Reading

Brick

Netflix's German movie Brick was intriguing. People end up stuck in their building when a mysterious black wall suddenly surrounds it.

I thought the explanation at the end was solid (movies like that tend to either leave you without an explanation or have an explanation so basic that no explanation would have been better).

Matthias Schweighöfer (Ludwig Dieter in Army of Thieves, Jack of Hearts in Heart of Stone) stars in this.

Current Mood: busy

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Philosophical Questions: Poverty

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

Is poverty in society inevitable?

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Extinct Birds

'The Lord of the Rings' director Peter Jackson is on a mission to revive the world’s tallest bird, 600 years after it went extinct

Inspired by their debut project, Jackson is now working with Colossal to bring the ancient moa back to life through subfossil sourcing and genetic engineering.

On July 8, Jackson and his partner donated $15 million to the project.

The moa is an excellent choice for de-extinction, as it died out relatively recently and due to human misbehavior.

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Today's Adventures

Today we went to the Marshall Farmer's Market. It's an evening market from 6-8 PM, followed by a band concert, which is way better than a morning one.

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Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: Murder She Wrote

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Fandom Friday

Nothing interesting today unless you think my blood sugar going from 300 at wake up to 400 an hour later and then to 70 after lunch before going back to 300 is interesting. It's pissing me off.

So have the fannish 50 fandom recs including a story by me. But before that you might find this to your tastes

Alan Tudyk Launching New Podcast with Nathan Fillion called ‘Once, We Were Spacemen’

Title: Bad Reputation

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel

Summary: Husker needs some new security after an attack on his casino and he was always on the lookout for new acts to entertain his patrons. He could handle Arackniss when dealing with the security issues. However, entertainment meant he needed to turn to hell’s newest overlord now that Valentino was gone. All Angel Dust brought to his new role was his bad reputation and his never ending boundary crossing. Husker was not looking forward to this.

Rating: teen

Author Note - written for Overlord Husk week day 6 wild card and for spikesgirl58s 6 words challenge. The words were Bikes, Fragile, Legs, Theory, Efficacious, & Imminent

( Story at above link or under here )

Dead Hand

The Ace Of Hearts Teen Wolf

Taking Care Of Business Torchwood

Anywhere With You FAKE

a knife between your ribs. The Murderbot Diaries

Our bestie SecUnit! The Murderbot Diaries

you’re so pretty, it kills me Arcane: League of Legends

All About the Accessories Stargate Atlantis

Munch. The Murderbot Diaries

solemnly swear 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

Safety in Numbers The Murderbot Diaries

Taking Care Of Business Torchwood

Reborn Buffy the Vampire Slayer

A Night With Diglett Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)

Let’s Dating Nerd The Owl

Rocky Road Deadpool (Movieverse)/X-Men

Chris Reaches Out 911

Killcode The Murderbot Diaries

Birthday Cookies The Owl House

Fevered Faint Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV)

Voxtimization Hazbin Hotel

Current Mood: busy

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New Crowdfunding Project: "Take Us North"

Take Us North is down to the last day or so of its campaign. If you want to participate, now is the time.

$50,976 pledged of $30,000 goal
509 backers
26 hours to go

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I'm Worried About Zara

Ugh. Feeling arthritis-y. Need to go to sleep.

Got up at 6:30 AM. Bella did her business quickly, so I decided to go back to sleep for an hour and shower at lunch. I overslept work an hour. Suckage.

Today is Friday, right? This week has been a blur.

I found a propane heater in case the power goes out in winter, but I need to think about how much money I want to spend on something that might never happen. (I could use it for camping though. Speaking of camping, I have the down sleeping bag for if the power goes out, but that won't help the critters.) On the other hand, this area has a danger of ice storms because we’re far enough south that snow can turn to freezing rain. And hmm, the food supplies would help being snowed in.

Fed everyone and took Bella and Gracie outside. It’s hot out (90F/32C). I think that I need to stop feeding Gracie kibble because it seems to give her loose stools. I'd have to feed her another can of wet food. Showered and put on shorts and a t-shirt and sandals.

Hmm. I should order some tubs in which to keep emergency supplies, but I should wait until I get them to see what size I need.

Medium doesn't allow you to make money off of AI-generated text, so I need to rewrite the blog entries. In that case, I might have to wait until retirement. We'll see. I am so busy right now. Maybe I could work on some in my hotel room at night during my trip. Or at the airport.

I have a strong urge to go back to Hawaii, to Maui, but it won't happen anytime soon. Plus, I want to wait until Lahaina is rebuilt. I wonder how long that will take. Maybe I should check out Molokai? That would be a nice sleepy place for "R&R". You have to take a commuter airline from Oahu or Maui to Molokai. I found a flight that I like. Hmm, should I go to Molokai next year? It would have to be a short trip because I will be taking a lot of time for my European trip in the fall. I was going to go see my dad though. Hum. I have three weeks of vacation and two personal holidays right now. I'll take two weeks in Italy and a day or two in January at the end of my cruise. I need to figure out how much time I'll take for the European trip (how many extra days I want to stay in Paris and Istanbul). I have airfare that I need to use up before mid-June. (Too bad that I already booked the flights for the cruise. But part of it was from the flight that I didn't take earlier this year after the full cruise.)

Oh. I forgot to mention that I bought a second travel vest the other day because I wear mine all the time for the pockets. They're very useful. I have a burgundy one and the new one is black.

Hmm. Do I want to go work downstairs now? It's 93F/34C and kind of miserable upstairs. Luckily, I'm not doing anything that requires two monitors.

Oh no. David Gergen died. I liked him on CNN. He was a presidential advisor that became a political commentator.

Bella is so jealous. If Oliver or Gracie jumps on my lap, Bella jumps on my lap (well, as much of her that will fit), chases them off, and kisses me. "I am YOUR DOG! And don't forget it!"

Zara didn’t eat most of her food (which is concerning), so I gave her food to Oliver and Lily. First Bella jumped up with her paws on the counter. I made her get down. Then Gracie jumped up. I made her get down. Then they both jumped up in unison, and I cracked up. I told them that they were dorks. I got Oliver and Lily to sort of share by moving the dish around so that Lily could get some food.

I ordered some dog DNA tests for Bella and Gracie. The results should be interesting.

One of the things that I need to do this weekend is find the chicken wire so that I can plug the gaps in the fence and let Gracie run around. She’s small enough that she could get out, and I don’t trust her to come back like Bella does.

I’ve added seeing the giant rubber duck that one_raido wrote about to my bucket list. Waukegan this year would be doable except that I’ll be in Italy. Sorry not sorry. I’ll have to bookmark its Web site. They should bring it to Chicago (if they haven’t already).

I started going through Amazon boxes. My emergency supplies are starting to arrive. Some will also work for camping, such as wipes to use in lieu of a shower. I got my weather radio and have set it up for alerts in my bedroom.

Note to self: go through my travel chargers this weekend and order anything that I need. Also check on my travel adapters and transfer them to my medium suitcase. I have my travel pillow and sleep mask, but I ordered a second sleep mask in case I lose one on the plane like I did on my last trip to Italy. Pack my swimsuits (or do I want to go swimming before I leave?)

Oh good. I’m yawning. I want to get to bed early so that I can get out early to do some weeding and planting.

Shit. Zara isn't eating at all. I'm really worried. The vet gave me some appetite enhancers, but I was going to crush the pills and mix them in her food. I wonder if she would take one mixed with a Churu. I also ordered some pill pockets, but I remember in the past that she would eat the pill pocket and spit out the pill. I'll call the vet on Monday if I can't get her to eat.

Current Mood: busy

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Art

This art workshop made a "landscape" out of loose parts for the artists to use as inspiration. Every art room should have a generous collection of objects to mix and match like this.

Current Mood: busy

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Birdfeeding

Today is sunny and sweltering.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a house wren.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/11/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen a fox squirrel.

EDIT 7/11/25 -- Yesterday I collected 5 little pink crabapples while out and about. These are almost marble size, much more useful than the pea-sized ones. So I potted up those today to see if they'll sprout.

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books_2025

The AI Con by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna

This book was a very well done AI skeptic book that was rooted in deep knowledge of the history of artificial intelligence. It brought to light some interesting points that I had never thought about, and it never descended into a rant.

It gets into the history of AI, and a lot of that discussion is rooted in the type of probabilistic models that I learned about in grad school. It is discussing n-grams, Markov, and so on.

There is a discussion about how AI is an attempt to break labor and gets into a more detailed history of the Luddites. The Luddites were craftsmen, and machines were replacing their hard won skills with an inferior product. The machines that were doing this were also dangerous to their operators.

Various people involved in AI feel like there should not be any AI policy until it is thoroughly discussed, but the authors propose that existing laws should be used to limit the use of AI in areas where it can do harm. They quote Michael Atleson, an attorney within the FTC Division of Advertising Practices:

Your therapy bots aren't licensed psychologists, your AI girlfriends are neither girls nor friends, your griefbots have no soul, and your AI copilots are not gods.

The book was extremely critical about the use of AI in making medical decisions and in law. Law has to do with the nuance of language, and generated language that no human really thinks through does not have the same nuance.

There were also good arguments for limiting the use of AI in education.

In August 2020, thousands of British students, unable to take their A-level exams due to the COVID-19 pandemic, received grades calculated based on an algorithm that took as input, among other things, the grades that other students at their schools received in previous years. After massive public outcry, in which hundreds of students gathered outside the prime minister's residence at 10 Downing Street in London, chanting "Fuck the algorithm!" the grades were retracted and replaced with grades based on teachers' assessments of the student work.

While some technology in education is important, a lot of technology in education is designed to give an inferior education to poor kids and union-bust.

One thing that I did not know was that the little Gemini summary on a Google search uses 10-30 times more energy than search before this feature was added.

The authors see both AI doomers and AI boosters as two sides of the same coin. Both of these groups believe that the AI will become smarter than humans. The outcome is the only thing that they differ on.

The group that wants to consider the data used to train the models and the impacts that AI has on the present really does not want to get lumped in with AI doomers that think that the AI is going to eventually get so smart that it will destroy humanity. They are rooted in reality while the doomers are not. There was some criticism of how Vice President Harris was trying to get the people concerned with the present impact of AI to work with the doomers.

There were a lot of references Karen Hao's work. How has recently released the book "Empire of AI." Hao is an AI journalist specifically focused on OpenAI.

Current Music: David Bowie

(no subject)

PG&E doubled their damn rates. My landlady told me my electric bills should go down once they hook up the solar panels, which I thought they already did. There's supposed to be a bldg meeting about that Thursday, the odd thing is they're having the meeting 2 and a half hours after they normally leave.
I also got a new watch, the band on my old one broke, I was just going to have the band replaced but I found a nice watch in this second hand store that sends its money to cancer patients and they only wanted 5 dollars for it. It probably would have cost a lot more than 5 dollars if I just got a watchband at some other store. Plus, of course I'm all for helping cancer patients.
Looking forward to tonight, I'm going to the East Bay Gay Men's chorus concert!

Current Mood: busy

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Bonus Fishbowl

There will be a bonus fishbowl on Tuesday, July 15. The theme will be "anything goes." If you want a continuation of an earlier piece, or something totally new, that doesn't fit the usual themes, then now's your chance. Brainstorm in advance and jot down ideas for later. You can also request any favorite series, character, setting, etc.

Note that our internet connection has been bad for well over a month. Sometimes it's down completely, other times things like Dreamwidth and searches won't run. So I'm losing a lot of work time and may only have access for half a day or less. Given this limitation, there's a higher chance of actually getting things written for prompts that use characters, settings, etc. that are already established.

Current Mood: busy

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Follow Friday 7-11-25: History

Today's theme is History.

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Current Mood: awake
Current Location: In my bed w/ the kitties :)
Current Music: 'Supernatural' on the telly

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80. The Friday Five

1. What was the most sick that you've ever been?

I cannot remember them all, but I was like 17/18 in high school when I caught something bad. High fever, dazed, bedridden. I recall another time when I had a really bad bug where I had to crawl to the bathroom because I was so sick. Back in 2022 I had gotten my first dose of the Covid shot and was vomiting for like 7-10 days straight. I went to urgent care and they gave me Zofran and told me to wait it out. It was brutal. Worst I’ve ever been was when I had Covid the first time back in December 2021. I was bedridden for 3 weeks and the virus led to my POTS being triggered and chronic fatigue with hypersomnia.

2. What disease are you afraid of getting?

Dementia, cancer, anything fatal or that would incapacitate me.

3. Are you a big baby when it comes to taking medicine/shots for your illnesses?

I used to be, but now it’s nothing. As my health has gotten worse over the years I’ve had to get used to lots of meds and being poked and prodded.

4. Is going to the doctor really THAT bad?

No, I love my Primary Care Doc and my mental health team. My Cardiologist is awesome too and so are his NPs. And my Neurologist’s NP is lovely.

5. Would you have the flu twice a month if you were paid $1,000 for having it?

Fuck, no!

Current Mood: busy

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Communities

Here's a cool Dreamwidth tool: take the URL of any community and add /read to the end. It will show you posts by all the members. So for instance:

https://birdfeeding.dreamwidth.org/read

Current Mood: busy

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Focus

This is why some people hate interruptions and find it hard to switch from one activity to another. It includes people with ADHD, autism, executive function disorder, post-concussion-syndrome, other cognitive issues; many introverts; and most people who spend a lot of time doing things they are bad at (e.g. a linguistically inclined person doing math, or an athletic person forced to write text). Discuss with the people in your life what kinds of interruptions are okay or not, when, and how.

Focus is broken by interruption.

Current Mood: busy

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Climate Change

Bigger crops, fewer nutrients: The hidden cost of climate change

Climate change is silently sapping the nutrients from our food. A pioneering study finds that rising CO2 and higher temperatures are not only reshaping how crops grow but are also degrading their nutritional value especially in vital leafy greens like kale and spinach. This shift could spell trouble for global health, particularly in communities already facing nutritional stress. Researchers warn that while crops may grow faster, they may also become less nourishing, with fewer minerals, proteins, and antioxidants raising concerns about obesity, weakened immunity, and chronic diseases.

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This is what they mean by mind-muscle connection

I have had some personal-training sessions, and I am now trying to get better acquainted with my lats.

Because the personal trainer guy was all 'engage the lats, pull from the lats' and I was 'whut?'. So between us we've worked that I barely know how to use these muscles, that my shoulders take the strain when I try to do pull-up-related exercises and this is (i) much harder than it should be (ii) bad for my joints. So I'm doing a lot of lat-activation drills, and when I'm sitting on the sofa of an evening I'm (sometimes) flexing my lats, just trying to remind my body, my self, that this is how it works. Weird.

Overhead mobility is the other thing which needs a lot of work, because I cannot do an overhead squat to save my life. I can go down, or I can lift up, but if I'm down my arms are not going to go up and back. Also forty-plus years of desk work means that I round my back, and hunch over like a vulture on road-kill which is not good for the thoracic spine (and I now know about the thoracic spine).

I have tried pilates, I did a weekly class for most of 2023 and I can't say I enjoyed it. It was either boring (because I could do the exercise) or annoying (because I couldn't do the exercise) and the best I can say about it was that it was marginally less aggravating than yoga. I used to come home from the pilates class in a sour grumpy mood, opposite of crossfit where I come home all boing boing boing, and then bore Himself by talking about what exercises I did.

TLDR; I am rather disconnected from my body and trying to do better.

Current Mood: amused

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Sandwich Alignment Chart

An amusing look at what is or is not a sandwich.

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Heat Threat?

ChatGPT came up with a good blog post on intentionality as a spiritual practice. I might be able to start a blog before I retire in that case (if I come up with enough ideas). It also asked me if I wanted to create a workshop from it. Maybe I should consider creating workshops when I retire? It would be a fun way to make some money. I asked it to create a couple more blog posts.

I asked ChatGPT about WordPress themes for a blog and found two that I liked. We were working on colors when I ran out of ChatGPT time.

Fed the critters and took Bella and Gracie outside. Bella found a large stick and Gracie was trying to get it away from her. But Bella is stronger.

I looked at a site that analyzes your address for risks, and the highest risk at my place is heat. I should see if I have an air mattress in the basement in case the power goes out. Oh, but it has an electric pump! I need one that uses a battery-operated one. It would be good to have some water and a small litter box there as well. Is there a battery-operated fan? Anyway, I ordered a weather radio for my bedroom. I should have one.

I’m out of caffeinated soda. I need to submit a grocery order (done).

I ordered a bunch of emergency supplies, many of which were on Prime sale. I just need some jugs of water and we'll be ready. Hmm, I should get an extra can opener to stash in case I misplace mine. Though I got MREs to eat in case of a power failure. But I need one just in case the pull tabs on the cat and dog food come off. Hmm, I should stash some extra cat and dog food too.

I overslept, but Bella did her business quickly, so I still managed to take a shower. I need to pick up my plants at 5 PM today. Gracie no longer has diarrhea, so I need to call the vet and cancel her appointment.

I have a bunch of deadlines at work today, but they depend on other people. I've reminded people of the info that I need, and I need to tell myself that I'm doing everything that I can to meet the deadlines and calm down. But I'm stressy. One task down.

We got an extension on the deadlines. In a way, that’s good because we aren’t going to make them, but I’m afraid that the data that’s owed me will get pushed out. I want this done. In other exciting news, IT was working most of the afternoon on my work computer. Windows 11 is installing V-E-R-Y S-L-O-W-L-Y. It finally installed.

Went and got my plants after the GPS on my phone led me astray. Returned a library book. Mailed my letters. The post office was still open, so I got a book of stamps because I don’t want to use all my mom’s elephant stamps because they’re so her. The postal clerk asked me if I wanted flags, and I said no because that would be a political statement right now. I got some dahlia stamps. A book of stamps is a lot smaller than it used to be, but I so seldom send letters that they should last for awhile.

Watered the garden while I was out with Bella and Gracie. Then the IT person with whom I'm working said to reboot my work computer, so I did that. Started laundry. I need to stay up until I can put it in the dryer.