Yesterday was the first day of Spring, and while on a walk I was inspired by the song of wood frogs to make a nature video.
Sir David Attenborough’s latest documentary premiered yesterday on BBC TV. Prue’s daughter-in-law worked on this vastly more exciting nature video.
Must… stop… watch… ing… You… Tube!
https://youtu.be/atcDlHxotQY
Did PHP 8 make this site faster and more responsive than it was? In the past, Google’s speed tests have rated it from poor (42) to no better than average (67). The results are still variable, but they now include hits in the excellent range.
Nine years ago (NINE YEARS??) I posted this item about what was then my new netbook.
Now retired from general use, the netbook (now running Windows 10) is my Logitech Media Server. Checking on it last summer, I could hear the fan was running at double speed, so I wasn’t surprised by the heat coming out of the side vent.
The workaround was as low tech as it gets. I flipped the netbook over for passive cooling from the bottom vents. This time of year, at times the fan doesn’t even need to run, but I do need to check occasionally for dust in the vents.
Six years ago (SIX YEARS??) I wrote about getting a cheap Personal Video Recorder.
I later replaced the Mediasonic Homeworx with a vastly superior TiVo DVR that continues to work well. The PVR sat in its box for years, until I recently pulled it out for use with my bedroom TV, so I can pause live television. The TV is a 12-year-old 32-inch Samsung I bought for my offspring, who no longer needs it.
Being pleased with the Roku streaming stick on the porch TV, I bought one for the bedroom. So the TV went from having no HDMI devices to having two of them. Then the Roku’s sound went out. Not muted, but silent.
Hmm. I swapped its HDMI port with the PVR. The PVR had no sound. Then the Roku had no sound. I moved the Roku to the third HDMI port, and it likewise went quiet. The sound was fine when using the TV tuner.
Hmm. I went online and found how to enter service mode on the TV. I did a factory reset, and the sound returned on the HDMI ports. But then the Roku flashed a message saying its HDMI port had a problem. It suggested trying another port, which I knew was pointless.
Hmm. Would a firmware update fix the problem? Given the set’s age, I doubted Samsung would have one available but, yeah, they do! I put the file on a flash drive, ran the update, and that was the end of the problem. Kudos to Samsung! For the heck of it I checked the porch TV I bought ten years ago (TEN YEARs??), and it came with Samsung’s final firmware release for the model.
Regarding Roku, it has a problem that Amazon’s Fire TV doesn’t. The current models of both products support 5 GHz WiFi, but neither device supports Dynamic Frequency Selection for 5 GHz WiFi. Fire TV is okay when the router tries to negotiate DFS, but Roku chokes on it sometimes. The result is the SSID’s for 5 GHz networks disappear.
The solution is to disable DFS on the router, which should also be checked to see if the Roku has been blocked, after repeated failed attempts to connect. This may or may not be something an average Roku user is willing or able to do on their own. It would be much better if Roku had a firmware update to properly handle DFS negotiation.
Back on 2/22/22 I posted this item:
The bacteria did not come from the food, according to medical experts. The Boston Globe article at that link is behind a paywall, so I’ll use a couple of quotes.
“There’s absolutely no history in the medical literature of this kind of bacteria being transmitted by food,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. “It’s baloney.”
“It was completely irrelevant to this patient’s presentation,” said Dr. Eric Rosenberg, director of the clinical microbiology laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital.
In 2008 I ran the Boston Marathon, which technically is the Boston Athletic Association Marathon. You don’t get one of these medals unless you cross the finish line. 🙂
In 2009 I was in the middle of a training run when a tendon in my right ankle decided it didn’t want to participate in the marathon. So when I was at the starting line, instead of being a participant I was merely a spectator. The elite women took their mark, and seeing Kara Goucher I suddenly didn’t mind being a spectator.
Kara finished third in the race, but that isn’t important to this post. On February 8th, Kara posted this distressing news on Facebook.
For the past year I have been quietly battling for my health. After a fall in December 2020, I had a hard time staying on my feet while out running. It felt like I was slipping and it was scary, I’d throw my arms out for balance.
She went on to say …
…a neurological movement specialist… diagnosed me with focal dystonia, for me runners dystonia. I started a Parkinsons medication and slowly improved. I could walk normally and run on gravel surfaces or my treadmill. But running on a road or a sidewalk would cause me to be pulled to the left and slip.
I had never heard of Runner’s Dystonia until reading Kara’s Facebook post. On YouTube, an M.D. specializing in M.S. commented on Kara’s condition.
Beaber didn’t pick up on what stood out immediately to me. Parkinson’s medication helped Kara. She doesn’t say which P.D. med, but the fact she was able to walk after taking it is very telling.
I’m obviously not a physician, but I have a lot of experience with someone who has Parkinson’s Disease. I know for a fact that specialists can misdiagnose Parkinson’s or a related case, especially in women. Rather than having a moment of Sherlock Holmes insight, they diagnose by process of elimination and still get it wrong.
…losing running in the way I love it, is something I’m struggling to accept. People have said I’m addicted to running and they are right. I loved running before I knew I was good at it. It made me feel alive, to push, to feel my lungs expand.
This is heartbreaking. I’ve never been more than an average running, but I know the feeling. I’ve never understood the idea that being forced to run is a form of punishment. My first memory of enjoying running just for the sake of it goes back to age six.
Since retiring, I’ve averaged 4,000 miles/year driving. In my running heyday I averaged 2,000 miles/year on foot. Having been forced by my ankle to greatly reduce my running distances, my very sympathetic thoughts are with Kara, along with the hope she that isn’t suffering from a progressive and irreversible condition.
Last week I noted that Art Spiegelman’s Maus won a Pulitzer Prize. It was the first, and so far it’s the only, graphic novel to be awarded that distinction.
The category of graphics that the Pulitzer people have recognized for exactly one hundred years is editorial cartooning. But no more. From now on, the category will be called Illustrated Reporting and Commentary. Cartooning is not illustration, and if they think this somehow dignifies the craft, it doesn’t work for me.
http://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2022/01/21/editorial-cartooning-legend-dead-to-pulitzers/
The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists seems to be taking the change in stride. Maybe some of their Illustrated Reporters and Commentators will have something to say about it.
FYI for cartoonists entering the @PulitzerPrizes. From their site: "The Editorial Cartooning category is now called Illustrated Reporting and Commentary. Redefined last year, the category recognizes "a distinguished portfolio of editorial cartoons or other illustrated work"
— AAEC (@AAEC_Cartoonist) January 20, 2022
