The American Discount Book Center on the Kalverstraat in the 1980s.

There I am standing exactly in the center of the group surrounded by happy friends. Me with my hands in my pocket gazing off into the distance wondering what life will bring me next. Back then I was in my early twenties with a whole lifetime ahead of me. A fleeting snapshot of time forever etched into the annals of world history.

I remain eager to enjoy the wonderful world of lazy retirement, but I still prize my intellectual capacity high enough, that I will continue to enjoy working with a team and solving mental challenges just a little bit longer.

I feel honored and privileged to have this opportunity, and it makes me feel special having them appreciate my work and skills.

I decided to pursue yet another new challenge in life. Something fun and interesting to keep the old brain gears oiled and running smoothly.

'Like every other man, at least once in his life, I too have been carried up by Satan to the highest mountain on earth. Once there, he showed me the whole world and, as he did to Christ, said to me: "Now, Son of Man, what do you want if you are to worship me?" So I thought for a long time, because in reality a terrible ambition had long been devouring my soul. Then I answered him: "Listen, I have always heard speak of Providence, yet I have never seen her or anything that resembles her, which makes me think that she does not exist. I want to be Providence, because the thing which I know to be the finest, greatest and most sublime in the world is to reward and punish." But Satan bowed his head and sighed. "You are wrong," he said. "Providence does exist, but you cannot see her, because, as the daughter of God, she is invisible like her father. You have seen nothing that resembles her because she proceeds by hidden means and walks down dark paths. All that I can do for you is to make you one of the agents of this Providence." The deal was concluded. I shall perhaps lose my soul,' Monte Cristo continued. 'But what matter? If the deal had to be struck over again, I should do it.'

--- The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexander Dumas, Chapter XLVIII Idealogy.

Still going strong after all these years (my mind still seems to be pretty sharp), digging around endlessly with my machete mind in the deep jungle of tangled vegetation (spaghetti code) ...

It was later, that I came out of my bewilderment. I looked about dazedly. Thus, I saw so extraordinary a sight that, for a while, I could scarcely believe I was not still wrapped in the visionary tumult of my own thoughts. Out of the reigning green had grown a boundless river of softly shimmering globes, each one enfolded in a wondrous fleece of pure cloud. They reached, both above and below me, to an unknown distance; and, not only hid the shining of the Green Sun; but supplied, in place thereof, a tender glow of light, that suffused itself around me, like unto nothing I had ever seen, before or since.

In a little, I noticed that there was about these spheres, a sort of transparency, almost as though they were formed of clouded crystal, within which burned a radiance, gentle and subdued. They moved on, past me, continually, floating onward at no great speed, but rather as though they had eternity before them. A great while I watched, and could perceive no end to them. At times, I seemed to distinguish faces, amid the cloudiness; but strangely indistinct, as though partly real, and partly formed of the mistiness through which they showed.

--- The House on the Borderland, William Hope Hodgson, Chapter XX The Celestial Globes

Actually, since I am eight plus years older that this range, I more than likely belong to a sliver of a sliver, probably ten percent of ten percent of this one percent.

Maybe I am even the last remaining sole and am the oldest of the old on the whole planet. Just call me a die hard from the long lost era when developers were real heroes.

In celebration of retirement, we have decided to pursue a life long dream by booking a 27-day fly and drive road trip to the far away country of New Zealand.

November 1st is still a long way off, but before we realize it we will be enjoying the rugged and beautiful scenery of this exotic place half way round the world.

Total acceptance is what it is all about and peace cannot be acquired until this has opened your heart.

That was the turning point for me, no more alcohol for me ever again, and I have been completely sober ever since (13 years).

For the sixth day in a row it has been snowing pretty hard. I will not be going anywhere today and choose instead to appreciate the beautiful view outside from the comfort of home.

The novel is a puzzle by design. Not to frustrate, but to force the reader into the same uncertainty the characters live in.

Reflecting back on the mangled contents and what I can piece together, the following questions pique my curiosity:

• Am I human because of origin or behavior?
• If identity is inherited, can it be stolen?
• If identity is performed, does origin matter at all?
• If aliens become human in mind, are they alien anymore?

Like the characters, we can never be sure. And that unsettling ambiguity is the answer.

Shape shifting identity where the division between human and alien no longer separates the two.

Still not sure how the book ended, maybe another read some time could clear up the many ambiguities (or not).

Some helpful references:

# Pi-hole
Network-wide Ad Blocking
https://pi-hole.net/

## Pi-hole Made EASY - A Complete Tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_EfmKdP2ng

## The Firebog - The Big Blocklist Collection:
https://firebog.net/

## Commonly whitelisted domains:
https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/commonly-whitelisted-domains/212

## Barton Bytes DNS over TLS:
https://bartonbytes.com/posts/configure-pi-hole-for-dns-over-tls/

## How to Install Raspberry Pi 5 & X1200 UPS & X1200-C1 Metal Case:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKlRIPLSck0&t=52s

## Unbound - Pi-hole as All-Around DNS Solution
Secure dns for all outgoing requests.
https://docs.pi-hole.net/guides/dns/unbound/

## Geekworm X2100
Geekworm X1200 2-Cell 18650 5.1V 5A UPS HAT for Raspberry Pi 5 Series
https://geekworm.com/products/x1200?srsltid=AfmBOor9h0PNlO8EVIuuWLLGBZGXh7ELEwD9iLnNudADdCC7Myor7kk2

## Wiki
https://wiki.geekworm.com/X1200

## https://www.nkon.nl/en/
Samsung INR18650-35E 3400mAh - 8A (production year 2025)

## Power management script for monitoring supply and authomatic shutdown at threshhold:
https://suptronics.com/Raspberrypi/Power_mgmt/x120x-v1.0_software.html

## More blacklists:
https://pastebin.com/h1sSSSjH

## Checking your Raspberry Pi's view of its power supply
https://share.google/DrBWsob6fZowYGTDb 

## Pi.alert
https://github.com/pucherot/Pi.Alert

Crontab low voltage shutdown (according to ChatGPT):

You don't actually use *crontab itself* to detect the low voltage -- you use a small script that checks the voltage status, and then you schedule that script in crontab.

On a Raspberry Pi, the usual way to detect undervoltage is via:

```bash
vcgencmd get_throttled
```

This returns a hex bitmask. If bit 0 or 16 is set, the Pi is/was undervolted.

Below is a complete solution:

---

## 1. Enable `vcgencmd` and test it

Make sure `vcgencmd` works:

```bash
vcgencmd get_throttled
```

You should see something like:

```text
throttled=0x0
```

If it's nonzero, some throttle/undervolt flags are set.

---

## 2. Create the low-voltage check script

Create a script, e.g.:

```bash
sudo nano /usr/local/sbin/check_low_voltage.sh
```

Paste this into it:

```bash
#!/bin/bash

# Simple low-voltage check for Raspberry Pi
# Uses vcgencmd get_throttled and performs a controlled shutdown
# if undervoltage is detected.

LOGFILE="/var/log/low_voltage_monitor.log"

# Ensure vcgencmd exists
if ! command -v vcgencmd >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - ERROR: vcgencmd not found" >> "$LOGFILE"
    exit 1
fi

THROTTLED_RAW=$(vcgencmd get_throttled 2>/dev/null)

# Expected format: "throttled=0x50000" or similar
VALUE_HEX=$(echo "$THROTTLED_RAW" | awk -F= '{print $2}')

# Strip leading "0x" if present
VALUE_HEX=${VALUE_HEX#0x}

# Convert hex to decimal
VALUE_DEC=$((16#$VALUE_HEX))

# Bit 0  (0x00001): under-voltage currently detected
# Bit 16 (0x10000): under-voltage has occurred since last reboot

UNDER_VOLTAGE_NOW=$((VALUE_DEC & 0x1))
UNDER_VOLTAGE_PAST=$((VALUE_DEC & 0x10000))

if [ "$UNDER_VOLTAGE_NOW" -ne 0 ]; then
    echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - CRITICAL: undervoltage detected now (throttled=$THROTTLED_RAW). Initiating shutdown." >> "$LOGFILE"
    /usr/sbin/shutdown -h now "Undervoltage detected - shutting down to protect system."
elif [ "$UNDER_VOLTAGE_PAST" -ne 0 ]; then
    # Optional: treat "has occurred" as a warning only
    echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - WARNING: undervoltage has occurred in the past (throttled=$THROTTLED_RAW)." >> "$LOGFILE"
else
    # All good
    echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - OK: no undervoltage (throttled=$THROTTLED_RAW)." >> "$LOGFILE"
fi
```

Save and exit.

Make it executable:

```bash
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/sbin/check_low_voltage.sh
```

### About "threshold"

The Pi doesn't let you specify a numeric voltage threshold directly; it just flags "undervoltage" based on its own internal threshold (~4.63 V on 5 V rail). The script above treats *any* active undervoltage flag as critical and shuts down.

If you want a "softer" threshold, you can, for example, only shut down after multiple consecutive detections -- I can add that logic if you'd like.

---

## 3. Add to root's crontab

Edit root's crontab:

```bash
sudo crontab -e
```

Add a line like this to check every minute:

```cron
* * * * * /usr/local/sbin/check_low_voltage.sh
```

Or every 5 minutes:

```cron
*/5 * * * * /usr/local/sbin/check_low_voltage.sh
```

Cron will run it as root, which is required to call `shutdown`.

---

## 4. Quick test (without actually shutting down)

Before enabling the real shutdown, you can comment out the `shutdown` line and replace it with an `echo`, run the script manually, then restore the shutdown command once you're confident:

```bash
sudo /usr/local/sbin/check_low_voltage.sh
tail -n 20 /var/log/low_voltage_monitor.log
```

---

If you tell me how aggressive you want the shutdown behavior (immediate vs. after X consecutive low-voltage detections), I can tweak the script to include counters and a configurable "threshold" for number of hits.

Turns out that my putting stroke prefers keeping line with the direction to the whole, meaning that this zero torque putter fits my putting skill much better. End result is that I should me making 2-3 more putts per round, at least that is what all the hype claims. Made in America so it must be could, cost me enough that's for sure. Ain't it a beauty?!