Cop Car's Beat

Summary of the week

The ears have it - 6/14/2021

Hunky Husband had an appointment with the audiologist. The upshot of the appointment was that he chose to have Dr Combs set his hearing aids on "fully automatic". Trying to make adjustments was not working out for him. No more than HH currently wears the hearing aids, it isn't that big a deal. I must say, though, that I'm enjoying that HH is now (mostly) wearing his hearing aids when he watches TV in the evening. (Not so, during the day; but, one thing at a time!)

At times, HH's TV has been set to such a loud volume that, even though my den door is closed, I cannot hear my own TV over his. Note that, in the photo above, the charger sits on a note that I had written HH a couple of weeks ago to remind him to keep the lid open while charging his hearing aid batteries. Dr Combs recommended this as a means to check that everything is proceeding normally with the charging - by observing the blinking green light on each unit, during charging, or a steady green light when fully charged.

Note to Bogie: I showed your dad the hearing aid controls information in the format that you suggested (which reorganized the information and added the bit of info about the beeping that I had previously omitted) the other day. He didn't recognize the difference. He kept saying that it was the same information as on the previous table. It was mooted by his going to the "fully automatic" mode, anyway; but, I appreciated your input. Thanks for taking the time and making the effort.

Outlook and my teeth - 6/16/2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was not too pleased upon learning that, seemingly, a recent update to Outlook has changed how it operates a bit. Just how, I've not determined. The effect is that I missed my dental appointment on the 15th and had to re-schedule for the 16th.

My usual practice is to set up important appointments in the Outlook Calendar with first notification occurring 18 hours prior to the appointment so that I am reminded the evening before the appointment. The first notification that I received of the dental appointment on the 15th was when I came in (hot & grimy) from doing yard work and was notified that my appointment was past due. Picking up my phone to call the dental office, I noted that they had left me a voicemail about my not being there.

In setting up my appointment for the 16th, I was doubly positive to set first notification for 18 hours prior to the appointment. However, as had occurred on the previous entry, the default of 15 minutes was actually set on the appointment. Of course, with the kerfuffle, I did make it to the appointment on the 16th. I saw the dental hygienist (Lacey, who cleaned my pearly whites), the owner of the practice (Dr Carol Ysidro, who said she just wanted to see me because it had been at least a year since we last spoke), and Dr Omar (Dr Omar Barakeh who adjusted a few of my teeth to improve my bite). My teeth have been shifting a bit since Dr Omar installed the permanent bridge.

The lawn and my "miniature meadow" (mm) - 6/18/2021

Edward, of TenderCare Lawn and Landscape, came by this afternoon to check out our irrigation system. This is a mid-season service that the company offers. Having spent time weeding in the side yard, this morning, I decided to check out my mm that sits between our back lawn and the far back grounds, to see how the milkweed plants are doing. The above photo shows the mm's status.

The lacy-looking white flowers are Annual Daisy fleabanes, I think. I didn't plant them, but neither did I pull them when I saw them growing. The daisy-like yellow/brown flowers at mid-height are Brown-eyed Susans that I seeded a few years ago.

The multi-hued little flowers lurking in the shade of the towering Brown-eyed Susans and Wild asters are Blanket flowers that I planted from pots in 2019. At the left of the photo, one can see that the milkweed plants have grown little since I stopped babying them. Perhaps they are thirsty. The mm is just out of reach of the irrigation system unless the wind is from the north.

As an afterthought: The yellowish long leaves sticking up at the edge of the bare dirt, toward the right edge of the photo, is what's left of one of the Narcissi that surround the mm and a few of the trees that I've had planted in the edge of the woods. The Narcissi have shriveled, fallen, and been mowed down for the season.

Weather notes for the week

It has been hot, hot, hot - and it isn't even summer, yet. The NPR station was announcing that their studio thermometers (in Downtown Wichita) were showing 103 degrees Fahrenheit. The hottest I saw, myself, was 103 on my car (but it changed to 100 when I turned down-sun) and 100 on our front porch. It is supposed to be hotter, today. It is 96 on our front porch. On my drive home from visits to the gym, this week, I've been swabbing down my carotid arterial areas, etc, with the wet wipes that I have been carrying in the car for COVID-19 precautions for the past 15 months. When one cannot perspire, it really helps cool one down.

Bogie, how's it doing up there in New Hampshire? You've been having really hot weather for an area that is supposedly "cool". You were hotter than were we, by about 20 degrees during May, I think.

More from News for Nerds - Neuro-Rights & Computer Stuff

Scientists Propose 'Neuro-Rights' to Protect Brains From Future Manipulation (reuters.com)40

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday June 13, 2021 @04:53PM from the rights-hemisphere dept.

Slashdot reader AmiMoJo shares a report from Reuters:Scientific advances from deep brain stimulation to wearable scanners are making manipulation of the human mind increasingly possible, creating a need for laws and protections to regulate use of the new tools, top neurologists said on Thursday.

A set of "neuro-rights" should be added to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations, said Rafael Yuste, a neuroscience professor at New York's Columbia University and organizer of the Morningside Group of scientists and ethicists proposing such standards. Five rights would guard the brain against abuse from new technologies — rights to identity, free will and mental privacy along with the right of equal access to brain augmentation advances and protection from algorithmic bias, the group says.

"If you can record and change neurons, you can in principle read and write the minds of people," Yuste said during an online panel at the Web Summit, a global tech conference.

"This is not science fiction. We are doing this in lab animals successfully."

 

 

Ransomware Attack Targeted Teamsters Union in 2019. But They Just Refused to Pay (nbcnews.com)10

Posted by EditorDavid on Monday June 14, 2021 @07:34AM from the no-sales dept.

NBC reports that America's "Teamsters" labor union was hit by a ransomware attack demanding $2.5 million back in 2019.

"But unlike many of the companies hit by high-profile ransomware attacks in recent months, the union declined to pay, despite the FBI's advice to do so, three sources familiar with the previously unreported cyberattack told NBC News."Personal information for the millions of active and retired members was never compromised, according to a Teamsters spokesperson, who also said that only one of the union's two email systems was frozen along with other data. Teamsters officials alerted the FBI and asked for help in identifying the source of the attack. They were told that many similar hacks were happening and that the FBI would not be able to assist in pursuing the culprit.

The FBI advised the Teamsters to "just pay it," the first source said. "They said 'this is happening all over D.C. ... and we're not doing anything about it,'" a second source said.

Union officials in Washington were divided over whether to pay the ransom — going so far as to bargain the number down to $1.1 million, according to the sources — but eventually sided with their insurance company, which urged them not to pony up... The Teamsters decided to rebuild their systems, and 99 percent of their data has been restored from archival material — some of it from hard copies — according to the union's spokesperson.

The FBI's communications office did not reply to repeated requests for comment. The FBI's stance is to discourage ransomware payments.
NBC News draws a lesson from the fact that it took nearly two years for this story to emerge. "An unknown number of companies and organizations have been extorted without ever saying a word about it publicly."

 

 

Why Quantum Computers Won't End Up Cracking Bitcoin Wallets (cnbc.com)39

Posted by EditorDavid on Monday June 14, 2021 @03:34AM from the hashing-things-out dept.

"Within a decade, quantum computers could be powerful enough to break the cryptographic security that protects cell phones, bank accounts, email addresses and — yes — bitcoin wallets," writes CNBC.

But fortunately, that would happen only if we do nothing in the meantime, they're told by Thorsten Groetker, former Utimaco CTO "and one of the top experts in the field of quantum computing."Crypto experts told CNBC they aren't all that worried about quantum hacking of bitcoin wallets for a couple of different reasons. Castle Island Ventures founding partner Nic Carter pointed out that quantum breaks would be gradual rather than sudden. "We would have plenty of forewarning if quantum computing was reaching the stage of maturity and sophistication at which it started to threaten our core cryptographic primitives," he said. "It wouldn't be something that happens overnight."

There is also the fact that the community knows that it is coming, and researchers are already in the process of building quantum-safe cryptography. "The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) has been working on a new standard for encryption for the future that's quantum-proof," said Fred Thiel, CEO of cryptocurrency mining specialist Marathon Digital Holdings. NIST is running that selection process now, picking the best candidates and standardizing them.

"It's a technical problem, and there's a technical solution for it," said Groetker. "There are new and secure algorithms for digital signatures. ... You will have years of time to migrate your funds from one account to another." Groetker said he expects the first standard quantum-safe crypto algorithm by 2024, which is still, as he put it, well before we'd see a quantum computer capable of breaking bitcoin's cryptography. Once a newly standardized post-quantum secure cryptography is built, Groetker said, the process of mass migration will begin. "Everyone who owns bitcoin or ethereum will transfer [their] funds from the digital identity that is secured with the old type of key, to a new wallet, or new account, that's secured with a new type of key, which is going to be secure," he said.
There will still be the problem of users who forget their password or died without sharing their key.

But in those scenarios, CNBC suggests, "an organization could lock down all accounts still using the old type of cryptography and give owners some way to access it."

Clever announcement

Last Christmas, a family friend announced her second pregnancy via her daughter's tee shirt. The second child is about due, but I just received the photo. The friend shall remain anonymous.

Refueling by drone

It's been 34 years since I was mustered out of the US Navy Reserve; but, Hunky Husband makes sure I keep somewhat in touch with what's happening with the Navy by asking frequent Navy-related questions - usually about ships or boats, expecting anyone with any affiliation to know all about them. Of course, I was a part of NAVAIR.

HH had a special interest in the article from which the following excerpts were taking. The drone involved is from Boeing - his home-away-from-home for 35 years.

Fueling the Future: MQ-25 first to conduct unmanned aerial tanking

07 June 2021

From NAVAIR Public Affairs

​​​​​​​NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. - The MQ-25™ program successfully conducted the first ever aerial refueling operations between a manned receiver aircraft and unmanned tanker June 4 from MidAmerica Airport in Mascoutah, Illinois.

....

During the flight, the receiver Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet approached the Boeing-owned MQ-25 T1 test asset, conducted a formation evaluation, wake survey, drogue tracking and then plugged with the unmanned aircraft. T1 then successfully transferred fuel from its Aerial Refueling Store (ARS) to the F/A-18.

....

 

The US Navy posted a 30-second video on Twitter.

 

The photo, below, and a 2:05 minute video are posted on the Boeing Media Room webpage.

 

Hear, hear!

I experienced a surprise, today. Hunky Husband had told me that he had called his audiologist and that he was to see her this morning. What he failed to tell me was that he had gone ahead and told her which model of hearing aids he wished to buy. Dr Combs had a set ready for him when we walked in. She took about an hour to fit them to his ears; explain how to change settings on them, manually (eventually, HH may choose to let the units change settings to the environment, automatically); go over the warranty; and go over the battery recharging and unit maintenance procedures with us. Unlike the photo, above, Dr C had chosen units that are silver in color "To go with his hair." After seeing the units behind his ears, she thought that he might like to change for dark-colored units to match the ear pieces on his glasses. I doubt that he does that.

The red band on the earbud that is shown, above, indicates that the unit fits into one's right ear. The left ear's unit has a blue band. Most of us are accustomed to having red be on the port, as in red wine, (left) side; but, in the case of the hearing aids, red is for right.

To remind HH of how to manage the settings on his hearing aids, Dr C gave him a business-card-sized instruction card - which card neither of us found very satisfactory.

 

When we got home, I incorporated the instructions into a table that is much simpler for HH to follow. Even the early stage of dementia in which HH finds himself makes it difficult for him to follow slip-shod instructions. BTW: Dr C wears hearing aids, herself, which makes communications spotty, at times. It also makes her quite empathetic to her patients.

Dr C had set the audio gains a bit low, for now, to give HH a chance to get used to the audio. Next week, she will set the gains a bit higher. As I understood it, she will adjust the gain a couple of more times during the 60-day trial period. If, at the end of the 60-day trial period HH is displeased with anything, he may ask for different equipment or get a full refund - no harm, no foul. I must say it was pleasant, today, having HH watch TV without my having to wear earplugs to protect my own hearing. I'm hoping that HH can summon the patience to get through the trial period.

Below is HH's audiogram. As with the hearing aid units, red marks pertain to the right ear. HH was surprised to see how much hearing he had lost. (He blames time spent around jet engines in working/flying in B-52s in his much younger days.) At the highest frequencies, his hearing in either ear approaches profound deafness. (I could have told him that - of course - lol.)

Today's yard work & after-effects

Yard work & observations

This morning was cool and dry enough for me to be able to get some yard work done. I didn't stay out very long each time, but I went out several times. Mostly, I pulled weeds; but, my greatest achievement was completion of the task of removing the root system left when the yew bush outside one of my bedroom windows died this past spring. Our freshly-sharpened axe and my rarely-used razor tooth saw were my friends. The photo (below) shows that the hole has been filled with the dirt that I had dug and piled - as shown in Weekly summary - 5/22/2021. 

Some of my neighbors appreciate having a ready source of dill weed for their cooking (at which they are much better than am I!) Last fall I seeded, with far too many seeds gathered from last year's crop, a couple of beds, of which I show one (below).

While thinking of our neighbors, I am about ready to call them over to pick cherries. Just a few more days, I think.

In going out to the previous edge of our woods to pull creepers, I saw an array of gorgeous, ruby-red jewels among the grass (below). The closeup shows one ruby-red jewel. I don't know whether the seeds came from the strawberry bed that we had (now, HH's rose garden) or from green garbage that I've buried. At any rate, the taste of these left something to be desired.

Just an update: The new Oklahoma redbud tree, the planting of which is shown in Pretty Trees, is doing great, so far. Unfortunately, the new cherry tree still hasn't shown up. (I need to call the nursery.)

Visual Disturbance

Sitting at the luncheon table across from Hunky Husband, I noticed that I couldn't really see his right eye. Admittedly, it was not entirely light in the room - we've had a lot of practice getting food into our mouths, so vision isn't really required. However, I checked to see if it was one eye or the other that had an issue and found that it made no difference which eye (or both) I used. Absent my long history of migraines and migraine equivalents (variants), I would probably have been very concerned. As I have that history, I quickly cleared my plate from the table, did a quick check for possible stroke, told HH that I thought I was having a migraine, and retired to my darkened den. Indeed, my loss of vision progressed to nearly 100%; but, within 15 minutes, I was recovering visual field. Strange. I've not had a migraine of any sort for about 10 years and haven't experienced a retinal migraine equivalent for at least 30 or 40 years.

Migraine is a syndrome characterized by paroxysmal headache associated with other signs and symptoms, such as aura, but when a migraine manifests in a way other than head pain, it is termed a migraine variant (or migraine equivalent). These variants are not as common or as well understood as typical migraines and may be characterized by paroxysmal episodes of prolonged visual auras, atypical auras, confusion, dysarthria, focal neurologic deficits, gastrointestinal manifestations, and other constitutional symptoms, with or without a headache.

I'm surprised to have come up with a migraine equivalent at this late date; but, perhaps it was triggered by all of the bright sun that shone while I was working in the yard.

Happy birthday, Dudette!

So far this week....

So far this week there have been two things keeping me occupied: nursing Hunky Husband and dealing with a request from the Wichita State University Foundation concerning the small physics scholarship that HH and I have funded at WSU. The WSU Foundation wished to change one of the guidelines that we had established for our fund. Before answering the request, I conferred by email with a friend on the physics faculty, Professor Nicholas Solomey (Nick). I ended up denying the WSU Foundation's request for the change while conceding to an exception that would allow another (newish) physics faculty member to use the Summer 2021 expenditure from our fund for a non-complying graduate student. To change the guideline would have been to instantly thwart the original intent which was to lure new graduate students to WSU for their physics research program.

Heads up: If you are queasy about seeing scrapes/cuts/bloody sites, please do not scroll down to the end of this posting.

Physics

In exchanging emails with Nick, I learned that his wife's mother (who has lived with them since she was my age, five years ago) had emergency surgery last November. She had returned from the hospital with COVID-19, promptly sharing it with the family. Fortunately, no one succumbed to their bout with the virus and Nick wrote, "Covid-19 is the worst 2 weeks ever in bed every symptom of flu for two solid weeks and 6 weeks to recover and from my sick bed I wrote the grant! Someday I should reread it and see what delusions I said but too scared! Best just to work hard over next two years to get this done." NASA's announcement of the grant to which Nick referred is given, below. The graphics are from previous proposals that Nick had written to get him into Phases I and II of research under the NIAC grant program.

NASA encourages researchers to develop and study unexpected approaches for traveling through, understanding, and exploring space. To further these goals, the agency has selected seven studies for additional funding – totaling $5 million – from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. The researchers previously received at least one NIAC award related to their proposals.

“Creativity is key to future space exploration and fostering revolutionary ideas today that may sound outlandish will prepare us for new missions and fresh exploration approaches in the coming decades,” said Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD).

NASA selected the proposals through a peer-review process that evaluates innovation and technical viability. All projects are still in the early stages of development, with most requiring a decade or more of technology maturation. They are not considered official NASA missions.

Among the studies is a neutrino-detecting mission concept that will receive a $2 million Phase III NIAC grant to mature related technology over two years. Neutrinos are one of the most abundant particles in the universe but are challenging to study since they rarely interact with matter. Therefore, large and sensitive Earth-based detectors are best suited to detect them. Nikolas Solomey from Wichita State University in Kansas proposes something different: a space-based neutrino detector.

“Neutrinos are a tool to ‘see’ inside stars, and a space-based detector could offer a new window into the structure of our Sun and even our galaxy,” said NIAC Program Executive Jason Derleth. “A detector orbiting close to the Sun could reveal the shape and size of the solar furnace at the core. Or, by going in the opposite direction, this technology could detect neutrinos from stars at the center of our galaxy.”

Solomey’s previous NIAC research showed the technology could work in space, explored different mission flight paths, and developed an early prototype of the neutrino detector. With the Phase III grant, Solomey will prepare a flight-ready detector that could be tested on a CubeSat.

HH's Health

Hunky Husband had the unpleasant experience, Monday morning, of undergoing surgeries to remove both great toenails, and a hunk of scalp from the crown of his head. The toenail removals were the latest chapter in his continuing fight against fungus - a hard fight for a person who perspires as freely as does HH. The scalp removal was to rid him of a worrisome patch of skin that is potentially cancerous/pre-cancerous. I shant go into additional post-operative images. (In fact, I've taken no others. The above photo was taken to show HH the appearance of his surgical site.)

Attempting to nurse someone whose stubbornness would put a mule's to shame is not my idea of fun. It is an exercise in futility. That is especially true when said someone has memory issues and behavioral issues due to disease. I must say, though, that the hardest part of the whole thing for me was watching the repeated jabs of the needles injecting anesthetic under the toenails and under the scalp - knowing that HH has always hated needles. He was, understandably, not a happy camper.

Today, HH was feeling up to a walk - his first in several weeks. I'm sure that the walk was slow, for him; but, it was good for him, acknowledging that it would have been even better had he been willing to follow Dr Niederee's nurse's caution to stay off of his feet as much as possible for two or three days. (It was never destined to happen, despite her and my best efforts.)

With HH, there is no way he can go for a walk without having to shower afterward - it's that pesky copious perspiration to which I referred, above. (Fortunately for HH, the type of perspiration that he produces does not give him an odious odor even when he cannot shower!) He fared well. I put fresh bandages (large Band Aid-type bandages, cut to fit), another pair of clean, white socks, and a fresh pair of fleece-lined house shoes on his feet, and he was all sweet and clean.

Aww...pretty butterfly

Just to get us out of the house for a bit, today, I suggested that we take a drive. Leaving the house at about 10:30am, Hunky Husband drove us, first to the post office (to mail a birthday card to Dudette), then south to the metropolis of Winfield KS. Oh, wow! We stopped for lunch, then headed back to home base, arriving about 20 minutes ago. In raising the shades at the kitchen bay window, I noticed a butterfly perched on the bird bath; so, I grabbed my camera, set it for automatic macro, and went out the sliding door from the breakfast room. Alas, the butterfly flew just as I got to the last step down to the patio.

Don't despair. The little beauty landed on my hand. Unfortunately, it landed on my right hand - and I am right handed. Struggling with the camera, not well configured for one-hand operation anyway, I got off one "click" before the butterfly fluttered off. I'm calling it a Hackberry Butterfly. (Yes, we have hackberry trees in our woods.)

This is perhaps the fifth butterfly that I've seen on our property this season. The first butterfly was a Monarch; the next, a female Tiger Swallowtail; and I don't recall the species of the others. None of them was a Hackberry Butterfly, though.

Weekly summary - 5/22/2021

Our first roses of the year were picked Monday, the 17th. As the blossoms opened even more, the larger of the yellow roses (photo, below) reached a span of over six inches. Beautiful! Although the roses are fragrant, HH says that he can't smell them. His "smeller" has declined in sensitivity over the past few years.

Today, I photographed the whole rose garden (below), and the real Mr Lincoln rose bush. I had intended to pick the Mr Lincoln bud for HH to enjoy. (He doesn't go outside, much, and it takes an effort to see the rose garden through the kitchen window.) I waited too long.

 

 

In Horticultural pursuits, I showed several of our bushes that I was/(am still) trimming to remove the winter killed branches. Most are doing well, as can be seen in the photos that I took, today.

Double Play Big Bang (larger bushes) and Magic Carpet (smaller bushes) spirea - with sedum ground cover (foreground) and tomatoes (background)

Ivory Halo Dogwood bush

(Dead) Hick's Yew of which I've just started digging out the roots  - outside my bedroom window - The photo's not being 3-D, it's hard to tell that there is a hole around the few remaining dead branches and that there is a pile of dirt to the right of it. It has copious, tough roots that will make me glad that I've had the axe sharpened, when I get to that point.

Nanho Purple Butterfly bush, I think

Assorted holly bushes in front of the house - work in progress

Crepe Myrtles

Although I did not post "before hacking out the deadwood" photos of our crepe myrtle bushes, I'm posting a couple of "after hacking" photos of three of the four bushes. In the first photo, showing a dwarf variety, the bush on the right is one that I layered off of the 20-year-old bush on the left. The bright green at the right edge of the left photo is a couple of the Stella de Oro Daylily plants - with a volunteer tomato nestled in there. The second photo (on the right) shows one of the two standard variety crepe myrtle bushes that were much cheaper since I bought them on sale at a big box store.

Irises

The irises were lovely, again, this year; but, I didn't get around to photographing the various kinds - except the Root beer irises. The root beer irises were the earliest bloomers. Not too far distant from them are the latest bloomers - Orchid irises - shown below.