What a struggle it was to get through this book, but thanks to perseverance and excited how the story would end, I managed to complete it.

The novel is a puzzle by design. Not to frustrate, but to force the reader into the same uncertainty the characters live in.

Reflecting back on the mangled contents and what I can piece together, the following questions pique my curiosity:

• Am I human because of origin or behavior?
• If identity is inherited, can it be stolen?
• If identity is performed, does origin matter at all?
• If aliens become human in mind, are they alien anymore?

Like the characters, we can never be sure. And that unsettling ambiguity is the answer.

Shape shifting identity where the division between human and alien no longer separates the two.

Still not sure how the book ended, maybe another read some time could clear up the many ambiguities (or not).

Here it is, my own little pi-hole ad blocker which I managed to build from scratch using my own hands.

Some helpful references:

# Pi-hole
Network-wide Ad Blocking
https://pi-hole.net/

## Pi-hole Made EASY - A Complete Tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_EfmKdP2ng

## The Firebog - The Big Blocklist Collection:
https://firebog.net/

## Commonly whitelisted domains:
https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/commonly-whitelisted-domains/212

## Barton Bytes DNS over TLS:
https://bartonbytes.com/posts/configure-pi-hole-for-dns-over-tls/

## How to Install Raspberry Pi 5 & X1200 UPS & X1200-C1 Metal Case:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKlRIPLSck0&t=52s

## Unbound - Pi-hole as All-Around DNS Solution
Secure dns for all outgoing requests.
https://docs.pi-hole.net/guides/dns/unbound/

## Geekworm X2100
Geekworm X1200 2-Cell 18650 5.1V 5A UPS HAT for Raspberry Pi 5 Series
https://geekworm.com/products/x1200?srsltid=AfmBOor9h0PNlO8EVIuuWLLGBZGXh7ELEwD9iLnNudADdCC7Myor7kk2

## Wiki
https://wiki.geekworm.com/X1200

## https://www.nkon.nl/en/
Samsung INR18650-35E 3400mAh - 8A (production year 2025)

## Power management script for monitoring supply and authomatic shutdown at threshhold:
https://suptronics.com/Raspberrypi/Power_mgmt/x120x-v1.0_software.html

## More blacklists:
https://pastebin.com/h1sSSSjH

## Checking your Raspberry Pi's view of its power supply
https://share.google/DrBWsob6fZowYGTDb 

## Pi.alert
https://github.com/pucherot/Pi.Alert

Crontab low voltage shutdown (according to ChatGPT):

You don't actually use *crontab itself* to detect the low voltage -- you use a small script that checks the voltage status, and then you schedule that script in crontab.

On a Raspberry Pi, the usual way to detect undervoltage is via:

```bash
vcgencmd get_throttled
```

This returns a hex bitmask. If bit 0 or 16 is set, the Pi is/was undervolted.

Below is a complete solution:

---

## 1. Enable `vcgencmd` and test it

Make sure `vcgencmd` works:

```bash
vcgencmd get_throttled
```

You should see something like:

```text
throttled=0x0
```

If it's nonzero, some throttle/undervolt flags are set.

---

## 2. Create the low-voltage check script

Create a script, e.g.:

```bash
sudo nano /usr/local/sbin/check_low_voltage.sh
```

Paste this into it:

```bash
#!/bin/bash

# Simple low-voltage check for Raspberry Pi
# Uses vcgencmd get_throttled and performs a controlled shutdown
# if undervoltage is detected.

LOGFILE="/var/log/low_voltage_monitor.log"

# Ensure vcgencmd exists
if ! command -v vcgencmd >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - ERROR: vcgencmd not found" >> "$LOGFILE"
    exit 1
fi

THROTTLED_RAW=$(vcgencmd get_throttled 2>/dev/null)

# Expected format: "throttled=0x50000" or similar
VALUE_HEX=$(echo "$THROTTLED_RAW" | awk -F= '{print $2}')

# Strip leading "0x" if present
VALUE_HEX=${VALUE_HEX#0x}

# Convert hex to decimal
VALUE_DEC=$((16#$VALUE_HEX))

# Bit 0  (0x00001): under-voltage currently detected
# Bit 16 (0x10000): under-voltage has occurred since last reboot

UNDER_VOLTAGE_NOW=$((VALUE_DEC & 0x1))
UNDER_VOLTAGE_PAST=$((VALUE_DEC & 0x10000))

if [ "$UNDER_VOLTAGE_NOW" -ne 0 ]; then
    echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - CRITICAL: undervoltage detected now (throttled=$THROTTLED_RAW). Initiating shutdown." >> "$LOGFILE"
    /usr/sbin/shutdown -h now "Undervoltage detected - shutting down to protect system."
elif [ "$UNDER_VOLTAGE_PAST" -ne 0 ]; then
    # Optional: treat "has occurred" as a warning only
    echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - WARNING: undervoltage has occurred in the past (throttled=$THROTTLED_RAW)." >> "$LOGFILE"
else
    # All good
    echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - OK: no undervoltage (throttled=$THROTTLED_RAW)." >> "$LOGFILE"
fi
```

Save and exit.

Make it executable:

```bash
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/sbin/check_low_voltage.sh
```

### About "threshold"

The Pi doesn't let you specify a numeric voltage threshold directly; it just flags "undervoltage" based on its own internal threshold (~4.63 V on 5 V rail). The script above treats *any* active undervoltage flag as critical and shuts down.

If you want a "softer" threshold, you can, for example, only shut down after multiple consecutive detections -- I can add that logic if you'd like.

---

## 3. Add to root's crontab

Edit root's crontab:

```bash
sudo crontab -e
```

Add a line like this to check every minute:

```cron
* * * * * /usr/local/sbin/check_low_voltage.sh
```

Or every 5 minutes:

```cron
*/5 * * * * /usr/local/sbin/check_low_voltage.sh
```

Cron will run it as root, which is required to call `shutdown`.

---

## 4. Quick test (without actually shutting down)

Before enabling the real shutdown, you can comment out the `shutdown` line and replace it with an `echo`, run the script manually, then restore the shutdown command once you're confident:

```bash
sudo /usr/local/sbin/check_low_voltage.sh
tail -n 20 /var/log/low_voltage_monitor.log
```

---

If you tell me how aggressive you want the shutdown behavior (immediate vs. after X consecutive low-voltage detections), I can tweak the script to include counters and a configurable "threshold" for number of hits.

Turns out that my putting stroke prefers keeping line with the direction to the whole, meaning that this zero torque putter fits my putting skill much better. End result is that I should me making 2-3 more putts per round, at least that is what all the hype claims. Made in America so it must be could, cost me enough that's for sure. Ain't it a beauty?!

"In the desert, you can remember your name,
Because there ain't no one for to give you no pain..."

I asked ChatGPT the following:

"Draw a futuristic cityscape where all buildings have domes for roofs and the sun is a red dwarf."

And here's what I got:

We returned to Norway to celebrate the forty-five year anniversary of the exact day that I met my wonderful wife for the very first time. It was on a sunny Saturday morning in the small village of Balestrand, a village located next to the Sognjefjord.

See the Photo Album.

What a great author Murakami is: mysterious, spiritual and philosophical at the same time and in the right measure. I am now on the fourth novel and cannot stop.

There is a fine line between the real world and the imaginary world, and it is not always clear which is which. The two overlap each other significantly, meaning that sometimes apparent fantasy is actually hard fact and hard rationality is imagination in disguise.

"Time weighs down on you like an old, ambiguous dream. You keep on moving, trying to slip through it. But even if you go to the ends of the earth, you won't be able to escape it. Still, you have to go there - to the edge of the world. There's something you can't do unless you get there.

- Kafka on the Shore

"Much of what bothers us now, one day, won't matter. The ability to let things go and live in the present can save us a lot of time. Most of our worries are inaccurate anyway, and holding onto them doesn't keep bad things from happening. And sometimes holding onto them leads us to actions that worsen the situation."

More ...

Watching the funeral of Pope Francis on the television is boring but soothingly spiritual at the same time. I wonder where he is and what he is doing now.

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake ...

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!