A Field Filled With a Multitude of Flowers

Byrichard
Reading Time: < 1 minute
Plenty of yellow, some purple and other types of flowers in a field nearby

The pandemic continues. People continue suggesting to do things in the physical world but I find little to no desire to be in close proximity to others, The only moment I am, is when I am cycling.

Today I didn’t bother wearing a mask to recycle, not because I didn’t have it with me but because there were no people around. This proves that when the pandemic is over and that risks are minimal, I will resume normal life, without a mask at all times.

I can keep dreaming of that day.

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Quechua MH900 Shoes

Byrichard

People who walk as much as me wear through shoes within a few months. The soles that were deep and ridged when new, become smooth as we walk, and wear away the soles. Usually I know that shoes are new, or that they need replacing the same way. They start to cause blisters, and I feel that stones are starting to be felt through the soles.


These shoes stand out from others because they are waterproof almost to the top of the shoe, so as long as lake waves are small you’re fine. I tried on the lake, but with a speed boat passing seconds before, I didn’t insist. I tested in the blue shower by the lake to see the result. They performed as expected.



Usually we would put shoes on, and walk once or twice, down the aisle, to see if they were comfortable, but this time I took a liberty, I walked around decathlon with two or three pairs of shoes, to see which ones I liked most. This is a worthwhile. If you forget you’re wearing the shoes you’re trying on, then that’s a good sign. That’s how I chose these over two other shoes I tried on.


According to the marketing content they are meant to be comfortable for walking 20 kilometres a day, 6hrs a day. I haven’t put them through that test, due to recent rainfall.


Testing waterproofing


It feels childish, to put a shoe in a basin of water like I did in the photo above. It confirms your expectations of how waterproof a shoe is. Now that I have confirmed my suspicions, I can walk through puddles, without fear of getting socks wet. With these shoes, the problem is rain seeping in through the trousers and socks, rather than through the fabric. They also have “gaiter” although I would call it a gaiter, to keep stuff out.


With time, we will see if I like them more than other shoes.

A Day In The Clouds

A Day In The Clouds

Byrichard

Today was a different to recent days because we spent it within the clouds, rather than beneath, or above them. It is hard to be above the clouds when you are near lake level. SRF has two nice time lapses of clouds flowing over a mountain as if it was water, or dry ice. Choose the one you prefer.


https://twitter.com/srfmeteo/status/1486011638956314626


It is estimated that a tenth of the Swiss population could be sick with covid-19 at the moment. If a tenth of those people had long covid then Switzerland is faced with 87,000 people with long Covid.


“Environ une personne sur dix a contracté le Covid ces dernières semaines en Suisse, a dit Urs Karrer, vice-président de la task force scientifique de la Confédération devant la presse à Berne. Les nouvelles infections se concentrent actuellement surtout chez les enfants de moins de 10 ans.

source


One million one hundred thousand cases of Covid have been detected in Switzerland, out of a population of around eight point seven million. In theory that’s an eighth of Switzerland that has fallen sick, if we ignore second and third infections of the virus.


There are two challenges to face. The first of these is to see whether we can get through the current wave without being infected, and that’s unlikely for parents of children and people who are exposed to others. The second challenge, it to see how much longer this pandemic will last. At the moment, with the speed at which new variants arrive. Three, within a matter of weeks, it looks as though new variants will emerge faster than vaccines and as if we will have many more waves.


Some countries stand out by the way in which they are not trying to make things better.


And Finally


I am still studying and learning. I will continue to study for as long as the pandemic lasts, because it is the one thing that is guaranteed not to be taken away from me. It also provides me with a sense of accomplishment every day.

Apple Health Step Data Sources
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Apple Health Step Data Sources

Byrichard

Yesterday I spent some time looking through Apple Health Data Sources. I see that there are plenty of data sources. These are the Apple watch, the iphone, Alltrails, move, connect, stepsapp, pacer, Suunto, Ingress and three more that are marked as inactive.


Move is the app that gets data from some Casio watches. Connect is Garmin connect and gets step data from Garmin devices. If I take steps and they are logged with a casio or a garmin device they do not count in iOS apps but if I take steps with Garmin and Casio devices without also wearing the Apple watch the same steps are not counted.


The Apple Fitness and Health apps have access to all the same data. Everything goes to a central database on the iPhone. It’s from the iphone that the data is not shared transparently between all other apps.


In practice whether you have a suunto, Garmin, Apple Watch or other fitness tracker each device should feed, or retrieve data from Apple health, and each should display that data, regardless of which device you wear.


Whether I wear my Garmin, Suunto or Apple watch I would like all three to access health data transparently so that I can choose which individual watch I want to wear on a specific day. I don’t want to have to wear all three of them. Not that I do. I only have two wrists. 😉 I can only wear two at once.


The privacy argument is moot, because each app can be granted access to Apple Health, and Apple Health can be granted access to each app. This means that all the data is already transiting both ways for all apps.


And Finally


When you buy a Casio or other watch the battery is expected to last from three years to ten years, and you are expected to replace the battery when it dies. With the Apple watch, now that it is four years old, the next step would be to swap the battery. The Apple watch is now at 70 percent. The battery costs 79 CHF to replace.


When the Suunto battery got low on the Ambit 3 I got a Spartan, but when I replaced the Spartan I went for a Garmin, so I lost the ability to keep my old log going, and had to migrate to the Garmin app. With the Apple Watch we’re on yet another silo. Every brand has a silo. With the Apple watch it’s worse, because you have the fitness app, but then you have all the third party apps. Everything would break at once if you stop using the Apple Watch.


I would love for Garmin, Suunto and Apple wath to allow the free flow of tracking data in both directions, so that I could choose the best device to wear, and the best app to fiddle around with. Strava is the giant in the room, but I don’t want to use an app where I have to pay a premium for added functionality.



A Rainy Day

A Rainy Day

Byrichard

I hate pandemic weekends because out of pandemic I would be free to do a lot. In pandemic I am not free to do those things.



I will write longer posts when i regain my healthy solitude.


Recently I have started forgetting my phone at home when I go out. I use it to take pictures and for the fitness apps but but not much more now that Twitter is gone and Mastodon and other alternatives are unpleasant.


Pandemics are not fun when you’re surrounded by people living with the delusion that the pandemic is over. We have lived with that delusion for two years.

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