Reading

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Red Sox game

Entry tags:

film,
tv

MCU meme

sholio

( Read more... )

I don't think I stopped watching the new ones as they came out because of the storytelling - I mean, how would I know if I haven't seen them? But because 2020 happened, and we just stopped going to movies for a while, and everything was on Disney Plus for "when we got around to it" which we never seem to. Which is the case for most things in my life, not just MCU stuff. *shrug* A new MCU movie just wasn't An Event any more, like it used to be up through Endgame. And there are some I want to see but I feel like I have to do my homework first, like finishing Wandavision before seeing Multiverse of Madness, and watching Wakanda Forever before getting into Ironheart.

I do own almost all the ones that I've seen on DVD. I even have a DVD of Spider-Man: No Way Home that I haven't watched yet.

Disbelief, suspension thereof / therein

Suspension of disbelief = I will not start verbally poking holes in the physics of this action movie until we are out of the movie theater

Suspension in disbelief = a frozen state of constant WTF

Mood theme

I can't figure out where / how I can select a mood theme. Could somebody help me? Thank you :)

Disclaimer

https://xkcd.com/3126/

You say no human would reply to a forum thread about Tom Bombadil by writing and editing hundreds of words of text, complete with formatting, fancy punctuation, and two separate uses of the word 'delve'. Unfortunately for both of us, you are wrong.

https://xkcd.com/3126/

Snake-in-the-Box Problem

https://xkcd.com/3125/

Chemistry grad students have been spotted trying to lure campus squirrels into laundry hampers in the hope that it sparks inspiration.

https://xkcd.com/3125/

Current Mood: dorky

Entry tags:

books

still ridiculous

I tripped and fell into another library book sale and now my TBR list is up to almost 800. I took all of their Steven Brust and half of their Heinlein at 50 cents each.

Connor picked out a book by Haruki Murakami although he's still working his way through his last book sale purchase, One Hundred Years of Solitude, as well as an online copy of Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. I'm still bemused by his taste in reading material.

Grounded

https://xkcd.com/3124/

We should have you at the gate in just under two hours--two and a half if we get pulled over.

https://xkcd.com/3124/

Current Mood: nostalgic

Entry tags:

dw,
tech

simplifying

Since 1999 or so I had been maintaining a Perl script that would run every morning to download new images for as many as 20 different comic strips and combine them all into one daily digest web page. Over the years the strips have dropped off one by one, either because I lost interest or because I started following them on my DW reading page instead.

Inertia has kept that setup running for this long, but lately the old Mac mini that I was running the script on has been dropping off the network every few weeks, which means it will miss several days until I notice and reselect my network from the WiFi menu. (Not just that machine; I've also noticed these dropouts happening with the downstairs thermostat and the autonomous vacuum cleaner, which are even more annoying to reset. Maybe it's affecting devices that only use 802.11b?)

When I went to fix it again just now, I noticed that it was only successfully still keeping up with 3 comic strips, 2 of which I didn't really care about any more. I added the other to my DW list, and now I'm done. After 26 years.

The one I'm still keeping is Kevin & Kell, which turns 30 next month. Which means it started when I was 20. So, yeah.

After turning that job off, I realized I only had one other automated script still left running on that machine, which was backing up the DW wiki files once a week... the wiki that got retired last month because

mark moved it to Github. So I turned that one off too.

I guess it's the end of an era.

Canon

https://xkcd.com/3123/

Achilles was a mighty warrior, but his Achilles' heel was his heel.

https://xkcd.com/3123/

Starlinography?

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/yes-you-can-store-data-on-a-bird-enthusiast-converts-png-to-bird-shaped-waveform-teaches-young-starling-to-recall-file-at-up-to-2mb-s

Taking this proof-of-concept to a ridiculous destination, imagine taking a very simple secret message, converting it to sound, and tasking a starling to smuggle it out somewhere. (This seems very impractical compared to an amateurishly knitted scarf with a code in the seemingly random purl stitches.)

Bad Map Projection: Interrupted Spheres

https://xkcd.com/3122/

During the most recent glacial maximum, it's believed that land bridges extended from the surfaces and connected several of the spheres together.

https://xkcd.com/3122/

Prior Auth, my beloathéd

July 22: I message my symptoms team for a refill on my primary pain med (which is still only the next step up from Tylenol 3). And yet, it's what keeps me from regularly screaming when I exert myself in a way that stresses my right hip. I have 21 + 5 (a week plus a day and 2/3) left.

July 24: A list of detailed follow-up questions from the symptoms nurse, and my detailed reply. About 20 left.

July 25:
Hi [Azz],

I wanted to let you know that [doctor] sent a refill of the [med] to the Costco!

[Discussion of discontinuing another med]

And can I just say how much I enjoy your MyChart messages; I am always impressed at how in tune you are with your body.

Take care,
[Nurse]

Me: It's time to renew my prior auth again, alas.

Nurse: Aw dang!
No worries though, you gave us time (thank you by the way).
I have asked our billing specialist to help with this so we will call the Costco when we get it and then let you know.
Thanks,
[Nurse]

About 17 left.

***

July 26: About 14 left.
July 27: About 11 left.

***

July 28
Different nurse:
Hi [Azz],

We needed a new prior authorization on [med]. We received approval for this over the weekend. However, Costco has been unable to get this medication to process. They are in the process of calling your insurance to figure out where the issue lies.

[Image of prior auth as sent to doctor]

I will keep you updated

Thanks,
[Nurse]

Me: Thanks for the update!

***

A hair bleaching, trip through the shower, and time to drip dry later, I figure I will call Costco pharmacy and see what they've discovered, since they're still open and the symptoms care office is not.

[Call time: 6 minutes 54 seconds]

***

Me: I talked with darling [Don't Panic Pharmacy Assistant] at the pharmacy, who had my back the last time UHC was like this, and we had a real good chat about the state of things at UHC, and she is putting me through for 12 days so I can have some breathing room while you and she go and wrestle alligators. I will get that picked up tonight and we'll see when UHC can be made to see the light.

I drive to the pharmacy.
I receive my jar.
I tell our friend that I was so glad it was her who picked up when I called.
Don't Panic Pharmacy Assistant tells me that when she took my call about the prior auth on my med, the rest of the pharmacy was looking at her funny, because she swapped registers straight out of professional. "Is that a family member on the phone?" And yet again we had words about United Healthcare. Also, the pharmacy we used to go to is shutting down; she has this from her friend and ours, the guy with the Emperor's New Groove pin. He prefers to stay with that company, so he's not coming to Costco.

***

About 8 left, plus 12 days.

Kite Incident

https://xkcd.com/3121/

Detectives say the key to tracking down the source of the kites was a large wall map covered in thumbtacks and string. 'It's the first time that method has ever actually worked,' said a spokesperson.

https://xkcd.com/3121/