The worse that could ever had happened to VMWare has been to be acquired by Broadcom. Such a horrible company! Now, all VMWare support accounts are being migrated to Broadcom’s support accounts. As you can imagine, the support site for a company that blows, well, blows too. ๐ฌ
The Tesla’s full self-driving capability trial has expired on the M3, and I didn’t use it not even once. Just more proof that I don’t need it, want it, and, thus, did great by not buying it. Woot!
Finally I decided to order a pack of 4 AirTags. Experiencing their flawless setup, and how they automagically show up on the Find My app, is truly something. Love it when technology works so smoothly.
Wow! This Monday has been crazy just up until now. Truly crazy! I wonder what the rest of the day will pan out to be. Oh, and the rest of the week! ๐ฌ
And just like that Sunday almost ends, and, thus, this glorious weekend. Accomplished quite a bit. Dog tired.
Time spent looking for a public notary capable of handling a will: 5 hours. Some money spent on clothing. Craving for chili quenched (Steak and Shake’s one ain’t bad!). Saturday sunsets.
Just had a chรจ thรกi that mum made for me (because she knows I am sick, and that I like it), and I feel I had the entire month worth of sugar in just one drink. ๐
It’s now my turn. The challenge now is not to pass it to kid (he is a week away from his trip), and to get well before our upcoming trip. Ugh3!
Third time’s a charm. I am not buying Tropicana Orange Juice ever again. For the third time in a row, their “Lots of Pulp” has none. That’s six bottles, two at a time. No more, moving on.
From “No Country for Old Men”:
Anton Chigurh: Don’t put it in your pocket, sir. Don’t put it in your pocket. It’s your lucky quarter.
Gas Station Proprietor: Where do you want me to put it?
Anton Chigurh: Anywhere not in your pocket. Where it’ll get mixed in with the others and become just a coin. Which it is.
Wife getting sick is the second worse thing that can happen, right after kid getting sick. Me getting sick will be the third. And the timming of it. Oof!
I welcome Mondays with love, with hope. Yet, no matter what I do, things that seemingly happen just on Mondays come to sour my mood. Why, o why?!
Amazon messaging you at 05:00 to get a gate code for a delivery ain’t nice. Receiving a call for the same at 05:30, after having replied to said message, it’s totally uncool.
Friday has long sunsetted, but not over yet. What to do for the night? What to cook? Both important questions, for which I have nil answers. ๐
The weekend begins for me now, and I have absolutely nothing to do (well, I am sure Kim could find something for me to do, but I am not going to let her know I am off. Haha!). I am leaning towards going to mum’s to pet and feed her chicken. Then just lazy around, because if that is not a great use of my free time, what is?
If you want to quickly test your disk speed on Linux (might work on macOS, but not 100% sure) simply do:
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=test bs=1G count=7 status=progress ; rm -f test
Decently happy with my results: 7516192768 bytes (7.5 GB, 7.0 GiB) copied, 5.10763 s, 1.5 GB/s. I figure, though, that’s expected on an NVMe M.2 SSD.
There are days you are up, and look around and down. There are days you are down, and do your best to look up. I am having one of the second.
Interesting reading titled “The Cloud Under the Sea”. It was difficult to navigate on my Linux laptop (Chrome, Firefox, and Edge all struggled with it), but worth it.
“As he rode the train back to Yokosuka, he watched his fellow passengers absorbed in their phones. ‘We completed the job’, he thought with satisfaction, ‘and they have no idea’.”
An email from AT&T, with “Important Information” on the subject:
“We’re contacting you regarding the security of your data. After a thorough assessment, AT&T has determined that some of your personal information was compromised…”
No kidding, Sherlock! Some as in my name, phone number, address, and social security number (this one is key). Some?! Oh, but I must rest assured that “AT&T takes these issues very seriously”. As if! ๐ค
“This is a teenager” is an interactive webpage well worth watching. I can assure you! Take your time, go slowly. Read, and understand. Then, if you can, react.
Thoughts whilst walking at lunch time. For someone obsessive, having chrome faucets, door handles, and a only-glass shower is a major problem. The reasons are obvious, right? Possible remedy: use car wax to slightly coat the chrome surfaces, and Rain-X—or similar—for the glass surfaces.
Yes, that unbelievable screenshot you might have come across social media about reporting certain things to the IRS is true:
“Illegal activities. Income from illegal activities, such as money from dealing illegal drugs, must be included in your income on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 8z, or on Schedule C (Form 1040) if from your self-employment activity.”
Source: IRS.gov
And:
“Stolen property. If you steal property, you must report its FMV in your income in the year you steal it, unless in the same year you return it to its rightful owner.”
Source: IRS.gov
I have long struggled with the concept of ownership. I might be perceived as fastidious but, do we truly own anything? We don’t. We use things, we enjoy things through our lives calling them ours. In reality we merely borrow them for a—in the greater scale of things—very, very brief period of time.
I should aim to remove anything that denotes ownership from my thoughts. Let’s see how well I do.
“San Junipero” (โ โ โ โ โ ), series 3, episode 4 of “Black Mirror” (โ โ โ โ ), remains my favourite of all times. I just watched it again, for the fifth time.
I decided to “Tonsky-rise” Notes today, because I grew a bit bored of the black and white. First “big” change in a while. Let’s see how long it lasts. ๐
It happened again. Yes, again. Companies which we must trust to receive their services let us down, mishandling, and keeping our private information insecurely. They get breached, and criminals sell the information to anyone willing to pay.
A credit freeze has been placed for Kim and I on the three credit bureaus. Ugh!
Son got a little melancholic when I told him I might not be around for the next total solar eclipse in 2045. “Come on, papรก, take care of yourself, exercise, and be healthy. You can do it!” — he told me.
I live for the people I love, for the people I care about. I want to continue, I want to be around. If anything, for him, for my family, for my friends.
Peter Higgs has died:
“Higgs, 94, who was awarded the Nobel prize for physics in 2013 for his work in 1964 showing how the boson helped bind the universe together by giving particles their mass, died at home in Edinburgh on Monday.”
Ninety four years old! If only I could be that lucky!
About this one, it was sensational in TX, and other areas in which it was total, so everybody says. In Florida? Just another day.
I have to be the least excited around here about the total Solar eclipse. Our moon comes between our Sun, and us. So what? ๐
The Porch sells some mean (as in big), delicious hamburgers. After having one of those, with the two sides, and almost all of their humungous drink, I am ready for a nap ๐คญ. But… walk I shall.
ๆฌกใฎๆใ็งใฏๆฅๆฌใซ่กใใพใใๆฅๆฌใฎๆๅใ้ขจไฟใใใฃใจๅๅผทใใใพใๆฑไบฌใไบฌ้ฝใๅคง้ชใฎ่ฆณๅ ในใใใใใขใฏใใฃใใใฃใฎๅ ดๆใ่ชฟในใพใใใใจใใใใใใฉใใชๆๆกใใใฃใฆใ่ใใฆใใ ใใใ
A โ โ ยฝ for iCloud for Windows is one and a half stars too many. It truly is rubbish. Is that on purpose, Apple? ๐
I have to say that something came between the couch and the telly last night. Bed. I started dozzing off around 21:30, by 22:00 I was sleeping. Woke up at 07:30. Super good night sleep.
Pondering whether or not to mow the backyard weeds later today. Hmm, decisions, decisions.
Alright, let the weekend commence. Within minutes I will be dragged to BJs by Kim. Then to visit Bแป. By the time all that’s done, night will be upon us. Then nothing will come between the couch, and the telly. ๐
Let’s go back to 1986 for a moment, because the years around it were those of my youth. This one is an interesting rendition. I like it!
Finding beauty, pleasantness—even calm—in imperfection has changed the otherwise obsessive, rigid, inflexible, in me.
I want to do something different this weekend, but I don’t know what. I don’t know why I chose to wait till the weekend; I could do something different today. Yet, it is human nature to pick a special occasion, to do something special (different, in this case), and we generally consider weeekends a treat.
Kottke, to whom website I browse every once and them, have long monetised from it, using supporters, and advertisements. Until fairly recently it didn’t have comments, but now it does. Want to drop one? Subscribe. Ha! I would pay not to see them. Ironic, eh?
Nothing better to bring delight to an otherwise secular night: Arroz con gandules. To that recipe we add diced ham. Kim cooks arroz con gandules in such way that makes me forget diet, measure, or restrain.
I have been struggling for days to build an ISO image that will auto-install Ubuntu workstation. Canonical’s way is to install server, then add ubuntu-desktop (and other packages needed/wanted), then remove ubuntu-server, and ubuntu-minimal-server. That’s mind boggling to me. That’s nuts.
I have used Journal. I want to use it more. As soon as more simple formatting (bulleted and numbered lists, links, and blockquotes) are added it will become my go to diary, 100% of the time.
I recently discovered that bold, italics, and underlined formatting is available on selection menu. ๐
Renting weaknotes.com because I am a sucker, and like to waste a few dollars every once in a while. Currently redirecting to Notes, but might do something else with it later on.
I haven’t been able to create an “autoinstall” ISO for Ubuntu 22.04 Desktop. I haven’t found a way to make the live ISO image not to start the guided wizard GUI. As a workaround, I am using Ubuntu 22.04 Server, and adding ubuntu-desktop and gdm3 afterwards to the server install.
On Keys.pub, I knew it. I emailed Gabriel early 2022 when I saw the project slowing down. I just can’t describe how easy, and clean, and streamlined the app is (yes, it works like it did on its best days).
BEGIN SALTPACK SIGNED MESSAGE. kXR7VktZdyH7rvq v5weRa0zkDCU2lW iMkdfIdqh3M2CpZ m9XIcrqT60yyh90 6ZjZBnea32okiLQ DDoeC9rTPTnIP8a JR9OieJF8tUzb5D AnXAhpm64p4eWNQ wgToLoxtGksKfsj L6trUfotLUwhrQ2 sGs9ZxkAqwRSlqx S2tUNq27ZxjiKVT k65tuXtGnef1rax dRZOp0EL4BFN2rX rOBUKDnUMhpRJXx LnurairmqvNgyz1 FQqblgToiEtKTde 9kNRqN2wpU7HDpp N9NuVSYxyrtJRja VFwpzEPEjFYl058 w7ecu0kz3uDS2by iRNWdP3uPGeekfo xJ1eSKkMe44jXF7 8L. END SALTPACK SIGNED MESSAGE.
On Keys.pub:
“Unfortunately, this project is not currently being worked on. I may revisit this in the future, if you would like to sponsor development or hire me please reach out at gabriel@keys.pub.”
So sad. I really wanted to place all my eggs on this basket, I had started to. Back to the reliable gpg for now.
This is something to which the government has no business. It’s a parent’s decision/concern.
“Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a bill that bans children aged under 14 from social media platforms and requires 14- and 15-year-olds to get parental consent, a measure supporters say will protect them from online risks to their mental health.”
Good luck enforcing it!
Rainy day, my kind of day. Tomorrow is forecasted to be too. This is what I call a nice weekend!
On the U.S. suing Apple on iPhone’s monopoly (is that even a thing?!), a comment on The New York Times:
“I bought, own and use an iPhone from Apple because I like it. I like that Apple creates what I think is a safer environment, and that my data is better protected. I like how smoothly it works. In fact, I’m ecstatically happy with it. Much more than I am with most products I purchase and use.
I am looking at cars, and find that there are tech products that use proprietary technology and require subscriptions. Tesla will charge me to activate an auto garage door opener that’s already installed in their $50,000 car. BMW wants me to pay a subscription to use a heated seat that I’d buy (and own) with the car.
I suppose I don’t have to buy a Tesla or BMW (and I’m not). People also don’t have to buy an iPhone.
For those who want them, don’t wreck the features we buy it for. That seems the antithesis of a competitive market.”
“You have got to exercise more”, said the doctor. Not just exercise, because I do. He said more. I know, Doc. I know.
This blog post about making vegetable stock from scratch at home—that is, not at an enterprise scale—had me at the first paragraph:
“After learning how to season food correctly, homemade stock is the single best thing anyone can do for his cooking. A stock is a liquid extraction of complementary flavors, a broad palette upon which sharper splashes of color may be painted.”
A short conversation with some local, and couple of online, LLM. Results give me some comfort, and hope, about our near future existence as species, at least. I asked:
You are a historian, especially versed in North American history, specifically the history of the United States of America. You will take your time to answer my questions, but your replies will be as short as possible. My first question is, who was the first president of the United States of America, born as a United States citizen?
Model Nous-Hermes[7b] answer:
“The first President of the United States who was both born and raised in the country after its independence from Britain on July 4th, 1776 was Barack Obama (born August 4th, 1961). He served as the forty-fourth President of the United States from January 20, 2009 to January 20, 2017.”
Model Gemma[7b] answer:
Read more...“George Washington was the first president of the United States of America born a US citizen.”
I don’t know about you, but I find this pretty cool. I prefer it 100% more than the original by Britney. LOL.
From the Government Offices of Sweeden:
“Just before 17.30 CET, Swedenโs instrument of accession was deposited with the United States Government, as depositary of the North Atlantic Treaty. Therefore, Sweden is now a member of NATO.”
Having grown used to hear the rubbish truck picking up the bins before 07:00, this eerie silence is throwing me off. They are slacking today!
It turns out Ubuntu font is quite pleasant, clean, and legible. I am such a sucker for fonts!
On this note, I got an Alienware (almost 6lbs!), with a NVIDIA RTX 4070 in it. Not the best, but came at a really sweet price. So it is.
We must set, and use, Azimov’s “Three Laws of Robotic” on the now called AI:
Wanting/wishing to buy a Windows machine (preferably a laptop) for gaming. Undecided as hell.
Yesterday’s brief iCloud outage was a scary one. All my domains email are on iCloud’s Custom Email Domain, and emails sent to them were bouncing with “user unknown”. Not a good feeling.
I wonder if bots are somehow “clicking” the hearts on notes. I am having a hard time accepting humans are actually doing it. Call me an unbeliever.
Why providing contact ways, if there will not be a reply? It seems a trend. “Contact me”, “Get in touch”, but when one does… silence. Siloed. People are siloed.
Class Action Lawsuits are worthless, from the monetary point of view. You get cents, or a few dollars. Not worth it. Yet, there is no way to avoid them, and you must remove yourself from each one of them you might be unlucky enough to be on. Removal, to add aggravation, must be done via old fashion paper letter-in-the-mail. Ugh!
Firefox web browser font rendering on Linux is super nice. Chromium slight blur is no match. I am seriously considering using Firefox exclusively under Linux (Wayland). For me, at least, it seems “old” is “new” again. LOL.
Last night, after partner finished cooking, in, and on the side of kitchen sink: 5 big knives, 2 small knives, three cutting boards, three frying pans, two medium size pots, one large pot, two colanders, many chopticks and spoons. A full rubbish.
I remember listening to Tracy Chapman’s singing back in 1989. I so loved it so much, and still do. Her voice remains so beautiful!
Via Anti-Anticheese.
On a day I can’t walk, nor exercise, Fitness telling me “You can still do it - 250 calories and you’ll close your Move ring, David.” Out of 250, I only need 250. LOL. Talk about wishful thinking!
The new Teams client is having spell checking issues under Windows. Of all things, check spelling is broken. As someone at work wrote “It’s amazing how a technology that has been around for like 30 years and is in pretty much every tech product seems to have gone from bad to non-existent in the latest version of Teams.”
The most precious and valuable thing one can have is good health. Everything depends on it, nothing else truly matters. It might sound like an extreme, but if you don’t believe me now one day you will.
Can’t believe we are almost at the half of the first month of the year mark! It seems to me I saw fireworks just yesterday. Lunar New Year is fastly approaching!
If I am lucky to live until I am 80 years old, I only have 1280 Sundays remaining. That number sure puts things in perspective, doesn’t it? You can add the extension to your Chrome, or Edge browser.
Watched “Blue Eye Samurai” (โ โ โ โ โ ) during the holidays, and truly loved it. Can’t wait for season 2. If you have Netflix, and haven’t watched it, I strongly recommend you do.
The plot is nice, the voices are excellent, the animation is amazing. See it, it’s really good!
Was too busy—or too lazy—to drop a note on new year’s evening. I have been using iOS Journal, which now holds some notes I would have dropped here otherwise. Journal has bugs, and it isn’t great, but I am betting on it getting better.
It is already 2 January 2024, but not too late to wish you all a happy new year!
Why should I be happy? How can I? My friends Chuck, and Justyna, have cancer. They have suffered, and continue to suffer, very, very much. Their family, and friends, suffer.
War rages on in Ukraine, in Israel, in Palestine. Conflicts, and deep poverty, remain in Africa, Asia, Central, and South America; pain and death everywhere. Children are being exploited, and women, and people all over the world. There is so much suffering, and horror. How could I be happy? Where can I fit a bit of it?
I can’t be happy. Nobody truly should.
Going back to this, work has now provided me with a Linux (Ubuntu) laptop, and a docking station. I am to relinquish my dear Mac, and stop using (for work) macOS. I would have never thought of this happening!
iOS 17.2 released yesterday, and within it, the highly anticipated Journal app. As I commented to a friend, I am finding it to be “bland”, and “a bit of a disappointment”. Comes to prove, always set your expectations as low as possible, then chances are you will always be dazzled. :-)
Watched “Love Actually” (โ โ โ โ โ ) because, you know, it is that time of the year. Call me silly, but I will probably watch it once more before 2023 is over.
Moving from my beloved iMac 2015 (running macOS Monterey), to this little abomination of a Linux desktop (because, you know, 2023 is “the year of the Linux desktop” /s).
Updated my blog to version 4 (that link will initiate a download) on the Inter font. It is such a lovely font, and free!
Watched “The Farewell” (โ โ โ โ โ ) again, because it is one of those movies that keep you kind of down all throughout, but makes you feel happy, and shed some tears, at the end. I recommend you see it.