> Notes...

I couldn’t believe my eyes when an update notification popped up today for Snapseed and, imagine my surprise when I saw the total refresh it received. Snapseed is a unique delightful aberration, a glitch in the matrix. Acquired by Google in 2012, it is the only app I know that Google has kept alive, and standalone (that’s, not incorporated into another), and updated.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that it is an amazing app.

Haven’t walked “officially” ever since we came from NYC. With everyday rains, lawn mowing, and what nots, well, not going to justify my not-doings, it just hasn’t happened. Maybe I will venture out now. It is overcast, but no rain yet.

Update: 19 Feb 2026 @ 11:26:10

Forgot to come here to note that, as I was going out of the door to walk, it started thundering and raining, right on the clock. Step count today—please, don’t laugh!—1,548. 😭

To add to the current state of affairs—if you live in the US, you should know everything else that’s happening—we now have a president selling US citizenships under his name, and a Secretary of State celebrating Russia National Day. Yet, Kamala was the “communist” one. Ain’t that right? 😏

From “Fallout” comes this nugget of “wisdom”. It’s true, though, time is the apex predator. Now, about outliving… that’s the challenge. No one can outlive time.

“What is the ultimate weapon of mass destruction? Time. Time is the apex predator. And in the event of an incident, time is the weapon with which we will defeat all of our enemies. That is how we will win the great game of capitalism. Not by outfighting anyone, but by outliving them.”

Absolutely gut wrenching, horrible airplane accident in Ahmedabad, India. Words aren’t enough, so sorry…

“An Air India flight carrying 242 passengers and crew members crashed shortly after taking off in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday. There was no immediate information about survivors, but India’s health minister said “many people” had died.”

Update: 27 Feb 2026 @ 20:06:20

Only 1 person is been reported to have survived . After seeing the video of the explosion, it is genuily amazing one person could have survived it.

I recently got a taste of it, again. A taste of walking in a walkable town, that’s. I wish I lived in a place where I could walk to places. I envy you, Claudine!

“Our job is to taste free air. Your so-called boss may own the clock that taunts you from the wall but, my friends, the hour is yours.”

“Page 197 slaps”. From “The You You Are” book comes that excerpt, which will be relevant for the ages.

I didn’t know Christy Walton, but now I do, and I like her very much. If you can, participate! Look for your city, or nearby, in their map.

Feeling the sudden desire to “ditherising” all images I have around here. Doing so will change them to monochrome, and to Atkinson dither, similar to this one. Should I, and do it retroactively, or just from now on?

I know it is way early, but in preparation for macOS 26 I have now removed Raycast, and will soon remove Maccy. Who knows what else I will be able to remove when 26 comes. I really can’t help it.

Who is going to work the fields now? Point me to a fellow American willing to do it, for the pay they do it, can you? Ugh.

“They’re just taking innocent people who are trying to build their own American Dream,” said Daniel Larios with the UFW Foundation. “This is not law enforcement. It’s a campaign of fear against people whose only ‘crime’ is living and working in the U.S.”

This is disruptive, unnecessary, cruel, and it will affect us all, minus the rich—those are pretty much affected by nothing.

Finished watching “Fallout” (★★★★☆) season 1 with the kid last night, after a little binge marathon that lasted 4, or 5 days. Pretty good, wholeheartedly recommended! I liked it more than “The last of us” (★★★☆☆) , for sure. Now we can’t wait for season 2!

“The Department of the Interior is requiring the National Park Service (NPS) to post signage at all sites across the country by June 13, asking visitors to offer feedback on any information that they feel portrays American history and landscapes in a negative light.”

If you read this on a newspaper from Cuba, Iran, or North Korea, it would not surprise you, right?

Alphabet felt like they were been left behind, so they had to do something, me thinks.

“This is the earliest Android has launched a major release in the last few years, which ensures you get the latest updates as soon as possible on your devices.”

Hmm, right. I wonder why? 😂

I don’t use profanities, but allow me, please, this time. “I don’t give a fuck”, “I don’t have fucks left to give”, etc., is used to utterly mean, I don’t care, right? I have found, though, another meaning for it.

“I don’t have fucks left to give” says that I am, absolutely, not going to let any stressful situation bring me worry, or take away my peace of mind. I am, still, giving a fuck about it, and will act to the best of my knowledge—and expediently—to resolve it, and bring it to closure.

Bottomline, because “I give a fuck”, “I have zero fucks left to give”. Do I make sense? 😅

Eileen, George Orwell’s wife, wrote in a letter to her best friend Norah, after her marriage to Orwell. Marriage saved by an aunt! LOL.

“I lost my habit of punctual correspondence during the first few weeks of marriage because we quarrelled so continuously & really bitterly that I thought I’d save time & just write one letter to everyone when the murder or separation had been accomplished. Then Eric’s [Orwell] aunt came to stay & was so dreadful (she stayed two months) that we stopped quarrelling & just repined. Then she went away & now all our troubles are over.”

➝ Via Jessica Lord.

Went out walking at lunch time (just returned), and had to call it quits after the first lap. It is hot, but not as much as it is humid. It made us feel asphyxiated. So, after a long 20 seconds deliberation, Errol and I agreed for it to be a short walk today. Still, we got 3,318 steps. Not too shabby.

“Walking into many of the nation’s air traffic control towers is like stepping back in time. Technology from the 20th century is still very much in use today — including, yes, floppy disks, paper flight strips, and computers running Windows 95.”

Wait, what?! My only reluctance to travel is air safety, but I didn’t know about this, which is mind boggling to me. Now I can’t unsee. 😳

I have to say, those days on NYC were also a health “retreat”. I mean, look at how many steps I clocked in each day, and I ate just once a day. Yes, my legs and feet hurt at night, and it was hard to fall asleep, but next morning I was ready once more.

Talking about the American Museum of Natural History, their dioramas (this is just one collection) are out of this world. Nothing I write, or show here, will do them justice. You need to see them with your own eyes. I strongly recommend those two museums, The Met, and the AMNH.

The The Metropolitan Museum of Art (colloquially known as The Met) is amazing, and we didn’t even begin to get a glimpse of it. It is in our list of places to visit again when we return to NYC. Likewise for the American Museum of Natural History, which we also visited, and “saw”.

Though trains (subway and above ground) are very efficient and plentiful, in and around Manhattan, when it comes to their state, cleanness and overall sanitary state (for trains and their stations), there is no comparisson to those in London, Berlin, or Tokyo, to mention a few. NYC trains and stations are in a state of disrepair.

Yet, there is no better way to traverse the city than taking trains. Owning and driving a car in NYC is borderline pyschopathic—which, coincidentially, could also be said about Tokyo.

Kid happened to notice first, before I did, that there are quite a few people around Koreatown (where the hotel we stayed in is situated) seemingly doing nothing. Moving boxes with one side to the other, conversing while the third one works, walking in and out of a building, or simply hauling containers on a small hand car around. We found the reason for the last; they are pop-up vendors that sell street food, and we caught them working on their setup.

There isn’t much one can do with only 3 days in NYC. The impression one can get from New York is also bound to be skewed because, again, how can judgement be made for such huge city in only 3 days? So, I understand that I will need further visits to have a better idea of it. Considering we only visited one borough, and didn’t explored it on its entirety, well, we know next to nothing about it, right?

The bad: always something being built, or repaired, noisy, smelly, kind of dirty, expensive. The good: people from everywhere—truly a “melting pot”, lots to eat, and see. Transportation (subway and trains) is excellent. I mean, you take a train and get off at decent walking distance to anywhere you might want to go. The layout of Manhattan is delightful, there is no way to get lost.

We spent the last four days in Manhattan, NYC. Apologies in advance for the notes about it that will soon follow. I myself like quieter, cleaner, cheaper cities. That is not to say I didn’t like it—I did!—but it wouldn’t be my first choice to live in. The kid, on the other hand, said he “wouldn’t mind it at all”.

I really don’t want to turn overly politicised. I don’t intent to; but when the president of the United States of America becomes Putin’s messenger¹, well, that’s not something I cannot not mention.

“‘We discussed the attack on Russia’s docked airplanes, by Ukraine, and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides²,’ Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace.”

“President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields,” he went on."

She is astoundingly ignorant, clueless, and detestable, don’t you think? How and why do we keep electing people like her to vote, and make decisions on our behalf?

“Full transparency, I did not know about this section on pages 278-279 of the OBBB that strips states of the right to make laws or regulate AI for 10 years.

I am adamantly OPPOSED to this and it is a violation of state rights and I would have voted NO if I had known this was in there.”

Chrome has gone nuts. Because of this note, which has two sentences in French, Chrome is prompting me whether or not I want to translate the page—not just that note!—to English. Wait until AI makes it in. Oy.

“‘Treating them with blanket suspicion not only violates principles of fairness, due process, and our democratic values – it sends a chilling message to the world that America no longer welcomes global talent,’ she wrote.”

I know I already mentioned something related to this, I just find it mind-boggling (I know, it shouldn’t surprise me, but here I am) that our current regime has decided to do something like this. I am stumped.

Ever since I moved from WordPress (ugh!) to Jekyll at the beginning of 2011, and then to Hugo, sometime in 2014, I haven’t had comments on any website I have dabbled with. I want to believe I have been happier that way. For a few I tried kudos here, using Tinylytics, but that didn’t last long.

Less is, truly, more.

Reading Alice Barlett’s weekly note earlier today, in which a daughter tells her father “Daddy, you are the man I love the most”, reminded me when the girl once told me too “Papá, I want to marry someone like you”, just around the same age as “E”. It made me feel so appreciated, and loved! I will never forget it.

Blizzard is at it again with a very lame anniversary “celebration”. That is, some worthless cosmetics, an extra Gift of the Tree cache on turn-ins, and some increased experience gain which will not be enought to get me to paragon 300 this season (I have never been able to reach it, because it requires a mind boggling amount of experience).

I don’t see me buying the season pass ever again. Absolutely not worth it.

Oh oh, should I worry? My brew upgrade just updated Hugo to v0.147.7. Last time I upgraded it everything broke loose. I figure I may as well test it, so this is it. If this post shows without errors, I should consider myself lucky, and clap twice.

Today I learned that Chrome doesn’t play MOV video files. It only likes MP4, and WebM. I discovered it when looking at the note on WWDC (now an MP4), and seeing it blank. I figure MP4/WebM are smaller in size, so it doesn’t hurt using that format instead.

This marriage is truly over, unless one of the couple sacrifices themselves to keep the relationship alive a little bit longer.

“Elon Musk has hit out at President Donald Trump’s signature tax and spending bill, saying he “can’t stand” the legislation and describing it as a ‘disgusting abomination’”.
“‘Shame on those who voted for it,’ Musk said in a post on X on Tuesday.”

Came across this thought, which ended up being a partial quote by Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, which I liked quite a bit once I found it whole.

“If I am I, because you are you, and you are you, because I am I, then I am not I, and you are not you. But if I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you, and we can talk.”

➝ Via Loon thoughts.

I was talking to George earlier today about the rewatchability of mangas, and we both agreed that “Jujutsu Kaisen” has a high rewatchability rate. I liked the series—and movie—so much, that I even got me a t-shirt with Kento on it. Took it to our Japan trip, and I managed to get a bunch of school girls giggle, or laugh, while covering their mouth, and pointing at my direction. 🤭😅

Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is coming up once more and, as always, I feel like kid before Christmas. The rumours I allowed myself to read tell something about Tahoe, and version 26, to match with year. Let’s see.

It is here, now! “Tune” in! Liquid Glass, oh my! Absolutely loving the upcoming updates for all versions 26s. With iPadOS 26, the iPad becomes one step closer (but not quite, since “macOS is superior”, as George pointed out) to becoming a “lite” laptop.

“You know, there are things that I don’t entirely agree with. But it’s difficult for me to bring that up in an interview because then it creates a bone of contention. So then, I’m a little stuck in a bind, where I’m like, well, I don’t wanna, you know, speak up against the administration, but I also don’t wanna take responsibility for everything this administration’s doing.”

Now we know “the rest of the story”, eh? Things were not as they seemed to be at Pleasantville, yes? What else is happening at the House of TACO?

It is hot, so hot, and humid. Rain might come too, though sun shines right now. I want to stay indoors, but she is dragging me out! 😩 Please, send help! 😅 Also, weekend may as well be over. Dear, oh dear!

Update: 30 Nov 2025 @ 11:12:34

We had a really good time with friends that stopped by at the Cape while cruising with the “Symphony of the Seas”. Just got home, really tired of driving. I am calling it a day now, for sure.