mdlbear | Done Since 2026-04-05 (Reply)

Not a great week -- very down on myself for having sent N off with the wrong charger for (scooter)Gizmo. It was hiding in a box, and I overlooked it several times. G found it immediately, when asked. I need to change some of my habits to keep it from happening again. N finally managed to get one locally on Friday, with help from the seller and the hotel concierge. The seller had express-shipped one, but it somehow got held up in Turkish customs despite their having charged N extra for getting it expedited. She got back yesterday evening, and we now have a spare charger for Gizmo.

Meanwhile our other scooter and scooter-like vehicles are still out of commission: (Folding scooter)Lizzy is still in the shop, (carlet)Scarlett came back from the shop without her charger, and (walker/wheelchair)Roman is still unusable without a software upgrade. Which requires some kind of special interface (being shipped by boat) and Windows. All of this is due to my procrastination and phone phobia.

On the other, um..., foot, I now have two pairs of compression socks. Getting them on is fairly easy, because I can pull. Getting them off is not; I have ordered a foot-extraction tool. And I walked every day, so there's that.

Germany Just Made Open Document Formats Mandatory! This is particularly timely, because WireGuard And VeraCrypt Developers [were] Locked Out Of Microsoft Accounts... It may or may not be fixed by now, but the fact that they did it means that it will almost certainly happen again.

(Filk-adjacent, s4s-adjacent) linkies: (from Monday -- great way to start a week!) (also serious rabbit-hole warning) Angine de Poitrine - Full Performance (Live on KEXP) - YouTube (h/t to siderea) polka-dotted aliens with loopers, polyrythms and a double-neck quartertone guitar/bass. The band name, Angine de Poitrine, translates as "chest pain" More on Monday and Wednesday. Possible s4s post soonish; this will do until then.

And from Friday, Take a mind-bending ride through the cosmos at light speed Deep time and beyond: the great nothingness at the end of the Universe, both from Aeon.co. Take note: eternity is longer still.

Notes & links:
0405Su Easter Sunday
@ Easter Ēostre - Wikipedia
* 08:35 walk: last bridge 1km, 15hp, 25mm, 19min, 1840st
% cut a bit short because R big toe hurting on the L edge, and some tingling on the
sole. Growf. The tingling has mostly gone away as of 09:59.
-> toe pain mitigated by lifting the nail in the affected corner.
@ I Made Claude 45% Smarter. Here's How | by ichigo | Medium
@ I Tracked 1,247 Americans Who Moved to Portugal. 68% Came Home Broke and Broken.
* hx work session
* taxes. Looks like everything is uploaded now modulo the TriContinental shares.
-> I owe ~800 to the feds, but that's before the foreign tax credit and partnership
losses. But I'll pay it anyway when I file for an extension.
-> bump withholding after figuring out what my Dutch taxes are.
* Dutch
% running late -- it's 23:15 and I just posted "done since"

0407Mo
* walk: 8:14 DSB801: .85km, 11hp, 16min, 30mm, 1300st,
@ LLMs Will Protect Each Other if Threatened, Study Finds
@ Germany Just Made Open Document Formats Mandatory | by Burk | Mar, 2026 | Medium
@ Amazon Just Proved AI Ain’t The Answer YET AGAIN | by Will Lockett | Mar, 2026
@ Make My Drive Fun, An
Interactive Map That Plots Interesting Sites to See While on a Road Trip
* 10:00 - 14:00 WZHThuiszorg leg-wrapping (here)
& taping and labeling a box of books in the box rm.
% 13:54 ibuprofen 400mg -> next dose if needed, 1900 (6h) -> 20:56
@ We [Usagi Electric] Run 40 Year Old Code on a Computer From 1963! - YouTube
@ Angine de Poitrine - Full Performance (Live on KEXP) - YouTube (siderea)
polka-dotted aliens with loopers, polyrythms and a double-neck quartertone guitar/bass
band website Angine de Poitrine - Accueil
translates as "chest pain"
They Broke the Internet. Here's HOW They Did It (Angine de Poitrine) - YouTube
* hx work session
& Angine de Poitrine
* Dutch

0407Tu
* wall stretches, lunge -- I think they helped
* walk: 7:55 Erasmusweg: 1.2km, 13hp, 31mm, 38min, 2300st
* email to econelo.de to attempt to order a charger.
: Meanwhile, we sent N off with the wrong charger for Gizmo. IDIOT BEAR -- I looked for
it THREE TIMES and didn't see it -- it was in the box where we keep extra cleaning
supplies. I am going to move that. N ordered a new (to be spare) one.
% right now my self-confidence is somewhere below zero.
@ Qwen Just Quietly Became the Most Dangerous Open-Source AI Model | Suleiman Tawil
@ Gemma 4: Google Just Dropped Its Open Source Nuclear Option And Community Went Feral
With It | by Mandar Karhade, MD. PhD. | Apr, 2026 | Towards AI
* hx work session
& work w\ G on N's tax info: passport photo and BSN for login, get G up to speed
* Dutch
* 19:00 - 20:30 (10am-11:30 PST) Healing Center Passages support grp - 1st, 3rd Tu
"Deciding to See" Nathan Vass
* load drugs -- no doxazosin

0408We
* walk: 7:21 DSB801: .85km, 8hp, 24mm, ~2000st, (not well-tracked in app)
* 10:00 - 14:00 WZHThuiszorg leg-wrapping (here)
@ Claude vs ChatGPT vs Gemini: I Fed Them the Same Bug. Only One Actually Fixed It.
" Claude wasn’t just pattern-matching the error message. It was analyzing code
structure, thinking about development patterns, and making educated guesses about
the codebase history. "
@ Anthropic Teams Up With Its Rivals to Keep AI From Hacking Everything | WIRED
@ FilkCast: FilkCast Episode 342, April 8, 2026 -> includes
Bound For Hackers' Heaven
% today is a gin day
@ Centauri Men Have WHAT? (Babylon 5 fan video) - YT NSFK (Not Safe for Keyboard)
@ Phrygian dominant scale - Wikipedia (Hijaz et. al.)
(via Angine de Poitrine's Secret:
The Two Traps That Make You Love Microtonal Music. - YouTube)
Utzp - A de P insanely happy. from a comment: "this is how polka dots sound"
* hx work session
* tax stuff
* guitar: noodling; start to get playing and fingertips back into shape.
% worried that it might not be enough.
* Dutch

0409Th last day of Pesach
* 8am schedule pickup for 9:15
* walk: 8:00 DSB801: .85km, 12hp, 17mm, 21min, 1633st
* 9:15 uber for 9:40 try-on Livit Ottobock: Volendamlaan 1158, 2547 CZ Den Haag
Adviseur\Consulent: Noortje
x- getting up to use the loo presumably isn't a problem?
*- how long do they last? -> insurance gives me 2 new pairs every year. (mid-April)
-> they track, so I'll be contacted. Next year I'll get an appointmennt to
re-measure; thereafter I can order direct if I want
~- How can I tell that they need replacing?
*- how do I order more when they wear out? -> website
*- how much do extra pairs cost? Laundry every other day is annoying. ~€90
-> may want gardening gloves (probably less expensive than donning gloves"
-* tested: Yes, I can get into shoes/slippers wearing the fuzzy grippy socks
* leave message for home care saying I have my socks now
@ https://www.ameswalker.com/blogs/news/wear-with-care-three-ways-to-keep-your-compression-socks-as-good-as-new
-x says use only once; hand- or machine-wash and dry flat; last 3-6 months
@ Microsoft responds after WireGuard, Windscribe, and VeraCrypt accounts get locked
Microsoft responds after WireGuard, Windscribe, and VeraCrypt accounts get locked
WireGuard And VeraCrypt Developers Locked Out Of Microsoft Accounts...
@ It Is Truly Embarrassing to Keep Using Windows Now | by Burk | Apr, 2026 | Medium
@ Dutch Google Maps Alternative Magic Earth Puts Itself on the Map - ITdaily
MagicEarth.com phone only.
@ The Agent-Native Editor Was Invented in 1976 emacs of course
@ How to defeat Trump every time | Robert Reich | The Guardian stand up to him
" Bottom line: there’s now a clear blueprint for how to defeat Trump. It’s available
to any country, organization or person on which he seeks to impose his will: reject
his demands and then use your own asymmetric power – a form of jiujitsu – to turn
Trump’s power against him. "
@ The AI Great Leap Forward
: Pizza Portobello. pizza volcano, caprese salad, sauteed shrooms.
next time maybe try the pizza mafioso. Or go back to ribs.
Their caprese is GOOD -- actual basil leaves rather than pesto
* hx work session
* guitar: multiple short sessions to get fingers back in shape
* start planning s4s post about AdeP
* Dutch

0410Fr Siblings Day (US)
@ Siblings Day - Wikipedia
% getting the socks -- especially the R -- was a bit of a struggle. Took several tries
to line up the heel on the right. Growf.
* walk: 8:20 Erasmusweg: 1.2km, 17hp, 19min, 24mm, 1980st
* call WZH to say I don't need wraps anymore 13:07
: emal roamate support about non-receipt of update cable.
@ Take a mind-bending ride through the cosmos at light speed | Aeon Videos
Deep time and beyond: the great nothingness at the end of the Universe | Aeon
* hx work session
* tax stuff, bill paying.
* guitar: Bad Guys,
* finalize Q1 expenses -> 13:36
* Dutch
* go upstairs at 22 uhr. shower! Wash socks

0411Sa
* walk: 8:00 Erasmusweg: 1.2km, 13hp, 27mm, 29min, 2200st
* SL: cat fud, litter, donning gloves, sock remover (foot extracter) -> AX Pt
@ Artemis 1 Reentry video with Telemetry - YouTube spectacular
Artemis II | Flickr album
@ Relaunching the website, and accidentally writing a CMS
% 16:07 applying heat to lower back
@ IEEE 7012 (MyTerms) – Machine-Readable Privacy Terms
* N back from Istanbul - flight lands 17:30 -> 17:21
* 17:30 (10:30 CDT) virtual Coffee With Carls - semesteratsea.org mentioned
meeting ended abruptly -- weird. Probably a mistake on the part of the host.
* hx work session
* Dutch