> Notes...

Claud wrote today, “Laughing is the best thing. My jaw is numb and that’s ok”. I couldn’t agree more! Dance too, Claud, dance!

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder. You get your fill to eat, but always keep that hunger. May you never take one single breath for granted. God forbid love ever leave you empty-handed.
🎶
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean. Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens. Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance. And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.
🎶
I hope you dance
I hope you dance

It is true humans can bet on just about anything. With Jesus, the rules are simple:

“This market will resolve to “Yes” if The Second Coming of Jesus Christ occurs by December 31, 2025, 11:59 PM ET. Otherwise, this market will resolve to “No”.”

Also, TIL about Polymarket, which I am finding quite interesting. It is pretty much gambling, isn’t it? Hmm.

Psalm 109, 8-13, has a primordial message. It is much longer, and it can all be read online, no need to own a physical copy of the holy book.

⁸Let his days be few; and let another take his office. ⁹Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. ¹⁰Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.

¹¹Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour. ¹²Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children. ¹³Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.

It doth pierce the very soul with sorrow to look upon the ancient holy writ sometime, say’st thou not so? 😅

If this weren’t so dangerous, I would laugh. Yes, this isn’t laughing matter. It is worrisome, it is scary, and it is barely starting.

“The 73-page “Make America healthy again” report – which was commissioned by the Trump administration to examine the causes of chronic illness, and which Kennedy promoted it as “gold-standard” science backed by more than 500 citations – includes references to seven studies that appear to be entirely invented, and others that the researchers say have been mischaracterized.”

Because it is so very hot in here, and I also happen to adore Japanese woodblock prints, here it is “Snow at Miyajima”, by Tsuchiya Koitsu. Isn’t it lovely?!

President TACO considered it a “nasty” question when a reporter asked him for his response to the recently coined acronym, and “name” for him.

“Six months ago, this country was stone cold dead. We had a dead country. We had a country that people didn’t think it was going survive,” Trump said. “And you ask a nasty question like that. It’s called negotiation.” — “Don’t ever say what you said because that’s a nasty question.”

“Japanese universities and students are scrambling for information after the U.S. government paused its student visa application process just as preparations for overseas study from the new academic year get underway.”

This is so unneccessary, so uncaring, so absurd. It accomplishes nothing, and places an unneeded burden on international students which enrich our country, and contribute to our economy. To mention two, Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s and Google’s CEO, was an international student. So was Sergei Brin, the co-founder of Google.

President “TACO” sure is fitting and ironic for someone who is, amongst many, many, many other negative traits, a racist.

“The U.S. Republican president’s tendency to levy extremely high import taxes and then retreat has created what’s known as the “TACO” trade, an acronym coined by The Financial Times’ Robert Armstrong that stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out.” Markets generally sell off when Trump makes his tariff threats and then recover after he backs down.”

This is not to say that we are out of trouble. Far from that, we are in a deep, deep mess. I don’t think our democracy will survive. Yet, if it weren’t for our judges (not the sycophant ones), we would be in much much worse shape as a nation.

“On Wednesday, the Court of International Trade, the primary federal legal body overseeing such matters, found that Mr. Trump’s tariffs “exceed any authority granted” to the president by the emergency powers law. Ruling in separate cases brought by states and businesses, a bipartisan panel of three judges essentially declared many, but not all, of Mr. Trump’s tariffs to have been issued illegally.”

Publix “whole milk” isn’t whole. It is a sham. I am going to be getting TG Lee’s this weekend to compare. Why Publix’s one is a sham? When you boil whole milk, and get next to none milk skin, that ain’t whole. Publix’s whole milk renders something as thick as a spider’s web.

That EOE has to be spelled out, and made a law, is sad, and speaks very poorly about the human condition.

“An “equal opportunity employer” (EOE) is a business that pledges not to discriminate against employees or job applicants based on characteristics like race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information. This means that job decisions, including hiring, firing, promotions, and pay, are made without regard to these characteristics.”

I have tried a few encryption and digital signature tools in the past. Each and everyone of them have found the same fate: abandonware. Not too long ago there was miniLock. Gone. Then came Keys—oh, so nice! Gone.

The only one that hasn’t let me down, and the reason why I will no longer look for another tool, is GnuPG, a free implementation of the OpenPGP standard. Regardless of the flaws some might find in it, it works quite well, and I am sure it will continue to for the foreseable future.

In the US we are now living in a Soviet era period of hypernormalisation, which “captures this juxtaposition of the dysfunctional and mundane”. Hypernormalisation describes life in a society where two main things are occurring.

“The first is people seeing that governing systems and institutions are broken. And the second is that, for reasons including a lack of effective leadership and an inability to imagine how to disrupt the status quo, people carry on with their lives as normal despite systemic dysfunction – give or take a heavy load of fear, dread, denial and dissociation.”

In other words, “this is fine”, while fire burns everything down meme.

So it begins. The madness, that is. Do we fight it, or do we go with it? Furthermore, do we have a choice? Perhaps do what she recommends? And yes, I know worse, much much worse, is happening.

“This article was written by a human, but links were suggested by and grammar checked by an LLM.”

Grammar checked and corrected, perhaps? The other has a similar tone:

“This post was written entirely by a human, with no assistance from AI. (Other than spell—and grammar—checking.)”

I might be nickpicking, but I think it will be best if nothing is said. Why to be specific about who wrote what, with the caveats?

Using URL shortening was never a good idea. I ran my own, and it bit me really bad when I lost its backend database and with is all the shortlinks. Using Google URL shortening service—or anything Google, but I digress—was/is an even worse idea. I know, I used them too.

First they sunseted Goo.gl, while stating that “all existing links will continue to redirect to the intended destination”. Then, they “transitioned” that statement to “we will be turning off Google URL Shortener”, which will finally happen comes 25 August, 2025. Lovely.

I have found myself on Nicholas’ “shoes” in quite a few occasions. Those occasions on which Hugo has changed its codebase around, and things that used to work worked no longer. I have been tempted to switch, but then what? Grass is always greener on the other side, and what brought me to it (the other side, that is) will not be the last. Time and again I ended up going to Hugo’s community, and each time I found the fix I needed.

It is my very personal opinion that nothing beats Hugo when it comes to simplicity. Nothing extra to install, just a single binary. Beyond its simplicity, it’s extremely powerful.

Apple’s Lisa 2 computer. I know it is old, I know it is retro. My old eyes will certainly complain at the screen size and resolution, but damn, such a beautiful machine, and keyboard design! Yup, I am certainly on “boomer’s” mood.

I miss terminal based applications. Old database driven applications that were usually accessed via VT100 terminals, and later on via IBM 3270, or emulated software, like TN3270, to access IBM mainframes. I wonder if they will ever make a return (no mainframes needed this time, of course).

Hmm, is this a sign of crossing—or having crossed—a certain age threshold?

Watching “True Detective” (★★★★) with the kid, as a farewell to this small break that’s ending. Watched season 1, and I liked it enough for the rating. I’ve got to say, though, that the beginning was too slow for my liking. And I am a patient man. 😅

Le président Macron devrait le savoir depuis le temps, qu’il ne faut pas chercher Brigitte Macron. Tout le monde le sait, pourquoi pas lui? 😂

I seldom call family, or friends; I message. When I call, though, it is always associated with a sense of urgency. I mean, it is not 911, but if I call someone it is because I need to talk to them. People who know me should know that, right?

Well, mum lives in a whole different universe.

Read this today on the Fediverse. Not going to link, because the posts were unlisted, and I took the liberty of adapting the formatting, but who hasn’t felt this way at some point, eh? 🙋🏻‍♂️

“Can’t work today boss (myself); too sleepy; someone else will have to write the bugs. For real though, I’m taking the day off to fucking lay on my sofa, maybe I’ll even read a book? Tremendous. Some times you have to fucking chill 👍️.

If anyone needs me just don’t do that instead.”

Being my last day, and almost noon, I ventured out to put a letter in the mailbox, and gauge the weather to see if a mid-day walk was possible. The high humidity (70%) and temperature (feels 105°F) made me almost pass out, on the very brief minutes I was outside.

Maximum UV index right now is 12, very unhealthy. Yeah, I am afraid there will be no walking for me today during sun hours. Maybe after sunset. Yeah, maybe.

The trend for application developers to make each and every single app a subscription based one is a complete show stopper for me. If I want, or need the app, I will buy it. I will, of course, pay for upgrades on every major iOS version too, maybe? Otherwise, I am sure to find ways not to want, nor need it.

It is my last day. I knew all along it was coming; after all, nothing lasts forever. It’s been great, though, I truly enjoyed the ride: coffees with mum each day, lazying around afterwards. What would you do if today was your last vacation day, and work was waving at you, just a few hours ahead? Would you greet it with anxiety, joy, acceptance?

This one was too good to pass up. Found in the Fediverse.

I have written a letter to AutoNation Acura, regarding our recent interaction with their Parts and Service department, which expect to mail tomorrow.

“I believe that I should have been informed of all anticipated expenses upfront. Withholding such a significant portion of the total cost until after the key was already cut when I was at the dealership feels, at best, like extremely poor customer service and, at worst, borderline deceptive. This lack of transparency is unacceptable and has caused me considerable frustration and inconvenience.”

I am quite into fonts, that’s why each time I discover one I like, I download it, and carefully catalogue it in my collection. Opus One, a monospace typeface, is lovely, and a decent contender to Hermit, which I adore.

I didn’t know about this one, but I can assure you it will add some genuine je ne sais quoi to the transition between pages within your website. In use here now, and forever. Try it!

@media screen and (prefers-reduced-motion: no-preference) {
        @view-transition {
                navigation: auto;
        }
}

➝ Via Ariel Salminen.

I thought that with RCS coming to iPhones, the old SMS/MMS problems between Android and iOS users were to be a thing of the past. Enter “spotty data coverage”. Each time a member of an RCS group goes out of mobile data coverage, the RCS group will break into two, equally named ones. A lovely royal mess.

Small Monday afternoon chat. That last one from her truly warmed my heart to a melting point. ❤️

• Her:
• “Try to remember what I need to buy at BJ’s.”
• Me:
• “I have tried. No dice. 🙁 Madelines?”
• Her:
• “No.”
• Me:
• “Maybe it was cupcakes, but you already got them at Sam’s? Lemonade? For sure not. Liquid to scrub the toilet? Nope, but if you go get it please. Condensed milk? Head and Shoulders! Yeah?”
• Her:
• “I don’t know. But I feel weird going to places without you.”

I often wonder what my first mum would have blurted out on notes like this, if she’d been born in this technological era. I can’t picture my dad enthusiastically participating, but mum definitely would have. My current mum would have too, if she was younger.

This is a few days old, but still wanted to reflect it here. Pocket, which I have used extensively during travels, will be gone, so will Glitch, which I have never used. Oh well, it is what it is.

I didn’t know Harvard University offered free courses online. Their “government” (some are free) subject highlights basic US government, understanding the Constitution, and how to recognise a dictatorship takeover 101.

The insane ability of some people to write so fluidly makes me jelaous. Yet, I understand and I appreciate it. If everybody had the same skill life would be boring, right?

Kaihōgyō, a Tendai Buddhist monk’s practice, is beyond gruelling, and it “would rank among the most demanding physical and mental challenges in the world”. I cannot begin to fathom this, considering that at the end of my—maximum—12,000 daily steps I feel tired enough not to think about the tomorrow. Imagine walking many kilometres daily, without a miss, for hundreds of days!

I don’t use a CPAP machine, yet, but sleep apnea is something I suffer from, so the machine will come my way wether I like it or not. You can imagine the feeling of hope I felt when I came across the headline “Sleep apnea pill shows striking success in large clinical trial”.

“Top-line results from a large clinical trial, released this week, showed a combination of two medications in one pill stimulates muscles that keep the airway open, sharply decreasing breathing disruptions.”

The side effects, though, worry me, as the drug “also increases heart rate and diastolic blood pressure a little bit”. Yes, that emphasis I added is my worry.

“Eichorn and four other Minnesota Republican senators proposed legislation to the Health and Human Services committee that would label “Trump Derangement Syndrome” as a mental illness.

Their bill describes the faux “syndrome” as the “acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal persons that is in reaction to the policies and presidencies of President Donald J. Trump.”

And on the same day he was arrested.

“Senator Justin Eichorn was arrested Monday night around 6 p.m. for allegedly soliciting a minor for prostitution, according to a statement from the Bloomington Police Department.” […] “Eichorn, 40, is married and a father to four children. Police found two iPhone, an unopened Trojan condom and $129 in cash upon his arrest, according to the Guardian.”

I need to stop procrastinating, and migrate to another VPS. The one I am using now has been upgraded in place since Ubuntu 16.04, and it is full of cruft. I long, need, a newer machine. I will have to dedicate contiguous time to that which, I think, it is holding me back. I am keeping Vultr (referral link), though.

As expected, Trump wrote expressive, warm, candid, full of love, respect, and remembrance words for today’s Memorial Day on his Truth Social account. I am not going to link to it, nor repeat them here; you can find them easily if you use your search engine of choice.

Whatever you do, do not go to Fox News’s comment section for a matching or related headline. You will shed IQ points fast, and lose faith in humanity.