Done Since 2026-08-23

It didn't feel like a very productive week, but I got a few things done -- I'll take it. I finally finished the Total Solar Eclipse post (only two weeks late), and we launched the new, professionally-designed version of Naomi-Rivkis.com. There is still quite a lot of additional work that needs doing.

Only five walks last week, all of them short. But that's still better than the three short walks I took the week before. No music; this may be because my hands hurt. Or maybe I'm just lazy; that's more likely.

My body seems to be deteriorating, to say nothing of my brain. And people only a year older than me keep dying. I've been feeling somewhat mortal lately. In addition to feeling down on myself. But I'm not dead yet -- that's something, isn't it?

Linkies:

Notes & links:
0823Su
@ The Nordic People You've Never Heard About - YouTube Forest Finns, Kven
@ 14 Reasons Black Cats Are Different From Every Other Cat - YouTube
@ Project Gutenberg: "In which 'Winnie-the-Pooh' turns 100" - Mastodon
'How a Bear Became a Book' celebrates the 100th year of 'Winnie-the-Pooh' : NPR
Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
* walk: 12:17 DSB804: .64km, 6hp, 17mm, 15min, 1100st,
@ From Markup to
Markdown: The Evolution of Technical Writing, Typesetting Tools and Frameworks
(I was able to download by signing in as Carleton alum) (I would probably have been
disappointed if I'd had to pay for it.)
% 18:10ish managed to pull my R shoulder while trying to do the stretch where you cross
L leg over R knee and pull up. _maybe_ it will get better by Tuesday. Hopefully.
At least I _think_ I can still wipe my arse with it.
@ King County now has the nation’s largest library sorting machine | Seattle Times
= hx work session
* Dutch
* load drugs

0824Mo
% knocked my meds box off the shelf; there are still a couple under the wardrobe.
-> got them.
% I am in rather bad shape, and it's not even 6:30. I should still be in bed.
@ U.S.-Canada trade talks have collapsed. Carney says these 3 issues torpedoed them
Excluding heavy vehicles from tariff relief,
Putting limits on the trade deals Canada was able to seek with other countries.
“threats” from the United States in the deal over French language and Quebec culture.
@ The America We Still Carry in Our Hearts - European Security (Don Marti)
@ You can hear the squeak of sphincters closing – Doc Searls Weblog
well-reasoned screed against AI watermarking
% The therapy putty seems to be working pretty well on my hands, especially the two
stiffest grades. Green=medium mostly; not sure whether blue did much. Used it all
through reading the latest American Scientist.
* m returns early afternoon 15:00
% I really can't get used to not having a cat to greet me when I go up to bed.
= hx work session
* copy TOS from N-R.com to HS-E.com. * -Still needs- link in the footer(s)
* start eclipse posts with downloads from phone.
* Dutch

0825Tu
% going back on 3g/day paracetamol; will see if it helps the shoulder. Seems to so far
* walk: 8:51 DSB804: .64km, 4hp, 17mm, 24min, 1000st
& review Dog/*.do. Many need archiving.
And I note with some surprise that the only open items in must.do::Bucket List _were_
* 2026 total solar eclipse - visible from Spain - planning started
* -overnight- ferry from Hoek van Holland to Harwich (done 0129Th)
Done Since 2026-01-25
The trip _back_ on 0202Mo was overnight
~ got email from AT+Y saying my bill was over the autopay threshold. After multiple
unsuccessful attempts to login (with a couple of very annoying CAPTCHAs), and multiple
attempts to get hold of a human agent, eventually went through the "pay without
logging in" path and it worked. Also got to the phone line and was told the wait for
an agent was over 4 hours. Why am I not surprised.
~ N is having trouble with her new phone, but I can't get to delta mobile from the
login. Can't find a number to call.
@ RIP Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton | Official Website
Dolly Parton, music star, actor and beloved figure [...], dies at 80 - AP
= hx work session
* Copy Terms of Use into new n-r.com site
* make account for steve (s@t, because s@s already in use for the main admin acct.)
(that needs to be changed sometime soon)
-> decide whether to use a naomi-rivkis.com or hyperspace-express.com addr.
* Dutch

0826We
* walk: 8:29 DSB801 .85km, 8hp, 21mm, 1400st, 15min,
@ Tim Curry - Wikipedia Actor Tim Curry dies at 80 | AP News
o make appointment for PSA test at Haga; before 0915 appointment
* j coming sometime today
= hx work session
* Dutch

0827Th Partial lunar eclipse
@ August 2026 lunar eclipse - Wikipedia
@ Partial Lunar Eclipse on 27-28 August 2026 - Where and When to See
: 9 am (cab booked): G and m leave for Millcon
@ More Fucked Today than Yesterday - by Prof. Eliot Jacobson (andrewducker)
" There is simply no historical precedent for a global climate event of this
magnitude. Global industrial civilization has never before confronted a planetary
emergency as potentially devastating. "
* call about Bronx's ashes: Dierencrematorium Haaglanden/ -> told them I'd be in today or tomorrow
-> today. Didn't remember that N and I had decided to get him an urn like Ticia's;
couldn't find a different one I liked, so he's in a blue tin can right now.
@ Dolly Parton - If You Hadn’t Been There (Official Audio) - YouTube
* started laundry.
* finally logged in on AT+T and bumped my autopay limit from 200 to 225
Reminder email didn't know that the bill had been paid. Ammount due was 0, though
@ Getting to the bottom of our bizarre war with Canada | The Seattle Times funny
" So, to recap: Kiss my derrière, said the Canadian. Watershed moment? To be
determined.
But it does feel like a sign from up north that this era may finally be nearing, um,
some sort of bottom. "
@ Narwhal tusks are twisty, magical mathematical marvels | Pop Sci Unicorns
* made fried rice for dinner, onion, pre-made nasi goreng, and chicken chunks
& surveys from PT and AT+T. The latter let me vent a little about their crappy login
procedure, but wasn't really satisfying.
= hx work session
* website
* Dutch -> 1024-day streak!

0828-30 Millcon
: m and G are going, N and I are staying home recovering from Mallorca
@ Dutch destinations: head on down to The Hague this holiday - DutchNews.nl
- Rijksmuseum
- beach
- Arnhem Centraal

0828Fr
* walk: 8:47 DSB804 .64km, 5hp, 18mm, 24min, 1000st,
@ VMs won't contain cyber-capable agents - The Trail of Bits Blog (andrewducker)
@ RIP Tim Curry - Wikipedia
Tim Curry, star of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, dies aged 80 | The Independent
* toss N's laundry in the dryer 16:16 (should have done it earlier but rabbit!)
@ Tropical Storm Dolly forms in Atlantic, but won't last long
@ The World's First Nuclear Explosion Created a Rare Form of Matter : ScienceAlert
Quasicrystals in trinitite.
@ In solarpunk cities of the future, tech follows nature’s lead | Aeon Essays
= hx work session
& web: things are set up weirdly -- books are posts with a custom post type, not
pages (ok, that's cool), but they are nested under /book/ instead of under /Books/
-- that's bad. Getting Rodrigo to fix it. Custom post types, and related trickery
of this sort, have to be done either using a special plugin, or editing the code.
* website: It's Aliiiiive!
* Dutch

0829Sa
* walk: 8:52 DSB804 .64km, 6hp, 15mm, 14min, 1022st,
* 9:30ish D"
$ pay AniCura (installment on Bronx's bill) 638.50 from Bunq. #1 of 4.
@ The moon is drifting away from Earth at 3.8 centimetres a year, so what happens to us
as it goes? - ScienceBlog.com
" On the current best calculations, the last total solar eclipse observable from
Earth’s surface will occur approximately 600 million years from now. "
@ Alt Text is the Ocean You Thought Was a Pond - Mark W.rites detailed advice
= hx work session
* website work.
@ posted Bucket list item: Total Solar Eclipse
* Dutch

The Mandelbear's Musings