Wicked Boring

Deb Geisler 1957-2024

2024-03-29T17:48:31Z

This is Deb Geisler’s husband. Deb passed away on March 23rd after a long battle with heart and lung disease. I hope you were amused, angered, or informed by her posts as appropriate.

Fair winds and following seas, beloved, as you sail on that unknowable sea.

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About that sleep study...

2020-12-24T20:37:17Z

...I didn't sleep very well, alas, either Saturday (the night before the test) or Sunday nights. But Sunday night was clearly not the fault of the sleep clinic, and I can say many good things about the Sleep Center at the Salem Hospital/North Shore Medical Center. The place was comfortable, the staff technician was an absolute peach who was just a pleasure to deal with, and everything was as safe and healthy as they could possibly make it.

My pulmonologist wanted to do the sleep study because a different test done several months ago showed a sudden wakening (or short pattern of them) in the middle of the night. "It was the cat, jumping on my hip, at 2:30 in the morning." They didn't think that was it, so they decided to check for sleep apnea.

Ha. Ha. Ha. ( Read more... )

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One little pandemic, and I’m acting like a petulant 7-year-old

2020-12-23T03:21:09Z

Under normal circumstances, when my husband suggests he would get me an expensive present for Christmas and asks which of 7 choices do I want...I’d pick the cheapest or the second from the bottom, because greed annoys me, I don’t need the fancy one, and there are people who can barely afford food right now.

Not this time.

I snarled at my inner responsible grownup, picked the second best (because the best one is sized wrong for me), requested the color I like, and slapped myself upside the head (where that “petulant” description comes from) and told my inner adult to STFU.

Want a toy.

Pathetic, isn’t it? ( Read more... )

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My grades are all turned in...

2020-12-22T22:47:59Z

...so Christmas season can begin. This year, it lasts three days.

OTOH, most years it lasts the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve/Day celebrations.

But no party for New Year's Eve for us this year. Last year, I almost made it to the party...but ended up in the hospital about 8 hours before our first guests arrived. That should have been my first clue that 2020 was going to suck.

Hoping for a joyous Yule or other post-Solstice season for you and yours.

Hey. We've got eggnog!

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I’m not allowed to take a nap today...

2020-12-20T15:25:16Z

...and so, of course, I slept very badly last night. (Got to sleep ~1 a.m., slept until 5:30 a.m. We can all do that math.)

There is a scheduled sleep study tonight at a hospital in Salem. Pack my bag, jammies, toiletries, a pillow...probably a book, so I’m not tempted to muck around with electronics.

But I could ace this test if they let me sleep right now...

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Dutchman hacked Trump’s Twitter account...twice...

2020-12-17T21:58:53Z

...but, of course, the White House sez it never happened, according to the Washington Post.

Six years ago, Dutch hacker Victor Gevers logged into President Trump’s Twitter account by guessing the password: “yourefired.”

Then he did it again. On Oct. 16, Gevers, 44, made another accurate guess, maga2020!, on his fifth try, according to Dutch prosecutors.

Hacking is a crime in the Netherlands. But on Wednesday, Dutch officials said they would not press charges because Gevers had met the bar for “responsible disclosure,” demonstrating how easy it could be to gain access to the U.S. president’s handle: realdonaldtrump.

Gevers strongly recommended that Trump enable two-factor authentication. However, given the passwords he used, I suspect that might be too complex for him.

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I once had a student who insisted on calling me “Mrs.”...

2020-12-17T21:46:12Z

...and I made it very clear that if he kept doing it, I would leave the room and skip our appointments because it was clear that he was not talking to me.

My name is Deb. If that’s too hard, they can call me “Dr. Geisler” or “Professor Geisler.” And “Dr. Deb” sounds idiotic. I had a boss who insisted on being called “Dr. Bob,” and I found that fatuous and annoying.

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debgeisler @ 2020-12-17T10:08:00

2020-12-17T15:12:25Z

Things to like about Christmas even though I don't celebrate the whole religious part of things:

the food is really good;

the tree is a lively family room decoration (and the lights glinting off of the snow make me happy);

our local dairy makes killer eggnog with the density of plutonium;

beautiful seasonal music makes me feel like a kid again (and nobody tells anyone, no matter how bad their singing, not to sing Christmas carols);

bright colors help stave off winter's gloom;

presents (especially the giving thereof);

it's a good excuse to see family I love and cool friends;

we enjoy giving to those in need so they have something of joy;

and we'll be put a roaring fire in the fireplace just in case anybody (very skinny) is of a mind to crawl down the chimney (and, of course, primitive love of fire which pre-dates written human history by many millennia).

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The cat is not amused

2020-12-17T14:30:05Z

We have 13+ inches of ground cover, and it’s still coming down...very, very white.

And it’s my fault. Just ask him.

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Doing what you can...billions...

2020-12-16T02:09:30Z

Some people can help rather more than I can.

MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon's Jeff Bezos with a net worth topping $60 billion, just announced that she's given away more than $4 billion to over 300 organizations across the US in the past four months.

...

In a new Medium post, Scott, who has a net worth topping $60 billion, announced the nearly $4.2 billion in donations to organizations ranging from food banks to emergency relief funds. The news comes after announcing back in July that she'd already given $1.7 billion to 114 organizations over the past year.

Scott wrote in her latest blog post that after her post in July, she asked a "team of advisors" to help her as she sought to give immediate support to those being affected by the economic crisis related to the pandemic.

Guess we know who got the heart in the divorce.

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Today's work training: diversiy and communication

2020-12-15T22:48:34Z

Right now, I find the training that my employer is having all of us (one assumes everyone, whether or not we are in the classroom or support staff or administrators - one *hopes*, at any rate) go through to be fascinating. I'm in the last section of the first major module (about 2 hours for this module), and it is about communication. Yes, this is somewhat ironic, because I teach the subject. But a refresher - a chance to see things through others' eyes and consider the workplace issues - is never a bad thing.

So, we were just served this...a definition and explanation that warms the cockles of my heart:

Politically correct

Political correctness refers to the conscious avoidance of speech and action that exclude or insult socially marginalized groups.

It is fundamentally about treating people with respect. By being aware of the language you choose to use, you are not being silenced. You are being kind.

Yeah. Sing that.

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Today's milestones

2020-12-14T21:36:18Z

The Boston Globe reports two milestones today:

The first Americans have been vaccinated against Covid-19 outside of the testing pool. They are front-line health care workers. Halle-fucking-lulah.

The United States has passed 300,000 dead from Covid-19. One American dies every minute. And stupid people do not believe in the pandemic. You can't fix stupid.

Also? Last milestone:

The Electoral College is voting. It looks like a tight race right now (Biden=240, Trump=232), until you realize that the states yet to vote are California (55 blue), Oregon (7 blue), and Hawaii (4 blue). All of those three states come in later, because of time zone issues. California will be in at 5 p.m. our time; Oregon any time now (4:30 p.m. our time); and Hawaii is out in the ocean somewhere, and apparently doesn't have a radio, so it doesn't come in until 7 p.m. Eastern.

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What should Cleveland's professional baseball team be named?

2020-12-14T20:19:53Z

(And if you do not care for baseball, kindly just don't play. I, in turn, shall not mock things which you enjoy.)

If you'd like suggestions, this web site has 500 of them.

I'm kind of fond of my first choice (as a Cleveland child from the 1960s):

the Cleveland Burning Rivers, or

the Cleveland Coyotes, and possibly

the Cleveland Mighty Bucks.

For that last, one of the Ohio symbols is the white-tailed deer...and "buck" is close to it and to "buckeye," which is the state's tree, but is also taken.

Any suggestions?

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Oh, oh, oh! I have ideas!

2020-12-14T04:39:05Z

So, when you grow up in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1960s, you don’t grow up with a set of storied sporting teams.( Read more... )

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You had one job

2020-12-14T03:36:18Z

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De-stress...thanks to Benoit Mandelbrot

2020-12-14T03:01:45Z

I was today years old when I learned that natural fractals helped children de-stress. They do quite a lot for many adults, too...including me.

Gimme that golden ratio.

P.S. I just finished making a batch of chocolate chip cookies with walnuts. Benoit Mandelbrot liked my cookies.

No, I am not kidding.

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Thanks for asking, Ted...you idiot.

2020-12-14T02:55:47Z

Via Reddit:

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Yeah. I remember.

2020-12-14T02:45:46Z

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‘Tis the season

2020-12-12T03:48:17Z

Best version of this song *ever*. I needed this.

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TIL that I have more in common with rats than with many humans

2020-12-11T22:19:34Z

Ars Technica reported in November of last year about a study that showed that rats which were taught to drive tiny little cars liked doing it so much that they would continue to drive the cars even if they weren't given treats.

Clearly, the rats and I think being able to drive cars *is* the treat. I love so much about this study.

If you're going to teach rats to drive, first you need to build them a car (or Rat Operated Vehicle). The chassis and powertrain came from a robot car kit, and a transparent plastic food container provided the body. Explaining the idea of a steering wheel and pedals to rats was probably too difficult, so the controls were three copper wires stretched across an opening cut out of the front of the bodywork and an aluminum plate on the floor. When a rat stood on the plate and gripped a copper bar, a circuit was completed and the motors engaged; one bar made the car turn to the left, one made it turn to the right, and the third made it go straight ahead.

Already, the rats are better drivers than many humans.

Go rats, go! We need a Rat Ferrari.

(Via Reddit.)

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Bravo to Pennsylvania

2020-12-11T17:17:43Z

The Attorney General of Pennsylvania responds to the totally bizarre law suit by the state of Texas in the Supreme Court of the United States.

Apparently, Texas believes it has standing to sue four other states because Texas didn't like how they voted.

Pennsylvania schools them. Very well.

(Via my friend Janice.)

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Today I Learned...

2020-12-10T13:24:02Z

...that there is a French ballet dancer named Benjamin Millepied.

And now, I have visions of dancing millipedes...all of those feet...dancing The Nutcracker.

(M. Millepied is married to actress Natalie Portman.)

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snicker

2020-12-10T12:58:06Z

This Bishop’s tweet...via Reddit.

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Dear, dear student...

2020-12-09T19:00:39Z

...who has not done most of the work in this class (a class being taken by either the most motivated...or least motivated...students)... ( Read more... )

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Some time ago, I wondered if Florida was lying about its Covid-19 numbers...

2020-12-08T02:31:36Z

...and today, I think we found out the answer to that question.

Police raided the home of the Florida data scientist who built both the state's dashboard and a competing one when she was fired - for, she claims, refusing to fudge data.

State police brandishing firearms Monday raided the Tallahassee home of Rebekah Jones, the former Department of Health data scientist who built the state's much-praised COVID-19 dashboard before being fired over what she said was refusing to "manipulate data."

"They pointed a gun in my face. They pointed guns at my kids," Jones tweeted shortly before 5 p.m.

Jackbooted assholes.

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Wicked Boring

Deb Geisler 1957-2024

About that sleep study...

One little pandemic, and I’m acting like a petulant 7-year-old

My grades are all turned in...

I’m not allowed to take a nap today...

Dutchman hacked Trump’s Twitter account...twice...

I once had a student who insisted on calling me “Mrs.”...

debgeisler @ 2020-12-17T10:08:00

The cat is not amused

Doing what you can...billions...

Today's work training: diversiy and communication

Today's milestones

What should Cleveland's professional baseball team be named?

Oh, oh, oh! I have ideas!

You had *one* job

De-stress...thanks to Benoit Mandelbrot

Thanks for asking, Ted...you idiot.

Yeah. I remember.

‘Tis the season

TIL that I have more in common with rats than with many humans

Bravo to Pennsylvania

Today I Learned...

*snicker*

Dear, dear student...

Some time ago, I wondered if Florida was lying about its Covid-19 numbers...

You had one job

snicker