Done Since 2025-07-20

[mdlbear]

This week seems to have passed very quickly. Six walks -- good. Three guitar practice sessions; four if you count a song played at Eurofilk -- not so good. I spent (too) much of the week continuing to configure the new Framework Laptop 12 (which arrived last Friday and, based on its color, has acquired the node name Lilac). (The official name for the color is "lavender", but Lilac is easier to say and type, and I am bad at color names anyway.)

I should probably do another post on how I configure Linux systems to boot multiple distributions. (The last one was Setting Up Sable, back in 2020, and it's actually still pretty good. Maybe I'll combine it with the Framework 12 review, coming soon.) The newest complication was my decision to leave Secure Boot turned on. There are still a few glitches, but it works.

Here, have another Framework 12 review while you're waiting for mine: The Best Laptop on Earth... is almost too easy to fix. - YT

As long as I'm linking cool stuff, Mobility scooter Relync R2 is our folding scooter, AKA (tin)Lizzy. She's a bit heavy -- just at the edge of my lift limit -- but she folds and unfolds in five seconds flat.

And finally a couple of links I ran across today (so they'll be in next Sunday's post): Solar is now 41% cheaper than fossil fuels, new UN report finds: 'The sun is rising on a clean energy age' (with a tip of the hat to ysabetwordsmith). And this visualization of the mind-blowing Terrell-Penrose effect.

Notes & links:
0720Su  Moon Day  * sift litter boxen
  @ Apollo program - Wikipedia
  & awake 2ish?
  * up 6am; ; Dutch
  * drugs:  first am 6:15; rest am 07:15; coffee; pm 19:48
  * N's Uber arrives 7:15 for...
  : N flies to Zagreb.  -Will be taking- _forgot_ (folding scooter)Lizzy
    Mobility scooter Relync R2 – HelloVital specs for airline
  @ What I Learned Shipping AI to Users Who Can’t Afford Bad Advice | by Elliot
  * walk: Erasmusweg  09:19; 1hp, 29mm, 2160st, 32m, 
  : /vv/pull-all is being weird.  seemingly only works _in_ /vv.  Didn't it used to work
    everywhere?  Confuzzled.  -> oh.  /vv/pull does a cd before pull-all
    % memory of a mayfly on crack
  : Duolingo got into its "stuck on one practice session" state.  Needs reboot. anyway.
  % 19:45 L eyelid has gotten incredibly itchy this afternoon ->  400mg ibuprofen
  * guitar: Mil Dawn intro, talking blues, Eyes;  Not much but all sounded pretty clean
  o take a bath.

0721Mo  * sift litter boxen (N")
  & awake 4ish?
  * up 6ish; ; Dutch, exercise
  * drugs:  first am 6:42; rest am 07:46; pm 7ish
  * walk:  last bridge north:  1.2km, 8hp, 34min, 1962st  7:45
  @ 11,000-year-old feast uncovered: Why hunters hauled wild boars across mountains
  : will apparently have to reinstall LMDE because of secure boot weirdness.
  @ Public Service Broadcasting - Go! - YouTube
  * submit contabile membership invoice to bookkeeper
  * music:  eyes like the morning, emerald dreams, ship of stone.
    - which I had to look up the chords for.
    % and my left pinkie hurts, like maybe a blister.  And of course I'm depressed.
  @ In His Own Words: Gary Kildall - CHM autobiography.
  * load drugs

0722Tu  Pi Approximation Day 22/7  * sift litter boxen
  @ Pi Approximation Day
  & awake 3:30ish
  * up 6:30ish; ; 
  * drugs:  first am 7ish; rest am 8am; pm
  * walk:  to garbage bin, with bag. 09:49 Negligable distance; gFit says 5mm
  @ Lighthouse of Alexandria rises again as 22 massive blocks resurface from the seafloor
    after 2,000 years | Archaeology News Online Magazine 
  @ 600-year-old amethyst jewel found in Polish castle moat reveals secrets of medieval
    nobility | Archaeology News Online Magazine 
  * 10:35 leave for 11:33 Haga - blood draw for next week's (phone) appointment
  & wasted too much time looking at http.cat response cats
  & 400mg ibuprofen, because Lizzy is heavier than my back likes
  * iron pills ready for pickup at pharmacy  -> ~50min round trip
  @ RIP Ozzy Osbourne
  & Finally got annoyed enough to switch audio output from the Edirol interface to the
    onboard phone jack.  It's misbehaving because of a bad USB connection.
  % 10ish fell asleep sitting no the couch thinking about what music to do.  So going splat
  
0723We  * sift litter boxen
  & awake 4ish;
    % vivid dream, 3-story house (dorm? appartment bldg?) on something like the Whidbey
      lot; answered doorbell in my underwear -- it was people taking an ex-housemate's
      stuff for storage.  Both Ticia and Bronx ran out; that's the point where I woke up.
  * up 6:45; ; bath
  * drugs:  first am 7:30ish; rest am 08:58; pm
  % spent over half an hour in the bedroom with a lap full of melted Bronx.  Adorable,
    but not conducive to typing.
  @ Carla Antonelli defies proposed UK bathroom ban at Gatwick airport
  @ Double detonation: new image shows
    remains of star destroyed by pair of explosions | ESO
    SNR 0509-67.5 - Wikipedia
  ~ 10:30ish too late to go out for a walk now -- tack on to taking out the PMD at 2200
  % R knee giving me twinges.  Feels a little unstable.
  * guitar:  cap and bells, rambling silver rose, Cicero, ...  1 verse+chorus each
    Some work on one of N's new songs
    % needs another round; it's not my fingers hurting so muh as my back (R side)
  % 14:08 400mg ibuprofen for sharp R back pain, probably QL.
  % I'm reasonably sure I'm not getting enough sleep
    AND I'm seriously in need of new glasses.
  @ Code Execution Through Email: How I Used Claude to Hack
  * send brief email to Columbae about missing Mike's memorial  -> recording.  Watch later
  ~ 10pm take out PMD recycling bin  -> nothing else in the bin, so didn't set out
  * walk:  around block (with garbage bag)
  % noticing that lights, especially distant ones, all have halos.  Yellow inside, red
    border.  Even inside, and even with glasses, suggesting that it's my eyes.  Cateracts?
  * guitar:  Band Played..., millennium's dawn intro, bad guys
  
0724Th  * sift litter boxen
  & awake 3ish?
  * up 5:45ish?; ;
  * drugs:  first am 6ish; rest am 8ish; pm
  @ The Best Laptop on Earth... is almost too easy to fix. - YT (from this comment)
  : WTAF - FB is demanding money in order to suppress ads, and it's not accepting my
    (US)credit card.  It thinks I'm trying to sign up for "meta pay", which I don't want.
    However, my account seems to be working (which probably means ads and spyware)
    -> not working now. 14:35  -> I apparently already have meta pay, last used in 2022.
  * tell Schwab that my transfer to Bunq is legit.
  @ kn66/pomo-cat.el
    " pomo-cat.el is a simple yet charming Pomodoro timer for Emacs. Unlike many existing
      Pomodoro packages that rely on notifications, mode-line displays, or logging,
      pomo-cat places an adorable cat in the center of your screen during breaks—either as
      an image or ASCII art. "
  : 15:18 my copy of Flow (on DVD) arrived.  Later I'll see whether region coding makes it
    unplayable on any of my drives.  Later.
    -> plays on Raven, so not region-locked.
  ! mood down.  slight headache.  Feeling like I'm not doing enough (because I'm not).
  * 18:00 Eurofilk -- singing:  jabberwocky
  * order cat fud

0725Fr  * sift litter boxen
  & awake 4ish?
  * up 7am; ; Dutch
  * drugs:  first am 7ish; rest am 08:26; pm 
  : one of the pouches of catfood had broken.  messy.
  & order cat fud from Bol
  * walk:  Erasmusweg 09:08, 29mm, 35min, 2200st, 1.2km 
  : N returns from Zagreb
  : N is going to need a laptop, with a pointing stick and with the trackpad turned off.
    This will be either Raven or UnSable.  (which really ought to turn back into Sable)
    Lilac has no pointing stick, and Panther is noisy.
  & re-install LMDE.  Probably unnecessary -- it turns out I need to select the boot
    partition with the UEFI boot manager, not grub.
  * set up an account on Raven for N.  Auto-login, maybe;  turn off touchpad.
  @ Firefox is dead to me • The Register
    Firefox is fine. The people running it are not • The Register
  & Setting sable's touchpad for edge scrolling prevents the annoying emacs resize glitch
  @ Why scientists are so excited about the highest-energy 'ghost particle' ever seen
  * (re)configure LMDE on Lilac:  * accounts  * SSH, copy keys from Mint.

0726Sa  * sift litter boxen
  & awake 4ish
  * up 6am; ; exercises, ... Dutch
  * drugs:  first am 6:36; rest am 07:27; 2*coffee; pm 20:12
  * walk:  7:47 Erasmusweg 1.2km, 2hp, 32mm, 31min, 2250st
  * deliver Raven to N.  Helped her get through the new account setup tour, most of which
    she didn't need.
  ... Lilac
    & fix yesterday's mistakes copying mint's ssh config to lmde.  Should have copied the
      whole /etc/ssh directory; lots of sleep-deprived stupidity.
    * give mint and lmde different screen backgrounds.
    * copy /vv to Lilac (using rsync over ssh)
      arguably should not have copied /vv/mm -- probably need to clean up before travel
      OTGH probably better to simply swap media.
      track with `while sleep 1; do echo -ne `df /vv | tail -1` "\r"; done`
    & do a bunch of installs from Honu/setup, without waiting for Honu to get transferred.
  @ Social Media Marketing Course for Self‑Publishers | IngramSpark (rec from N)