I heard a funny story yesterday. My sister's 79 and once a week drives to the supermarket and library. I guess occasionally she may visit the doctor or dentist.
She recently had to get all 4 tires on her car replaced — not because they were worn out, but because they'd perished from lack of use. 🤣
Big tick: On the very first page of the Te Tai Tokerau Regional Accessibility Strategy (PDF) is a list of alternative formats:
This initiative includes Whangārei District Council where we'll be living soon.
Awake at 0232 pondering on identity and how it's altered by a death in the family.
And feeling powerless in a world run by madmen.
Hooray for a Bagua Shan Shiji Chun Oolong tea. ☕️
Thanks to a huge High over the country yesterday and today we've had the hardest frosts I think I've ever seen here. So cold!
I'm boggled. I just created a web app in 3 minutes … with Claude doing all the work. It's not quite as explodey and flamey as I'd wish, but wow!
Last year I blogged about wanting an app where:
I type (or paste) in a bunch of text. Now delete it all with a splendid animation of it going up in flames.
Claude made my personal app happen!
A quick iPhone snap never does it justice but there was a gorgeous golden sliver of moon low on the horizon beneath bright Venus on this very cold morning (probably around 0C). 🥶
Turns out my brother, who I hadn't actually seen or spoken to since Mum died back in 2013, died earlier today, aged 77.
The message pointed out that recently he
was very accepting of the news that he had very little time left, acknowledging it was to be expected after 60 years of smoking
Odd. I used to be 3 of 3. Now I guess I'm 3 of 2 …
The other day I watched an interesting video which then led me to Hanging Exercises for complete beginners and older adults.
I had a go the other day at a dead hang, without success so I rewatched the first part of the video linked above and tried again.
I managed a few seconds of 'sagging'. 😆
On the rare occasions I get Bracket City out without mistakes, hints or outright revealing answers I really enjoy the "Destroyer of Worlds" plaudit.
A series I seem to enjoy more with each book. Seven Deadly Sins (The Cat Caliban Mysteries Book 7) by D.B. Borton. 📚
[Cat's] sleuthing skills are called on when sixteen-year-old Peter Baer washes up on the banks of the Ohio River — a length of rope wound tightly around his neck.
Cat doesn't understand computers, not does she want to, so when her hacker nephew talks to her we get sentences like this, which I find hilarious:
You could tell him you needed me to put in some tube time frobnicating your software and working on your website.
I did a 5 Km beach walk at dawn, and took a photo of the 'lake' the sea leaves behind where the river runs out.
This morning for the Pacific Wave Appreciation Society I thought I'd take a wide view. 🌊
That was unexpectedly fun to see NZ's own Rhys Darby in the role of Wedding Planner on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S03E02. Nicely played too.
This 23 minute video from Howtown is excellent The poison that made half the US a little dumber:
Leaded gasoline, paint, and pipes left a toxic fingerprint in the baby teeth of half of all Americans — and those tiny clues reveal how silent doses of lead rewired IQ scores, crime rates, and mental health for decades.
It even mentions The Dunedin Study.
A dozen of these messages overnight. I get them all the time, but not usually so many at once.
I keep wondering if I should change my longstanding fairly strong password for a stronger one.
I'm always happy to buy and read books by Cari Hunter, such as The Stolen Girl. 📚
Detective Inspector Jo Shaw is bored, desk-bound, and absolutely not supposed to answer the phone call that sends her to a body in an empty house.
Quality writing, set in the UK, lesbian protagonist.
Cool! Orcas Appear to Be Sharing Their Prey With Humans—but What Does It Mean?:
The researchers identified 18 different types of orcas “gifts,” ranging from several species of rays to a strand of seaweed. Other gifts included a green turtle, an ocean sunfish, a broadnose sevengill shark and an ancient murrelet. …
In nearly all of the cases, the orca appeared to wait for a response from the human after making the offering. Then, it either recovered or abandoned the gift.
This poster is on the window of our gym. It makes me chuckle.
When I do things with weights I grimace with the effort.
One guy, "the grunter", at our early gym sessions lifts big weights and grunts all the time. I feel like suggesting he reduce the weights a bit.
Today a chap leg pressed 340 Kg!
Moments after I hung out the bird food the tauhou were eating their way through it. 🐦
Pīwakawaka | Tirairaka | Fantails are notoriously hard to photograph in flight as they flit, dart, squirl in the air. 🐦
Today was apparently "Sit On The Railing Day" which gave me a rare chance.
For comparison:
Piwakawaka: Length: 16 cm; Weight: 8 grams. (Not sure if the length includes the tail…)
Sparrow: Length: 15 cm; Weight: 28 grams.