Holidays are fastly approaching, and I have been experiencing that mixed happy/melancholic feeling that comes with them. There are always ups and downs, but when extra—as in, non-expected—downs come around this season, my melancholy increases.
I wish all that come around the very best for that next round we call 2025. For those I know, please know I care about you, and keep you in my thoughts daily.
I am so very sorry! Going to be quiet around here for a little bit.
Update: 08/11
Before I truly go quiet, I wanted to reply to this oldie, which I quote:
“If a dictator’s son wins this year’s elections, our country will be one of the saddest jokes in history, ever.”
Dear Claud, hold my beer. :-(
Three days from today, towards the end of the day, we in the US will have an idea of who the nation’s presiding person will be for the next four years. In the 32 years I have lived here, I have never been more worried about an election outcome.
Apple has announced their latest Mac mini, and it’s everything I wanted to see. The task ahead is to convince partner that we need one (note that’s a need, not a want), which we do (well, we need a computer, not an Apple computer per se, but I wouldn’t have it any other way). Yet, I need to do the convincing without adding any stress. Let’s see how I can engineer to do so. Certainly with extreme finesse.
Yesterday was Claud birthday and, even though I reached out to congratulate her, I didn’t make a note here as I have done on previous years. But never too late!
Happy birthday, Claud! 🎂🥳🎁 May you celebrate many more in good health, and happiness, surrounded by your loved ones! I also wish you a quick recovery from what ails you now. ❤️🌹
There is so much misery in the world, so much pain, so much suffering, so much need. How can we ignore if not all of it, most of it?
We were lucky, and Milton didn’t affect us much. Yes, boarding and off-boarding windows ain’t fun. Yes, cleaning up little debris ain’t fun either. But we didn’t lose power, nor Internet, and nothing was broken. No complains, absolutely!
Regarding this, I am also considering a format change. Leaning more towards a “bullet blog”. What is a bullet blog?
Feeling the desire to change these notes website altogether. I am not sure to which direction. Comes to prove that we, humans, never settle. Let’s see.
It took me till now to install it, but worth it: bat is better than cat (and, arguably, less) in, for what I can see, almost every single way. The only thing that makes the last two “better” is that they are normally installed per default.
Should I be sad because the weekend is coming to an end, or happy for having enjoyed it? Some will say “why not both?”, but not me. Thus I choose to pick the second.
“It’s always like this, says Yumiko Ukon, who has run this modest rice ball shop and restaurant in the Otsuka neighbourhood of Tokyo for almost half a century. “But we never run out of rice,” she adds, seated in her office near a wall clock in the shape of a rice ball with a bite taken out.”
Onigiri is awesome. Rice is everything. Rice is life.
I miss RadioShack, Circuit City, Computer City, CompUSA, Fry’s… all those “old” computer/electronics stores, and what they used to be. No store these days compare. None. Uff, I am getting old.
I will leave this here with a LOL. And nothing else.
Hurricane Helene is coming and, as her path will come nearby, she is granting us a day off tomorrow. Thank you Ma’am!
Not having fun. Actually, having the total opposite, whatever that might be. It all started yesterday, because I am lucky enough to do things that bring plenty of the opposity of fun.
I have decided to use Apple’s Journal app more. Towards that aim I have placed it on my mobile device home screen. That will not interfere with any of my public interactions, as Journal will simply be that, a personal journal, and thus not for public comsumption.
My aim is to document the mundane, “what did I eat last night?” kind of thing, to recollect, and preserve, daily happenings and thoughts at day’s end.
And… the first two are here! Took a little over 1 hour to transfer data to mine. Kid’s will have to wait until after pickleball. The 16 Pro’s soooo buttery smooth. Oh my!
Tomorrow is the day. Cases are already here, all that’s missing is the VIP. 🤣 Oh, and I will have to buy new cables too (USB-C), but that will be easy, and paintless (Amazon for the win!).
Today, for no reason at all, memories of the many times the kid and I saw “Monsters, Inc.” (★★★★★) when he was growing up came to mind. It was one of our favourite movies, one on which we bonded together. Good times!
This might be quite unpopular, but I truly dislike Wordle. The reason isn’t rooted on any psychological issue, it is much, much more simple: people share their Wordle result(s)—I figure they feel good about themselves—and for me it is only uneven, unaligned, wasteful noise. I don’t even want to show you an example, but I am sure you know what I am talking about.
Don’t get me wrong, the Atkinson Hyperlegible font is a great font. Like, truly, truly good. I know, I know, there comes the “but”. But I have seeing it on Hacker News many times. Like 9 tailed foxes times.
Based on this Hacker News submission, see below for how long you have been iddle. You move your mouse, it stops the counter. Don’t. Even. Breathe! (kidding, kidding, breathe, damn it! 😅)
You have been idle for 000 seconds.
My little experiment with hardcore gaming—as in, if you die you lose the toon, and everything it was in it—has come to an end. In the last three days I created 10 toons, taking the highest one to level 70 (out of 100 maximum possible). Each one of them died at certain stage. I’ve had enough now. 😅
Update: 18:44
As Kim just told me, “it is time for you [me] to get a new hobby”. LOL. I don’t think I need to, I just need a break.
This last minute meeting popping up on my calendar was an unexpected “gift”, especially when I was ready to call it quits early after having had a 30 minutes lunch. Oh well.
For the first time in 10 years I am paying someone to mow the front lawn, and trim the bushes. All that hard work for $100. I don’t mind doing it, but I need a new mower, trimmer, and blower ($1000+), so, yeah.
Update: 16:12
I feel bad for this guy, he is still working on the lawn, and rain is coming. He is doing a good job, though.
This is good news. I can’t help thinking of my father, as he could have benefitted from a device like this.
“Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the first over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid software device, Hearing Aid Feature, intended to be used with compatible versions of the Apple AirPods Pro headphones. Once installed and customized to the user’s hearing needs, the Hearing Aid Feature enables compatible versions of the AirPods Pro to serve as an OTC hearing aid, intended to amplify sounds for individuals 18 years or older with perceived mild to moderate hearing impairment.”
Well, “that” deed is done! 🥳 Now the wait starts. Some will deliver on 20th September, other will not arrive until October! 😩😂
Oh, I just realised is is Friday 13th! Just one (the first), of the two this year will have. Will, let’s seize it, right? Break a leg! 😅
Partner managed to break, for the second time, her SUV passenger’s side mirror. Granted, the mirror itself wasn’t shattered. Will it count for that “breaking a mirror brings back luck” superstition?
AT&T and Microsoft (because I have no way to know for certain whose fault was) regaled us today with a couple of hours of downtime. The perfect way to start the penultimate working day of the week, right?
This is also ridiculous. On the Change Healthcare breach they, like all others, are offering free credit monitoring:
“A dedicated call center is available to offer free credit monitoring and identity theft protections for two years to anyone who believes they may have been impacted.”
Two years, are they kidding us? At the very minimum it should be 10 years, if not lifetime. And with IDX, better known by no one. An utter rubbish company.
Every single person in the United States—with the exception of those that were born, say, a month ago (and it’s only a matter of time)—has had their PII data leaked. Between the many breaches, everyone, and I mean everyone is exposed, and should have their credit frozen. Those Change Healthcare letters we are getting are part of this. But before those, there was AT&T, T-Mobile, the many banks, the many others. An almost endless list. Did I say you are exposed? Because you are!
“Face with bags under eyes” is the Emoji I didn’t know I needed, and can’t wait to abuse the bejesus out of it once arrives. Though not Emoji, Apple is going to take this to the next level on iOS 18. I am all for rich, international, ways to communicate!
On last night’s debate Trump didn’t answer any questions, didn’t outline any plans. He rambled, lied, and trolled, every single time. In case there was any doubt, and though my vote—living in a red state—might seem worthless, I am voting for Kamala Harris.
Every once in a while one needs to read something to makes one feel well. Or something reaffirming what we already believe, and do.
“Listen. You don’t live there. You live here. With your people. Go to work. Get your money. And come on home.”
How often we forget those simple, yet unquestionable, words. Right? What the author of the article understood:
- Whatever the work is, do it well—not for the boss but for yourself.
- You make the job; it doesn’t make you.
- Your real life is with us, your family.
- You are not the work you do; you are the person you are.
I agree.
Similar to one of my previous notes, this one aims to call attention to a worthy cause.
St. Jude is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Their researchers and doctors work together to turn laboratory breakthroughs into lifesaving treatments for children from across the United States and around the world. And with your support, St. Jude can provide cutting-edge treatments at no cost to families — so they can focus on helping their child live.
Please consider donating the potential gift of life to a little one.
As my PDS stopped working for no particular reason, and no feedback has been given to my issue on their git repository, I have disabled it. That means I just “Poof!” myself out of Atproto.
All of the sudden, and without any apparent reason, my BlueSky PDS stopped working. Maybe it’s my VPS telling me to get rid of it.
I remember, with sadness and constricted heart, the atomic bombing of the cities of Hiroshima (today, 79 years ago), and Nagasaki.
I am facing a small dilemma. I don’t feel I have the energy, nor the content, to share my attention across different places. I have a “blog”, to which I write once, or twice a year. I have these notes, which I used to use more often. I also have an ActivityPub server (aka Mastodon, or Fediverse), and a BlueSky PDS (Personal Data Server).
I really need to downsize. What to “cut off” first?
I get the automated message from Kim. The same I get each week day morning: “Good morning ❤️! ☕ please 🙏🏻” I know it’s 07:30. Next I know, and I kid you not, I get the second reminder tone about the same message. Two minutes have passed by. What’s going on?! I felt I just blinked, and two minutes passed. Something’s broken.
So that I can remember to create a Gist with this later. Useful if you run GoToSocial, have moved to it from another service, and want to keep your initial Fediverse or ActivityPub “joined date”.
# Find the user ID.
select id, created_at from accounts where username = 'username_goes_here'
# Use newly found user ID to update the "created_at" field.
update accounts set created_at = '2016-10-04 21:27:33+00:00' where id = 'user_id_goes_here';
Breaking news:
Mike Pence consoles former President Trump, noting: “I know what it’s like to have someone try to take your life.”
“Time is an illusion, a construct made out of human memory. There’s no such thing as the past, the present, or the future. It’s all happening now.”
I have so many places to drop my thoughts, and carry out interactions, that I am having a hard time deciding which to pick. Such difference from my notebook, and pencil, diary of old!
Congratulations to the British people for kicking out the Tories tyranny, and embracing a forward looking/moving Labour government!
I adore green olives, stuffed with pimento, and manzanilla. I love the smell of the rain, the sound doves, and cats make, and the occasional solitude. Holidays upcoming!
I forgot to come around yesterday to drop a note to mark a transgression, an indignity, handed over the American people by our own Justices. Never too late, though. Not for this. A brief excerpt from Justice Sotomayor’s opinion.
“The President of the United States is the most powerful person in the country, and possibly the world. When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution. Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”
American democracy is in real peril. It is not an exageration.
I have been more active on the Fediverse lately, mostly as a consumer, but occasionally replying to posts. If you are on the Fediverse (also known as Mastodon), feel free to reach out (@david@weaknotes.com)!
From the original (and well-received) “Blade Runner” (★★★★★) film, the now famous Roy Batty’s (leader of the replicants) monologue:
“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe… Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion… I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain… Time to die.”
First time replying to a MastoPrompt (a request for everyone, anyone, to offer a small poem about a certain word). The word was “alone”. My entry:
Assuming forgotten I felt despair,
sat there, alone, among empty chairs.
My child showed up, his smile all wide,
His ask “Talk to me, papa!” broke the divide.
Alone no more.
I don’t have a desktop computer. My “main” computer runs iOS, and it’s carried in my pocket. I miss macOS; I want to experience Sequoia. I want a Mac so badly!
I have never brought Phanpy (a delightfully opinionated, minimalistic, Mastodon client) to Notes before, so here it goes its first appearance. It is lovely. The way it does threading is really good, and the “Catch-up” feature is marvelous.
If you use Mastodon, or a Mastodon API compatible server, give Phanpy a try. I promise you will not be disappointed.
Random morning thought: underwear should never, ever, ever be white, or light colored. Speaking from a man’s perspective, of course. Can’t speak for the other side. 😅
“If I could use words / like scattering flowers and fallen leaves, / what a bonfire my poems would make.”
Oh, Mariko-Sama, how much admiration you deserve! Anna Sawai performance was superb on the series. Thank you for making me cry.
Just finished watching “Shogun” (★★★★★), the 2024 series. I don’t have the right to spoil it for you, but I sincerely beg you to watch it, if you can. It truly is very well done; all of it.
Now, this is some promise!
When we launch Private Cloud Compute, we’ll take the extraordinary step of making software images of every production build of PCC publicly available for security research. This promise, too, is an enforceable guarantee: user devices will be willing to send data only to PCC nodes that can cryptographically attest to running publicly listed software. We want to ensure that security and privacy researchers can inspect Private Cloud Compute software, verify its functionality, and help identify issues — just like they can with Apple devices.
I feel like I am late to the party for not having dropped a note here right after, or during, Apple’s WWDC. Yes, I saw it live. Yes, I am excited about iOS/iPadOS/tvOS 18, and macOS 15. Of course I don’t have a problem with the way Apple is implementing AI (which, from now on, stands for “Apple Intelligence”). I love it all, and can’t wait for it!
I am on the Fediverse (@david@collantes.social, and @david@weaknotes.com; warning, Google results links) mostly as a consumer. That is, I read and, occasionally, reply. I post once in a Blue Moon.
What brings me to write this note is that it bugs me, to no end, the abuse of “content warning” I see around. It is a reason for me not to follow (or mute) the OP. I want to read/see, unabridged. Content warnings are very useful; abusing them isn’t.
There is wisdom, even in animated movies. Especially in animated movies.
“Your story may not have such a happy beginning, but that does not make you who you are. It is the rest of your story, who you choose to be.”
— Soothsayer, Kung Fu Panda.
A quote from Flemming Rose (whom I got to know about a bit more today):
“If a believer demands that I, as a nonbeliever, observe his taboos in the public domain, he is not asking for my respect, but for my submission.”
Asked a friend who consistently walks 10,000 daily steps about his secret. He replied about setting interim targets, pretty much breaking the walks in three chunks. I think that’s a doable approach. I just need to wake up a tad earlier.
When I told him it gets boring for me, as I walk inside my neighborhood, and often feels like “walking on a wheel like a hamster”, he replied “It’s true it can be boring. You have to get your mind working while walking!” I need to get my mind to work harder, for sure.
Morbid thought of the day: when I die, just like my corpse, everything I manage today online will rot. Digital rot, and vanishment.
Oh boy, some people sure are something. Yet, this could be just the preamble of what’s to come, maybe.
Before phoning the number, Gaudreau did a search in Facebook Messenger to find out whether it was legitimate.
The answer he got in Messenger from the “Meta AI” artificial intelligence search tool was that the phone number he found, 1-844-457-0520, was “indeed a legitimate Facebook support number.”
A convicted criminal is still running for the presidency of the United States of America, while supported by a major political party and, arguably, half of the U.S. population. Meanwhile someone convicted of a minor crime (weed, for example) will struggle to get a job. Let that sink in.
Seven days ago I mowed the lawn. It rendered five 33 gallons bags full of mulched grass. Today I had to do it again (3 bags this time). With the occasional rain, and the shinning sun, our lawn is growing “a tad” too fast. I can’t keep up! 🥵
Trump is found guilty on all 34 counts. Of course he said it is a disgrace.
Whatever Donald Trump says, this is a devastating outcome for the former president.
It’s one thing being controversial and provocative, it’s quite another being a convicted criminal.
The suckers, of course, continue to pour money to his pockets. Half of America are suckers, so yeah.
It is that time of the year again, with less than two weeks to Apple’s WWDC (which has run yearly since 1983). Looking forward to see what’s to come to iOS, and macOS!
Just tried Microsoft search engine (because I opened Microsoft Edge web browser to check something on my mobile), Bing, and it came across as a chaotic convoluted disaster.
Thank you Claud for introducing me to Luis Mendo great drawings, and illustrations. Make sure to browse Luis site; it truly is a joy!
“I awoke one night in Quito, Ecuador, this year and came up with a way to save a chip or two from the Apple II, and a trivial way to have the 2 grays of the Apple II be different (light gray and dark gray) but it’s 38 years too late. It did give me a good smile, since I know how hard it is to improve on that design.”
— Woz thinks of an Apple II improvement over 35 years later
Now, that’s truly something, eh? Just as Steve Jobs was, Steve Wozniak sure is an interesting fellow.
I want to learn Japanese enough so that I can converse with a cab driver, restaurant host, or hotel staff when I return. Yet, on the age of computing, I am failing to find a sound resource to do so. I would also like to enlist a Japanese national locally, so I can rent some lessons from.
If you know of any good resource, and/or anyone local, please let me know!
It is that time of the month in which I have to touch grass, literally. The lawn is almost knee high, so I am sure I will go through the three fully charged batteries this time. All under 91°F temperatures. Lovely.
Base solely on how much I like to eat spam, I think I am Hawaiian, or Filipino. Need to go easy, though, as even the “25% less salt” is super salty.
It is impossible to encapsulate Japan in just one picture. Or in thousands. So, instead, I am going the stereotypical route in just one click (which I took).
Nothing I could write can describe what I feel for that country, and it’s people. Japan is absolutely amazing in the whole sense of the word, and I can’t wait to return again!
I swear I want to use apps made with Rust more. Why are they such a pain to install? Why such a huge download of stuff? I thought Golang was a pain; Rust is pain time a tenthfold.
Not only I don’t have the technical ability, I don’t have the artistic ability to come up with something like this. It is amazing what’s being accomplished within a single div!