Weight

For the first time in years I’ve lost weight to the point it shows – to others and to the waistline of my stretch jeans. Sure it’s only 10lbs/4.5 kg so far, but I’m impressed. I don’t care how long it’s taken.

The only negative for this Brit, I’ve one less thing to moan about – that I can’t lose weight no matter what I try. 🙂

A prepackaged, microwave/oven-cookable veggie burrito. Beans, cheese & roasted peppers.
A prepackaged, microwave/oven-cookable veggie burrito. Beans, cheese & roasted peppers.

So how?

More frequent and longer dog walks, and I’ve started jogging with Pumpkin dog (1 year old now) during them. The jogs are only a few hundred yards/metres at a time though, mainly because she needs to stop to sniff things. It’s honestly worth the aching muscles.

Although I’ve eaten more healthily for a couple of years now (health scare) this time around there’s been no measurable change in diet.

So, exercise not extra fries.

Idling

At the start of 2025 I’d intended to blog more frequently. And here we are, 2 months since my last post and back to being a content consumer.

I’m not disengaged but yet again there’s too much happening in the world for me to offer up my opinions without offending someone/everyone, so I’ll…

We’re 2-1/2 weeks into a garage conversion – having a garage too small for our cars and previously full of 18 years of stored crap turned into a room suitable for our girls to entertain in. Or maybe one to escape to and shut the world out.

A partially cleared garage prior to conversion into a second reception room.
A partially cleared garage prior to conversion into a second reception room.

Apart from the tradesmen breaking our hot and cold water and central heating system (after they’d moved the boiler out of the room for a reason I still cannot fathom) it’s gone well so far, but we’re now at the snagging stage. It’s not a small list.

We also had new flooring laid for 50% of the downstairs area, and apart from being unable to shut the kitchen door that’s oh so nearly done.

The house is dusty throughout and strewn with stuff we can’t really put back yet, not until we’ve had the job completed and we’ve signed it off – and yeah, paid what’s left.

Today I’ve got a bad back, the worst pain in years, so everything is making me grumpy – especially today’s New York Times ‘Spelling Bee’ puzzle and its inability to allow ‘eutectic’ – which is somehow not in its word list. Bah!

Authenticator

The iOS Microsoft Authenticator app lost my 2FA codes. Luckily there’s only one that mattered today, and I could temporarily disable the Wordfence security plugin to gain access to my blog.

This underscores the importance of retaining backup recovery codes. Somehow at least, I’ve not actually figured that bit out just yet.

Stella cat looking intently through the white-painted stair rail.
Stella cat looking intently through the white-painted stair rail.

Butternut Box

On Thursday I signed up to the Butternut Box dog food delivery service and was pleasantly surprised to see they’d deliver an introductory pack of 2 weeks of food the very next day.

The sign up and variety selection process was pleasant enough I suppose, and I looked forward to getting, er… told Pumpkin to look forward to some lovely new food.

She’s been a very fussy eater of late, probably because she’s started the transition from puppy to lady dog. So we’ve tried introducing her to new varieties of biscuits, wet food…

Anyway, as soon as their delivery partner’s email dropped in my inbox my heart sank. dpd have a well-deserved negative reputation. But hey, how difficult is it to deliver a box within a 1-hour window?

Bear in mind I’d instructed Butternut Box that our safe space is to the right of the house behind the bins. In the shade. Bear in mind I’d already informed dpd too. Easy.

I arrived home just after my wife had returned with daughter1, to a box dropped upside-down at the front door in the heat of mid-afternoon sun. The contents had started to defrost but at least Butternut Box said they could be refrozen if still cold to the touch…

So I complained.

I tried to complain.

The reply-to email address is a ‘no-reply’. The from email address was returned to me with AI instructions to try another one, which elicited an AI response letting me know that I could save a safe space location in my Butternut Box account and with dpd.

Sigh.

Right, let’s close the account.

That’s not possible without a message to either an AI or via a telephone call. So I asked the AI to delete my account. Nope, had to wait for a human to contact me to do it.

So I waited.

Just tried signing into the account in the app and on the web site. Nope, it’s now an invalid email or password.

Er…

They shut the account without a request for feedback. To be fair it’s what I asked for, but it all seems just so impersonal.

No, I cannot recommend Butternut box and I emphatically cannot recommend their delivery partner dpd.

But hey, at least Pumpkin has a new branded bandana. It’s too small to fit her, but hey we can’t have everything.

A Butternut Box branded bandana in a table with, in the background Pumpkin, a female black cavapoo dog. She's waiting to be let out to chase a neighbourhood black cat invading her back garden.
A Butternut Box branded bandana in a table with, in the background Pumpkin, a female black cavapoo dog. She’s waiting to be let out to chase a neighbourhood black cat invading her back garden.

Peace

A few weeks ago I posted about a peace lily plant I’d inherited and somehow kept alive for a few months. I don’t think it’s got long left.

The advice I was given was it was over-watered. Or under-watered. Or needed more light. Or had contracted a plant disease (despite not being close to any others for a couple of years).

So this is what I’m left with.

A sad and utterly bedraggled peace lily plant.
A sad and utterly bedraggled peace lily plant.

After cutting all the dead stems off I teased the dead half of the root structure away and threw it out, worked some compost in and around the roots, gave it a light watering and will leave it a week before its next feed.

Oh, the pot liner had drain holes in the base, and I’d simply not thought to empty the stagnant water out again – which is why I got a big mug full last time. Yes, of course I sniffed it this time!

The worst that’s going to happen is it dies and I buy a fourth. Or a cactus. But after seeing a couple of recent new leaves I’m hopeful I can assist in resurrecting itself.

Or, maybe I’ll do a search for “un-killable house or office plants”!

No, plastic is not an option.

For now.

Moist

I acquired a peace lily plant when my last boss retired in November. I feel a great responsibility to keep it alive. I’d killed 2 of his previous plants and bought this a couple of years ago to make amends.

A desk with a peace lily plant in a white pot. To its right is an IKEA watering can. To the right of that are some papers. In the foreground is a mug with a cat motif, it is full of a very dark brown liquid.
A desk with a peace lily plant in a white pot. To its right is an IKEA watering can. To the right of that are some papers. In the foreground is a mug with a cat motif, it is full of a very dark brown liquid.

Until recently it positively thrived in my care, but this week it drooped. It has browning leaves too despite it being watered to the same schedule and with the same volume of water my ex-boss used. (Science)!

Now if you hear in mind that I’ve been poking my finger into the soil between twice-weekly watering sessions, and it’s always been just slightly moist. But today I tested at 180⁰ from my usual place.

The photo caption mentions a dark brown liquid. My poking finger submerged up to the first knuckle.

Oops!

Kitchen roll pushed into the pot absorbed some of the surface water, but it just kept on absorbing and absorbing and…

I cradled the plant and tipped up the pot over my mug (which needed a wash anyway). Most went in the mug.

Next week I’ll trim the dead leaves.

It’s a plan.

Phase 2: I’ll buy a soil moisture meter/monitor.

And, er…

That’s it folks.

Books

I replied to a toot by @greghiggins457@appdot.net about the frequency of new books sent by ‘Book Bub’.

“I signed up for Book Bub a while back. Everyday I get free books on my Kindle thanks to this email. Problem is I am not a fast reader. I have so many unread books on my Kindle that will probably last me the rest of my life. I need to learn how to read faster and read more consistently.”

A slightly enhanced version of my reply follows.

Greg’s words got me thinking of where I am, not actually reading, but definitely collecting books for some time in the future when the ‘book thing’ switches on again…

About 40 years ago I began to make weekly or slightly less frequent visits to a used books market stall that bought the books back for half the purchase price. Their science fiction collection drew 100% of my interest and I struggled mightily to come away with only a few at a time.

As an already insatiable reader I learned to read fast, to get the meat out of a story, and maybe a little more. Books l loved I kept, the rest eventually got returned. I read them all. And things slowed down a bit.

The candidates for keepers I read again, more slowly this time, and culled those that didn’t entertain me. So things slowed down a bit more.

Finally I read again what was left, savouring the nuanced stuff I’d inevitably find in and between the lines. And there I found the keepers.

A 1978 reprint of Isaac Asimov's 'Pebble' in the Sky' novel. Originally purchased used for £0.40 I could have got £0.20 from the market stall if I'd returned it. But I did not. (The turned over corners are not my doing, I abhor it).
A 1978 reprint of Isaac Asimov’s ‘Pebble’ in the Sky’ novel. Originally purchased used for £0.40 I could have got £0.20 from the market stall if I’d returned it. But I did not. (The turned over corners are not my doing, I abhor it).

Eventually life changed and I stopped visiting that market stall. I found enough to fill the void. Family, responsibility, different stuff.

Retirement’s a few years off yet, but close enough that I know what I’ll be doing for at least a part of it.

And last year I found another market stall, one town over.

Big data

I’ll start with a link to the Wikipedia page on Big data. Though the summary is pretty easy to follow, I’ll be honest in admitting to not reading the rest.

Right, @GwenfarsGarden@rage.love posted this on Friday under the content warning Palestine/NHS action: keep Palantir out of the NHS (UK) (link) and this text:

Palantir, a US spyware company that provides technology enabling Israel’s genocide in Palestine, has been awarded a lucrative contract to develop and maintain a platform to store NHS patient data – known as the Federated Data Platform. It is now in the process of being rolled-out by NHS trusts in England.

Alongside health workers and patient groups, Palestine Solidarity Campaign are calling for the contract and roll-out of the platform to be stopped.

Write to the Health Secretary Wes Streeting, and Minister of State Karin Smyth, to demand the contract is revoked and the roll-out stopped:

https://palestinecampaign.eaction.online/palantirnhs

# Palestine #NHS

Since 2020 I’ve measured the likelihood changes will be reversed by how embarrassing it’d be to decision makers.

My journey along this road started with responding by email to poorly-thought out covid strategies at the high school my daughters attended and my youngest daughter still does – and their absolute intransigence after they’d published… Zero consultation with parents, see?

So, Palantir:

How efficient will it be to use them vs the harm to individuals here? Not very. By that I mean it’s likely to be cost-effective vs most of the previous attempts at unifying health data

How efficient vs how harmful to all of us? Bad. Not bad right away, but bad when the government relies on their data to make decisions about how the little people are treated. Bad because the government will uncritically examine datasets too large to comprehend and jump into… aaah…

A diagram of the generation and common application of big data. (Wikipedia, by user Jouasse).
A diagram of the generation and common application of big data. (Wikipedia, by user Jouasse).

So, I’m considering signing the petition.

Why “considering” though?

It’s not at all complicated but if you’ve got this far I’d like to ask you to read the Wikipedia article about the company, and especially the section on Controversies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palantir_Technologies

The decision makers in this case must have known about the company’s history. They must have known about the ramping up of fascism in the United States. They must have known that once data is made accessible to Palantir it won’t stay there, whatever agreements and whatever language in those agreements tries to keep it safe.

So for me it’s pointless signing another petition, we’re being governed by a party with knee-jerk reactions to every decision that must be made. It’s worse than the previous shower of shite.

But in this case we’re throwing away the £millions (£billions?) thrown at previous attempts to bring together health data and throwing more at a company with a proven track record.

And I don’t mean a proven good one.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/us/cambridge-analytica-palantir.html

As a start-up called Cambridge Analytica sought to harvest the Facebook data of tens of millions of Americans in summer 2014, the company received help from at least one employee at Palantir Technologies, a top Silicon Valley contractor to American spy agencies and the Pentagon.

Remember them? Consider how likely it is that it was not just restricted to Americans (US publications always show bias to American issues and limit scope to Americans, no offence intended to Americans).

Anyway, I’m pretty sure that I’ve used the following quote for a past #QuoteSunday:

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”

– George Santayana.

Yeah, I know this is usually used for the bigger big stuff, but it works for me.

Fine

Do you know how most governments start their terms with the best of wishes for the people they govern, but soon find that the promises made simply cannot be kept – the scale of the challenge exceeded their imaginations? And so the disillusionment of the people who elected them grows?

Well the current United States administration didn’t begin with the best of intentions for the majority, neither in the short or long terms. It’s painful to watch from the comparative ‘safety’ of a little country just off the western edge of Europe.

A screen grab from an episode of Homestar Runner, with the Strong Bad character sat in front of a broken 'Compy 386' computer. A hand-drawn note pretending to be a genuine computer dialogue is taped on the screen, reading: "This is real. System report: Everything is fine. Nothing is ruined." With an 'ok' button below'.
A screen grab from an episode of Homestar Runner, with the Strong Bad character sat in front of a broken ‘Compy 386’ computer. A hand-drawn note pretending to be a genuine computer dialogue is taped on the screen, reading: “This is real. System report: Everything is fine. Nothing is ruined.” With an ‘ok’ button below’.

And yet we here are facing some of the same challenges as the country presided over by an occupant of a position once termed ‘The Leader of the Free World’.

The difference is stark. At least here the politicians pretend to have thought long and hard about the pain ordinary folks will have to endure for the next 4 years. At least here it’s unlikely any dissent or public protest will be met with literal criminal charges of ‘terrorism’ – although the Conservative government prior to this one did start to change our laws (the magic of the ‘Statutory Instrument’.

And, do you know, not one of our politicians had actually said they’d be a dictator on day 1. I’m certain in years gone by it’s be too much for a public accustomed to at least an illusion that their votes guaranteed a say in policy.

But ordinary people throughout the United States of America voted for a candidate who told them he’d strip away their rights and ignore the Constitution and all the amendments he and his backers don’t get along with.

And they put it all in writing, in public.

It’s not about Trump’s inability to think of anyone but himself any more, and drag vested interests along for the ride. That was his first, chaotic term.

No, there’s a literal book with a script that’s being worked to. The figures who previously lurked in the shadows don’t need to any longer. It’s not as if they feel emboldened to say and do things in public – the very system is now tailored directly for them, to either enrich or grant them previously unimaginable powers.

So why am I writing this now? What’s prompted this today?

Simple really. The past is being whitewashed again. Government sites are removing all references to Diversity, Equality and Inclusion initiatives – past, present and future.

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/arlington-cemetery-scrubs-website-dei/

I visited Arlington Cemetery way back in 1993. You know, back when governments had the best wishes for their people, their past, their future.