Done Since 2025-06-22

[mdlbear]

I went out walking five times last week. Altogether they probably amounted to 2.5km, but I have been going a little farther most days. Other than that I don't feel like I've gotten a whole lot done.

That's not entirely justified, however. I ordered a replacement for m's keyboard, which was apparently stolen off of their neigbors' porch. I got what I hope will be the last shot in my 2-year course of treatment. (I was expecting a follow-up phone call, but that had to be rescheduled due to a major phone outage. And I updated my LinkedIn profile and my "professional" website (https://stephen.savitzky.net/) to make it clear that I'm not job-hunting. And helped N get most of the patio furniture, in flatpack form, out to the patio. We put together one of the two Adirondack chairs this afternoon.

I also went down some interesting rabbit-holes, many of the m involving the Vera C. Rubin Observatory -- more links under Wednesday.

You don't have to prefix things with "doom" anymore, that's just the default now. You can just say scrolling. OTOH, if you're on Mastodon and need a break, check out #Bloomscrolling.

Notes & links:
0622Su  * sift litter boxen
  & awake ? (to bed after midnight)
  * up 7ish; ; Dutch, exercises (minimal -- bends)
  * drugs:  first am 07:10; rest am 08:33; pm 20:27
  @ You don't have to prefix things
    with "doom" anymore, that's just the default now. You can just say scrolling.
  @ US strikes 3 Iranian nuclear sites, inserting itself into Israel's war with Iran 
  @ Google’s Epic Fail: When the World’s Smartest Engineers Forgot Programming 101
    2025-06-12 Google falls to a null pointer exception.  Dominos hit Cloudflare, et. al.
    " The fact that other companies had to explain Google’s outage to the press while
      Google’s own communication tools were offline is peak 2025 tech irony. "
  @ Oregon has passed a bill to protect school libraries from book bans. (ysabetwordsmith)
  @ How the pandemic and fall of Roe have changed abortion : NPR
  @ Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil released on bail : NPR
  @ #ShowYourStripes temperature changes 1850-2024 in Rotterdam.
  @ The Death of Clean Code: Why Your “Perfect” Code is Actually Garbage
  % 20:42 back/hip pain (QL?) Some sharp QL pain earlier in the day
  % 22:19 just about falling over.
  & moved the fused silica lens that Dad gave me ages ago, out of the box it was in and
    onto my desk.  It fits nicely on top of the 120-cell.

0623Mo - 0626We expect major traffic disruption due to Nato summit

0623Mo  International Widows’ Day  o sift litter boxen
  @ International Widows’ Day | UN
  & awake 1:30, 5:30ish
  * up 8am; ; Dutch
  * drugs:  first am 8ish; rest am 09:13; coffee; pm 21:13
  * laundry 8:30ish
  * walk:  around block, 09:07  cold enough to require a jacket
  @ Government urges people to avoid Randstad during Nato summit - DutchNews.nl
  @ How I left MacOS for Linux. An update on my migration away from Mac | Tech Cymru
  @ Donald Trump and His Children Cannot Multiply 17 by 6?
  @ Why it’s time to leave WhatsApp… | Enrique Dans ads, of course.
  @ 2016: The Year Music Changed and the Machines Didn’t Notice | by Jeffrey Anthony
  * Al's birthday  -> email, FB.  
  . send tax third-party permission  -* talk to N; not as easy as I thought
    -> N will write email, cc to me.  If scanning is needed, I'll do it.
  * 12:30 nurse from Haga to give injection -> Eligard (leuprolide acetate) 45mg
    @ Eligard (Injection) Uses, Dosage & Side Effects - Drugs.com
      Leuprorelin - Wikipedia
      A little worried about flare symptoms.  We'll see.
  @ New EU rules for durable, energy-efficient and repairable smartphones and tablets
    start applying - European Commission
  @ Trump can pull the plug on the internet, and Europe can’t do anything about it
  @ NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Will Unveil First Look Images on 23 June 2025
    The Largest Camera Ever Built Releases Its First Images of the Cosmos | WIRED
  " QOTD:  " Someone asked me if I had plans for the fall. It took me a moment to realize
    they meant “autumn” and not the collapse of civilization. "
  * 17:00 (11:00 a.m. EDT) rubinobservatory.org first look livestreamed  (came after it had finished)
  * load drugs.  * Order aspirin

0624Tu  * sift litter boxen
  % dream:  my parents were in it, both looking very young.  Dad was helping me write an
    email to one of his coworkers (why???).  And there wasn't email back in the 1950s.
  & awake 3ish?
  * up 6:30ish; ; exercise,
  * drugs:  first am --; rest am 07:48; coffee; pm 19:21
  * walk:  around block, plus Wateringen bridge.  Barely made it.
  * send tax third-party permission (N got distracted yesterday)
    -> scan what I hope was the relevant page,  -> attempt to upload it  -> no feedback
    -> email with a cover letter    -> scan the whole mailing in case I was wrong
    -> reply - "Your contact person, Maria, will take it from here."  Go Me!
  * Alert J that my replacement AX card is being sent.  copy to m
  * ask J whether she retrieved m's keyboard from the neighbors.  copy to m
    -> she didn't, and said they don't appear to be home.  m will check later today
  @ Scientists Discovered Something DISTURBING About ChatGPT | Write A Catalyst
    -> it knows when it's being evaluated
  @ The €2 Billion Microsoft Office Problem Just Got Worse: We’re Not Just Wasting Money,
    We’re Creating Security Disasters | by Markus Sandelin | Jun, 2025 | Medium
    Why the EU Is Right to Ditch Microsoft Office (And How €100M Could Save €2B)
  : m will check next door at a time when the neighbors are likely to be home.
  : My cats are brilliant!  their water dispenser stopped working, so apparently they
    pushed it out in front of the door where I would be sure to see it when I came in.
    SO proud of them!

0625We  * sift litter boxen
  & awake 3:30ish
  % woke up with Ticia snuggled against my bare back (I'd mostly tossed off the covers
    because hot).  Bronx was flopped on the other side against my leg.  All of which made
    for thinking it an interesting problem in geometry.
  * up 06:20; ; walk, dishes, Dutch
  * drugs:  first am 6:27; rest am 07:21; 2*coffee;  pm
  * 9am walk: N. bridge plus rest of that block.  Used cane, which I think helped. 09:28ish
  @ MIT’s New Brain Scan Study Reveals a Terrifying Cost of Using ChatGPT
    " The best and healthiest way to use AI is to first think and work on the problem
      yourself. Try to understand it, come up with your own ideas, and create your own
      plan. Once you’ve done that, use AI as a helper.. "
  @ New version of X.org X11, Xlibre fork gathers support • The Register
  @ Linux could finally be making the right moves to grow
    I tried Linux Mint as a Windows fanboy and here's how it went
    KDE for Windows 10 Exiles - KDE Community
  @ You Might Not Recover from Burnout. Ever. - Devon Price (ysabetwordsmith)
    " In many ways, burnout is an attempt by the body to give us our freedom back — but it
      can only do so by taking away our ability to be exploited. "
  * kleenex to bag for transfer to bedroom -- I'm out there.
  @:1pm received email from Haga telling me to expect a phone call that _morning_
    -> sent email to their web support team (only email address I could find on the site)
  @ Major outage hits Dutch telecom provider Odido; Cause still unknown | NL Times
    ... which explains why my phone appointment this morning didn't happen.  The email
    reminder was sent around 1pm, which...  -> back as of ~16:00.
  * call Sweetwater, FedEx if necessary (see above at "m will check") -> they hadn't
    * order it from Guitar Center and have them hold it for pickup order#: GCW7908564961
  % 21:10 kind of wasted
  * 22:00 put out PMD bin for pickup tomorrow

0626Th  * sift litter boxen
  & awake 3:30ish
  * up 6ish; ; walk, Dutch, ..., bath
  * drugs:  first am --; rest am 07:17; pm 19:15
  @ A Billion-Dollar Company,Brought Down by Programming 101 | by Avnessh Kumar
  @ Why Docusign Is A Dying Business. $120 per year to sign something
    Inkless – Free Unlimited E-Signatures | DocuSign Alternative freemium; not OS
  * 9am walk - with N if wants to come along.  -> bridges. +cane -N
  @ Planned Giving – Carleton College
    -> making Carleton a beneficiary of my IRA looks like the best thing for now.
    Gifts of Retirement Funds – Planned Giving – Carleton College
  @ The PARA Method: The Simple System for Organizing Your Digital Life in Seconds
    Projects / Areas / Resources / Archives
  @ NLnet; 62 new projects contribute to digital commons via LWN
  & asked on Discord for a recording of Middle-Sized Bear.  (Asks "do you
    have an MP3 we can purchase online", but...)
    -> pointed them at my Fan GOH concert at Baycon 2010
    -> N quite reasonably chewed me out for not immediately _putting it on Bandcamp_
    -> we discussed Bandcamp singles, being selective about what's there vs on the site
  * immediate project: chase down all HSX income from Bandcamp and CDBaby for this quarter
    -> nothing from CDBaby.
    $ I $15 on 4/9 for March sales on Bandcamp  No sales in April or May
    -> email sent asking for advice
  % headache 17:12 (it's been there most if not all of the day)
    -> 1g tylenol 17:31  next dose permitted in 6h, which would be 23:30
  @ Why EVERY Artist should be on YouTube - YouTube

0627Fr  * sift litter boxen
  & awake 3:30ish
  * up 6ish; ; walk, Dutch
  * drugs:  first am --; rest am 06:58; pm 20:34
  * 9am walk: N. 2 blocks to Jan Breshoffplantsoen.  +cane.  2hp, 12mm, .6km;  Decided 
    the 1/2 block S to Noordweg was a bridge too far - unsteady.  But still.
  @ Resisting the Techno-Fascist Takeover: Are We Ready for Decomputing? · BG
  @ Vera C. Rubin Observatory
    (Wikipedia page)
    This giant, all-seeing telescope is set to revolutionize astronomy|Science|AAAS
  % feeling a little unsteady.  -> work on ~ssa/README.md
  * Update https://stephen.savitzky.net/
    It probably doesn't get much traffic anymore, but I don't want to give the impression
    that I'm even vaguely interested in employment.
  * With N doing the lifting and pushing, got the Adirondack chairs and the table out to
    the deck.  Opened one of the chairs' boxes, enough to see the pieces and grab the
    instructions.  Opened one end of the box with the hanging chair's frame, and unpacked
    the two slings.  The rest will wait.
  % 23:24 fell asleep in one of the wingback chairs.  Should doo that upstairs.

0628Sa  Tau Day, Stonewall Day  * sift litter boxen
  @ Tau Day|No, really, pi is wrong: The Tau Manifesto
  @ Stonewall riots - Wikipedia
  & awake 2:30ish;
  * up 6:30ish; ; walk
  * drugs:  first am --; rest am 08:13; coffee; pm 19:20
  : tried to access a news article and got the first 451 error I recall seeing in the wild
    " 451: Unavailable due to legal reasons
      We recognize you are attempting to access this website from a country belonging to
      the European Economic Area (EEA) including the EU which enforces the General Data
      Protection Regulation (GDPR) and therefore access cannot be granted at this
      time. For any issues, contact news@wkow.com or call [phone-number] "  ...  Rude.
    -> ssh'd to dreamhost.com, my (US)web-hosting service, and used lynx
    -> may be time to get a VPN
    CW: Woman found guilty in town of Middleton poisoning scheme | Crime | wkow.com
  * walk:  to first bridge north  -N -cane.
  @ Three-Dimensional Time: A Mathematical Framework for Fundamental Physics: Reports in
    Advances of Physical Sciences: Vol 09 WTAF?
    New theory proposes time has three dimensions, with space as a secondary effect
    " Editor's note (6/24/2025): While Kletetschka's theory of three-dimensional time
      presents an intriguing new framework, its results have not yet been accepted by the
      broader scientific community. "   ... Sabine is even more blunt:
    Time has 3 dimensions and that explains particle masses, physicist claims
  @ Grieving the Life You Expected: Nonfinite Grief and Loss cf. Ame
    Understanding Nostalgia in Grief - What's Your Grief -- this.
  @ Eight marvelous and melancholy things I've learned about creativity - The Oatmeal
  @ Batteries are now cheap enough to unleash solar energy’s full potential, getting
    as close as 97% of the way to delivering constant electricity supply 24 hours across
    365 days cost-effectively in the sunniest places.
  @ Facebook is starting to feed its AI with private, unpublished photos | The Verge
  @ #Bloomscrolling