You’re Never Going To Have a Legacy, So Give up Trying

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You’re Never Going To Have a Legacy, So Give up Trying

This is not a bad thing. It means our names and legacies are mortal, just like us. And so we are free to choose a more meaningful lodestar to guide our lives, rather than chasing the ephemeral possibility that our names will be spoken with gravitas once we’re dead.

This applies to smaller, daily priorities, as well as big picture questions. or example, recognizing that I’ll never be remembered as a great writer—that, even if my yet-to-exist books are taught in schools, eventually the syllabi will be updated—helps me focus on the immense satisfaction I get from meeting people, entering different worlds, publishing articles that raise awareness of overlooked problems, and the act of writing itself. Conversely, though having a higher Twitter following might open opportunities for me to build my brand as a writer (such as invitations to give public talks and the chance to rub shoulders with public intellectuals), reminding myself of the impermanence of any possible legacy also reminds me that I really don’t enjoy personal-brand building, so why devote energy to it?

NPR

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The New Year Will Bring More Transparency In Hospital Prices : NPR

A new federal health care rule will require hospitals to publicly post prices for every service they offer and break down those prices by component and procedure. The idea behind the Transparency in Coverage rule is to let patients choose where to go, taking price into consideration.

The Trump administration's rule, which goes into effect this month, was made possible in part through the efforts of Cynthia isher, the founder and chairman of PatientRightsAdvocate.org. Patients from across the United States have told "stories of being blindsided by outrageous medical bills," isher told NPR's Weekend Edition. "This is the win to put affordable into the Affordable Care Act. It's golden."

January 3, 2021 Morning

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Good morning! Happy Latest Sunrise of the Winter 🌄️ ! Next weeks to Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 . It’s January, it’s gray, it’s going to snow all evening, although maybe not accumulate to much at all. Cloudy, dark, gray at the freezing point in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind. There are 0.5 inches of  icy, yucky snow on the ground but there is definitely . ☃ ️The skies will clear Thursday around noontime. 🎼 I am listening to Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine. He was a smart man — once he had his hit song, he took his royalty check and went into almost complete obscurity living until 2020 when he died from the COVID. 😷 People don’t know when it’s time to leave, and instead insist on sticking on much too long. 👴 I promised I wouldn’t talk about about politics so much this year, but my thoughts on our geriatric leadership is well known.

Yesterday wasn’t a real exciting day, 😎 although we did have sun out in the afternoon and went out to the folks house for Sunday. 🍲 Traditional New Years Eve fondue, although a few days late this year. It was ladled out in dishes and we eat it on opposite sides of the room. The panademic year has come to a close but it still is going to take some time to get the mess mopped up. While my folks haven’t gotten the shot yet, my sister apparently has gotten her first shot as she works in the medical field. 🏥 I’ll probably get mine when it’s easy to get them at the local pharmacy — figured just wait and see, as I hate lines. 💉

I stayed up much too late yesterday, 🛏 watching a rather old video about old fashioned computer technology, the Apple Unix (A/UX) attempt, 💻 then restoring old radios. 📽 I get why Apple’s old infrastructure for the Mac was kind of problematic, but I always really liked the simplicity at one level of the code and design. That said, ☎ I am not sure how much I really like having unlimited phone service but it sure is nice to be able to pull up at a browser tab and work from home, at least until the pandemic is over 👾or it it warms up enough that I can work down at the library or the park. 🏞

Today will snow likely, mainly after 4pm. Cloudy 🌨, with a high of 33 degrees at 11am. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 6th. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. Doesn’t sound like a big deal for the afternoon but maybe more nusiance snow at night. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became mostly clear by afternoon. The high last year was 47 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1913. 12 inches of snow fell back in 2003.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:01 pm with sun having an altitude of 24.6° from the due south horizon (-46.2° vs. 6/21). Not sure if we will see much sun today. But who knows. It could change. Probably not though. A six foot person will cast a 13.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:50 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:35 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 23 seconds with dusk around 5:06 pm, which is 55 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:42 pm. At sunset, look for snow 🌨 and temperatures around 33 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 9 hours and 9 minutes of daytime, an increase of 54 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will snow, mainly before 1am. 🌨 Low of 30 degrees at 1am. 15 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 27th. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible. In 2020, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light drizzle by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 35 degrees. The record low of -15 occurred back in 1904.

Looking ahead, there are 10 weeks until Daylight Savings Time Returns 🌇 when the sun will be setting at 7:00 pm with dusk at 7:28 pm (Daylight Savings Time). On that day in 2020, we had mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 46 and 38 degrees. But heck it was mild. Typically, the high temperature is 43 degrees. We hit a record high of 75 back in 1946. Realistically though, I am fully aware that 10 weeks is the time period between the first weekend of summer and Labor Day Weekends. Winters are cold and long in Albany Moo York.

Linux web camera light

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It turns out that it is pretty easy to turn on and off your web camera light in Linux (and most other operating system systems). You might have to install uvcdynctrl but it’s available in most Linux distros.

uvcdynctrl -d video0 -s 'LED1 Mode' 0

While much of the press focuses on netferious uses of web camera lights there are legitimate reasons to use the indicator – for example to flash or light up when an email or message comes in or a download conpletes. Sometimes a video device might be /dev/video 1 etc but you can find that by running this command.

uvcdynctrl -l