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billroper) wrote2025-08-08 10:48 pmPuppy!
He is an 11 week old hound mix who came to us with the name Calvin, which he will be keeping. He is very, very cute. And very, very hungry. He has also figured out that I am the feeder of dogs. :)
In other news, I have the two new monitors in the basement studio configured using a DisplayPort MST hub, but they periodically blink off. I am trying to figure out how to discourage this behavior, as it's simply annoying. So far, no luck.
On the other hand, when they aren't blinking, the extra screen is nice...
cellio) wrote2025-08-08 04:26 pmthe tomato that conquered Pittsburgh
This year I got three (different) tomato seedlings, all container-friendly, along with some peppers and other things. Having failed to do proper research, I allocated the tomato cages pretty arbitrarily. I should not have done that.
The giant tomato plant in the center is a Sungold. It seems to be in the process of conquering my patio, the neighborhood, and perhaps the city. It makes sweet, tasty, orange cherry tomatoes. I've had quite a bounty so far and there's plenty more to come. It was originally on that ledge with the others, but a month or so ago I realized that if I kept it there, I would not be able to harvest without a ladder. (So much for using that trellis.) At least this way I can climb up on that ledge to reach the ones I can't reach from the ground (or at least I hope I'll be able to reach them all!). Wowza. Next year, bigger cage! (They're very tasty, so I do plan to get this type next year.)
The other two tomato types are Patio Choice, advertised as good for small containers, and Mountain Magic. They both produce red grape tomatoes (Patio Choice are sweeter). On the right, not as clear in the picture, are two Cornito peppers and a banana pepper, all still working toward a first harvest. I've moved these around a few times over the course of the summer to try to optimize sunlight.
billroper) wrote2025-08-07 03:10 pmFor Want of a Cable
Yesterday, I assembled the desktop dual monitor stand and put the two new/refurb monitors on it, one on top of the other. Today, the Amazon shipment arrived with the missing cables and I figured I'd take a few minutes, run down to the basement and hook everything up. Getting the power cords into the monitors was a bit more challenging than I'd hoped, but by picking the tower up and putting it in my lap, I managed to get that done. All I had to do was to plug in the display port cables. I had ordered one with the monitors and another from Amazon last night when I realized that these monitors do not have a display port passthrough.
The cable from Amazon is fine. The cable from the refurb place is an HDMI to display port cable. Since these monitors do not have an HDMI port, that's sort of useless.
I have sent a complaint off to the refurb place. In the meantime, I have ordered yet another display port cable from Amazon which should arrive tomorrow.
*sigh*
In other news, the monitors on my desk are a slightly newer version. They have display port passthrough *and* an HDMI port. And they are going to stay *exactly* where they are. :)
mdlbear) wrote2025-08-07 05:14 pm
Thankful Thursday
Today I am thankful for...
- Health insurance.
- Apps that work reliably and well. (Thereby excluding the ones that don't, of which there is a greater number.)
- Software that retains backward compatibility. (Thereby specifically excluding Python 3.)
- Being alive. That is deliberately not saying much at this point.
- Ticia. Thanks to Bronx is limited to those occasions when he isn't being nippy.
NO thanks to ANYTHING THAT REQUIRES USING A FSCKING PHONE.
billroper) wrote2025-08-06 10:03 pmWiring It Up
So I have verified that the rather peppy processor in the new studio computer should run up to *four* displays on the Intel Integrated Graphics at the stunningly high 1080p resolution that I need here. All I need is a display port splitter. I have ordered one. And another display port cable. And a USB adapter brick to power the display port splitter. And another power strip so that I don't have to steal every extension cord in the house. *And* a mini-DP to display port cable which I am pretty sure will work with the monitor that I am sending to school with K and the new laptop that is waiting for her there.
Gretchen sent me a text asking when I would be done in the studio and I explained that I was ordering cables. This made her laugh, because *every* time I go to wire something in the studio, more cables are in order.
billroper) wrote2025-08-05 10:47 pmSynchronicity
Now, if you've seen the movie, you know that one of the plot points was that the original version of "That Thing You Do" was a slow, boring ballad. It was then shifted to be up tempo and became a much, much better song and a big hit.
So this morning, I read the article linked below about how Decca Records didn't sign the Beatles based on the demo they were given, apparently for good reasons. And near the end of the article, there is a discussion about how "Please Please Me" started out as a slow ballad and was of no interest to the label, but then the Beatles took it up tempo, the label recorded it, and the song became a big hit.
Uh huh. Ok.
Why Decca Didn't Sign the Beatles
billroper) wrote2025-08-04 11:55 pmPlay Ball!
ericcoleman) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
filk2025-08-04 08:35 pmThis week on FilkCast - We're Back!
Available on iTunes, Google Play and most other places you can get podcasts. We can be heard Wednesday at 6am and 9pm Central on scifi.radio.
filkcast.blogspot.com
mdlbear) wrote2025-08-04 08:50 pmRiver: Amethyst Rose: 35
Well. Today is my daughter Amethyst's 35th birthday. (I used present tense two years ago, and it still feels right. Past conditional is awkward and just plain wrong. If we can celebrate Washington's Birthday, I can celebrate Ame's.) This time last year her birthday fell on a Sunday, so it got attached to the weekly "Done Since" post. This year she has her own day back, and her own post.
Last year, too, we were getting ready to move to Den Haag; we have been here for ten months now.
G and I just raised a glass in her honor a little while ago, and I've sung her song, "For Amy". I don't seem to have much to say tonight.
"That's ok, Dad; neither do I."
"Good night, Ame."
billroper) wrote2025-08-03 09:13 pmCleaning Day
What I *did* know was that there were a lot of things that needed to be done around the house. Gretchen and Julie spent several hours straightening things up in the dining room. There are *still* a lot of things in there that need to be dealt with, but I was able to put the table back in the useful position for a table with chairs around it for the first time since the COVID pandemic. We will take this as a win.
I also got two more loads of laundry done, took the two new monitors down to the basement to be installed later this week, cleaned the air filters on the A/C system, dispatched a mountain of bubble wrap in the living room that the monitors had been wrapped in for shipping, threw out a bunch of trash, and threw the ball for Ruby the Dog.
The last was the activity that probably made me and the dog happiest. :) Although there's a *lot* to be said for the dining room cleanup...
It was eighty degrees downstairs despite my best efforts as of a few minutes ago, so I have given up and buttoned the house back up with the A/C turned on. I need to be in the office working tomorrow and I would *much* rather be comfortable.
mdlbear) wrote2025-08-03 04:20 pmDone Since 2025-07-27
It has not been a very productive week, but I did manage to take a walk every day except Friday. Monday's was short, but other than that I've been getting to the nearest cross street North, for a total of 1.2km (3/4 of a mile) round trip. Sometimes, like today, just barely. But still.
And I've been getting quite a lot of cat cuddle, though that's also contributed to what I suspect is chronic sleep-deprivation. Thank you, Bronx. :/ Wednesday G and I raised a glass in honor of the lovely Desti, our household's incarnation of Bast, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge two years ago.
In a couple of news articles I linked to last Sunday, Solar is now 41% cheaper than fossil fuels, new UN report finds: 'The sun is rising on a clean energy age', and The year of the European Union Linux desktop may finally arrive, thanks to a perfectly understandable desire for digital sovereignty.
On the other hand, Tom Lehrer is dead. But even if his website, where he dropped all of his songs into the public domain, goes away, his legacy will live on at The Internet Archive
On the gripping hand, if you haven't tried "vibe coding", enjoy this website of AI Coding Horrors, of which this is one of the worst examples. If you have been vibe coding, good luck with that.
billroper) wrote2025-08-02 10:30 pmTemperature Gradient
I have turned on the window fan in the bedroom as of several hours ago and we will shortly see how sleeping conditions are in the bedroom. If they aren't good, I can always turn the air conditioning back on.
In other news, I bought a refurb monitor for K for college and then bought another one for me to use in the studio, because the price was attractive. But they came without stands, so I purchased the add-on stand that they were selling, thinking that it was the same one that I'd gotten before. It wasn't. It is a substantially different design that won't work in the studio and is unlikely to work in K's dorm room. And trying to return them is probably more trouble than it's worth.
So I have now purchased a dual monitor stand that *should* work in the studio and will attach the two new/old monitors to it, while K can have the monitor that I've been using in the studio for her desk. With luck, this will all work out. :)