Even the BBC talked about it.

recently wrote about water readiness now that our government formally^* advises the population to be prepared for war or other crises (it has mentioned climate too) because when everyone knows about a crisis, then it’s already too late to acquire things, primarily due to shortages (surge in demand) rather than safety outdoors.

Minutes ago I read about a “Major” [Army] Veteran “Mobilisation” in the UK due to rising tensions with Russia and Sweden helps Finland with border patrols.

I hope for no crisis, I want the Ukraine war to end before it turns 5, but for now this is what we have.

____

^* If you’re going to hurl insults like paranoid at someone, hurl them at Westminster.

This time for real

T seems quite safe to predict that Enzo’s first cup match with City, this coming Thursday at home, will be a breeze. The one home game after that, against Sunderland, won’t be easy based on what happened to Arsenal (it did not win easily).

Today we went past the stadium a couple of times to feed the birds as it truly felt like summer. After half an hour a toddler started chasing and scaring them (at least her mother objected to it).

It is probably the hottest day in the remainder of this year. Several hours this morning were spent gardening in preparing for ‘true’ autumn.

Winter will be a breeze. We hope all our fish will survive it.

Slop (not “AI”) is a scam

am hardly shocked that more and more people: 1) hate slop; 2) recognise slop does not work as advertised (media hype and FOMO); 3) know it’s just a bubble, a passing fad.

This is just the beginning, they’ll try to re-inflate this bubble, but it’ll be costly (more debt).

Not laptops

began my school days with a notebook. Then notebooks. Pupils like myself learned how to read and write. We used notebooks. We had a blackboard, later a whiteboard (for health reasons). It generally worked. It can still work.

Earlier this year I used a notebook extensively to take notes. This week I begin turning those notes into digital articles. It’s not about copying the thing word by word. Typing is faster than writing and gives more time to consider one’s choice of words or which words are most important to capture.

Nostalgic. Yes, but it works.

This man’s dad is dead.

did not need a reminder that the name Roy is for very old people and very seldom given to men younger than myself.

I did – in my lifetime – meet Roys younger than me, but they’re not much younger and they are very are.

Roy Burnham has passed on, but not before seeing his son winning high honours and before enough scandals render him another “former PM”.

K.I.S.S.

am a proud user of ‘dumb’ things, who does things the ‘dumb way.

When I mentioned the light for the fish I did not specify whether it’s turned off/on by the socket (the sockets all have switches here). It’s not. There is a switch on the wire itself.

But “is it on a timer?” someone has asked, linking to “PWR-SWITCH”.

Turning on a light with the flick of a switch does not take much effort/time (maybe one second); buying some gizmos with timers means: 1) setup time; 2) troubleshooting; 3) more moving parts which can break/malfunction; 4) tinkering time.

We could make lights with remote controls and timers decades ago. But we did not. There was no market (or use case) for that.

The Total Time of Ownership (TTO) is vastly better for “dumb” things that don’t need maintenance and studying (memorising how to operate them). They don’t have hardware issues and risky “upgrades”.

I don’t want “smart” lightings in the home, thank-you-very-much.

Healthy fish for healthy mind

ast night I added a fluorescent light for the fish, it is external to the tank, and so far it also helps illuminate the desk area at night (days are quickly getting shorter), so it is double-purpose ‘thingie’ really. There is a light switch that controls whether it is on or off, it is easy top use, and it is within arm’s reach.

The fish tank experience next to my own desk (not Rianne’s) began a week ago. So far, so good.