Last year I went all out on every blood test I could find predictive of health - but just the cursory physical exam. My Apple watch provides an estimate of my V02 max - which last year was a bit over 48 mL/kg/min but a year later it is around 39 - so about a 20% decline. I'm doing the same activities as last year - but I do notice a marked decline in speed in my track workouts. They're not as easy, nor as quick. So, this year we're putting that issue on the "let's check this out" list.

It's a hat.

I took the "cross-grade" offer and is transitioning to Dorico. Just ran through a few of the demos that shipped with Dorico 5. So far so good. Dorico takes up even more (a lot more) disk space than Finale. If nothing else, at least Dorico is Apple silicon native -- something I suspect MakeMusic/Finale will not be able to do just because it doesn't look like MakeMusic can afford to invest enough to make the transition to Apple silicon. At some point I will also have to try to move some Garritan virtual instrument sounds/libraries that I have paid good money (to MakeMusic) for over to Dorico. MakeMusic says that will work, but we will see.

There was a piece in the grey lady just the other day about Iranian interference attempts. Article had top spot on the website for a while.

Uh huh. [image: 1725623940978-image.jpeg]

Some good friends have home schooled all of their children (6). Their youngest, a set of twins, graduate this coming spring. They participated in a homeschooling co-op. Whatever mom or dad couldn't teach, there was somebody available who could. For enrichment, all children learned to play a musical instrument or took voice lessons (1-violin, 1 - guitar, 2 - piano, 2 -voice). Two of the girls played soccer for the co-op, two of the boys played basketball. One boy and one girl joined the co-op's little theater company, and performed in plays. Of the four older kids, two went to college, two attended vo-tech. They lived at home to keeps costs down, while commuting. I don't know what the twins are going to do. Their kids seem like they've done ok.

Most probably still are. You think this even got reported in Maga Media?

Ironic. The picture shows Moretz holding a donut, but in interviews Moretz talks about how "clean" she eats (low fat, low carb, etc.) to maintain her physique to stay in show biz.

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https://www.axios.com/2024/09/04/nikki-haley-joins-edelman Former Republican presidential candidate and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley will join public relations firm Edelman. Haley will serve as vice chair within EGA, the firm's global public affairs consultancy. She will report to U.S. CEO Kirsty Graham and is expected to begin this month, according to the firm.

OK, Groomer.

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The shocking thing is that I'm not surprised.

Yeah, I'm of two minds about it. On the one hand, they were straightup fucking with an election. It wasn't just a couple of yahoos who loitered on government land, they stopped the electoral college from completing their voting. They accelerated the national insanity. No, I don't think that's the same thing as being found on a park bench after dark. On the other, @Horace said in The Most Deadliest Day: I still see people say with a straight face how “terrifying” they think Jan 6 was. Yeah, that kind of crap has done nothing to cool things down, either. Probably we'd be all better off nationally if we relearned how to have a sense of humor about politics and current events. So, probably a good thing overall they made this.

The first chapter (2nd?) of Atul Gawande's book "Better" deals with battlefield medical triage and how things have changed since WWII. It's fascinating how things have changed.

Ha