    ..

    blah!

    ideas with no tangibility;
    ideas with irrelevant supports;
    ideas without value;
    ideas' witlessness;
    ideas' witnesses;
    ideas-

    2022-07-06

    	Duo, most lingual

    	I today managed to bring my Duolingo "streak" (being a marker of how
    many days in a row I've used the app) to 14 - two whole weeks. Duolingo is
    proprietary software and not even very good for accurate language learning but
    I enjoy it.

    	I have a new phone: the Punkt MP-02. I purchased it from monado for
    $180 with shipping which is a good deal on the manufacturer price of $379
    (seriously). I couldn't recommend this phone to anyone.
    	The "Pigeon" Signal messenger client, which is a direct fork of
    SignalApp's official Android app, is a poor experience that so far has been
    unuseable for me and is far out of date from the current application. You can
    see for yourself the source code for Pigeon, which legally has to be provided
    by Punkt as requested as per the terms of the GNU Public License under which
    the original Signal app is allowed to be modified and distributed. Six git
    commits change a hundred thousand lines of code put together and the commit
    names aren't really relevant to the changes - which makes me think this was a
    hasty legal compliance rather than any actual development of Pigeon in the
    open. This repository is available here:
    		<https://github.com/Punkt-Tronics-AG/Pigeon>
    	I planned to modify the client to make it work for my uses but learned
    this phone uses Android (based on the Android "Open-Source" Project) which is
    based on archaic Java technology, and indeed Pigeon is written in Java. Setting
    up the build environment isn't worth my time - I would just use the official
    app but it isn't useable [without modification]. From the official Pigeon
    manual, available here:
    		<https://www.punkt.ch/repofiles/Manuali/MP02/26702-MP02%20-%
    		 20Pigeon%20User%20Manual%20%28EN%29.pdf>
    		<https://web.archive.org/web/20220707011516if_/https://www.p
    		 unkt.ch/repofiles/Manuali/MP02/26702-MP02%20-%20Pigeon%20User%
    		 20Manual%20%28EN%29.pdf>
    (I took the liberty of adding actual hyperlinks because the URLs are so long
     they wrap lines. The Internet Archive link is there because I expect Punkt to
     eventually get rid of and bury Pigeon when they're embarrassed enough.)

    >When the request is received by Signal, there may
    >be a requirement to negotiate a 'Captcha' test in
    >order to demonstrate that it is a bona fide
    >registration attempt. The test requires the
    >registrant to select from a range of images,
    >according to a specific instruction. Use the 2, 4, 6
    >and 8 numerical keys to a) locate all the images
    >that have been sent (not all will be visible on the
    >screen at once) and b) highlight an individual
    >image so that it can be selected by pressing the
    >Punkt. key (or the 5 key). If the images fail to load,
    >press the 0 key to refresh. (This can also be done if
    >a 4x4 image test is loading; there is a possibility
    >that the replacement will be the easier 3x3 format.)
    >When all the required images have been selected,
    >press the 6 and 8 keys to move down to highlight
    >what may either be 'Verify' or 'Continue'
    >(depending on which version of the Captcha test
    >has been sent) and press the Punkt. key

    This is verbatim from page 7 (item 6 in "Installing the software and
    registering with Signal"). In practice the items are not highlighted (so you
    have to remember where your cursor is - hopefully your keypad keys are
    responsive, which is an uncommon but recurring issue with many of the phones)
    and maybe half of the images show up because the phone doesn't have enough
    memory. So getting through Google's ReCAPTCHA requires a lot of effort and
    usually at least three tries.
    	I should know. I've done this half a dozen times trying to use Signal.
    Even when I get through it won't even connect to the network! I've given up.
    Damn Pigeon and damn Punkt for making this the selling point of their phone.
    I have other complaints but I'm going to go to sleep again and save them for
    another, grumpier time.

    2022-06-30

    	O, posts unwritten

    	I didn't get to finish the other day's blog post because I got busy. To
    be continued!

    	A million schizophrenic moths, a thousand cognitoviral flames.
    Immolation imminent.

    	I'm out of isolation as of yesterday. I still have very mild symptoms
    but the CDC says I'm okay to be among the other humans so long as I wear a
    mask, which I have been doing.

    2022-06-28

    	Now, drug the stricken

    	Yesterday I said something along the lines of "oh, I wish drug
    companies weren't so secretive about how everything was made" though with a bit
    more detail of why I wished that and how I understood things to be. My
    understanding was wrong!
    		<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526213/#!po=5.90909>
    		^ Here's how to make acetaminophen.

    2022-06-27

    	Noun doth the Wickedness

    	Today I'm not doing much of anything. I may install NetBSD on an X300 I
    have kicking around for a friend, and I may upgrade my NetBSD on my X200 Tablet
    to the latest binary build, and I may clean a little - hopefully I clean more
    than a little, actually - but that's about it.
    	Day #3 since testing positive with COVID-19. I'm still very fortunate
    to not have any serious symptoms. My temperature usually sits around 96.9F to
    97.5F or so. I always figured the normal temperature was 96-97 but according to
    WebMD (a very reliable source, I know) the rule of thumb created by "a German
    doctor in the 19th century" (which is the level of detail I've come to expect
    from such a reputable source as WebMD) is 98.6F which seems high.
    	Healthline (another reputable source) says the doctor was Carl
    Wunderlich and hyperlinked an actual study from 2019; Normal Body Temperature:
    A Systematic Review authored by Ivayla I Geneva, Brian Cuzzo, Tasaduq Fazili,
    and Waleed Javaid, which is not only readable by Normal Human Beings but has
    loads more and better researched information than what I could describe here.
    I encorage anybody interested in the history of our understanding of fever to
    read that article, with the following DOI:
    			<https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofz032>
    	Anyway, my internal body temperature is usually 36 degrees centigrade,
    sometimes up to a degree higher. Geneva et alia concluded the average to be
    in the 36-37 ballpark which means I'm just about normal. Of course, because
    I've known about my body temperature being slightly cold for a while now, and
    because it's such a small difference, and because I have no relevant health
    issues, it's very obvious that my being somewhat colder than normal is
    completely fine. But now I know it's not even worth bringing up as party
    chatter. Oh well!

    	The more I learn about NetBSD, the more I like NetBSD. This also goes
    for possums and my friend Noah. The more I learn about Wayland, the more I
    dislike Wayland. This also goes for Crissy Teigan and Firefox.

    2022-06-26

    	Down with the Dickness

    	Dawn of the Dead (2004; dir. Zack Snyder) has Richard Cheese's
    performance of Down with the Sickness, a popular rock song, fifty-six minutes
    in. Being an existing fan of the Cheese it was cool to see.
    	I defrosted my fridgerator last night. Turns out that's something you
    need to do. I propped it up on a plastic container and used the hair dryer on
    it in the shower. Lots of clanging and banging but now it's plugged in and
    hopefully running.
    	I forgot what it was like to adjust to Soylent. Around a year ago I
    switched back to a solid diet out of convenience - it's hard to lug around a
    bottle or two when I could pop into a convenience store and come out with a
    candy bar and a Monster. That was an esophageal spasm ago - something that
    feels somewhere between a mild heart attack and being hit by a not mild train.
    My stomach got too acid or something after one Monster after having abstained
    from caffeine for a little while. So the drawbacks of Soylent are less
    noticeable nowadays though I will probably go back to solids when I go back to
    work.
    	I have a Punkt MP-02 coming in the mail eventually from a friend, or
    I've been scammed for a couple hundred bucks from a friend, we'll see which is
    true in a week or two. I'm looking forward to driving over my iPhone with a
    tractor or similarly heavy machinery though sadly it will probably stay in
    service as a Spotify + Duolingo appliance.

    ---

    there was an ook and there was an eek
    and they clubbed each other for dino meat
    wearing tattered clothes, suits and ties,
    eating raptor noses and puppy eyes

    one day ook tripped over a paper
    filled with runes of a busier time
    eek got mad and threw it with anger
    into an ocean the color of wine

    ook and eek died together
    of swollen armpits and wounds that wouldn't heal
    eek whispered to his falling comrade
    ook, of a different world, heard only a squeal

    --

    empirical evidence says you're a myth
    the physical nothing, the empty, the wisp
    you're not of our numbers, we've nothing for you
    we've no words to describe you. run or hang in loops

    we've killed all your family, we're tracking your friends
    we'll kill them by sunday, for the crime of self defense
    you won't get away with being inexpressible
    we won't expand our vocabulary

    you are all crucifiable

    ---

    2022-06-25

    	Down with the sickness

    	I tested positive for COVID-19 last night so it looks like I'm stuck at
    home for the next couple days. Between my Soylent stash (for the end of the
    world) and my water stash (for the end of the world) I don't even need to dip
    into my savings, so that's nice.

    	Yesterday the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade,
    marking the first time the Court has ever decided to take away Constitutional
    rights. Four of the majority were men, joined by one woman, and the dissenting
    opinion was written by two women and one man. No Supreme Court justice is under
    half a century old.

    ---

    REPORT: JUSTICE ALITO CONSIDERING ADDING EXCEPTION FOR HIS DAUGHTER, WHO IS IN
    COLLEGE AND WHOSE LIFE COULD BE 'RUINED' BY MISTAKE

    By TRINITY BLAKE; 2022-05-04

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- As women across the country fear losing access to safe and
    legal abortion, reports are coming in that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito
    is considering making a major exception to the court's decision to overturn
    the historic 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion throughout the
    United States.

    Justice Alito has reportedly informed an anonymous source that he 'screwed up'
    and that though he believes abortion should be illegal, '[his daughter] isn't
    like all those [expletive] who will go out and [expletive] and then just roll
    up to a clinic and abort a living child'.

    In Alito's reported words, 'Having this child could ruin my daughter's career.
    She made one mistake. She isn't like the others!' Alito went on to say that
    while doctors who perform abortions are still murderers, '[his daughter] is
    different. She just is. I wouldn't expect you to understand.'

    The exception, being called by critics 'Alito's folly', is expected to appear
    in Alito's third draft opinion. Alito's second draft opinion broadened the
    allowed language to 'better describe' what Alito called 'party idiots who don't
    care about human life'.

    This wouldn't be the first time a Supreme Court Justice has added an exception
    to a seemingly concrete ruling. In Plessy v. Ferguson the often-overlooked tenth
    'diversity' Justice, George Freeman, added an exception to the famous 'separate
    but equal' rule; 'While I'm required to like segregation in order to maintain
    my position in this Court, I do not want to use the colored bathrooms. Shop-
    owners never clean them.'

    The anonymous source also said after Alito drives his daughter home from
    Planned Parenthood he plans to continue protesting that same location in his
    'special disguise' - sunglasses and a baseball cap.

    ---

    2022-06-22

    	Dangerous ideas

    	Perhaps the homelessness problem in the United States would be taken
    care of if any domicile not occupied were given to someone who wasn't
    previously occupying a domicile. Is it so bad to force a child to share toys
    with which they never play?
    	A mowed lawn resembles a soldier's buzz cut hair. Fine, but I wouldn't
    want to date an army man. I would prefer to let the lawn-spiders, the bees and
    milkweed, and the butterflies and things like that have a home.
    	I deleted my /politics page because I learned people actually read it.
    Though it loosely reflects my current beliefs, enough that I'm not embarrassed
    by it, I'm uncomfortable at the thought of anyone actually caring about what I
    believe. Here are the good bits from it:

    	I don't hold public office. Don't fret about my beliefs, they probably
    		won't ever affect you.

    	BITCHUTE

    	I tried to swap from YouTube to this site back in 2019(? maybe 2020).
    		The site administration has let it get infested with right-wing
    		puppets and various other muck. Plus all my favorite channels
    		left. So I can't really recommend it. Looks like everyone's
    		using PeerTube now, my only concern with that is data
    		resiliency - can hobbyists keep their instances going with the
    		same dependability as YouTube?

    	CEREAL

        	The milk goes after the cereal into the bowl.
        	Corn flakes aren't that bad, despite their origins.
        	Cereal with coffee instead of milk is pretty good.
        	Soggy cereal beats out freshly poured cereal most of the time.
    		Exceptions are maybe Cocoa Pebbles and Cheerios. Life cereal is
    		especially good soggy.
        	The last powdery bits of the cereal are much better than the initial
    		big bits. A lot of that powder is sugar and it sweetens the
    		milk.
        	Bag cereal is just as good as box cereal. Taste-wise they're identical
    		and they're about the same effort to pour because the boxes
    		have bags in them too. The only con to bagged is that a greater
    		amount of cereals are boxed (e.g. there are no off-brand
    		Wheaties where I am) and boxes have cool puzzles on the back
    		(though now that I'm not a wee lass I do have a cellphone on
    		which I play Konami Picross instead).

    	WRONGSPEAK AND WRONGTHINK

    	If you're unaffected by a slur you probably shouldn't use it, even in
    		an educational or non-hateful context.
    	There are some words I'd now consider hateful I used to use without
    		reserve.
    	Personally I don't use hateful language because I don't think it's
    		justifiable. However, if you're okay with offending people,
    		consider this - you cannot grow in your understanding of the
    		world if you don't communicate with people with whom you
    		disagree. You're really going to prioritize hateful speech over
    		self development?
    	If you go on my platform and say things with which I disagree, I should
    		not have to host your opinions.

    	Most of my regrets involving political speech involve saying either too
    little or too much, which is nice, because at least I didn't support some
    stupendously awful cause that ended up killing everyone or something. Maybe
    right now I am doing that without realizing, but I hope not.

    2022-06-21

    	Some things I learned this week

    	Instead of grating vegetables, you can peel very small sections off of
    them to get essentially the same effect. It works better if you dice the
    peelings after you're done. A grater will do the job much better but in a pinch
    the peeler will work fine.
    	A teaspoon is 5mL, a tablespoon is 15mL. They aren't the same.
    	You can never have enough paper towels. If you think you do, you're
    wrong. Aspirin is bad for you, acetaminophen is especially bad for you,
    ibuprofen is bad for you, you can have either pain or pain.
    	The GNU debugger is awesome. Compile programs with `-g` and run gdb
    [program], then execute `start`, then `step` through statement by statement and
    inspect variables with `print`. I've been printf(3) debugging since I was eight
    years old (about a decade ago). This is a total game changer.
    	The first pancake is always the worst. Don't be afraid to screw up the
    first time, instead ensure the environment is controlled so that when beginners
    make that first pancake the customers don't eat it.
    	People believe the dumbest stuff because they're so used to dumb things
    happening. You can't be sane in an insane world.

    	Food I'm craving

    	Pizza (good pizza, not something from Pizza Johns or Papa Hut). I could
    make it myself but dough seems hard and I'm procrastinating learning how bread
    and stuff works. I also don't wanna go to the store, carry the ingredients
    home, and figure out what to do with the leftover stuff. Perhaps all my
    problems could be solved with one of those Hello Fresh startups or whatever but
    the point of pizza is that it's cheap and delicious and I don't wanna pay more
    for less.
    	A bagel, but I could always go for a bagel. I'd like some veggie cream
    cheese right now on a dark toasted bagel.
    	Pancakes. I haven't had pancakes for a couple seasons now. I like
    pancakes with good maple syrup, maybe not the really expensive stuff in glass
    jars (I haven't tried that stuff so I wouldn't know) but the stuff that comes
    in the gray-cream colored pitchers with the small handles and black caps, with
    instructions on the back for what to do if there's a skim on top of the syrup.
    Thin, Maine maple syrup, no corn involved in the process. Though Aunt Jemima
    (or whatever name by which she goes nowadays) is alright in a pinch.
    	I'm trying not to eat so much meat. The exceptions are (a) trying
    something new, (b) home-cooked meals by someone else, and (c) East asian
    restuarants. And of course food that would otherwise go to waste. I've found
    that limiting myself to these situations gives me a pretty good amount of meat
    in my diet ("pretty good" being a small amount, I eat meat maybe thrice a week
    at most). I don't have a moral stake in this in terms of animal cruelty, though
    I do believe farming animals is cruel, because I didn't kill the thing and
    Capitalists will never voluntarily decrease the amount of product they churn
    out. I just don't see a future where humans can have meat in nearly every meal
    and I'm trying to acclimate in advance. As past, so will pass - I'm sure we'll
    go back to some sort of primarily-grain diet, though maybe "grain" will be corn
    and corn derivatives and not much else. Meh, could be worse.
    	That being said, I could go for some turkey mixed with egg. In a pan,
    put a couple of slices (or even just the giblets left over from the slicing
    process) of turkey beast on some butter as the oil, and crack an egg over it.
    Break the yolk if the yolk isn't already broken and keep flipping the egged
    turkey until the egg is cooked. Serve alone or as part of a breakfast sandwich.
    It's the perfect mix of texture and flavor. I had this with some turkey that
    would have otherwise gone to waste and it was very good.

    2022-06-20: Some thinks I've been thinging about

    	The world would be a more interesting place if any biologists or
    researchers focusing on transmissable diseases took a look at Internet memes or
    "fake news" (cognitoviruses).

    	If a policy tangibly hurts people it's not a good policy. Whether or
    not I believe it's good, if something I supported takes food out of a mouth, I
    was wrong. Humans come before statutes.

    	Nobody's applied the second amendment to the abortion debate. The
    intent of the founding fathers regarding the second amendment was clearly to
    allocate for the self-defense of the populace even if it may be to the
    detriment of an offending party. Does a pregnant individual not have the right
    to stand their own ground and fend off entities that will do them harm?

    	Plastic is the new lead. Humans shouldn't be drinking animal milk (I
    drink a lot of chocolate milk, so this is a dig at myself too). Meat is as
    essential to the culinary arts as sugar, but it's also as essential to human
    sustenance as sugar. The next "got milk?" will be disseminated through Internet
    memes.

    	I'm not in favor of banning anything; abortion or firearms. I think a
    national firearm ban to some extent may be inevitable but I'm not too torn up
    about it. A bullet doesn't have much practical use beyond taking a life or
    practicing for it.

    	I want a Nintendo Wii powered through USB-C.

    	A holocaust will happen before 2050. This game of "telephone" that is
    generational education didn't impress upon this generation the gravity of the
    Holocaust committed by the Nazis in the 1940s. The Nazis had a fetish for
    documentation; the next holocaust will be recorded literally in 4K Ultra HD.
    In a desensitized world, will that even make a difference for the children of
    2160? In the information war that will be World War III, who will win - the
    Americans, who can't tamp down obvious misinformation such as "Pizzagate" or
    that the COVID-19 vaccines have microchips, or the Russians, who manufactured
    these rumors? "Americans" and "Russians" here are not literal names.
    	To me it's conceivable that gender nonconforming and non-heterosexual
    individuals would be targeted as scapegoats for a future manufactured
    "struggle" in the same way the Nazis chose Jews to be the primary scapegoats
    for "degeneration". Outliers are routinely paraded as examples of the queer
    community by those who wish to discredit it. External parties try to break the
    LGBT+ umbrella into the "LGB and others" or "lesbians and gays, but not
    bisexuals". The latter for acceptance (exceptance?) from those who conduct the
    former. All wins temporary at best.

    2022-06-19: Some things I've been thinking about

    	The UNIX philosophy ("create things that do one thing well") is a
    mandate rather than a suggestion; programs can and will fall under their own
    weight if you allow them to become too complex with too many things dependent
    on other things. From a software design standpoint I've found this to be very
    useful.
    	However, I think focusing on software complexity is treating the
    symptoms of Bad Computing rather than the disease. The core issue is that
    humans should not have to change themselves for a machine - the machine should
    only ever be changed for the human. After all, a computer is simply a tool.
    Interchangeable (right?), repairable (right?), intuitive (right?), and a means
    to an end (right?).
    	Lately humans have been having to change themselves for machines. There
    are easily comprehendable issues - e.g. "I don't have a first name, how do I
    fill out this form?" - but there are also denser, deeper problems in this
    regard - in fact, even computer literacy education is itself changing humans in
    favor of machines. Software should be designed to be basically intuitive to
    someone that's never used a computer and ideally need no further skills.
    	This probably started with the Old Engineers who were basically
    breathing computer before computers were even existent in their modern form.
    Graybeards (women and nonbinary fellows included within this word, use your
    imagination) didn't need to change themselves for computers because they and
    machina were already kin. Then they made simple interfaces for the restivus and
    hoped it was enough, and it was for a while.
    	Once we defeat the status quo, the rest will be easy.

    	The Center for Disease Control in the United States isn't perfect but I
    trust them a bit more than a bald guy on Spotify.

    	Today's Juneteenth, which is a memory to a pretty cool event, the end
    of lawful slavery in the United States.