20230821

Mon Aug 21 06:00:01 EDT 2023 ======================================== Slept from ten-thirty to six-thirty. Partly cloudy. Highs around 80. Northeast winds around 10 mph. # Work * 10:30 AM - 10:45 AM IIPA standup * 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM ELMS standup * 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM eMNEPA CIO breifing * 02:00 PM - 02:30 PM Cloud backup CTO guidance call with Chris Wood # Home * [ ] AWS cert * [x] AWS study * [ ] schedule AWS cert exam * [ ] schedule dentist appointment * [ ] schedule optometrist appointment * [ ] get backup credit card from PenFed 1. [x] unfreeze credit with Equifax (unfrozen June 9) 2. [x] unfreeze credit with Experian (unfrozen July 26) 3. [x] unfreeze credit with Transunion (unfrozen July 26) 4. [ ] apply for card 5. [ ] refreeze credit with Equifax 6. [ ] refreeze credit with Experian 7. [ ] refreeze credit with Transunion Read more of The Shining. Rode the exercise bike for ten minutes in the morning. https://longreads.com/2021/03/23/nation-of-plants-excerpt-stefano-mancuso/ > Darwin writes: what animals could you imagine to be more distant from one another than a cat and a bumblebee? Yet the ties that bind these two animals, though at first glance nonexistent, are on the contrary so strict that were they to be modified, the consequences would be so numerous and profound as to be unimaginable. Mice, argues Darwin, are among the principal enemies of bumblebees. They eat their larvae and destroy their nests. On the other hand, as everyone knows, mice are the favorite prey of cats. One consequence of this is that, in proximity to those villages with the most cats, one finds fewer mice and more bumblebees. So far so clear? Good, let’s go on. > > Bumblebees are the primary pollinators of many vegetable species, and it is common knowledge that the greater the amount and the quality of pollination the greater the number of seeds produced by the plants. The number and the quality of seeds determines the greater or lesser presence of insects, which, as is well known, are the principal nutriment of numerous bird populations. We could go on like this, adding one group of living species to another, for hours on end: bacteria, fungi, cereals, reptiles, orchids, would succeed one another without pause, one by one, until we ran out of breath, like in those nursery rhymes that connect one event to another without interruption. The ecological relationships that Darwin brings to our attention tell us of a world of bonds much more complex and ungraspable than had ever previously been supposed. Relationships so complex as to connect everything to everything in a single network of the living. > > There is a famous story along these lines told for the first time by the German biologists Ernst Haeckel and Carl Vogt. As the story goes, the fortunes of England would seem to depend on cats. By nourishing themselves on mice, cats increase the chances of survival of bumblebees, which, in turn, pollinate shamrocks, which then nourish the beef cows that provide the meat to nourish British sailors, thus permitting the British navy—which, as we all know, is the mainstay of the empire—to develop all of its power. T. H. Huxley, expanding on the joke, added that the true force of the empire was not cats but the perseverant love of English spinsters for cats, which kept the cat population so high. https://kottke.org/quick-links/2023-07 > Four questions that Ezra Klein uses to determine if he has had a good day: "Am I sleeping enough? Am I getting enough time to myself? Am I deeply connected with the people I love? Am I making fairly healthy choices in my body?" https://www.gq.com/story/ezra-klein-routine-excellence What questions would I ask myself as a good day metric? * Did I go to bed at least eight hours before I needed to wake up? * Did I exercise, even a little? * Did I eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables? (https://www.health.harvard.edu/nutrition/how-many-fruits-and-vegetables-do-we-really-need) * Did I create something, even something tiny or a bit something bigger? * [x] Exercise, even a little. * [x] Eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables. * [ ] Create something, even something tiny or a bit something bigger. * [x] Go to bed at least eight hours before I needed to wake up. So, was this a good day? Servings: grains 5/6, fruit 1/4, vegetables 4/4, dairy 3/2, meat 3/3, nuts 0/0.5 Breakfast: left-over Indian Brunch: coffee, banana Lunch: chicken and vegetable soup Afternoon snack: iced tea, celery Dinner: pizza

< ^ txt