My Blue Nevus in Azerbaijan

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

2/12/22

Aloha Everybody!

How's your furnace doing these days?  Snicker. We don't have one, as I've mentioned before. Although the nights here have been chilly (60-65d), we've had many sunny days that have finally managed to heat our pool to a relatively comfy 80d.

The big news for us this week was that we heard from our tour company about the May trip to the

Hopeful Itinerary

Caucasus and it looks like it is a go.  They were holding off to see how the Covid situation was developing and what the various restrictions would mean for our itinerary.  The company is combining the May 17 group with the one starting on May 10 to have the minimum number of participants, so we'll be going a week earlier.  To remind you, the company is called Eldertreks and is based in Canada.  We were attracted to them because of their interesting itineraries and because they restrict group size to 16 maximum.  This is the outfit we were scheduled with to go to Ethiopia two years ago until Covid and civil war made it impossible.  Anyway, we're excited to at least have the possibility of going on this trip, and we've been looking into air travel and getting all the forms filled out.  The three countries that make up the Caucasus are Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia -- former reluctant members of the Soviet Union. Russia borders Georgia and Azerbaijan to the north.  To the south of all three are Turkey and Iran. The old saying, "between a rock and a hard place" comes to mind. It's this strategic location that makes the area so historically interesting and worth visiting.

On Wednesday I had my yearly skin check and everything was fine -- including "Ben," my "Blue

My Buddy Ben

Nevus." Ben has done me well in many a Geezer Competitive Complaining contest, and came through again on Wednesday when the trainees observing my exam suddenly crowded around to get a good look when the dermatologist announced that I had a Blue Nevus on my left hand.  Actually, it's a harmless form of a mole, and in my case is quite small.  I've had it for many years, and the variety I have usually doesn't change over time.  I could have it removed but I've kind of grown attached to it (so to speak) and Ben seems like an old friend now. And if I get to Azerbaijan I want him to go, too.

Karen and I went to the Makalei driving range and putting green on Monday, then had a beach picnic.  On Thursday Karen played with her usual partner (*3* pars!) and I went to Planet Fitness. All this exercise puts me in great shape for my extended naps afterward.

That's it.  Enjoy whatever you can.  It's time.

Volcano Snorts, Foil Fixes, Workout Mania

 [Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

2/5/22

Aloha Ohana!

All is well here. Hope that's true for you too.

I realize I haven't mentioned anything about our volcano for quite some time, so I'll catch you up.   It's still active, but not doing anything newsworthy. Basically it's gone into a pattern like someone

sleeping who has an occasional brief snorting episode as they turn over. All activity is in the summit caldera of Kileaua, inside a vent called Halema'uma'u, where a lava lake formed about 1 1/2-2 years ago.  Most of the surface of the lake has crusted over, but there is a spot near the edge where fresh lava spews then shuts off for a week or so. For about the past 6 months these cycles have been very regular. When the lava is flowing the SO2 levels rise, which produces a slight amount of vog along our coast, then things clear again when the lava stops.  The Volcano National Park is open and draws a lot of tourists, but parts of it are still closed and there really isn't much of a view of the current activity.  

I managed to fix the keyboard of my old computer.  As you recall, it died right after I transferred all the files to the new one.  I still want to keep the old one accessible, though, in case I need something I might have overlooked.  I cleaned out the battery compartment of the keyboard and this week I examined it very closely.  One of the contacts was very badly corroded, and much of it broke off when I tried to scrape off the corrosion. This meant the new battery wasn't making hardly any connection. Hmmmm.  In a flash of ingenuity I tried taking a piece of aluminum foil and stuffing it between the battery and keyboard contacts.  Voila!!  Kindasortamaybe fixed!!  So, let's see. To everybody's toolkit should be added bailing wire, duct tape, and aluminum foil.  

Karen and I worked out at Planet Fitness on Monday to earn our Vietnamese Lemon Grass sandwich on the beach afterwards.  Very few people were in the gym at the time, so we felt pretty comfortable.  Besides being a very large facility with great equipment, we like this venue because the motto is "No Judgement,"  which draws people of all ages and body types.  Sure there are the trim and firm youngsters, but there are also many of us who...uh....aren't.  On Thursday Karen played golf and I went back to the gym again.  Wow, two workouts in one week.  I may have to buy some "muscle" shirts.

That's about it.  We are watching the mainland weather with sympathy and maybe a touch of amusement.  Just remember, Spring will come eventually.  That was the change of seasons I remember loving.

Take care.  Stay healthy and warm.

An Odd Ship, A Workout, A Dead Computer

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

1/29/22

Aloha Y'All!

Still enjoying winter?  Ours is...well, tolerable let's say.  I won't rub it in other than to mention I haven't shoveled any snow for a lonnnnng time.

Early in the week we had yet another cruise ship in port.  This one was one of the Holland American Line, which we've seen before. That makes three ships in the last 1 1/2 weeks!  These aren't the repositioning cruises that B.C. (Before Covid) we saw in the early spring, and seem instead to be special itineraries as companies try to get back into business.  The latest one did something unusual by staying two full days. Most ships arrive around 6-7 am and leave again around 5 pm.  Besides delighting the town merchants, the ship was very picturesque at night with all its lights shining in the bay.

On Tuesday Karen played golf with her friend, and this time the weather was very nice (recall that last

Not a Covid Hotspot

week she got rained out after 5 holes).  She did well, getting two pars and several bogeys.  I decided to go to Planet Fitness and assess the risk of working out.  The place was practically empty, so I stayed and went through my usual routine, which felt very good after not doing it for a couple of weeks.  My muscles let me know the next couple of days that it's better to do this regularly, though.  After carefully assessing the latest research on Omicron, the current status of our health care system here on the island, and the relative payoffs of certain activities versus the risk of severe consequences for me personally, I've decided to try to get on with life as much as is prudent.  Note, I still take precautions to protect myself and other people -- as I think we all should.

I got my new computer completely operational early in the week, and decided to move it to its permanent home in our study.  I had it hooked up to the router in the living room while I tweaked and tested it and transferred everything from the old computer. I shut off both machines and swapped places.  I wanted to keep the old one operational for a couple of weeks in case there were files I needed and/or if I wanted to check some settings.  When I turned it on again, however, the keyboard froze half-way through entering the password.  A light on the keyboard indicated low battery power (it's a wireless keyboard), which is usually no biggie.  However, the batteries had leaked and must have corroded some the internal circuitry because replacing them had no effect.  So at the moment I can't use the old computer at all.  Wow, talk about fortunate timing!  If this had happened before transferring all the files and apps to the new computer I would have had major problems. As it is now I can go ahead and keep using the new computer just fine, and if it becomes crucial that I access the old computer I can probably get a real cheap keyboard somewhere.

Ok. Off to market and to the beach for breakfast.  Stay warm and watch out for frostbite.

Our Tonga Tsunami; Toy Tweaking; TWO Ships

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

1/22/22

Aloha Everybody!

Well the big buzz here this week has been about Tonga, for two reasons.  First, a fair number of people here are from Tonga, and naturally they have been very concerned about the volcano and tsunami damage there.   Many have friends and family there, and early in the week they were desperate for news because almost all communication with Tonga had been cut off. It's better now, but the news isn't good -- I've seen some before and after pictures and they reveal widespread devastation, both from the coating of volcanic ash and from the tsunami.  It will be quite some time before they recover from this.

The second reason for the Tonga interest here is that the tsunami generated by the explosion caused some damage along our waterfront.  It happened around 2am and flooded some homes and businesses.  Fortunately it happened at night, so few people were out and about.  The damage wasn't great but it was enough to close the beaches for several days while sand and rocks were being removed.  This put a damper on tourists' normal activities, of course, although we've also been having some high surf that has been making ocean sports somewhat dicey anyway.  This happens every winter here -- storms far to our northwest cause high surf on our side of island.  In the summer the weather shifts to the southeast, so the surf hits the other side.  If you're a surfer, this is a good time to visit the leeward sides of the islands, but swimmers and boaters have a challenge.

For the second week in a row we've opted against going to the gym as a Covid precaution.  The island case numbers are way up, but the hospitalizations have stayed at less than 1%, so the facilities are holding up pretty well.  Still, there are only three ICU beds available at the moment, so we don't have much cushion. Almost all of those ICU beds are occupied by non-Covid patients.  

My new computer is almost set up and working the way I want it, thanks to lots of techno-tweaking this week.  I'll probably totally de-commission the old one sometime next week, after I'm sure there isn't anything on it that I might need.  Kind of sad, really -- it served us well for almost 10 years (!) and is still functioning, just getting slow and kind of glitchy, like any other geezer (including me).

Karen tried to play golf this week on Thursday but got rained out after about 5 holes. Other than Thursday it has been very nice here, and I finished our "solar" month with a nice surplus.  It's still getting chilly at night (mid to low 60's), a real hardship.  In the mornings I've even had to wear my jeans and a long-sleeved shirt on our walks!

The World

Finally, there were TWO cruise ships that visited us this week, one on Sunday and one on Thursday.  These are the first ones to visit in two years.  Our regular cruise ship that does just the islands will likely resume in March, much to the delight of the town merchants.  It was a very pleasant sight to look down from our neighborhood and see the ships in the harbor. The one on Thursday is called The World, and is very unique because the rooms are luxury suites that people buy (for very big buck$), and it sails continuously around the world, with each year's itinerary different.  It has been here once before, a few years ago.  The owners can either live permanently on the ship or rent out their suite part time.  Not a bad life, eh???

Ok, that's all for this week.  Off to market and to the shore for our breakfast picnic.  Take care. Stay warm, healthy, and sane.

Covid Golf, Nene Chicks, a New Techno-Toy

 [Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

1/15/22

Aloha Ohana!

An interesting & enjoyable week.  First the weather has returned to our usual state of relentlessly nice, even in the afternoons.  This has meant (a) lots of electrons for our PV system, and (b) lots of therms for our pool (as you know, "therms" are what is measured by a "therm-o-meter".  The pv production has recovered our losses from a few weeks of lousy (for us) weather, and the pool is now in the tolerable (for us) range (78-80d).  

My new techno-toy arrived late Monday afternoon -- aka desktop computer.  I got it going pretty quickly with just a couple of glitches and confirmed it is what I was hoping for.  However, the tuning and tweaking to get it fully commissioned has taken longer.  This is partly so I can enjoy the process (have to play with my toys when they're new, of course), and also my setup is more complex than most because of my idiosyncratic preferences for certain software and my obsession with privacy and security. In short, it isn't just a matter of turning on the machine and following the instructions.  The final step will probably be tomorrow when I attempt to transfer all the files and apps from the old machine to the new one.  Although the transfer software I'm using suggests this is easy, my experience leads me to expect a fair amount of troubleshooting to get everything working again.  We'll see.

On Tuesday Karen and I played golf at Makalei.  I was a Covid substitution for her usual partner, whose husband developed virus-like symptoms over the previous weekend.  Both of them are fully-vaxed but his mild symptoms were consistent with a breakthough case.  He tried to find a home test but there's been a real run on them here and he had to wait to get a pcr test. The results came back yesterday, and were negative. To their credit, until they found out for sure they did the responsible thing by both self-isolating.

The weather on the course was beautiful.  I did pretty well (1 par and 1 bogey), but overall not quite as good

Chicks are Between Mom & Pop

as last time.  We saw a fair number of Nenes, about 20, and roughly 5 chicks.  However, there were several chickless mating pairs, and we came across a pair in which one of the mates had a broken wing. As I've mentioned before,  Nenes migrate each year from elsewhere on the island, which would be impossible with a broken wing.  It is likely, then, that it was injured in that big windstorm about a month ago.  It will be interesting to see what happens when it is the usual time to migrate in the spring.  If the Nene with the broken wing can't fly, both of them will probably stay for the summer -- Nenes tend to be very devoted to their mates, even staying together for life. Sadly, the lower than normal number of chicks suggests that a bunch of nests were destroyed in the storm, but

Grounded?

it was still heartwarming to see that some of them survived.  The peacocks are just now entering their mating season, so the mature males have regrown their tail feathers and were strutting their stuff -- a real show.

No Planet Fitness this week -- just too much virus around, but on Friday Karen & I went back to Makalei's driving range and putting green instead.  Not as much exercise but safer and a better view (!). Unfortunately, about half way through our bucket of balls, nature decided to give us a demonstration of what it means for this area to be called a "cloud forest" when the conditions turned misty, cool and foggy.  Quite a difference from Tuesday. Afterward we had a picnic at the beach where it was sunny and warm, definitely mo' betta.

Ok, that's about it. I hope you are all holding up and hanging in there.  Sure seems like everyday life is a challenge these days.  Off to market and to the beach.

2022: Are We Having Fun Yet?

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

1/8/22

Aloha Everyone --

What a week!  Definitely a mixed start to 2022!

I hope you are staying warm and unburned.  We learned last weekend that some friends in Colorado had their house destroyed in the fires near Boulder, and some other friends whose house was ok had no power for about a day with the temperature falling to near zero.  Their main concern, besides not getting frostbite in bed, was to keep their pipes from freezing.  Welcome to 2022.

Our Covid situation here in paradise is similar to everywhere else.  Our new cases are "exploding," "surging," "sky-rocketing, "erupting," "record-shattering," and every other hyperbolic adjective the media has used to describe the spread of Omicron (I feel sorry for media people because they've nearly run out of scary words).  However, just like everywhere else, the new variant is proving to be quite mild and has resulted in only a modest uptick in hospitalizations, ICU usage, and deaths.  Right now our island facilities are doing just fine, although they suffer from the same staff shortages that mainland hospitals are experiencing. Finally, like everywhere else, our hospitalizations are mostly unvaccinated and/or people with preexisting conditions. I contend that contagiousness of Omicron may actually be a blessing in disguise because it will infect many anti-vaxers and give them some degree of immunity whether they accept the reality of Covid or not -- to the benefit of everyone else.

On the more positive home front, I've got all our outside decorations down and stowed away, and this weekend we will take down our Christmas tree.  It's kind of sad without the lights and tinsel, but I also am enjoying getting back to my normal routine.  On Monday I went to Planet Fitness (almost empty),  and Karen played golf on Thursday.  On Wednesday we had our neighbors over for dinner and were able to eat outside by our pool because we had a fair amount of sun in the afternoons this week and the temps were comfortable until later in the evening. We were even able to get in our pool a couple of times this week, thanks to the heat gain during the day.

This week I bought a couple of new toys to keep my mind off the continued disintegration of human civilization.  The first is a new barbecue grill, which I enjoyed putting together on Thursday and Friday.  I could have bought it pre-assembled, but where's the fun in that?  I went high-end this time, figuring this might last me until I won't be grilling anymore.  It was a joy to assemble -- for once the parts fit and were easy to identify, and the instructions were actually clear and easy to follow. My hat is off to the engineers and documentation folks.  Now, of course, I just have to see if it grills any better than my old one.  I expect that, as always there will be a period of learning the quirks and subtle tricks of using it that I'll have to master -- but this is still part of the fun....

The other new toy will arrive next week.  Costco Online featured a desktop computer that has all the features that I want and so I ordered it.  My old one is creaking along and not doing too badly for about 8 years old (a real geezer in the technoverse), but the handwriting is on the wall.  The new one is a Dell all-in-one, meaning very few wires to hassle with, and has a solid state drive, meaning fewer moving parts.  The main challenge will be configuring the new one to my liking, and transferring all of our files and programs.  I expect some snafus along the way, and the "fun" will be in solving issues as they come up.  The advantage of buying it online through Costco is that if there is a problem I can always return it to our local store rather than trying to ship it back.  I'll let you know next week how this goes.  I'm realistic and experienced enough to know that new isn't always better.

Finally, I visited my retina doctor yesterday, and as I expected I had an injection.  Fluid had built up and it was definitely time for chemical intervention.  Still, I was able to go about 3 months between shots, which is pretty good.  Also, the doctor said the retina itself looks pretty good (considering the dead cells), and so he expects a good result from the injection.  My pressures are staying well-controlled, and my left eye is still doing well (20/20), so I'm actually fortunate.

Ok, that's it for now.  Off to market and our beach breakfast picnic, plus some shopping. Look hard for whatever bright spots you can find and focus on them as much as you can.  Stay warm and healthy!

QR Codes and the Afterlife

They're everywhere -- those little squares with the squiggles inside called QR ("Quick Response") codes.  The Covid pandemic of the last couple of years has accelerated their spread (pun intended)

Links to a relevant article

mainly as a touchless way to obtain information.  For example, in many restaurants the menu can now be accessed by scanning a QR code with your cell phone which opens a web page displaying the items.  No contact with a potentially germy paper menu is required. During the height of the pandemic access by QR code was almost a necessity -- printed menus were provided only by pleading with the wait staff.  For restaurants, the QR-accessed menu has the added benefit of allowing the offerings and prices to be changed quickly, easily, and inexpensively.  Efficient and germ-free, though not particularly elegant, I suspect even after the pandemic many low to moderate-end restaurants will opt to keep the QR menu.

The QR code was invented in 1994 in Japan (see Stazzone, 2021) for industrial inventory and tracking purposes. Unlike the older bar code that we see on products in retail stores, a QR code can be read both horizontally and vertically, allowing it to encode much more information. Confusingly, QR codes are often referred to as 2d "Bar Codes," though they contain no bars.  The name "QR" is actually a trademarked name of a specific form of matrix code.  There are other types of matrix codes, but the QR version has become so common that the name has taken on the status of "Bandaid" to refer to all adhesive bandages, or "Kleenex" to refer to all facial tissues (Stazzone, 2021).

There are a number of advantages to QR codes over standard 1d codes.  The pattern of squiggles allows for increased error correction so that up to 30% of the code can be damaged and still allow accurate scanning. Also, they can store much more information within the code itself rather than having to consult an external data base.  In a retail application this might include colors available, warranty length, or component details. Another advantage is that QR codes can contain a wider variety of information, such as email addresses, geolocation data, names, website urls.

As with all new technology, there are also some potential downsides and misuses of QR codes. Morey Haber of Forbes Magazine has detailed a number of these (Haber, 2020).  Most stem from the fact that  it isn't obvious from the appearance of the code itself what will happen when you scan it.  It could, for instance automatically direct your phone to a website that installs tracking software or even malware, dials a sales-pitch phone number, or sends an email to request more information while also recording and selling your email address.  Ne'er-do-wells may also substitute their own QR code for the original, as happened recently in Australia.  An anti-vaxer pasted his own code over official ones located at the entrances to retail establishments.  The official codes registered shoppers to allow contact tracing if they came into contact with someone with Covid, whereas the substitute code presented misinformation concerning vaccine safety and efficacy.  The best approach to avoiding these problems is to limit our scans to codes offered only by reputable organizations, businesses, and individuals for purposes that are clearly stated, and to be wary of any codes that appear to have been altered or substituted.

The amount and type of information that can be contained in QR codes has led to a wide range of both commercial and personal applications.  For example, my wife and I recently stayed in a hotel where scanning a QR code displayed in the room automatically logged us into the hotel's wifi network. It's even possible to create a code for your own home network for guests to use -- my Android phone has this feature built into the latest operating system, and there are online code-generation services available (for example, see Code Generator or Scanova).  Advertisements for products and services often contain a QR code that will lead to additional information about the product, even to online sales portals.  Some electronic products I've recently purchased have codes that link to the owner's manual. In museums the display tags for items often contain QR codes that play audio explanations.  At the gym where my wife and I exercise, each machine has a QR code that links to a short video demonstrating the proper use of the equipment. Finally, many uses of QR codes occur when the code is stored on your phone and then scanned by others -- airline boarding passes, entertainment tickets, organizational membership information, even vaccination and testing status codes.

Some of these applications are very creative -- even if a bit odd.  My favorite example of this is

From Rome Monuments Co.

something I came across recently that resonated with my somewhat questionable appreciation for graveyards (see My Favorite Cemeteries).  There are now a number of companies that will place QR codes on...wait for it... tombstones (Bhatia, 2020).  Visitors paying their respects, or just curious weirdos like myself, can scan the tombstone code and have access to the deceased's life history, eulogies, photos, or even as one academic has done, a complete list of his publications and citation metrics (Matyszczk, 2020). It can get even more "interesting" if you imagine that the QR code might trigger a video message from the deceased themselves -- parting words of wisdom or a last harangue, perhaps.

The ultimate, though, would be if tombstone QR codes were linked to the latest AI technology that allows conversations with deceased people (Bantham, 2019).  James Vlahos was the first to use AI (but not QR codes) in this way to keep the memory of his father alive.  Before illness overcame his dad, Vlahos interviewed him about his life experiences, attitudes, and philosophy, and had him relate anecdotes and stories about his life. This content was then fed to an AI Chat Bot program that can respond to questions in a naturalistic way,  almost like having a conversation. Vlahos has since founded the company HereAfter, which offers the same service to others for a fee, and has continued to refine the technology.  Other companies have also picked up the idea and there are now a number of platforms which allow interaction with the avatars of people no longer with us.  An informative review of some of these efforts is available in an article by Russ Bantham in "Transformative Technologies."

It seems to my warped mind that it might be easy to connect a tombstone QR code to the deceased's HereAfter avatar. Scan the code with your phone and have a chat with the dead person! Neat, huh? A phone call to the afterlife! And why not go all in by incorporating VR or AR so that the person's image is right there with you! I have little doubt some enterprising coder is working on this right now, and it is simply a matter of time before tombstone QR codes to interact with the dead are available.

One group of people who might not find this idea very appealing are psychics, who make a living contacting the deceased. Another group are those with different sensibilities regarding death. As Bantham notes: "Not everyone will be delighted at the prospect of conversing with the ghostly vestiges of late friends and family members, perceiving it distasteful and maybe a bit creepy."  Of course internet technology, especially social media, is notoriously indifferent to matters of good taste and sensitivity, so I doubt these people will have much effect.

There is an issue here that should at least be mentioned.  Is having AI-mediated conversations with a loved one the healthiest way to grieve or to honor their memory?  The urge to keep the embodied memory of the departed alive is understandable.  But honoring their non-embodied influence on our current everyday lives and the quality of our current experiences is important, also.  This is a matter of living more fully in the present and being mindful of the many ways they affect us in our attitudes, values, and outlooks, rather than being focused on the past.

We live in an age when developments in technology, like AI and QR codes, are increasingly infiltrating what used to be non-technical aspects of our lives -- our beliefs regarding the afterlife, memories of loved ones, and what it means to be "real,"  "true,"  or even "human." Whether the outcome will be positive or negative for society and for individuals is yet to be determined, of course.  But the challenge of figuring this out may be the most important project humans have ever faced.