Spontaneous Musings

1. Snagged from colls - "You can help NASA classify telescope images of
galaxies, helping researchers identify very distant
galaxies and black holes and distinguish real signals
from noise. Each classification takes about a minute,
and tutorials guide you every step of the way."

Here's How

I don't know about anyone else? But I'm certainly tempted.

2. RIP James Van Der Beek aka Dawson from Dawson's Creek. He died of cancer at the age of 48. It was announced multiple times on the news this morning. He apparently had six kids - which, well, virile?
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3. Work and public transportation and this week (starting with Sunday)...have made me want to avoid people for the next four days (and since I'm taking Friday off and have Monday off as a paid Federal Bank Holiday - I can do that). To further this? I rescheduled my hair appointment for May. (Well that, and I can't handle going up and down four flights of steps on Monday, with this knee. I need more time. I'm hoping by May, I can do it without too much pain.)
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4. Question a Day Memage February:

12. Do you have any siblings?

Yes. One. A younger brother. Who has gifted me with a beautiful niece.
Siblings are a double-edged thing - both gift and curse, those who have them probably know whereof I speak?

5. People are using AI...to help with commenting on various sites - with ahem amusing results? ( Or it's bots, can't decide.)
( Where I'm complimented for my excellent story-telling abilities in...writing film reviews?? )

Sigh, people continue to bewilder me?

Weirdly, and believe it or not? I sleep better now than I used to. I used to average between 3-5 hours. Now, it's between 5-7 hours, so progress. I even get 8-9 hours intermittently. The smart watch has made a difference - it inspires me to get to bed earlier - and the move to the financial district means that I'm sleeping twenty minutes longer.

I've always had problems with sleep - since I was a child. Busy mind. I used to sleep with my books. And a cat or two. I was raised with cats. I miss the cats, actually - but can't really own one now for multiple reasons not worth going into? They did not help me sleep better.
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Last night, I went to bed early, turned off everything around 9:00 pm, and was in bed by 9:40pm. Fell asleep by 10:16 pm (according to the watch at any rate), and ended up waking up at 2:30am, and couldn't get back to sleep - even though I listened to three different sleep meditations on the Calm app. One...kind of triggered a bad memory - it was talking about imagining being in a peaceful and safe place...and managed to remind me of a horror novel that I read over a year ago, and still haunts me to this day. (PenPal, avoid at all costs).

Me: It was about walking through a forest and for some reason it brought to mind this horrible scene from a horror novel -
Mother: How odd that a meditation about Star War's the "force" would trigger horror novel, usually the force is a good thing.
Me: No forest.
Mother: yes, the force.
Me: No. F-o-r-e-s-t, Forest.
Mother: Ohhhh. That makes more sense. I thought you said force.

Sigh. It is possible to have conversations with folks, use words in the same language, and completely not understand one another.
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****

Been seeing advertisements in the subway for "Friend.com" - stating things like, "Friend: listens to you, responds, and supports you" and "binge a entire television series with you", "share adventures"...and I thought, oh, this must be friending app, similar to a dating app, except for platonic relationships! I should go check this out.

Eh.

Turns out my definition of "friend" isn't exactly the same as others?

Friend is an AI wearable pendant that records everything you say and do, and after collecting all this data - analyzes it and talks to you about it

From the The Verge

( An AI pendant that you wear around your neck constantly, records your voice and all your discussions, and supports you, talks back to you and is your friend )

Apparently he spent $1.5 M just to buy the domain name.

I don't know, I find the concept kind of frightening? And really disturbing? That's not how I define friendship. Friendship is supporting each other, listening to each other, and caring about each other, and enjoying things together, debating things, discussing things, and sometimes disagreeing but being okay about it.

Although I guess it is weirdly reassuring in a misery loves company kind of way that there are so many people out there, including this guy, who crave friendship and can't quite find it?

In more disturbing AI news?( Read more... )

Okay. What happened to friendship apps - where you just, you know, meet folks with similar interests? I feel like I woke up one morning and suddenly found myself living in a science fiction horror series by way of Black Mirror and Philip K Dick? And how can I extricate myself? Does anyone see an escape route? Because I want out. Also is there a way we can make any of this stop?

****

I did spend about an hour this morning talking to Art History Major (cubical mate) who is stuck at home recuperating from a stress fracture, which I think is a broken foot. ( Read more... )

*****

I'm avoiding the news as much as possible. I know what's going on in the world. I wish I didn't. My way of coping is ruthlessly mocking it and making fun of everything. I managed to make myself and various co-workers laugh today. So, that's a win, right?

One co-worker thinks we should all go to group therapy for the trauma of Crazy Org's merger of the agencies. I'm beginning to think the entire United States needs some group therapy.

I found this "Portrait of Life/Portrait of Grief" rather moving and relatable:

Disclaimer: As always, good news is often in the eye of the beholder and mileage may vary on the below. Hopefully you'll find something to make you smile.

1. Only about a quarter of medical schools include training on how to discuss safe gun storage and firearm injury prevention with patients. Scrubs Addressing the Firearm Epidemic is working to change that — and ensure that future doctors play a role in preventing gun violence.

https://www.thetrace.org/2025/07/medical-school-gun-violence-prevention/

2. Great land protection story from the Port Townsend Leader about the exciting recent purchase of 81 acres of forest and wetlands by our friends at the Northwest Watershed Institute (NWI)! The land will be permanently protected and stewarded as part of NWI's 500-acre Tarboo Wildlife Preserve in the Quilcene area. Jefferson Land Trust is proud to have played a facilitation role in this project by working with the U.S. Navy to secure matching funds through the Navy’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program. The Navy’s funding purchased a restrictive easement on the land that prevents development (but does not grant any rights to the military for use of the property).

https://www.ptleader.com/stories/northwest-watershed-institute-purchases-forest-for-addition-to-tarboo-wildlife-preserve,215813

3.Senator Chris Van Hollen’s amendment in the Senate Appropriations Committee to "retain, preserve and compile" any records related to Jeffrey Epstein passed unanimously. On that note, the Epstein files are proving to be a real thorn in Trump’s shoe, and I’m here for it.

https://www.ksby.com/politics/senate-committee-unanimously-approves-amendment-that-would-preserve-jeffrey-epstein-files

[The fight over the Epstein files and release of the client list is amusing, partly because it's one of the many platforms that the Doofus ran on, and right now, his base, Magna is furious at him. Over on Twitter, Stephen King got into trouble with his fans - for stating that the Epstein Client List was about as real as the Tooth Fantasy and Santa Claus. ]

4.L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has signed an executive order to provide cash cards worth several hundred dollars—funded by philanthropy—to undocumented immigrants who miss work due to fear of ICE raids.

https://mayor.lacity.gov/news/mayor-bass-issues-executive-directive-support-immigrant-communities

5.US District Court Judge Nina Wang has fined two of Mike Lindell's attorneys $3,000 apiece for their error-riddled AI-generated legal brief. Lindell, of My Pillow, lost the defamation case and is on the hook for $2.3M in damages.

[Yeah, don't use AI to write things folks. It's a computer code created by IT - and IT can't write that well, and some can't write to save their lives.]

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5389852-mypillow-ceo-mike-lindells-attorneys-fined-for-inaccurate-ai-generated-brief/

6. Poland generated more power from clean energy sources than coal for the first time in June.

https://www.ft.com/content/ae920241-597e-49d9-a4b9-bfdfa9deabb6?accessToken=zwAGOQFSub4YkdOukgJBWX5J2dOkub_fqd6rtg.MEUCIC7wxgJShKjVR3u717YcwKFA3kRvRTs4yUanM49uZ5ZYAiEAiv7r4PrLesRguLHgvVlrgsCiItG8QsBG5GNgqjqgj5A&sharetype=gift&token=4a8b6641-d698-4252-8c2f-e667b96f2351&ref=climativity.com

7.Michael Jordan opened his fourth free clinic for people who are uninsured or underserved in North Carolina, his home state.

https://www.newsweek.com/sports/nba/michael-jordan-opens-another-free-health-clinic-native-north-carolina-2050274?sh_kit=7a2950363f4b90b1881ae76c68d24551846eea9063b67a6a14e9fa39bc419e40

8.NEW ORLEANS FINANCIAL COLLAB GETS $1M GRANT TO INVEST IN LOCAL START-UPS
The Financial Wellness Collaborative received the $1 million grant to help small businesses manage their financial health and scale-up.

https://www.blackenterprise.com/new-orleans-financial-collaborative-grant-invest/

9.Mexico sent water rescue teams and firefighters to help in Texas after the holiday weekend floods.

https://www.newsweek.com/mexico-sends-help-texas-floods-2095878

10.A new Gallup poll taken over the month of June shows Trump support on “handling the immigration issue” now stands at 35% with 62% opposing.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/692522/surge-concern-immigration-abated.aspx
( the rest of the 44 beneath the cut - the science stuff is towards the end of the list. )

And just in case you found zip in that list to smile about? Here's a photo of flowers.

1. Kind of fun and definitely useful

As the number of air travelers rises, returning to near-prepandemic levels, so do questions about flying protocols and rules — particularly what travelers can and cannot take in their carry-on luggage when flying within the United States. For instance: Is guacamole a solid or a liquid? (It’s a gel, which falls under the same restrictions as liquids and is not allowed in your carry-on — unless it’s inside a 3.4-ounce container.)

Here’s a guide to help you navigate the more ambiguous carry-on rules — with some quiz questions throughout to test your knowledge, too.

2. Today gave me a headache. That is all.

3. Mother agreed with me, that my father's funeral is beginning to remind her of a wedding, in particular her own - apparently it also only had four Catholics in attendance.

I told her about one of the responses to my post on how my uncle was planning on doing my father's funeral.
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This came up because my brother went to Buffalo and Niagra Falls to get a new suit. (I don't know why he didn't drive to NYC to do it. My brother's logic and me tend to be unmixy things, it's actually one of the reasons we don't get along.)
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Frigging hell, he went to get a suit and to Niagra Falls with his wife.
I want my brother's life.

Meanwhile, I'm day-dreaming about taking an excursion to either The Little Island or Governor's Island - apparently you can camp or glamp on Governor's Island in luxury tents and cabins" (which I don't know, is that even camping? Kind of takes all the allure out of the sport. It's camping for people like myself who hate sleeping on the ground and want my own private bathroom and shower at my beck and call). Of course you have to book months in advance, because hello, NYC. Everything in NYC has to be booked in advance - we've got 12 million people plus tourists, so approximately 15 million people. Apparently there are people fleeing NYC? If so, more power to them - I wish more people would. Go, shoo. Flee to Pennsylvania and preferably Kansas City. (Although it is awfully hot in Kansas City at the moment - I can see why you might not want to flee that far.)

There are things that don't need to be booked in advance - things no one really knows about.

Today on the way home from work - they had cordoned off the streets around BAM for a street fair of sorts. It was a pleasant surprise - it meant I could walk obstacle free to the subway. No pesky cars and bikes to bar my path. Sure there were inflated bounce rooms. One was designed as a giant Wall E (it was ugly and looked like a haunted house), and another was a huge slide or a series of slides. Inflated bounce rooms are weirdly popular at the moment. You'd think the pandemic would make it the opposite - but no. The Worlds Biggest Bounce House is Coming to Brooklyn This Fall - or in September. [It's coming to the park near Brighton Beach or to the east of it. I can't get there - I'd need to find a friend with a kid and a car, and ...well...it's not like I'm into Bounce houses. I've never really understood the point of them to be honest. I'm more of a water park kid. But it would be fun to do with kids.] Anyhow, no clue what the fair was about - something regarding "Epic Solutions", the NYPD even had a booth - so I'm thinking a youth job fair.

It was definitely warm enough - and no rain.

4. Worried again today whether I'm nice. Okay worry isn't quite the right word. I pondered whether I was nice. I really need to block out my co-worker's conversations. I wear earphones, it should be easy. Maybe I should invest in ear pods which I can wander about in?

I don't feel nice at the moment. I'm too frustrated with everybody and everything to feel nice. I feel I have no control over anything and am sort of trapped.

Trying to find the positives. My life's never been that traumatizing, which is why...I can't say things have ever gotten necessarily better.

Mel: We're thinking things have to get better soon, right? You've worked here a long time...what do you think?
Me: I don't know. They got really bad for a bit back in 2009-2014 or thereabouts, before you came on board. We went a good five years without any raises, promotions or hires, and everyone was either over-worked or had no work since we were in a recession and had no money. Then you came on board and we got promoted and got raises, and things were good. Then we all move to 347, and well...hired more people, then wham. So what I can promise? They'll be different. But better? Eh, matter of perspective, I guess.

I pondered this later with mother over the phone.
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I think life is annoyingly vague. And it's really hard to judge anyone's life including our own because of that. For the most part - after a while it feels a bit like a fever dream.

I've been listening to the Sandman, so that's clearly affected my views on this. Well that and this thing I saw on ...Twitter - posted by shipperx,
The Most Famous Paradox in Physics Nears its end

Growing evidence supports what physicists have long suspected: In some way or other, space-time itself seems to fall apart at a black hole, implying that space-time is not the root level of reality, but an emergent structure from something deeper.

So basically time folds in on itself, and as seemingly linear thinkers in a seemingly non-linear universe, our perception of reality itself may in fact be a mere construct of our mind to make sense of things and live in an ever changing and unknowable universe.

And I just gave myself another headache.

Too much thinking for one day. Time for bed.

Here's hoping your day was better than mine, or at the very least no worse.