And so the weekend begins
After a good productive workday the wife and I headed to our local plant business and bought some new plants for the yard, both flowering and fruiting. From there we came home and did some gardening before turning to some other chores.
I gave the car a light cleanout and moved some stuff around, and am now taking a breather before starting dinner soon.
I've also been fiddling more with Wikindle. I solved the issue of needing to find new articles to download. First off, it now can take in a list of page categories and pull all articles in that category. The goal is not to recreate Wikipedia on my local machine, but I do want my corpus of articles to be large enough that it covers the "normal" things people look out for. I also don't want bad articles, so I'm currently limiting all categories to be ones which are maintained for quality by Wikipedia.
As I write this, it's in the process of making the pull. We've ballooned from the 8000 this morning, to pulling almost 55,000.
Currently it is pulling from four categories to get that number (well, aside from the extra 100 it is pulling for being popular.)
- Category:Wikipedia level-4 vital articles
- Category:Good_articles
- Category:Main_topic_classifications
- Category:Featured_articles
The download process still has work to be done. I'm still not getting images from articles and I know some things are not translating smoothly, especially in the math sections.
The next action items as I see them:
First, figure out images. I'm not sure where they are being filtered out of the text, and then I need to be able to pull them down and convert the tag to work with the modern day markdown encoding for it.
Second, I need to dig into other conversions from html to markdown and look for other articles or issues with import.
Third, I want to also identify categories of articles I don't want. For example, I'm not going to go to this document for information about state roads in New Jersey (which is currently in the corpus.) So I'll need to add document filtering and a blacklist of articles so it doesn't get re-added.
Fourth, re-add cross linking via markdown/wiki text for articles which exist in my Wikindle.
And lastly, once this is all figured out I will need to figure out the whole "putting it on the kindle" or some other similar long-lasting device. The real nerdy thing would be building my own e-ink device or something. We'll see.
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I ended up crashing and crawling into bed around 7:30 last night. I knew it was early and I was worried I'd wake up at midnight or 1 and not be able to fall asleep, but my body was just exhausted and I decided to risk it.
The gamble paid off. I quickly fell asleep and even though I did wake up once during the night, I was able to immediately fall back asleep. Nine hours and forty-ish minutes, with a sleep score of 76 from my smartwatch.
I still feel some soreness from working the event, but I feel much better rested and ready to take on the day.
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The bed looked, to me, like a scene of a crime last night. I had the worst night of sleep I've had in a very long time. Partially due to my own body's aches and pains keeping me tossing and turning. And secondly because of the soft bodyless pillows which hotels insist on using. I much prefer pillows with more substance. Between these two things I tossed and turned and woke endlessly through the night.
Needless to say, I am eager to sleep in my own bed tonight.
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I just had an absolutely fantastic evening on this work trip. We had a great day of work and now I'm back in the hotel room. After we wrapped up, I let the team know I was going back to the hotel and was going to order Thai food. Anyone was welcome to join me. As it turns out, our entire foursome did. So we got on Doordash and ordered food from a local place.
The food was good. And we got to just sit around and shoot the shit. Talk. Tell stories. Laugh.
Just a fantastic evening. Highly recommend it.
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On Titanium Rings
Back in 2010, when I was engaged, Katie and I bought my ring from Amazon. I found one I liked, a big wide ring that I felt would look good on my larger than average hands. Plus, it was cheap. Just $50. Win win. We got it laser engraved and on October 10th of that year, we slipped it on my finger. Where it has stayed every since.
A few years later, someone pointed out that there is a big problem with titanium rings.
If some injury should occur and my ring finger on my left hand begins to swell, EMTs and the hospital are going to be unable to cut my ring off. Titanium is too strong. What do they do? They have to amputate the finger.
As far as fingers go, I don't have any huge sentimental attachment to my left ring finger. Aside from the fact it carries this ring. Like, will my life be hugely altered if I lost that finger? Probably not. I can still type. I can still do everything I do. But, you know what? I kind of want to keep the finger regardless of that.
So, I've had this threat in my mind for a few years. Playing the the low low odds of that sort of event ever occurring. But, finally I decide it's time. So, last week, I got fed a Facebook ad for a company that does themed latex rings. Enso, is a ring company that offers Star Wars and other IP licensed latex rings in various colors and designs.
I wasn't interested in a Grogu ring, or a Disney princess ring (though they do have Lord of the Ring rings, which I'd be lying if I said I hadn't considered... but I decided against.) But they also had some simple plain ones. I found one which looked to be a simple beveled "cut" and decided to place the order. $28! For what is essentially a latex gasket? Okay, I'm getting old. But I ordered it.
It arrived yesterday and to my surprise, it slid on perfectly and was shockingly comfortable. I almost can't tell it is on my finger. When you wear a ring everyday for ten years, the feel of it becomes normal and not wearing it feels weird. That's the phase I'm in now with this new ring. It feels weirdly absent despite being on my finger.
The old ring is safely on top of my dresser for now. Though my plan is to put it on a leather string and keep it as a necklace. We just need to either find the leather we have, or go buy some more. Notably though, while on a string around my neck, it is not a threat to the existence of the ring finger on my left hand - which feels like the correct decision.
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Monday morning rolling start
Overall we kept it a fairly quiet weekend. Friday night was spent hanging out with friends, but after that Katie's cold reared up and so it was a fairly chill weekend. Saturday we were supposed to go to a Sounders game (which they ended up drawing) but with Katie not feeling well we decided to stay home. Sunday we mainly binged ABC's Will Trent, which features a dyslexic detective and I gave Elwood a much needed bath.
Now it's back to work for another week. This Monday morning is serenaded by the best of Led Zeppelin after I had Immigrant Song in my head.
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So, I don't know what it is about 2023, but I'm now fighting a head cold. My third bout of sickness this year, already. I spent much of yesterday sleeping, or trying to sleep after working roughly a half-day.
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I have begun trying to make my Sunday mornings about watching soccer and catching up on articles I've snagged to read. I do this to varying levels of success. This morning I got a fair bit distracted, but am now watching Bayern vs. Union Berlin and reading about Florence Pugh.
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I'm back
Officially home after my first work trip of the year. It was a good time but time to transition back to the real world after six days on the road.
Yesterday was taking Elwood to the vet for a small medical procedure. Given his age, I was very concerned but everything came back good. He's home now and on the road to full recovery.
This morning was a dental cleaning and check-up, which was a mixed bag of good news and bad as they recognized improved dental hygiene, but also have two spots they want to give fillings. Ah the joys of growing old.
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8 decades of research on the secrets to a happy life
Psychiatrist Robert Waldinger discusses the lessons in the long running research into what makes people happy. He starts the video by noting his original TEDx talk highlighted that the recurring biggest aspect of happiness is people who have good warm connections with others. This video is an expansion on that talk. I am watching it now, as I post it, and really enjoying it. I can tell I am going to implement parts of it in my life and how I think about my friends and relationships.
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Good news, I woke up feeling a bit better. Still not 100%. Still fighting sniffles and congestion. But no longer feeling like death warmed over.
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Tonight marks the conclusion of my 18 day winter vacation. A much needed chance to reset. Tomorrow, I'll get back to work and return to the "real world." I am 76% sad to see the holiday come to a close, and 24% eager to return to work.
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Happiness is having a friend over and helping as you decorate for Christmas, enjoying music, and laughing your asses off.
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Had a very eventful day between onboarding a new coworker which kept me incredibly busy at work and then getting to see an old friend and spend the evening with her playing boardgames. Life is good sometimes.
Never underestimate the wonderful truth of catching up and laughing with an old friend.
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A neighbor of mine has chickens and a rooster and, for the vast majority of the time, they have been fine and didn't bother me. I don't know what changed, but lately their rooster has been driving me crazy. To be clear, nothing has changed for them as far as I know, I've heard the rooster before and I don't think the crowing frequency has really changed - but this past weekend the rooster's crows have begun really getting on my nerves.
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Decided to make yesterday a light blogging day. Had plans with friends and also, just wanted to spend more time off the Internet. However, the three obituaries I shared felt big enough to post rather than to wait. I'll be back to usual with posts today.
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Once in a Lifetime
Evelyn Marie Adams won $3.9 million in the New Jersey lottery in 1986. Four months later she won again, collecting another $1.4 million.
[...]
Three years later two mathematicians, Persi Diaconis and Frederick Mosteller, threw cold water on the excitement.
If one person plays the lottery, the odds of picking the winning numbers twice are indeed 1 in 17 trillion.
But if one hundred million people play the lottery week after week – which is the case in America – the odds that someone will win twice are actually quite good. Diaconis and Mosteller figured it was 1 in 30.
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Going through a very rough two days in regards to my sleep, and the rapid games of chess I play online. I shouldn't be playing them while I'm short on sleep, but they have become intrinsic to how I think and process stuff.
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Some days are just good days.
I have today off from work in recognition of Juneteenth, and as such I am making today a productive day. This morning I did some coding on my projects, then took my car to the shop for an oil change and tire rotation. While there, I did some work on office stuff for tomorrow. And then the rest of today is going to be spent outside in the yard weeding and trying to regain control over our yard, in preparation for our upcoming party on the 3rd.
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You've heard of waking up on the wrong side of the bed? Today, I woke up on the right side. I'm in a great mood and ready to tackle the day.
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Statement of Teaching Philosophy
By Keith Leonard
My students want certainty. They want it
so badly. They respect science and have memorized
complex formulas. I don't know
how to tell my students their parents
are still just as scared. The bullies get bigger
and vaguer and you cannot punch a cloud.
I have eulogies for all my loved ones prepared,
but cannot include this fact in my lesson plans.
The best teacher I ever had told me to meet him
at the basketball court. We played pick-up for hours.
By the end, I lay panting on the hardwood
and couldn't so much as stand.
He told me to describe the pain in my chest,
I tried. I couldn't find the words. Not exactly.
Listen, he said, that's where language ends.
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Today is spent in the final stages of preparation before we host our first party gathering since 2019. Normally we do it twice a year and I am so excited to see a house full of friends again.
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Heading off to bed. This evening has been spent in the air conditioned room to combat the hellfire heat outside. I've spent tonight listening to Cory Doctorow's Attack Surface audiobook as I update and manage my RSS feed reader, adding a number of tech blogs.
I also discovered a lovely new terminal app for my Linux, called Tilda. Its biggest feature is that it stays open and I can use a keyboard shortcut to make it visible for using over the top of other windows, and once I'm done I can click off it and it disappears again.
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