Done Since 2026-09-20

[mdlbear]

Not a good week -- see yesterday's s4s post remembering Kathy Mar. At least I

On the other hand, I seem to be regaining some mobility in my right shoulder, I got my COVID stab (here they call it a "coronaprik") Tuesday, and we picked up our new good-for-five-years ID cards on Thursday.

On the gripping hand, only four walks -- leaving the house tends to screw up my schedule -- and we had to get a new electric coffee grinder. And I acquired two deep new rabbit-holes on Tuesday. Doomed.

And speaking of doom, the US is still in the hands of a madman, religious fanatics, and evil trillionaires. "Evil" may be redundant in that sentence. And the ultimate horror: somebody has ported DOOM to SQL.

Ok, maybe that's not quite as horrible as DOOM running on nothing but regex find-and-replace. But the SQL version is a lot faster. You're welcome.

Linkies:

• American druid: how a 1960s campus prank became a serious lifestyle | Guardian
• the Nightmare Song from Iolanthe triggered by N taking the ferry between Hoek van Holland and Harwich. Replaced by Heaven-Con.
• Selena Ballerina and Abstruse Goose, the aforementioned rabbit-holes.
• This is going to be a problem: U.S. small biz can’t ship to the EU anymore.

Notes & links:
0920Su
  @ The Great Buddha of Kamakura
  * walk:  10:20ish Jan Greshoffplantsoen 2: .43km, ~900st (forgot phone, so limited stats)
    -> used Colleen's scooter cape.  worked pretty well at first; wind and heat made the
       last two blocks coming back somewhat unpleasant.
  * N on the way back from Norwich by way of the ferry from Harwich  -> inevitable earworm
    @ the Nightmare Song from Iolanthe
      " For you dream you are crossing the Channel, and tossing about in a steamer from
        Harwich / Which is something between a large bathing machine and a very small
        second-class carriage "
    & long series of dives through Wikipedia and elsewhere, starting here.
  @ How typeface influences the way we read and think | The Week
  @ 30 Insane Geography Facts About Netherlands - YouTube
  @ Captain Jacques Cousteau’s Dangerous Quest to Live Underwater | National
    Geographic
  $ C $15 to Internet Archive
  = hx work session
    * Dutch
  * load drugs
    * order * Buspirone (missing Th-Su), bupropion

0921Mo
  * walk:  10:13 DSB804: .64km; 5hp, 15mm, 18min, 1024st
  @ Dutch scientists discover tin-based solar breakthrough that keeps hot electrons 1,000
    times longer than current panels, changing the future of solar power|Times of India
  @ August just became the hottest month ever recorded, defying the usual pattern
  @ Wandering black hole found 30,000 light-years from its galaxy’s center
  * register with praatmetdedokter.nl -- needs somebody at the practice to accept it
    -> came back fairly quickly.   was expecting an AI, but no way to select language
    -> Asked the app "can we use English please"
    -> and got back (in Dutch) your question has been forwarded to your GP, we will answer
       within 3 hours.  Not helpful.  Might as well use mijngezondheid
    -> logged in on the phone app; _that_ let me select English.  doesn't affect webapp.
  : mijngezondheid.net (my health) no longer lets me make appointments other than video
    but at least questions get answered fairly promptly
  * order * Buspirone (missing Th-Su), bupropion  
    -> apparently psych drugs can't be refilled automatically - always have to contact GP
    -> has forwarded my prescription
  $ C $15 to Internet Archive from AX Au
  $ I €18.20 from Convera UK Ltd for royalty on TWAiOTB to Bunq HX
  $ HX 0915 $19.99 domain renewal for naomi-rivkis.com
  $ HX 0828 $24.95 domain renewal for goingsideways.blog
  & update WP et. al. on newtricks.rainbows-end.net  to WP 7.1.1
  * check over questionaire for coronaprik tomorrow (printed on 0909)
    Health questionnaire - GGDafspraak.nl
  @ ‘Doom Loop’: OpenAI and Microsoft Admit LLMs Are Destroying Web, Built on Theft
  = hx work session
    * Dutch

0922Tu
  * 13:00 leave with G for...
  * 13:30 COVID19 vax Voormalig kantoor UVW, Platinaweg 10.  Same time as G
  @ Selena Ballerina – Medium
    is a _very_ deep rabbit hole into - math and quantum mechanics
    The Saddest Day We Have Ever Endured | by Selena Ballerina | Intuition | Medium
  @ s-macke/Abstruse-Goose-Archive: Archive of the Abstruse Goose website comics
    _another_ rabbit hole.  I'm doomed.  DOOMED.
  = hx work session
    * Dutch

0923We  Equinox 00:05 UTC, 02:05 CEST
  @ Equinox - Wikipedia
  % some soreness in L arm at the injection site;  not clear whether there are other
    effects, but I do seem stiffer and have less energy than usual.  headache
  @ U.S. small biz can’t ship to the EU anymore — Glenn Fleishman (andrewducker)
  @ The Claude Delusion. What if we’re the ones having hallucinations | Cory Doctorow
    " But there’s a second hurdle that makes it hard for a small but important subset of
      humanity to understand that chatbots aren’t people: the billionaires to whom nearly
      everyone isn’t a real person. "
  % 15:30ish feeling pretty out of it; better ~18:30 after water, food, and naproxen
  * walk:  19:06 Simon Vestijkstraat 2: .57km, 8hp, 11mm, 11min, 1100st, 
  * SL:  KCl, niacin  from Bol, to arrive Friday
  = hx work session
    * Dutch

0924Th
  @ Story Archive – Voice – Carleton College Happy Place
    American druid: how a 1960s campus prank became a serious lifestyle | Guardian 
  = hx work session
    * Dutch
  * 14:35 Uber booked for...
  * 15:15 residence permits -- passport and old card to turn in.
  * request free (Carletonp post-50th reunion)1866 Association lapel pin
  & unsubscribe zerocancer.org (ZERO Prostate Cancer) - survey drops me at not in US
    (and that was the second email I got on that subject.)
  - Kathy Mar has gone to HeavenCon.  % sad
    Kathy Mar - Heaven Con [HQ]
    -> lyrics in first comment.
    % crying
    -> now in Lyrics-Other.  Sang it a capella because hand
  @ Kathy Mar - Wikipedia
    HEAVEN-CON official
    Filk Hall of Fame citation - Kathy Mar - 1996

0925Fr
  % R shoulder hurting a little less than L this morning?!
  * 9ish D"
  : damned coffee grinder broke.  Partway into the second cup.
    Had to finish with the hand grinder, which fortunately we still had.
    & Ordered a new one.  Will be here tomorrow.
  = hx work session
    o Dutch
  * SL:  Tena proskin pantsu, dense therapy putty
  * pick up buspirone and bupropion at apotheek
    -> filled in drug sorters for this evening, tomorrow, and Sunday
    -> Took (newer scooter)Gizmo.  10kph is scarier than 6.  Takes getting used to.
    (Note that 10kph is the second lowest of I don't know how many.)

0926Sa
  % put on my shirt without any problems; clearly getting some R shoulder mobility back
  * walk:  9:48 DSB804: .64km, 8hp, 13mm, 11min, 1024st,
  % the extra-firm therapy putty that arrived today seems to be _very_ effective
  x j here through tomorrow -> under the weather.
  @ Two parallel neural ectoderm progenitors contribute to the developing brain
    " ...we postulate the brain is a composite organ emanating from two lineage-restricted
      progenitors; these dual progenitors may be evolutionarily conserved across
      550  million years from hemichordates to mammals. "  --  Nature Neuroscience
    -> So the two-brain thing isn't journalistic hype, it comes from the original paper.
  @ The Most Dangerous Document in AI: Why Microsoft Is Terrified of Claude’s
    Constitution | by @pramodchandrayan | The Thinking Engineer | Sep, 2026 | Medium
  = hx work session
    @ posted mdlbear | Songs for Saturday: Heaven-Con - RIP Kathy Mar
    * Dutch