I’ve done Mindfulness meditation, and I find it very helpful. It gets easier with practice too. But I haven’t developed a habit of meditating regularly so I don’t actually do it often. It’s hard to keep up with things that feel optional.

Something that helps me to meditate more often than never is to think of it as something I can do anywhere, without preparation. Then when I find myself waiting for something I can take that time to meditate. Like waiting for a train, in a waiting room, etc. I sit normally; I often don’t close my eyes.

Oh I see - thanks for the warning!

The kit is from Mushbarn in Grass Valley, CA. We picked it up while we there for a visit. https://mushbarn.com/products/new-mushroom-grow-kit-blue-oyster

Eat them, and grow another batch!

Our decisions are heavily influenced by emotion. We have the sense of empathy, which is an adaptation that makes communal living work. Empathy motivates us to do things for other people sometimes. You can say, “you do helpful things to satisfy your own emotional needs.” But that’s pretty much saying, “you do helpful things because you want to.” I think self-interest is a big factor in how we act, but I don’t think it’s the only factor.

Since traditional tiling window management hasn’t caught your interest you might check out Niri, which is a scrolling tiling wm. The differences are that windows always stay the size you set them to, remain in the relative layout you put them in, and you don’t fiddle with layout switching. Niri is also especially mouse- and touchpad-friendly. It’s great for pure keyboard use too - you have both options to suit your preference & mood.

I mention Niri despite it not being what you asked for because it checks all the boxes you listed (apart from stacking), and it’s amazing! https://github.com/YaLTeR/niri

I’ve been at it for less than a month so my impressions are preliminary. I’ve been doing GTD digitally for a long while. I’ve wound up not doing the planning often, and I have lists of actions piling up, and I haven’t developed the habit of looking at my lists in those “I have time, what do I do next?” moments.

I got into using an app called Sunsama that encourages spending a few minutes every morning making a daily plan. That has been very helpful for me! It makes me spend a little time taking stock of what I’ve previously noted I wanted to do, and what I can get done today. I still had an issue of tending not to check back in with the app during the day.

The journal is not just for todos: it’s where I jot down things I want to remember to do, notes, things that happened that I’d like to remember or that I want to tell my wife about, daily reflections. So I’m interacting with it frequently through the day. When I do I see the plans I’ve written, and think about what I can cross off. It’s a nice way to see everything laid out - a notebook is easier to take in quickly than a digital device, and comes with fewer distractions. So I think I’m more likely to check in with my plans at opportune times.

The migration system makes it less likely for todos to pile up endlessly. From time to time I copy my list of unfinished todos to a new page. If it’s not important enough to copy then it doesn’t need to stick around in the list.

I’ve taken the bullet journal ideas, and combined them with the Sunsama daily planning idea, and the daily reflection practice I picked up from The Cortex Theme System. My wife has also been using a bullet journal. We’ve got a new ritual of sitting together with our journals, and coordinating calendars and action items.

Oh yeah, I’ve heard some things. For now I’m into fine-point gel pens. I’ve already made multiple orders with Jetpens to try out different refills.

That’s quite a poster!

I suppose this video essay is relevant: Actually, Star Trek Has Always Been Horny

Australians are getting a minimum wage increase? Can they share?

Oh good!

Bloom County! I loved reading the anthologies. Did they ever find Cutter John? Or is he a fallen hero in the fight against apartheid?

Seeds have been planted. Even if a lot of them don’t grow, some will

There’s also the death slugs in The Expanse

It looks like the setting is max_parallel_downloads in /etc/dnf/dnf.conf. Here’s a post on how to increase it - so do the opposite, and set it to 1.

There’s a relevant episode if you don’t mind DS9 spoilers:

I don’t think the Pegasus plan involves all levels of Federation leadership. I think it’s a conspiracy that, although it does include at least one of the highest-ranking Starfleet officers, doesn’t go all the way to the top. From the transcript:

PRESSMAN: It’s not just me, Will. The Chief of Starfleet Security has personally given me her assurance of complete support.

RIKER: Admiral Raner? How many other people know about this?

PRESSMAN: Not many, and it’s up to us to make sure it stays that way. Raner has given me written orders for you.

Pressman says that a small number of people are involved. He doesn’t mention the Federation president or any Federation officials outside of Starfleet (remember that Starfleet is the military-ish arm of the Federation, it’s not the whole organization.) He only mentions one Starfleet officer.

Pressman emphasizes that it’s important to keep the secret from getting out. Of course that’s partly because he doesn’t want the Romulans finding out. But I think it’s mainly that the conspirators don’t want to be held to account for unauthorized actions.

Later in the episode Pressman tells Picard, “the Chief of Starfleet Intelligence herself is watching this one”. I think it’s possible that Chief of Security and Chief of Intelligence are titles used interchangeably for the same office. Or it could be a second officer involved in the conspiracy.

There’s also this conversation:

PICARD: You know, it wasn’t easy to get this record. I had to pull in quite a few favours at Starfleet just to get a look at it. It seems that it was classified by Starfleet Intelligence.

[…]

PICARD: The Judge Advocate also believes that the surviving officers are deliberately withholding vital information from this inquiry. Further investigation is recommended. Will, there was no further investigation. This report was classified and then it was quietly buried. Why?

RIKER: Sir, may I suggest you take this up with Admiral

PICARD: I’m taking this up with you, Will! The Judge Advocate thought you were participating in a conspiracy to cover up the truth. Now, what the hell is going on here, Will?

The judge advocate on the case is not in on the secret. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t go higher, but the conversation does imply that whoever was involved had limited authority to, say, prevent that inquiry in the first place, or to instruct the judge advocate to avoid sensitive topics.

Someone did have the authority to classify and bury the report. Maybe that’s something the Chief of Intelligence could do unilaterally.

Note that Picard is confident that with the secret exposed the project will be shut down. If it had been authorized at all levels you might expect it to continue, but out in the open.

Now Section 31, that does seem to be institutionalized so that’s a different story.

Oh… oh dear!

Linux on ARM is getting better all the time!