> Notes...

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:

1. Whatever the work is, do it well—not for the boss but for yourself.
2. You make the job; it doesn’t make you.
3. Your real life is with us, your family.
4. 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.

I am starting to second guess “Notes”, just as I did a few days back with other things. The deletion of the PDS I was running was serendipitous, though welcome. What to do, what to do?

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_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_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!