Blimix

Movie music challenge

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 06:16:37 GMT

A new music challenge:

Off the top of your head, without looking them up, name songs that come from movies, whose titles do not include the movie's name or the word "theme".

(Songs that existed beforehand, and happened to be included in a movie soundtrack, do not count. Nor do songs from Broadway musicals with later film adaptations.)

(Once you've finalized your list, you may double check that you've gotten the titles right.)

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Wrong genre songs?

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 06:17:06 GMT

I have a music challenge for y'all: Song titles containing a type of music, of which the song is not an example.

I've thought hard on this, and have come up with a dozen that I'll post in the comments later.

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Rock video!

Mon, 26 May 2025 13:29:16 GMT

I made a short, silly video. (Warning: Puns.)

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cpQ-DQ3ktBE
https://www.instagram.com/p/DKGYLrYid0s/
https://www.facebook.com/blimix/videos/715033420918052/

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Massive COVID info update

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 13:28:15 GMT

Amid some life stuff, I've found the time to make a major update to my compilations of COVID info.

New material includes but is not limited to: Antivirals; Readimask nose hack link; AirFanta G2 (CO₂ detector); more air purifiers; far-UVC (with open questions); links to three more compilations; links to elastomeric mask info and fit spreadsheet; no evidence for nasal spray efficacy; online social support; dating apps; nicotine patches (with caveats & warnings); Patterson (with warnings); Paxcess.

Treatments and preventions for COVID and long COVID.

COVID Resources.

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Harmonizing in series

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 03:43:43 GMT

When I climbed Crane Mountain this fall, I raced ahead of the group to have a secret part of the summit to myself. I recorded a short music video, which is now on YouTube and Instagram.

It consists of a bit of showing off: I sang three harmony lines in one recording, so that the track could be played over itself, offset, to combine the harmonies. Normally, anyone accompanying themselves would have digital assistance such as a backing track or looping, to hear what they're singing with. I included a long shot of my recording it, to help show that I had no such tools.

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Excess deaths vs. COVID deaths

Sat, 30 Nov 2024 21:09:28 GMT

I've written a piece about our "excess deaths" due to the pandemic, why they're not counted as "COVID deaths," and why we should definitely consider them part of the pandemic threat. Please spread it around. Thanks.

https://www.blimix.com/covid/excess_deaths.html

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How to get things done.

Wed, 27 Nov 2024 23:31:07 GMT

A recent conversation about trying to get things done inspired me to write up a list of tips. It focuses a lot on overcoming inertia, anxiety, and lack of energy.

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Getting through this time

Thu, 07 Nov 2024 01:44:47 GMT

Hey, everyone.

This week is going to be hard to get through. I want to remind you of two things:

1. We're here for each other. We may not feel like we have a country. Or a world. But we have our community. We help each other, and we need each other.

2. Your job today is to get through today. If you're trying to figure out how to survive the next four years and/or how to fix a broken system, you aren't going to come up with the solution yourself today. That's not because those are unsolvable. It's because those are long term problems. Give yourself a realistic goal. Today, get through today.

I wrote two resources a while back that might be helpful.

Dealing with depression and/or burnout:
https://blimix.dreamwidth.org/180153.html

The tension of, "It's an emergency and I have to do something but I can't" can sometimes be relieved by "completing the stress cycle":
https://blimix.dreamwidth.org/168525.html

Those methods might work, or they might be premature. You may need some time simply to express yourself with someone who feels safe. Whatever it is, doing something is more psychologically helpful than doing nothing.

While I would love for you to talk with someone, have a good cry, do some deep breathing, and ask for what you need... If all you can do to get through the day is bottle it up and play video games to distract yourself, then go ahead.

I'm looking forward to whatever time I can get with the people who make me feel safe. Try to reach out for the same.

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Lowe's

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 01:30:48 GMT

Last night, I wrote to Lowe's about ceasing their support for social justice, scaling back their DEI program, and ceasing participation in the Human Rights Campaign's survey of LGBTQ+ inclusion. "It is clear to all that this represents Lowe's caving and pandering to a handful of right-wing extremists whose only power is the ability to annoy." I explained that my circles of friends used to shop there preferentially, due to ethical concerns about their largest competitor, and that we no longer do. I posited that we are far from alone in this. "Clearly, the corporate decisions of Lowe's are not influenced by the harm they cause. I wonder whether they are affected by the customers they have lost."

Not that I expect it to make a difference. Cowards gonna cow.

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Would you turn me in?

Sun, 15 Sep 2024 19:48:19 GMT

(Content note: Pandemic humor.)

I am excited to have finished my most complex video project in quite a while!

Here it is, on three platforms:

https://youtu.be/r_sufYkw6P0

https://www.instagram.com/p/C_8wG7iCnv4/

https://www.facebook.com/blimix/videos/1046940256778355

I'm not here to give you crap. I'm here to save your life.

Huge thanks to all of the friends and strangers who are still doing the right thing! I love you for it.

Some links...

A COVID FAQ with 300 Sources:
https://www.okdoomer.io/a-covid-faq-with-300-sources/

Treatments and preventions for COVID and long COVID:
https://blimix.dreamwidth.org/249645.html

Other COVID resources:
https://www.blimix.com/covid/

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Zebra at the Doctor

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 03:32:09 GMT

I made a video. This is a sympathetic love letter to all my chronic illness / rare illness / zebra friends.

Zebra at the Doctor

I appreciate those doctors who listen to their knowledgeable patients. If you find one here*, they're a keeper.

* One guess which country this takes place in.

(Also, insurance companies ensure that doctors have no time to listen to you. We need single payer health care yesterday.)

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Vote. Seriously.

Sat, 03 Aug 2024 16:18:16 GMT

"This is regular bread, not whole wheat. So I'm going to make my sandwich out of broken glass instead."

"I have an issue with Harris, so I'm not going to vote for her in November."

The only difference between these two statements is that the first one is better: Your broken glass sandwich will only wreck you, not the whole country.

...

(In 2016, when I tried to ask y'all to be sensible, some dudebro commented that he was voting for Stein because PA was going blue regardless. Stein's share of the vote in PA was bigger than the margin by which we lost PA. He and people like him, who "voted their conscience," threw the election to Neo-Nazis. Don't be like them. You know better this time.)

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New video: Are Right-Wingers Really Hypocrites?

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 12:45:44 GMT

After a one year hiatus, I am making videos again! This is a short and sweet (and incisive) one, as I dip my toe back in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZInP3FuGU4

(Content note: Politics, pandemic.)

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Fic rec: Shifting Patterns

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 13:53:20 GMT

I love everything about this "Lucifer" fanfic. It fixes a ton of things that the show messed up. Most importantly, god is the abusive prick he started out as: That needed to be dealt with, not to be dismissed and forgotten after he just comes to Earth and acts nice. Parental abuse is a big theme in this fic, as it should be, and (fair warning) it's depicted realistically, even in a divine context. The other folks are given realistic, deep, and consistent characterization, while leaving them room to learn and grow as the fic progresses. Some are startlingly not who you thought they were. (They're better.) And there's lore! Lore that fits with both the show and the existence of Christianity. On the way, you'll learn about therapy, trauma, religious history, California life, and more.

I laughed sometimes. I smiled a lot. I got deeply absorbed, and concerned for the characters and their situations.

The author treated the show with love, and left it better than they found it.

You'll need an AO3 account to read this; it's a safety precaution against AI scrapers. If you don't have an account, you click a button to request one; it takes ten days or so.

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Why I say it.

Mon, 22 Jul 2024 19:54:40 GMT

I just want you all to know that it's love. I want you to live because I love you.

On Friday, I lost a friend to a combination of Covid and a cancer which had been caused by his earlier Covid.

I have a lot of friends I can't do stuff with anymore because they've been disabled by long Covid. Sucks a lot more for them, of course.

When I'm upset that you won't put on a mask to save your life, that's not me railing at you. That's me wanting to save your life. That's me begging you not to footrace on a cliff.

Also, please don't ever say, "It's just like a cold now," or any other blatant denialist/apologist lie, in my presence. Thank you.

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Man or bear: Taboo

Tue, 07 May 2024 01:57:33 GMT

Here's a deeper framing of the "Bear or man" question.

In short, non-men have been asked whether they would prefer to encounter a bear or a man while hiking alone in the woods. Most choose the bear.

Some men understand. Some men are butthurt, challenging the answer.

The hidden undercurrent is this: These answers publicly highlight the fact that people view men as threatening. Men who are invested in the current, partriarchal power dynamic do not want this discussion to happen. Those men try to enforce taboos against speaking up about sexual assault, and against pointing out the bad behavior of people in power. All such taboos exist to reinforce existing power structures. (That goes for any too open discussion of money, race, religion, social status, etc.)

It's not that these men don't understand why women and nonbinary folks feel threatened by them. They just don't want people saying that they feel threatened. They know that their unearned patriarchal power must remain unexamined and unchallenged in order to remain at all, and so challenges must be silenced.

Of course, patriarchy hurts everybody, so these men are harming themselves along with others. But they're also showing their asses far more than they realize.

On this topic, I just helped my friend Amalia shoot a hilarious video:
https://www.tiktok.com/@thewildamalia/video/7366042053735681281
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6pYRZaxZLu/

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Hang in there.

Sat, 13 Apr 2024 16:39:17 GMT

I watched Anna Cramling's video about a chess match in which she played extremely well against a higher rated player, until an oversight caused her to miss a necessary move. She didn't see that she was still in a good position for a draw, and assumed that she was going to lose. This caused her to make another mistake, in not playing for the draw. That second mistake cost her the game.

I was immediately reminded of two things:

1. World War II: Rommel's campaign against the British in Africa. His forces were outmatched and undersupplied. But he repeatedly tricked the Brits into thinking that they would lose if they engaged him, causing them to retreat. If they had fought, they would have won easily.

2. The job and life advice, "Make them say 'no'." You want a promotion, a favor, a relationship, or whatever. But you think you're not going to get it, so you don't ask. Now it definitely doesn't happen, because you assumed it couldn't. Like the chess draw! Instead, acknowledge that the situation looks disadvantageous, but you don't know everything. Maybe you don't meet all the qualifications, but the boss thinks you can do it, or HR can't find a better candidate. Maybe that cute person sees more in you than you think they do. So ask anyway. Either it doesn't work, but you got practice asking and didn't stand in your own way, or in a pleasant twist of fate you get what you want!

All of these are important to keep in mind now. We are living in bleak times. Things look awful, and motivation is hard to come by. But a lot of events, from personal to nation- or world-shaping, come down to surprising luck: Gavrilo Princip's conspirators' assassination attempt failed, until Ferdinand's motorcade happened to stop right in front of him. The pandemic drove democrats who could work from home into gerrymandered areas, flipping them and costing the Republicans many races in 2022. Cows helped Kodak discover nuclear fallout, thanks to radioactive gelatin ruining some of their photographic plates.

Point is: You never know. The power of fascists is always more tenuous than they let on. Your action could make a difference. Or it could embolden other good people. Or it could crucially distract the powers that be from someone else's action. Even if all you do is survive, vote, and make a few ethical decisions in how you spend your money, you're making a difference.

They want you to give up hope, because they're scared of you. They want you not to vote, because they're scared of you. They want you immobile, too paralyzed to act. Because they're scared of your power. They know that they are hanging on by a thread.

Don't give up.

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Getting back to sleep.

Fri, 29 Mar 2024 02:34:06 GMT

Early this morning, I lay awake ruminating. I would usually try to distract myself by focusing on my breathing, which has a mediocre average return. Instead, I acknowledged that my brain was trying to keep me safe by imagining what I would do in bad situations. I thought, "Thank you, brain, for protecting me. But I need sleep more than I need planning." Then I paid attention to how each breath felt, while counting on both the inhale and the exhale. I was back asleep before I got to ten.

I've read that it makes more sense to view a person as a collection of selves than as a solitary self. Maybe the self that ruminates prefers not to be dismissed. Give it some appreciation and validation.

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Disordered holidays

Mon, 18 Mar 2024 03:09:27 GMT

(Content note: Christianity, not entirely reverent.)

Tracey and I had a nice phone conversation.

We looked at our calendars. Passover comes after Easter. Tracey pointed out the problem: The Last Supper was a Passover seder, after which Jesus was caught and killed. Easter celebrates his resurrection. So he rose before he died? I said that obviously Jesus is yeast. But that mostly doesn't work, because communion wafers (which are Jesus) are unleavened. I had been thinking of an actual loaf of bread as the host, because one appears in a scene from "Lady Jane" (from memory):

"Why do you curtsy?"
"I am bowing to the host. To him who made us all."
"Oh, I see! So, God made you, and the baker — apparently — made God!"

Tracey says there are a few traditions that will use bread instead of crackers. So I figure the Jesus-yeast connection at least has some slight support.

Of course, the real problem with being resurrected before you die is that there are two of you for a while. Make sure not to encounter your past self. If you do, don't risk breaking the timeline by giving anything away: Especially not the circumstances of your death, nor that one of your disciples will betray you. That would be extremely irresponsible.

Tracey mentioned Orthodox church tradition. I asked about Greek vs. Russian Orthodox, and she explained that they have common beliefs, and are named for the languages in which the services are (at least partly) held. So yes, she confirmed my suspicion that there could be a Klingon Orthodox church if enough Klingon speakers with Orthodox beliefs united. The schism (the first one among the still major sects), she told me, occurred because the mainstream church (later to be known as Catholic) largely neglected the Holy Spirit in favor of the other two parts of the Trinity. I surmised that in the divorce, the Orthodox church took custody of the Holy Spirit, while the Father and Son remained with the Catholics. I'm glad for the Holy Spirit: It deserves to be with the church that doesn't show favoritism.

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Weirdest Thing: Bat boning.

Sat, 16 Mar 2024 14:05:47 GMT

"The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week" had a segment on bat boning, the practice of hardening baseball bat surfaces by rubbing them with cow bones. They all acknowledged the joke potential to get it out of their system, and then spent the rest of the segment trying to stay dignified. Trying.

---

Corinne: "So what's important to realize here is that you can bone a bat incorrectly-"
Rachel: [Half-snort] "Wow."
Corinne: "- and make problems worse."
Rachel: "You always want to bone carefully."
Corinne: "Always carefully. It's just sound life advice, for sure."

----

Corinne: "So now, naturally, people try to automate it. Rollings owns a patent for a bat bone rubbing robot."
Rachel: [Snort]
Sara: [Wheeze] "Oh. God."
Rachel: [Cracks up]

----

Corinne: "He said, 'And I boned it, so it wouldn't chip.' Which out of context is... Something."
Rachel: [Laughs]
Sara: "'And I boned it!'" [Giggles.]

---

Rachel: "Thank you for all of that. I'm really proud of how I didn't laugh the entire time!"
Sara: [Chuckles.]
Corinne: "There was no giggling. None."

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Bridgerton (S1-S2)

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 02:29:01 GMT

Okay, I finished Bridgerton, at least until season 3 drops next month. I have thoughts. ( Kinda long. )

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Montelukast

Wed, 28 Feb 2024 17:58:37 GMT

Hey, asthma sufferers? Montelukast (Singulair) has an understated problem.

This came to my attention from a friend who suffered it, and it turns out (anecdotally) to be far more common and widespread than the medical community admits. Montelukast is causing chronic pain and mood problems.

This wasn't on the label originally. While it would have been nice for the initial studies to catch it (but that would have involved doctors listening to women, so good luck), what should have happened later is that the FDA collects enough evidence to make them put a warning on the box; then doctors notice and educate themselves, and are cautious to prescribe it, and they carefully watch for side effects in case the patient needs to discontinue the medication.

What actually happens, in general, is that even good doctors have no leeway to be so watchful. Insurance companies and hospitals have them rushing patients through, back to back, just to stay afloat (or to drown in debt a bit less quickly).

What actually happened, in particular, is that the warning was added to montelukast boxes in March of 2020: When all the doctors had something else on their minds and their schedules. Even the most privileged and attentive doctor would have missed that.

Please beware the effects of this drug.

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The Doubleclicks and self discovery.

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 22:08:53 GMT

The Doubleclicks just posted their first live show since the start of the pandemic. (No, I'm not happy about performers (or anyone else) pretending that the pandemic is over, but that's a side note. I guess they held out longer than most, and this seemed like a big auditorium with a lively but small crowd.)

The last two times I resumed my YouTube subscriptions after a long hiatus, I had received awful news. This time was a nice change of pace! Last I had known, Laser had recently come out as nonbinary (and taken their new name). Now he's out fully as a trans man, and I'm happy for him. I wondered how he would address his corpus of older songs written and narrated as a self-identified woman. He did so charmingly at this point, and added one relevant word to the end of the song. He also mentioned that the T is making it harder for him to sing. Which, yes, I can tell, but I don't mind at all. I've always been here for the Doubleclicks' introspection, their defiant spirit, their humor, and of course their nerdiness.

Aubrey, meanwhile, used to be reserved. She seems much more comfortable and vocal now (even if her mic was low in the sound mix). So I'm also glad for her.

Near the end, they did a song I didn't remember. It addresses the dichotomy of being sensitive to criticism and also being a badass. There's some good insight, and I want all of my friends to hear it. There's not something wrong with you, just because some stranger can make you feel bad with a mean comment.

The concert video was a very pleasant way to spend an hour practicing knitting (a skill I've just picked up recently). I discovered that it's hard to remember to breathe when focusing on a pattern and paying attention to a concert. That will clearly take more practice.

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Forest bathing

Tue, 06 Feb 2024 04:04:49 GMT

There is a practice of mindfully immersing one's self in woodlands, which is translated from Japanese as "forest bathing". It sounds like something I certainly ought to be doing. A year and a half ago, I signed up for a guided forest bathing walk quite some distance away, then overslept. Today, Zimarra and I took a guided forest bathing walk at Five Rivers with two other guests. I was thrilled to finally get to do this.

I'm sure you can look up instructions for forest bathing anywhere. I am taking notes from today as a memory aid. A summary of notable instructions:

As when meditating, try to stay present in the present. If your thoughts wander, gently note that, and return them to what you're doing. Choose a direction to face. Soften your vision, to look at the whole scene rather than focus on any one aspect. Breathe deeply a few times. Turn 90°. Notice what you're feeling: The wind, the ground, feelings inside you, etc. Breathe deeply some more. Turn 90°. Listen to what's around you. Focus on the nearest sound for a few breaths. Focus on the farthest sound. Turn. Breathe some more. Pick up a soft evergreen twig to hold and feel. As you walk, note your experience of your surroundings. Linger at whatever catches your interest. Try looking and listening for anything moving. Stand still, eyes closed, and make a mental map of the sounds around you. Continue walking slowly, using all of your senses.

I've left out a few instructions that were too "woo" to be meaningful to me. I'd categorize "Note your surroundings, such as the sky, experiencing you" as woo, but our surroundings included a deer which did in fact notice us.

Our guide had come from a background of leading children on sensory walks. She instructed us to take twigs from the old Christmas trees lying on the lawn as bird shelters. When she suggested that we carry and feel them, I knew that they were stims.

The nearest sound was the wind rushing through my hat and against my ear. The farthest was the wind in the trees. Focusing on "the wind" twice felt like it was following the letter of the instruction, but not the spirit. I switched my focus to the birds at the feeders.

Unprompted, I ungloved my hand to feel moss on apple tree branches, ice on Sunfish Pond, and soft plants. Through my boots, I could feel the frozen ground under a quarter inch of squishy thaw.

Just as we started our mental sound map, a huge wave of wind rolled in from the meadow and washed across us. It felt dramatic.

I used "the present" as my framework for handling distraction. "No, Joe, that was in the past. Pay attention to the present." "No, Joe, you don't have to memorize that. You can look it up later. You don't have to plan that other thing. Those are in the future. Return to the present." "No, Joe, you don't have to find a way to word this for your blog. That's in the future. Actually, you're describing and focusing on your current experience, which probably counts as mindfulness. Okay, go ahead and do that."

As we finished, our guide handed us further information. When I thanked her warmly by name, she glowed.

The handouts included a link to an audio recording of a guided sensory walk through a forest. I'll give it a try sometime.

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Update, long due.

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 18:27:40 GMT

Sorry about the scarcity of public posts! I swear I'm doing stuff with my life other than helping people to not die of Covid. I'm building community, learning to knit, watching "Bridgerton," taking long nature walks, and spoiling the cat.

That said, I did a lot of work yesterday, reading articles/papers and updating my Covid related documents:

Treatments and preventions for Covid and long Covid.

Why people don't wear masks.

Covid Resources.

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