wrog

$mdlbear: blue fractal bear with text "since 2002" (Default)$

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, as usual )

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag
Current Music: some

thewayne

A tarball is an old compression format that predates zip files, it was used in Ye Olde Dayes to archive a whole bunch of files into one big humongoid file for convenience.

Anyway, it looks like recovery of the tape was successful! With everything going on in my life, I don't have the ability to dig into the story right now, just wanted to get this out for my fellow geeks. Here's the Slashdot summary that you can dive into if you like:

Archive.org now has a page with "the raw analog waveform and the reconstructed digital tape image (analog.tap), read at the Computer History Museum's Shustek Research Archives on 19 December 2025 by Al Kossow using a modified tape reader and analyzed with Len Shustek's readtape tool." A Berlin-based retrocomputing enthusiast has created a page with the contents of the tape ready for bootstrapping, "including a tar file of the filesystem," and instructions on dumping an RK05 disk image from tape to disk (and what to do next).

Research professor Rob Ricci at the University of Utah's school of computing posted pictures and video of the tape-reading process, along with several updates. ("So far some of our folks think they have found Hunt The Wumpus and the C code for a Snobol interpreter.") University researcher Mike Hibler noted the code predates the famous comment "You are not expected to understand this" — and found part of the C compiler with a copyright of 1972.

The version of Unix recovered seems to have some (but not all) of the commands that later appeared in Unix v5, according to discussion on social media. "UNIX wasn't versioned as we know it today," explains University of Utah PhD student Thalia Archibald, who researched early Unix history (including the tape) and also worked on its upload. "In the early days, when you wanted to cut a tape, you'd ask Ken if it was a good day — whether the system was relatively bug-free — and copy off the research machine... I've been saying It's probably V5 minus a tiny bit, which turned out to be quite true."

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/12/21/020235/bell-labs-unix-tape-from-1974-successfully-dumped-to-a-tarball

james_davis_nicoll

When I discovered Olivia Newton-John's father took Rudolf Hess into custody during World War II.

james_davis_nicoll

It turns out if you really want to raise the profile of your writers' union, all you need to do is announce LLM-generated works are eligible for awards, as long as they are not entirely LLM-generated.

james_davis_nicoll

Harold Shea seeks escape from mundane life in tales of myth and magic.

The Compleat Enchanter (Incomplete Enchanter, volume 1) by L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt

oursin

Happy birthday,

lannamichaels!

sallymn posting in

1word1day

mephitic [muh-fit-ik]

adjective:
1 offensive to the smell
2 noxious; pestilential; poisonous

Examples:

Like a mephitic vapor from a sword-and-sandals epic, it slips under the door frame and into your head. (Guy Trebay, We’re Holding Tight to Our Good Luck Talismans, The New York Times, April 2020)

These moments of reckoning - in which something that once felt exciting begins to seem noxious, mephitic, dangerous - are important to heed. (Amanda Petrusich, A Quest to Rename the Williamsburg Bridge for Sonny Rollins, The New Yorker, April 2017)

The A66 motorway takes you along the bank of a river that eventually opens into the Cantabrian Sea, but there's no water to be seen through a mephitic landscape of factories and warehouses. (Paul Richardson, A great white hope in Avilés, Asturias, The Guardian, July 2011)

Mephitic vapors - spontaneous combustion - pressure of gases born of long decay - any one of numberless phenomena might be responsible. (H P Lovecraft, 'The Haunter of the Dark')

I even made them remove from the opening, as I smelled the mephitic air that issued abundantly from it, and began myself to feel giddiness in consequence of having gone too near; so that I was compelled to withdraw quickly, and inhale a purer air. (Johann David Wyss, The Swiss Family Robinson)

Origin:
1620s, 'of poisonous smell, foul, noxious,' from Late Latin mephiticus, from Latin mephitis, mefitis 'noxious vapor, a pestilential exhalation, especially from the earth' (also personified as a goddess believed to have the power to avert it), an Italic word of uncertain origin. English use of mephitis is attested from 1706. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

apod_feed

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251220.html

A Solstice Sun Tattoo

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251220.html

pegkerr

This past weekend was our seventeenth annual cookie baking. We were baking for nine households, and after so many years, we have the whole process down to a well-oiled machine. Each of us brought two batches of cookies, one already baked and the other baked that day at my sister's house.

As it was December 13, Santa Lucia Day, I also brought lussekatter, for us to have with our coffee as we baked. We spread the cookies out on a long table in my sister's living room. By taking up columns of cookies, we each had a nice mix.

M came along with Alona and Fiona, to the joy of all. Her first cookie baking!

Description: Background: a table covered with rows of Christmas cookies: bottom: a group of women smile at the camera. Top: three lussekatter

Celebrations

50 Celebrations

Click on the links to see the 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.

conuly

Watch on YouTube

conuly posting in

agonyaunt

1. Dear Eric: My daughter-in-law decided a few years back to have a Friendsgiving dinner which she hosts a couple of weekends before Thanksgiving. She invites her family (as her mom has never done Thanksgiving) and then a bunch of her and my son's friends.

In my mind I know this shouldn't bother me, but it does. I waited my "turn" growing up and having a family and to be the one to host Thanksgiving (my parents have both passed as has my husband's mom) and now I have my own grandchildren. We still do the whole Thanksgiving dinner, but I don't feel it is as special as it was because now everyone has already had the traditional Thanksgiving meal that previously we only had that one time a year.

She always says “oh y’all are welcome to come, too,” but I just can't get into it and feel resentment that I waited all the years to be the grandma to host the meal and now it is like feeding everyone leftovers. Can you give me another way to look at this or some advice that will make me not as resentful about it?

– Leftovers Anyone?

( Read more... )

**********

2. Dear Annie: Christmas at my parents' house used to feel magical, but lately it feels like I'm walking into a performance review. My older brother's new hobby is "radical honesty," and apparently the holidays are his favorite time to practice. Last year, as we decorated the tree, he announced that my handmade ornaments looked "like a Pinterest fail" and suggested I "sit out the creative parts" of Christmas.

He says he's only being truthful and that any discomfort is "my issue to examine." My parents beg me not to make waves because he's "working on himself," but his self-work is coming at my expense.

I don't want to blow up Christmas, but I also don't want another holiday spent swallowing my feelings while he unloads his. How do I keep the peace without letting his "honesty" ruin the season? -- Silent Night No More

( Read more... )

calzephyr posting in

1word1day

Povitica - noun.

Povitica (pronounced "poh-vee-TEET-sah" in Croatian, or "poh-TEET-sah" as potica in Slovenian) is a traditional Eastern European sweet or savory nut roll bread characterized by a very thin, yeast-raised dough.

A rich filling, usually finely ground walnuts, honey and/or sugar, is spread inside and then rolled into a tight spiral. Learn how to make it yourself below:

Watch on YouTube

ysabetwordsmith posting in

birdfeeding

Today is mostly sunny and cool.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches, mostly on the suet feeder.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/20/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/20/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/20/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/20/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

oursin

And the reporting on the acquisition of the Cerne Giant by the National Trust was very very muted and mostly in the local press. Mention of the sale as part of the Cerne and Melcombe Horsey Estates in 1919 in the Bournemouth Times and Director. The Western Daily Press in June 1921 mentions it as having been presented to the National Trust by Mr Pitt-Rivers; and the Weymouth Telegram's account of a meeting of the Dorset Field Club mentioned that the 'valuable relic of antiquity... had been placed in the custody of the National Trust'. There was also a mention in the report of a lecture on 'Wessex Wanderings' in the Southern Times and Dorset County Herald in 1921. No mention of the Giant's gigantic manhood, though references to his club.

Other rather different antique relics (heritage is being a theme this week....): The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs are getting a glow up (gosh, writer is in love with his style, isn't he?)

ribirdnerd posting in

birdfeeding

The birds are hungry today after yesterday's all day wind and rain storm.

Blue Jays, House Sparrows, Juncos and Cardinals were all out this morning.

It's been stressful week around here, I'm glad they finally found the Brown University shooter!

oursin

Happy birthday,

hafren,

holli and

inchoatewords!

apod_feed

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251219.html

Long Shadows of the Montes Caucasus

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251219.html

twistedchick

Re renaming the Kennedy Center: Is a decision unanimous if a board member isn't allowed to dissent?

cofax7

I probably didn't need to, but I have taken all of next week and the following Monday off. My workload is fucking insane but fuckit, I can only do what I can do, as multiple people told me this week.

I have just borrowed Cahokia Jazz and a YA novel by EK Johnston from the library, so I'm set for that. And I'm meeting my oldest friend in the world in LA next month, so she can go to the desert for the first time, so we're sending each other links and stuff, and that's fun.

Tonight I will set up the batter for those insane Dark and Stormy cookies -- though I do them as bars, it's so much easier and the texture is more controllable -- and tomorrow I will make a crustless quiche for my BIL's birthday. Sunday is a cookie exchange, Monday is wrapping. It's gonna be a nice week, or it would be if not for all the rain.

Why did the rain wait until I was on vacation?

Happy holidays to y'all!

ysabetwordsmith posting in

birdfeeding

Today is mostly sunny and chilly. It rained off and on all yesterday but has stopped now.

I fed the birds. I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/19/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/19/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/19/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I carried 4 logs from the driveway pile to the patio rack.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

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wrog

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Done Since 2025-12-14

That old Unix tape from 1974? Successfully dumped to a tarball!

I was today years old

This Week's SF news

The Compleat Enchanter (Incomplete Enchanter, volume 1) by L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt

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Sunday Word: Mephitic

A Solstice Sun Tattoo

2025 52 Card Project: Week 50: Celebrations

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Holiday drama

Saturday Word: Povitica

Birdfeeding

I did run to find out

Saturday

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Long Shadows of the Montes Caucasus

New Substack post

Staycation!

Birdfeeding

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October 2024

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