A sudden withdrawal

Dec. 23rd, 2025 12:34 pm
andrewducker: (Default)
[personal profile] andrewducker
I am an idiot who forgot my blood pressure medicine when I came down to Devon to see my parents.

So this morning I went in to the local pharmacy. Who can't help me because NHS England and NHS Scotland are two different organisations. But they told me to call NHS 111 and ask them for help.

NHS 111 said "We don't have anyone available who can prescribe, call us back after 6:30PM, or talk to a local GP as "Unregistered or Temporary Residents". So we went in to my dad's GP and they said "We don't help in that situation, go talk to NHS 111, they'll help you." - which would seem to leave me in an endless loop.

Just in case, I called my GP surgery in Scotland, who said that they can't prescribe in England.

At which point, as nobody is considering this very important, I think about the only options are to either call back after 6:30 tonight or to just do without for a week. Which, having checked online, doesn't look like a great idea.
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Posted by Bruce Schneier

News:

The Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) announced on Thursday that Moscow was behind a cyber-attack on a Danish water utility in 2024 and a series of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on Danish websites in the lead-up to the municipal and regional council elections in November.

The first, it said, was carried out by the pro-Russian group known as Z-Pentest and the second by NoName057(16), which has links to the Russian state.

Slashdot thread.

44

Dec. 22nd, 2025 11:07 pm
[personal profile] cosmolinguist

Thanks for the nice comments on the previous entry. They, along with just writing it out in the first place and D holding me tight (normally I am the big spoon but he did a great job at it last night!) helped me have an okay night.

D had asked me, after we turned the lights off, if there was anything I wanted to do today -- the family had no real plans beyond making the homemade vegan wellington for my birthday dinner that D's sister had suggested and I'd gotten excited about before I remembered quite how much work it was last year, oops. But D and I helped and it felt a lot less of a production this year.

Anyway, before that we had no plans and I thought it might be nice to get out of the house and see something of Birmingham. We didn't actually make it as far as the city centre but the local high street allowed D to browse charity shops while I got a long-overdue haircut (I went from the longest hair I've had in quite a while to the highest skin fade I've maybe ever had, so it feels like a dramatic difference!), and we went for a very nice birthday lunch.

My birthday present from D might still be trapped in DRM hell but he told me what it is, and The Feminist Art of Walking by his old pal Morag goes very nicely with the birthday present I've already gotten from [personal profile] angelofthenorth, of short walks/hikes around Greater Manchester. I also got a bookshop.org voucher from D's mum, which can be added to the one that comprised the other part of my birthday present from Miriam, so I have to decide what to get there too, which is so fun.

Weirdly, my birthday also marks a year since Gary died. It feels so long ago but also I can still conjure him so clearly in my memory, and there probably hasn't been a day all year that I haven't thought of him. I still miss him so much.

I've had a much better day, and I'm looking forward to being home tomorrow.

New Heraldry Book – Moldova

Dec. 22nd, 2025 08:37 pm
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Posted by Principal Secretary

Silviu ANDRIEȘ-TABAC, Stema, drapelul și imnul Republicii Moldova. O cronică a adoptării și consacrării (The Coat of Arms, Flag, and Anthem of the Republic of Moldova. A Chronicle of Their Adoption and Consecration), Chișinău: [S.n.], 2025, 124 pp., (Biblioteca “Heraldica Moldaviae”, 1), ISBN 978-9975-173-72-8.

The volume Stema, drapelul și imnul Republicii Moldova. O cronică a adoptării și consacrării, authored by the State Heraldist of the Republic of Moldova, is dedicated to the history of the major state symbols of the Republic of Moldova. The book was published to mark the 35th anniversary of the adoption of the state flag (27 April 1990) and the state coat of arms (3 November 1990), as well as the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the second state anthem, “Limba noastră” (22 July 1995).

The author follows in detail the events related to the genesis of national symbols within the political movement for national emancipation in the former Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, which led to the restoration of the pan-Romanian blue-yellow-red tricolor, the Romanian national anthem “Deșteaptă-te, Române!” (in use between 27 August 1991 and 7 June 1994) and certain state coats of arms derived from the historical coat of arms of the Principality of Moldova and that of the Kingdom of Romania. The gradual return to power in the Republic of Moldova of left-wing forces, adherents of the old pan-Russian and pan-Soviet state doctrines and false theories about the existence of a “Moldovan nation” ethnically and linguistically different from the Romanian one, was accompanied by sustained and repeated attacks (until the fall of the communists in 2009, but with a few timid comebacks later), inspired from within the government, to revise the three state symbols. In the context of this “counter-revolution”, civil society, creative intellectuals, and the National Heraldry Commission attached to the President of the Republic of Moldova (established on 5 December 1995) managed to put up sufficient resistance in the case of the flag and coat of arms to keep them intact and caused the 1994-1995 competition for the ‘creation’ of a new national anthem to fail.

Given the previous contributions to the subject, which are already well established in scientific circles, the new work focuses on historiographical analysis, on a more thorough critical examination of the press as a contemporary chronicle and of some testimonies collected by the author in real time, on the interpretation of events and the positions of the political and non-political actors involved. The author essentially presents his own vision as an expert in symbols, as a participant and witness to the events. The work includes a chapter dedicated to each of the three symbols, a section reserved for final general considerations, as well as the mandatory elements of a scientific work: introduction, conclusion, and selective bibliography. Some new elements of great interest are also brought up in the foreword to the volume, signed by the well-known writer and politician Ion Hadârcă, an active participant involved at the highest level in these events. The volume initiates the “Biblioteca Heraldica Moldaviae” collection, supported by the “Heraldica Molaviae” yearbook, which is published in Chișinău through the collaboration of the National Museum of History of Moldova with the “Paul Gore” Society of Genealogy, Heraldry, and Archival Science.

https://cnh.prm.md/wp-content/uploads/Stemadrapelul-si-imnul-Republicii-Moldova.pdf

Microsoft Is Finally Killing RC4

Dec. 22nd, 2025 05:05 pm
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Posted by Bruce Schneier

After twenty-six years, Microsoft is finally upgrading the last remaining instance of the encryption algorithm RC4 in Windows.

of the most visible holdouts in supporting RC4 has been Microsoft. Eventually, Microsoft upgraded Active Directory to support the much more secure AES encryption standard. But by default, Windows servers have continued to respond to RC4-based authentication requests and return an RC4-based response. The RC4 fallback has been a favorite weakness hackers have exploited to compromise enterprise networks. Use of RC4 played a key role in last year’s breach of health giant Ascension. The breach caused life-threatening disruptions at 140 hospitals and put the medical records of 5.6 million patients into the hands of the attackers. US Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) in September called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Microsoft for “gross cybersecurity negligence,” citing the continued default support for RC4.

Last week, Microsoft said it was finally deprecating RC4 and cited its susceptibility to Kerberoasting, the form of attack, known since 2014, that was the root cause of the initial intrusion into Ascension’s network.

Fun fact: RC4 was a trade secret until I published the algorithm in the second edition of Applied Cryptography in 1995.

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Posted by Zach Weinersmith



Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
Accidentally drew Ricardo like an aging Superman. Will substantiate with backstory later.


Today's News:

In shock news, hot yoga is hot

Dec. 22nd, 2025 10:45 am
rmc28: Rachel in hockey gear on the frozen fen at Upware, near Cambridge (Default)
[personal profile] rmc28
The hot yoga place has two levels of classes: "hotpod flow" and "nurturing flow". In January I found the nurturing one a bit too relaxing and slow, and I've been doing the free yoga classes through work pretty consistently all year, so I thought sure, I'll be fine in the standard class. I'll have to modify some of the harder positions but I'm used to that.

It was hot in the class. Not sauna hot, but I was definitely finding it harder than I'd expected based on the January classes. I took the teacher at her word about it being fine to take breaks and drink water as needed, but well before the end I just had to stop, sit, and let my heart rate come down. She checked in with me, and I assured her that I know my body and I'm not going to let myself faint, but yes it was harder than I'd expected. I've switched my classes for the next couple of days to the "nurturing flow", so we'll see how that goes.

slightly gross body stuff
My workout clothes were saturated when I finished. I thought I was sweaty after Huskies practice (two hours skating hard, trying to keep up with young men), but this was a new level. Luckily I had a hoodie and skirt to throw over the top for the bike ride home - it's a weirdly mild December week but not so mild I wanted evaporative cooling all the way. Absolutely everything went in the wash when I got home.

I emptied my 950ml water bottle in/just after the practice, and had another couple of litres of water over the course of the evening, this time with my trusty electrolyte tablets, and managed to see off the lurking dehydration headache. I'm going to make sure there's electrolytes in the in-class bottle too from tonight onward.

vital functions

Dec. 21st, 2025 10:49 pm
kaberett: Trans symbol with Swiss Army knife tools at other positions around the central circle. (Default)
[personal profile] kaberett

Reading. Nothing (quite) finished; various snippets. Scalzi, Bourke, Boddice, Cowart )

Watching. Wake Up Dead Man (the third instalment in the Benoit Blanc/Knives Out mysteries). Read more... )

Three episodes of Man vs. Bee, in company; this is... not for me.

Playing. Inkulinati! And, with the niblings: Match Madness, The Genius Square, Rummikub, Dixit.

Cooking. A new-to-me fruitcake recipe from one of my cookbooks; a dal from the cookbook I am not actually going to manage Making Everything From by the end of the calendar year (but I am pretty close).

Eating. I have now had A Mince Pie. Also a very long lunch at the Gardeners Arms. The brownies that all the reviews of the place we wound up staying in Ardlingy mentioned (which were indeed v good).

Exploring. Wakehurst Place, both at night for Glow Wild and during daylight (a little)!

Growing. Bought curry leaves. Proceeded to strip most of the stems (freezing the leaves) and Treat As Cuttings. There's at least one of them that doesn't look actually dead yet...

Observing. OWL OWL OWL. Very talkative tawny, as we were leaving Wakehurst on Friday night. Snowdrops, also at Wakehurst, to my mild horror. And, blessedly, NOT The Charity Tractor Parade...

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Posted by Principal Secretary

Focusing on heraldry, history, and genealogy, Homunculus publishing house (Wijnegem, Belgium) insured since 1996 the publication of “Heraldicum Disputationes”, the Flemish periodical for heraldry. This year it celebrates its 30th anniversary!
The last issue (Nr. 4, Vol. 30 – 2025) has the following contents:

  • Marc Van de Cruys – “Het wapen van pastoor Eyben” (The coat of arms of pastor Eyben);
  • Guido Vansteenkiste – “Fouten en afwijkingen in wapenboeken” (Mistakes and aberrations  in armorials);
  • Ad Overgaag – “Overzeese heraldiek (9). De Filipijnen” (Overseas heraldry (part 9). The Philippines);
  • Marc Van de Cruys – “Belgische bisschoppen in het buitenland (38). Mgr. Paul Goethals” (Belgian bishops abroad (38). Mgr. Paul Goethals).
[syndicated profile] smbc_comics_feed

Posted by Zach Weinersmith



Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
I push this joke out into the Internet knowing full well that SOMEONE has surely beat me to it.


Today's News:

Solstice

Dec. 21st, 2025 02:22 pm
rmc28: Rachel in hockey gear on the frozen fen at Upware, near Cambridge (Default)
[personal profile] rmc28

Sunrise at 08:07
Sunset at 15:49

On this shortest day of the year, Nico and I went to Clip-n-Climb first thing, cycling there and back together through a heavily overcast but weirdly mild December day. We did a little Co-op run on the way home, and then I unpacked the hire car before returning it. I decided against buses or scooters and walked the hour or so back home, including a little diversion to collect a yoga towel from Decathlon. If all goes to plan, I will cycle to hot yoga this evening in the dark (and quite probably the rain) for the first of my "festive pass" sessions.

(I mean it about being weirdly mild: both cycling and walking I had to take my hoodie off because I was too hot.)

Technically I started the 21st of December still awake at midnight, and watching the first couple of episodes of Shoresy, a Canadian comedy TV show about ice hockey, on a friend's recommendation. (Same director/executive producer as Heated Rivalry although I didn't realise that until after I'd started watching.) Very crude, very funny.

Ice hockey, climbing, walking outdoors, yoga. Spending time with my offspring, thinking of my friends, and taking care of myself. If this is a turning day of the year, it's a good set of things to mark it.

Strictly we are not yet into the "mellandagarna", the in-between days of Christmas-to-New-Year. I'm still working until lunchtime on Wednesday, but a lot of the usual rhythms of my life and my household are paused now. School's out, hockey practice is out, everything has "holiday opening hours" listed and I'm feeling a bit unmoored. (Being ill most of the last fortnight probably hasn't helped.) My yoga pass is part of my attempt to put a little structure on the downtime.

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