mdlbear | Done Since 2025-05-11 (Reply)

So, not a bad week. (Can I accurately call it a "pretty good" week? I'm never able to make judgements like that.) But I did some guitar practice, and got out for a walk four times, and sang a little with m, who came back from the US last Sunday (bringing mail that had accumulated at our US address). N came back from New York yesterday; she gave me a little "engraving and drill pen" as an unbirthday present -- it had arrived while she was gone. j came over as well, so we had all of my Dutch family here. G made baked salmon.

Apparently I totally forgot about posting Thankful Thursday this week. Well, Thursday was pretty eventful, with a urology appointment (I can expect to hear back a week from Wednesday about what my ongoing treatment will be), some singing practice with m, and actually performing the songs we'd practiced at Eurofilk. (Is "at" the right word for attending an event by zoom?)

... and forgot to mention Mother's Day in last week's post, though that's not terribly surprising, since I have no-one to call anymore.

Yesterday I finally stopped waffling and (finally!) pre-ordered a Framework 12" Laptop. I've been eyeing it for some time, and coveting a Framework for years. I increased the specs over what I'd initially configured, but because I'd waffled over it I won't get it until Q3 sometime. Bah! I'll post a lot more once it finally ships.

Also, yesterday was the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia; there's that. Some more trans-related links under Saturday. And today is the 45th anniversary of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. (Which of course sent me down a rabbit-hole involving magma, hollow-Earth fiction, and so on.)

As for links, here from yesterdat is a list of The world's five happiest cities for 2025. Look for your hometown in the Institute for Quality of Life's Happy City Index 2025. Den Haag ranks #65, and Seattle is #80.

Notes & links:
0511Su Mother's Day * sift litter boxen
@ Mother's Day - Wikipedia
& awake 3ish
* up 6:30ish; ; exercises, Dutch
* drugs: first am 7:31; rest am 08:42; 2*coffee; pm 21:29
* noonish m returns. Cricket is very happy.
* walk: around block. my glutes feel _tight_, or something; like that all day.
% forgot to mention Mother's Day in today's post. Not really surprising.
@ Doom on the Oldest Digital Computer in America! - YouTube Bendix G-15
(just the soundtrack, but still totally awesome.) An emulator exists.
! inexpressable nostalgia.
$ $97 via AX Au for 12 months of LWN, because subscriptions are down and I can afford it
@ MicrosoftRecall.com info about...
* 22:00 put out cardboard for recycling
@ solarbird | threatening the supreme court
* guitar: (minimal) Ship of Stone, Millennium's Dawn intro. Just enough to keep the
fingers more-or-less in shape.

0512Mo * sift litter boxen
& awake 3:30ish
* up 7ish; ; Dutch, exercises,
* drugs: first am 7:15; rest am 8:15; 2*coffee; pm 19:42
* walk: around block.08:15
: N" -> Thursday
@ Waxing and waning prairie: New study unravels causes of ancient climate changes
* don't forget to bring in the recycling bin
@ Dreamer Song Of Peace by Lorre Wyatt - so it has an author, apparently
" A traditional [sic] song of peace written by Lorre Wyatt. "
@ Lorre Wyatt site not updaated since 2014
" Beginning in the Fall of 2014, links to Lorre's music [...] will be available here. "
% rabbit hole, searching for "vulpen nl" and similar. re-sorted bookmark folder(s)
* load drugs

0513Tu * sift litter boxen
& awake 3, 5 % more likely cats than bladder
* up 8:ish; W=89.4;
* drugs: first am 8:30; rest am 09:33; 2*coffee; pm 19:50ish
@ Post Election Assistance to the USA - Trans Rescue
@ Moderna’s Super-Vaccine for Flu and Covid Works—Now Politics Could Sink It
@ What Kind Of Introvert Are You? | HuffPost social, thinking, anxious, restrained
* laundry
& swap mice betweenn Sable and Panther because Sable's has gotten something wedged in
its scrollwheel -- it's worn a groove, which keeps it from spinning. Still works
otherwise. No obvious way to disassemble it. I don't use Panther that much.
@ COVID-19 Vaccination Protects Against New-Onset, Post-Infection Fibromyalgia
@ I drew this with my kid’s leftover crayons. Then things got serious. | Wildseer
* SL: superglue, Rennie, cat litter -> ordered from Bol -- here tomorrow
* folate(prescribed 0408), buspirone (0401) -> ordered via portal, for delivery
~ need prescription for simvastatin 40mg, bupropion 300mg, -> can wait; brought from US
-> should have requested another round of abiraterone.
-> mail from US (brought by m) includes tax stuff but not my DL, which I was expecting

0514We Hemelvaartsdag (Ascension Day) * sift litter boxen
@ Ascension Day in the Netherlands: Tradition & Significance
& awake 5am;
* up 76:30ish; W=89; Dutch, exercises
% 8 sit-ups this morning!
* drugs: first am 7:05; rest am 08:14; pm 8ish
* check cats' water fountain -> refill
: DH will autorenew soon using AX-Au
: next door neighbor picked up their package.
! surprising how good a smile from a relative stranger makes me feel
& The pink socks are, unfortunately, a little bit small. Not painfully, but noticably.
Maybe they'll stretch a little with repeated washing.
@ Shared post - Solving My Marketing Problems with AI
Discover Your Reading Archetype – Stardancer Studios "Galactic Tourist"
* HSX recurring payment for bookkeeper confirmed from HSX account
@ CISA’s alert pivot reflects a new era of decentralized cyber threat communication
" Compounding the concern is the increasing dependence of federal agencies on Elon
Musk’s X. Critics warn that relying on a single private platform — especially one
known for algorithmic unpredictability — could introduce gaps in information access,
especially during high-stakes incidents. "
* set alarm for tomorrow's appointment
@ Leaving MAGA - Leaving MAGA, via
Ex-Republican warns MAGA faces
'gradual — then sudden — realization' Trump hurts them - Raw Story
* guitar: Bigger on the Inside -- promptly fell down the "needs new verse" rabbit hole
later: Wheelin', talking blues
% weird little cut on my R palm. looks like maybe one of the lines got dry and cracked
excapt WTF?
@ “Google wanted that”: Nextcloud decries Android permissions as “gatekeeping” - Ars
: Potential album title: Amusingly Perverse
: Call from Carleton reminding me that the fiscal year for donations closes June 30th.

0515Th * change litter boxen (N")
& awake 3ish
* up 7ish; W=89.5;
cat cuddles! Bronx can be so cuddly when he isn't nippy
* drugs: first am 7:25; rest am 08:42; coffee; pm
* N"
~ Pay AX (done Tuesday)
@ Star Trek Tricorder | The Wand Company (siliconshaman)
% Potassium: 3.7 @0414; in normal range, so no need to use the 20mEq tabs.
* 12:30 summon uber
* 1:30 Haga urology
*- abiraterone or alternative -> will decide Monday; phone appt 0528We with decision.
*- out of abiraterone ~end of month. A couple of weeks before they can schedule a
shot or re-order meds won't be too significant given my low (neglible) PSA
-> no ultrasound; I apparently just got the new prostate patient boilerplate.
: Linux Mint changing its colors: Monthly News – April 2025 – The Linux Mint Blog
they now use #222226 for dark and #ebebed for light. headers go from #e8e8e8 to #ebebed
: The difference is more visible in the dark theme, which also affects dark apps and
the panel and cinnamon clutter elements in the default theme. This one is going from
#2b2b2b to #222226 and #404040 to #2e2e33. It looks more modern but also much softer
than before "
* 16:30 practice with m singing: Ship of Stone. m sang Things We Did Not Choose
~ set up zoom for me and m -> had lots of trouble with setup.
* 18:00 Eurofilk -> see above for songs.
-> Paper Wings, by request after several parodies
@ 5 factors steadily fueling Linux's desktop rise | ZDNET
@ The Feynman Lectures on Physics

0516Fr * sift litter boxen
& awake 3ish
* up 6ish; ; Dutch, exercises
% sat up toward the foot of the bed for a rather long time. WTF?
* drugs: first am 7:30; 2*coffee; rest am 8:40ish; pm
* walk: around block 08:20
@ andrewducker | Interesting Links for 15-05-2025
Crossness Pumping Station: seduced by symmetry ultimate steampunk
That time kristin chenoweth's life was changed onstage by the voice teacher she
pulled out of the audience to sing "for good" in 2013
EU ruling: tracking-based advertising by Google, Microsoft, Amazon, X, across Europe
has no legal basis - Irish Council for Civil Liberties
" Today's court's decision shows that the consent system used by Google, Amazon, X,
Microsoft, deceives hundreds of millions of Europeans. The tech industry has sought
to hide its vast data breach behind sham consent popups. Tech companies turned the
GDPR into a daily nuisance rather than a shield for people. "
@ Notes from the Front Line - Robert Reich _good_ news for once. Recent gains.
@ LilFluff: folding octavo notebooks
* guitar: Windward, Millennium's Dawn, Lord of the Buffalo
& read A Diversity of Dragons by Anne McCaffery, Richard Woods, and John Howe

0617Sa * sift litter boxen
@ International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia - Wikipedia
& awake 2:30ish
* up 7ish; ; Dutch, ..., exercises
* drugs: first am 7:17; rest am 08:21; 2*coffee; pm 20:54
@ The overlooked masterpiece full of coded messages about World War One
Artist of Hope - The De Morgan Foundation
@ Decades-long mystery of ginger cats revealed
@ Happy City Index 2025
(Den Haag is #65; Seattle is #80, San Jose 119.)
via The world's five happiest cities for 2025 | BBC
@ NASA’s Voyager 1 Revives Backup Thrusters Before Command Pause | NASA JPL
: am N returns, lands ~11am; j ETA 1ish
% apparently totally blew off Thankful Thursday this week. Last one was 5/9
* framework pre-order placed; Batch 8 (shipping Q3) because I waffled. Ordered up from
my original config; now i5, 32Gb RAM;
International English keyboard because that has AltGr, which I need here.
N.B. frame.work has to be viewed in a private browsing window in FF
& N gave me (as an unbirthday present) a little engraving, [polishing,] + drill pen,
with a plethora of bits. USB-C charging. Have charged, put in a bit, and verified
that it rotates. Haven't actually engraved anything yet.
@ How to Truly Support Trans Folx and Families Right Now
- Listen. Don’t dismiss, deflect, or make it about you. Just listen.
- Name what’s happening. Say transphobia. Call it what it is. Silence is complicity.
- Offer support without centering yourself. If someone shares something vulnerable,
acknowledge it. Thank them. Show care.
- Take action. Support trans-led initiatives, donate, amplify trans voices.
- Don’t ask for free labor. If you seek advice from trans people, recognize the
emotional and intellectual work involved. Respect and compensate them accordingly
@ End of 10

Done Since 2025-05-11

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