Wed 21 Oct · today

• 09:00–14:00 · New dishwasher delivery from DATART · no address on the event

Thu 22 Oct

• 09:00–09:30 · Blood test at Synlab · Jankovcova 1518/2, Praha 7 · order 2026058765, paid; walk-in, fasting recommended

Fri 23 Oct

• Nothing timed.

• DATART dishwasher · due today · 09:00–14:00, per the calendar
• Alza order 1063088226 (Nidelo Dynamic Grip socks, white, 37–41) · collected · AlzaBox P3 Žižkov, Fibichova 1586/11. All AlzaBox items are now collected.

The Strait of Hormuz from orbit (NASA MODIS, public domain). Wikimedia Commons

• Oslo talks "constructive". A US official saw "meaningful progress"; Ukraine brought new proposals on security guarantees, a post-war economic plan and a European security framework. BBC
• Witkoff meets Putin today. In St Petersburg, with Kushner by video, to push for three-way talks. Lavrov has already ruled out "any political concessions." Guardian
• US intelligence flowing again. Zelensky says US early warnings of Russian missile attacks "work now"; after a call with Rubio, they discussed Patriot interceptors and Starlink. Washington Post
• Overnight strikes. 98 drones and six missiles: two elderly people killed in Kharkiv Oblast, a university building hit in Kremenchuk, a 24-storey apartment block struck in Kyiv. Kyiv Independent · Kyiv Post
• Iran's terms on Hormuz. Araghchi says indirect talks with the US continue via Pakistan and Qatar. The strait stays shut unless Washington accepts Iran's seven-day plan (full reopening on day six); enriched uranium won't leave the country. Gulf News
• More mines, more ships. The IRGC says three tankers hit mines on unauthorised routes, two caught fire, and a supertanker with over 2 million barrels exploded (not independently confirmed). The US is reportedly sending a third carrier and about 10,000 more personnel. Straits Times · Gulf News

Garlasco, church of Santa Maria Assunta (Paulusburg, CC BY-SA 4.0). Wikimedia Commons

• 2017 wiretaps reach Pavia. Intercepts from the Brescia corruption probe focus on cash Sempio's lawyers asked for back then ("li volevano in contanti," his father says) and contacts with carabinieri, including Lt. Silvio Sapone. TG LA7 (video report)
• €1,000 for information? In one summary, Andrea suggests a lawyer may have paid a carabiniere €1,000. Prosecutors weigh concussione (extortion by officials) rather than corruption. Ex-prosecutor Venditti's position is closed; Sempio's father is still under investigation. TG LA7
• Murder case: the 81 wiretaps. Prosecutors push back on the defence's request to restore 81 discarded wiretaps, especially its account of the 14 April recording, and are still expected to ask for trial. Il Sussidiario
• On TV. Rai's "Ore 14" ran a segment on 20 Oct about the charges. RaiPlay

Bitwig Studio at the 2017 NAMM Show (Pete Brown, CC BY 2.0). Wikimedia Commons

• Bitwig. No new stable release; still 6.1.4 (13 Oct). Bitwig
• Traktor. No new release; Traktor Pro is still on 4.5.1 (9 Jul). NI
• Tutorial: Krumelur live setup (19 Oct). Exporting stems, building the live project, MIDI controllers and Eurorack effects, Clip Launcher improvising, latency calibration, syncing FX sources. Part one of a series. Nothing worth sharing for Traktor. Bitwig
• Ubuntu tip: share the Wi-Fi. nmcli device wifi show-password prints the SSID and password of the current network, plus a QR code phones can scan to join.
• Package: lnav. sudo apt install lnav, then lnav /var/log/syslog /var/log/auth.log merges logs into one colour-coded timeline: errors highlighted, filtering, jump between errors, even SQL on log lines. packages.ubuntu.com

Each bot has its own settings page. Open the bot's info pane (click its name in the chat header, or Cmd+Shift+I), then click the gear beside the X. Change its avatar, name, title and description there: a quick way to rename a bot or rewrite its one-line job when its role changes.

Electric-blue gecko, Lygodactylus williamsi (NasserHalaweh, CC BY-SA 4.0). Wikimedia Commons

• A drug that shields the gut from gluten. In a phase 2 trial with 126 coeliac patients, argenx's FB102 protected the intestinal lining through an eight-week gluten challenge vs placebo. Not yet peer-reviewed; phase 3 planned. ScienceAlert
• A virus that fights chestnut blight. At six chestnut woods in Switzerland, Croatia and North Macedonia, the natural virus CHV1 quickly spread into new blight cankers and slowed them: good news for Europe's chestnut trees. Bioengineer.org
• Tanzania's electric-blue gecko is recovering. A 2017 international trade ban, captive breeding and forest work in Kimboza paid off: villagers and rangers cut nearly 100,000 invasive trees and planted tens of thousands of native ones. Mongabay

Radcliffe Camera, Oxford (Julian Herzog, CC BY 4.0). Wikimedia Commons

Oxford University is older than the Aztec capital. Teaching was going on at Oxford in some form by 1096; Tenochtitlán was founded around 1325 in the marshes of Lake Texcoco. Oxford · Britannica

Jacopo Pontormo, Deposizione (also Trasporto di Cristo), 1526–1528 · Cappella Capponi, Santa Felicita, Florence

Mourners carry the dead Christ, pale and limp, toward the tomb, wrapped in pinks, sky blues and acid greens; the Virgin, larger than the others, swoons behind them. No cross, almost no landscape (one cloud, a patch of ground), so the figures seem to float. Ludovico Capponi commissioned it in 1525 for his family's funeral chapel; Pontormo worked behind a wooden screen in great secrecy, and Vasari says the unveiling was greeted "con meraviglia di tutta Firenze". By tradition the figure at far right is Pontormo's self-portrait. A high point of Mannerism, when painting stopped copying the world and started inventing its own. Wikipedia

«Il dipinto più moderno, inesauribilmente, il più moderno che sia mai stato concepito, è la Deposizione del Pontormo per la chiesa di Santa Felicita a Firenze, datato fra il 1526 e il 1528. Nessun dubbio che quella incredibile composizione con i colori acidi appartenga a una dimensione surreale e immateriale, onirica.»

Vittorio Sgarbi, who called it the most modern painting ever. il Giornale, 1 Nov 2013

sedulous (SEJ-uh-lus): careful, steady and hard-working; doing something with persistent attention.

• He kept a sedulous record of every receipt, so the tax return took ten minutes.
• Years of sedulous practice turned her clumsy backhand into her best shot.

• středa (STRZHEH-dah): Wednesday. Myčku přivezou ve středu dopoledne. (They're bringing the dishwasher on Wednesday morning.)
• hadice (HAH-dyi-tseh): hose. Odpadní hadice od myčky je moc krátká. (The dishwasher's drain hose is too short.)

First edition, 1881 (public domain). Wikimedia Commons

Machado de Assis, Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas (1881)

A rich, idle Brazilian tells his life story from beyond the grave and dedicates it to the first worm that gnawed his corpse. Short, sly chapters full of digressions skewer vanity, ambition and love with a grin. If you like Pirandello's mischief and Maupassant's cool eye, this is the 19th-century masterpiece you may have missed.

Get it: Amazon.it · Italian edition, Memorie postume di Brás Cubas, Fazi 2020, translated by Daniele Petruccioli

Il posto (1961, Ermanno Olmi)

A shy boy from the Lombard countryside sits the entrance exam for a job at a big Milan company and falls quietly for a girl he meets there. Olmi cast non-professionals and shot boom-time Milan with gentle irony and real tenderness. A small, perfect film about the price of a "job for life"; the last shot stays with you.

Trailer: Film Forum on YouTube

Where to stream: Czechia: Netflix (as Místo). Italy: MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, Novecento Amazon Channel; rent or buy on Amazon Video. JustWatch CZ · JustWatch IT

None of the four films is on Cinema City's programme yet (checked the full cinemacity.cz film list, 77 titles including upcoming ones, and Flora's schedule through May 2027).

• Artificial · not listed · no Czech distributor or date yet; US release 25 Dec 2026, UK 22 Jan 2027. Wikipedia
• You Can See Everything (Uvidíš všechno) · not listed at Flora · opens in Czech cinemas 5 Nov via Aerofilms. Aerofilms
• The Social Reckoning (V zajetí sítí) · not at Cinema City · in Czech cinemas since 8 Oct. FDb.cz
• Musk (Alex Gibney) · not listed · Universal plans an international release, no Czech date or distributor. ZUN rádio