Mon 12 Oct (today): No timed appointments. All day: Luca in Prague, and Pecorari in Prague (both Mon–Tue). Tue 13 Oct: 12:00–13:30 lunch with Pierpaolo Pecorari, Unico restaurant. Luca and Pecorari still in town. Wed 14 Oct: Nothing timed.

• DPD 13459523365491 (return parcel from Extrastore / ARO Zwroty): ready at E-Mys Market, Čajkovského 1224/19, Praha 3. Pickup code 8F41. DPD said on 9 Oct it waits 7 days, so roughly until Fri 16 Oct (extension link is in the DPD mail).
• Amazon.de order 306-5184824-0481921, GLK X204 black velour rear mats (22 EUR): estimated arrival 10–12 Oct, so today is the last day of the window. No "delivered" mail yet.

• Ukraine: Trump announced Sunday an "energy ceasefire" "effective immediately"; Moscow hasn't confirmed and Zelensky said it was "news to me." Russia then hit power plants in Kyiv and Kharkiv (CHP-5); six killed Sunday, three at a Kharkiv grocery store. Guardian
• Ukraine: Allies (UK, France, Canada, EU) are backing an energy truce but slamming Friday's US deal to buy Russian diesel with eased sanctions. The FT reports the US is pressing Kyiv to stop striking Russian refineries.
• Iran: Tehran calls the latest US reply on ending the war and reopening Hormuz "insufficient," and threatens regional cables, data centres and AI facilities if heavy fighting resumes. The IRGC says ships that switch off tracking in Hormuz will be treated as hostile. PBS/AP
• Region: Houthis hit Riyadh's King Khalid airport again Sunday after Saturday's strike killed 12. Israel's election is on 27 Oct.

• Crucial week for Andrea Sempio: 18 Oct is the deadline for his defence's written submissions and counter-expert reports, after which the Pavia prosecutors may ask for trial. The Poggi family (lawyer Gian Luigi Tizzoni) won't join as civil party and stays as injured party. ANSA
• Defence lawyer Angela Taccia rejects the prosecutors' requested psychiatric assessment: «Pronte le memorie, se la Procura gioca duro lo facciamo anche noi». La Sicilia
• No substantive new YouTube video or X thread since 10 Oct.

Last week, 5–11 Oct

• Commission, 6 Oct: "Preparing for a wider Union" package. It proposes qualified-majority voting for opening negotiating clusters, stronger post-accession safeguards (up to suspending Council voting rights), and roadmaps for Montenegro, Albania, Moldova and Ukraine. Commission
• Parliament, 7 Oct: adopted its EU–China recommendation 454–86 (110 abstentions), calling for trade reciprocity, de-risking critical sectors and pressure on Russia over Ukraine. EP
• Commission, 8 Oct: new EU emissions rules for pig and poultry farms (ammonia, nitrogen, phosphorus), applying from 2030–2032 by farm size. DG ENV
• Council, 9 Oct: signed off ETS2 market-stability changes: the mechanism runs beyond 2030 and allowances released above €45/t double to 40M, ahead of the 2028 launch. Council
• Finance ministers, 9 Oct: agreed the Market Integration and Supervision Package for the savings and investments union; talks with Parliament next. Irish Presidency
• Ahead: EU leaders meet in Brussels 15–16 Oct on competitiveness, Ukraine, the 2028–2034 budget, the Middle East, defence, migration and enlargement. European Council

• Bitwig: No new release this week; current is 6.1.3 (23 Sep). Bitwig
• Traktor: No new release; current is Pro/Play 4.5.1 (9 Jul). NI community
• YouTube: No worthwhile Bitwig or Traktor tutorial found from the last two days.
• Ubuntu tip: sudo apt autoremove --dry-run shows which leftover packages would be removed before you actually run sudo apt autoremove.
• Package: sudo apt install timeshift gives you system snapshots, so you can roll back after a bad upgrade or experiment.

Tip: Press Cmd+, to jump straight into Settings from anywhere, or use "Open settings" in the command palette. From there, the Usage row under Usage & Billing shows your included and on-demand usage. If you don't see that tab, it isn't enabled for your account.

Last week's changes (official changelog):

• v0.68.1 (7 Oct): Bots can build slide decks (PowerPoint or Google Slides), send formatted emails from draft cards, and pull mail back out of Gmail Spam. 1:1 chats take the Bot's colour. The Bot's computer screen is now 1920×1200, and Stop ends a stuck step within about 30 seconds.
• v0.68.0 (5 Oct): Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Swahili and Hausa join the language list. Gmail send-as addresses are supported, saved rules are now called Custom Rules, routines get a right-click menu (Pause, Resume, Test, Edit, Delete), and Settings → Computer can remove other computers.
• Also: @robotaxi posted on X on 11 Oct that riders can talk to their Grok Bot inside Tesla Robotaxi.

• 🐠 Fiji: Naidiri, a village of about 147 people, has helped restore around 10 km of degraded coral coastline, and fish are coming back. Xinhua
• 🐸 India: The critically endangered Chakrata torrent frog was rediscovered in Uttarkashi, the first record since 1985. Times of India

Astronomers found a "phoenix" planet: a Jupiter-sized world circling the white dwarf HS 0209+0832 (about 270 light-years away) every 4.4 days, likely formed from material the star threw off as a red giant. A second-generation planet, born from a dead star's ashes. Live Science

Caravaggio, Riposo durante la fuga in Egitto (c. 1594–96), Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome.

Vittorio Sgarbi: «Caravaggio appena arrivato dalla Lombardia è ancora contemplativo, apollineo, ideale, come si vede in quel capolavoro, dipinto a 22-23 anni, che è il Riposo durante la fuga in Egitto… Qui la realtà è intermittente rispetto a un sogno: la si trova nell'occhio dell'asino, nelle masserizie di San Giuseppe, nei sassi e nelle foglie. Tutto il resto è sogno, con una musica celeste che arriva alle nostre orecchie.»

Source: Sgarbi, «Caravaggio, realista con sguardo su Dio», il Giornale, 18 Feb 2010 (republished text).

ebullient (adj.): bubbling over with enthusiasm and good cheer.

• She came back from the trip ebullient, full of plans.
• The ebullient crowd sang all the way to the tram.

• kaštan (KAHSH-tahn), chestnut. Dám si dýňový krém s pečenými kaštany. (I'll have the pumpkin soup with roasted chestnuts.)
• houby (HOH-bih), mushrooms. V lese je teď spousta hub. (There are loads of mushrooms in the woods now.)