I somehow managed to struggle my way through all five volumes (1186 pages), with the help of the Lexicon and of course a number of online sources (Alzabo Soup). Took me in total nearly five months. Claims of being a masterpiece of twentieth-century literature seem to me to be a bit far-fetched. They say that you can't just read it but rather you have to re-read it who knows how many times before acquiring a mere inkling of understanding of what it is all about. The story is very abstract and difficult to follow. Flooded with archaic terminology dating from the ancient world and medieval period, long-forgotten dinosaurs and mythological creatures, very bizarre. A darkly religious inner journey, in search of the solution to a dying sun, time warps, inadvertent miracles, aliens from a higher dimension, on and on. Would I recommend it? Well, I guess it depends on your mood. It's now high time for me to read a fun book and enjoy myself.

This was my very first "favorite" song, Cracklin' Rosie by Neil Diamond, and I remember hearing it for the first time, just like it was yesterday.

There I was, sitting alone in the passenger's seat in my mother's car parked on the corner, waiting for her to come back from some errand (at the church?) when the song came on the radio. Loved it right away.

It was early 1970, I believe, and I was about 12 years old. That's around 55 years ago, and it remains one of my favorite songs.

Back in the second half of the sixties, my mom would open the back door early in the morning and let all us kids escape into the unknown world.

We would have many adventures for hours on end, and the days flew by. Playing games in the neighbors backyard, running up and down the streets, disappearing into a distant vacant lot, exploring houses being built, crawling through underground forts and tunnels we had dug out and built, sitting along the riverside watching various light cruisers, destroyers and transport ships being sent off to the Vietnam War, climbing up the cherry trees and collecting cherries we sold on the street for a dime a bag, etc.

At the end of the day, my mom blew this loud whistle that could be heard a mile away, and we all knew that that was the distant call that meant we had to come back home for dinner.

What a fantastic childhood that was!

The law of Dharma, or better known as the purpose in life, goes something like this.

"Everyone has a purpose in life ... a unique gift or special talent to give to others.

And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals."

—   The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra

What an amazing three week vacation it was that we spent in the exotic Asian country of Indonesia. Crowded cities, beautiful countryside, exotic jungle plants, endless rice fields, impressive Mosques and Hindu temples, happy and friendly people, much poverty and people living in shacks, lying on the beach, snorkeling, etc. These are some of the many places that we visited:

• Jakarta
• Bogor
• Bandung
• Samarang
• Magalang
• Yogjakarta
• Solo
• Batu
• Mount Bromo
• Kalibaru
• Bali
• Penida Island
• Much, much more ...

You can see all of this for yourself in the Photo Album.

"Our prison, our dungeon, is in us. It's in our own mind, our own thinking. We strap ourselves in chains of our own making, and we do the same to each other. We train our children in the ways of bondage. All this is based on ignorance. We don't see our situation for what it is, nor do we see how to deal with it. We pass by the joys of life without knowing we missed anything."

—   Buddhism Plain and Simple by Steve Hagen

The Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+ M Key enables you to connect M.2 peripherals such as NVMe drives and other PCIe accessories to Raspberry Pi 5's PCIe interface.

Rather than wasting extra money on a larger enclosure, I used the original case, although in order to secure the lid, I had to use some extra black tape to hold things in place. Not super professional-looking, but good enough for my needs.

Works like a charm and it's now amazingly fast.

There are so many tools and libraries out there with which to do proper game development and it is insanely difficult to choose the right combination that best fits your needs.

I've certainly tried enough, but for the time being I think that I have finally found an interesting pair that is both fun and interesting.

The Odin programming language is an enhancement on C and is a general-purpose programming language with distinct typing built for high performance, modern systems and data-oriented programming.

Together with the Raylib vendor library, this seems to be the perfect tooling to learn on my road to advanced game development.

Tip: Video tutorials by Karl Zylinski

Here is a shout out to the MITx Online course called Paradox and Infinity which just started this week. I am really looking forward to gaining more insight into from the intersection of philosophy and mathematics.

This is my Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.2 setup as a simple NAS using the open source openmediavault. Attached an external SSD for the storage (250GB) and connected it via an ethernet cable to my KPN Experia 12b modem. Works like a charm!

Here's some more information on how you can do it yourself:

- Installing OMV7 on a Raspberry PI.

- Raspberry Pi Imager.

- Raspberry Pi OS Lite 64-bit (Download).

- Creating a network drive.

IMPORTANT:
If you want to allow an SMB share as a public folder available to everyone with read/write permissions.

Services | SMB/CIFS | Shares | Edit
Public: Guests only

Storage | Shared folders | ACL
Goto Storage | Shared folders
Click on row with the shared folder name (turns yellow)
Click on the 4th header icon (Access control list)
Scroll down to File access control lists
Enter nobody in the search field
Enable nobody permissions read/write

Looks like I have achieved a personal best for number of visits to the sport gym in a single month: 14x.

Need to work on my overall condition in preparation for the long hikes we will be taking on our upcoming 3-week trip to Indonesia in March.

Also need to lose at least five kilograms of belly fat, but that's another story.

After so much effort I only lost one kilogram which is below expectations, but at least physically I fee much more fit than a month ago.

Today marks my twelve anniversary of sobriety. For me, complete abstinence from alcohol is an impressive personal achievement of which I am quite proud, so it deserves a moment of quiet contemplation.

In all that time not having a single drop of alcohol, that evil substance that destroys lives without warning, in a society that is overwhelmed by its presence, is no easy feat.

The solution is simple enough, though extremely difficult to commit oneself to.

Live one day at a time, have faith in yourself, and appreciate life for what it was always meant to be for you.

I asked ChatGPT the following question:

I would like to know what the origin is of the name Kiffin.

And this is the answer it gave me:

The name "Kiffin" is of Welsh origin. It is believed to be a variant of the surname "Kiffith," which itself may be derived from the Welsh word "cyffin," meaning "border" or "boundary." This suggests that the name could have originally referred to someone who lived near a boundary or border area, likely in Wales or the Welsh Marches, which is the border region between Wales and England.

Kiffin is also associated with early Puritan settlers, most notably William Kiffin, a prominent 17th-century English Baptist pastor and supporter of religious tolerance. While the name itself may not be widely used today, it has historical significance, particularly in religious and colonial contexts.

Another book trilogy bites the dust. These thick novels are described as an epic historical military fantasy, inspired by the bloody history of China's twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic.

If you are into fantasy heroes given super-human powers by warring gods in another higher realm, then you might enjoy this book series. Lots of blood, gore and mass genocide. Burn down this world!

I am not a big fan of this kind of action-filled genre, but I did manage somehow to make it through two pages short of 1800 pages, which might mean something in the end.

There are simply too many wars and battles throughout the books that I found the plot weak and the character building limited to violence and erratic behavior.

To be honest, I have no idea why this trilogy has received so many raving reviews, maybe I missed something.

Back in May of this year, we had a one week vacation in Iceland, and today I finally finished the photo album.

Sixty-seven years may sound like a really long time, but it isn't.

The purpose of life is to undergo change continuously, and then to accept that such an amazing transition is what it is all about.

The most important thing you can do is learn to control yourself. And that starts with your thoughts. It starts with not being negative.

We just returned from a fun and relaxing one week vacation in the north of Sardinia. Mostly sunny and warm except for one day, not bad for this time of the year. We stayed at the Castelsardo Resort and our room had a beautiful ocean view.

We visited the local villages of Castelsardo, Porto Torres, Alghero and Isola Rossa and a few beaches in between. On the last day we decided to splurge and stay at the fancy Grand Hotel President in Oblia.

All in all, the food was fantastic and the surroundings scenic and peaceful.

Photo album.

For many of us hardcore golfers, there's nothing more exciting than a competition that pits the young against the old in a full day of thrilling and entertaining play.

Those young whippersnappers can really launch the ball into the next county, but the cautious wisdom and patience of the seasoned veterans often prove invaluable.

We made a few tweaks to the format to increase the challenge. The morning featured 9-hole singles matches, followed by 9-hole greensomes, and concluding with 9-hole foursomes in the afternoon.

In keeping with tradition, the weather was beautiful and sunny, setting the stage for some truly remarkable golfing feats.

Alongside the usual Nearest to the Pin, Longest Drive, and Leary prizes, we introduced new awards: Most Valuable Player, Shot of the Day, and a Consolation prize. Everyone who made a birdie also won a golf ball.

As the reigning champions from last year, the "Old" team once again managed to secure a big win for the second year in a row.

But, to be perfectly honest, we were all winners, both young and old, and we capped off the day with a fun borrel and a delicious BBQ, laughing and sharing stories late into the evening.

We can't wait until next year!

I met a man from Mars
He picked up all my guitars
And played me traveling songs
And when we got on ship
He brought out something for the trip
And said, "It's old but it's good"
Like any other primitive would.

Second place Club Championship is not all that bad for a senior golfer I guess. A shame that the first round wasn't that great. Better luck next year.

This is a picture of my father sitting in front of a small cabin hut that he built himself using the ax he is holding in his right hand. He grew up in Lawrence, Kansas. He told me that we was about ten years old when the picture was taken, meaning that the picture was taken around 1926.

I just finished the book Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson, and I really liked it a lot.

The character I liked the most is named Hoid who is the first person narrator of the fantasy novel.

Hoid is a worldhopper who travels the cosmere universe, originally born on the planet Yolen. His fate is to wander the cosmere pursing his unknown goals, often in the guise of a fool or storyteller. He may be guided at times by a mysterious sense about where he should go, but not what he is to accomplish there.

As the narrator of this story, Hoid has an interesting way with words and describes various scenes and actions in a most profound way. Here are a few quotes that especially inspired me when I first read them.

36. The Explorer, page 203.
"That inspires me. We each make our own lore, our own legends, every day. Our memories are our ballads, and if we tweak them a little with every performance...well, that's all in the name of good drama. The past is boring anyway. We always pretend the ideals and culture of the past have aged like wine, but in truth, the ideas of the past tend to age more like biscuits. They simply get stale."

38. The Apprentice, page 211.
"What else would she have never known about herself, if she hadn't left her home island? Worse, how many people like her lived in ignorance, lacking the experience to fully explore their own existence? It is one of the most bitter ironies I've ever had to accept: there are, unquestionably, musical geniuses of incomparable talent who dies as street sweepers because they never had the chance to pick up an instrument."

40. The Chef, page 223.
"This type of response will send any artist into panic. Tears wash away the middle ground--allthe infinite permutations of mediocre are eliminated, and two options remain: one sublime, the other catastrophic. For a moment, both interpretations exited in a kind of quantum state for Tress. And people wonder why artists so often abuse drink."

41. The Philosopher, page 232.
"While a healthy measure of foolhardiness drove our ancestors toward discovery, fear kept them alive. If bravery is the wind that makes us soar like kites, fear is the string that keeps us from going too far. We need it, but the thing is, our heritage taught us to fear some of the wrong things."

42. The Guide, page 233.
"Memory is often our only connection to who we used to be. Memories are fossils, the bones left by dead versions of ourselves. More potently, our minds are a hungry audience, craving only the peaks and valleys of experience. The bland erodes, leaving behind the distinctive bits to be remembered again and again."

44. The Fallen, page 245.
"Yes, intellectuals and scholars are paid to think deep thoughts--but those thoughts are often owned by others. It is a great irony that society tends to look down on those who sell their bodies, but not on those who lease out their minds."

46. The Informant, page 253.
"There are obvious exceptions. Certain individual humans, like certain sausages, break this convention. While neither larger group is collectively terrifying, they contain remarkable individuals that absolutely should frighten you. The more you learn about these individuals, the more worried you should become. But for humans at large, knowledge usually equates to empathy, and empathy leads to understanding."

54. The Valet, page 297.
"We want to imagine that people are consistent, steady, stable. We define who they are, create descriptions to lock them on a page, divide them up by their likes, talents, beliefs. Then we pretend some--perhaps most--are better than we are, because they stick to their definitions, while we never quite fit ours.

Truth is, people are as fluid as time is. We adapt to our situation like water in a strangely shaped jug, though it might take us a little while to ooze into all the little nooks. Because we adapt, we sometimes don't recognize how twisted, uncomfortable, or downright wrong the container is that we've been told to inhabit.

We can keep going that way for a while. We can pretend we fit that jug, awkward nooks and all. But the longer we do, the worse it gets. The more it wears on us. The more exhausted we become. Even if we're doing nothing at all, because simply holding the shape can take all the effort in the world. More, if we want to make it look natural."

58. The Monster, page 320
"Irony is a curious concept. Specifically, I mean the classical definition: that of a choice leading to an opposite outcome from what is intended. Many grammarians bemoan the word's near-constant misuse--second only in dictional assassination to the way some people use the word 'literally.' (Their use of which is ironic.)

I'm not one of those people who care if you use words wrong. I prefer it when words change meaning. The impression of our language is a feature; it best represents the superlative fact of human existence; that our own emotions--even our souls--are themselves imprecise. Our words, like our hearts, are weapons still hot from the forging, beating themselves into new shapes each time we swing them.

Yet irony is an intriguing concept. It exists only where we want to find it, because for true irony, expectation is key. Irony must be noticed to exist. We create it from nothing when we find it. But unlike other things we create, like art, irony is about creating tragedy.

Irony is reversal. Set up, then collapse.

A perfect bit of irony is a beautiful thing.

So watch. Enjoy."

59. The Prisoner, page 327.
"A few tress tried to spruce up the landscape but failed, both by being too intermittent and by not being the right species. Instead they were spindly, gnarled things with tufts of leaves growing only at the very tips of their branches. As if they knew the concept of 'trees' only by description, and were doing their best, all things considered."

60. The sorceress, page 335
"At this moment, Tress's emotions were complicated. Like that rope you always swear you put away neatly, but which comes out of storage looking like someone used it to invent new theoretical types of knots that bend space-time."

Today is the day to celebrate. In other words, I am officially two-thirds of a century old.

That means that as of today I passed the 66.666666666666... line and now live in the last third of my life (assuming of course that I manage to live 100 years).

I don't think that there are that many people who are aware of this spectacular milestone

Those who manage to live this long are more than likely to miss out on remembering this amazing accomplishment.

I on the other hand feel very thankful that I can enjoy this day knowing that yet another important milestone in my live has been achieved.

So you wonder, how do I know this?

I know this thanks to good old ChatGPT.

Here follows the question I asked, the response I received and the code snippet analysis.

Question:

I was born on October 11, 1957. When will I be exactly 66 2/3 years old?

Answer:

You will be exactly 66 2/3 years old on June 11, 2024. ​

Analysis:

from datetime import datetime, timedelta

# User's birthdate
birthdate = datetime(1957, 10, 11)

# 66 2/3 years in days
years = 66 + 2/3
days_in_year = 365.25  # accounting for leap years on average
days = years * days_in_year

# Calculate the date when the user will be 66 2/3 years old
target_date = birthdate + timedelta(days=days)
target_date

Result:

datetime.datetime(2024, 6, 11, 0, 0)

This amazing fantasy saga lasting some 2176 pages turned out to be a worthwhile read with some interesting twists and surprise endings. Good world building and character psychologies. At times a bit complex with the different types of beings and special powers based on metals.

See: Brandon Sanderson Homepage

In anticipation of the new Netflix series coming out soon, I decided to prepare myself better in advance by reading the now infamous trilogy by Cixin Liu.

Two weeks and 1695 pages later, I managed to saw through all three books, and I must say that although the books were a bit different than what I had expected, I thoroughly enjoyed the long read.

I am curious if the Netflix series will do the trilogy justice.