mdlbear | Done Since 2025-07-06 (Reply)

It's been a week. Starting with my son's fortieth birthday, and ending with the fourth anniversary of Colleen's death. I started writing a "state of the Bear" post last Sunday, and will either finish it today or tomorrow, or give up on it. But productive.

I went out for a walk four days this week -- the longest was about a kilometer, and the shortest was 650m. I practiced every day, which I haven't done for a long time. And, at N's suggestion, I started a work log, to keep track of what I've done for our business. I'll write it up separately, of course, but it's been remarkably effective. See under Monday for the start, but it's all been moved out of Dog/to.do to different file and workspace, which will mostly not find its way into this log, although pieces might.

It also shows how appallingly lazy I've been for the last six months.

Not really surprising -- I've been retired for eight years, and I've allowed myself to get out of shape in a great many ways. It's probably too late to get back to where I was a decade ago, but I'll do what I can.

And of course, the best-laid plans... Friday N and I started putting together a piece of patio furniture, and wore ourselves out completely. And yesterday was Colleen's day and I actually got more done than I expected. Weekends are for catching up.

As for links, AI coding tools make developers slower, study finds • The Register. As I've often said, HTML Is Publishing, Not Code

And this is flat-out amazing: Hundreds of robots move Shanghai city block - YouTube

Notes & links:
0706Su Chaos (40); * sift litter boxen
& awake 3:30ish, up til 5
* up 7ish; ; Dutch
* drugs: first am 7:04; rest am 08:23; coffee; pm 21:00ish
* walk: 08:44; ccw around Simon Vesteijkstraat loop: 650m; 15mm, 1hp, ~1200st; +cane
@ andrewducker | Interesting Links for 05-07-2025
Hundreds of robots move Shanghai city block - YouTube
You will own nothing and be happy (Stop Killing Games) | Jeff Geerling
* stage cardboard out to storage room
* keyboard: aded my Shure earbuds to the keyboard, played a couple of tentative chords
% 18:00 noticedd that I hadn't had anything to eat since 11ish. I think.
* singing: Desolation Row
* 22:00 set out cardboard for pickup tomorrow
* order Age and Treachery T-shirt for Chaos

0707Mo * litter boxen (N")
& awake 3:30ish
* up 7ish; ; Dutch, exercise
* drugs: first am 7:45; rest am 8:30ish?; 2*coffee; pm
* HSX add expenses: you have to edit the draft and that brings up the "add to expenses"
button. Should have entered more expenses before submitting. ~1h
* make delta.nl account. Can't link until tomorrow because I wasn't paying attention
(or possibly got confused moving my calendar items for the week)
@ Defying physics: This rare crystal cools itself using pure magnetism (ysabetwordsmith)
* am bring in cardboard recycling bin
* 11am HSX -stand-up- check in w\ N -> this goes in hsx/work.do from now on
*- already spent about a half-hour on bookkeeping
-~ set up some physical folders and track down paper.
*- set up interim time log, or at least see if I can find an app
*- music - at least 30m from now on
* 13:00 HSX work time
* HSX set up time logging, ->users/hsx/work.do for now
: RIP: Quentin Long has died
% I appear to be hungry.
~ guitar: Lock Keeper, only got hung up on Bm and never recovered.
~ telecom: create a DELTA account for MyDELTA from 8 July 2025 -> oops - but making it
one day early doesn't seem to have done any damage
: The metal struts in my big grey backpack are, in fact, removable - velcro at the top
of the pocket, in back underneath where the straps attach. I did a little damage
before figuring that out. But anyway.
% I appear to be in full curl-up-and-hide mode and have no idea why
* load drugs
* bring up kibble

0708Tu * sift litter boxen
& awake 3:30ish
* up 7ish; ; Dutch
* drugs: first am 7:05; rest am 08:43; pm 21ish
% major screw-up loading drugs -- put most of the pm drugs in the rest am container
-> pretty easily fixed except that I have an extra batch of pm drugs. fixable.
* link DELTA account to old Caiway account. Same account#
Welcomecaiway | DELTA Fiber Nederland BV
* walk: 08:24 parking lot at end of Meno TerBrakStraad; .87km, 9hp, 19mm, 1775st
% L. knee complaining
@ The Python Script I Built That Accidentally Went Viral | by Maria Ali | Jul, 2025
automatically renames files in Downloads using AI
@ The Job Market Just Died (And Nobody Told You) | by Mr Tony Momoh | Jul, 2025
@ HTML Is Publishing, Not Code | ITNEXT
% 17:17 feeling kind of out of it. Possibly not enough to eat.
* sl: tape measure, kibble bin
* guitar: Bm, Wheein', Ship of Stone,
& order 2TB SSD for Framework. less than half the price FW wants because Prime Day
% debating whether to change my address in the Carleton alumni directory. Currently LC
o apply for UK electronic travel authorization (see 1129Fr)
Apply for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) - GOV.UK

0709We * sift litter boxen
& awake 5:30ish
* up 6ish; ; Dutch
* drugs: first am 6ish; rest am 7ish; 2*coffee; pm 19:35
* walk: 7ish; second bridge N. 3hp, 13mm, 1160st, .76km; (includes doubling back from
the corner of Meno Ter Braakstraat to get my phone)
@ Rejected by Museums Around the World, This New Art Exhibition Explores the Historical
Roots of the Term 'Homosexual'
@ Irregular Webcomic! #1420 (Maxwell's Equations)
@ Is Gmail Silently Sabotaging You. I thought I was going crazy. But no —…
@ The Funniest, Most Brutally Honest Comments Ever Left in Source Code
@ Starting today, Gemini
AI will access your WhatsApp and more. Learn how to disable it on Android. | Tuta
@ Are humans destined to evolve into crabs? | Aeon Essays
" The human tendency to seek efficiency by offloading work onto systems – our
so-called laziness – has made us dependent on large, risk-averse institutions, such
as states and global financial markets. And here we start to see the risks of
undergoing a process of carcinisation: crabs are great recyclers, but lousy
innovators. " -- possibly more amusing than enlightening. Damned if I know.
& order 2TB SSD for the Framework laptop, which has not yet arrived. Prime day sale.
* guitar: 30m October Country, Keep the Dream Alive, River, Ship of Stone,
* keyboard: 30m of struggling to remember anything at all about reading music; failing

0710Th * sift litter boxen
& awake 3:30ish?
* up 6:30ish?; ;
* drugs: first am 7ish; rest am 08:16; coffee; pm 20:20
* walk: N to turnaround; 2hp, 22mm, 20min, 1688st, 1km
* 09:00ish N" - boxes into storage. Mostly N and N"; I just kibbitzed
@ Google can now read your WhatsApp messages, here's how to stop it - Neowin
@ pprevos/emacs-writing-studio
Emacs configuration for authors who research, write and publish articles, books and
websites. complicated, but may be useful
Write Articles, Websites and Books with Emacs Writing Studio
* workday 145min
$ €12.10 to inwx.com from USB via PayPal s@t for schildhaven.nl
* 18:00 Eurofilk
singing: Paper Wings (request), Paper Pings, Stuff that Dreams are Made Of
: my Framework 12 will be shipping soon - they just charged my card

0711Fr * sift litter boxen
& awake 3:30ish
* up 5:50ish; W=89.9; Dutch
* drugs: first am 6:04; rest am 07:21; pm 19:31
* walk: far end of Simon Vestdijkstraat loop. 08ish; 3hp, .6km, 14mm, 803st
@ The Arithmetic of Emergency. A personal accounting of climate… | by Gael MacLean
" What we are passing down is not just damaged land and depleted aquifers and
uninsurable houses. What we are passing down is a way of seeing — or not seeing —
that allows us to argue about everything except the arithmetic of emergency. "
@ Boeing work instructions inadequate for years before blowout, NTSB finds
* laundry (started 9ish)
@ Resources - Disabled By Society free graphics, podcast, policy papers
“The disabled population is the world’s largest minority that anyone can become a
part of at any time.”
* put together the frame for the swinging papasan chair, with N. Damned thing required
flexing to make it line up; the last screw got cross-threaded, and will probably fail
early. So it goes.
% 20:24 suddenly feeling _very_ flaky.
* pick up laundry
~ maybe try to finish state-of-the-bear post

0712Sa Colleen (4) * sift litter boxen
& awake 3ish
* up 7ish??
in bed with the cats for a longish time
* drugs: first am 7:45; rest am 08:42; pm 20:30ish
Had Bronx in my lap but he bit me when I tried to update this file.
* walk: walk: far end of Simon Vestdijkstraat loop. 16mm, 2hp, 1055st
started feeling unstable, so turned around. Barely made it, I think. Several stops
* noon: Colleen's candle, toast, memories.
post Remembering the FlowerCat:
Four years after.
@ Here’s how I’m stopping AI-generated comments dead in their tracks with a poisoned
watermark. | by Jim the AI Whisperer | The Generator | Jul, 2025 | Medium
How employers are setting traps to spot AI-generated job applications and trip them
up | by Jim the AI Whisperer | The Generator | Medium
@ posted: mdlbear | River: Remembering the FlowerCat: Four years after
@ AI slows down some experienced software developers, study finds | Reuters
AI coding tools make developers slower, study finds • The Register
@ EU explains how to do AI without breaking the law • The Register
: New Zoom just dropped. Obnoxious.
* singing: Eyes Like the Morning, Lily et. al. -- for Colleen
@ What To Do When You See ICE in Your Neighborhood
~ Take Colleen's candle upstairs and put in the tub (if N doesn't) (N did)