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xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
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<channel>
<title>Greg's diary</title>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary.php</link>
<atom:link href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary.xml.php"
rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
<description>Greg Lehey's online diary</description>
<dc:creator />
<dc:date>2024-03-29T13:06:16+11:00</dc:date>
<dc:rights>Copyright 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Greg Lehey</dc:rights>
<!-- for Emacs, this is a -*- mode: fundamental; coding: utf-8 -*- document -->
<!-- temporary file, entries for last 7 days of previous month, used for RSS version -->
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240224-011845</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240224-011845</link>
<category>food</category>
<category>and</category>
<category>drink</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>How much lard?</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/KL-Hokkien-Mee.php">KL Hokkien Mee</a> for breakfast today. But
the pork I had was extremely fat. OK, cook it until the fat melts. But that produced a
whole lot more lard, of course, so much that I was concerned it might spoil the dish:
</p>
<a id="Photo-0" name="Photo-0"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240223&imagesizes=2#Photo-0">
<img alt="This should be Fat-mee.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_0"
title="Photo Fat-mee.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240223/small/Fat-mee.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
But no, in fact it wasn't too bad. Maybe a little more lard wouldn't be a bad idea.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-24T01:18:45+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240224-012715</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240224-012715</link>
<category>animals</category>
<title>Keeping Bruno out</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Animals/Bruno.php">Bruno</a> is quite like <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Animals/Rani.php">Rani</a> in that he likes heights. And that proves to
be one of the main concerns when he's in my office, like here:
</p>
<a id="Photo-1" name="Photo-1"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240223&imagesizes=12#Photo-1">
<img alt="This should be Bruno.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_1"
title="Photo Bruno.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240223/small/Bruno.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
Will that plastic container stop him from jumping to the next bookcase? If he lands on it,
it will tip, and he will land on the floor. He didn't try this time; I'll see if he does in
the future.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-24T01:27:15+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240224-012921</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240224-012921</link>
<category>general</category>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Quora revisited</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quora">Quora</a> seems to be on the way out.
I haven't received any mail this year, and I have barely looked in. But it's still there.
Today I found a search result pointing to a Quora reply, and while I was there I found a
whole lot of mainly particularly silly questions addressed to me. The good news is that
there is now a “downvote” selector arrow on all of them, so I can easily downvote questions
like <a href="https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-quarter-past-4-on-time">“What is the
quarter past 4 on time?”</a>.
</p>
<p>
And of course there are the old stupid time questions like <a href="https://www.quora.com/It-is-4-30-PM-in-a-place-whose-longitude-is-40%E2%81%B0E-What-is-the-longitude-of-the-place-Where-is-the-local-time-8-AM">It is 4:30 PM in a place whose longitude is 40⁰E. What is the longitude of the place? Where
is the local time 8 AM?</a>. Should I answer it? I have better things to do.
</p>
<p>
But there were 6 answers to the question, <b><i>all</i></b> wrong. And the interesting
thing is that there is no such place. So I answered it, and Quora decided that my reply
would look better with this stupid image, which at least I was able to remove:
</p>
<a id="Photo-2" name="Photo-2"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240223&imagesizes=112#Photo-2">
<img alt="This should be Quora-nonsense.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_2"
title="Photo Quora-nonsense.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240223/small/Quora-nonsense.jpeg"
width="346" height="195"
/></a>
<p>
Somehow they're trying to be silly. What is the purpose of that blob in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean">Caribbean</a>?
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-24T01:29:21+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240224-014219</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240224-014219</link>
<category>general</category>
<title>Tidying up fallen tree</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Walked past the site of <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php?subtitle=Tree%20down!&article=D-20240222-023832#D-20240222-023832">Wednesday's</a> fallen tree today. They really didn't go to too much trouble:
</p>
<div align="left">
<a id="Photo-3" name="Photo-3"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240223&imagesizes=1112#Photo-3">
<img alt="This should be Fallen-tree-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_3"
title="Photo Fallen-tree-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240223/small/Fallen-tree-2.jpeg"
width="305" height="221"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-4" name="Photo-4"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240223&imagesizes=11112#Photo-4">
<img alt="This should be Fallen-tree-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_4"
title="Photo Fallen-tree-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240223/small/Fallen-tree-1.jpeg"
width="225" height="300"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-5" name="Photo-5"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240223&imagesizes=111112#Photo-5">
<img alt="This should be Fallen-tree-3.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_5"
title="Photo Fallen-tree-3.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240223/small/Fallen-tree-3.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
</div>
<p>
I particularly like the way they wedged a fallen branch between the remaining trunks.
Presumably they had better things to do; they don't normally leave things like that.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-24T01:42:19+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240224-015352</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240224-015352</link>
<category>history</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Nakba: the other side</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
As <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php?subtitle=Joining%20video%20files&article=D-20240220-012131#D-20240220-012131">planned</a>, after watching the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera_Media_Network">Al Jazeera</a> <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/10/16/ten-films-to-watch-about-the-history-of-the-israel-palestine-conflict">video series</a> about <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2017/5/23/the-nakba-did-not-start-or-end-in-1948">Al
Nakba</a> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jan2024.php?subtitle=US-sanctioned%20genocide&article=D-20240121-233903#D-20240121-233903">last month</a>, I've been looking at videos from a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coursera">Coursera</a> series on the recent history of
the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East">Middle East</a>. I only
have the videos, and so far I know neither the name of the presenter nor the institution,
but I believe that it's from Israel. It's very interesting, and of course the viewpoint is
very different from the Al Jazeera series.
</p>
<p>
So far I have only got to about 1940. But it's <i>very</i> interesting. No outright
contradictions (yet), but insights that are interesting. In particular, by 1930 it seemed
that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionist">Zionist</a> dream of a
state in Palestine was failing: immigration levels were far lower than expected, and the
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passfield_white_paper">Passfield white paper</a> showed a much more balanced view of things (and was thus condemned by the Zionists who
claimed that it contradicted the intention of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration">Balfour Declaration</a>, carefully
ignoring the clause “it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may
prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”).
</p>
<p>
But it wasn't implemented, and a couple of years later a strong impetus for increased
immigration appeared: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler">Adolf
Hitler</a> became the leader of Germany.
</p>
<p>
The other part of interest was that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Mandate_for_Palestine">British Mandate</a> covered what by this time was called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_(region)">Palestine</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transjordan_(region)">Transjordan</a>. Why the
division? According to this series of lectures, to ensure that the Jewish national home was
restricted to Palestine. This was before any talk of partitioning, but it's worth thinking
about
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-24T01:53:52+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240225-004405</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240225-004405</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>health</category>
<category>photography</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>More Hugin strangenesses</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
It's been <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-oct2023.php?subtitle=The%20new%20hydra&article=D-20231018-033635#D-20231018-033635">four months</a> since I got the new <i>hydra</i>, and I still haven't completed the
transition from <i>eureka</i>. A surprising number of things have slowed me down, in
particular the number of programs that work on <i>eureka</i> and not on <i>hydra</i>.
notably <a href="http://www.mediathekview.de/">MediathekView</a> and <a href="http://hugin.sourceforge.net"><i>Hugin</i></a>. MediathekView in particular is
irritating. It can send URLs to a web browser, but now that they have further broken
<a href="https://www.mozilla.org/firefox"><i>firefox</i></a>, it has to be on the
same system.
</p>
<p>
In addition, what resolution do I need for my monitors? <i>hydra:0.1</i> is running at
3849×2160 (“<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4K_resolution">4K</a>”), and many
things are hard to read. But that also relates to my eyes, which I'm planning to have
overhauled Real Soon Now. So should I wait until I have the new eyes before I do anything?
Maybe.
</p>
<p>
And <i>Hugin</i>? Today was my <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/stones-road/exterior.php">house
photo</a> day, and once again I ran <i>Hugin</i> on <i>hydra</i>. And once again it
produced bad stitching results. Here the output from <i>hydra</i> and <i>eureka</i> based
on identical inputs, including the project files:
</p>
<a id="Photo-6" name="Photo-6"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240224&imagesizes=1111112#Photo-6">
<img alt="This should be e-from-house-broken.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_6"
title="Photo e-from-house-broken.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240224/small/e-from-house-broken.jpeg"
width="473" height="143"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-7" name="Photo-7"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240224&imagesizes=11111112#Photo-7">
<img alt="This should be e-from-house.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_7"
title="Photo e-from-house.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240224/small/e-from-house.jpeg"
width="473" height="143"
/></a>
<p>
I've traced the difference to this one invocation:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
<code><font color="blue">=== grog@hydra (/dev/pts/20)</font> <font color="red">~/Photos/20240224</font> <font color="blue">75</font> -> <b><tt>hugin_executor --stitching e-from-house.pto</tt></b></code>
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
Are there invisible knobs that cause the difference? And why is it always this view?
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-25T00:44:05+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240225-005738</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240225-005738</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>www hangs investigated</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Once again the web server on <i>www.lemis.com</i> hung, round 8:54 this morning. I've been
keeping output of <i>w(1)</i>, which shows:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
9:44PM up 331 days, 13:32, 5 users, load averages: 139.65, 71.45, 34.21
<br /> 9:49PM up 331 days, 13:37, 5 users, load averages: 2.89, 35.55, 29.94
<br /> 9:54PM up 331 days, 13:42, 5 users, load averages: 0.69, 13.46, 21.24
<br /> 9:59PM up 331 days, 13:47, 5 users, load averages: 0.30, 5.09, 14.95
<br />10:04PM up 331 days, 13:52, 5 users, load averages: 0.22, 2.09, 10.66
<br />10:09PM up 331 days, 13:57, 5 users, load averages: 0.24, 0.93, 7.56
<br />10:14PM up 331 days, 14:02, 5 users, load averages: 0.32, 0.56, 5.38
<br />10:19PM up 331 days, 14:07, 5 users, load averages: 0.43, 0.47, 3.88
<br />10:24PM up 331 days, 14:12, 5 users, load averages: 0.44, 0.52, 2.87
<br />10:29PM up 331 days, 14:17, 5 users, load averages: 0.32, 0.43, 2.15
<br />10:34PM up 331 days, 14:22, 5 users, load averages: 19.31, 5.76, 3.63
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
Times are in UTC, tastefully in 12 hour clock yesterday evening. So the load average hit
140 and then quickly fell back to 0.69—<i>if</i> I look at the 1 minute average. But the
other two columns are purportedly 5 and 15 minute averages. So at 22:09 the 5 minute
average would have been from 22:04 to 22:09, where the 1 minute average was way below 1.
But it was still 2.09. And at the same time the 15 minute average should have been between
21:54 and 22:09, also way below 1, but I get a value of 7.56. Is this a bug?
</p>
<p>
In any case, I found out at 22:34, and once again the load average shot up.
</p>
<p>
What do I do? I can change the parameter passing from <tt>GET</tt> to <tt>POST</tt>, but
I'm not sure it would make any difference. Looking at old diary entries, in this case
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2008.php">May 2008</a>, I see things like:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
.222.197.200 - - [20/Feb/2024:22:50:45 +0000] "GET /grog/diary-may2008.php?topics=popccopccopcaopccopchopcpopccopccopcc HTTP/1.1" 200 192543 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/116.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
<br />8.219.206.182 - - [20/Feb/2024:22:52:44 +0000] "GET /grog/diary-may2008.php?topics=copccopccopcpopchopchopcpopcaopcpopcaopccopchopccopccopccopcc HTTP/1.1" 200 194803 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/116.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
But they're all from different systems. Changing parameter passing won't help there. And
there are a ridiculous number of them. Just for this month I get, over a 24 hour period,
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
<code><font color="blue">=== grog@lax (/dev/pts/3)</font> <font color="red">~</font> <font color="blue">3</font> -> <b><tt>grep may2008 /var/log/www/www.lemis.com.log | wc -l</tt></b></code>
<br /> 10980
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
That's one request every 8 seconds—for a diary entry that is 16 years old! And there are
something like 380 different diary entries. No wonder the server is overloaded.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-25T00:57:38+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240225-011209</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240225-011209</link>
<category>food</category>
<category>and</category>
<category>drink</category>
<title>Raclette quantities</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raclette">Raclette</a> for dinner this
evening. How much do we eat? How do we prepare the right quantities?
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> cooked 3 potatoes. She's too polite to weigh them,
but my guess would be 450 g (coincidentally an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoirdupois">avoirdupois</a> pound). Far too little!
And how much cheese? How much ham?
</p>
<p>
More to the point, how many trays do we fill? This time I counted: I ate 6. And Yvonne ate
three. Half with tomato, half with ham, of which we had ample leftovers. And we had just a
little potato left over, so at least that quantity was correct.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-25T01:12:09+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240225-234554</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240225-234554</link>
<category>general</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Bushfire?</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
At breakfast the sun was shining, but there was a certain amount of haze. Dust? It's been
dry lately. Or bushfire? Fired up this horrible <a href="https://emergency.vic.gov.au/">VicEmergency</a> app. “There is one incident in your
watch zone”. OK, select, wait for it to drop to 0. But no, there <i>was</i> an incident:
</p>
<a id="Photo-8" name="Photo-8"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240225&imagesizes=111111112#Photo-8">
<img alt="This should be Bushfire-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_8"
title="Photo Bushfire-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240225/small/Bushfire-1.jpeg"
width="177" height="384"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-9" name="Photo-9"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240225&imagesizes=1111111112#Photo-9">
<img alt="This should be Bushfire-1-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_9"
title="Photo Bushfire-1-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240225/small/Bushfire-1-detail.jpeg"
width="320" height="211"
/></a>
<p>
As the magpie flies that's only about 850 m from where we are (tastefully indicated by the
binocular symbol). But we've <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-dec2015.php?subtitle=Bushfire!&article=D-20151219-234353#D-20151219-234353">seen that before</a>, a little to the north. And it proved to be a false alarm. But
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> was worried, so after breakfast (I was able to hold
her back that long) we set off to take a look. No, it wasn't Wendy Mclelland's house (here
on the left), but further up the road:
</p>
<a id="Photo-10" name="Photo-10"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240225&imagesizes=11111111112#Photo-10">
<img alt="This should be Bushfire-4.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_10"
title="Photo Bushfire-4.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240225/small/Bushfire-4.jpeg"
width="340" height="198"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-11" name="Photo-11"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240225&imagesizes=111111111112#Photo-11">
<img alt="This should be Bushfire-6.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_11"
title="Photo Bushfire-6.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240225/small/Bushfire-6.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
Clearly they were already finished. Yvonne got out and talked to the driver:
</p>
<a id="Photo-12" name="Photo-12"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240225&imagesizes=1111111111112#Photo-12">
<img alt="This should be Bushfire-7.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_12"
title="Photo Bushfire-7.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240225/small/Bushfire-7.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
False alarm, like 8 years ago. And within 30 minutes VicEmergency deleted the report. No
follow-up: it was as if it had never happened. What are the people to think who saw the
report and couldn't find it any more?
</p>
<p>
As if to make that point, there was another incident later in the evening, in Melaleuca Road
in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfield,_Victoria">Enfield</a>. That's
further away, about 12 km, but still “local”. Where on Melaleuca Road? Nowhere! This
incident also disappeared.
</p>
<p>
Later still, I received email:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
Community Update for Air Quality in your watch zone: Heres
<br />This Community Information message is being issued for smoke across Central and Southern Victoria.
<br />
<br />You will see or smell smoke across parts of Southern and Central Victoria.
<br />This smoke is a result of the large bushfire at Mount Buangor National Park.
<br />The intensity of smoke from the fire has reduced since the peak on Thursday, likely indicating that temperatures of the fire has reduced, however the lower temperature may mean that smoke may not be travelling high and could have a greater ground level impact and be smoky or hazy in your area.
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
Clearly they're talking about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Buangor_State_Park">Mount Buangor State Park</a>,
which is what they have been calling “Amphitheatre, Bayindeen, Ben Nevis, Chute, Elmhurst,
Eversley, Glenlogie, Glenpatrick, Mount Cole, Mount Lonarch, and 2 more...”. With some
difficulty it's possible that the “2 more...” are called “Raglan”, a text that would have
fitted without that obfuscation.
</p>
<p>
And yes, the first sentence was truncated. <b><i>Sigh</i></b>.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-25T23:45:54+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240226-004148</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240226-004148</link>
<category>technology</category>
<title>www overload: increasing?</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Unexpected mail today:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2024 10:08:48 GMT
<br />From: Mail Delivery Subsystem <MAILER-DAEMON@lax.lemis.com>
<br />To: groggyhimself@lax.lemis.com
<br />Subject: Warning: could not send message for past 4 hours
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
<i>lax.lemis.com</i> is the overloaded web server. And the message to which it referred
didn't finally get sent until nearly 12 hours after it was submitted:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
Received: from lax.lemis.com (localhost [127.0.0.1])
<br /> by lax.lemis.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3D3B3280BF
<br /> for <groggyhimself@lax.lemis.com>; Sun, 25 Feb 2024 12:49:50 +0000 (UTC)
<br />Received: (from groggyhimself@localhost)
<br /> by lax.lemis.com (8.15.2/8.15.2/Submit) id 41P0wvpZ054217;
<br /> Sun, 25 Feb 2024 00:58:57 GMT
<br /> (envelope-from groggyhimself)
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
So why did the second one get through first? But clearly I need to do something about the
system.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-26T00:41:48+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240226-004814</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240226-004814</link>
<category>food</category>
<category>and</category>
<category>drink</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Still more cooking</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Chinese <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/beef-with-orange.php">beef with broccoli and orange</a> for dinner tonight. And since it was there, also asparagus.
</p>
<p>
How do you prepare asparagus Chinese style? I've never had it. In fact, it's pretty much
what you might expect, modulo the very short cooking times. I looked and found a number of
recipes that were all pretty much in agreement, and ultimately found this recipe:
</p>
<iframe width="300"
height="225"
src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OJsaFKTkl5A"
allowfullscreen
frameborder="0" >
</iframe>
<p>
The quantities are hard to convert, but what she calls “shrimps” are clearly prawns, pretty
much the size of the 10 g ones that I use. And there was very little asparagus, only 115 g
(which sounds like 4 oz <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoirdupois">avoirdupois</a> masquerading as metric). So I came up with the following <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/asparagus-and-prawns.php">recipe</a>:
</p>
<h2>Ingredients</h2>
<table summary="Ingredients">
<tr>
<td align="right"><b>quantity</b></td>
<td> </td>
<td><b>ingredient</b> </td>
<td> </td>
<td><b>step</b> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">110 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">asparagus</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">55 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">prawns (11 g per piece)</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">5 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">cooking wine</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">5 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">soya sauce</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">3 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">cornflour</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">5 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">ginger</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">5 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">garlic</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right"></td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">oil for frying</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">5 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">garlic</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">10 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">oyster sauce</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">3 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">sesame oil</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">2 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">cornflour</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">30 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">water</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h2>
Preparation
</h2>
<ol>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
Peel and prepare asparagus and prawns. Cut each piece of asparagus into 3.
</div>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
Mix wine, soya sauce and cornflour and marinate prawns in it.
</div>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
Fry prawns with ginger, garlic until cooked. Reserve.
</div>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
Fry asparagus with garlic until bright green.
</div>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
Add sauce and cook, covered, for 2 minutes.
</div>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
Add prawns and stir until hot. Serve.
</div>
</li>
</ol>
<a id="Photo-13" name="Photo-13"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240225&imagesizes=11111111111112#Photo-13">
<img alt="This should be Asparagus-with-prawns.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_13"
title="Photo Asparagus-with-prawns.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240225/small/Asparagus-with-prawns.jpeg"
width="313" height="216"
/></a>
<p>
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-26T00:48:14+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240226-011859</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240226-011859</link>
<category>food</category>
<category>and</category>
<category>drink</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Beef, broccoli and orange insights</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
The other dish was <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/beef-with-orange.php">beef with orange and
broccoli</a>, which we've eaten before. The biggest problem is frying the beef. It
requires cutting into small pieces and rolling in flour. That's particularly fiddly. Today
I tried deep frying, which helped in part. Next time I'll try frying first and cutting
later. I also doubled the amount of orange peel, which was a definite improvement.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-26T01:18:59+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240227-005100</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240227-005100</link>
<category>animals</category>
<title>Bruno vomits</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
While working in the kitchen this morning, heard the tell-tale sound of a cat vomiting. The
result:
</p>
<a id="Photo-14" name="Photo-14"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240226&imagesizes=111111111111112#Photo-14">
<img alt="This should be Bruno-vomits.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_14"
title="Photo Bruno-vomits.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240226/small/Bruno-vomits.jpeg"
width="375" height="180"
/></a>
<p>
We've seen that before, but I can't recall anything that clear. And it didn't seem to worry
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Animals/Bruno.php">Bruno</a> at all.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-27T00:51:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240227-005229</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240227-005229</link>
<category>gardening</category>
<title>Another approach to the weeds</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Despite weeks of weeding, the weeds in the garden are healthier than ever. Today <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> took to them with a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate">glyphosate</a> spray. It'll be interesting
to see how many survive that.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-27T00:52:29+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240227-005334</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240227-005334</link>
<category>history</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>More Israel-Palestine insights</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
I'm continuing my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coursera">Coursera</a> videos of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Finally I have confirmation of the origin:
they're by <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Asher%2bSusser%22&btnG=Groogle%2bSearch">Asher Susser</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Aviv_University">Tel Aviv
University</a>, and thus, as I had assumed, from the “other side”. And though there are
still no contradictions, once again the emphasis seems different. Palestine was a British
mandate, but after the war the British had better things to do, and there are many Jews in
the USA. So the USA took over the lead in promoting the Jewish state, something that they
have maintained until today.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-27T00:53:34+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240228-010451</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240228-010451</link>
<category>food</category>
<category>and</category>
<category>drink</category>
<title>Another attempt at Hokkien Mee</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
My <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php?subtitle=Fake%20Hokkien%20Mee&article=D-20240214-010221#D-20240214-010221">last attempt</a> at <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/Hokkien-Mee.php">Hokkien Mee</a> was less
than perfect: I had used a prawn paste that was more like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belacan">belacan</a> than fresh prawns:
</p>
<a id="Photo-15" name="Photo-15"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240116&imagesizes=1111111111111112#Photo-15">
<img alt="This should be Prawn-paste-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_15"
title="Photo Prawn-paste-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240116/small/Prawn-paste-2.jpeg"
width="254" height="266"
/></a>
<p>
But I have another kind:
</p>
<a id="Photo-16" name="Photo-16"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240228&imagesizes=11111111111111112#Photo-16">
<img alt="This should be Prawn-paste-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_16"
title="Photo Prawn-paste-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240228/small/Prawn-paste-1.jpeg"
width="212" height="320"
/></a>
<p>
How does that stack up? Tried it again, in the process discovering that my recipe was
significantly inaccurate. The result:
</p>
<a id="Photo-17" name="Photo-17"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240227&imagesizes=111111111111111112#Photo-17">
<img alt="This should be Hokkien-Mee-6.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_17"
title="Photo Hokkien-Mee-6.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240227/small/Hokkien-Mee-6.jpeg"
width="304" height="222"
/></a>
<p>
Is it good enough? I don't think so. I need to rethink things. At least I had an
opportunity to update <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/Hokkien-Mee.php">the recipe</a>.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-28T01:04:51+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240228-012759</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240228-012759</link>
<category>general</category>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Emergency? Catastrophic!</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Today and (especially) tomorrow are slated to be some of the most dangerous fire days in the
year. How do the emergency services help? No better than they have done for the <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jan2009.php?subtitle=Bushfire%20info:%20beware%20clever%20web%20programmers&article=D22-12#D22-12">past 15 years</a>. Fortunately the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballarat_Courier">Ballarat Courier</a> sends email
notifications, so I get the information that I should have got from <a href="https://emergency.vic.gov.au/">VicEmergency</a>.
</p>
<p>
But I still monitor what VicEmergency has to say, which at least has amusement value. And
today, for the first time ever, I received a notification saying something like
“Catastrophe”. <i>That's</i> worth looking at, so I selected it and was taken to the app.
</p>
<p>
Ha, ha, only joking. No catastrophe. No way to find out what it had tried to tell me in
the notification. Maybe a bushfire at the Smythes... pony club? Or maybe not:
</p>
<a id="Photo-18" name="Photo-18"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240227&imagesizes=1111111111111111112#Photo-18">
<img alt="This should be VicEmergency-1-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_18"
title="Photo VicEmergency-1-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240227/small/VicEmergency-1-detail.jpeg"
width="440" height="153"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-19" name="Photo-19"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240227&imagesizes=11111111111111111112#Photo-19">
<img alt="This should be VicEmergency-2-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_19"
title="Photo VicEmergency-2-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240227/small/VicEmergency-2-detail.jpeg"
width="355" height="190"
/></a>
<p>
Dangerous (dead) animals only 450 km away?
</p>
<a id="Photo-20" name="Photo-20"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240227&imagesizes=111111111111111111112#Photo-20">
<img alt="This should be VicEmergency-11.png. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_20"
title="Photo VicEmergency-11.png. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240227/small/VicEmergency-11.png"
width="276" height="245"
/></a>
<a name="map-settings" id="map-settings"></a>
<p>
One thing I did find was how to colour my display. Select the “Filter” lines from pages
that have a header like this (which explicitly excludes the home page and the “Help” tab,
which offers no help whatsoever):
</p>
<a id="Photo-21" name="Photo-21"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240227&imagesizes=1111111111111111111112#Photo-21">
<img alt="This should be VicEmergency-7.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_21"
title="Photo VicEmergency-7.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240227/small/VicEmergency-7.jpeg"
width="177" height="384"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-22" name="Photo-22"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240227&imagesizes=11111111111111111111112#Photo-22">
<img alt="This should be VicEmergency-7-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_22"
title="Photo VicEmergency-7-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240227/small/VicEmergency-7-detail.jpeg"
width="502" height="134"
/></a>
<p>
Then you can select one, and only one, of the following “filters”:
</p>
<a id="Photo-23" name="Photo-23"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240227&imagesizes=111111111111111111111112#Photo-23">
<img alt="This should be VicEmergency-5.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_23"
title="Photo VicEmergency-5.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240227/small/VicEmergency-5.jpeg"
width="177" height="384"
/></a>
<p>
After setting that and finding a suitable date (tomorrow), I was able to show my map in
tasteful orange:
</p>
<a id="Photo-24" name="Photo-24"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240227&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111112#Photo-24">
<img alt="This should be VicEmergency-8.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_24"
title="Photo VicEmergency-8.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240227/small/VicEmergency-8.jpeg"
width="177" height="384"
/></a>
<p>
I suppose that's almost acceptable if people have been through training to understand the
app. As a primary method of communication with Joe Blow it's completely unacceptable.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-28T01:27:59+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240228-015608</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240228-015608</link>
<category>photography</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Mobile phone image quality</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
I've been playing around with a script to make downloading image files from mobile phones
less painful. It almost works. And to test it, I took a forgettable photo in my office:
</p>
<a id="Photo-25" name="Photo-25"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240227&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111112#Photo-25">
<img alt="This should be Office.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_25"
title="Photo Office.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240227/small/Office.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
Well, almost forgettable Look at that noise!
</p>
<a id="Photo-26" name="Photo-26"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240227&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111112#Photo-26">
<img alt="This should be Office-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_26"
title="Photo Office-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240227/small/Office-detail.jpeg"
width="260" height="261"
/></a>
<p>
And to my surprise, the background showed a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh">bokeh</a> that I thought was impossible to
achieve with a mobile phone:
</p>
<a id="Photo-27" name="Photo-27"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240227&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111112#Photo-27">
<img alt="This should be Office-detail-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_27"
title="Photo Office-detail-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240227/small/Office-detail-2.jpeg"
width="323" height="209"
/></a>
<p>
“Everything serves a purpose, even if it's just as a bad example”.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-28T01:56:08+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240228-023203</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240228-023203</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>photography</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Gmail: now I accept you, now I don't</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Sent a <a href="https://groups.google.com/g/hugin-ptx/c/09TgJC8Lj_s/m/9yegkXfpAAAJ?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer">reply</a> to the <a href="https://groups.google.com/g/hugin-ptx/c/09TgJC8Lj_s/m/9yegkXfpAAAJ?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer">Google Hugin user group</a> today. It was both accepted and rejected by Google:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
<br /><grahammjantz@gmail.com>: host gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[142.251.2.26] said:
<br /> 550-5.7.26 This mail has been blocked because the sender is
<br /> unauthenticated. 550-5.7.26 Gmail requires all senders to authenticate with
<br /> either SPF or DKIM. 550-5.7.26 550-5.7.26 Authentication results:
<br /> 550-5.7.26 DKIM = did not pass 550-5.7.26 SPF [hydra.lemis.com] with ip:
<br /> [45.32.70.18] = did not pass 550-5.7.26 550-5.7.26 For instructions on
<br /> setting up authentication, go to 550 5.7.26
<br /> https://support.google.com/mail/answer/81126#authentication
<br /> bw11-20020a056a00408b00b006e5306d0ff1si2541353pfb.248 - gsmtp (in reply to
<br /> end of DATA command)
<br />
<br />Your message was successfully delivered to the destination(s)
<br />listed below. If the message was delivered to mailbox you will
<br />receive no further notifications. Otherwise you may still receive
<br />notifications of mail delivery errors from other systems.
<br />The mail system
<br /><hugin-ptx@googlegroups.com>: delivery via
<br /> gmr-smtp-in.l.google.com[142.251.2.14]:25: 250 2.0.0 OK 1709004304
<br /> ed8-20020ad44ea8000000b0068ee65b011fsi396992qvb.4 - gsmtp
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
And yes, the second message ended up in the archive. So what is Google thinking? It was
the same MTA in each case.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-28T02:32:03+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240229-010403</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240229-010403</link>
<category>animals</category>
<category>technology</category>
<title>Cat danger</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
I have now secured the disks behind my monitors so that <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Animals/Bruno.php">Bruno</a> can't dislodge them. But somehow the danger
isn't over:
</p>
<a id="Photo-28" name="Photo-28"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240228&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111112#Photo-28">
<img alt="This should be Bruno-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_28"
title="Photo Bruno-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240228/small/Bruno-2.jpeg"
width="302" height="224"
/></a>
<p>
That's <i>eureka</i>. Should I cover it?
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-29T01:04:03+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240229-010516</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240229-010516</link>
<category>general</category>
<category>gardening</category>
<title>Suddenly summer</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
It's been a relatively mild summer, though today the temperatures hit 37°. But almost
overnight the lawn has gone brown:
</p>
<a id="Photo-29" name="Photo-29"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240228&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-29">
<img alt="This should be House-entrance.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_29"
title="Photo House-entrance.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240228/small/House-entrance.jpeg"
width="305" height="221"
/></a>
<p>
And on Friday autumn starts, at least according to the calendar.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-29T01:05:16+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240229-010615</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240229-010615</link>
<category>food</category>
<category>and</category>
<category>drink</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Curry pastes revisited</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
We found ourselves in the position to get rid of some cooked <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basmati">Basmati</a> rice today. OK, no problem, thaw
out a couple of curries.
</p>
<p>
Oh. They're in the database, but not in the freezer. There are others, but nothing that
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> is still prepared to eat (too <i>pedas</i>). Nothing
for it: cook some more.
</p>
<p>
And somehow I've lost my desire to cook curries from scratch. The various Malaysian spice
pastes that I've been using are, in general, better than what I make myself. But that's not
what I need. All I found were <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madras_curry">Madras curry</a> mixes from <a href="http://www.pataks.com/">Pataks</a> and
Marion, the latter a relatively obscure Australian maker. The instructions didn't look
encouraging, and in the end I cooked some chicken in each of them.
</p>
<p>
Not a success. Once again I find that the instructions are incorrect: the Marions paste has
so much salt in it that it's clearly intended to be diluted much more than specified. Maybe
I do need to cook things from scratch again.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-29T01:06:15+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240229-010624</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240229-010624</link>
<category>general</category>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Bushfire? Bushfire!</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Bushfire danger today was... extreme? catastrophic? Spent much of the day following this
emetic <a href="https://emergency.vic.gov.au/">VicEmergency</a> service, without
gaining much in the way of insights.
</p>
<p>
And then after dinner I heard lots of vehicles going past. But I didn't see them, and at
this time of year I should at least have seen their cloud of dust. Outside, where it was
clear that they were some kind of flying vehicle. Bushfire? Yes!
</p>
<a id="Photo-30" name="Photo-30"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240228&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-30">
<img alt="This should be Kleins-2-detail.png. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_30"
title="Photo Kleins-2-detail.png. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240228/small/Kleins-2-detail.png"
width="338" height="199"
/></a>
<p>
I know that address. <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/kleins-road/">47 Kleins Road</a>, where we
lived from <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jul2007.php#10">10 July 2007</a> to <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2015.php#8">8 May 2015</a>. And
the fire went down where we used to take the dogs for a walk.
</p>
<p>
More to the point, did it endanger us? No. If I can believe the map (which I do more than
a lot of what they have on the site), clearly the fire was going away from us. That's
typical: fires start with a north wind, and typically the wind changes to west. And that's
what the exclusion zone showed: to the south of where the fire started. Our danger would
come from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfield_State_Park">Enfield State
Park</a>, to the north.
</p>
<p>
Out to take a look. Yes, smoke clearly visible:
</p>
<a id="Photo-31" name="Photo-31"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240228&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-31">
<img alt="This should be Dereel-bushfire-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_31"
title="Photo Dereel-bushfire-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240228/small/Dereel-bushfire-1.jpeg"
width="306" height="221"
/></a>
<p>
Back inside, and the exclusion zone had changed:
</p>
<a id="Photo-32" name="Photo-32"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240228&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-32">
<img alt="This should be Kleins-9.png. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_32"
title="Photo Kleins-9.png. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240228/small/Kleins-9.png"
width="346" height="195"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-33" name="Photo-33"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240228&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-33">
<img alt="This should be Kleins-9-detail.png. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_33"
title="Photo Kleins-9-detail.png. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240228/small/Kleins-9-detail.png"
width="210" height="322"
/></a>
<p>
Oh. More information, partially for entertainment value:
</p>
<a id="Photo-34" name="Photo-34"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240228&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-34">
<img alt="This should be Kleins-10-detail.png. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_34"
title="Photo Kleins-10-detail.png. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240228/small/Kleins-10-detail.png"
width="600" height="256.92695214106"
/></a>
<p>
Westerly towards <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Mercer,_Victoria">Mount
Mercer</a>? Mount Mercer is to the east, and thus the extension of the danger zone. But
the important thing is that the north-west corner of this zone now included our property.
What danger is there really? None, I thought. But <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> was very nervous, and I'd hate to be wrong. So how about going to the “CFA Safer Place”
that they made so much noise about <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jul2015.php?subtitle=More%20thoughts%20on%20CFA%20safer%20place&article=D-20150712-023137#D-20150712-023137">9 years ago</a>? Packed the cat and dogs into the car and off to see what was going on.
</p>
<p>
Lots of people stopped at junctions, like here at the junction of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballarat">Ballarat</a>-<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colac,_Victoria">Colac</a> Road and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rokewood_Junction">Rokewood Junction</a> Road:
</p>
<p>
What were they doing there? I don't know.
</p>
<a id="Photo-35" name="Photo-35"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240228&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-35">
<img alt="This should be Dereel-bushfire-40.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_35"
title="Photo Dereel-bushfire-40.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240228/small/Dereel-bushfire-40.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
The Safer Place wasn't deserted. There were a number of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Emergency_Service">SES</a> trucks there, but
nothing else.
</p>
<a id="Photo-36" name="Photo-36"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240228&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-36">
<img alt="This should be Dereel-bushfire-12.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_36"
title="Photo Dereel-bushfire-12.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240228/small/Dereel-bushfire-12.jpeg"
width="301" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
In particular, nobody who was able or even interested in giving us any information. They
didn't have any more than VicEmergency. But it was interesting to be there. It's really
just around the corner from Kleins Road, about 700 m to the south-west. And we saw no smoke
at all from that direction, nor from the south, suggesting that the water bombers had done
their job:
</p>
<div align="left">
<a id="Photo-37" name="Photo-37"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240228&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-37">
<img alt="This should be Dereel-bushfire-26.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_37"
title="Photo Dereel-bushfire-26.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240228/small/Dereel-bushfire-26.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-38" name="Photo-38"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240228&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-38">
<img alt="This should be Dereel-bushfire-33.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_38"
title="Photo Dereel-bushfire-33.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240228/small/Dereel-bushfire-33.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-39" name="Photo-39"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240228&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-39">
<img alt="This should be Dereel-bushfire-41.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_39"
title="Photo Dereel-bushfire-41.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240228/small/Dereel-bushfire-41.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-40" name="Photo-40"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240228&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-40">
<img alt="This should be Dereel-bushfire-42.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_40"
title="Photo Dereel-bushfire-42.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240228/small/Dereel-bushfire-42.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-41" name="Photo-41"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240228&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-41">
<img alt="This should be Dereel-bushfire-43.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_41"
title="Photo Dereel-bushfire-43.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240228/small/Dereel-bushfire-43.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
</div>
<p>
Instead, it was clear that the fire was moving towards the town centre (well, Hall and CFA
shed), and this was confirmed by later maps of the extent:
</p>
<a id="Photo-42" name="Photo-42"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240228&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-42">
<img alt="This should be Kleins-16-detail.png. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_42"
title="Photo Kleins-16-detail.png. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240228/small/Kleins-16-detail.png"
width="251" height="269"
/></a>
<p>
That white <b>F</b> on the red background at the east of the extent is the CFA shed. Was it
really involved? That seems hard to believe. Most of the area is grassland or trees, with
no buildings except at the east, so it would be relatively easy to defend. But we'll see
that when the smoke has died down.
</p>
<p>
And at no time did I see any mention of this "Safer Place”. I asked a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFA">CFA</a> truck stopped on Rokewood Junction Road,
about 450 m away, and they didn't know about it. Admittedly, it was probably not the best
choice in this particular case, but it really suggests that it has been forgotten.
</p>
<p>
Stayed up until 23:00, well past our normal bedtime, but the latest report was from 19:30 or
so. For the first time ever, went to bed with mobile phones next to us.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-02-29T01:06:24+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240301-015610</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240301-015610</link>
<category>general</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Bushfire: the day after</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Woke up to confirm that, as I expected, our bushfire was under control. Again the
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballarat_Courier">Ballarat Courier</a> was
the only source that told me of a meeting at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dereel">Dereel</a> Hall at 14:00. Clearly that was
beneath the dignity of <a href="https://emergency.vic.gov.au/">VicEmergency</a>.
</p>
<p>
In the meantime Petra Gietz showed up, with her own complaints. She had heard from her
friend Amber, whose husband is in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_Fire_Authority">CFA</a>, at 20:17: they had
pulled aerial support because things were getting back under control. That matches my
expectations at that time. She also complained about VicEmergency, which had apparently
posted an evacuation recommendation for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfield,_Victoria">Enfield</a>, over 10 km away in a
safe direction.
</p>
<p>
Off to the Hall, which was packed:
</p>
<a id="Photo-43" name="Photo-43"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240229&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-43">
<img alt="This should be Bushfire-meeting-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_43"
title="Photo Bushfire-meeting-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240229/small/Bushfire-meeting-2.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-44" name="Photo-44"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240229&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-44">
<img alt="This should be Bushfire-meeting-3.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_44"
title="Photo Bushfire-meeting-3.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240229/small/Bushfire-meeting-3.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
I think that there were more people there than <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2013.php?subtitle=Bushfire!&article=D-20130327-235330#D-20130327-235330">11 years ago</a> after the last devastating bushfire:
</p>
<a id="Photo-45" name="Photo-45"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20130328&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-45">
<img alt="This should be Bushfire-meeting-12.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_45"
title="Photo Bushfire-meeting-12.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20130328/small/Bushfire-meeting-12.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
There wasn't much information, and the question and answer session was made almost pointless
by the acoustics. But what I established was:
</p>
<ul>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
The fire was brought under control round 23:00 yesterday evening,
</div>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
No houses were lost, a big difference from <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2013.php?subtitle=Bushfire:%20the%20day%20after&article=D-20130328-222326#D-20130328-222326">last time</a> </div>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
They don't know what caused it. It wasn't lightning, maybe a faulty electric fence.
But until proof of the contrary, it's “suspicious”, and the police have established a
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_scene">crime scene</a>,
</div>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
Over 100 vehicles were involved, including from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales">New South Wales</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales_Rural_Fire_Service">Rural Fire
Service</a>—over 500 km away.
</div>
</li>
</ul>
<p>
There were a number of questions, only some of which I understood. One person was from
Enfield and reflected Petra's comments. He had really evacuated, to Garibaldi (a place so
small that not even Wikipedia knows about it) where he had spent 5 hours completely alone
before giving up and going back home. That brings home how plausible these instructions
are. A number of other people also complained about VicEmergency, though I didn't
understand them very well. The people on the stage said that it was decided at a different
level, but that they would take the questions “on board”—in other words, presumably nothing.
</p>
<p>
In passing, looking at the maps, a number of things are of interest:
</p>
<a id="Photo-46" name="Photo-46"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240229&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-46">
<img alt="This should be Burning-Dereel.png. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_46"
title="Photo Burning-Dereel.png. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240229/small/Burning-Dereel.png"
width="337" height="200"
/></a>
<p>
That's a “satellite view” from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Maps">Google Maps</a>, clearly taken a long time ago. The lagoon is clearly visible at top
left. The smoke is coincidental and may be completely harmless. But the wind direction
(from the north) isn't.
</p>
<p>
I left the meeting early. They seemed to want to wrap up, and I could barely understand the
questions, just their predictable answers. First off south to Swansons Road, where I saw:
</p>
<a id="Photo-47" name="Photo-47"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240229&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-47">
<img alt="This should be Swansons-Road-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_47"
title="Photo Swansons-Road-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240229/small/Swansons-Road-2.jpeg"
width="543" height="124"
/></a>
<p>
That's where we went taking orchid photos <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-nov2016.php?subtitle=Orchids%20in%20Dereel&article=D-20161112-234021#D-20161112-234021">7 years ago</a>. In particular, I haven't seen any <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caleana_major">Caleana major</a> anywhere else:
</p>
<a id="Photo-48" name="Photo-48"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20161112&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-48">
<img alt="This should be Caleana-major-11.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_48"
title="Photo Caleana-major-11.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20161112/small/Caleana-major-11.jpeg"
width="225" height="300"
/></a>
<p>
I hope they will survive.
</p>
<p>
Back north, fighting my way through the smoke:
</p>
<a id="Photo-49" name="Photo-49"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240229&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-49">
<img alt="This should be Smoke-hazard-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_49"
title="Photo Smoke-hazard-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240229/small/Smoke-hazard-1.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-50" name="Photo-50"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240229&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-50">
<img alt="This should be Smoke-hazard-2-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_50"
title="Photo Smoke-hazard-2-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240229/small/Smoke-hazard-2-detail.jpeg"
width="227" height="298"
/></a>
<p>
There's some burning that came almost up to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballarat">Ballarat</a>-<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colac,_Victoria">Colac</a> Road:
</p>
<p>
Down Swamp Road, things look worse, and on the other side of the swamp, just outside our old
property, there were open flames:
</p>
<a id="Photo-51" name="Photo-51"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240229&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-51">
<img alt="This should be Swamp-Road.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_51"
title="Photo Swamp-Road.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240229/small/Swamp-Road.jpeg"
width="504" height="134"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-52" name="Photo-52"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240229&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-52">
<img alt="This should be Swamp-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_52"
title="Photo Swamp-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240229/small/Swamp-detail.jpeg"
width="375" height="180"
/></a>
<p>
The flame retardant spray was evident:
</p>
<a id="Photo-53" name="Photo-53"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240229&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-53">
<img alt="This should be Swamp-Road-4.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_53"
title="Photo Swamp-Road-4.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240229/small/Swamp-Road-4.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
Down Kleins Road, there wasn't much to see except for emergency vehicles:
</p>
<a id="Photo-54" name="Photo-54"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240229&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-54">
<img alt="This should be Kleins-Road-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_54"
title="Photo Kleins-Road-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240229/small/Kleins-Road-2.jpeg"
width="301" height="224"
/></a>
<p>
That's our old house on the left, unscathed:
</p>
<a id="Photo-55" name="Photo-55"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240229&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-55">
<img alt="This should be Kleins-Road-2-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_55"
title="Photo Kleins-Road-2-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240229/small/Kleins-Road-2-detail.jpeg"
width="385" height="175"
/></a>
<p>
We'll have to wait a day or two to see what it looks like down Swamp Road.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-01T01:56:10+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240301-015642</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240301-015642</link>
<category>technology</category>
<title>NBN upgrades?</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
The first thing that struck me when I arrived at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dereel">Dereel</a> Hall was this truck:
</p>
<a id="Photo-56" name="Photo-56"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240229&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-56">
<img alt="This should be NBN.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_56"
title="Photo NBN.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240229/small/NBN.jpeg"
width="301" height="224"
/></a>
<p>
Is that the <a href="https://www.nbnco.com.au/">National Broadband Network</a> that
we know and love? Yes. What was it doing there? Providing network connectivity. But we
have NBN coverage already. Yes? What kind? Fixed Wireless. Ah, but <i>mumble</i>. Maybe
there isn't any fixed wireless here. I expressed my doubt, and just by chance there's a FW
antenna at the extreme left of the photo above:
</p>
<a id="Photo-57" name="Photo-57"
href="diary-feb2024.php?dirdate=20240229&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-57">
<img alt="This should be NBN-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_57"
title="Photo NBN-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240229/small/NBN-detail.jpeg"
width="201" height="337"
/></a>
<p>
The person I spoke to didn't seem very well informed. My guess is that they brought the van
along for guaranteed bandwidth for the video feed they had planned—and doesn't that say
something? But it seems that we're in for (another?) upgrade, which will give us higher
speeds. He gave me a brochure that said almost nothing concrete: “Faster, more reliable
download speeds in the busy periods...with less buffering”. In other words, more bandwidth,
possibly no change in download speed. “More devices at the same time”. That makes no sense
at all, except maybe to confirm that the brochure writers don't understand networking or
communication in general.
</p>
<p>
But they continue with ”two new higher speed plans available through participating
providers”. So maybe this really is faster; we'll see. The back page suggests that these
options will come from mid-2024. Hardware upgrades? Not mentioned. They've updated the
hardware at least once already. And I didn't have time to ask about changes in latency to
get a look at his face.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-01T01:56:42+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240301-034800</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php#D-20240301-034800</link>
<category>photography</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Bloody carabiner clips</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
I took along my <a href="https://asia.olympus-imaging.com/product/dslr/em1mk2/">Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II</a> to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dereel">Dereel</a> Hall. Normally I don't have a strap on it, but clearly today was a good day.
</p>
<p>
But not a good strap. On the way into the hall one of the hooks came unhooked, and I was
only just able to stop the camera from falling onto the concrete path. And inside the Hall
(well, as close as I came, the entrance), it came undone again, and the camera fell,
fortunately onto the carpet, doing no evident harm.
</p>
<p>
This isn't the first time. <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2023.php?subtitle=Camera%20strap%20pain&article=D-20230217-011324#D-20230217-011324">A year ago</a> I had exactly the same problem, and always just with the left-hand hook.
Why? I should try swapping straps and see what happens.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-01T03:48:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240302-013104</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240302-013104</link>
<category>general</category>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>More VicEmergency insights</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Following up on the bushfire today didn't bring much in the way of new insights. <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> drove down Kleins Road further than I had been able to do
yesterday, but around the corner the road was closed, and there still wasn't very much to
see on the 47 Kleins Road property. We'll have to wait a few days more.
</p>
<p>
But Petra Gietz has found another trick with the VicEmergency app. I had discoved the
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php?subtitle=Emergency?%20%20Catastrophic!&article=D-20240228-012759#map-settings">map settings</a> (or was that “Filter”?) page and noted that I could only select one
setting. But she had another: one that showed the wind direction. Currently:
</p>
<a id="Photo-58" name="Photo-58"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240301&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-58">
<img alt="This should be VicEmergency-app-2-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_58"
title="Photo VicEmergency-app-2-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240301/small/VicEmergency-app-2-detail.jpeg"
width="236" height="287"
/></a>
<p>
That's useful, but there seem to be a number of issues with the function. First, as I had
already mentioned, There Can Only Be One. Select this “filter” and the others are
deselected. And the arrows don't scale. If I enlarge the display, the arrows stay as they
are, and maybe disappear outside the display area:
</p>
<a id="Photo-59" name="Photo-59"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240301&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-59">
<img alt="This should be VicEmergency-app-4.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_59"
title="Photo VicEmergency-app-4.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240301/small/VicEmergency-app-4.jpeg"
width="177" height="384"
/></a>
<p>
And at some point, the setting just disappears. I haven't yet established why or when.
</p>
<p>
And then there's a big difference between the mobile display (first image) and the web
browser display:
</p>
<a id="Photo-60" name="Photo-60"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240301&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-60">
<img alt="This should be VicEmergency-app-5-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_60"
title="Photo VicEmergency-app-5-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240301/small/VicEmergency-app-5-detail.jpeg"
width="262" height="257"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-61" name="Photo-61"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240301&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-61">
<img alt="This should be VicEmergency-1.png. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_61"
title="Photo VicEmergency-1.png. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240301/small/VicEmergency-1.png"
width="256" height="265"
/></a>
<p>
Apart from the poor contrast, the burnt area (if that's what it is) is missing in the mobile
phone display. Why?
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-02T01:31:04+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240302-014622</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240302-014622</link>
<category>health</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Finally cataract surgery?</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
I've been dragging my heels on my cataract surgery. I'm not afraid of the procedure, but I
don't like the idea of having only partially functional vision for a week, and that for each
eye. But it does have to happen. <a href="https://www.davidfabinyi.com.au/">David
Fabinyi</a> wants to do my primary (left) eye first, but that doesn't seem a good idea.
What if the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitrectomy">vitrectomy</a> shows
up problems that we couldn't expect? I can get by with just cataract surgery on the left
eye if it proves to be an issue. And should I really go home in the evening, or stay
overnight in hospital? In principle I want to go home, but if there's a question of
monitoring, it might be better to stay overnight.
</p>
<p>
Called up his surgery on 5221 3098 and spoke to Estelle, who told me that he wasn't
available today, took notes and said that she would call back. Potentially the first eye
could be done later this month.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-02T01:46:22+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240302-015234</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240302-015234</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>general</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Phone smart, again</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
One of the things that really annoys me about my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)">Android</a> mobile phone is
that it's so difficult to keep apps running. In particular, basic functionality like an
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTP">FTP</a> server keeps stopping, though I
have set it in some obscure place (not the app configuration) to stay running at all times.
</p>
<p>
It was all the more surprising that I recently found that it had been running for 4 or 5
days. But then it stopped, and now it keeps stopping every few hours. That can't be
intended. How I hate these things!
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-02T01:52:34+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240302-020645</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240302-020645</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Real uptime</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Seen recently:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
Current time: 2024-02-29 16:11:21 UTC
<br />System booted: 2013-10-22 02:22:24 UTC (540w2d 13:48 ago)
<br />Protocols started: 2020-10-26 16:08:37 UTC (174w3d 00:02 ago)
<br />Last configured: 2024-01-07 01:40:54 UTC (7w4d 14:30 ago) by root
<br /> 4:11PM up 3782 days, 13:49, 2 users, load averages: 0.00, 0.01, 0.00
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
That's a router somewhere in the <a href="https://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</a> complex. Yes, not a real computer, but still worthwhile. I'm told, though, that while the
software is running fine, the hardware is worn out, so it's not likely to stay there much
longer.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-02T02:06:45+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240303-010408</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240303-010408</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Out, foul bot!</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
My web server continues to suffer from extreme overload:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
2:09AM up 338 days, 17:57, 8 users, load averages: 177.41, 158.34, 121.08
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
And since it's the beginning of the month, I got my web server bill, round double what it
has been in the past. And the server continues to hang. Clearly I need to do something.
</p>
<p>
Most of the traffic seems to come from web crawlers. OK, how about excluding them for a
while? Put this in <i>robots.txt</i>:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
User-agent: *
<br />Disallow: /
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
That effectively tells new crawlers to stay away. What about ones that already have their
tendrils in the system? Watching the server load and access times to <i>robots.txt</i>
showed a correlation; after some hours, the load average gradually dropped to round 15,
still not exactly idle (the system has 2 CPUs). But it looks as if things are under control
for the moment. I'll keep an eye on it for a couple of days before allowing the bots back
in a more limited manner.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-03T01:04:08+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240303-011909</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240303-011909</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>photography</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Chasing down the Hugin stitch problem</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/stones-road/exterior.php">House photo</a> day again today, and once
again I had fun with <a href="http://hugin.sourceforge.net"><i>Hugin</i></a>,
particularly with this panorama, stitched with <i>hydra</i> (<i>Hugin</i> version
2023.0.0.d88dc56ded0e) and with <i>eureka</i> (<i>Hugin</i> version
2018.0.0.5abfb4de7961):
</p>
<a id="Photo-62" name="Photo-62"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240302&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-62">
<img alt="This should be e-from-house-hydra.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_62"
title="Photo e-from-house-hydra.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240302/small/e-from-house-hydra.jpeg"
width="457" height="148"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-63" name="Photo-63"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240302&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-63">
<img alt="This should be e-from-house.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_63"
title="Photo e-from-house.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240302/small/e-from-house.jpeg"
width="457" height="148"
/></a>
<p>
What's causing that? There's nothing obvious, and they're both stitched from exactly the
same <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Day/20240302/e-from-house.pto">project file</a> using exactly the same
command:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
hugin_executor --stitching e-from-house.pto
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
What does <i>hugin_executor</i> do behind the scenes? Ah, that would be telling. The man
page says:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
<b>DESCRIPTION</b>
<br /> <b>hugin_executor</b> is a command line tool, useful for stitching projects in
<br /> shell scripts
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
And that's really everything except the options, which aren't very interesting. But clearly
it invokes <i>nona</i> and <i>enfuse</i>. Ah! There's a non-standard <tt>-d</tt> option
for just printing the commands that it executes, along with an undescribed requirement to
use either the <b>-s</b> (stitch) or <b>-a</b> (execute assistant, whatever that means in
this context). Try that and get:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
<code><font color="blue">=== grog@eureka (/dev/pts/39)</font> <font color="red">~/Photos/20240302</font> <font color="blue">147</font> -> <b><tt>hugin_executor -s -d C/e-from-house.pto</tt></b></code>
<br />/usr/local/bin/nona -v -z LZW -r ldr -m TIFF_m -o e-from-house /Photos/grog/20240302/C/e-from-house.pto
<br />/Photos/Tools/Enblend -w -f15158x4900+0+931 --compression=LZW -o e-from-house.tif -- e-from-house0000.tif e-from-house0001.tif e-from-house0002.tif e-from-house0003.tif e-from-house0004.tif e-from-house0005.tif
<br />exiftool -overwrite_original -TagsFromFile /Photos/grog/20240302/C/e-from-house-0.tiff -WhitePoint -ColorSpace -@ /usr/local/share/hugin/data/hugin_exiftool_copy.arg -@ /var/tmp/he1Zxy10 e-from-house.tif
<br />rm /var/tmp/he1Zxy10 e-from-house0000.tif e-from-house0001.tif e-from-house0002.tif e-from-house0003.tif e-from-house0004.tif e-from-house0005.tif
<br />
<br /><code><font color="blue">=== grog@hydra (/dev/pts/28)</font> <font color="red">~/Photos/20240302</font> <font color="blue">89</font> -> <b><tt>hugin_executor -s -d C/e-from-house.pto</tt></b></code>
<br />/usr/local/bin/nona -v -z LZW -r ldr -m TIFF_m -o e-from-house /Photos/grog/20240302/C/e-from-house.pto
<br />/Photos/Tools/Enblend -w -f15158x4900+0+931 --compression=LZW -o e-from-house.tif -- e-from-house0000.tif e-from-house0001.tif e-from-house0002.tif e-from-house0003.tif e-from-house0004.tif e-from-house0005.tif
<br />exiftool -overwrite_original -TagsFromFile /Photos/grog/20240302/C/e-from-house-0.tiff -WhitePoint -ColorSpace -@ /usr/local/share/hugin/data/hugin_exiftool_copy.arg -@ /var/tmp/heQauSlR e-from-house.tif
<br />rm /var/tmp/heQauSlR e-from-house0000.tif e-from-house0001.tif e-from-house0002.tif e-from-house0003.tif e-from-house0004.tif e-from-house0005.tif
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
Yes, there is a difference between the two command outputs, but it's not important: the name
of the temporary output file from <i>exiftool</i> is different. Apart from that, it's
identical. So what <i>is</i> the problem? And why does it almost always happen in the same
place in this particular panorama? One clue is in the invocation of <i>enblend</i>:
it's <i>/Photos/Tools/Enblend</i>, a script that I wrote. In itself it's uninteresting:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
#!/bin/sh
<br /># $%39d: Enblend,v 1.1 2018/07/01 01:32:35 grog Exp grog $
<br /># Wrap enblend to be able to report finish.
<br />echo enblend $* > myenblend
<br />enblend $*
<br /># espeak "enblended"
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
But it makes clear that <i>something</i> is going on in the background, presumably to read
some configuration information. And not surprisingly the problem occurs when
running <i>enblend</i>. Changing horses in mid-stream shows that I can use <i>enblend</i>
on <i>eureka</i> to stitch the output from <i>nona</i> and get good results.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-03T01:19:09+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240303-235130</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240303-235130</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Web server calmer</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Watched the web server load all day today. And yes, the load average stayed relatively
constant in the 8 to 20 range.
</p>
<p>
Fixed? Hardly. I do like to appear on Google search results, especially for things for
which there are few hits, for example (surprisingly) <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22swine%20bismarck%22">Swine Bismarck</a>, which we
ate last night. And my <i>robots.txt</i> has only excluded the well-behaved crawlers, as my
log file shows:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
47.76.35.19 - - [03/Mar/2024:01:04:46 +0000] "GET /grog/diary-mar2020.php?dirdate=20190323&imagesizes=1223021022213223222222223221021222221221322220222222320232401232222212202311232012222221323212323222222222222231022223222332221222340222221122212222312202222202232232222203221222122222220212222222222220221&size=2 HTTP/1.1" 200 1340527 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.2; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/77.0.2827.33 Safari/537.36"
<br />47.76.35.19 - - [03/Mar/2024:01:04:47 +0000] "GET /grog/diary-mar2020.php?dirdate=19960415&imagesizes=02022210022102222202022222223212200110223113101223213223221412320222204022211322120202212032233232032202012022021221201002022021203122212022222322223122222322032013332421022211221023222211121221222222102221&size=2 HTTP/1.1" 200 1225067 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/75.0.3234.7 Safari/537.36"
<br />47.76.35.19 - - [03/Mar/2024:01:04:47 +0000] "GET /grog/diary-mar2020.php?dirdate=20191206&imagesizes=20222220022222221222222223222112222222224222222221223203332111322232212222210320202222212223222032022222221222222210221222022222202222222221012222222222232212022002220202022212221022112231102222221112202223&size=2 HTTP/1.1" 200 1308264 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/67.0.2023.7 Safari/537.36"
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
At the very least I still need to look at replacing <tt>GET</tt> with <tt>POST</tt>.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-03T23:51:30+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240304-003247</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240304-003247</link>
<category>general</category>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>CAPTCHAs on the rise!</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
I had hoped that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA">CAPTCHAs</a> were
finally going away, but today I was confronted with two particularly virulent ones, from
<a href="https://www.vultr.com/">Vultr</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wise">Wise</a>, the vaguely named money transfer
service. Not only multiple CAPTCHAs, but ones that change when you click things, and some
which are so vague that I can't recognize them, apart from the use of US American
terminology like “crosswalk”.
</p>
<p>
Will they never go away? Can't somebody use <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_Intelligence">Artificial Intelligence</a> to
make a CAPTCHA-solving browser plugin? Please?
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-04T00:32:47+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240304-003913</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240304-003913</link>
<category>general</category>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>UnWise</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> wants to transfer money to Austria again. OK, that's
a case for this stupidly renamed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wise_(company)">Wise</a> funds transfer service. They used to be called Transferwise, but clearly that
name was too descriptive.
</p>
<p>
OK, the transfer is for round € 1000. I don't have that much in my account, so I needed to
transfer it from a real bank account. But first I had to solve these <i>really horrible</i>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA">CAPTCHAs</a>. And though normal
bank transfers in Australia are performed in real time, Wise told me that it would take a
day. Wise told me that it would take two days. Clearly they couldn't decide. And my bank
also said that it would take two days.
</p>
<p>
Why? Are they trying to annoy me? No, I don't think so. It's more likely that they're
trying to profit on the infinitesimal interest on the money for one or two days. Is it
worth annoying your customers for that? It's time to look for alternatives.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-04T00:39:13+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240305-010120</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240305-010120</link>
<category>history</category>
<category>politics</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Will the genocide never end?</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
It's been nearly 5 months since the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Hamas-led_attack_on_Israel">2023 Hamas-led attack on
Israel</a>, in which 2,752 people were killed, 1,143 of them Israeli civilians. A further
242 civilians were taken hostage. If I read the Wikipedia page correctly, most of the
casualties were <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas">Hamas</a> fighters,
something that people seldom mention.
</p>
<p>
That's horrible, of course. If the Palestinians want justice, there are other ways. Or are
they? They've been under <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockade_of_the_Gaza_Strip">siege</a> for 16 years, and
all attempts to get out from under the Israeli yoke seem to have failed. The Israelis, who
were maintaining the siege, should have expected that they wouldn't just sit back and take
it. Still, murdering innocent civilians is Just Plain Wrong.
</p>
<p>
So what do the Israelis so? They fight back with their US-backed weaponry. So far they
have killed over 30,000 people (“Palestinians”), most of them innocent civilians, mainly
women and children. Sorry, Israel, if it's wrong to kill Israeli civilians (and of course
it is), it's wrong to kill other civilians. But they haven't stopped, and they are
systematically destroying <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_strip">Gaza</a> and starving the remaining population.
</p>
<p>
Words fail me. How can they continue doing this? How could they <i>start</i> doing this?
Why is the USA supporting the genocide? Both countries have completely lost any legitimacy.
The USA, claiming to hold the moral high ground, is complicit in some of the worst
atrocities I have ever experienced. By comparison, the Russian invasion of Ukraine seems
like nothing.
</p>
<p>
Somehow many Israelis have a mental block. I've been gradually watching <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Asher%2bSusser%22&btnG=Groogle%2bSearch">Asher
Susser's</a> lectures about the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Nakba">Al
Nakba</a>. But that's not a word that he likes to use: it suggests a natural catastrophe,
one that absolves the Palestinians of the blame. And the information that he presents,
though undoubtedly correct, seems to be biased towards the Israeli viewpoint. It's hard to
be sure if there are any inaccuracies, but round 1948 the story strongly differs in emphasis
from the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/10/16/ten-films-to-watch-about-the-history-of-the-israel-palestine-conflict">Al Jazeera videos</a>.
</p>
<p>
And that seems to pervade Israeli society. For some years I have been reading the
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_of_Israel">Times of Israel</a> and
considered it relatively neutral. But here, too, the emphasis is off-centre. Return the
remaining hostages, many of whom were killed by Israeli fire. Who cares about the Gazans?
Was anybody shot while trying to get food? No, they stampeded and accidentally got bullets
in their skulls.
</p>
<p>
When will this nightmare end? What would have happened in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_World_War">Second World War</a> if the news media
had had the coverage that they do now? Would that have changed the behaviour of the Nazis?
</p>
<p>
But then, is news free? Look any day on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera_English">Al Jazeera News</a> to see the
conditions. Or look on any US news site to see an expurgated version, or on an Israeli site
to see nothing at all.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-05T01:01:20+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240305-012758</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240305-012758</link>
<category>gardening</category>
<category>general</category>
<title>More gardening and bushfire insights</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Paul Donaghy along to trim the grass today. He brought the news that his property suffered
only minor damage, just the back fence (west) damaged. Not by the fire, but by the fire
crews, who tore it down to create a fire break.
</p>
<p>
And it seems that the fire was caused by a defective electric fence device (“actuator”),
though the reports I have seen seem a little confusing. But clearly that's a thing to think
of on days of total fire bans.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-05T01:27:58+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240305-013410</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240305-013410</link>
<category>health</category>
<title>Another migraine</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
I don't know if the Israeli situation has something to do with it, but this afternoon I had
yet another minor migraine.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-05T01:34:10+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240305-023410</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240305-023410</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Evil passwords again</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
The <a href="https://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</a> is using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_(protocol)">Matrix</a> for internal
communications. And that requires a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerberos">Kerberos</a> password. How do you do that? Ah, yes, from <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2022.php?subtitle=Still%20more%20mail%20pain&article=D-20220603-004846#D-20220603-004846">this diary</a>. OK, generate a password. This silly “<i>evil</i> random passwords”
again!
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
===================================================================
<br />Generating strong, evil random passwords...
<br />===================================================================
<br />Your new, ready to forget, password: ung...
<br />Your new, ready to forget, mail password: ahXoog...
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
But it worked.
Only mail doesn't work any more. It always creates a new password. More pain. Maybe
that's why they're evil.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-05T02:34:10+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240306-020713</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240306-020713</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>CJ's pain again</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
CJ Ellis round this morning with his computer and most of the stuff I asked to bring with
him. He has been locked out of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook">Facebook</a>! Oh horror! Hard to say what caused that, and I don't really want to know,
but they sent him instructions on how to reset it, requiring email with a code being sent to
his mail server (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gmail">Gmail</a>). But the
code was only valid for 30 seconds, and he didn't know how to open two tabs on his web
browser. By the time he had written down the code and re-entered <i>firefox</i>, the code
had expired.
</p>
<p>
OK, I have access to his Gmail system, so for this exceptional case I'll connect to the mail
system. CJ solicits the code, I read it out to him, and all is well. Except that I can't
log in. The password must have changed.
</p>
<p>
So for all that he brought his machine over here. Off looking for the missing cables, and
got the thing up and running. Yes, no problem. Fire up <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome"><i>Chrome</i></a>. No go, wrong
password.
</p>
<p>
Ah, says CJ, I don't know that. Fires up <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/firefox"><i>firefox</i></a> and logs in. No problem. Same password.
</p>
<p>
So why did I have difficulty? Why did <i>his</i> machine have difficulty
with <i>Chrome</i>? That's the Google browser, after all. My only guess is that it must be
some misguided security measure posing as a different problem.
</p>
<p>
On with Facebook recovery. Yes, got the code. Now please upload your “ID”. Take a photo
of it and send it to us.
</p>
<p>
Problem: CJ doesn't have a mobile phone, doesn't have a computer with a camera, doesn't have
a camera. So one way or the other he <i>had</i> to come to me so that I could scan his
driver license and send it to him.
</p>
<p>
But how? On a real computer I would just fight my way past <i>firefox</i> breakage, load
the image and send it. But this is Microsoft. How do I do it? Send it round the world to
Gmail and back? Did that. Now use this famous Microsoft “drag” to drag the image
to <i>firefox</i>. No, it didn't want to know, politely overlaying it with an “end of
limit” symbol to allow me to guess that this was a limitation, that dragging didn't work.
Why not? Again, too polite to say, but presumably because the image is really on the Gmail
server at the other end of the world. OK, save the image to disk. Sorry, can only save the
entire message.
</p>
<p>
Did that anyway, and of course <i>firefox</i> didn't want to know.
</p>
<p>
Dammit, how <i>do</i> these things work? <i>Do</i> these things even work? But deep down
in <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Rant/windows.php">“Windows”</a>, struggling to get out, is a program
called <i>FTP.EXE</i>. Fire that up, <i>ftp</i> to <i>eureka</i>, and pull it across. Just
be careful to get it in <tt>BIN</tt> format, which for some reason requires two attempts.
And then go tree-climbing with <i>firefox</i> and pull it up, send it off.
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
We will examine what you sent us and respond within 48 hours.
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
Well, that's CJ's problem, not mine. The whole thing took about an hour, and at the end it
was all I could do not to have a fit of screaming. I wonder whom I can get to solve CJ's
next problem.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-06T02:07:13+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240306-021918</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240306-021918</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Gmail annoyances</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Part of the ordeal with CJ's computer was complicated by another issue with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gmail">Gmail</a>:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
<cjellis@gmail.com>: host gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[142.251.2.26] said:
<br /> 550-5.7.26 This mail has been blocked because the sender is
<br /> unauthenticated. 550-5.7.26 Gmail requires all senders to authenticate with
<br /> either SPF or DKIM. 550-5.7.26 550-5.7.26 Authentication results:
<br /> 550-5.7.26 DKIM = did not pass 550-5.7.26 SPF [hydra.lemis.com] with ip:
<br /> [45.32.70.18] = did not pass 550-5.7.26 550-5.7.26 For instructions on
<br /> setting up authentication, go to 550 5.7.26
<br /> https://support.google.com/mail/answer/81126#authentication
<br /> x2-20020a1709027c0200b001dca8522501si8881415pll.276 - gsmtp (in reply to
<br /> end of DATA command)
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
I've seen this <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php?topics=c&subtitle=Gmail:%20now%20I%20accept%20you,%20now%20I%20don%27t&article=D-20240228-023203#D-20240228-023203">before</a>. On that occasion, like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schrödinger's_cat">Schrödinger's cat</a>, it both got
delivered and got rejected. Since then I had discovered that if I sent a message
from <i>hydra</i>, it got rejected, but bouncing exactly the same message from <i>eureka</i>
worked.
</p>
<p>
Today I tried it differently: bounce from <i>hydra</i>. Works! So what's wrong with this
system? Breakage of a new kind? Everything seems to be breaking lately.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-06T02:19:18+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240306-025305</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240306-025305</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>general</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Updating NBN</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
It seems that the <a href="https://www.nbnco.com.au/">NBN</a> truck that I saw
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php?topics=c&subtitle=NBN%20upgrades?&article=D-20240301-015642#D-20240301-015642">last week</a> was ahead of its time. Today I received <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/why-nbns-new-plan-to-turbo-charge-internet-speeds-could-cost-you-more/goh3rgu3h?dlbl=[2024/03/05]%20del_newspm_bau&did=DM34421&cid=sbsnews:edm:acnewspm:relation:news:na:na">mail</a> with more verbiage. But it seems that it only applies to fibre: upgrade data
rates from 100 Mb/s to 500 Mb/s, or up to 1 Gb/s for faster connections. And somehow this
will end up costing more money, not because the links are any more expensive, but because
people will use more data:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
“The average household now consumes 443 gigabytes per month across 22 internet-connected
devices," she said. "We predict that average will grow to 33 connected devices by 2026 and
40 by the end of the decade."
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
That sounds remarkably high. I don't consider my household to be “average”, but I think
that I have more “devices” than most people. Counting them, including the ones that I don't
really use, I have about 7 computers, 3 mobile phones, a TV and a PV inverter, a total of
12. What do other people have that I don't? And though I've been downloading lots of
videos this month, my usage will only reach about 870 GB. And at 100 Mb/s, I could transfer
that in about 20 hours. But even if it's correct, it seems unlikely that the use will
increase significantly due to higher link speeds, especially for people with a traffic cap.
It may, however, serve as an excuse to increase the pricing.
</p>
<p>
And what does this say about the NBN truck in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dereel">Dereel</a>? I had noted at the time that the
person there didn't seem to be very well-informed. Will there in fact be an upgrade of the
Fixed Wireless service? I wouldn't be surprised if there were not.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-06T02:53:05+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240307-004804</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240307-004804</link>
<category>history</category>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>10 more years of Internet</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2014.php?subtitle=Internet%20in%2020%20years?&article=D-20140306-230542#D-20140306-230542">Ten years ago</a> I was doing a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coursera">Coursera</a> course on the history of the Internet, and one of the assignments was:
“Write an essay that imagines how the Internet will be different 20 years from now”. And
that in 1000 words.
</p>
<p>
I did make the 1000 word maximum, but I also wrote a <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Papers/Internet-future.php">slightly longer version</a> that said what I wanted to
say.
</p>
<p>
So: now we have the halfway point. I've been keeping my eye on proof or disproof of my
claims, and I'll continue to do so. Here the biggest takeaways so far:
</p>
<ul>
<li class="fullwidth">
<p class="listitemwidth">
<i>Most purchases will occur on-line, and the few remaining shops will mainly exist to
order and supply goods available on the Internet.</i>
</p>
<p class="listitemwidth">
This seems to be well on its way.
</p>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
<i>In 2034, society will be centred around the Internet. People who don't use the
Internet for significant parts of their daily life will be looked at like people today
look at those who don't read newspapers or watch TV.</i>
</div>
<p class="listitemwidth">
I think this has largely happened already.
</p>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<p class="listitemwidth">
<i>Radio and TV broadcasts will gradually cease.</i>
</p>
<p class="listitemwidth">
Not yet, for sure. I can't see any evidence that there has even been a drop in
terrestrial broadcasts, though it could be happening. Some programmes, though, are only
available by networks.
</p>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<p class="listitemwidth">
<i>Traditional publication will mainly cease.</i>
</p>
<p class="listitemwidth">
There's a lot of evidence of that. I read news“papers” mainly online, and it seems that
that's a common practice.
</p>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<p class="listitemwidth">
<i>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_switched_telephone_network">public
switched telephone network</a> will cease to exist.</i>
</p>
<p class="listitemwidth">
Yes, there's a lot of evidence of this, but not the way I thought. Most people now use
mobile phones, and while they <i>can</i> use the Internet, there's a dichotomy between
the traditional mobile phone networks and the Internet. It'll be interesting to see
whether they can get their act together in the next 10 years.
</p>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<p class="listitemwidth">
<i>Internet privacy will gradually become less powerful.</i>
</p>
<p class="listitemwidth">
Maybe less powerful, but more obnoxious. I can't decide on this one.
</p>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<p class="listitemwidth">
<i>Pornography will not go away.</i>
</p>
<p class="listitemwidth">
This is clearly the case. Porn seems to account for a large portion of Internet
traffic, and it may provide the impetus for its expansion (why does the <a href="https://www.nbnco.com.au/">National Broadband Network</a> really think that people
require a 1 Gb/s link?).
</p>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<p class="listitemwidth">
<i>Software and media licensing will continue to be a contentious issue.</i>
</p>
<p class="listitemwidth">
Surprisingly, this seems to be becoming less of a problem, at least from my viewpoint.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>
And then there were two things that I didn't want to predict:
</p>
<ul>
<li class="fullwidth">
<p class="listitemwidth">
<i>How important will social networks be? Will they reach a plateau or even
decline?</i>
</p>
<p class="listitemwidth">
I still don't know the answer to this one. I don't follow social networks (well,
hardly), but I have seen some evidence of decline. But maybe that will just be to a
plateau. Certainly they seem to have taken over messaging such as email, breaking
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interoperability">interoperability</a> into incompatible, ugly proprietary formats.
</p>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<p class="listitemwidth">
<i>Will the ideal
of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommuting">telecommuting</a> become a
reality?</i>
</p>
<p class="listitemwidth">
I haven't seen much evidence. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19">COVID-19</a> pandemic gave a good reason to do so, but after it has quietened down,
things seem to be reverting to on-site work.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>
So: what do the next 10 years hold? More of the same, I would think.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-07T00:48:04+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240307-011424</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240307-011424</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Keeping up to date</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Various sites are telling me that my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome"><i>Chrome</i></a> is out of date. And
that only 5 months after installing the then latest and greatest!
</p>
<p>
OK, <i>pkg upgrade</i>. “I will remove all the unrelated packages that are dear to your
heart, this time with the exception of <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/"><i>Emacs</i></a>”. No thanks. Build from scratch, trying not to get too annoyed at the
continual resizing of the screen. Fail:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
===> node-20.10.0_1 has known vulnerabilities:
<br />node-20.10.0_1 is vulnerable:
<br /> WWW: https://vuxml.FreeBSD.org/freebsd/77a6f1c9-d7d2-11ee-bb12-001b217b3468.html
<br />
<br />1 problem(s) in 1 installed package(s) found.
<br />=> Please update your ports tree and try again.
<br />=> Note: Vulnerable ports are marked as such even if there is no update available.
<br />=> If you wish to ignore this vulnerability rebuild with 'make DISABLE_VULNERABILITIES=yes'
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
What kind of nonsense is that? This is a ports tree updated this morning, and it seems that
<i>node</i> is required for one of
the most important ports. How do they build it? OK, try again,
with <tt>DISABLE_VULNERABILITIES</tt> set to an offensive comment.
</p>
<p>
That worked, then
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
===> Installing for gmake-4.4.1
<br />===> Checking if gmake is already installed
<br />===> An older version of gmake is already installed (gmake-4.3_2)
<br /> You may wish to ``make deinstall'' and install this port again
<br /> by ``make reinstall'' to upgrade it properly.
<br /> If you really wish to overwrite the old port of gmake
<br /> without deleting it first, set the variable "FORCE_PKG_REGISTER"
<br /> in your environment or the "make install" command line.
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
So <i>Chrome</i> is so finicky that it really requires the latest and greatest <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/make/">GNU make</a>? I don't believe a word of it. But
once again I had to restart the build.
</p>
<p>
After that, <i>Chrome</i> built and installed. But why is this <i>almost always</i> such a
pain? Looking back through this diary, I have been having this problem every few weeks for
the last 25 years.
</p>
<p>
I wasn't done yet. Stop the <i>Chrome</i> on <i>hydra:0.3</i> and restart it. It displayed
on <i>hydra:0.1</i>! Google breakage? Doubtless, but not the way it seems.
The <i>Chrome</i> on <i>hydra:0.3</i> was running from <i>eureka</i>, something that I
thought no longer worked. Stop the instance on <i>hydra:0.1</i> and I was able to start it
as I wanted. How I hate broken software!
</p>
<p>
And, of course, was my flood of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA">CAPTCHAs</a> recently related to this down-rev <i>Chrome</i>? Potentially in part, but
it also happened with a recent version of <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/firefox"><i>firefox</i></a>.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-07T01:14:24+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240307-012951</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240307-012951</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Security above all</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
CJ's and my pain <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php?subtitle=CJ%27s%20pain%20again&article=D-20240306-020713#D-20240306-020713">yesterday</a> had a justification, at least from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook">Facebook's</a> point of view. Somebody had
compromised CJ's account, and they wanted to confirm that it was really he. So they sent a
6 digit code to his email system, which ultimately I read and typed into the Facebook
screen. Then they wanted a photo of his driver licence, which I scanned in for him. CJ
wasn't involved <i>at all</i> in verifying his identity! And of course, they would by far
have preferred to send him a code to his mobile phone, if he had one.
</p>
<p>
When will people realize that this is a completely useless way to confirm identity?
</p>
<p>
A related issue is my <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php?subtitle=UnWise&article=D-20240304-003913#D-20240304-003913">pain</a> with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wise_(company)">Wise</a>.
These <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA">CAPTCHAs</a> drive me mad.
OK, try the workaround: Microsoft. And it worked. Yes, I had to fill out a CAPTCHA, but at
the end it was happy enough to tell me that I wouldn't have to do so again. And finally I
was able to send my money, with only two messages sent to my mobile phone. People, what's
secure about a mobile phone? What if I had been stupid enough to enter the transfer details
on the phone? Then a message to the same phone would be of no use at all.
</p>
<p>
In passing, the login on Microsoft also sent me an email message, asking me to confirm that
the following information was correct:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
Was this you?
<br />Device Firefox, Windows 10
<br />Location Germany
<br />Date and Time 5 March 2024, 04:54 (GMT)
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
It's been over a year since my network was registered as being in Australia. What kind of
out-of-date data is telling them that I'm in Germany? They could at least have used last
year's exchange rates, which would have given me an advantage of between 5% and 10%.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-07T01:29:51+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240308-004955</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240308-004955</link>
<category>technology</category>
<title>Crash!</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
One of the first things I do in the morning is check the load on <i>www.lemis.com</i>,
canonically named <i>lax.lemis.com</i>. But the <i>top</i> program had stopped. And so had
all the other windows to <i>lax</i>.
</p>
<p>
Oh:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
<code><font color="blue">=== grog@lax (/dev/pts/4)</font> <font color="red">~</font> <font color="blue">1</font> -> <b><tt>uptime</tt></b></code>
<br />11:16PM up 3:38, 8 users, load averages: 2.78, 3.14, 2.91
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
The system rebooted! And yes, <i>/var/log/messages</i> confirmed:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
Mar 6 19:35:23 lax qpopper[19872]: Stats: ...
<br />Mar 6 19:38:41 lax syslogd: kernel boot file is /boot/kernel/kernel
<br />Mar 6 19:38:41 lax kernel: ---<<BOOT>>---
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
What caused that? The only other clues were:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
Mar 6 19:38:41 lax kernel: Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/rootfs [rw]...
<br />Mar 6 19:38:41 lax kernel: WARNING: / was not properly dismounted
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
And that was all. The second clue was that there was no dump or panic message, though
arguably that's because I don't have a <tt>dumpdev</tt> on <i>lax</i>. So it looks like a
<a href="https://www.vultr.com/">Vultr</a> problem. The good news was that
everything seems to have come up normally.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-08T00:49:55+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240308-010608</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240308-010608</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Aussie: support me!</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
In the afternoon, my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC">IRC</a> proxy
failed again. It's on <i>lax</i>, so off to check. Can't reach system! Has it gone down
again? It didn't come back. Can I access it via <i>ffm.lemis.com</i> (in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt/Main">Frankfurt/Main</a>, obviously)? Yes!
So it's a routing problem.
</p>
<p>
A quick <i>traceroute showed:</i>
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
<code><font color="blue">=== grog@hydra (/dev/pts/45)</font> <font color="red">~/FreeBSD</font> <font color="blue">57</font> -> <b><tt>traceroute lax</tt></b></code>
<br />...
<br /> 5 be400.lsr1.nextdc-s2.syd.aussiebb.net (180.150.0.172) 174.822 ms 174.776 ms *
<br /> 6 be30.bdr1.coresite-la1.lax.aussiebb.net (202.142.143.199) 182.125 ms 179.557 ms 180.318 ms
<br /> 7 * * *
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
Close, but no cigar? It's reasonable to assume that <i>lax.aussibb.net</i>,
like <i>lax.lemis.com</i>, is located in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles">Los Angeles</a>. Does Aussie have routing
problems? Braved the expected response from “support”, called Aussie support on 1300 880
905 and explained my problem. Or at least, I thought I did. I explained where
the <i>traceroute</i> stopped, and got the astounding question: “does it come up or go in
circles?”. “Was the page loading?”, she meant.
</p>
<p>
My best guess is that she thought I was using a web browser to access the site, and that
“going in circles” is what some browser or another does while it's waiting. After 4½
minutes on the phone it was clear that she thought that a router was a box on your desk that
connected to the wall. I explained the very basics of Internet routing and that the buck
stopped in lax. She said that routing was nothing to do with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aussie_Broadband">Aussie Broadband</a>. I asked for
somebody more knowledgeable, but that didn't help much.
</p>
<p>
In the meantime, the system came back online, but I still wanted to follow up.
How <i>do</i> I report a routing problem? I asked to be connected to a supervisor, and
after about 25 minutes I was connected to Mark, who at least sounded as he understood the
concepts. No, there's no way to contact the networking people. His suggestion: send email
and then call support 30 minutes later. I pointed out that they claim to answer email in a
time frame of days, but he says that if I follow up with a call, it will get done in a
timely fashion (if 30 minutes can fall into that category). I suppose it's better than
nothing.
</p>
<p>
And when I was done, I found that I had received an email:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
Subject: Fault #27960640 created
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
Now what good is that going to do? Will it get looked at? Their "my aussie" web site
doesn't want to know about it.
</p>
<p>
Later Daniel O'Connor told me that I could get a business connection for the same price,
with a free static IP address, and with better service personnel. Now that LEMIS has closed
down, can I still do that?
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-08T01:06:08+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240308-014807</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240308-014807</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Working round Gmail breakage</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Once again I sent a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schrödinger's_cat">Schrödinger's cat</a> email today. The recipient was rejected, the Cc: address worked.
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
From MAILER-DAEMON Fri Mar 8 09:44:52 2024
<br /> <jeffrab@gmail.com>: host gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[142.251.2.26]
<br /> said: 550-5.7.26 This mail has been blocked because the sender is
<br /> unauthenticated. 550-5.7.26 Gmail requires all senders to authenticate with
<br /> either SPF or DKIM. 550-5.7.26 550-5.7.26 Authentication results:
<br /> 550-5.7.26 DKIM = did not pass 550-5.7.26 SPF [hydra.lemis.com] with ip:
<br /> [45.32.70.18] = did not pass 550-5.7.26 550-5.7.26 For instructions on
<br /> setting up authentication, go to 550 5.7.26
<br /> https://support.google.com/mail/answer/81126#authentication
<br /> s31-20020a63451f000000b005dc493c9496si14163290pga.507 - gsmtp (in reply to
<br /> end of DATA command)
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
OK, we know that. Just bounce it to him:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
From MAILER-DAEMON Fri Mar 8 09:46:23 2024
<br /><jeffrab@gmail.com>: delivery via
<br /> gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[142.251.2.27]:25: 250 2.0.0 OK 1709851582
<br /> m12-20020a633f0c000000b005e438e96ae6si14850286pga.601 - gsmtp
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
On this occasion the IP address of the receiving MTA was different, but that doesn't seem to
be relevant.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-08T01:48:07+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240308-015005</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240308-015005</link>
<category>health</category>
<title>Cataract surgery date</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Call from Estelle from <a href="https://www.davidfabinyi.com.au/">David Fabinyi</a>:
yes, we can do my right eye first, I don't need to stay overnight in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geelong">Geelong</a>, and the two operations can be done
on 21 March and (pending success of the first) 11 April. It should all be over by
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANZAC_Day">ANZAC Day</a>.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-08T01:50:05+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240308-015105</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240308-015105</link>
<category>general</category>
<category>animals</category>
<title>Visit for next Anke clinic</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Anke Hawke is coming for the weekend for another clinic. Not a good time, as it turns out:
the daytime temperatures will be round 38° for the whole time, and already 3 of 8
participants have canceled. But one, Ainslie Kimber, is already here and staying with us.
She and <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> have plenty of things planned that don't rely
on the clinic.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-08T01:51:05+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240308-015106</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240308-015106</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Google: so nice, so nice, we do it twics</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> and Ainslie over to Chris Bahlo's place today, despite
relatively tight timing. I kept an eye on their location, and indeed they made it back in
time, apparently one by one:
</p>
<a id="Photo-64" name="Photo-64"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240307&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-64">
<img alt="This should be Google-Maps-detail.png. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_64"
title="Photo Google-Maps-detail.png. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240307/small/Google-Maps-detail.png"
width="477" height="142"
/></a>
<p>
Now how did that happen?
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-08T01:51:06+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240308-015452</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240308-015452</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>IP address location: still broken</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-sep2020.php?subtitle=Where%20am%20I?&article=D-20200919-021307#D-20200919-021307">A few years ago</a> I noted how inaccurate IP location services are. Now I have
officially moved my address block to Australia. Have they improved? Tried again today and
got:
</p>
<table summary="Automatically generated table">
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Site</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Groggy</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="https://iplocation.io/ip/192.109.197.129">iplocation.io</a></td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/50%C2%B040'01.6%22N+9%C2%B008'59.6%22E/@50.6670727,9.1487169,17.85z/data=!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d50.6671!4d9.1499?entry=ttu">Schellnhausen</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="https://db-ip.com/192.109.197.129">db-ip</a></td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/50%C2%B006'39.2%22N+8%C2%B040'55.7%22E/@50.1109,8.6795497,17z">Frankfurt, Braubachstrasse</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="https://www.criminalip.io/asset/report/192.109.197.129">criminalip</a></td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/33%C2%B029'38.4%22S+143%C2%B012'37.4%22E/@-33.494,143.2078197,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d-33.494!4d143.2104?entry=ttu">NSW, Garnpung lake</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="https://ipinfo.io">ipinfo ipinfo</a></td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/37%C2%B048'50.4%22S+144%C2%B057'47.9%22E/@-37.814,144.9607197,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d-37.814!4d144.9633?entry=ttu">Melbourne GPO</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="https://whatismyipaddress.com/ip/192.109.197.129">(ip2location)</a></td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/50%C2%B040'01.6%22N+9%C2%B008'59.6%22E/@50.6670727,9.1487169,17.85z/data=!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d50.6671!4d9.1499?entry=ttu">Schellnhausen</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="https://nordvpn.com/ip-lookup/">nordvpn</a></td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">fail</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="https://tools.keycdn.com/geo?host=192.109.197.129">keycdn</a></td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left"><a href="https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/33%C2%B029'38.4%22S+143%C2%B012'37.4%22E/@-35.4328827,140.0648566,6.52z/data=!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d-33.494!4d143.2104?entry=ttu">NSW, Garnpung lake</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left"></td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>
<a href="https://www.iplocation.net/ip-lookup">iplocation.net</a> offers multiple
lookups, some conflicting. It claims that <a href="https://www.ipinfo.io/">ipinfo</a> has me in <a href="https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/51%C2%B009'36.7%22N%2b10%C2%B026'53.5%22E/@51.1602,10.4456197,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d51.1602!4d10.4482?entry=ttu">Niederdorla</a>, but ongoing there I'm suddenly in Melbourne again.
</p>
<p>
So what's wrong with this picture? We have 5 different locations, all wrong:
</p>
<ul>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
Schellnhausen: I lived there until 27 years ago, so the address is not completely
fictive. But that was 27 years ago!
</div>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
Frankfurt am Main. I have no idea where this came from. Yes, it's a place I have been
to, and maybe my German server is nearby, but that's in a completely different address
range.
</div>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
Garnpung Lake is presumably one of these deliberately obfuscated addresses. It's just
so far from the truth that it's not clear how they got there.
</div>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niederdorla">Niederdorla</a> is nowhere
near anything I have had to do with. And unlike Garnpung Lake, it's in the middle of a
village. But looking at the Wikipedia page, it's also in the middle of Germany, though
the exact location is marginally different. So maybe this is their way of saying “in
Germany”.
</div>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
Finally, Melbourne. Arguably that's the best they can do with the information at hand.
It's only about 130 km from here.
</div>
</li>
</ul>
<p>
The bottom line, though: although I have registered the net block in Australia a year ago,
the <i>majority</i> of the lookups put me in Germany, a couple even in a location that
disappeared over a quarter of a century ago, or three-quarters of the Internet history.
There's really no excuse for such completely inaccurate reporting.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-08T01:54:52+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240308-020837</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240308-020837</link>
<category>language</category>
<category>multimedia</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Ladyhawke? Werewolf?</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Watching <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089457/">Ladyhawke</a> on TV
tonight. Somehow I didn't like it as much as on previous occasions. But a question arose:
the heroes were the man who turned into a wolf by night, and the woman who turned into a
hawk by day. For the latter they coined the term “Ladyhawke” (no explanation for the
terminal <b>e</b>). What do you call a half man, half wolf? There's a word for that:
“were” (an old word for “man”) and “wolf". But that was probably not the impression they
wanted to create.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-08T02:08:37+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240309-004001</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240309-004001</link>
<category>rant</category>
<category>general</category>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Is it a total fire ban today?</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-dec2006.php#11">Seventeen years ago</a>, even before we
moved to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dereel">Dereel</a>, I checked the
Victorian emergency services and discovered, as I put it at the time, that they “... think
of the web sites more as a geek sport than a way to disseminate information”. You had to
search to find that kind of information.
</p>
<p>
It's looking like being a really hot weekend, again potential fire danger. Times have
changed, and now I get informed when there's a total fire ban—by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballarat_Courier">Ballarat Courier</a>, who make the
<a href="https://www.thecourier.com.au/story/8547438/ballarat-heatwave-safety-tips-labour-day-weekend-precautions/">content</a> available without a subscription. Today I received such a notification at
15:00. The emergency services web sites have learnt something in the last 17 years, right?
</p>
<p>
Wrong. At 16:47:42 they issued a weather warning, but no mention of a fire ban. And of
course a notification was sent to my mobile phone:
</p>
<a id="Photo-65" name="Photo-65"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240308&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-65">
<img alt="This should be VicEmergency-7-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_65"
title="Photo VicEmergency-7-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240308/small/VicEmergency-7-detail.jpeg"
width="443" height="152"
/></a>
<p>
Looking further at my phone, I saw:
</p>
<a id="Photo-66" name="Photo-66"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240308&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-66">
<img alt="This should be VicEmergency-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_66"
title="Photo VicEmergency-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240308/small/VicEmergency-1.jpeg"
width="177" height="384"
/></a>
<p>
That was after waiting many seconds for the page to update. Before, which I unfortunately
missed capturing, it showed data for “2/28/24”, presumably a US American format. What are
they thinking by displaying that information at all, and in that format?
</p>
<p>
No mention of a fire ban. But with a bit of coaxing it was prepared to give a clue:
</p>
<a id="Photo-67" name="Photo-67"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240308&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-67">
<img alt="This should be VicEmergency-3.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_67"
title="Photo VicEmergency-3.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240308/small/VicEmergency-3.jpeg"
width="177" height="384"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-68" name="Photo-68"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240308&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-68">
<img alt="This should be VicEmergency-5.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_68"
title="Photo VicEmergency-5.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240308/small/VicEmergency-5.jpeg"
width="177" height="384"
/></a>
<p>
Where's the information? In the colour of the map background. Any fool (well, those at
VicEmergency, anyway) knows that orange means “total fire ban”. If you have to, select
“Incidents” (which it isn't), and get:
</p>
<a id="Photo-69" name="Photo-69"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240308&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-69">
<img alt="This should be VicEmergency-6.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_69"
title="Photo VicEmergency-6.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240308/small/VicEmergency-6.jpeg"
width="177" height="384"
/></a>
<p>
People, this is literally a matter of life and death! Why can't you get your act together?
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-09T00:40:01+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240309-005517</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240309-005517</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>What is “feels like” temperature?</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
The other half of the fire danger is the weather, of course. I've already established that
the Australian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Meteorology">Bureau of
Meteorology</a> has two competing weather forecasts, which can differ by a degree or two.
So when Ainslie mentioned her favourite mobile phone app, <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.accuweather.android&referrer=af_tranid%3Di5-oVQfYUm1Hhiqqu5iNig%26pid%3DAWX%20Footer%20Link">AccuWeather</a>, I tried it out.
</p>
<p>
It didn't start well. I needed the “AccuWeather Australia” app, which made sense. And it
came up telling me that the outside temperature was 70°.
</p>
<a id="Photo-70" name="Photo-70"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240308&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-70">
<img alt="This should be AccuWeather-1-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_70"
title="Photo AccuWeather-1-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240308/small/AccuWeather-1-detail.jpeg"
width="254" height="266"
/></a>
<p>
No way! This silly thing doesn't understand modern units! Well, it does if you insist, but
why should you need to? It should display in the units of the country for which it was
prepared. Following “See 4 Hours” suggested that its biggest concern was rainfall, not
temperature. Could it be that it comes from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom">United Kingdom</a>? That would at least
explain the offer of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_units">Imperial
units</a>, where they don't even mention <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Customary_units">US Customary</a>.
</p>
<p>
But the most interesting thing, and one that Ainslie particularly likes, is the “feels like”
temperature. I'm obviously not clever enough to find it in the app, but in the image above
it claims that “RealFeel®” is 75° F (24° C)”, 3° higher than the actual temperature. And in
general “RealFeel®” is higher. But the BoM also has a “feels like” temperature:
</p>
<a id="Photo-71" name="Photo-71"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240308&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-71">
<img alt="This should be BOM-weather-2-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_71"
title="Photo BOM-weather-2-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240308/small/BOM-weather-2-detail.jpeg"
width="324" height="209"
/></a>
<p>
And here it's <i>lower</i> than the real temperature. So what does it mean? Ainslie
considers the “RealFeel®” temperature more important than the real temperature. Should she?
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-09T00:55:17+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240309-011522</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240309-011522</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>CJ exploited?</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Mail from Eddie Purcell, who suggested that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook">Facebook</a> would never ask for the kind of
information that CJ Ellis had to provide on <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php?subtitle=CJ%27s%20pain%20again&article=D-20240306-020713#D-20240306-020713">Tuesday</a>. Is he right? Certainly it looked strange, but as I have been commenting
lately, lots of things look strange.
</p>
<p>
But then today <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> got a message from CJ via Facebook,
asking her to confirm who he was; she should have received a code on her phone. He needed
her confirmation to be able to set up his mobile phone.
</p>
<p>
What, CJ and mobile phone? Called him, no reply. Sent him email, which Gmail refused until
I bounced it, and he called back in the evening. No, still no Facebook access. So somebody
has stolen his identity, and I helped them! That's what comes of getting mixed up in things
you don't understand.
</p>
<p>
What do we do now? Cancel what we can, maybe including his driver license, and report it.
But how? These social networks should make it easier to freeze accounts.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-09T01:15:22+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240309-011622</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240309-011622</link>
<category>animals</category>
<title>Bruno stuck</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
During dinner, we heard a bang, followed by a plaintive “meow”. <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Animals/Bruno.php">Bruno</a> had fallen behind the washing machine:
</p>
<a id="Photo-72" name="Photo-72"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240308&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-72">
<img alt="This should be Bruno-3.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_72"
title="Photo Bruno-3.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240308/small/Bruno-3.jpeg"
width="302" height="223"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-73" name="Photo-73"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240308&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-73">
<img alt="This should be Bruno-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_73"
title="Photo Bruno-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240308/small/Bruno-1.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
That's still better than last time, where <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> found him in
the machine with the dirty linen just before she started the wash cycle.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-09T01:16:22+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240309-013606</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240309-013606</link>
<category>language</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Werwolf or Werewolf?</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
After writing <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php?subtitle=Ladyhawke?%20%20Werewolf?&article=D-20240308-020837#D-20240308-020837">yesterday's article</a> on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladyhawke_(film)">Ladyhawke</a> and werewolves, I checked my dictionaries. The <a href="https://www.oed.com/">OED</a> disagrees with me about the etymology of the word
“werewolf”:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
Old English werewulf (once), = Middle Dutch and Dutch weerwolf, Middle High German werwolf
(German wer-, wehrwolf), Low German werwulf; also West Frisian waerûl, warûle (and
waerwolf after Dutch), ...
</div>
<p class="listitemwidth">
The first element has usually been identified with Old English wer man were n.1, but the
form were- in place of wer- (compare however were- and wergild wergild n.), and the
variants in war-, var-, makes this somewhat doubtful.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
So we have the rather strange claim that the derivation is doubtful, though it exists in all
West Germanic languages. What do the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_Grimm">Brothers Grimm</a> <a href="https://woerterbuchnetz.de/?sigle=DWB&lemid=W18182">say</a>?
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
werwolf, m. , mythologische bezeichnung für einen menschen, der auch in wolfsgestalt
auftreten kann, mannwolf (wer 'mann, mensch', s. 1DWb wergeld). das wort ist im
ahd. lediglich als eigenname bezeugt (Weriuuolf, s. zs. f. dt. altert. 12, 252) und in
späterer zeit dann bei Burchard v. Worms und Berthold v. Regensburg (werwolf, s. u.) als
gattungsbezeichnung nachweisbar. mhd. dichter haben werwolf offenbar nicht verwendet; erst
seit dem 15. jh. erscheint das wort häufiger, teilweise in volksetymologischer umdeutung:
bärwolf (so z. b. bei Luther; vgl. teil 1, 1146, beerwolf teil 1,
1244). german. parallelen finden sich im ae. wer(e)wulf, im mnd. warwulf, im
mndl.-ndl. weerwolf;...
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
Despite the archaic presentation, it seems that that was written in 1959. And the OED
article?
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
First published 1926; not yet revised
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
Presumably it could do with revision. My guess is that they would find another explanation
for the medial <b>e</b>.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-09T01:36:06+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240310-031815</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240310-031815</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>general</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Weather forecasts</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Very hot day today, with a top of 40°, only 0.2° less than the maximum all summer:
</p>
<a href="Day/20240309/temperatures-2024-03-09-raw-big.png">
<img alt="Click to see larger image" title="Click to see larger image"
src="Day/20240309/temperatures-2024-03-09-raw-small.png"
height="250" width="375" /></a>
<p>
How did
the various weather apps predict the temperatures?
</p>
<table summary="Automatically generated table">
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">Time</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">AccuWeather</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">BoM</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">Measured</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">12:00</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right"></td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">32°</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">33.1°</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">13:00</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">34°</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">34°</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">36.0°</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">14:00</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">36°</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">36°</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">36.5°</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">15:00</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">38°</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">37°</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">38.2°</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">16:00</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">40°</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">37°</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">38.0°</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">17:00</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">39°</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">37°</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">38.3°</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">18:00</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">37°</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">36°</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">39.5°</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">19:00</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">36°</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">33°</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">37.6°</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">20:00</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">33°</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">30°</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">32.3°</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="left">21:00</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">31°</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right"></td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">26.6°</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>
What should I make of that? Both are incorrect, but that was to be expected. In general
AccuWeather shows higher temperatures than the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Meteorology">Bureau of Meteorology</a>, but
the relationship to reality is no better.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-10T03:18:15+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240310-032632</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240310-032632</link>
<category>food</category>
<category>and</category>
<category>drink</category>
<category>animals</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Clinic dinner fail</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
First day of the Anke Hawke clinic today. In the past the majority of the participants
came to dinner with us, but it seems that those days are over. Apart from <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a>, Ainslie and Anke herself
(whom I saw briefly in the morning), the only other participants were Chris Bahlo and Julie
Donaghy, both of whom were too busy. In the end, it was only Ainslie who joined us, and she
would have anyway.
</p>
<p>
A good thing too. The dinner was a catastrophe. Ainslie's “vegetarian”, though she also
eats fish, so we had <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/ikan-goreng.php"><i>ikan goreng</i></a>, <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/alu-masala.php"><i>alu masala</i></a> and <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/mixed-dal.php"><i>dal</i></a>.
</p>
<p>
But there were problems. We usually make the <i>ikan goreng</i> with <i>tenggiri</i>
(Spanish mackerel) steaks, but we couldn't find any, so Yvonne bought swordfish instead.
The <i>alu masala</i> needs black mustard seeds, but we were out of them, so I had to use
yellow mustard seeds instead. And our new blender wasn't able to puree the onions.
</p>
<p>
On serving, the fish was partially tough. I thought that that was probably my fault, but it
was only in one place, so maybe it was just a problem with the fish itself. And the <i>alu
masala</i> wasn't properly cooked! It's potato cubes, and it had been cooking slowly
(clearly too slowly) for nearly an hour! In addition, both of them weren't flavoursome
enough. It seems that the tamarind paste that we used for both dishes was much weaker than
what we used to use. I've seldom had such a poor result from considerable effort.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-10T03:26:32+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240310-233704</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240310-233704</link>
<category>general</category>
<category>technology</category>
<category>photography</category>
<title>Relax!</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Somehow I didn't do very much today. The continuing hot weather didn't help, but it seems
that I was just catching up with my mail; the <a href="https://www.tuhs.org/">Unix
Heritage Society</a> seems to be particularly active lately. And I've been given for
review the draft of a book on running email servers, something very close to my heart. And
then <a href="http://hugin.sourceforge.net"><i>Hugin</i></a> came up with some
problems that took me a while to fix.
</p>
<p>
But is that enough to keep me going all day? It seems so. Somehow I'm slowing down.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-10T23:37:04+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240312-005416</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240312-005416</link>
<category>general</category>
<category>history</category>
<title>RIP Baron Louis Binos de Pombarat</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> received sad news by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook">Facebook</a> today: Baron Louis Binos de
Pombarat died yesterday at the age of 82.
</p>
<p>
Who? I never met him. But Yvonne did: she was married to him for about 10 years. And that
was over half a lifetime ago. How time flies! Here's the first we have seen of him since
he was 40, with his nephew Jules:
</p>
<a id="Photo-74" name="Photo-74"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240311&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-74">
<img alt="This should be Louis-Jules.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_74"
title="Photo Louis-Jules.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240311/small/Louis-Jules.jpeg"
width="225" height="300"
/></a>
<p>
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-12T00:54:16+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240312-010010</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240312-010010</link>
<category>food</category>
<category>and</category>
<category>drink</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Alu masala wraps</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
What do I eat for breakfast today? I had decided on something different, <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/alu-lap-chong.php"><i>alu lap chong</i></a>. But looking at the recipe, it
was almost the same as the <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/alu-masala.php"><i>alu masala</i></a> that failed so spectacularly on <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php?subtitle=Clinic%20dinner%20fail&article=D-20240310-032632#D-20240310-032632">Saturday</a>. How about using some of that? And while I was at it, how about the couple
of <del>roti</del> “wraps” that were also left over?
</p>
<a id="Photo-75" name="Photo-75"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240311&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-75">
<img alt="This should be Alu-lap-chong-rolls.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_75"
title="Photo Alu-lap-chong-rolls.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240311/small/Alu-lap-chong-rolls.jpeg"
width="306" height="221"
/></a>
<p>
The rest was: cut the cubes more finely, add more tamarind (25 g!), lap chong and peas. And
it wasn't that bad. The 25 g of tamarind were a slip of the hand, but they proved not to be
too much.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-12T01:00:10+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240312-010407</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240312-010407</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>history</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Learning about email</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
More reading of “Roll your own mail server”, the book I have to review. Normally a review
takes me a couple of hours, but in this case I'm particularly interested, so I'm going
through it with a fine-tooth comb, and it looks like taking days. I've been running my own
mail server for <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar1992.php#6">well over 30 years</a>, but I'm amazed how
much I have learnt.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-12T01:04:07+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240313-002645</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240313-002645</link>
<category>photography</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Film from Ukraine?</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Watching a forgettable <a href="https://www.youtube.com/">YouTube</a> clip “20
CAMERAS I'll NEVER Sell” (his capitalization) today:
</p>
<iframe width="300"
height="225"
src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QnaLx4NTm28"
allowfullscreen
frameborder="0" >
</iframe>
<p>
None were exactly like mine, of course, but he had a <a href="https://camerapedia.fandom.com/wiki/Kiev_rangefinder#Kiev-4">Kiev 4</a>, fully 20
years newer than my Kiev 3a, and also a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_FM3A">Nikon FM3A</a>, coincidentally 20 years
newer than my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_FM2">Nikon FM2</a>. And
strangely no Asahi camera at all. And for some reason, he fired the shutter of each to hear
the sound.
</p>
<p>
Firing the shutter on a film camera is an issue, of course. What if there's a film in the
camera? So he first turned the rewind knob to check that there wasn't: if there's no film,
it will turn freely. If there it, there will be resistance. But with his favourite, number
1 camera, a pre-rangefinder Leica, he didn't. And how about that, there <i>was</i> a film
in the camera: when he wound the advance knob, the rewind knob moved too. I couldn't decide
whether that was deliberate or not.
</p>
<p>
How similar is the old Leica to my <a href="https://camerapedia.fandom.com/wiki/FED_(Original)_(_FED_NKVD,_FED-S,_FED-1)">FED 1</a>? Brought it out and compared. Yes, definitely similarities. My camera has a 50 mm
f/3.5 FED lens, a copy of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmar_(lens)">Elmar</a>, while his has some cheap aftermarket lens. Cocked the shutter. The rewind
knob turned! There's a <i>film</i> in the camera! And I had never noticed. I have had the
camera for <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2022.php?topics=p&subtitle=A%20camera%20from%20Ukraine!&article=D-20220611-004250#D-20220611-004250">nearly 2 years</a>, but because of this horrible early Leica loading method (from below),
I hadn't even checked.
</p>
<p>
OK, I should take some photos with it, though I'd be much more interested to know if there
are already some photos on the film. What kind of film? In particular, what sensitivity?
I'd assume somewhere between 50/18° and 400/27°. I'll have to bracket them to be on the
safe side.
</p>
<p>
But there's a problem: the aperture selector is stuck at f/4:
</p>
<div align="left">
<a id="Photo-76" name="Photo-76"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240313&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-76">
<img alt="This should be Fed-Elmar-copy-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_76"
title="Photo Fed-Elmar-copy-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240313/small/Fed-Elmar-copy-1.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-77" name="Photo-77"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240313&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-77">
<img alt="This should be Fed-Elmar-copy-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_77"
title="Photo Fed-Elmar-copy-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240313/small/Fed-Elmar-copy-2.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-78" name="Photo-78"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240313&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-78">
<img alt="This should be Fed-Elmar-copy-2-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_78"
title="Photo Fed-Elmar-copy-2-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240313/small/Fed-Elmar-copy-2-detail.jpeg"
width="259" height="260"
/></a>
</div>
<p>
I could have sworn that I had turned it when I got it, and that it was very (too) light in
operation, but looking at the photos I took when I got it, it was always set at f/4. What
do I do? Clearly I shouldn't force it, and the new photos show that there's quite a bit of
dirt in there, so possibly it just needs cleaning. Or I could try to borrow a lens, just
for the one film.
</p>
<p>
And the old Leica as his favourite film camera? No, just joking. His favourite is the
Nikon FM3A.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-13T00:26:45+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240313-004659</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240313-004659</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>More email review</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Spent a lot more time today reviewing “Roll your own mail server”. It's getting a lot more
nitty-gritty now, but I still don't have a good feel about exactly what I should do. It's
too early to criticize; for that I need to find my way through the book. Maybe I should
write a <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/HOWTO/ryoms-cookbook.php">cookbook</a>.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-13T00:46:59+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240313-224844</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240313-224844</link>
<category>photography</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>FED 50/3.5: Bug compatible</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Am I the only person who has had problems with the aperture setting on his FED 50/3.5 lens?
It's a copy of a Leitz <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmar_(lens)">Elmar</a>, so how about looking for issues with that lens?
</p>
<p>
Yes! Many reports, though generally they were just stiff, not jammed, like <a href="https://www.photo.net/forums/topic/391621-leitz-elmar-f35cm-135-aperture-sticking/">this
one</a>. Suggestions that oiling would to the trick. Tried that, with no immediate
effect, and then found a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/">YouTube</a> clip:
</p>
<iframe width="300"
height="225"
src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mQf01iHqf-I"
allowfullscreen
frameborder="0" >
</iframe>
<p>
It's not very good. No sound at all, and the explanations are marginal. Also, I probably
need tools that I don't have. Still, it's worth thinking about.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-13T22:48:44+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240313-224942</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240313-224942</link>
<category>technology</category>
<title>More ryoms</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Once again spent a lot of time reviewing “Run Your Own Mail Server” (which I keep feeling
should be called “Roll Your Own Mail Server”). I'm making good progress, less so with my
accompanying cookbook.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-13T22:49:42+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240313-225048</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240313-225048</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>health</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>More bloody CAPTCHAs!</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
I've been bombarded with a lot of things to do for next week's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataract">cataract</a> operation, and even more
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS">SMSs</a> reminding me to fill things
out. Some of them make no sense at all:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
Please take a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_antigen_test">RAT</a> test on the previous day, take a photo of the negative result along with your driver
license, and then a screen shot to confirm the time.
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
What's wrong with this?
</p>
<ul>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
It implies that you would rather lie about the results, potentially endangering
yourself, than postpone the surgery.
</div>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
It assumes that you haven't lied about the result. What's the difference between a
negative RAT test and an unused RAT test? If there is one, how about somebody else's
result?
</div>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
It assumes that you have a camera.
</div>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
It assumes that you can transfer the photo to a computer. What if I take the photo with
my FED and then send the film in for development?
</div>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
It assumes that the screen shot will give some evidence of the time that it was taken.
</div>
</li>
</ul>
<p>
Particularly the time is a problem. The target audience would presumably take a photo with
their mobile phone, which includes the time in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exif">Exif</a> data. Of course, many people can
manipulate the time. But screen shots on my computer don't have any relationship to the
time they were taken. And even if you take a screen shot of a photo on your mobile phone
(why?), you can change the name. This whole thing makes no sense at all to me.
</p>
<p>
Of course, it also assumes that you have access to a RAT test kit, but that's reasonable.
</p>
<p>
And then there's <i>yet another</i> online form to fill out, 45 minutes they say. Sign up
with their usual password restrictions. Are you human? Please fill out this <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA">CAPTCHA</a>!
</p>
<p>
<b><i>SCREAM!</i></b> What earthly use would it make for a bot to fill out the form? And
why do they submit people with visual problems to this insult? Sent off an email to the
reception saying that I don't do CAPTCHAs, and asking for an alternative. Yes, call this
help line...
</p>
<p>
Why do people do this?
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-13T22:50:48+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240313-231632</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240313-231632</link>
<category>technology</category>
<title>autocutsel</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Callum Gibson came up with a new (to me, anyway) program today: <a href="https://www.nongnu.org/autocutsel/"><i>autocutsel</i></a>. I haven't investigated in
detail, but it claims to keep the cut buffer and clipboard in sync. It's not quite clear
whether this is a good idea, but until I understand the alternatives, it could be a good
approach.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-13T23:16:32+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240315-005655</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240315-005655</link>
<category>health</category>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Registering for operation: the pain</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php?subtitle=More%20bloody%20CAPTCHAs!&article=D-20240313-225048#D-20240313-225048">Yesterday</a> I vented my spleen (which on the face of it was not involved) about the
appalling requirements to register for next week's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataract">cataract</a> operation. But there was nothing
for it: it had to be done.
</p>
<p>
Are they less obnoxious towards Microsoft users? Tried it on <i>distress</i>. Yes, they
still have a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA">CAPTCHA</a>, but it's
just a matter of ticking the “I am not a robot” box—twice on different occasions. On the
first occasion it sent me a 6 digit <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_identification_number">PIN</a>, not to prove
that I had entered the mobile phone number correctly, but to “authenticate” me! And to give
me time to think, it waited up to 20 seconds before responding to every input.
</p>
<p>
And what a pain these forms are! They ask all sorts of questions to which they already know
the answers, and I have to answer them in the format that they decide. It took me 4
attempts to enter my address. The first time it simply cleared the field again. The second
time I ticked the “can't enter address” box. Ha ha, only joking, you have to enter it.
Third time it came up with clever alternatives to “Stones Road”, all starting with “St
Albans”. But on the fourth attempt it got bored and allowed me to enter the correct
address.
</p>
<p>
After about 40 minutes, I was finally done! Ha, ha, no, that's just the first half of the
questionnaire. Now your medical history, please. When did you stop smoking? August
1975? <i>Wrong!</i>. You need to give the exact date!
</p>
<p>
Finally I was done, and I had to digitally sign the document. OK, I'll bite, how? It sent
another PIN to my mobile phone (number provided earlier in the ordeal), which I had to
enter. What kind of children are they to think that that proves anything at all?
</p>
<p>
Why do people still do this? I had a very positive impression of the facility up until now,
but these forms have raised bureaucracy to a new level. An obvious example would be my
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19">COVID-19</a> vaccination status,
which should be available at <a href="https://service.vic.gov.au/">Services
Victoria</a>. But the pandemic is over, so they're making it really difficult to access
that information.
</p>
<p>
Still, finally done. Oh.
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2024 05:21:10 +0000
<br />From: myadmission@sjog.org.au
<br />Subject: Online admission - next step is ready
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
That's enough pain for one day. Mañana. As it is, it took all afternoon, and I had no time
to look at “Roll Your Own Mail Server”.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-15T00:56:55+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240315-011838</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240315-011838</link>
<category>politics</category>
<category>multimedia</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Gaza Genocide: the other view</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
After watching the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera_Media_Network">Al
Jazeera</a> <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/10/16/ten-films-to-watch-about-the-history-of-the-israel-palestine-conflict">video series</a> about <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2017/5/23/the-nakba-did-not-start-or-end-in-1948">Al
Nakba</a> in <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jan2024.php?topics=P&subtitle=US-sanctioned%20genocide&article=D-20240121-233903#D-20240121-233903">January</a>, I went looking for something that described the situation from the other
side. I was only partially successful with some videos by <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Asher%2bSusser%22&btnG=Groogle%2bSearch">Asher Susser</a> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-feb2024.php?topics=HP&subtitle=Nakba:%20the%20other%20side&article=D-20240224-015352#D-20240224-015352">late last month</a>.
</p>
<p>
But now the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Broadcasting_Corporation">ABC</a> has produced a programme titled <a href="https://iview.abc.net.au/video/NC2403H004S00">The Forever War</a>, an interview with a
number of Israeli politicians and activists, most prominently <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehud_Barak">Ehud Barak</a>. The usual Western gloss
over the problems? By no means. The fascinating thing is that many of the people agree
with me: <a href="https://justvision.org/portrait/yehuda-shaul">Yehuda Shaul</a>, a
former <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Defense_Forces">IDF</a> commander, states “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Netanyahu">Bibi</a> is a terrorist, and that it's not possible to destroy <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas">Hamas</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Thrall">Nathan Thrall</a>, an “author and
essayist”, states that if the USA were to stop delivering arms, the “war” would be over.
But most interesting was what Barak said: “Bibi deliberately strengthened Hamas to keep them
in conflict with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_National_Authority">Palestinian Authority</a>”.
</p>
<p>
The programme has a few rough edges, but I'm amazed about how the content matches my own
assessment. Now when will the rest of the world sit up and pay attention?
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-15T01:18:38+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240315-014039</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240315-014039</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>CAPTCHAs: Not the site's fault?</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
I've had a remarkable number of particularly irritating <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA">CAPTCHAs</a> lately, and I've expressed my
displeasure in no uncertain terms. But am I maybe pointing the blame in the wrong
direction? In every case, it happened with a modern browser running on <i>hydra</i>,
usually <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/firefox"><i>firefox</i></a>. I'm not sure
if it happened with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium_%28web_browser%29">chromium</a> as well. But with <i>firefox</i> on Microsoft, things worked with minimal
annoyance. Can it be that there's something about the behaviour under <a href="https://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</a> that rings alarm bells somewhere in the innards
of <i>something</i>?
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-15T01:40:39+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240315-235327</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240315-235327</link>
<category>general</category>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Fire recovery by Facebook</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> told me today that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_Fire_Authority">CFA</a> was holding a “fire
recovery day” today, 4 hours at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dereel">Dereel</a> Hall. I can do without that, but why wasn't I informed? Ah, only on
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook">Facebook</a>, assuming you're
subscribed to the right group.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-15T23:53:27+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240315-235417</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240315-235417</link>
<category>technology</category>
<title>Configuring daily cron jobs</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="https://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</a> runs a number of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cron"><i>cron</i></a> jobs every night to check for
things that could be problematic. The jobs themselves are in the <i>/etc/periodic/</i>
hierarchy. One of them (<i>/etc/periodic/security/110.neggrpperm</i>) produces this output:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
Checking negative group permissions:
<br />find: /VB3/oldbackups/eureka-FreeBSD/Downloads: No such file or directory
<br />141107070 -rw----rwx 1 grog lemis 313303 Oct 11 09:03:38 2017 /home/grog-eureka/DxO/Modules/C14933a_000.caf
<br />141107071 -rw----rwx 1 grog lemis 4713293 Aug 23 14:48:40 2017 /home/grog-eureka/DxO/Modules/C15101a_000.caf
<br />141107087 -rw----rwx 1 grog lemis 4745060 Aug 23 14:48:48 2017 /home/grog-eureka/DxO/Modules/C19627a_000.caf
<br />...
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
What's that? The issue, if there is one, is that the “other” permissions, the last three
letters in the mode output and here “<tt>rwx</tt>”, are more permissive than the previous 3
“(<tt>---</tt>)”.
</p>
<p>
That doesn't make any sense, but is it a security threat? Not that I can see. In this
case, it's <a href="https://www.dxo.com/dxo-photolab/">DxO PhotoLab</a> lens
correction modules, firmly entrenched in the Microsoft space, and for some reason <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samba_(software)">Samba</a> maps the permissions like
that. The worst thing about them is that they get in the way of potential real error
messages. Yes, I can just remove the file, but it turns out that there's a
file <i>/etc/periodic.conf</i> that allows you to configure the jobs:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
--- periodic.conf 2022/05/12 08:31:23 1.1
<br />+++ periodic.conf 2024/03/14 23:13:09
<br />@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@
<br /> security_status_chksetuid_period="daily"
<br />
<br /> # 110.neggrpperm
<br />-security_status_neggrpperm_enable="YES"
<br />+security_status_neggrpperm_enable="NO"
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
Aaaah, that's better.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-15T23:54:17+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240315-235427</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240315-235427</link>
<category>health</category>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Surgery: the other shoe</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
I'm still not done with my webwork (virtual paperwork) for my cataract operation next week.
When I thought it was done, I got a mail asking me to perform the next step.
</p>
<p>
OK, dammit, get it over and done with. “Please enter a credit card number for the gap
payment”. That's unusual, but OK. And it went relatively quickly.
</p>
<p>
And they deducted the money immediately!
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
Your payment was successful, a payment confirmation will be sent via email.
<br />
<br />Please complete your credit card details. If you selected 'Allow Automatic Charging of Incidentals’ your Credit Card details will be stored securely and only accessed if you have further incidentals payments after your hospital stay.
<br />
<br />Please do not refresh this page, it may result in a duplicate transaction.
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
Savour that “please do not refresh”. Their software is so bad that they can't recognize
duplicates! That was a basic tenet of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandem_Computers">Tandem</a> Operating System 50 years
ago, even before they changed its name to “Guardian”.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-15T23:54:27+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240316-011910</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240316-011910</link>
<category>animals</category>
<title>Larissa in pain again?</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
This evening, we called <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Animals/Larissa.php">Larissa</a> for
her daily meal. She didn't get up. She moved a little, and then apparently gave up. It
wasn't until we lifted her into position that she finally walked off and ate her food.
</p>
<p>
Why? It's not the first time that something like this has happened. Is she having difficulty coordinating her legs? <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> thinks that it might be related to her being on the tiles, where she slips when she tries to
get up. We need to keep an eye on that, maybe a video of it next time it happens.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-16T01:19:10+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240317-013402</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240317-013402</link>
<category>gardening</category>
<title>More garden work</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Jesse Walsh along today again, this time with different tasks, notably pruning the bushes,
notably the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddleja_×_weyeriana">Buddleja ×
weyeriana</a> that has grown out of all proportion.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-17T01:34:02+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240317-013629</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240317-013629</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Putting ryoms to the test</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
I'm about half way through my review of “Roll your own mail server”, and I'm running into
trouble. So far I've been reviewing with my own knowledge of the material, but how he's
moving into areas that I don't know. That's good, of course: that's why I'm interested in
the book. But how can I review this content? I had thought of moving through more quickly,
but I really need to try this stuff out for myself.
</p>
<p>
OK, what do I need? As the author recommends, two systems that initially talk only to each
other. Fine, revive <i>tweedledum.lemis.com</i> and <i>tweedledee.lemis.com</i>. Set up
virtual machines.
</p>
<p>
OK, where? <i>hydra</i> is the new machine, of course, but I haven't configured <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VirtualBox">VirtualBox</a> for it so far. It proves
that I had already installed the software. How hard can it be?
</p>
<p>
Oh. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUI">GUI</a> has changed, of course.
After working my way through that, I discovered that I needed at least to tell <i>VBox</i>
where the files are. Did that, but it didn't find anything.
</p>
<p>
Oh, of course, I have to <tt>add</tt> the machines. Why? No idea. And not much help. Go
to <b>Tools</b>, click on the green <font color="green"><b>+</b></font> symbol, climb down
the directory tree to find a file with a name like <i>eureso/eureso.vbox</i>.
</p>
<a id="Photo-79" name="Photo-79"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240316&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-79">
<img alt="This should be VBox-2.png. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_79"
title="Photo VBox-2.png. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240316/small/VBox-2.png"
width="338" height="200"
/></a>
<p>
Click <b>Start</b>. Oh:
</p>
<a id="Photo-80" name="Photo-80"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240316&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-80">
<img alt="This should be VBox-1.png. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_80"
title="Photo VBox-1.png. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240316/small/VBox-1.png"
width="340" height="199"
/></a>
<p>
Clearly it's too polite to complain, but if I ask for <b>Details</b>, I get:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
Result Code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
<br />Component: SessionMachine
<br />Interface: ISession {c0447716-ff5a-4795-b57a-ecd5fffa18a4}
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
What does that mean? The web knows, lots of conflicting reasons. The one that matches is
that I wasn't in the <tt>vboxusers</tt> group. OK, add that and try again. Same message,
but with different details:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
Could not launch the VM process for the machine 'eureso' (VERR_ACCESS_DENIED).
<br />
<br />Result Code: VBOX_E_IPRT_ERROR (0x80BB0005)
<br />Component: MachineWrap
<br />Interface: IMachine {85632c68-b5bb-4316-a900-5eb28d3413df}
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
What does that mean? Maybe the web knows that too, but what I found suggested that I had a
VM that was too old, and that's possible.
</p>
<p>
OK, why am I using <i>VirtualBox</i> anyway? That's an old, worn-out virtual environment,
I'm told. The new one is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhyve">Bhyve</a>.
Read up on how to install that at <a href="https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/virtualization/#virtualization-host-bhyve">FreeBSD as a Host with bhyve</a> (just below <a href="https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/virtualization/#virtualization-host-virtualbox">FreeBSD as a Host with VirtualBox</a>), both well hidden in the <a href="https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/virtualization/">Virtualization</a> chapter, and not helped by the web, which didn't include that link, just the <a href="https://wiki.freebsd.org/bhyve">Wiki page</a> with mainly FAQs, the first of which is
<a href="https://wiki.freebsd.org/bhyve#Q:_Is_it_.22bhyve.22.2C_.22Bhyve.22.2C_.22BHyVe.22_or_BHyve.3F">Is it "bhyve", "Bhyve", "BHyVe" or BHyve?</a>.
</p>
<p>
Oh. It's non-trivial, and it leaves me wondering whether I shouldn't stick
with <i>VirtualBox</i> on <i>eureka</i>, at least for current purposes. The trouble is that
I have migrated all the VM files from <i>eureka</i> to <i>hydra</i>. Once again logistics
are getting in the way of doing anything.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-17T01:36:29+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240317-020847</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240317-020847</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Microsoft does it again</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
It's middle of the month, past the time where Microsoft crashes and restarts <i>distress</i>
and somehow manages to stop my <i>rwhod</i> from running. They're getting more cunning all
the time. In the past I have had to reinstall the program, but recently I haven't even been
able to do that: the file was marked <i>immutable</i> or whatever Microsoft calls it, and I
couldn't delete the old one. I had to start as “Administrator” and manually remove it
before I could reinstall it.
</p>
<p>
But even that doesn't work any more. First, I can no longer start
a <del>shell</del> <i>COMMAND.EXE</i> as Administrator. Have they changed something, or
have I forgotten something? Something about “right click”, but not the way I remember it.
A quick web search came up with <a href="https://www.digitalcitizen.life/run-as-admin/">13 ways to use "Run as administrator" in Windows 10</a>. Thirteen! Is that an unlucky
number?
</p>
<p>
But even as “Administrator”, I can't delete it! But I <i>can</i> rename it to an
appropriate expletive. What a pain this Microsoft is!
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-17T02:08:47+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240317-023712</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240317-023712</link>
<category>animals</category>
<title>Kangaroo visit</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
It's been a while since we've had a kangaroo come visit:
</p>
<a id="Photo-81" name="Photo-81"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240316&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-81">
<img alt="This should be Kangaroo-4.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_81"
title="Photo Kangaroo-4.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240316/small/Kangaroo-4.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-82" name="Photo-82"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240316&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-82">
<img alt="This should be Kangaroo-3.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_82"
title="Photo Kangaroo-3.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240316/small/Kangaroo-3.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-17T02:37:12+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240317-235852</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240317-235852</link>
<category>food</category>
<category>and</category>
<category>drink</category>
<title>New “Laksa” noodles</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/penang-laksa.php">Penang laksa</a> for breakfast today, but no
noodles in the freezer. Where are the fresh ones? I didn't find them, only this kind:
</p>
<a id="Photo-83" name="Photo-83"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240317&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-83">
<img alt="This should be Chilli-laksa-noodles-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_83"
title="Photo Chilli-laksa-noodles-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240317/small/Chilli-laksa-noodles-1.jpeg"
width="225" height="300"
/></a>
<p>
OK, the eternal question with a new kind of noodle: how long do you cook them? These
instructions were interesting: soak for 15 minutes, <i>then</i> boil them for 5 minutes.
That makes more sense in light of other noodles that just want to be soaked, like the
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/noodle-cooking-times.php#twenty-twenty">Twenty-twenty</a> noodles
that I had actually been looking for. OK, try it out. Yes, for once it works. But somehow
they don't seem to be laksa noodles, just ordinary rice noodles. That's probably because
they're from Singapore, which already has a very different kind of laksa.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-17T23:58:52+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240318-000759</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240318-000759</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>photography</category>
<category>history</category>
<category>general</category>
<title>Reprocessing old photos</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2014.php?subtitle=Great%20Ocean%20Road%20again&article=D-20140318-013457#D-20140318-013457">Ten years ago today</a> I drove along the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Ocean_Road">Great Ocean Road</a> with Jörg Micheel
and his son Richard. Lots of <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/photos/Photos.php?dirdate=20140317">photos</a>, of course, which I processed with the means at my disposal in those days.
</p>
<p>
Can I improve on things? The biggest difference is the “optimizer”. In those days I used
the <a href="https://www.ashampoo.com/en-us/photo-optimizer/">Ashampoo optimizer</a>, which frequently improved things, but left something to be desired. In <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-nov2021.php?subtitle=Am%20I%20perfectly%20clear?&article=D-20211124-013047#D-20211124-013047">November 2021</a> I switched to <a href="https://eyeq.photos/">“Perfectly Clear”</a>, which, though discontinued, seems to be better.
</p>
<p>
OK, I already have a script for reprocessing old photos, and it works most of the time (very
old directories have different structures). Part of the script generates a web page that
compares the images before and after optimization. But what about the difference between
Ashampoo and Perfectly Clear? Today spent a surprisingly short period of time modifying the
script for a three-way comparison. And it seems that this reprocessing was a particularly
good example. I had noted at the time that the extreme lighting had caused problems,
particularly with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koala">koalas</a>.
Here the original, the results with Perfectly Clear, and the results with Ashampoo:
</p>
<img alt="Image" border="0"
id="image_70"
onmouseover="setimage('image_70', 'Day/20140317/after-Koalas-110.jpeg');"
onmouseout="setimage('image_70', 'Day/20140317/before-Koalas-110.jpeg');"
title="Before image"
src="Day/20140317/before-Koalas-110.jpeg" />
<img alt="Image" border="0"
title="After image"
src="Day/20140317/after-Koalas-110.jpeg" />
<img alt="Image" border="0"
id="older_70"
onmouseover="setimage('older_70', 'Day/20140317/after-Koalas-110.jpeg');"
onmouseout="setimage('older_70', 'Day/20140317/older-Koalas-110.jpeg');"
title="Older image"
src="Day/20140317/older-Koalas-110.jpeg" />
<p>
That's a particularly clear example for the improvement.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-18T00:07:59+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240318-005338</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240318-005338</link>
<category>technology</category>
<title>More VirtualBox setup</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php?subtitle=Putting%20ryoms%20to%20the%20test&article=D-20240317-013629#D-20240317-013629">Yesterday</a> I established that I couldn't run my old <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VirtualBox">VirtualBox</a> VMs on <i>hydra</i>, at least
not without changes that I didn't want to make. What about <i>tweedledum</i>? No, it
didn't want to know about that either.
</p>
<p>
OK, run on <i>eureka</i>. Install a standard <a href="https://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</a> 14.0-RELEASE system, even with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS">ZFS</a>, and as close to default as made sense.
The only changes were to enable <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Time_Protocol">NTP</a>.
Everything went well, but of course the network interface didn't work: the default network
is NAT, and what I want is a bridged network. I've <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2016.php?subtitle=VirtualBox%20again&article=D-20160324-221205#D-20160324-221205">seen this before</a>, but I now wonder why these defaults just don't work.
</p>
<p>
OK, shut down the VM, set the network parameters. Oh. It only offered me the “choice” of
interface <i>re0</i>. But <i>eureka</i> doesn't have an <i>re0</i>, just <i>xl0</i> (which
I don't want, and which in the past has been its preference) and <i>em0</i> (which I do).
Where did <i>re0</i> come from? That's on <i>hydra</i>! But the VirtualBox is running
on <i>eureka</i>! And I couldn't start it again, with a meaningless error message that
looked like the one I had seen before.
</p>
<p>
Dammit, does nothing work? Yes, I had started VirtualBox to <i>display</i> on <i>hydra</i>,
but that's no reason for it to look at anything else on <i>hydra</i>. So I need to go back
to <i>eureka</i> and see if I can get it to work there.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-18T00:53:38+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240319-011347</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240319-011347</link>
<category>technology</category>
<title>Virtual machines for ryoms</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
More playing around with virtual machines for “Roll Your Own Mail Server” today. Strange
things happened when I ran <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VirtualBox">VirtualBox</a> on <i>eureka</i> but displayed on <i>hydra</i>. What about displaying
on <i>eureka</i>?
</p>
<p>
Yes, almost. Still this issue with the kernel modules. There are three of them,
but <i>vboxnetadp</i> was missing. In the past I've had issues with the sequence of
loading, but today I found the solution: load <i>only</i> <i>vboxnetadp</i>, and it will
load the other two, and, it seems, also <i>ng_ether</i>.
</p>
<p>
And, to my surprise, things mainly worked, modulo a couple of surprises. The network wasn't
set up correctly, presumably because of the issues getting it to work when I installed it,
so I had to set up <i>/etc/resolv.conf</i> and the host IP address and default router
in <i>/etc/rc.conf</i>. But after that I was able to install <i>bash</i>, <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/"><i>Emacs</i></a> and <i>xterm</i>, allowing me to
access the machine relatively easily.
</p>
<p>
Next, install the packages that the author wants:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
[root@tweedledum /home/grog/ryoms/Logs]# <b>Log pkg install postfix mutt dovecot rspamd mariadb apache</b>
<br />pkg: No packages available to install matching 'mariadb' have been found in the repositories
<br />pkg: No packages available to install matching 'apache' have been found in the repositories
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
Ah, of course, it's <i>apache<b>24</b></i> and <i>mariadb<b>106-server</b></i>
and <i>mariadb<b>106-client</b></i>. Another of my favourite gripes about the Ports
Collection.
</p>
<p>
But then it installed, and quickly. What a surprise! Now I need to find out how to set up
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X.509">X.509</a> certificates and I can set
up my test servers.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-19T01:13:47+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240319-012416</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240319-012416</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>If it's broke, don't fix it</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<i>tweedledum</i> is my first “machine” with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS">ZFS</a>. It installed a default set of file
systems:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
[root@tweedledum /home/grog/ryoms/Logs]# <b>df -c</b>
<br />Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Avail Capacity Mounted on
<br />zroot/ROOT/default 61665232 1852404 59812828 3% /
<br />zroot/tmp 59812932 104 59812828 0% /tmp
<br />zroot/home 59812964 136 59812828 0% /home
<br />zroot/var/audit 59812924 96 59812828 0% /var/audit
<br />zroot 59812924 96 59812828 0% /zroot
<br />zroot/var/log 59813004 176 59812828 0% /var/log
<br />zroot/var/crash 59812924 96 59812828 0% /var/crash
<br />zroot/usr/ports 60633592 820764 59812828 1% /usr/ports
<br />zroot/var/mail 59812952 124 59812828 0% /var/mail
<br />zroot/usr/src 59812924 96 59812828 0% /usr/src
<br />zroot/var/tmp 59812924 96 59812828 0% /var/tmp
<br />total 660615165 2674188 657940977 0%
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
OK, I'll bite. I assigned 64 GB of disk (<i>tweedledum.vdi</i>), which correspond to 2 GB
on disk. But <i>df</i> is telling me that I have 660 GB!
</p>
<p>
Clearly it's lying. The <tt>Used</tt> column is probably correct; the total size
and <tt>Avail</tt> are clearly wrong. So I mentioned it on IRC, and once again I got
responses that blow my mind.
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
Naysayer: Unix/POSIX doesn't have the concept of file system(s) sharing a pool of storage
<br />Naysayer: it would also fail if you use (say) PEFS
<br />Naysayer: or probably any other layered file system
<br />Groggy: If it fails, then it's broke.
<br />Naysayer: what about other overlay file systems?
<br />Naysayer: seems like you just want ZFS to not exist with the weak excuse they didn't magically fix POSIX brain damage
<br />Naysayer: one I use: PEFS
<br />Groggy: Where's the brain damage?
<br />Naysayer: /local0/crypt on /local0/crypt (pefs, local, nosuid, mounted by radar)
<br />Naysayer: [patest 4:48] ~ >df -c /local0 /local0/crypt
<br />Naysayer: Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Avail Capacity Mounted on
<br />Naysayer: /dev/gptid/523c6d2b-ca8f-11ec-b6c5-94de8081be56 395648196 1290052 362706292 0% /local0
<br />Naysayer: /local0/crypt 395648196 1290052 362706292 0% /local0/crypt
<br />Naysayer: total 791296392 2580104 725412584 0%
<br />Groggy: Right, that looks broke too.
<br />Naysayer: but I'm not taking on responsibility for fixing kernel interfaces so du can learn what file systems are backed by others
<br />Groggy: So: looking at a ZFS collection of file systems.
<br />Groggy: In any case, presumably these pools, or whatever they're called, belong to a single group or a small number of groups.
<br />Groggy: So if I allocate something out of one of them, there's less left for the rest.
<br />Naysayer: "hey I wrote an encrypted overlay file system, isn't it neat?" "Go away because it breaks df -c"
<br />Groggy: No, "df -c can't handle it. It needs to be fixed before we can put it in the tree".
<br />Naysayer: but in saying that you are pushing extra work on the submitter
<br />Naysayer: and in this case, a _lot_ of work
<br />Naysayer: then you have some non standard API
<br />Groggy: PEFS and ZFS are the non-standad API.
<br />Naysayer: it is a question the POSIX committee should solve
<br />Groggy: POSIX isn't the issue.
<br />Groggy: We don't stick to it now, and never have.
<br />Naysayer: it _IS_
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
Somehow I'm not getting across that to import a component into a system, it needs to be
compatible. And here it clearly isn't. The silly thing, of course, is that this really has
nothing to do with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POSIX">POSIX</a>, which
<a href="https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009604599/utilities/df.html">doesn't
define</a> the <b>-c</b> option. But nobody seems to think that it's necessary to fix
anything. And that's sad.
</p>
<p>
What's needed? Clearly <i>df</i> is getting the wrong information, which might be ZFS'
fault, or (as Naysayer implies) it might be a kernel interface restriction.
The <tt>Avail</tt> seems to show the real size of the pool available to the file system,
including the space already used by any member of the pool. The <tt>Used</tt> seems to be
correct. And the first column, the “1K-blocks" below, seems to be the <i>sum</i> of the
two, so <tt>Used</tt> gets counted twice.
</p>
<p>
That's ridiculous, of course, and it needs to be fixed. It also has nothing to do with
the <b>-c</b> option. But it's not half as ridiculous as “it's too hard, let's forget it”.
Or, as Callum Gibson said,
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
Groggy: would have us remove all offending filesystems
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
Is that really so hard to explain? He did, though, point to another issue: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_File_System">NFS</a>-exported ZFS file systems
have the same issue, so it's not as simple as having <i>df</i> look at the file system type
and acting accordingly.
</p>
<p>
And, of course, this isn't the only place where it's possible to count storage more than
once. One of my favourites is this:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
$ <b>du -sc D/ DL/</b>
<br />66306 D
<br />38473 DL
<br />104779 total
<br /># <b>du -sc DL/ D/</b>
<br />104779 DL
<br />1 D
<br />104779 total
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
I asked for an explanation, but Naysayer carefully avoided the question.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-19T01:24:16+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240320-000539</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240320-000539</link>
<category>general</category>
<category>health</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Dreary day</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Somehow I didn't do anything all day. I wasn't feeling the best. Was that the concern
about the upcoming <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataract">cataract</a> operation, a change in the weather, or just the fact that I'm gradually getting (very) old?
I don't think it's the operation itself. That doesn't concern me, and I'm sure that the
results will be worthwhile. But the recovery phases, two weeks of candidacy for king of the
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/380021-in-the-land-of-the-blind-the-one-eyed-man-is">land of the blind</a>, gives me some concern. Still, to go by what bad dreams I have,
that's not as much of a concern as the plight of the population of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_strip">Gaza</a>. One way or another, as a result I
did little of interest today.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-20T00:05:39+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240320-004513</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240320-004513</link>
<category>technology</category>
<title>Emacs crash</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
While doing something non-spectacular today, <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/"><i>Emacs</i></a> instance on <i>eureka</i>
stopped for no apparent reason. That's unusual. Normally my <i>Emacs</i> processes run for
months.
</p>
<p>
But only a little later, another one stopped, this time with a But even more unusual was
that another one crashed, this time with a signal 6 (<tt>SIGABRT</tt>):
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
Mar 19 13:32:11 eureka kernel: pid 4734 (emacs-24.5), uid 1004: exited on signal 6 (core dumped)
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
If it had been <i>hydra</i>, I would wonder about hardware issues, but <i>eureka</i> has
been running reliably on the current hardware for over 10 years. Coincidence? Should I try
to debug the core dump? I fear that that way madness lies.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-20T00:45:13+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240320-211925</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240320-211925</link>
<category>gardening</category>
<title>Monthly garden photos</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Today was the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_equinox">March equinox</a>, time for my monthly <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/garden/Flowers-20240320.php">garden
flower photos</a>.
</p>
<p>
Parts of the front garden are looking less than happy. The newly planted oak has decided
that it's autumn, and the Japanese cherry doesn't look much better::
</p>
<a id="Photo-84" name="Photo-84"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-84">
<img alt="This should be Oak-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_84"
title="Photo Oak-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Oak-1.jpeg"
width="225" height="300"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-85" name="Photo-85"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-85">
<img alt="This should be Cherry.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_85"
title="Photo Cherry.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Cherry.jpeg"
width="225" height="301"
/></a>
<p>
The other oak closer to the arena looks happy enough, so I assume that there's some more
irrigation work to be done, as the lawn also indicates:
</p>
<a id="Photo-86" name="Photo-86"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-86">
<img alt="This should be Oak-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_86"
title="Photo Oak-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Oak-2.jpeg"
width="225" height="300"
/></a>
<p>
Other trees in the area also look less than spectacular:
</p>
<a id="Photo-87" name="Photo-87"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-87">
<img alt="This should be Ginkgo.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_87"
title="Photo Ginkgo.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Ginkgo.jpeg"
width="225" height="300"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-88" name="Photo-88"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-88">
<img alt="This should be Box-elder.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_88"
title="Photo Box-elder.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Box-elder.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
On the other hand, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corymbia_ficifolia">Corymbia ficifolia</a> has simply finished flowering:
</p>
<div align="left">
<a id="Photo-89" name="Photo-89"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-89">
<img alt="This should be Corymbia-ficifolia-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_89"
title="Photo Corymbia-ficifolia-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Corymbia-ficifolia-1.jpeg"
width="225" height="300"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-90" name="Photo-90"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-90">
<img alt="This should be Corymbia-ficifolia-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_90"
title="Photo Corymbia-ficifolia-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Corymbia-ficifolia-2.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-91" name="Photo-91"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-91">
<img alt="This should be Corymbia-ficifolia-3.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_91"
title="Photo Corymbia-ficifolia-3.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Corymbia-ficifolia-3.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
</div>
<p>
And the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus_rosa-sinensis">Hibiscus
rosa-sinensis</a> “Uncle Max” seems to have recovered from its freezing <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Flowers-20220922.php#Hibiscus">nearly 2 years ago</a>:
</p>
<a id="Photo-92" name="Photo-92"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-92">
<img alt="This should be Hibiscus-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_92"
title="Photo Hibiscus-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Hibiscus-1.jpeg"
width="225" height="301"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-93" name="Photo-93"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-93">
<img alt="This should be Hibiscus-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_93"
title="Photo Hibiscus-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Hibiscus-2.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
The transplanted <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camellia_japonica">Camellia
japonica</a> still looks anything but happy, but there's hope:
</p>
<div align="left">
<a id="Photo-94" name="Photo-94"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-94">
<img alt="This should be Camellia-japonica.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_94"
title="Photo Camellia-japonica.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Camellia-japonica.jpeg"
width="225" height="300"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-95" name="Photo-95"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240325&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-95">
<img alt="This should be Camellia-japonica-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_95"
title="Photo Camellia-japonica-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240325/small/Camellia-japonica-1.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-96" name="Photo-96"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240325&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-96">
<img alt="This should be Camellia-japonica-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_96"
title="Photo Camellia-japonica-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240325/small/Camellia-japonica-2.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
</div>
<p>
Those completely green leaves are something new. Hopefully it will continue to recover.
</p>
<p>
The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abutilon">Abutilons</a> are both looking
much better than in the past:
</p>
<a id="Photo-97" name="Photo-97"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-97">
<img alt="This should be Abutilon-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_97"
title="Photo Abutilon-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Abutilon-1.jpeg"
width="225" height="300"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-98" name="Photo-98"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-98">
<img alt="This should be Abutilon-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_98"
title="Photo Abutilon-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Abutilon-2.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
Clearly adequate watering makes a big difference.
</p>
<p>
The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksia_serrata">Banksia serrata</a> is
now flowering again:
</p>
<a id="Photo-99" name="Photo-99"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-99">
<img alt="This should be Banksia-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_99"
title="Photo Banksia-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Banksia-1.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-100" name="Photo-100"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-100">
<img alt="This should be Banksia-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_100"
title="Photo Banksia-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Banksia-2.jpeg"
width="302" height="223"
/></a>
<p>
Presumably that's just a question of the season.
</p>
<p>
We've had our lime tree for so long that I don't know when I bought it. It could have been
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-aug2008.php?subtitle=Plants%20and%20sinks&article=grapefruit#grapefruit">in August 2008</a>, in which case it's a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahitian_lime">Tahitian lime</a>. And it has seldom had
much in the way of fruit. Until now:
</p>
<div align="left">
<a id="Photo-101" name="Photo-101"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240322&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-101">
<img alt="This should be Limes-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_101"
title="Photo Limes-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240322/small/Limes-1.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-102" name="Photo-102"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240322&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-102">
<img alt="This should be Limes-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_102"
title="Photo Limes-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240322/small/Limes-2.jpeg"
width="225" height="300"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-103" name="Photo-103"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240322&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-103">
<img alt="This should be Limes-3.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_103"
title="Photo Limes-3.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240322/small/Limes-3.jpeg"
width="225" height="300"
/></a>
</div>
<p>
It's still not overly abundant, but more or less enough for us in the season.
</p>
<p>
I haven't seen these bulbs before:
</p>
<div align="left">
<a id="Photo-104" name="Photo-104"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-104">
<img alt="This should be Mystery-bulb-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_104"
title="Photo Mystery-bulb-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Mystery-bulb-1.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-105" name="Photo-105"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-105">
<img alt="This should be Mystery-bulb-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_105"
title="Photo Mystery-bulb-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Mystery-bulb-2.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-106" name="Photo-106"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-106">
<img alt="This should be Mystery-bulb-3.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_106"
title="Photo Mystery-bulb-3.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Mystery-bulb-3.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-107" name="Photo-107"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-107">
<img alt="This should be Mystery-bulb-4.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_107"
title="Photo Mystery-bulb-4.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Mystery-bulb-4.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
</div>
<p>
I think that they must be survivors of the plants that Jane Ashhurst sent us. For reasons I
don't understand, just about all of them died, but I recall that some were supposed to
flower like that.
</p>
<p>
This sad-looking lawn is the result of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate">glyphosate</a> attack by <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a>:
</p>
<a id="Photo-108" name="Photo-108"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-108">
<img alt="This should be Dead-lawn.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_108"
title="Photo Dead-lawn.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Dead-lawn.jpeg"
width="302" height="223"
/></a>
<p>
To make up for it, the compost heap is growing happily:
</p>
<a id="Photo-109" name="Photo-109"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-109">
<img alt="This should be Compost-heap.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_109"
title="Photo Compost-heap.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Compost-heap.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-20T21:19:25+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240320-212343</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240320-212343</link>
<category>health</category>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Preparing for surgery</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Tomorrow's the date of my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataract">cataract</a> surgery. When do I need to be there? Hopefully not in the early morning, but they
haven't told me so far. But there's one more thing to do:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
All patients having elective surgery will have to undertake a Rapid Antigen Test the day
prior to scheduled surgery. Patients will need to show proof of a negative test result
when arriving at the surgery centre. It is suggested to take a photo of the test result
next to a drivers license or medicare card and then take a screen shot of the photo which
will capture the date and time of the result.
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
I've <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php?subtitle=More%20bloody%20CAPTCHAs!&article=D-20240313-225048#D-20240313-225048">already grumbled</a> about the stupidity of this requirement, but OK, if it makes them
happy. How can they tell that I have really taken the test? Anybody could have done it.
And when? My screen shots have time stamps that say when the shot was taken, not when the
photo was taken. OK, take the photos, process them. And the screen shot? No problem, but
of course it's on <i>eureka</i>. And they want me to show it to them.
</p>
<p>
How? Two possibilities: print it out, or download it to <i>hirse</i>, my mobile phone.
Both are possible, since I have an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTP">FTP</a> client for the phone. Did that. Where are the screen shots? “Camera” shows photos, but
clearly they're something completely different. What does Google say? Dozens of different
answers, many requiring installing an app!
</p>
<p>
Finally I found an answer: use the “File Manager”, a bare-bones <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ls"><i>ls</i></a></i> substitute. It doesn't understand
locations, and it groups files by category, in this case <i>Images</i>, which includes both
screen shots and photos:
</p>
<a id="Photo-110" name="Photo-110"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240321&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-110">
<img alt="This should be Android-image-display-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_110"
title="Photo Android-image-display-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240321/small/Android-image-display-1.jpeg"
width="177" height="384"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-111" name="Photo-111"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240321&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-111">
<img alt="This should be Android-image-display-2-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_111"
title="Photo Android-image-display-2-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240321/small/Android-image-display-2-detail.jpeg"
width="294" height="229"
/></a>
<p>
And yes, when you select them, it displays them with—as far as I can tell—no details
whatsoever beyond the modification timestamp. Once again I'm amazed at the uselessness of
these apps. But I have them, and I'll take a printout and the dead RAT to be on the safe
side.
</p>
<p>
Finally, at 14:25, I received my information, per <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS"><b>SMS</b></a>!
</p>
<a id="Photo-112" name="Photo-112"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-112">
<img alt="This should be St-John-SMS.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_112"
title="Photo St-John-SMS.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/St-John-SMS.jpeg"
width="175" height="384"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-113" name="Photo-113"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-113">
<img alt="This should be St-John-SMS-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_113"
title="Photo St-John-SMS-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/St-John-SMS-detail.jpeg"
width="250" height="270"
/></a>
<p>
OK, I'll bite. When? Called up Preadmissions, who told me that the time should be at the
top of the SMS. No. OK, I'll connect.
</p>
<p>
Long wait; I thought it would time out. Connected to Steph, who apologized for the delay in
sending the SMSs, but it should be there soon. After I made it clear that I had received
the SMS, and that was the problem, she told me that she has a time of 12:30, but she would
connect me to the surgery. This time it did time out, and I came back to Steph. OK, try
the surgeon's rooms. Another time out. OK, I'll connect you to Preadmissions. But that's
where I came from!
</p>
<p>
Back to Preadmissions, where they apologized that the SMSs hadn't gone out yet. After I
made it clear that I had received the SMS, and that was the problem, she told me that she
has a time of 12:30.
</p>
<p>
OK, that seems final. Only 13 minutes on the phone! Back to check things, and discovered
that the message displayed had been truncated! The real SMS was 3 times as long, and it
included all the data, but for that I had to go elsewhere in the menu maze. It would be
nice to be able to save it, but I still haven't been able to find anything that will do that
for me. I expected that Microsoft Phone Link would do it. That displays the image on a
Microsoft Window, and it allows me to select the text (it would be too simple just to store
it, right?), but then I can't do anything with it, not even store it in another
window: <b>C-v</b> merrily stores the last text from the <a href="https://www.x.org/">X</a> cut buffer instead.
</p>
<p>
Installed a nameless app that wanted to copy my SMSs to Google Drive, but not store them on
any local machine. Tried again and got <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gawk.smsforwarder">something</a> that at least sent one test SMS to my email address:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
Incoming - +1234567890 (Contact undefined) &lt;br/&gt;Message: Test (20/3/24 16:23)
<br />You received this letter because you set up SMS forwarding from your phone via the "SMS to phone / mail - auto redirect application" (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gawk.smsforwarder)
<br />If you don't want to receive such emails anymore - Unsubscribe: https://sms.forwarder.api/email/unsubscribe?email=groogled@gmail.com&amp;token=X0eXG71IHkiqSPjFK2GUquQlDCY2a38UVVdrqf5GlghvizDax9YgZ
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
This corresponds to an SMS with the single word “Test”. I haven't found out how to forward
existing messages. Is there nothing better?
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-20T21:23:43+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240320-212636</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240320-212636</link>
<category>animals</category>
<title>Bird's nest</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> found this on the ground a couple of days ago:
</p>
<div align="left">
<a id="Photo-114" name="Photo-114"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-114">
<img alt="This should be Birds-nest-3.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_114"
title="Photo Birds-nest-3.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Birds-nest-3.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-115" name="Photo-115"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-115">
<img alt="This should be Birds-nest-6.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_115"
title="Photo Birds-nest-6.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Birds-nest-6.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-116" name="Photo-116"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240320&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-116">
<img alt="This should be Birds-nest-8.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_116"
title="Photo Birds-nest-8.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240320/small/Birds-nest-8.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
</div>
<p>
What is it? A bird's nest, of course, but what kind? The red feather suggests some kind of
parrot, but it's too small for any kind that I know. And it's amazingly light, only 1.42 g.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-20T21:26:36+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240322-003739</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240322-003739</link>
<category>health</category>
<title>Eye rebuild</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
To <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geelong">Geelong</a> to have my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataract_surgery">cataract surgery</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitrectomy">vitrectomy</a>. Everything went
surprisingly smoothly. The appointment was at 12:30, but I arrived a few minutes early and
was whisked away for preparations almost immediately. Various relevant questions, forms
filled out, a second nurse to check all the details, confirm the correct eye and mark it:
</p>
<a id="Photo-117" name="Photo-117"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240322&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-117">
<img alt="This should be Greg-Eye-4.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_117"
title="Photo Greg-Eye-4.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/yvonne/Photos/20240322/small/Greg-Eye-4.jpeg"
width="232" height="290"
/></a>
<p>
Somehow I find it irritating that the arrow is off-centre.
</p>
<p>
Then she subjected me to two sets of eye drops, the first of each of which stung, after
which <a href="https://www.davidfabinyi.com.au/">David Fabinyi</a> came in and
confirmed yet again that we were doing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataract_surgery">cataract surgery</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitrectomy">vitrectomy</a> on the right eye, though
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jan2024.php?subtitle=Cataract%20examination,%20second%20opinion&article=D-20240201-014854#D-20240201-014854">in January</a> we had talked of the left eye first.
</p>
<p>
Then I was wheeled in to the anaesthetist, who put in a particularly painful catheter into
my hand, covered me over, filled me with anaesthetics, and off they went. I was conscious
the whole time, and I expected something interesting, but all I saw were a few strange
geometrical patterns, and I felt a couple of pricks. And almost before it began, it was
over, at 14:00. Out for a set of sandwiches and a coffee, advice on what to do next—keep
the covers on the eye until tomorrow morning, when I should come back to have my eye looked
at again. And by 14:45 we were out and on our way, after only 2 hours, 20 minutes:
</p>
<a id="Photo-118" name="Photo-118"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240321&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-118">
<img alt="This should be One-eyed-Greg-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_118"
title="Photo One-eyed-Greg-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240321/small/One-eyed-Greg-1.jpeg"
width="305" height="222"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-119" name="Photo-119"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240321&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-119">
<img alt="This should be One-eyed-Greg-2-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_119"
title="Photo One-eyed-Greg-2-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240321/small/One-eyed-Greg-2-detail.jpeg"
width="237" height="285"
/></a>
<p>
As <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> said later, at that time after being admitted to
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epworth_Hospital">Epworth Hospital</a> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jan2024.php?subtitle=Off%20to%20Melbourne%20again&article=D-20240109-025914#D-20240109-025914">two months ago</a>, she was still waiting to be attended to.
</p>
<p>
And the results? No pain, not even itching. As advertised, there's a bubble in the eye,
and as I move I can see the liquid moving backwards and forwards. Somehow it's less
colourful than I expected. Probably the most irritating thing was the pad over my eye (an
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/iPad">iPad</a>, if I misunderstood the nurse
correctly), which I needed to keep on until tomorrow morning, and which made it difficult to
put my glasses on the good eye.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-22T00:37:39+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240322-004233</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240322-004233</link>
<category>rant</category>
<category>technology</category>
<category>health</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Understanding Android displays</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php?subtitle=Preparing%20for%20surgery&article=D-20240320-212343#D-20240320-212343">Yesterday</a> I spent an inordinate amount of time complying with the hospital's silly
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_antigen_test">RAT</a> requirements,
notably a screen shot of a photo of the device.. Yes, I did that, and I also brought the
device itself.
</p>
<p>
When I got there, one of the first questions from reception was "Did you do a RAT?”. Yes.
OK, then, go on through!
</p>
<p>
Ha ha, only joking. The next nurse wanted to know, but she was happy with the device, so
all the messing around with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)">Android</a> was unnecessary.
But independently of the operation, I did come to one discovery: yes, Android's file
manager <i>does</i> distinguish between “photos” and “screenshots”. I just didn't see it
because of the appalling display layout: first “photos”, then most of the screen full of
advertising, and squashed at the bottom a couple of scree shots trying to make themselves
seen:
</p>
<a id="Photo-120" name="Photo-120"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240321&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-120">
<img alt="This should be Android-image-display-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_120"
title="Photo Android-image-display-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240321/small/Android-image-display-1.jpeg"
width="177" height="384"
/></a>
<p>
</p>
<a id="Photo-121" name="Photo-121"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240321&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-121">
<img alt="This should be Android-image-display-1-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_121"
title="Photo Android-image-display-1-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240321/small/Android-image-display-1-detail.jpeg"
width="601" height="112"
/></a>
<p>
And what about the dates of the photos? They're all <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPEG">JPEG</a> with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exif">Exif</a> data. But it takes a lot
of <del>smashing</del> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Rant/bad-language.php#swipe">swiping</a> to find any
details—even the file name—and then I get something like this:
</p>
<a id="Photo-122" name="Photo-122"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240322&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-122">
<img alt="This should be Android-File-mangler-2-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_122"
title="Photo Android-File-mangler-2-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240322/small/Android-File-mangler-2-detail.jpeg"
width="226" height="299"
/></a>
<p>
What it should really be saying is something like this:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
File Dead-RAT-3.jpeg
<br />Date taken: Wednesday, 20 March 2024, 13:18:10
<br />Exposure: 1/250 sec, f/5.6 (EV 12.9), 200/24 ISO
<br />Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II, serial BHUA20626
<br />Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS PRO
<br />Focal length: 41.0 mm (full frame equivalent: 82 mm)
<br />Focus: S-AF+MF 0.535 m (0.52 - 0.55 m)
<br />Crop factor: 0.51 (0.63 horizontal, 0.80 vertical)
<br />Effective FL: 58 mm (FF: 117 mm)
<br />Field of view: 15.1 horizontal, 14.5 vertical, 20.8 diagonal
<br />Meter mode: ESP Manual
<br />Stabilization: Body
<br />Size: 3259 x 3126 pixels (10.19 megapixels)
<br />Copyright: Greg Lehey
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
Not only is it ridiculously superficial, it's <i>wrong</i>. It claims that the photo was
taken at 16:34, politely omitting the seconds, when the Exif data clearly states that it was
taken at 13:18:10. And no, it's not a case of stripping the Exif data: I retrieved the
image from the phone and ran <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exiftool">Exiftool</a> against it.
</p>
<p>
In addition, I have a number of such images. How do I tell them apart? By name, of course,
but for that I need to select each image and then select the data. That would take for
ever. It's easier, once you get a sensible file copy tool, to download them to a Real
Computer and look at them there.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-22T00:42:33+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240323-015848</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240323-015848</link>
<category>health</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>A new eye</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Off to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geelong">Geelong</a> this morning into
a bright rising sun that made the drive a misery. To add insult to injury, the windscreen
was dirty and the windscreen washer empty. Stop at a service station on the way? On the
entire journey, 79 km, there was exactly one service station, in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverleigh,_Victoria">Inverleigh</a>. But it was on the
wrong side of the road, and <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> didn't want to go there.
</p>
<p>
At the surgery, I was immediately assigned to a nurse who told that I should have taken the
covering off my eyes last night. She took off the bandages. Brilliance! I was expecting
things to be fuzzy for a while, but no, everything looked sharp.
</p>
<p>
Well, sort of. I knew about the air bubble at the bottom of my field of vision, but there
were various other artefacts: a flickering in the middle of my field of view, small, mobile
black floaters that are apparently droplets of blood which will go away. And she gave me an
eye test chart that I could barely read. So she gave me a little device with small holes to
look through, after which I could read them better, but still not well.
</p>
<p>
Then in to see <a href="https://www.davidfabinyi.com.au/">David Fabinyi</a>, who
told me that everything went well from his point of view, and we made an appointment to do
the other eye on 11 April, which I thought had already been made. An appointment with his
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locum">locum</a> a week before to confirm
that everything had gone according to plan. I forgot to mention the (to me) disappointing
results of the eye test chart. I must write these things down for next time.
</p>
<p>
Still, a couple of strangenesses. I was surprised that I could see my outstretched hand so
clearly. Ah, that's because the lens focus is set to slightly shorter than infinity, and he
has chosen a lens with particularly good <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field">depth of field</a>. When I first saw
him, I talked about depth of field, and at the time I got the impression that he hadn't
heard the term before. Clearly there's no difference in depth of field from one lens to the
next. And it's not clear to me whether “slightly shorter than infinity” relates to a
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperfocal_distance">hyperfocal distance</a> (probably a term he still hasn't heard) or not. And for some reason he thought that I might
no longer need multifocal lenses in my glasses. That puzzles me.
</p>
<p>
On the way home I discovered that yes, I could see the dashboard very clearly, but not the
road signs. Wrong lens? When I got home I heard from Daniel O'Connor that his father had
had a cataract operation, and that he needed to have it “redone”—no further details.
Hopefully they haven't put in a too powerful lens.
</p>
<p>
At home, the impression continued. I couldn't clearly read text on the TV, 5 m away, but I
could read things that were closer. Is this a problem, or will it go away with the bubble?
By the evening things looked better, so maybe it will. In any case it confirms the validity
of my decision to have the right eye done first.
</p>
<p>
And the bubble in itself is interesting. I discovered that I can see clearly through it
when looking straight down. But the focus is different: it seems to be about 10 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioptre">dioptres</a> stronger than the aqueous part,
effectively giving me a built-in magnifier. It's almost a pity that it will go away.
</p>
<p>
So what's it like? I was expecting more sharpness, of course, but it really hit me in the
face. The colours were also more vivid, and the old left eye has a yellowish tinge that I
hadn't expected. I need to find a way to take some photos showing “before” and “after”.
Certainly I can read LCD displays easily now, something that had been becoming increasingly
difficult.
</p>
<p>
And the eye drops? Four times a day, and they're apparently the same kind that I got before
the operation yesterday, the ones that sting considerably. Still, it doesn't last long.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-23T01:58:48+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240323-020612</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240323-020612</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Google Maps from the worst side</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
I've been using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Maps">Google Maps</a> on almost every trip in the last couple of years, and they often work well. But yesterday
they identified congestion on the way into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geelong">Geelong</a>, and took me straight through it
anyway, taking 5 minutes longer than their own estimate.
</p>
<a id="Photo-123" name="Photo-123"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240322&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-123">
<img alt="This should be Google-Maps-recommend.png. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_123"
title="Photo Google-Maps-recommend.png. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240322/small/Google-Maps-recommend.png"
width="329" height="205"
/></a>
<p>
OK, there are things we can do about that. Go via a diversion:
</p>
<a id="Photo-124" name="Photo-124"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240322&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-124">
<img alt="This should be Google-Maps-diversion.png. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_124"
title="Photo Google-Maps-diversion.png. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240322/small/Google-Maps-diversion.png"
width="319" height="212"
/></a>
<p>
That all went fine up to a few hundred metres before the waypoint, when it became clear that
Google Maps had no intention of taking me any further. So I had to ask it to take me to the
correct address—fortunately I remembered it. “Exit Navigation? Yes or No?”. No, of
course, I wanted to continue. <i>Wrong</i> answer. To navigate the new route, I first
needed to “exit” the old route. By the time that was sorted out, we were way past the
non-obvious turnoff:
</p>
<a id="Photo-125" name="Photo-125"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240322&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-125">
<img alt="This should be Google-Maps-actual.png. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_125"
title="Photo Google-Maps-actual.png. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240322/small/Google-Maps-actual.png"
width="305" height="222"
/></a>
<p>
The whole effort took 5 minutes longer than going through the congestion.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-23T02:06:12+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240324-004100</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240324-004100</link>
<category>health</category>
<title>Seeing more clearly</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
My concerns about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataract_surgery">cataract
surgery</a> at the <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php?topics=G&subtitle=Finally%20cataract%20surgery?&article=D-20240302-014622#D-20240302-014622">beginning of the month</a> proved to be accurate: the surgery itself was not an
issue—even less so than I expected—but I have the problem that I can only see clearly with
one eye at at time. With glasses it's the left eye. Without glasses it's the right eye,
and then only at a distance.
</p>
<p>
The solution is obvious: remove the right-hand lens from my glasses. But how? The web has
lots of solutions that appear to apply to other kinds of glasses. For plastic, heat it and
remove the lens. For metal frames, which is what I have, unscrew the frame and remove the
lens. But my glasses don't have screws. I know that cats and dogs are quite good at
removing lenses, especially if you subsequently sit on the frame, but though I'll never need
the lenses again, I found that a little destructive.
</p>
<p>
OK, call up <a href="https://www.specsavers.com.au/">Specsavers</a>. Sure, come on
in, we'll do it immediately. So off before breakfast, where they took the glasses off and
disappeared for a surprising amount of time—about 5 minutes—before returning with half
glasses:
</p>
<p>
A good thing that I didn't try to do it myself. In that time, <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a>, who arrived later after parking the car, had her glasses adjusted and plenty
of time to wait. I wonder what the trick is.
</p>
<a name="vision-skew" id="vision-skew"></a>
<p>
Back home, restrictions became clear. The view of the two eyes was offset vertically. I
had to put the glasses on at an angle to compensate for it. I assume that that's normal:
glasses change the vertical angle of view slightly. As long as there are lenses in both
sides, that doesn't make a difference, but with only one lens it's irritating.
</p>
<p>
And, of course, things didn't help when I was at the monitor: my new eye can't focus that
close. So I needed a fake <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshe_Dayan">Moshe
Dayan</a> after all:
</p>
<a id="Photo-126" name="Photo-126"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240324&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-126">
<img alt="This should be Greg-with-eye-patch-4.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_126"
title="Photo Greg-with-eye-patch-4.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240324/small/Greg-with-eye-patch-4.jpeg"
width="301" height="224"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-127" name="Photo-127"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240324&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-127">
<img alt="This should be Greg-with-eye-patch-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_127"
title="Photo Greg-with-eye-patch-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240324/small/Greg-with-eye-patch-2.jpeg"
width="225" height="300"
/></a>
<p>
But things are definitely looking up.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-24T00:41:00+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240324-004313</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240324-004313</link>
<category>health</category>
<category>technology</category>
<title>Simulating cataract surgery improvement</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
How do I describe the change in vision after cataract surgery? Obvious: tap into my brain
and download the images.
</p>
<p>
But I don't know how to do that, so the next best thing is to take some photos and process
them as “before” and “after”. Here a few attempts:
</p>
<div align="left">
<a id="Photo-128" name="Photo-128"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240323&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-128">
<img alt="This should be Cataract-before-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_128"
title="Photo Cataract-before-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240323/small/Cataract-before-2.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-129" name="Photo-129"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240323&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-129">
<img alt="This should be Cataract-after-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_129"
title="Photo Cataract-after-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240323/small/Cataract-after-2.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-130" name="Photo-130"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240323&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-130">
<img alt="This should be Cataract-after-2-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_130"
title="Photo Cataract-after-2-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240323/small/Cataract-after-2-detail.jpeg"
width="245" height="276"
/></a>
</div>
<p>
The important thing here is that I was previously unable to see whether the door was locked
(lock vertical) or open (diagonal, as here).
</p>
<a id="Photo-131" name="Photo-131"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240323&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-131">
<img alt="This should be Cataract-before-3.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_131"
title="Photo Cataract-before-3.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240323/small/Cataract-before-3.jpeg"
width="300" height="224"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-132" name="Photo-132"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240323&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-132">
<img alt="This should be Cataract-after-3.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_132"
title="Photo Cataract-after-3.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240323/small/Cataract-after-3.jpeg"
width="300" height="224"
/></a>
<p>
And here the car dashboard. Previously I could barely recognize the needles on the
dashboard, and I had extreme difficulty reading the LCD display. This photo probably comes
closest to showing the difference.
</p>
<a id="Photo-133" name="Photo-133"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240323&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-133">
<img alt="This should be Cataract-before-4.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_133"
title="Photo Cataract-before-4.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240323/small/Cataract-before-4.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-134" name="Photo-134"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240323&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-134">
<img alt="This should be Cataract-after-4.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_134"
title="Photo Cataract-after-4.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240323/small/Cataract-after-4.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
I'm not sure that this doesn't understate the difference. But I <i>could</i> read the LCD
display before, so maybe it's relatively accurate.
</p>
<a id="Photo-135" name="Photo-135"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240323&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-135">
<img alt="This should be Yvonne-Samba-1-before.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_135"
title="Photo Yvonne-Samba-1-before.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240323/small/Yvonne-Samba-1-before.jpeg"
width="225" height="300"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-136" name="Photo-136"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240323&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-136">
<img alt="This should be Yvonne-Samba-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_136"
title="Photo Yvonne-Samba-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240323/small/Yvonne-Samba-1.jpeg"
width="225" height="300"
/></a>
<p>
And this seems reasonable. In bright sunlight I could see things relatively well, though
things like the trees in the background were hard to distinguish. And the colour cast is
about right.
</p>
<a id="Photo-137" name="Photo-137"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240323&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-137">
<img alt="This should be Cataract-before-5.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_137"
title="Photo Cataract-before-5.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240323/small/Cataract-before-5.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-138" name="Photo-138"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240323&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-138">
<img alt="This should be Cataract-after-5.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_138"
title="Photo Cataract-after-5.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240323/small/Cataract-after-5.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
This one was more a coincidence. I went into the bedroom with my good eye covered over,
looked for <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Albums/Animals/Bruno.php">Bruno</a>, and didn't see him.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-24T00:43:13+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240324-013156</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240324-013156</link>
<category>health</category>
<title>Seeing triple</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Some of the more stupid things I have seen (no pun intended) were cartoons and similar
showing the effects of drink: people start seeing double. Drink far too much and they see
quadruple or worse. That makes no anatomic sense at all, of course.
</p>
<p>
But now I'm seeing triple! Two different views through my two eyes, and then a third view
through the bubble in my right eye, effectively a close-up lens. It's marginally useful,
but it also means that I currently can't look downward with that eye.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-24T01:31:56+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240324-013202</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240324-013202</link>
<category>photography</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Lens improvements</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
It's been <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-apr1964.php#6">almost exactly 60 years</a> since I started getting
interested in photography. At the time I had a Voß <a href="http://www.cjs-classic-cameras.co.uk/other/diax.html#diaxette">Diaxette</a>, with a 45
mm f/2.8 <a href="http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Steinheil">Steinheil</a> Cassar lens,
which looked pretty much the same as this one, which I bought on <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jun2022.php?subtitle=Camera%20collection:%20from%20the%20sublime%20to%20the%20ridiculous&article=D-20220626-014054#D-20220626-014054">a couple of years ago</a>:
</p>
<a id="Photo-139" name="Photo-139"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20220626&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-139">
<img alt="This should be Diaxette-5.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_139"
title="Photo Diaxette-5.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20220626/small/Diaxette-5.jpeg"
width="299" height="226"
/></a>
<p>
I only used it until <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jul1965.php#24">July 1964</a>, but I took a lot of
photos that are now of historical interest. But it was a pretty bare-bones camera, and the
lens (an f/2.8 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooke_triplet">Cooke triplet</a>!) was really not good. And yet I bought another one, this time 50 mm, <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-may2018.php#D-20180524-031432">6 years ago</a>, with
an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edixa_Reflex">Edixa Reflex</a>. OK, that could be
a good lens to include in my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataract">cataract</a> photos. Poor image quality? <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_flare">Flare</a>? Here's a comparison with the
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_Zuiko_Digital_ED_50mm_f/2.0_Macro">Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 50 mm f/2.0 Macro</a>, itself over 20 years old:
</p>
<a id="Photo-140" name="Photo-140"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240323&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-140">
<img alt="This should be Cataract-after-1.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_140"
title="Photo Cataract-after-1.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240323/small/Cataract-after-1.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-141" name="Photo-141"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240323&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-141">
<img alt="This should be Cataract-after-2.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_141"
title="Photo Cataract-after-2.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240323/small/Cataract-after-2.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<p>
That's really a surprising difference. And no, the lens isn't dirty, and it <i>is</i>
coated (at least to the standards of 70 years ago). And though all images were taken af
f/2.8 (the maximum aperture of the Cassar), the camera selected a shutter speed of 1/80 s
for the Cassar and 1/160 s, fully a stop more, for the Zuiko. Is the transmission of the
Cassar really that bad?
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-24T01:32:02+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240325-020831</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240325-020831</link>
<category>health</category>
<title>More eye recovery</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
My eye is gradually improving. The bubble is getting smaller, and a good thing too: it's
particularly irritating because I can't look down.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-25T02:08:31+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240325-020931</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240325-020931</link>
<category>food</category>
<category>and</category>
<category>drink</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Another beef and broccoli recipe</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
<a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> bought some broccoli when she went shopping on
Wednesday. What do we do with it? The only thing that I know that goes with it is beef,
and that wasn't on the menu.
</p>
<p>
OK, reschedule. <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/recipes/beef-and-broccoli.php">Beef and broccoli</a> it
is. But can we improve on the recipe I have? Off looking on the web. The quality of the
recipes is gradually improving, and today I found <a href="https://www.madewithlau.com/">Made with Lau</a>, which looks interesting. They have a
<a href="https://www.madewithlau.com/recipes/beef-broccoli">recipe</a> that explains
some of the things that have puzzled me in the past. Why baking soda (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bicarbonate">Sodium bicarbonate</a>)? To
tenderize the meat. But then the recipe includes:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div class="listitemwidth">
1 tsp baking soda (you can also tenderize meat physically by hammering the meat with a
meat mallet)
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
I use the mallet for different reasons, to thin the “sizzling steaks”, but it's good to
understand the reasoning.
</p>
<p>
And 1 tsp baking soda? Yes, these horrible US measurements. But no worry, you can select
metric. 4.9 m<b>L</b> baking soda! 454 g broccoli! 1.2 m<b>L</b> white pepper!
Unfortunately it doesn't run to using appropriate ways to measure things. measu
</p>
<p>
So: the recipe calls for carrots, which I chose to ignore. The result was:
</p>
<table summary="Ingredients">
<tr>
<td align="right"><b>quantity</b></td>
<td> </td>
<td><b>ingredient</b> </td>
<td> </td>
<td><b>step</b> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">200 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">beef (“sizzling steak”)</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">10 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">oyster sauce</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">10 ml</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">Chinese rice wine</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">10 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">sesame oil</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">10 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">soya sauce</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">6 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">garlic paste</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">100 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">broccoli florets</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right"></td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">oil for frying</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">6 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">garlic</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">22 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">spring onions</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">10 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">oyster sauce</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">6 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">light soya sauce</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">6 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">dark soya sauce</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">10 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">water</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">10 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">cooking wine</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right">6 g</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">cornflour</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" align="right"></td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="left">chopped coriander leaf</td>
<td> </td>
<td valign="top" align="right">5</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h2>
Preparation
</h2>
<ol>
<li class="fullwidth">
<p class="listitemwidth">
Cut the beef into thin strips about 1×3 cm in size. Hammer to get it about 3 mm thick.
Mix with oyster sauce, wine, sesame oil, soya sauce and garlic and marinate for at least
30 minutes.
</p>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<p class="listitemwidth">
Cut the broccoli into small florets. Blanche in boiling water for 30 seconds, drain and
let cool
</p>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<p class="listitemwidth">
Fry the beef until cooked, place on a serving dish.
</p>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<p class="listitemwidth">
Fry the garlic and spring onions in the oil until about half-cooked. Add the broccoli
and stir fry briefly.
</p>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<p class="listitemwidth">
Add sauce ingredietns and bring to the boil.
</p>
</li>
<li class="fullwidth">
<p class="listitemwidth">
Warm the beef in the serving dish, then place the vegetables on top. Mix together,
garnish with coriander leaf and serve.
</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>
And how was it? Surprisingly close to the recipe I already had. The proportions of this
recipe were off, of course, because of the units chosen. In particular, there was too much
cornflour, which I've tried to modify in the recipe above. In many ways I think my old
recipe was better. So rather than update that recipe, I'll wait until we want to do it
again, and then I'll make a decision.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-25T02:09:31+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240326-012453</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240326-012453</link>
<category>health</category>
<title>Eye recovery</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
It has now been <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php?subtitle=Eye%20rebuild&article=D-20240322-003739#D-20240322-003739">four days</a> since I had my cataract surgery. Things are going completely according to
plan, but it's still an interesting experience. The bubble in my eye is gradually becoming
smaller, and in the process the magnification effect is diminishing. <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php?topics=G&subtitle=A%20new%20eye&article=D-20240323-015848#D-20240323-015848">On Friday</a> it was about 10 dioptres, and now it can't be more than 1.5 dioptres. And
the real vision seems to be shifting in focus too. Hopefully by the time the bubble is gone
(tomorrow? Wednesday?), the focus will be as intended.
</p>
<p>
And apart from that, the floaters are interesting too. Initially they looked like flies
flying around, but now they're longer and joined. Today I saw one, very thin and in L shape
that covered about half the field of view and gradually moved into the bubble. Presumably
they'll all go away with the bubble. But still it's irritating, and it's keeping me from
doing anything useful.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-26T01:24:53+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240326-013258</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240326-013258</link>
<category>photography</category>
<category>health</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Depth of field? Hyperfocal distance?</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
When I visited <a href="https://www.davidfabinyi.com.au/">David Fabinyi</a> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-jan2024.php?subtitle=Cataract%20examination,%20second%20opinion&article=D-20240201-014854#D-20240201-014854">in January</a>, I mentioned <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field">depth of field</a>, and I got the impression that he hadn't heard the term before. But
it's important for my decision on what kind of vision aids I will need. Of to search the
web. Yes, strangely the term doesn't seem to be in use for human optics. What about
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperfocal_distance">hyperfocal distance</a>?
Also barely a mention. It's not because the concepts don't apply—on the contrary, they're
just as relevant. So why?
</p>
<p>
It seems that there's only one paper on the subject, “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/713826091">The Depth of Field of the Human
Eye</a>”, written by Fergus William Campbell in 1959, and only available for significant
quantities of money. Then there are discussions like <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/11p1s0/how_far_is_the_infinity_focus_distance_of_the/">this one</a>, which refer to dead links and come out with claims like “Hyperfocal
distance of human eye is 6 or 7 meters in indoor light”. That would correspond to a depth
of field of about 12 cm at 60 cm distance. Could that be right? Elsewhere I saw a similar
claim, except that it was in feet. So somehow I'm no closer to an answer.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-26T01:32:58+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240327-013553</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240327-013553</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>photography</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Where am I?</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
One of the recurring themes in film series that we watch is that somebody gets lost (in the
Alps, for example). They have mobile phone connection, but they don't know where they are.
</p>
<p>
That's simple: all modern phones have a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS">GPS</a> module that can identify where they are to within a couple of metres. And there
are silly things like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plus_Codes">Plus Codes</a> that convert the output into incomprehensible codes.
</p>
<p>
That's nonsense, of course. The phone should be able to send its location coordinates with
every call, or on a call-by-call basis for the paranoid. But its not available anywhere
that I can see. I've ranted about this numerous times, most recently <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-aug2022.php?subtitle=Bloody%20Microsoft!&article=D-20220821-014415#D-20220821-014415">in August 2022</a>.
</p>
<p>
But the matter of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_antigen_test">RAT</a> <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php?subtitle=Preparing%20for%20surgery&article=D-20240320-212343#D-20240320-212343">last week</a> got me thinking. Mobile phones always (as far as I can tell) embed the
current GPS coordinates in every photo. And with only a moderate amount of coaxing you can
not only get the information, but pass it on to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Maps">Google Maps</a>!
</p>
<div align="left">
<a id="Photo-142" name="Photo-142"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240327&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-142">
<img alt="This should be Android-image-fail-3.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_142"
title="Photo Android-image-fail-3.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240327/small/Android-image-fail-3.jpeg"
width="300" height="225"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-143" name="Photo-143"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240327&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-143">
<img alt="This should be Android-image-fail-6-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_143"
title="Photo Android-image-fail-6-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240327/small/Android-image-fail-6-detail.jpeg"
width="228" height="297"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-144" name="Photo-144"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240327&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-144">
<img alt="This should be Android-image-fail-7.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_144"
title="Photo Android-image-fail-7.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240327/small/Android-image-fail-7.jpeg"
width="177" height="384"
/></a>
</div>
<p>
Isn't that nice? <i>Finally</i> something that works.
</p>
<p>
Well, almost. I suppose it's modern that Google Maps gets the address wrong (it relates to
something at the top of the screen, under the coordinates). But more to the point, it only
works when you don't need it. This is a photo taken on my own phone. What about a photo
sent with the messaging app? Tried that with <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne's</a> phone
and got:
</p>
<a id="Photo-145" name="Photo-145"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240327&imagesizes=11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-145">
<img alt="This should be Android-image-fail-8-detail.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_145"
title="Photo Android-image-fail-8-detail.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240327/small/Android-image-fail-8-detail.jpeg"
width="302" height="223"
/></a>
<p>
No <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exif">Exif</a> data! And look at the
image sizes. Yvonne's phone is effectively the same as mine, but the image has been reduced
from 12 MP to 1.9 MP (a variable which it's too polite to mention). About the only useful
piece of information there is the path name, for which I had seaarched in vain with
inadequate tools through the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)">Android</a> directory
hierarchy.
</p>
<p>
So: once again Android fail. I can understand the paranoia of so many people who
don't <i>want</i> their location to be known, but it should be easier than this, at least as
an option.
</p>
<p>
One day I'll find something really good about Android. I'll be amazed.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-27T01:35:53+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240328-010719</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240328-010719</link>
<category>technology</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Blacklist removal: success</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Yesterday I received mail from Wendy Bartlett, whom I knew at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandem_Computers">Tandem Computers</a>. Replied, or at
least I tried to:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
<wendy_bartlett@randomisp.net>: host ff-ip4-mx-vip2.prodigy.net[144.160.159.22]
<br /> said: 553 5.3.0 flpd594 DNSBL:RBL 521< 45.32.70.18 >_is_blocked.For
<br /> assistance forward this error to abuse_rbl@abuse-att.net (in reply to MAIL
<br /> FROM command)
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
Damn, will this never end? For the sake of completeness, sent a message
to <tt>abuse_rbl@abuse-att.net</tt> to say that I was just an innocent bystander.
</p>
<p>
Surprise, surprise:
</p>
<blockquote class="fullwidth">
<div style="text-align:left">
<tt>
Thank you for contacting the AT&T Postmaster.
<br />
<br />The mail-server IP address(es) associated with your request will be removed from the block list within 24-48 hours from the date of this letter. AT&T and its affiliates do NOT intentionally block legitimate mail in the course of our anti-spam initiatives and regret any inconvenience this may have caused.
<br />
</tt>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
And yes, now it works! I think this is the first time that I have been successful in such
an appeal.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-28T01:07:19+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240328-011116</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240328-011116</link>
<category>health</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Eye progress</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
My eye continues to improve. The bubble is still there, but barely. Hopefully it will soon
be completely gone, and the new floaters with it.
</p>
<p>
Today <a href="http://www.lemis.com/yvonne/">Yvonne</a> went shopping and picked up some reading glasses
for me. We had carefully measured the distance from my head to monitor and established that
it was about 60 to 62 cm. That falls clearly between 67 cm (1.5 dioptres) and 57 cm (1.75
dioptres). I suggested getting one set of each power if we could return one.
</p>
<p>
That didn't happen: nobody had 1.75 dioptre glasses on offer. So she came back with a 1.5
dioptre pair. But that's not an issue: I couldn't focus to 67 cm with them, more like 40
cm. That corresponds to 2.5 dioptres! And no, it's not the reading glasses. They focus
images from outside at exactly 67 cm.
</p>
<p>
So it seems that currently, at any rate, my right eye is short-sighted by about 1 dioptre.
Is that intentional? Is that what <a href="https://www.davidfabinyi.com.au/">David
Fabinyi</a> meant <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php?topics=G&subtitle=A%20new%20eye&article=D-20240323-015848#D-20240323-015848">when he said</a> that “the lens focus is set to slightly shorter than infinity”? 1
dioptre isn't “slightly shorter”, it's considerably short-sighted. Hopefully things will
improve.
</p>
<p>
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-28T01:11:16+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240329-003527</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240329-003527</link>
<category>health</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>Bursting the bubble</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
The bubble in my eye has been reducing in size, as advertised, but it was still there at
8:00 this morning. I had hoped that it would have been gone by yesterday at the latest. But
then I went back to bed for an hour or so, and at 9:00 it was gone.
</p>
<p>
All OK now? Not really. The floaters are still there, probably as many as before, just
longer strands now. And I <i>still</i> can't see clearly when reading the monitor (with the
reading glasses) or watching TV (without glasses in the right eye). I can't make up my mind
whether the focal length is increasing or not. I can no longer see my outstretched hand
clearly, so it could be, but it seems still to be less than the 3.5 m or so distance to the
TV, indicating 0.3 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioptre">dioptres</a> or
more.
</p>
<p>
And then there's an unexpected additional issue. Walking the dogs today, with only
non-prescription sunglasses, I had difficulty aligning the view from each eye. The image
for the left eye was higher than for the right eye. I had noticed this <a href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php?topics=G&subtitle=Seeing%20more%20clearly&article=D-20240324-004100#vision-skew">on Saturday</a>, but attributed it to the glasses. On the other hand, how could the
operation cause this kind of issue? Off-centre lens?
</p>
<p>
Is this going to go away? If not, I have two choices: have the lens replaced (and hope that
it'll be better next time) or wear glasses all the time, one of the things that I had hoped
to avoid. But there's not much point in coming to any decisions now. I certainly wouldn't
have anything done until after the other eye has been done, and even that looks less likely
to happen on the appointed date 11 April: <a href="https://www.davidfabinyi.com.au/">David Fabinyi</a> won't be available before then, and his locum is unlikely to be able to
help. Hopefully things will clear up before then. I don't want the present situation to
last too long.
</p>
<p>
Received a card (credit card size) in the mail today, with no further comment. It seems
that I have a TECNIS™ Eyehance with TECNIS Simplicity™ Delivery System DI800. What a lot of
meainingless buzzwords! About the only thing of interest is that the lens has a power
of <b>+</b>21.5D, which doesn't really say very much about where the focus is set.
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-29T00:35:27+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<guid isPermaLink='true'>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240329-005106</guid>
<link>http://www.lemis.com/grog/diary-mar2024.php#D-20240329-005106</link>
<category>general</category>
<category>opinion</category>
<title>I clean everything</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<div align="justify">
<p>
Petra Gietz helps us with the cleaning in the house. She takes her job seriously:
</p>
<a id="Photo-146" name="Photo-146"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240328&imagesizes=111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-146">
<img alt="This should be Petra-Bruno-3.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_146"
title="Photo Petra-Bruno-3.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240328/small/Petra-Bruno-3.jpeg"
width="313" height="216"
/></a>
<a id="Photo-147" name="Photo-147"
href="diary-mar2024.php?dirdate=20240328&imagesizes=1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111112#Photo-147">
<img alt="This should be Petra-Bruno-6.jpeg. Is it missing?" border="0" id="Photo_147"
title="Photo Petra-Bruno-6.jpeg. Click to redisplay larger version of image."
src="https://lemis.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/grog/Photos/20240328/small/Petra-Bruno-6.jpeg"
width="301" height="224"
/></a>
<p>
</p>
</div>
]]>
</description>
<dc:creator>Greg Lehey</dc:creator>
<dc:date>2024-03-29T00:51:06+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
</channel>
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