malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Tuesday, February 4th, 2025 07:11 am
Still sick, coughing up gunk, but decided on a short walk this morning. While walking by a second of metal fencing that come right up to the sidewalk I suddenly came across a small skunk. I just stopped in my tracks as it was 3 feet away from me. It noticed me and slowly trotted away. Smelling skunks in our area is common - actually seeing them is rarer.

No harm no foul and no stinky.
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malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Sunday, February 2nd, 2025 01:39 pm
I have more energy and finally got a good night sleep, but I'm coughing up gunk.

A few years ago I found a computer during garbage day. So of course I snagged it and worked on it. It was badly beat up and dirty but I did make it work again - sort of. It was always a bit cranky and I'd have to keep resitting the RAM stick to get it to boot. I think the motherboard is on its was out. It's on its way to be recycled. The original drive had a borked Windows 7 installed on it and a whole bunch of anime TV programs. I was able to save the shows. I suspect they were ripped off of DVD or Blu-Ray.

I'm not an anime fan so I didn't recognized most of the titles but "Full Metal Alchemist" sounded interesting so while I'm resting I'm binging on the series. The music and sound design is okay. The animation style isn't too bad - I understand some aspects to it are there to keep costs low and to push out product - but when a character gets really angry or scared (of something they shouldn't be) or embarrassed the character gets all twisted out of proportion in ridiculous ways. It's supposed to be funny but the technique leaves me cold most of the time. It might be a cultural thing. I was raised on Max Fletcher's Popeye and classic Loony Toons and Bugs Bunny of course and when character distortion is done in that style it's very different. Check out Daffy Duck in "Pronoun Trouble*. Especially when Daffy gets shot. Marvelous sound design and perfect comedic timing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJUOA8GaCxU

The writing and story lines have kept me engaged. No spoilers but the characters - even some of the villains - can be complex. And this stuff get pretty dark at times. Not For Kids. Middle school or high school and up. It handles a lot of adult material like serial killers, genocide and really Evil Magic.
malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Friday, January 31st, 2025 09:54 am
Oh my ghods this was bad. The fever broke last night and I'm actually dressed. I'm still weak and ccngested but I'm on the mend.

In other happy news...

I've never been a real mystery fan. However, last year Masterpiece Mystery aired "Magpie Murders" and I was drawn in and hooked. No spoilers but the series is based on a twist and I loved it.

I recorded it off the air. Yes, you can still do that with the right equipment.

Then came the sequel "Moonflower Murders". Not quite as good as the original but I loved it.

There's going to be a final series: "Marble Hall Murders".

*big girlie squeee*

Yes, when I read about it I let out a big girlie squeee.
malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Wednesday, January 29th, 2025 09:20 am
Headache, congestion, coughing, fever and chills. I'm going to drink more water, take some Day-Quil and go back to bed.

Annoying.
malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Sunday, January 26th, 2025 06:19 pm
Rump is already threatening tariffs on Columbia. My cup of Joe is going to get expensive.

I think I'll run to the store tomorrow morning and stock up.

Columbia is threatening tariffs against American goods and is plans on deporting Americans living in Columbia.

And the Magats thought the price of eggs was bad.

Face, meet leopard.

*update*

Columbia seems to have backed down (for the moment) and one of my brands of coffee that I buy has already jumped in price. One of my other favs was 'buy one get one free' so - snag!
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malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Monday, January 20th, 2025 10:07 pm
At least my latest attempt is complicated.

A complicated character with unique talents in a complicated magical event must navigate a complicated political landscape while keeping complicated secrets.

Like all my better characters, Marsha is unique. But aren't we all? Still, the situation is messy and the more I get into the consequences of actions and the butterfly effects, I think if I plan this out properly I can pull this off. Things need to happen in a certain order chronologically for things to work out.

This is keeping me awake at night. I rarely need to work a lot out in advance when I write because most of the time the story just flows out of me from my brain to my fingertips and onto the screen. It doesn't always work out but it mostly works. Not this time. There's so many moving parts that need to mesh that my usual way of writing isn't working. Perhaps that's why I'm having so many difficulties getting the story rolling. I'll need to outline more with this story.

I tend to write stories without a direct antagonist - a villain that is plain to see and appears early. So many of my stories the protagonist is put up against a Situation, a Problem, The System. There is an antagonist that shows up much later, near the climax of the story but not sooner. It is the Situation and the System that my hero is up against. And I really like my hero: she's cursed. She's a mentalist that also knows - without having to read thoughts - when someone is lying. She also _cannot_ lie. She can obscure, delay, deflect or remain silent but she cannot _lie_.

And she's in deep shite. And it's about to get worse. I love it.

But it's keeping me from sleeping as I'm sorting out all the threads of the story.
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malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Monday, January 20th, 2025 08:03 am
I will not bend a knee.

I will not bow my head.

I will not kiss the ring.

I will give the incoming president all the respect he gave to candidates and presidents before him.
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malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Saturday, January 18th, 2025 02:22 am
The Rump is holding his inauguration inside because of the very cold weather coming his way.

Maybe.

You know hos much the Don-OLD loves to stiff people. Outdoor venue is not being used so he can stiff them. The indoor venue will be much smaller so all those who paid through the nose for seating will get stiffed. A smaller inaugural means more money for Don-OLD and the more people he can stiff.

Just sayin'.
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malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Tuesday, January 7th, 2025 07:23 am
I have this odd patch of psoriasis in the back of my head. Since I can't see it I didn't know how ugly it was. However, I could feel it getting lumpy.

I have a family history of cancer. Strange lumps where they shouldn't be are concerning.

I showed it to one of my dermatologists and they suggested I visit my primary. I jumped the queue and got an appointment to see *someone* yesterday. They're pretty sure it's a pilar cyst which are mostly benign but can become painful if infected.

I'm relieved it's not the big C - but I'm getting blood tests later this month and I'll speak to my other dermatologist next month about it.
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malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Tuesday, December 31st, 2024 08:00 am
We should have seen this one coming.

I've seen reports that Facebook and Instagram are putting together AI accounts to "enhance interactions" with their human accounts. These accounts will have bios and profile pictures just like real people! This will raise the number of adverts to eyeballs - at least on paper.

But if it really comes down to it, this trend will increase the number of AIs interacting with AIs. On paper, there will still be more ads 'looked at' but not by real people.

So how soon will social media will become inhabited almost entirely by bots and not people?

Oh wait! The advertisers will soon figure this out (well some of them will) and demand a way of telling the AIs from real people using some kind of code. But this would mean real people will be able to tell too, defeating the whole purpose.

Still, the idea of fake people talking to fake people who will never buy anything being used to push up ad revenue to be amusing.

Wait! Pay the AIs with Bitcoin for interactions! Fake people get fake money while real people manipulate the coins (Insta Coin? Meta Coin? Zuck Bucks?) and cash out! Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket. Let's pile one scam on top of another!

More popcorn please!
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malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Saturday, December 28th, 2024 11:23 am
Things accomplished yesterday night and so far today:

Towels done in the laundry last night. Nice. Sheets done this morning. Nice. Early winter jacket in the dryer and my older but fluffier winter jacket out of the closet. It's not as fluffy as it used to be but it's still warmer than the early winter jacket.

Resurrected my housemates old Windows 7 machine with a BIOS update. Upgraded said machine with a M.2 SATA drive, and installed Linux Mint. The M.2 is faster than a solid state SATA drive so it flies. I'm not a big fan of the graphics card that I've got in there but the machine is up and running. It's off the bench and set aside.

Diagnosed The Craiger with a dying graphics card and swapped in what I had on hand. It's no longer crashing after 15 minutes. Not happy about the graphics card I put in there but it works. I'll want to do more software updating on it. I want to update the OS to Ubuntu Studio but not use the main distribution, but start with Xbuntu (already installed) and adding the Ubuntu Studio package. I've been using the main Studio distro but it uses KDE instead which looks pretty but I just don't care for it. I prefer XFCE which is lighter and cleaner. This will be a test machine to see how the Studio package works before upgrading my main editing rig. Off the bench and set aside.

On the bench presently - an old Win 7 machine that I played with before and had some kind of Linux on it. I'm hoping to reload Windows 7 on it because you never know when you'll need a Windows 7 machine. The graphics card is appropriate to the age of the machine and I don't really care. The bench is now occupied.

Vacuumed the house.

Mopping the floors and cleaning the toilets will have to wait a little bit but it's on the to do list today.

Pausing for lunch now.
malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Friday, December 20th, 2024 07:40 am
I know lots of people like to call Elon Musk Elmo... but not me. Elmo is a cute but annoying Muppet on Sesame Street. He's used as a teaching tool to help kids learn about others and themselves. He's not perfect and makes mistakes but he always does the right thing and apologizes when he messes up. He is generally kind if a bit over enthusiastic.

Musk is a giant spurting choad, a tin plated dictator with delusions of godhood who basically bought everything he thought he was good at.

Now he thinks he's the president because he donated 250 million to the Mango Monster.

I think we should all ignore tRump and call Elon 'Mr. President' just to troll Donnie Boy.

Mister Musk thinks he's bought the president. tRump doesn't stay bought.

This whole situation sucks but I'm going to find some relief and solace with jeering the assholes who made it possible.
malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Friday, December 20th, 2024 07:21 am
I should clarify: just a question about that mass shooting of that Christian school in (not Wyoming) Wisconsin.

How does a 15 year old get a hand gun?

Just asking a question.

(edited for correct location)
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malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Sunday, December 15th, 2024 10:45 am
... but,

It's heavy metal but yeah

Deny, Defend, Depose

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFIB2J5iNC0



[Intro]
They built a castle out of pain,
Paid in blood, collected gains.
A system broken, everyone knows,
Three words define it: Deny, Defend, Depose.

[Verse 1]
Denied the cure, denied the care,
Left to die, but they don’t despair.
Families crying, hope is thin,
They see the gates but can’t get in.

Defend the empire, guard the prize,
Profit margins above human lives.
Policies written, lives disposed,
They stamp it cold: Deny, Defend, Depose.

[Chorus]
Deny the claims, defend the lie,
Depose the weak, let the strong survive.
They thought it was power, but the cracks now show,
What you reap you sow: Deny, Defend, Depose.

[Verse 2]
A shot rang out, the streets went still,
Not just a man, but the system they killed.
The crowd didn’t mourn, they cheered instead,
Not for his death, but for what he’d said.

“Your life’s a number, your worth’s a fee,”
A kingdom built on misery.
The people’s anger finally rose,
Against the words: Deny, Defend, Depose.

[Chorus]
Deny the claims, defend the lie,
Depose the weak, let the strong survive.
They thought it was power, but the cracks now show,
What you reap you sow: Deny, Defend, Depose.

[Bridge]
This ain’t revenge, it’s the cost of greed,
A reckoning born of big needs.
You push too hard, you cross that line,
The people fight back, one life at a time.

[Chorus]
Deny the claims, defend the lie,
Depose the weak, let the strong survive.
They thought it was power, but the cracks now show,
What you reap you sow: Deny, Defend, Depose.

[Outro]
The streets remember, the pain still flows,
From the seeds they planted, the anger grows.
When the system crumbles, everyone knows,
It started with: Deny, Defend, Depose.
malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Saturday, December 14th, 2024 01:00 pm
After half-dismantling the boot-looping computer it somehow healed itself. I'll take that win.

The other one that kept locking up on me after being on it for several minutes - eh, I put that to the side. I call it "The Craiger" because I got almost all the parts off of Craig's list. I wouldn't recommend it but I did have it working a few years ago.

I started playing with my housemate's old Win 7 system which with every new graphics card would take longer and longer to boot. A half an hour of Duckduckgo-ing wielded a post from almost a decade ago with people having the same problem. The recommended fix: a BIOS update.

Now... I've flashed BIOSes before and I know if it fails you can brink your system, so it's a little nerve wracking. It took a little fiddling with the system to flash the latest BIOS but that seemed to do the trick! I know the drivers are messed up because it need to reinstall the USB drivers after the BIOS update. Since I tried out several different graphics cards the graphic drivers are definitely whacked. I showed it to my housemate and they Ooooed and Aahhhed over the retro memories. I'm not sure if the OS is a bit borked since it didn't allow anyone into the Admin account but hey, it boots!

I'm not sure what I want to do with it at this time but it does have a M.2 SATA slot available. Replacing the spinning rust with SSD drives is definitely on the menu.

And over in this corner... I resurrected an old Dell Vosro 200 after replacing the bad ram and the dead BIOS battery. The original XP install is locked down so I'll probably nuke the disk and make it my Haiku OS test box. Haiku is pretty snappy even on spinning rust drives.
malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Saturday, December 7th, 2024 05:47 pm
Quote from Forbes:

"UnitedHealth Group reported $22 billion in 2023 profits including $5.5 billion in the fourth quarter as its portfolio of health insurance and provider services grew by double-digit percentages."

Think how much real health care that would provide instead of rent-seeking for their stockholders and CEOs.

Parasites.

I'm sorry, my thoughts and prayers for your dead CEO is out of network. Claim denied.
malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Saturday, December 7th, 2024 11:40 am
... not when they're systems I use daily.

About a year ago I did the Final Upgrade on my old Main System: the Intel Rose. Over the years I've upgraded the RAM, several graphics cards and lastly - the CPU - replacing the original 1st gen i5 with a compatible Xeon processor.

And quite a number of years ago I had to replace the motherboard with a second hand one. I have to admit, I've gotten over 14 years all told from the box and it has been 'retired' to the basement so I can be online when I'm doing the laundry. The washing machine will try to 'dance' if unbalanced.

So when the box started boot looping... I was a little upset. But hey, no biggie, I've got an even older system I put together a few years ago! I'll just boot it up...

... and the CMOS battery is dead. Where is the CMOS battery? Under the graphics card, of course!

Pull the card, Replace the battery, reinstall the card. All good now, except I had installed a newer version of Ubuntu Studio on it's and it's just pokey. I'll reinstall Xubuntu which is lighter and faster.

It took a little longer than I expected but we're up again! Okay, let's install updates!

It freezes.

Reboot. Looks okay. Install updates! Seems good! Install Brave web browser! All good now. Let's launch Brave and set it up!

If freezes.

Let's run MemTest see if it's a memory problem. Meanwhile...

Take the Intel Rose to the bench and check for error messages. It locks up on Error 21 - which when I look it up it says basically, 'I don't know... maybe the motherboard? Try replacing the BIOS battery?'

Where's the BIOS battery? UNDER THE GRAPHICS CARD.

Remove graphics card, check battery... seems okay. Reinstall battery, reinstall graphics card, reset BIOS - boot loops.

Remove graphics card, install very small one. It doesn't boot loop.

WHAT? Is my newish graphics card bad?

Reinstall graphics card - no boot loops.

WHAT? It healed itself?

Any engineer/technician will tell you that the worst problems are the intermittent ones.

Meanwhile the other machine has been passing memory checks without issue. Now... it's got a really old graphics card and I'm using a new monitor with HDMI, VGA and DVI inputs. I'm using the DVI port but the monitor cycles through the inputs with DVI coming up last. Could it be the graphics card doesn't like the monitor?

The saga continues.
malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Thursday, December 5th, 2024 07:35 am
So the CEO of a major health insurance company was shot dead in NYC.

From the surveillance video The suspect used a big honking pistol with a 'silencer'.

The words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” were found on shell casings discovered at the scene,

Just off hand this *could* be a dissatisfied customer. It so, this would narrow the suspects to only several million people.

I swear, with all the f*ckery from health insurance folks I'm surprised this was the only CEO that's been shot to dead.
malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Sunday, December 1st, 2024 11:53 am
I'm trying a new browser: Brave. Lately, Firefox - even with Ad Blockers in place - have been throwing me more and more ads, especially on You Tube. You Tube has been larded up with them in the past few weeks, even randomly placing ads in the middle of videos.

With Brave all those ads are gone.

It's a little weird for a browser: it's rather stripped down and clean but it's not ease to customize. That said, I've only been trying it out in the past few days so there's probably bits and bobs I'm missing. Everything looks good and acts fine. Without ads it's faster than Firefox. I think it's going to take getting used but at seems a viable alternative.

I think I'm almost free from the ick that has plagued me for the past two weeks. Spending two days in bed was probably what I needed, so Thanksgiving was spent sleeping. This has disrupted my fragile sleep cycle. Last night I couldn't fall asleep at all so I got around 3 AM and did laundry. I got back to bed and fell asleep around 4:30 AM and got up at 9:30 AM. I'm tired but okay.
malada: Canadian flag text I stand with Canada (Default)
Saturday, November 23rd, 2024 11:57 am
The last time I was down with a cold/flu type illness was just before COVID hit. I've been masking and isolating every since. I'm vaxxed to the max and all that good stuff.

I got that lung thing going around.

The first symptoms hit last Saturday when I was deep cleaning my room. There was a lot of dust and I discovered how badly my carpet was decaying. I pulled it out and washed the floor several times. There was a lot of carpet grit. My lungs starting hurting soon after and I developed a bad cough. I thought it was just the dust and dirt I stirred up..

My housemate had something similar starting the day before. She went to the clinic and was told to rest, rest, rest. I still went to work but was feeling poorly. By Wednesday I had to admit it was not dust but some kind of infection. I took some time off but still worked from home Although I have a fantastic trainee, there's stuff only I can do well so I really needed to do the work.

I've been trying to sleep more, nap more and do more fluids but I expect a long recovery period. Still, I've avoided most of the icks that have been floating around the past few years. It was only a matter of time before something broke through.
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