The Mandelbear's Musings

Damned if I know how to summarize this week. Mixed?

Embarrassingly, I managed to confuse two deliveries (see Monday) -- I think because they had the same last digit or so in their package numbers -- so I had to delete a couple of annoyed-sounding posts. Hopefully before anyone noticed. The Roamate (combo rollator/powered wheelchair) arrived less than an hour later. Karma, I guess. The device itself seems pretty good, modulo some wierd design decisions, but will take some getting used to before I can write a proper review.

On the other hand, Bronx has been becoming an absolute cuddle-bug. He likes to be picked up and carried, which can be very useful. He doesn't always settle down into my lap after that, but when he does he has a nice rumbly purr. And my medication is still being adjusted; I seem to be getting into somewhat better shape. It's still not great, but I'm not complaining.

On the gripping hand, (covered mobility scooter)Scarlet the Carlet is broken, with a circuit breaker that doesn't want to stay reset. N, G, and j managed to push her home (under a kilometer, and NL is basically flat) -- we'll call for repairs tomorrow sometime.

In the links: MIT physicists peer inside an atom’s nucleus using the fact that Radium monofluoride's electron cloud extends inside the Radium's somewhat pear-shaped nucleus. Wild. Both the technique, and the fact that that compound exists at all. At least it's nowhere near as unstable as FOOF.

The Star Gauge is fascinating. (m sent us a link on the family Discord, but it was to tumblr -- the wikipedia article is less problematic.)

Notes & links:    
1214Su Hannukah (starts at nightfall)
  @ Hanukkah - Wikipedia
  & Bronx escaped after I got up the first time (6am); scooped him up in G's office and
    baby-carried him downstairs.  Fortunately he likes being snuggled.
  @ One Critical Factor Predicts Longevity Better Than Diet or Exercise, Study Says :
    ScienceAlert  SLEEP.  7h or more.  Oh, well.  I'll just die sooner then.
  : Not going to bother with FotLR this morning.  Might try tonight.  Might not.
  @ React got hacked…and it’s WAY WORSE than you think | by Cordero Core | Dec, 2025
    Multiple Threat Actors Exploit React2Shell (CVE-2025-55182) | Google Cloud Blog
  % been having heartburn for the last few days.  Really bad this morning.  Then realized
    I hadn't reloaded propanolol.  -> worked perfectly.  -> so I'm addicted to it now
  & upgraded phone to Android 16.  Some things are different, like the arrangement of days
    in gFit tracker got flipped
  % didn't even bother looking at FotLR this morning.  _might_ try 1900 in chromium
  @ With a new molecule-based method, physicists peer inside an atom’s nucleus | MIT News
    | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Radium monofluoride.  Wild!  Physicists measure a short-lived radioactive molecule for first time | MIT News
  % area around R TMJ getting more painful.
  % felt like I was more out of breath than usual after taking the laundry upstairs
  @ This Group Pays Bounties to Repair Broken Devices—Even If the Fix Breaks the Law
  & swapped keyboards again because the "new" one had a broken "O" key.  Moved Panther's
    keyboard -- the good one -- to unSable, and the one with the broken "Fn" key over to
    Panther which wasn't used much.  Then pulled up the one remaining genuine Lenovo
    battery and put it in unSable.  Only 6 cells, but genuine. 
  x 19:00 FotLR (11am MST)  -> maybe it'll work in chromium

1215Mo
  @ I Thought AI Output Was Free to Use. I Was Wrong. | Medium copyright
  @ Rust Is Fast. Haskell Is Lawsuit-Proof. Guess Which One Your Bank Uses?
    " Choose Haskell if being wrong keeps you up at night. Formal verification, DSLs,
      compilers, theorem provers, anything where correctness isn’t a feature but the
      entire fucking product.
        Choose Rust if being slow is a career-ending injury. Services, embedded systems,
      anything that touches a network, anything where “blazingly fast” isn’t a joke but a
      requirement. "
  % Got all upset about the Roamate being lost due to a missing house number; took a
    closer look and realized that it had been the _other_ package from China, from
    nanobags.  Had to remove a couple of posts.  Sorted out now.  Still waiting.
  * walk:  11:24 far end of Simon Vestdijkstaat  .6km, 12min, 21mm, 844st,
    % a lot more hip pain than usual.  -> 400mg Ibuprofen
  @ Scientists
    find dark chocolate ingredient that slows aging theobromine (ysabetwordsmith)
  $ PAY AMEX
  % being careless, I mixed up the nanobag order, which was delayed and maybe returned
    because I'd left off the housenumber, and the Roamate order
  : Roamate (combo rollator/powered wheelchair) arrived at 17:30, just after I'd removed
    the posts I made asking them to try to find it.
  @ How a cat works - YouTube

1216Tu
  % very vivid dreams, but didn't write them down.  Colleen was in one of them, and cats.
  @ They thought they were just producing energy… but the solar panels awakened the
    desert (via Mastodon)
  @ ‘The French people want to save us’: help pours in for glassmaker Duralex|Guardian
  @ A Brief History of "When the Levee Breaks" – American Blues Scene cf King County
    WA weather: Flash flood warning ends after Green River levee fails | Sea Times 
    Green River levee fails; flash flood warning ends in Tukwila | The Seattle Times
  @ Merriam-Webster names 'slop' the word of the year | TechCrunch
  * remember to charge watch!
  * call DHL 0031 088 055 2000 to ask about pkg from NanoBag
    handed off via SMS to dhlecmmerce.nl, which I've already chatted with.  So...
    -> contact Nanobag at https://nanobag.com/pages/contact
    ... and indeed the missing house # is entirely my fault.  Feh!  IDIOT!
    They also had my old Seattle address; likely taken from PayPal, used on my previous
    order -- which also went missing, except I stupidly didn't follow that one up.
    -> (1217 got delivery notification from DHL, so it appears to have worked)
    -> arrived 1217
  * guitar:  For Amy.  Fingers hurt because _how_ many weeks?  ~1.5 -- last was 1205
  @ Ron DeSantis forced this city to remove Pride crosswalks. So it put up Pride bike
    racks instead. - LGBTQ Nation
  @ Folkwear's 50th Anniversary in 2026
  * 19:00 - 20:30 (10am-11:30 PST) Healing Center Passages support grp - 1st, 3rd Tu
  % 19:31 hot flash??  Feeling a little too warm anyway.  Weird.
  * load drugs  -> bupropion missing on Monday.  B6 needed
  % 21:50 now my R ankle hurts.
  @ Beside the point? Punctuation is dead, long live punctuation | Aeon Essays

1217We
  % somehow, in one of the dreams, I got to wondering about grounded-grid amplifiers
  @ International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers
  * walk:  9:07 DSB804 (a bridge a bit too far this time) .75km, 5hp, 22mm, 36min, 1816st
    % legs started feeling wobbly right at the bridge.  Made it home, but slowly,
      carefully, and making full use of the cane.  If I'd taken the Roamate I'd have
      ridden it home.
  * singing:  For Amy.  Trouble on the F's and, oddly, sometimes Dm.
  * guitar:  Bad Guys.  Fingers hurt, which means I haven't been practicing.
  * check med list.  In particular, the KCl
  : It looks like all my most recent lab results have showed up in mijngezondheid.net.
    still missing 28 Nov.  It may also be possible to make appointments again.  Most
    appointments are still missing -- only 12 Nov.  App totally broken.
  : ran into 30-day limit trying to top up Bunq card.  May have to use xoom
  @ ‘You don’t have to do it alone’: how US cities are helping each other resist ICE
  @ US librarians tackle ‘manufactured crisis’ of book bans to protect LGBTQ+ rights
  @ Gen Zine: DIY publications find new life as a form of resistance against Trump
  @ This is Europe’s secret weapon against Trump: it could burst his AI bubble

1218Th
  * 09:45 leave for 10:30 appt with Carmen at GP clinic to discuss bloodwork
    *- only got 30 furosemide tablets.  Is edema gone?  If not, advise.
       ~- continue?  increase?  stop?  switch to, e.g., HCTZ?
    *- compression socks, 
    -> stop lisinopril for 2 weeks. 129/77 (?)
    -> reduce Vit. D. ???  -> Haga labs say 50<142<150 so high but in range.
       deficient <25nmol/l, insufficient 25-50, target >75, Toxic >250
    ~- potassium citrate; lite salt (69% KCl) -> talk to doctor
    x- cold
    -> lisinopril/simvastatin can lead to under-the-skin feeling!
    -> consider reducing simvastatin or switching to another one.
  ! feeling actually okay (ish?  never sure) -- apparently having a non-frustrating
    conversation is good for me.  No idea how long the effect can last, but long enough
    for me to re-tag the entry from `%` to `!`
  : Cricket's pet passport arrived in the UK, just barely in time.
    -> G says next time not to use standard mail.  Postnl is great; Royal Mail...
  @ This 8,000-year-old art shows math before numbers existed | ScienceDaily
    (via ysabetwordsmith | History) Link is to my comment where I mention
    The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences.
    The Wikipedia article is also worth looking at.
  : FSCK - Scarlet is misbehaving.  Bottom breaker goes off when top breaker goes on.  G
    stuck in Wateringen.  Immediate plan is to send him an Uber.  We can look at Scarlet
    tomorrow.
  @ the Apple Account fiasco of Paris Buttfield-Addison  Apple gift cards are unsafe
  * set up questions/talking points for Tuesday's video appt

1219Fr
  : 9ish am: m and Cricket (after taking Uber from ferry)
  % 10ish just a touch of postural hypotension while making fried rice
  @ An Amusing Country Western Song
    About a Gunslinging Bird Cowboy Who Rides an Alley Cat (C')  Ugly Duckling II
  % my glasses seem to have gone walkabout.  Weird.
  & track down/print Scarlet's insurance.
  ? 1pm video call from E ?? clock skew?
  * pm expect call from H. Bastiaansen-Bergsma @ Haga  -> 16:13
    *- feeling cold in the evening.  -> quite possibly caused by the anemia
    *- increase iron supplement?  -> no, iron normal
    *- I see from the most recent labs that iron is okay but hemoglobin et. al. aren't
    -> referral to hematology.  Is my bone marrow capable of making enough red blood cells?
  * HSX upgrade PHP for (most) websites hosted on DH.
    -> fails for thestarport.org and a few others.  Probably has to do with the .htaccess
    -> no, some directories under vv/web are simply missing!  -> renamed!!
    -> thestarport.{net,com}
  * send E my picture of the amsterdam duckj store and a copy of TWaiOtB
    -> out of stock?! at $A, try sending from Powells -> that worked
    -> new Powells account, because it's been a long time
  : apparently (according to N) the Roamate's name is Roman (he/him)
  : apparently Lizzy has not gotten slower -- according to G, her speedometer
    somehow got flipped over to read in mph.  No idea how to get it back to kph.

1220Sa
  * 7:38 walk:  DSB801 (a bridge just far enough) .75km, 6hp, 20mm, 16min, 1460st,
  * 9:40ish D"  -> had her remake the bed without the duvet cover, so I can wash it.
  @ Facebook tests £9.99 monthly subscription for sharing more than two links
    " If you're a creator or a business, I think the message is essentially if Facebook
       is a part of your growth or traffic strategy, that access now has a price tag
       attached to it,
      Tests like this underline why building a business that's overly dependent on any
       one platform's goodwill is incredibly risky, "
  @ Ancient oceans were ruled by super predators unlike anything today (ysabetwordsmith)
  @ A stunning new forecast shows when thousands of glaciers will vanish (ysabetwordsmith)
  * 11-14 or whenever kf/hx work session
    -* rainbowsendmassage.com is not owned.  * delete the hosting.
    -* caravan-massage.com is now owned.     * delete hosting
    -* errors including news.html in steve.savitzky.net.  -* add dummy.
    -> Quite a few other sites also have errors, so this may be endemic.
  & spent all afternoon trying to track down where we bought Scarlet.  Can't find any
    paperwork, and the payment was to some kind of intermediary.  But probably either
    motohero or stadsmobiliteit (which has Roadside assistance)
  @ Star Gauge - Wikipedia (via m)
    had to join tumblr to read the version m sent me.  Not linked.
  + TIL: DreamHost has a data center in Amsterdam and can register .nl domains.
  * family Hannukah at Schildhaven