It's barely been one year and I'm back on my bullshit with yet another toy Forth nobody needs, but it was fun to make and taught me a few things, among which a new-old programming language.
Weather continues to have swings. Big ones. This isn't normal. We're talking an 18C drop in one day, going from almost-summer back to snow, then back after one week.
At least early summer temperatures feel right for Easter. Helps with the festive mood.
Been writing more on paper, too. It's fun to actually use all those old pens instead of letting them dry up, and a notebook doesn't go into stand-by while you're trying to think about the next sentence. The hard part is finding certain exotic refills. Fountain pen manufacturers have standardised on those little plastic vials, why can't everyone else?
In other news, the Neon Kiosk started working again after a seven-week outage during which it was up but didn't update. So my previous entry will only have been visible on the new blog, where I've been mirroring them lately. Glad to see it's back. We don't use these journals to talk to each other like we should, but their absence still left a hole.
Last but not least, I'm finally getting the hang of coding in Perl. It's never going to be a favorite, but it means being able to share code with some of my friends, who use it extensively. Plus, it's a fine language, that doesn't deserve its bad rap! I like its philosophy and community norms.
For once I had to trim down this journal entry to make it fit. It's a good feeling.
2025-04-19 Reboot - a
This month, the weather is warmer and we are busy cleaning up the boat, airing out the lockers, drying off items temporarily corrupted by mould and moisture. Anything stored in the v-berth lockers suffers from extreme wetness. It is a very, very annoying fact of boat life, but there is really no way to promote good air flow in those spaces. Unfortunately, we kept a box of older backup laptops in a locker that usually does not get wet in the winter, but alas, this space was also corrupted and the laptops have all suffered damage. We had to recycle them.
To continue with tales of computer troubles, I had to nuke the OS on my main working computer due to a corrupted database(I could no longer update my system). Now, my computer is working fine again! I also managed to revive my older Macbook2010, which was also plagued by some OS/hardware issues. I put the machine to work converting and compressing movie files to save space on our external hard drives, and so that they are playable on an old Ipad2.
After installing the latest Manjaro i3 update, I found out that Xsane, the scanning software I was using, was no longer available (temporarily, supposedly), so in the meantime I had to install Simple Scan(Linux software). I updated my page on using a scanner under linux to indicate this.
HEALTH. For the past 2 months I've been immersed in medicine, and first-aid knowledge — I blame rabbit waves for this uptick in interest. When I shared a list of suggestions for meds and items in a first-aid kit online on Mastodon people responded enthusiastically, mentionning additional items I had not considered which encouraged me to continue pulling on that thread. I've updated our own onboard med and first-aid kits, while throwing away long-expired items. While in New Zealand in 2017 a sailing couple we knew sold their boat and gave me and Devine their extremely comprehensive, Swiss-German labelled, med kit, which was sized for a family of 4(they traveled with 2 young kids). We threw away expired epinephrine vials and other antiobiotics, but non-perishable items like suture thread and needles, surgical gloves, and scalpel blades are still good(provided that the packaging seal isn't broken).
In an unrelated event I found The Onboard Medical Guide in a used book shelf in town, written by Paul G. Gill Jr. M.D., a certified emergency medicine specialist, which manages to cover a lot of material in a concise manner. My takeaway so far is that the human body is so, so fragile, and that a boat is a dangerous playground, more reason to have a good kit aboard and the skills to deal with wounds and other likely ailments.
ART. I animated some drawings on the rabbit waves page for Triangular Bandages, and appended a .txt file with all of the med and first-aid reccomendations as well as their intended usage.
I finished a new page for sabotage study for hakum. I am super pleased with the nighttime shading on this one, the page reads well!
I shared an extended version of a website update I wrote in 2023, called kid rek, about re-learning to love drawing for myself.
BOOKS. I am still reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, it's a very long book and I am almost all the way through it. I have some thoughts on this book, but I will wait until I have finished reading it before elaborating.
We thinned our onboard library, bringing a pile of books over to Russell Books in Victoria. This store accept used books that are in good condition, "buying" them back in return for store credit. Devine returned with many new-to-us books to read for the summer, purchased with our store credit. This is a very good system. We gave them our ancient edition of Adventure of Nils, a book that is gorgeous but that will deteriorate too quickly aboard Pino. Nothing lasts on a boat, especially time-worn books.
MOVIE. I went to see Flow, a Latvian animated film. I didn't know what to expect, I had seen images shared around but I never looked it up. A marina neighbor mentioned it was playing at the theater, and convinced Devine & I to go. What a simple, beautiful film...! It communicates such important ideas about cooperation in times of crisis, something that has been on my mind a lot of late. It is worth seeing, I highly reccommend it.
POETRY. Here is Afternoon on a Hill by Edna St. Vincent Millay:
I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.
I will look at cliffs and clouds
With quiet eyes,
Watch the wind bow down the grass,
And the grass rise.
And when lights begin to show
Up from the town,
I will mark which must be mine,
And then start down!
CALL TO ACTION. After watching Carole Cadwalladr's latest TED Talk This Is What a Digital Coup Looks Like, I donated some money to WayBack Machine. If you're a heavy user, like I am, you should too. Cadwalladr has been through a lot to give this talk, give it a watch and keep up with her updates because she might need our support again soon. I really wish she used a platform other than Substack to broadcast her views, though.
I've shared C.C. O'Hanlon's call for aid here before, and I will again until both he, and his partner Given are able to buoy back to the surface and stay there. Give what you can, every donation, no matter how small, makes a big difference.
ARTICLES/VIDEOS I LIKED
we now have a first 88x31 banner!
colophon
¿cómo diseñarías un procedimiento para sumar dos números, optimizándolo para ser [inserte opción]?
optimizaciones
I was recently reminded of that paper about how flat origami is Turing-complete, and of how I never
did attempt to fold one of these for myself. I've already written about a paper computer and all the ways in which
computer emulators can be operated on paper, but nothing on using the paper
itself for doing the computation. So I set out to correct that, and all the
while learning how to do hexagonal folds for the first time.
Another thing on my plate has been to gradually getting rid of Uxnasm.c in favor of the self-hosted one. Before I entirely drop that
dependency, I want to be absolutely certain that the bootstrapping process is
as robust as I could possibly make it. I'm not 100% happy yet, but uxnasm.c is
getting closer to retirement.
Finally got PCVR to click last night. I was feeling disappointed since my new PC with a 5080 kept stuttering over virtual desktop when connecting to my Quest 3. But the problem was my wife was streaming from my Plex server when I tried previously. When I'm the only one on the network? Smooth as butter dude. When it clicks, it's the literal coolest thing ever. I forget I'm wearing a headset it's so awesome.
EmuVR is one of the most amazing pieces of software I've ever seen. It definitely warrants it's own article soon. Imagine emulating any game your PC can handle, listening to music and watching videos in a virtual room surrounded by all the nostalgic items of your 90s and early 2000s dreams. Well, EmuVR is it. There's also a regular desktop mode but VR is where it shines.
Been a while. Kinda got depressed after the election. Had a really bad burnout. Was thankfully able to take 8 weeks off work for paid FMLA leave. Found out I'm highly likely level 1 autistic along with my ADHD. Haven't got a formal diagnosis because America. But every assessment, an affirming therapist, and 20 pages of notes aligning my experience with the DSM 5 criteria, the obsessive research, hundreds of hours of reading about it and watching videos, multiple books (Unmasking Autism by Devon Price is a great book!)...seemed like enough info. I don't think neurotypicals spend 3 months obsessing over whether they might have autism like this lol. So just self-diagnosed for now, but a well-informed self diagnosis.
The political anxiety worsens by the day. I don't see a pleasant future in store for any of us. I will continue to get lost in my hobbies - my games, my media server, my emulation on many devices, my fantasy books, and now my VR headset. Ready Player One is the new reality. The world is a crumbling dystopia and I only work to pay for my electricity haha.
On a brighter note - I snagged a giant Pikachu squishmallow on sale for 20 bucks at Costco. And the new Mumford & Sons song is really good!
2025-04-10 — On the verge of something better - NUEDGE unhinged journal
I can’t even believe it: I had more than one good time this
week! Granted, I’m not on cloud nine by any means, but I’m
still in a pretty good spot. Last night I was able to go out for
dinner with a couple newly found acquaintances from the dorm.
Being out with friendly people and talking stuff was something
I was starting to lose completely. Luckily we managed to sort
something out quickly before dinner, then went to a famously
expensive area of the city and proceeded to spend a fortune for a
burger and a couple drinks. We went to an Irish pub: the
atmosphere was nice; the band was cool, yet a little cringe;
the food was okay; the drinks were just right.
I sincerely hope this serenity high continues throughout next
week, so I can get home with a smile on my face.
created a page positioning ourselves against "generative AI"
ai
2025-04-04 — Another week in the meatgrinder - NUEDGE unhinged journal
What to say? I managed to survive for another week. People
I usually have dinner with in the dorm went home. I missed the
bingo event and all the chances to better know other people.
But it could be worse.
It could rain, for instance.
And yet the sun shines. I rarely see it from this room, but
I know it’s out there, and it shines. I just have to endure
this for a little bit more, and then everything will turn out
just fine.