Blog/May 2017/May 19th

May 19th

The cooling I mentioned last week lasted over the weekend, which was nice. But then we got another heat-wave, which broke overnight last night. Fortunately, today’s cooling is also supposed to last the weekend, with a possibility of showers (!). We’ll see how it plays out.

Just to mention my mom, who underwent a relatively minor eye-surgery this week: get better quickly so you can read the blog!

It was a supremely busy week. By Tuesday I thought it was Friday. Unfortunately, I was wrong. On the bright side, I did get a lot accomplished.

Disclaimer: you probably get tired of hearing about my exploits in “8th”, but I can’t really tell you much about my other jobs since my clients aren’t interested in having their information spread around the inter-tubes. That said…

… I did some munging around in 8th’s interior, and got another 20-30% speed improvement. Unfortunately, it’s not all roses and petticoats: sometimes it now crashes, so I have to figure out why. That more or less requires a “divide-and-conquer” approach to track down just where crashes happen, and then undo the good that I had done to make the speed improvement, just for that specific issue.

I’m also working on refactoring the GUI and making improvements there which should make our users even happier. But, alas! I am busy with paying work, so the 8th development is in the background (unless and until someone wants to fund specific work).

We are entering a period of trials and tribulations: the US President will be coming to Jerusalem next week, just in time for the 50th anniversary of the unification of the city. You know, the city which is this country’s capital. You know, the city which has never been any other nation’s capital. You know, the city where King David ob”m reigned for decades. You know? One (vainly) hopes the current POTUS will learn a little of the background and history of the region and of Israel in particular, before making pronouncements. Vainly, one hopes, in vain. I’m afraid that El Presidente will want to erect a new hotel on the site of the “Kotel”, R”L.

I just have to say though the previous POTUS was terrible, and I assumed things couldn’t get worse, the current one is shaping up as incredibly horrible. The bottom of the barrel seems to have no limit. ¡Ay, Dios mío!

Interesting news: this week the US Senate approved the use of Signal for staff communications. That’s the same app I’ve told you about before, the same one I also use.

More interesting stuff: the Antikythera mechanism is an ancient Greek computer which was found by divers 115 years ago. Here’s a series of videos where a super-capable metalworker goes about reproducing the device. If you like mechanical stuff, you’ll love his videos!

The interesting stuff keeps on coming: apparently, scientists have found that no two neurons are genetically alike. As in, your brain is a mass of genetically-different goop. Dude!

I was told by a friend that I should always end my blog on an up-note. So I won’t say anything more about the ongoing train-wreck of US politics. Instead, I’ll note that the Republic has withstood many severe challenges, and God willing, will withstand this one, as well. Godspeed and good luck!

This shabbat the three of us will have:
homemade ḥalla, honey-glazed chicken, baked yams, mushroom soup, broccoli kugel, kung-pao tofu, rice, various salatim, and cookies or brownies.

Until next time,
shabbat shalom!

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