I sleep less now, by the way, and it really shouldn't surprise me. But it does. Some things get done, stuff that have been pushed in front of me for a long time.

Like the household #network. A curiosity for having a slightly more advanced setup got me up from the bed a bit earlier and held me from sleeping minutes or even hours later. The result is more aloneliness time at the computer and an environment with more digital performance and flexibility. To cut a long story short the network now does more and irritates less. It is a bit strange to build better connections to the lives on the internet while isolating myself to do it.

And nobody really cares about the results. The less they notice it the better I set things up. ...and the way the network is now there's less friction for anyone to notice. My efforts are invisible to the naked eye, really. Only those who pay attention get to enjoy the difference. The others are too blind to notice.

The way things are now, the entire household shares one cable network and all the access-points now handle just one wifi zone with multiple radios allowing the devices to roam both among the frequency bands and the different speeds. Coverage has improved too. The new configuration makes the networked printer visible to all of the household. ...and the delays in ping times have been cut in half for those who play the normal internet games. Achieving it is my type of game, if you wonder.

Tomorrow I'm spoiling the dog. She's been wonderful the entire week and has really deserved a reward.

The first idea was small. My raspberry pi zero w could be powered from a USB power bank. ...could the powerbank be charged at the same time, making it a tiny uninterruptible power supply (UPS)? The size of the idea was restricted by the fact that the zero uses a microUSB connector for power. But in my head I expanded the idea sideways to other units as well. The petite 802.11n router (gl-ar300m) that shared the internet connection to the household was also powered through microUSB.

Well, those two use cases would be easily solved for my dream of some day living in an #offgrid #tinyhouse.

For that future home I also dreamed of having solar panels powering a bank of batteries. The stored energy would be controlled by a computer that would be powered by the battery bank it was monitoring. The small household would be on a solar UPS, sort of.

The new USB standards have much higher output and even powers my ARM-based laptop. A 60 watt power delivery (PD) unit seems to be enough at this time. At my holiday hut there's a small 12 volt solar system with smaller PD unit. All my mobile units can now be charged or directly powered from those PD units.

Here at my apartment I've been trying out some low-power LEDs for lighting. The one meter strips are powered by USB, something I was a bit surprised by when returning home from IKEA. But the strips only consume about 1.5 watts each so it is quite logical, I guess.

The hair and beard trimmer I use for not looking completely neolithic has a lithium battery good enough for about an hour of defuzzying work. It would follow me to the future tinyhouse if it could be charged from USB. The unit I will need to find will have to be equipped with a USB-c socket...

With the latest USB standards my two ideas can be combined into one system. The large solar batterybank could be 48 volts. It would allow me to charge the #bakfiets as well as the few necessary electronic devices that the household needs.

Now I need to figure out a way to make all of this modular enough.

USB 3.1 Power Delivery offers...

Increased power levels from existing USB standards up to 240W. New 28V, 36V, and 48V fixed voltages enable up to 140W, 180W and 240W power levels, respectively.
An adjustable voltage supply mode allows the device being powered an ability to request intermediate voltages between 15V and up to the maximum available fixed voltage of the charger.
Power direction is no longer fixed. This enables the product with the power (Host or Peripheral) to provide the power.
Optimize power management across multiple peripherals by allowing each device to take only the power it requires, and to get more power when required for a given application.
Intelligent and flexible system level management of power via optional hub communication with the PC.
Allows low power cases such as headsets to negotiate for only the power they require.

This hexagram consists of a doubling of the trigram K’an. It is one of the eight hexagrams in which doubling occurs. The trigram K’an means a plunging in. A yang line has plunged in between two yin lines and is closed in by them like water in a ravine. The trigram K’an is also the middle son. The Receptive has obtained the middle line of the Creative, and thus K’an develops. As an image it represents water, the water that comes from above and is in motion on earth in streams and rivers, giving rise to all life on earth.

In man’s world K’an represents the heart, the soul locked up within the body, the principle of light inclosed in the dark—that is, reason. The name of the hexagram, because the trigram is doubled, has the additional meaning, “repetition of danger“. Thus the hexagram is intended to designate an objective situation to which one must become accustomed, not a subjective attitude. For danger due to a subjective attitude means either foolhardiness or guile. Hence too a ravine is used to symbolize danger; it is a situation in which a man is in the same pass as the water in a ravine, and, like the water, he can escape if he behaves correctly.

The Judgement The Abysmal repeated. If you are sincere, you have success in your heart, And whatever you do succeeds.

Through repetition of danger we grow accustomed to it. Water sets the example for the right conduct under such circumstances. It flows on and on, and merely fills up all the places through which it flows; it does not shrink from any dangerous spot nor from any plunge, and nothing can make it lose its own essential nature. It remains true to itself under all conditions. Thus likewise, if one is sincere when confronted with difficulties, the heart can penetrate the meaning of the situation. And once we have gained inner mastery of a problem, it will come about naturally that the action we take will succeed. In danger all that counts is really carrying out all that has to be done—thoroughness—and going forward, in order not to perish through tarrying in the danger.

Properly used, danger can have an important meaning as a protective measure. Thus heaven has its perilous height protecting it against every attempt at invasion, and earth has its mountains and bodies of water, separating countries by their dangers. Thus also rulers make use of danger to protect themselves against attacks from without and against turmoil within.

The Image Water flows on uninterruptedly and reaches its goal: The image of the Abysmal repeated. Thus the superior man walks in lasting virtue And carries on the business of teaching.

Water reaches its goal by flowing continually. It fills up every depression before it flows on. The superior man follows its example; he is concerned that goodness should be an established attribute of character rather than an accidental and isolated occurrence. So likewise in teaching others everything depends on consistency, for it is only through repetition that the pupil makes the material his own.

The lines

Six at the beginning: Repetition of the Abysmal. In the abyss one falls into a pit. Misfortune.

By growing used to what is dangerous, a man can easily allow it to become part of him. He is familiar with it and grows used to evil. With this he has lost the right way, and misfortune is the natural result.

Nine in the second place: The abyss is dangerous. One should strive to attain small things only.

When we are in danger we ought not to attempt to get out of it immediately, regardless of circumstances; at first we must content ourselves with not being overcome by it. We must calmly weigh the conditions of the time and be satisfied with small gains, because for the time being a great success cannot be attained. A spring flows only sparingly at first, and tarries for some time before it makes its way into the open.

Six in the third place: Forward and backward, abyss on abyss. In danger like this, pause at first and wait, Otherwise you will fall into a pit in the abyss. Do not act in this way.

Here every step, forward or backward, leads into danger. Escape is out of the question. Therefore we must not be misled into action, as a result of which we should only bog down deeper into the danger; disagreeable as it may be to remain in such a situation, we must wait until a way out shows itself.

Six in the fourth place: A jug of wine, a bowl of rice with it; Earthen vessels Simply handed in through the window. There is certainly no blame in this.

In times of danger ceremonious forms are dropped. What matters most is sincerity. Although as a rule it is customary for an official to present certain introductory gifts and recommendations before he is appointed, here everything is simplified to the utmost. The gifts are insignificant, there is no one to sponsor him, he introduces himself; yet all this need not be humiliating if only there is the honest intention of mutual help in danger.

Still another idea is suggested. The window is the place through which light enters the room. If in difficult times we want to enlighten someone, we must begin with that which is in itself lucid and proceed quite simply from that point on.

Nine in the fifth place: The abyss is not filled to overflowing, It is filled only to the rim. No blame.

Danger comes because one is too ambitious. In order to flow out of a ravine, water does not rise higher than the lowest point of the rim. So likewise a man when in danger has only to proceed along the line of least resistance; thus he reaches the goal. Great labors cannot be accomplished in such times; it is enough to get out of the danger.

Six at the top: Bound with cords and ropes, Shut in between thorn-hedged prison walls: For three years one does not find the way. Misfortune.

A man who in the extremity of danger has lost the right way and is irremediably entangled in his sins has no prospect of escape. He is like a criminal who sits shackled behind thorn-hedged prison walls.

Cuzeen is just an idea for software. This page was first created in my hidden workshop blog and published here only to be available for a wider audience, per request.

Software

The system is small and simple which makes maintenance easier. Basically the blog engine is extended with a markup language for recipes. The sequence is described in the text. The ingredients are marked up and can thus be displayed separately.

WriteFreely — A minimalist blog engine. The blog engine needs to be extended for images. Modifications need to be done for simplified views, summary and metadata.

Cooklang — A markup language for recipes. The text editor needs to be adapted for cooklang. Using markup allows simplified views for ingredients, images, metadata and maybe even a video link.

Layout

The smallest change to the blog engine that I can image at this time is the addition of a set of icons at the top right side of each page.

Ingredients — Shows the list of ingredients. Images — Shows the added photos and/or illustrations. Metadata — Publishing date, language and similar information. Video — Inactive unless a link to an external video is added.

Images

As the system is adapted for minimalism, the images are scaled to two sizes upon upload. So the images are available in three sizes:

Original — Available “as is”. Web — A reduced size adapted for viewing on a display. Thumbnail — A tiny size used for previewing photos or illustrations.

A visitor will see the images of the blog post displayed in one of two ways:

1. Followers will see an original image scaled to fit the screen and thumbnails following the text in the right margin. Clicking a thumbnail will open the image in fullscreen mode above the text. Clicking on the images icon will show a page of web images. Those images may be further enlarged to be viewed in full screen mode.

2. Others will see a web image aligned to the right of the text. The thumbnails will follow the text in the right margin. Clicking on a thumbnail will open a web image over the text. Clicking on the image icon will show a page of web images but without the possibility to zoom in further.

My back could have been better as I grew up and during most of my life. It's crooked because of scoliosis. So basically it hurts every day. My well-being has been and still is dependent on the bed. I've tried a few along the years.

One day I got fed up with the solutions that was available to me. At the time I was getting close to finding something that actually worked with the IKEA folding sofabed-futon. Flat on the floor the frame was stiff enough and low too. The cotton futon mattress was nice but not quite adequate as it was both too hard and too soft at the same time.

So since a few years back my bed now has a fake futon.

Most people know about and use duvet covers. Personally I find the Swedish word for it – påslakan – to be a better description of what it is. The term could be translated into bag-sheet, and basically it is a close to an envelope-like bag for the duvet inside.

The bed has the normal pillows and duvets with covers, two thin layers of foam mattresses, of course, but it also has the strange fake futon part on top.

Imagine putting more than one duvet into a cover. The fluffy synthetic fiber duvets of the fake futon weigh about a kilo each and I stack five of them before neatly covering them. The result is close to a traditional Japanese futon but made from the stuff I could find here in Sweden.

The size of the fake futon and thus the bed itself is decided by the duvets and the cover so most single people would call it big and most couples would call it small. The measurements of it are 200 by 140 by roughly (14 +) 9 centimetres. I sleep alone most of the time as my lovely lady lives elsewhere but we do fit comfortably when she visits.

I really like my bed. It is firm enough to support my spine at night and soft enough to cushion the soft parts. The layered approach allows me to adjust the softness and also functions as storage for extra duvets, if needed.

The bed simply works for me because I made it modular.

#home #fakefuton

Been watching videos about IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) lately and continued to do so while having lunch in front of the main computer of the household. My plans are not that impressive. I just want a single page site to link to my social media accounts, including this blog. Most of my interactions will be in the Fediverse through Mastodon, Pixelfed and so on.

Setting up a homepage for myself is easy as I already own a domain to link it to. ...but it will be powered by the sun in the coming years, I hope. So the site will probably be off line now and then and instead of scaling up the photovoltaics (the computer is really hard to scale down) I'm letting the battery run low or even completely dead when the weather is especially bad.

That is where IPFS comes in. If I post that single page (and the images on it) on IPFS then it would be possible to see even if the tiny server is down. Using IPFS will also allow me to link my social media places to a central point while authenticating them with the added security of encryption.

So it's a very slow day today. Aaalmost zero, really.

#socialmedia #homepage #health

It will be interesting to see how the political parties (that have avoided climate questions at all cost this year) will handle the very real climate changes and the things we, as a country, will have to change ourselves to save our souls (and nature too). Some of the parties in the Riksdag don't even have it within their programmes to address these things.

They will all have to deal with things anyway. ...even the opposition.

#climate #politics

...or maybe the vitamin B supplements? The treatment I get for diabetes apparently reduces the uptake of those vitamins. Nobody told me and I should have checked it myself. So I'm late but it's at least slightly better than never, right? I should have been more curious about nutrition back in the distant school years.

But it's a beautiful day out there and the cats are sleeping in the sun after breakfast.

#diabetes

Life is supposed to flow through everything in the Universe. Qi. Libido. Whatever. Some days I can feel that it does and things step in time, dances with Tao. Other days it simply lags.

There has been more than one indicator pointing in that direction but on every encounter the numb routines take over until the lag ends and life inside everything catches up. Hard work pays off but I'm just a lazy bum so life is held on credit. ...until the catching up chores are done and things go back to the normal out of phase offline humdrum.

Yes, it has been one of those days today. Most Thursdays are.

#offline