mdlbear | Done Since 2026-03-22 (Reply)

Not a bad week, though not nearly as productive as it should have been. (I know -- I shouldn't should myself. But still, some stuff needs to get done.) I have noticed that my brain doesn't distinguish well between work and health-care-related stuff like appointments. And to be fair there have been a lot of those. Explanation, not excuse.

Part of the problem may be that writing and music aren't getting done because they're prioritized behind tax and other business paperwork, email, phone calls, and similar unpleasant and sometimes difficult things. So while I'm "busy" not doing those, the more pleasant things aren't getting done either.

I did walk six out of the seven days last week, so there's that. And I got (laptop)Lilac configured to the point of being usable on extended trips. (See Tuesday.) That's probably worth a curmudgeon post at some point -- it involved setting up an encrypted directory tree, and installing a DongleHider+ to put the (Logitech)mouse and (Lenovo)keyboard dongles on the same expansion slot.

From Monday, A Boy And His Atom: The World's Smallest Movie. From Tuesday, Geneva's CERN takes antiprotons for a spin in a never-before-tried test (there has to be a country music filk in there somewhere). Also, did you know there's a Socks Wiki?

Notes & links:
0322Su
* walk: 08:47 DSB801: .85km, 22mm, 25min, 11hp, 1500st
* load sling for Tuesday measurement appointment
@ Semper Augustus Tulip mania
@ Depression fatigue appears at the cellular level in brain and blood (ysabet)
* hx work session
* Dutch
* add aidvantage (R's college loan, paid from BECU) to EOL README
* calibrate small drinking glass (apple juice) 250, dragon tumbler 400, coffee mug 475;

0323Mo
* downloaded floor plans. The house has disappeared from Funda.nl, but the whole set of
images and specs was on the website of the agent who sold it to us
* walk: 08:32 DSB804: .64km, 4hp, 16mm, 11min, 1000st
@ ysabetwordsmith | Poem: "The Bridge of Mist" CW: impending pet death
* 10:00 - 14:00 WZHThuiszorg leg-wrapping (here) 10:42
* 14 years with LinkedIn, meaning about 14 years since the end of my time at Ricoh.
2012 was... moving? And so was 2024, for the same reason.
* hx work session
@ LinkedIn Guide to Creating: Overview | LinkedIn
Home - Create on LinkedIn
* re-read Cubico CNC docs.
* send update on my address(es) and phone #(s) for the Norwalk HS zoom reunion
-> later (4am) thought better of it and sent retraction -- don't want them public
* Dutch
@ A Boy And His Atom: The World's Smallest Movie - YouTube IBM
Moving Atoms: Making The World's Smallest Movie - YouTube
found via Quire->folio->book size->largest & smallest books->smallest stop-motion movie
* SL: printer paper

0324Tu
% my earworm for yesterday and today has been "Star of the County Down". Best guess is
that it was triggered by N's new scooter helmet (Kore is Greek for Colleen), Ysabet's
poem "The Bridge of Mist" (link yesterday; note content warning), and a visit to
R-E.net/Bridge (CW: sad).
@ Geneva's CERN takes antiprotons for a spin in a never-before-tried test | AP News
dilithium crystals? gotta be a Star Trek/Country crossover song in there.
~ 12:50 summon uber. take 2 pairs of compression socks for afterward. -> in sling
* 13:20 pickup confirmed
* 13:50 Livit.nl socks Livit Ottobock Care volendamlaan 1158 2547CZ Den Haag.
Adviseur/consulent: Femke
-> insurance pays for 2 pair. ordered open toe, different colors.
-> wear at most twice before washing, daytime only. apply lotion at night
@ The Comprehensive Guide to Wearing Compression Socks: When, How, and How Often?
How to Care for Compression Socks
Socks Wiki
@ Watch sperm whale headbutt another for no apparent reason | Live Science
* hx work session
* verified that my current address doesn't appear in a web search (DDG, anyway)
* Lilac setup:
* anywhere mouse and Thinkpad keyboard on the double-dongle gadget.
I now have two free slots, plus the USBC I need for PD. Lots of versatility.
* set up the encrypted directory in ssa. Clumsy, but it worked, in place of an
encrypted _home_ directory, which was clumsy.
* Dutch
* mictiedagboek to sling for tomorrow's appointment
* set alarms for tomorrow's appointment
* load drugs

0325We
* walk: 6:53 DSB804 .64km, 10hp, 13min, 1100st
: 10:30ish N leaves for Istanbul
@ A popular Python library just became a backdoor to your entire machine
* 08:30 don't piss
* 09:30 leave for 10:30am Haga urology. Apparently I had NOT pre-scheduled a ride
-> apparently I _had_, but Uber noticed and congratulated me on getting an earlier
pickup. This probably happens a lot -- see above. There _is_ a way to check, but
it's not obvious -- you have to click a button with a non-obvious legend.
-> was supposed to have packed spare pantsu, but forgot. Fortunately not needed.
-> try not using doxazosine for a couple weeks; call and try somthing else
(if BP rises; keep with doxazosine)
referral for pelvic floor physio
don't need to drink quite so much (diary showed almost 3 l/day
10:30 flowmetry - full bladder; drink enough 2h before
11:00 appointment - Dr. H. van der Plas
* -maybe- schedule wrapping for after 1300
* 13:00-14:00 WZHThuiszorg leg-wrapping (here)
* SL: * niacin, * cat fud, * litter, * kleenex ($A) -> tomorrow
* hx work session
* Dutch

0326Th
* walk: 08:25 DSB801: .85km, 11hp, 17mm, 14min, 1300st,
* laundry, dishes
@ Fly Home Winkie
Winkie (pigeon) - Wikipedia
Dickin Medal - Wikipedia
* hx work session
* Dutch
. receipts

0327Fr
* walk: 07:24 Erasmusweg 1.17km, 13hp, 24.5min, 25mm, 1920st
@ AI Design Is Having Its Levittown Moment | Medium little boxes, little boxes...
@ Mistral Small 4: The Open-Source Model That Does Everything and Costs You Nothing to
License | by Mandar Karhade, MD. PhD. | Mar, 2026 | Medium [Hugging Face]
Allen Institute for AI: OLMo Hybrid press release | Ai2 [Hugging Face]
@ Using a VPN May Subject You to NSA Spying | WIRED
" intelligence agencies presume that communications of unknown origin are foreign,
Americans may be inadvertently waiving the privacy protections they're entitled to "
* flatten Gizmo's shipping crate (by deconstructing it -- too big for doorway)
% nothing quite as satisfying as disassembling something
@ Antimatter has been transported for the first time ... in the back of CERN’s truck
& call about Scarlett; left somewhat incoherent voicemail. :P
@ 36,000 same-sex couples have tied the knot in 25 years in NL - DutchNews.nl
@ What To Know About BA.3.2, A New, Highly Mutated COVID Variant | HuffPost Life
~ hx work session
* Dutch

0328Sa
: D" coming tomorrow, not today (one time)
* walk: 8:09 DSB804+garbage .72km, 6hp, 21mm, 22min, 1200st
@ The Book That Terrified the People Building AI — And Why You Should Read It
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies by Eliezer Yudkowsky & Nate Soares | Hachette
" artificial superintelligence — AI surpassing all human cognitive ability with its
own goals — will cause human extinction. Not through malice, but indifference. "
@ NJIT Physicists Trace Sun’s Magnetic Engine, 200,000 Kilometers Below Surface|NJIT
@ The Tale of the Great Computing Machine--KTH
" KTH Royal Institute of Technology has commissioned a new opera from Åsa and Carl
Unander-Scharin, called “The Tale of the Great Computing Machine”. The opera will
have its world premiere in the Reactor Hall of KTH – 25 meters below ground – on
December 1, 2022.
The opera is based on a book, written by Hannes Alfvén in 1966. "
The Tale | KTH must enable embedded media!
About the opera | KTH
The tale of the big computer; a vision : Alfvén, Hannes, 1908-1995 : Archive.org
o hx work session
* Dutch