lauradi7dw

In the spring, I saw a trailer for Ben McKenzie's documentary
"Everyone is Lying to You for Money," about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. I waited for it to show up at the local theater, but if it did, I missed it. Today I was scrolling and found that I could watch it. It was informative and entertaining (and sad, and infuriating).
https://youtu.be/hEXxAOFqv4U?si=Uee-TbKoGnRmgQgv
It's a coincidence because a few days ago we learned that North Korea (allegedly) had hacked Binance.
https://www.npr.org/2026/10/31/nx-s1-6024426/binance-crypto-heist-cyber-criminals-north-korea
When I heard the news, I unkindly thought "That's nice,"
not minding that the suckers were not being given an even break, but I am working on developing some empathy.
How can anyone not see cryptocurrency for the Ponzi scheme that it is?
Fun fact: Mr. Ponzi bought a house in Lexington.

Edited to add: Binance has said it will refund the investors, which is way better than many of the crypto companies do. We'll see if it happens. I don't think anybody in North Korea will profit financially, but it's a propaganda win.

I went to the Burlington AMC to see a livestream of the same (mostly) concert I had already seen twice, but this time they were in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I was in the less-crowded of the two rooms they were using to stream. One or two small glitches, otherwise picture and sound very clear. It was being livestreamed to 88 countries. I don't know if the very brief outage was world-wide or just in one building in Massachusetts.
I suspect that most people in the theater with me had also seen them live. There was singing along, screaming (really), light sticks. A good time.

https://www.npr.org/2026/10/28/nx-s1-6020543/dolores-huerta-dies
96 is a pretty good age to live to, though.
The sister of a friend died on Monday at age 68. That was not enough, although her health had been failing for several years, so it wasn't too much of a surprise.

https://voices.org.ua/en/news/ce-vijna-proty-ditej-terminove-zvernennia-holosiv-ditej-do-oon-i-derzav-partneriv-cerez-rosijski-ataky

I can write to my reps, but I don't feel that I have much power otherwise. I have been donating to a Ukrainian orphanage for years.

I noticed that it has been a week since I posted. In the meantime, I've had my usual life, suitable to the season.
Peak peeping time! As seen from the Minuteman bikeway (Bedford section?). I don't really ride my bike anymore, but a friend and I meet at the path and walk five miles most Fridays.
I'm not Eliot Porter, but the thought crossed my mind.
This is mine


This is one of his



In terms of pretty trees and light, have Old North Church and colorful trees (one of three times I was there to ring on the weekend).




The Head of the Charles was this weekend. After ringing I walked from Harvard Square along the river to the BU bridge. Cold but clear, people doing their best. One of the last races of the day was paired doubles, with one person paraplegic. I am a fan of efficient movements. It is much more efficient for rowing of that style to put most of the power via legs, but if you're just using arms, it's still a good thing to do, and interesting to watch.

OK, so what I really want to write about is Kdramas. Jumping back decades, when I was first introduced to the IMDb and to VHS tapes, I tried to do as much completeness as possible for actors that I liked. That turned out to be a bad idea. Sometimes people just needed a paycheck, or maybe they just had different opinions from me about what seemed like a good script. Did I learn a lesson from this? Not entirely. I have seen so many Kdramas (of a certain era) that I have favorite actors. It doesn't mean that all of the dramas are worth watching. The advantage now is that I feel that I can fast forward a lot or just quit without watching all the episodes. There are articles and youtube videos about how Netflix has ruined Kdrama. I ignore those, but I admit that sometimes I think "I could write this." I don't, though.

I have seen four episodes of "Between Steps" (English title). I often like three of the actors and recognize a few more, but I don't really like most of the characters. It feels silly to complain about something being implausible when I watch things about supernatural characters and fate and coincidences (this has none of those) but I can't really get past the basic plot, which is that a college student doesn't quite graduate in fashion design and then talks her way into a robotics lab of PhD students by passing a math test and seeming sincere. Somewhere in there we are being set up for a heavy-handed PSA about prejudice against very smart people with a disability, but it might not be worth sticking with it to find out. The head student in the robotics lab had cancer in his teens and lost a leg because of it, but he's smart and good looking and walks OK with a prosthetic leg, and the cancer is gone. He and unsuccessful fashion designer are the designated romantic pair, but as far as I can tell thus far, the only thing they have in common is fondness for robots and they like kissing each other. Is that enough for a relationship?

Only one episode in to "Love in Disguise," maybe I really could write it.
We already know that the rich guy who may or may not have murdered someone will fall in love with the (trying to pass for a man) detective, who presumably will find the real murderer. Her detective coworker who is obviously but quietly in love with her will have his heart broken. If we're lucky, the head of the police department who is willing to hush things up for rich people will get fired.

I wrote:
https://lauradi7dw.dreamwidth.org/1074362.html

I decided on a company and made an appointment. The worker thought that the 40+ year old motor is OK to keep as long as I don't want a new style remote (which I am OK living without). What has been done:
repairs to the somewhat bent panel on the outside of the door on my side. Replacement of all springs, cables, and little wheels (that roll down the track) on both doors. Lubrication of all tracks.
Hundreds of dollars spent. I have a 3 year warranty, although he said the springs should last ten years.
To make it easier for him to get his van with ladders on top past the tree, I cut off a limb (from the tree, not one of mine. Joke, anatomical). It was so far above my head that I was sort of up en pointe and hyperextending my shoulders when I was sawing (regular saw, nothing electric or fancy). The tree guy (from whom I have not received an estimate) said never to stand on a ladder while cutting things off of trees. I took that seriously, so I was on the ground, masked and with eye goggles and a hat, to avoid getting sawdust in myself. We'll see tomorrow if I have new and interesting muscle pain.

I like petroglyphs. I saw some nice ones in Utah in 2023

https://lauradi7dw.dreamwidth.org/2023/08/05/

Today I learned that the BLM is planning to bulldoze down some a couple of hundred miles away from there, unless the court case succeeds (and it hasn't already been done by the time of a ruling).
https://www.abc4.com/news/northern-utah/organizations-sue-blm-gate-canyon-reconstruction/

In 2024 I attended two baseball games at Jamsil stadium in Seoul (plus attended a BTS fan event in the parking lot there)
https://lauradi7dw.dreamwidth.org/836135.html
After today's game, it will be closed and then torn down, I think, to be replaced by a new dome stadium.
I liked it the way it was, but I was only there twice.
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/20260311/aging-baseball-stadium-in-jamsil-to-be-replaced-with-30000-seat-dome-by-2032

Many words that are similar but not the same.

If you ask me if I'm happy in general, I would say no, but maybe it's biochemical more than anything else. I don't have any excuse (other than the state of the world). But I have happy moments pretty much every day, and I do fun things. This past week-ish was particularly full of fun activities. I mentioned Epik High. The next evening I was a cashier for the flea market at Follen that is part of the East Village fair. I don't go to services anymore, but I spent decades there (I'm still in the building for knitting and sometimes other things) and knew the names and family circumstances of lots of the people there, a few of whom I have known since Flo was in preschool. I will never be as good at facial recognition and name recall as my father was before the dementia, but I still have some of it. It was gratifying to be able to call out names and make small talk.

Saturday was packed with a combination of the usual and the occasional, starting with the 31st running of the Somerville Homeless Coalition 5k. I haven't been training much, so I was happy with my 37 minute time. The weather was good, I was masked the whole time without sweating inside the mask too much. My fastest ever 5k was that race, in about 2008, under 25 minutes IIRC. Slowing down a minute per mile per year? Not going to worry about it, or try to get fast. I can still sometimes sprint from the train platform to the busway at Alewife if I'm about to miss a bus, the only time I really need to be speedy.
I walked a couple of minutes to Seven Hills Park where Tai Chi happens during the summer, about halfway through the class time. For most of the summer starting in 2020, we have been doing sword forms, but before that the summertime variant was bagua spear. For the last month, 7 years since the previous time (?), we've been back to the spear. Only a few of us have been around long enough to have done it before, so I'm suddenly ahead of people who are naturally better at this stuff. I was amazed at how much I remembered. I'm not generally good at memorizing choreography, whether it's dance or Tai Chi related. This wasn't just fun for me, this was joy. Every time for the past few sessions, I've felt like I was floating on air. I tried to express this to the instructor, who seemed confused, but said he was glad I enjoyed it. Joy is in the middle of that word, but I don't think that enjoying something and having a flash of joy is the same.
(this is not me, or anybody I know):
https://youtube.com/shorts/ftKsdLM3KQU?si=5T0sfvwFYUlL1WY4
https://ba-gua.org/articles/the-ba-gua-spear/

Bellringing practice was cancelled, so I hurried home, tidied a little bit, changed into my Pungmul performance outfit and walked 5 minutes to the nearby park, for a Korean culture festival. Food, games, old people singing, us, a large Taekwondo demonstration, some classical Korean dance (not folk dance, very formal stuff). The weather was still great, the company was good. Pleasant.

Into Boston to ring for a wedding. Good company, pretty good ringing.

Sunday afternoon I went to a gathering of former co-workers. Chatting, snacking. Pleasant.

My gratitude list is pretty long.

The alarm clock I use was Arthur's. It's more than 50 years old. It buzzes when it goes off. An alternative high tech thing might be a device that plays a clip from this song. "Get out of your bed, get out of your head, and do something" I haven't investigated how to do that.
https://youtu.be/msc9A5JzTj8?si=OAZgbtEclLtyNd1I

https://lauradi7dw.dreamwidth.org/625051.html
also https://lauradi7dw.dreamwidth.org/766722.html

More robins than sparrows this year.

Netflix informed me that the series Miraculous Brothers (2023) is going to be dropped from the lineup in a week. I had gone three years without watching it, but I had FOMO, I guess, and started. The plot is very complicated, part science fiction, part detective story, partly about plagiarism in the publishing industry, abusive parents, on and on. The only thing necessary to know for reading this post is that the lead character, a would-be novelist, stole someone else's manuscript and it has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams, getting him interviews and a literary prize, and a lot of money. Plus being grilled by detectives, not about plagiarism, but due to murder details that showed up in the novel. In episode 6, his publisher informed him that they got a call from Deborah Smith. I sat bolt upright and said "What!?" (I live alone. I can talk to myself out loud if I want to). The ostensible writer did not recognize the name. I sure did.
https://lauradi7dw.dreamwidth.org/977162.html see final paragraph of the post.
The publisher asked if he had read "The Vegetarian" by Han Kang. He had, but only in the original Korean, and knew nothing about translations of her work.
DS would have been 36 when the TV show was made. Does claiming that a real person was interested in translating a fictional work make her sort of a fictional character as well? Or does it just count as a cameo non-appearance? She did not appear, nor did we hear her voice. Is that enough to be paid the day rate for a non-speaking role?

I'm going with 설마 as the answer to the subject line question. It is often translated as "no way."