Day 19 - Sunday, 04/19/2026: Catching up, catching on.

Slight change in title again! It was getting a bit lengthy, so hopefully this'll help reduce the title size.

I'll be catching up on a bunch of my notes, as well as uploading some pictures! I took quite a few, of various things and scenes. First, the Notes & Thoughts; all the images are at the bottom of the post!

Notes:

- "Alpha versions of Project Helix will be sent to developers in 2027" That's still a little while away, and I don't anticipate the console releasing in 2027. I'd guess a Holiday 2028 release? Although I'm hoping we get some previews (or leaks) so I know whether or not it'll have a disc drive. (And thusly know whether or not to hold on to my collection of Xbox 360 and Xbox One discs!)

- my.wordpress.net (Or more specifically: playground.wordpress.net) : "This is a private WordPress that's free and needs no account. It's stored in your browser and will be here when you come back." Ever wanted to run a blog offline? Here you go! I imagine it'll be used like a journaling application, but it's web-based. I personally don't need this (given you're reading this publicly-accessible blog) but it's nice it exists, and absolutely deserves a note!

- ASUS released a bunch of more affordable OLED gaming monitors. Horrible naming scheme, in my opinion, but the $599 variant (ROG Strix OLED XG27AQDMES 💀) is really tempting. I've been waiting to upgrade to an ultrawide OLED, but this might be a great stopgap. My current TN display is... not very good. 27", 1440p, 240Hz, OLED, and G-Sync. That'd be such a huge upgrade!

- Perplexity's Personal Computer sounds intriguing; it's an amped-up, local LLM that can handle tasks for you, on your own machine. The catch? macOS-only. And there's a waitlist. I won't be trying this out myself, but I figured I'd highlight it.

- Speaking of LLMs, Copilot Health was released. "Copilot Health gives you a dedicated space to bring all your personal health data together into a comprehensive profile[...]" I'll pass, but it was too absurd not to mention.

- And more: the Gemini app is now available on macOS. I'm also unable to try this, but there's no waitlist!

- LTT Labs tested the minimum brightness of phones. The fact we can get (well) below 1 nit blows my mind!

- COMPUTEX 2026 is happening in the beginning of June! I won't be going to Taiwan, but I'm sure the reporting on this will be fun! (Although I'm not a big fan of the tagline: "Join the World's Largest AI Exhibition!". 😬)

- The Discourse post about EXT4 is an interesting read! "Turns out ext4 has a limit: roughly 65,000 hardlinks per inode." is so incredibly funny to me.

- Mozilla released Thunderbolt (not the best name, in my opinion), which is a local LLM. However, as per the GitHub: "Currently, we are targeting enterprise customers that want to deploy it on-prem." So I'll wait before trying this out.

- The Human Organ Atlas is such an absolutely unprecedented set of data. "The Human Organ Atlas bridges cellular and whole organ scales with images of whole intact organs at 8-20 μm resolution and region of interest zooms at 1 μm." That scale is almost impossible to comprehend. Science! 😄

- Meta is also getting into the chip-making business. It's been a really interesting year so far. But this is a huge win for RISC-V, I believe!

Thoughts:

- I've been curious about running Steam in Flatpak. Which led me to their GitHub, which specifically mentions: "Steam for Linux requires the following: OS: Latest Ubuntu or Ubuntu LTS with a 64-bit (x86_64, AMD64) Linux kernel". (And I also learned that the Steam Snap is not associated with Valve, apparently.)

- Speaking of Ubuntu, I've also been interested in (possibly) swapping the desktop from Fedora to Ubuntu, specifically for ZFS support. ZFSBootMenu exists, but it's a little... finicky, in my opinion (and experience.) I don't imagine there'd be any (noticeable) performance degradation, but it'd allow me to more easily back everything up. Automatic snapshots (both local and off-premises) are mainly what I'd be aiming for!

- I was curious about who gets new Unicode emojis first: iOS or Android. And from what I could find, it seems like technically speaking, Android gets them first, but iOS has a more unified roll-out so it feels like iOS gets them faster.

- I've been tempted to give Linux Mint Debian Edition a proper try, but I'll wait until it has full Wayland support.

- I've been setting up autoskipping on Pocket Casts. Definitely makes the listening experience a bit nicer!

- The Verge's Ethics Statement is a very interesting read.

- I installed ONLYOFFICE, and intend to give it a proper try. I think I prefer how it looks over LibreOffice, but looks aren't the only thing that matters!

- Skyblivion! Slated to release this year, and I can't wait! I'll probably do (yet another) run-through of Skyrim. For whatever reason (possibly because of its launch date?) I always crave Skyrim during the winter months. So late 2026, you'll likely find me in Skyrim again!

- There's no native Gemini client for Linux, but Gemini CLI does sound really interesting! Google's Antigravity is available though!

- Samsung Health is available on iOS! And it allows food tracking. I've had many annoyances with MyFitnessPal, so I think I'll give Samsung Health a try.

- I'm also giving Waze another try. It's not entirely usable on my current commute (since it reports several 55 MPH roads as 35 MPH, alerting me for speeding when I am not in fact speeding.) but with the move, I might get more use out of this. That being said, I've been very happy with Google Maps so far!

- I'd been very excited about the Steam Machine, but after doing some thinking, I think I may have to skip getting one. My lifestyle (and lack of free time, haha) simply wouldn't benefit from yet another gaming machine. I haven't been gaming much lately, not because I don't have a dedicated box, but because I simply don't have enough time! (Then again, by the time I'm moving, things might be different...) However, I will very likely get the Steam Frame! I loved Beat Saber when I played it ages ago, but never wanted to invest in another VR headset or ecosystem.

- Speaking of buying gaming things, I'm super tempted to get a DSpico! They can be found anywhere from $5 to $30. Improved battery life is the main thing I'd be interested in!

- I ran smartctl on my SSD, and was pleased to read "Percentage Used: 6%". That's after 2 years of heavy use, so I'll likely be okay! Got worried about possibly having to replace this drive, but really didn't want to, given the current cost of drives (and everything else...)

- DaVinci Resolve is free! As in, there's a completely free functional variant. I'm not a video editor, so this never occurred to me. And it runs on Linux, of course!

- I need to install the Intel Driver & Support Assistant. Well, "need" is a strong word, but I wonder if my ThinkPad has any missing drivers.

- VoidTools' "Everything" looks really interesting. Like a super powerful Windows Search (and more)! Admittedly, I'm a little hesitant to install this, but I'll think about it and I figured I may as well mention it.

- Speaking of improving Windows' search: disable Bing in the search box. This is something I'll do! So many times have I tried to open a program I know is installed, only for search to not surface it, pick the "search with Bing" option, and open it in Edge. Frustrating!

- Oh, and speaking of searching on Windows! Raycast is available on Windows! I've heard so many good things about this program from friends over on the macOS side.

- Which reminds me, I really need to install PowerToys! Such a useful program with so many options and settings, a must for any power user!

- And regarding everything: Everything! A game by David OReilly. Although the term "game" is a little fuzzy here. On my wishlist, and can't wait to pick this up soon!

- I've never used a Model M keyboard, and don't know anyone who's got one. I'm super tempted to get a New Model M, but at $189 that's... rough.

A large lime green moth is resting on a dark grey, scratched and textured surface. The moth has long, elegant tails extending from its hindwings. A thin, reddish pink border runs along the top edges of the wings. Small, circular eyespots are visible on each wing, and the moth has feathery, tan antennae!

A grey concrete sidewalk is covered in various colorful chalk drawings. The drawings include a pig, a yellow duck, a pink flower, a yellow sun, and a variety of other things.

A wide landscape view of rolling green mountains under a bright blue sky. A river flows at the bottom of the valley, mostly obscured by shadows from the hills. Dark green trees frame the sides of the image in the foreground!

A wide river flows through a landscape in a tilted, diagonal composition. A long bridge with a dark road surface and white concrete supports crosses the water. Lush green trees line both sides of the river banks. A blue mountain is visible in the distant background under a clear sky!

Three tall, dark brown metal utility poles stand in a row on a grassy, sloped hill. Several power lines run horizontally through the poles. The background is composed of a dense forest with various shades of green leaves. The sky above is a clear, light blue!

A single large green tree stands prominently in a vast green field. To the right, a cluster of taller and darker evergreen trees rises above the rest of the landscape. A dense forest covers the background hills. The sky is bright blue and filled with thin, wispy white clouds. A small patch of orange dirt is visible in the bottom left corner!

A tall metal lattice electricity tower stands in the center of the frame. It is positioned behind a large field of green bushes and small trees. In the far distance, a horizontal line of green forest marks the horizon. The sky is a bright blue with faint, wispy white clouds stretching across the top!

A bright crescent moon is visible through a soft, circular orange glow in a dark night sky. The black silhouette of a dense treeline is visible across the bottom of the image!

A thin, bright white crescent moon is centered in a completely black night sky. The sliver of light is sharp and curved toward the right side of the frame!

A circular decorative wreath is centered on a white paneled door. The wreath is composed of dark brown twigs, green grass-like leaves, and dense clusters of small pink and red berries. A gold colored metal hanger holds the wreath from the top of the door!

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Day 12 - April 12th, 2026: Causes and clearing out.

So first things first: I think I've figured out what makes me feel super nauseated sometimes! It'd happen occasionally in the mornings, and I always figured that maybe some leftovers I'd eaten had somehow gone bad.

Turns out: it's the Starbucks creamers I'd use occasionally in my morning coffees! Specifically, the Caramel Macchiato Inspired Creamer and Brown Sugar Shaken Espresso Inspired Creamer. And it was so difficult to figure out, because it doesn't kick in immediately. I'll have a tasty little coffee treat, and then an hour or two later I'll get these waves of nausea, incredibly bloating and cramps, and just a general feeling of malaise. (Plus some weird jitters, which I imagine is the caffeine making things worse.)

As for why... well, I'm not entirely sure. None of the ingredients stood out to me as "particularly bad". My best guess is that it's the very high amount of sugar. Roughly 1/3rd is sugar by volume. (5 grams of sugar per 15 milliliter/gram serving.) Considering I generally used 60 grams of creamer (with 100-120 milliliters of dairy-free milk and a 6-cup Moka Pot), that's 20 grams of sugar! I am known to have a sweet tooth, but generally those are foods. So the sudden (liquid) sugar rush must be triggering a "get out" response in my stomach. A shame, since I liked their taste, but wowee I feel bad right now!

Speaking of coffee: I'm finally reducing my intake, properly. No more morning and afternoon coffees. I'll save coffee as a special little treat. Perhaps the constant caffeine has left me feeling drained most days. It'll be a rough few weeks, but ultimately it'll be for the better! (Or so I hope.)

2 jars of oats standing atop and oven. The one on the left has a yellow lid, and the cocoa and peanut butter mixture looks quite brown. The jar on the right has a blue lid, and the mixture has a slight pastel blue hue to it.

And I did make two overnight oat jars. On the left is a cocoa & peanut butter one, and the blue-lidded one is simple blueberry! I don't yet know if they're any good. I'm a little worried about the cocoa & PB jar, since I think I put too much cocoa powder and made it too bitter, despite adding lots of honey. I'll have to report back, and post the recipes if they're good. I've been on a really bad "overnight oats" kick lately. Easy to make, satisfying to eat, and they help with the pastry cravings I get so often.

I've also finally gone through the tabs on my phone (60+) and will be adding them as notes and thoughts. Then, I'll be playing some Goat Simulator and try to get that BFF achievement!

Oh, and I did export my Steam wishlist (100+ games), and I'm going through them to find (and remove) games with broken achievements. I don't mind not getting 100% on some games, but I hate when games have broken/unfixed achievements! (Such as multiplayer-only achievements in a game whose servers have shut down. That's silly!)

Notes:

- Atuin. I've heard a lot of good things about this! A very straightforward install on Fedora, although it'll take a lot of using to get a good feel for it. If you're thinking of installing this too, make sure to read the installation guide! I'll be using ZSH and Alacritty. Perhaps I should write a simple blog post, too?

- Losing the Signal by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff. I was never a BlackBerry user, so getting some insight into their history seems valuable! Added to my To-Read list.

- Peter Pan Syndrome. Good to know there's a term for this.

- Yaupon tea. I'd never heard of this, but it sounds intriguing! I love teas, and have been a big fan of yerba mate for a while. I'll have to try this soon! (Despite wanting to reduce my caffeine intake, haha!)

- I found this awesome (pun intended) GitHub page called "Awesome Wayland", full of nifty Wayland(-related) resources! I've bookmarked it, and I reckon I'll reference it often. (Since my machines are all pretty much Wayland-exclusive at this point.)

- OpenAlternative: A site to help you find open source alternatives to the programs you might be using currently. Another indispensable resource! It'll take me a while to comb through this (and I don't use many proprietary applications), but this is incredibly useful to anyone in the F(L)OSS world!

- Nivs' Blog, and specifically this post. Recommend giving their posts a read, there's a lot of genuinely interesting stuff there!

- The Death Clock: a clock that has a countdown timer with the (estimated) seconds you've got left to live. So incredibly morbid, but I love it! It can also be a regular clock. It's a $79.90 pre-order right now (ouch!), but this is too cool to pass up or not share.

- The SmartCard Ghost (Gen 3). A thin, card-shaped tracker that works with both Apple's Find My and Google's Find Hub. What's neat is that it charges wirelessly! It's a little pricey at $39.99 for one, but the 3-pack seems like a decent value (and would make for a good gift!) I don't use any trackers right now, and while I'm not known to lose my stuff, I'd like the extra insurance this would/could add!

This shows the terminal output of fastfetch piped into lolcat. It's rainbowy text.

- Dotacat, a Rust reimplementation of Lolcat. It makes your terminal output all rainbow-y. I love lolcat, since it makes things so much more fun! (And it's probably why I set up my blog to look similarly, haha!) Also, I adore the answer to "Why the name?"; "Because Dota is better than LoL (According to people - I play neither)"

- Taskwarrior-TUI is a super cool terminal program that allows you to manage to-dos and tasks from the terminal!

A screenshot of the terminal showing cbonsai output, which looks like a little 2D bonsai tree, in ASCII.

- And another cool terminal program: cbonsai. Perhaps less productive than the previously-mentioned program. But computing is supposed to be fun, right?

- And speaking of having fun: Chiaki-ng. It's a program that allows PlayStation Remote Play on devices that aren't a PS Portal or a smartphone. Think a laptop, so you can play PlayStation games in another room. Or more importantly; on a Steam Deck! My Wi-Fi might be too slow, but I can't wait to give this a try!

- The Reversal Icon Theme looks incredibly good. I want to install it, but it requires running a script which I'm not a big fan of. I prefer manually placing the files in the .icons folder (such as in the case of Bibata Rainbow, my current cursor!)

Thoughts:

- Attie, despite its controversy, sounded pretty interesting. I'm on the waitlist, and curious to see how it shakes out if/when I get accepted. Attie seems very much hated by the Bluesky community, and is one of the most-blocked accounts on the platform... Ouch!

- Randomly remembered PushBullet from my long-gone Android days. Seems like it's still around, but in maintenance mode. I suppose between LocalSend, KDE Connect, Edge Drop, and Blip, there hasn't been much reason to stick to PushBullet.

- I should get the CCNP certification. Not having any certifications (or code) is severely hurting my ability to get into IT. And I have to start somewhere, right? (If you're looking for a junior sysadmin with Linux experience, let me know!)

- I seriously need to get a YubiKey! For both added security and convenience. Despite using 2FA everywhere I can (and have done so for ages), I've never gotten a key like this before. Perhaps this'd make a good Christmas gift? (Wink wink, nudge nudge!)

- I ran across BB, which from what I understand, is a program that visualizes audio output. (Yes, yes, I'll mention Cava shortly!) What caught me off-guard was the "Requirements" section: "This demo requires computer at least as fast as 486/33 with coprocesor [sic]. But speed of 486/66 or pentium is highly recomended [sic] (especially for hight [sic] resolution SVGA modes). " Can I make this run on a modern machine? Sounds like a fun project!

A screenshot of Cava, an audio visualizer. It displays orange bars (corresponding to the frequencies). In this case, the background is dark grey, and the bars themselves are orange.

- Naturally this requires a shout-out to Cava!

- And speaking of audio, I'm swapping back to Spotify for a while. Two main reasons:

1) My YouTube Premium trial is running out. The individual cost was raised to $15.99, and that's more than I'm willing to spend at this time. I'll likely set up a Family plan, since that'll help alleviate the cost a bit.

2) YouTube Music can be oddly buggy when it has no access to internet. On my 1-hour long commute, I drive through several areas with no cell service. YouTube Music will often "forget" my like/thumbs-up when disconnecting and reconnecting, or not save it at all when the connection is too spotty. I've "lost" some songs this way, unfortunately. And despite playing from the "Downloads" section, it seems like it prefers to phone home when it can. I had no such issues on Spotify when I used it. (Although Spotify will show/hide the "Start Radio" button when connecting/disconnecting, causing the UI [and more critically, the Like/+ Button] to jump around wildly.)

- Speaking of Taskwarrior-TUI, a challenge I've been wanting to try for ages: GUI-less computing! I want to try running a terminal-only setup for a month or so. Relying only on the command line!

- I need to join Ubuntu Pro and, essentially, "figure out what it's about." I know Ubuntu is massive in the server/commercial space, and while I've used Ubuntu a lot over the years, I've never used Ubuntu Pro.

- And lastly, I should probably also join Coursera. If anything, just to hone my skills.

As always, none of these links/programs are sponsored! I like to highlight things I find interesting. And no affiliate links, either. Just clean, direct-to-item links.

Phew, another huge post. On to Goat Simulator!

SysadminRiley Daily

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