am 8:15ish; pm
* cats: 3ish, 6:35ish feed B; 09:10ish let B into my room noonish, 18:45
@ andrewducker | Interesting Links for 30-04-2025
Millions of Apple Airplay-Enabled Devices Can Be Hacked via Wi-Fi | WIRED
Why translating Chinese food names into English is ‘an impossible task’ | CNN
Popular LLMs Found to Produce Vulnerable Code by Default - Infosecurity Magazine
* walk: around block; not as much pain as the first time yesterday, but some.
@ Harris accuses Trump administration of ‘wholesale abandonment’ of ‘America’s highest
ideals’ | The Hill
@ Tuberculosis, the world’s deadliest disease, could be America’s next outbreak
@ The Hittite Empire transformed the world—and then the world forgot it
@ 4 Must-Read Works by Edgar Allan Poe (& Why You Should Read Them) | TheCollector
* 10ish N"
*- put Casio kbd back in case; under bed.
*- change bottom sheet
*- try to chase Brooklyn back into his own room. Feed him.
-> N" was only here for an hour
-> Feed my two because they were complaining. probably because B ate their breakfast
(or so they claim -- cats)
@ Q&A: What we do – and do not – know about the blackout in Spain and Portugal
the most fascinating bit was the synchronized frequency oscillations in Latvia.
* guitar: Desolation Row, QV (because on capo 5); singing: Eyes Like the Morning
because I was thinking of Colleen this morning.
* afternoon: j; conversation included particle phyysics, physical chemistry, group theory
* assemble frame of the daybed. All it needs is the slats and mattress, but since
he's not staying the night that can wait.
* J ate the leftover sober chicken
* 18:00 Eurofilk singing: Boom Gone to Bust, Stuck Here (by request)
. try N's hand-held printer -> unbox, read sketchy instructions -- looks like it only
prints from a phone app

0502Fr * sift litter boxen
& awake 3ish; feed Brooklyn and my cats
% dream in second slaap phase was me and some woman -- probably a much younger Colleen
-- escaping a dangerous situation in the usual school-like building. Then after
we'd managed a temporary escape, it morphed into a third-party view of a couple of
scenes from Cassablanca (the movie)
* up 7am; ; Dutch
* Brooklyn fed, all litter boxen sifted btw. 7:15 and 07:54
* drugs: first am 07:10; rest am 08:35; coffee; pm 22:18
* reload vitamin C
@ Are the Android SafetyCore and Android System Key Verifier apps safe? | Kaspersky
; still lots of food left in my cats' bowls.
& order cat litter, from $A after checking several other places. For delivery Su
* 11 or later - leave for j's -> back 20:18. put the back on a bookcase, and assembled
a desk chair. j made fondue with the pot and cheese kit that N brought last week
% good chat; back pretty sore which is why we did so little. But it's okay.
* Brooklyn fed 20:24, 22:15
@ Celle qui fut la belle heaulmière includes parts of the poem by François Villon
Rodin: The Old Courtesan includes Heinlein quote from Stranger.
Les Regrets de la belle Heaulmière -- François Villon whole poem in French
Le Testament: Les Regrets De La Belle Heaulmière by François Villon and in English
% 20:54 44omg naproxen
* guitar: band-played, eyes-like-the-morning. -> trim nails before next session

0503Sa * sift litter boxen
& awake 3ish
* up 6:20ish; W=90.5; Dutch
% Dutch very disappointing - great trouble remembering declensions and spelling
* drugs: first am 06:31; rest am 07:40; 2*coffee; pm
* Brooklyn (reconstructed) 3ish, 6:30ish, 13:20ish, 18:00ish
@ Seattle Worldcon science fiction convention vets panelists with ChatGPT (andrewducker)
Letter of Concern about LLM usage in Worldcon Panelist Vetting
Seattle Worldcon 2025 ChatGPT Controversy Roundup | File 770
@ AI extends the career of a porn actress. Also Jack Nicklaus and Snoop Dog. - WaPo
* guitar: Eyes Like the Morning (while waiting on matzoh brie)
* installed Atkinson Hyperlegible Variable on GoingSideways -- easy once I figured out
where to do it: Themes > Customize > Design > Styles > Fonts > Upload(tab)
@ May 2, 2025 - by Heather Cox Richardson " an administration that decided from
the start to portray President Donald Trump as a king "
@ White Rose - Wikipedia
% I am also not thinking clearly at all. Let Cricket and Brooklyn out at the same time,
then had to chase them all around the house getting them back into their respective
rooms. WTF brain? Showed up in my Dutch practice as well. 1320ish?
@ INKSI-01: Ultimate Handheld Printer for Large-Scale Printing website
EdenX - YouTube
The "operation guide" is a playlist of 14 short videos.
% lost quite a lot of time down the black hole of Too Like the Lightning
... which I spent a while up in Cricket's room reading. She seemed to appreciate the
company. back and forth over my lap, some head-buts, then settled on the floor
* guitar: mostly worked on stolen-child, trying to get my old fluidity back. finished
the day with The River, which is almost back there.