> Notes...

An old underwear, just like any other old cloth, is very comfy to wear. I am sure you know what I am talking about. Yet, as with everything else in life, they have a finite shelf life. So, as I threw an old one away today, I remembered what my mum once told me:

“Always make sure to wear a new underwear when you go out, in case something happens to you, and are taken to a hospital. You don’t want to be ashamed having found wearing an old, beat up, one, do you?”

I never challenged her advise; I simply listened and nodded. I am absolutely sure, though, that if found in such situation, that would be the least of my worries.

Just came across daisyUI and, though perhaps overkill for anything I might need at a personal level, it looks truly amazing. It has pretty much all the components to create a uniform, powerful, beautiful looking web interface. That is, whether an application, or a website. It’s lovely!

Family elders engaged in petty fighting and family drama is so annoying! First because they do it; second because, as they are elders, there is no much I can do about it. We all have emotions, and make mistakes, and surely can get mad to each other. Now, holding grudges for as long as our elders do isn’t healthy.

I added a new recipe to my shared (with my wife and other family members) “Recipes” folder on Notes, which ruffled some feathers. My wife asked me, “Why do you keep adding recipes if you never make them? Are you waiting for me to cook them?” Secretly, between you and me, I am! 🤭

Well, well, well. It is possible, after all, to create a /boot partition on software RAID10, and been able to boot from it just fine—something I tried many times, and couldn’t do. It turns out you need to flag each drive as a bootable disk, before carving out partitions, and creating the RAID10.

I really cannot stress this enough. Please, don’t say “I have a question”, just ask the question. From “No Hello, here are some examples:

• “Hey man, what’s up? also, any idea when that thing’s due?”
• “Hi there! Hope you’re well. I’m after the latest deck, when you get a sec :)”
• “Hey, if you’re not busy, could you update those NFRs?”
• “Etc.”

An excerpt from Fedric Brown’s 1954 short story “Answer”. Emphasis mine.

“The honor of asking the first question is yours, Dwar Reyn.” “Thank you,” said Dwar Reyn. “It shall be a question which no single cybernetics machine has been able to answer.”
He turned to face the machine. “Is there a God?” The mighty voice answered without hesitation, without the clicking of a single relay.
“Yes, now there is a God.”
Sudden fear flashed on the face of Dwar Ev. He leaped to grab the switch. A bold of lightning from the cloudless sky struck him down and fused the switch shut.

➝ Via Hacker News.

I am having a not-so-first world problem. Nine out of ten, when I go out for an outdoor walk, I forget to start the workout either on phone, or watch. The watch, on its infinite wisdom sometimes reminds me, or prompts me to start it—notice the emphasis in sometimes. Is there an easy trick to get a workout going, other than starting (and stopping) it manually?

I have implemented tags on notes tonight. I am not sure if I truly like them, or whether I will change the way they look, if I decide to keep them. I also need to go back retroactively, and tag notes accordingly. That will be a tedious task, and I refuse to use an LLM to help with it. We’ll see.

“The party that controls both the House and the Senate, not to mention the executive branch, would like to remind you that the government being shut down right now is entirely the fault of the party that has no actual power right now.”

➝ Via @mattblaze.

‘We’ll probably have a shutdown’, Trump says in Oval Office press conference.

“They want to give Cadillac Medicare to illegal aliens… at the cost to everyone else,” the president said. This is a false claim that Trump and congressional Republicans have repeated since lawmakers have failed to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government funded. A reminder, this lapses tonight.

Undocumented immigrants aren’t eligible to enroll in subsidized programs like Medicaid, Medicare or the Affordable Care Act.

➝ Via The Guardian.

Finished watching “The Brutalist” (★★★★★) last night—had to split it in two nights, because it is a 3 hours plus film—which I liked. I found it to be a rather unique drama, not only because of the plot, but the way it is laid out (three parts). László Tóth, the main character, never existed in real life, but the film leads you to believe he did. Saying no more, watch it!

“Incidentally, the reason that mail will never go away is that it is fully federated, doesn’t require people to be online at the same time, and is easy to archive and search. So far none of the replacements do that.”

Ain’t that right?!

Not going to lie, truly worried about the fate of known strangers. Where in the world is Blue? Does anyone knows?

This mug (made in Japan) is only available for purchase at Apple’s Apple Park Visitor Centre. You can find it on eBay, and other second hand places, at exorbitant prices. Alex, a friend of mine, got me this one by driving 30 minutes from his house to the store—I wish I was as lucky as him, living so close to “The Mothership”! I have wanted this mug for a long time, and I love it! Thank you Alex!

There are “other me” (that is, people with the same first and lastname as me) in Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Spain, all using first.lastname@gmail.com (which is mine) on all sort of things: bank accounts, mobile services, soccer clubs, social media, you name it! Is it that they are so non-technically saavy that they provide an email they don’t own, or is it that companies are assuming—as default—their email address is first and lastname, at gmail.com? Truly mind blowing.

Having used Matrix in the past, and even self-hosted my own Matrix “homeserver”, I can categorically say—in my (own) very, very humble opinion—that it sucks eggs.

Always point the finger at you first. “Is the issue at my end?” “What did I do that caused this?” Only after analising everything, and when the level of certainty has reached a 95% (your number may vary) that it isn’t your fault, your issue, then you look elsewhere (aka “pointing fingers at others”). That is, you know, “everything is my fault” first.

Why having any illness (flu, COVID, headaches and fever, stomach bug, etc.) gets no challenge when requesting a sick day from work, but being mentally overwhelmed, or overworked, does?

Having the Apple Watch unlock—and login automatically on—the Mac feels like magic. Yet another reason to have this device on my wrist.

Can’t wait for the next season of “Alien: Earth”, even though we have now cancelled Hulu. Who knows, maybe by the time the next season comes out, Hulu would had had another “Black Friday” special. I am OK paying $1.12/month—or ≤ $5/month—for it, but not $11.99/month.

I am wearing a watch (Apple Watch) for the first time in, like, 25 years. It isn’t to tell the time. Not at all. It is almost exclusively for health reasons (95%), and fast communication/keeping up-to-date (5%). Just like the iPhone I have, which I use for almost everything but as a phone, the Apple Watch is almost anything, but a watch. I’ll say, it is a wrist-held computer.

Child and I saw “The Amateur” (★★★★☆) last night. I am a fan of the genre, and Rami Malek, hence my rating. Do I recommend it? You bet!

“What do you think about coming to office on Wednesdays?” — “We would rather not, no. Not a good idea.” — “OK, let’s start coming to office on Wednesdays as well, so three days a week onsite.”

Why to ask then?!

It makes no difference that Google has updated Chrome for iOS with Liquid Glass (the first of their applications to be “adapted”). As a vanillist, it means nothing to me.

Watched “Superman” (★★★★☆) last night. It was entertaining, it was alright, though I am glad I didn’t catch it at the theatres.

Imagine a modern day chef been transported back in time to the Joseon dynasty (old Korea) as the Royal Chef—title exclusively for males. While in it she manages to surf the politics, and court intrigues with wit, all while making amazingly “exotic”, dazzling, delightful meals. That’s the gist—until now, because the series is ongoing—of “Bon Appétit, Your Majesty” (★★★★★) , with a new episode coming tonight, and another tomorrow. Can’t wait!

Update: 18 Oct 2025 @ 18:19:25

The king on this series is loosely based after the real historical figure Yeonsangun, which, according to Wikipedia, is “often considered the worst tyrant in Joseon’s history and perhaps all Korean history”.

BERLIN, Feb. 3. 1939.—Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels today ended the professional careers of five “Aryan” actors and cabaret announcers by expelling them from the Reich’s Chamber of Culture on the grounds that “in their public appearances they displayed a lack of any positive attitude toward National Socialism and therewith caused grave annoyance in public and especially to party comrades.”

As printed in The New York Times. In 1939.

This site is very neat. It allows you to play—albeit for a short period of time—a multitude of sounds. Amongst my many music likings is trance, and I am enjoying browsing their collection. Especially, psychedelic trance.

➝ Via @claudrod.

“Alien: Earth” just got a few notches more interesting last night. Now we wait until next week. I have to acknowledge; even though bingeing is nice, the anticipation of waiting to see what’s next can’t be beaten.

I have been in love with Expedia’s “Two Step” commercial for a long time. Not only is it well produced, but the smile of the main actress captivated me from the very first time I saw it. Yeah, a silly crush. 🤭

On this one, upgraded to Tahoe last night. This time I didn’t do a wipe-install, but a regular upgrade. Simply restarted the mini—which has been running without reboot for a couple of months, or so—and went through the upgrade. Smooth, no issues.

I have macOS 26 to install and play with, and today, out of all days, I am stuck working past 3.5 hours my quitting time.

I have failed at this. Like, miserably. I feel powerless against myself. I shall try much, much harder! Perhaps enlist family, and work mates to help? “Hey, smack me if you see me chewing the inners of my mouth!” That could work, right?

Watched “The Piano Teacher” (★★★☆☆) because Muan wrote is was good. I didn’t like it. Ten minutes into it I knew I didn’t like it, but I watched it all. Maybe I will watch it again; it might be an acquired taste.

A very dear friend of mine is turning 70. I have known him for more than half of his life and, yet, I don’t know what to get him on his birthday. I am at a loss! See, he is one of those for whom shopping is very difficult. He is not that into technology. He doesn’t use Apple products. He doesn’t wear watches, nor any kind of jewelry. Ugh! So hard! I only have two months—barely!—to choose, shop, and ship.

Saw the movie “Black Bag” (★★★★★) the other day, and I liked it very much. Both main casts, Cate Blanchett, and Michael Fassbender are favourite of mine. Recommended!

Eating out is something that I am giving more and more thought, before I do it. We used to go out to eat at least once a week (weekends), but prices have gone up everywhere, and portions have shrunk, and quality has diminished. Yeah, “times they are a-changin’”.

Call me old school, boomer, curmudgeon, whatever! I, for one, have absolutely no interest, no desire, to carry a foldable mobile device, of any kind. OK, moving on now.

Thanks to Claudine I learned about, yet another, Japanese phrase—and concept—embodying cultural and philosophical meaning. The word, mottainai, means “what a waste”, as in “don’t throw that away yet; it can still be useful.” I wonder how long is the list of Japanese’s concepts/philosophies, but I am in love with each I have come across with!