Kind of feeling this way myself. NO, I do NOT know how it happened.
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All posts for the month November, 2025
Thanksgiving means, commercially, Bleak Friday[1]. And $HOUSEMATE pointed out a deal on a new laptop (half price!), which I sprang for. Sure, it’s 8-core (instead of 4) and 16 GB RAM (instead of 8) but what makes it worth my while to update from an older laptop is that modern higher frequency (and speed!) wireless is built-in, as is bluetooth. Thus when travelling, less stuff to haul to make things “modern.” Also, the audio section won’t overheat after a couple minutes (this was my Big Issue, really). Yeah, I’ll still need to pack the right, proper, large trackball… but that’s an expected issue with ANY laptop. All built-in laptop pointers suck. Some suck even more than others. Marble sized “trackballs” suck. Trackpads suck. Eraser-head pointers REALLY FRELLING suck. Guess how I know? Yeah, been there, done that, had the wrist pains to prove it.
Now the problem, such as it is, will be what to do with the old laptop. Windows has been blown away LONG ago. I run Linux Mint. And the new machine… will get the same treatment. I don’t do Windows.
[1] Yes, BLEAK. Don’t believe me? Go work retail… even just seasonally.
The lamp has a very wide flat wick, that is formed into a circular wick. Between the circular(ized) wick and the chimney design, it’s surprising how high the wick/flame can be adjusted without sooting. The result is that this little lamp is quite bright for its size.
And this is not as high as one can set things, but I am being careful about slowly warming the glass chimney.
The seal/junction/rim of the fo(u)nt/oil chamber suggests that a mounting ring could be made for this thing, and then it could be wall-mounted in a manner similar to how the Aladdin is mounted. I have not seen such, but it is possible.
I, like almost everyone, have an alleged “smart”phone that runs Android. Admittedly it’s Rather Old by today’s so-called standards. So it’s likely running an older version of Android. “Android 12” is what the ABOUT stuff tells me. Did I mention Rather Old?
If I connect it up a charging line at night (after local midnight) it goes into a slow-charge mode to supposedly regulate things and be fully charged at or a bit before 6 AM. Great. Wonderful. If I had a diurnal schedule. I do NOT. I have a decidedly nocturnal schedule. Thus the supposedly battery protecting charging protocol works EXACTLY BACKWARDS from my use-case. If I connect the phone to a power brick at work (overnight) I want that sucker charging as fast as it can safely do so. And I while sleep, during the day, a slow charge makes more sense.
BUT… Android, at least the version I have, seems to be utterly incapable of being told that not everyone is on the Standard Schedule. So, I ask… is there some obscure setting I’ve missed and need to thump? Or am I stuck (until an expen$ive upgrade…MAYBE) with a chronological idiot charging scheme?
Go read some Horrible Truth:
A College Student Speaks (THE TRUTH)
“P.S. I want to defend the truth, so I’ll sign my name. If you were teaching the truth, why didn’t you sign with yours?”
ADDENDUM: As per Dio (go check out his site: https://diosworkshop.com/2025/11/25/silver-linings/) it is hopeful that the problem has been recognized and identified… the problem is that it NEEDS TO BE.
Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin… the comments about COVID do make some sense. The stuff is probably at least equally effective as the shots given for that. Oh, the weird look around 2:12? If you have the red & blue filter “3D” glasses, it makes more sense.
The Minotaur cocktail is a potent and delightful (to some…$HOUSEMATE maintains it is unfit for consumption, what with the ouzo and Fernet) thing in its original state. The recent purchase of items not found in $HOOTERVILLE included not just the regular sort of Fernet Branca, but Tattersall’s take on a Fernet. I find it a bit spicy. Not offensively so or terribly strong, but decidedly noticeable. Until the aftertaste, I was wondering if it even really qualified as a Fernet at all. The Fernet bitterness does eventually assert itself, though it’s not as intense as Branca.
Thus, I got curious. How would it work in the Minotaur cocktail? The answer, in my opinion, is “Quite well.” It is very definitely still a Minotaur and no doubt about it. But there is a slight, spicy note in the mix. The spiciness is neither offensive nor unwelcome. One might even consider this a reasonable choice for a Winter Minotaur. Hrmm, I wonder if a dusting of fresh ground nutmeg would go well on it? Further research is called for.
I spent a chunk of yesterday preparing for an MRI and traveling a considerable distance for it. $HOOTERVILLE has MRI ability, but it’s 1.5 Tesla. This is important. The place I went has a 3 Tesla MRI. As they were scanning the prostate (No, I do NOT know any results yet – correction, see below) due to elevated levels of an indicator in the blood (which I suspect was/is tamsulosin {flomax} aggravated) and that “demands” 3 T or so I was told. Evidently scans can be done with 1.5 T machines but that requires “insertion of an Endorectal Coil” for sharper images. At 3 T, I was spared that. Yeah, worth the drive.
Oh, a contrast dye was injected. So I am walking around with a bit of gadolinium in me at least for a while. Fortunately, chelated gadolinium. The stuff is… toxic when unaccompanied. That heavy metal thing.
When I asked about the reason I had to travel and the Tesla[1]… there was no balking, surprise, or hesitation, but a quick reply of the reason. I was also impressed that when the scan was over and I asked how much RF (Radio Frequency energy) was flying around during the scan, there was no hesitation, “Quite a bit. 4 Watts per Kilogram… which is the maximum[2]. It varies with the targeted organ, of course.” They are supposed to keep body temperature from rising more than 0.1 C due to RF. I’m not sure if that was monitored or simply computed.
Also, I finally CAN drive real distances without fear of urinary disaster (HUZZAH!), the car got some serious highway miles that were Quite Overdue, and where I had to go… well, there’s this liquor store that carries stuff I can’t get in $HOOTERVILLE almost just across the street.
And then in mid-afternoon (mid-sleep) there is a nigh-panicked phone call. While the prostate results were good they noticed a ‘fistula’ on the right (a joining of vein and artery that is not supposed to be there) and would I get an ultrasound… as I had no significant symptoms of such and my right leg wasn’t being weird at me (though the burn was a concern) they relaxed a bit when I agreed to go to the Emergency Department (ER…) in the morning.
And later I woke up for work and started to get ready… and noticed the exact symptoms that had been described. CRUD! And things had finally been going normal… ish? I called in to work, notified a shift coworker, and $HOUSEMATE took me to the hospital. I explained the situation. The doctor did some checking. Responses were normal. Outside checking. No ultrasound techs at that time of night, though could be called in if really needed. More checking. Called a tech, who explained (to the Doc, over the phone) $HOOTERVILLE didn’t have the gear for the particular issue and doing ultrasound would mean an hour or more travel. CT was available, and the folks for it were around. So I wound up with another[3] CT scan and the contrast dye for that[4]. The results? No fistula found. Yeah. Seems the MRI was well focused or tuned for the prostate scan and this was… a thing that was noticed. But the MRI wasn’t focused or tuned for that so it… was an artifact? The CT went looking specifically and WAS tuned for it, one scan as the contrast was just getting into the blood, and… the artifact went away.
So the symptoms? Well, fistula has been ruled out. There could be other causes – including nothing and it all goes away. Yes, really. Nobody knows. Right now I’ve been told to not worry about it, monitor it, and if there’s any weakness then get worried and come right in.
[1] The magnetic flux density, not the automobile.
[2] 4 W/Kg is the maximum for regular diagnostics. Research is another matter.
[3] At least the CT scans were spaced well apart in time. There is advantage to taking ionizing radiation at longer intervals, rather than shorter ones, if at all.
[4] I asked if there was any possible issue with having both the MRI and CT contrasts though they are two very different things. “You’ve probably expelled all the MRI contrast already, but no, nothing to worry about.”
The Elegant Ungulate 