Linux mouse A bit over a year ago, I switched from macOS machines (which I’d been using since 1984) to a Framework laptop running Fedora Linux. The transition went surprisingly smoothly. I like that the Framework is completely user repairable and upgradable, and I’d been on a mission to switch everything I could to free and open-source software (FOSS). Many times throughout both my IT and medical careers, I’d https://twoprops.net/Linux-mouse

spotted orchid A delightful thing about living here is that I’m regularly surprised by pretty flowers cropping up in the yard. The previous owner was a landscape designer and planted a lot of interesting and beautiful things, and HA has followed on with her own excellent horticultural knowledge.
Today, I was sitting at the dining table for a bite when I looked out the window and spotted this orchid growing on a https://twoprops.net/spotted-orchid

deck box The hot tub needs daily testing and periodic addition of chlorinator (to sterilize the water) and baking soda (to adjust the pH). Since building the special deck and getting the tub filled up and running, I’ve been using a large bucket to store the test kit and chlorinator. Unfortunately, it’s much too much trouble to open the bucket, and it was too small to hold the baking soda.
Way back on 7 May https://twoprops.net/deck-box

water comes water goes While I was traveling, the island compound got some rain. Not a whole lot, but enough that the pasture has greened up. It was about ½ inch over the two weeks, and the catchment tank filled up almost to the top — it was about ¾ full when I left. I’m sure we’re still officially in drought conditions, but the immediate fire danger is lessened, the county will have more municipal water, and folks on c https://twoprops.net/water-comes-water-goes

LGFD Once upon a time, when I was a medical student, I was doing morning pre-rounds at a military hospital. I was on the general medical service, but we were following a patient on the orthopedics service who had some significant medical issues. (As a general rule, just as you don’t want your internist pinning your fractured femur, you don’t want an orthopedic surgeon managing your diabetes.)
The role https://twoprops.net/LGFD

Xfinity When I moved to the island compound, I was happy to be free of Comcast after years of suffering under their monopolistic abuse. Alas, while I was visiting my in-laws, the beast returned.
They’re not big internet folks. They mostly use email and look up stuff on the web, and it doesn’t demand a lot of bandwidth or performance. My father-in-law (FIL) decided, however, that he was going to try Linux https://twoprops.net/Xfinity

JavaScript Broke the Web This showed up in my Mastodon feed yesterday…
“Once upon a time, we had a fast, stable, resilient web. But we replaced it with a JavaScript cargo cult.”
https://www.jonoalderson.com/conjecture/javascript-broke-the-web-and-called-it-progress/
“Today, we optimise for “DX” – developer experience. Not user experience. Not performance. Not outcomes.”
Time to get back to the Web as it was Meant to Be™.
https://twoprops.net/JavaScript-Broke-the-Web

pathologizing normal Someone mentioned to me the other day that her doctor had diagnosed her with “borderline prediabetes” and recommended medication. I’m rather aghast.
This is part of a disturbing trend in medicine to pathologize normal. The “logic” goes something like “if we diagnose someone with a disease when they don’t actually have it, maybe it can help them avoid getting it.” Wow. I’ve found that — for life in https://twoprops.net/pathologizing-normal

installing Ubuntu I first started using Linux in the mid- to late-1990’s, with Red Hat. I don’t think I appreciated how new it was at the time, as I had been in medical school and then internship without much time to explore or keep up with computer things. I was talking with one of my colleagues about implementing some badly-needed IT tools for some of our programs, and he offhandedly said something like of course https://twoprops.net/installing-Ubuntu