A quick break

inutes from now several matches will commence and today we’ve had a pleasant, calm day. I even managed to get a 2-hour afternoon nap.

So lately we started a news series concerning slop in Linux, the kernel. See yesterday’s posts [1, 2].

It’ll last quite some time as we have lots to show/share. The overall structure isn’t decided yet. There’s no clear outline, mostly lists of points to cover.

We’ve named (and feed) only 4 at the moment

think that Edwin came indoors about 4 times today, more than in prior days. He was looking for seeds, he reckons he can get more of them when he gets close to me. Sometimes he sits on the doorknob, hoping to get my (or Rianne’s) attention.

Edwin is always last and sometimes first. Even in late September he’d stay until almost 7PM (6:57 today) and he can show up the following day at around 6-7AM.

The birds are good companions and they’re clean as long as they don’t do their “dirt” indoors.

Another bird, still unnamed, likes to sit on the window at the front and has zero fear of humans. It insists strongly on getting a jar of seeds.

I’ve not been writing much about birds lately. Tomorrow we plan to feed 70+ of them in the park. Weather permitting.

Some things would not happen to technology (tech) experts because they know how things work and what to expect (or watch out for)

N the past 2+ decades I did not lose data. Prior to that I only lost things I did not value, like old and mostly meaningless E-mails from the 1990s (not MP3s, I had those backed up). I make regular backups, I keep a spare machine in case the main one fails, and I maintain the hardware to make sure it works or be fully aware when it is about to fail. When my storage device finally failed in January 2023, for example, I had already prepared for it for about 12 months because there were warning signs. I no longer stored on it anything essential. Likewise, in 2020, I moved away from “ted” when it was giving some warnings, so when “ted” (used by me since 2013) finally died nothing of value was lost and no time wasted. I also keep external backups and we have fire extinguishing kits just in case.

People who have been around in tech for a long time and properly understand tech prepare for disasters in advance. So they don’t become disasters at all, they just involve a bit of work (to get fully back to speed).

Seems broken/dead

have been told that “Osservatorio Nessuno ODV seems to have been pulled offline completely,” alluding to another apparent act of deplatforming, this time in Europe and due to actions of a fascist government in another continent!

“Perhaps that has to do with the removal of the other Italian group which has been fighting fascism for over 25 years?” (referring to Autistici/Inventati, as it was also a webhost)

I am very familiar with attacks on webhosts and ISPs. This was attempted against me many times.

Escalation again, testing the waters (or checking the air defences/tactics)

t is hard to dismiss this as fake or sensationalism when Lithuania itself talks about it.

This morning we heard from the Danes too. Putin doesn’t get his way in Ukraine as winter approaches and 5 years will have passed (since it began) this coming February.

Russia is not winning the war, but it is trying to be a pest to neighbours.

Botspam

cannot believe what Ebay is doing. Now it uses bots (which it calls “hey hi”) to do things that demand users do real work, to “respond” to the bots. They also send lots of SPAM. It gets worse over time.

Someone in Gopher complained the other day: “Ebay themselves have also become increasingly annoying over the years in a whole host of ways, which I don’t have time to detail.”

Same with Evri.

Stop using bots to “save work” when in fact all those bots do is give unpaid work to your customers, whom you piss off.

We studied this in University (Abraham Harold Maslow’s hierarchy of needs)

think that happiness is elusive for those who delay it (“I’ll find it when I retire” or “this weekend I’ll party hard, play hard”) or those who seek gratification by conflating money (or purchases) with joy while hating their jobs but compensating for that with salaries. If people work 40 hours a week (more or less), that latter activity can be the opposite of happiness, last a long time, and persist mentally before and after work.

They say “do what you like, money will come” (or pursue your hobby, make it profitable some way or another in the future).

To me, basics of happiness begin with the Maslow model and can be further simplified like this: get enough sleep any time you’re tired, eat well (enjoy it, don’t rush), find romance/companionship (that latter may mean pets/wildlife too, not just kids), do exercise or relax (e.g. spa) for physical/mental health. Work enough, don’t overdo it. It’s possible you spend too much if you need to work too much. And if you work too much, you’ll hate work and maybe wish to fall asleep in it (or underperform).