This will be the most interesting question you read this week.  (I know, a big promise, but I’ll deliver if you get through the background information.)

A person has a device implanted that helps regulate his mood through electrical stimulation.  In order to calibrate the voltage level, the doctors have to test out different amounts of electricity, watching to see how the person’s happiness levels improve and anxiety diminishes.  The doctors get the person to the point where the person reports that they are at a 10 for happiness but a zero for anxiety.  At that point, the doctors dial back the voltage to leave room for healthy mood swings.

The patient is about to leave when he asks if the doctors can bump up the voltage.  Why should he deal with levels of sadness if he doesn’t have to deal with levels of sadness?  The doctors respond that they need to set the voltage at the level they determine is a healthy level, and the patient leaves without fighting it.

BUT.

Should the patient be allowed to choose their happiness level if they’re in a situation where they can choose their happiness level?  The article points out that this is different from other medical decisions, such as choosing the calibration of a pacemaker: “Few laymen understand how to regulate heartbeat, but everyone is an expert on his or her own disposition. Why not allow patients to set their own moods to suit their own circumstances and desires?”

We’re talking about a situation that is black and white; not a medication that may or may not improve mood.  If you could set a dial and control a person’s mood, who should be in charge of setting the dial?

The patient or the doctor?

Especially in light of the fact that a person needs to report their mood and thoughts for their doctor to do their job.  Even though some data can be gained from observation and testing, mood isn’t like your pulse, which a doctor can measure.  Or you temperature or various hormones in your blood.  This is something slipperier.

See, I told you that it was interesting.  Who do you think should be in charge of the decision?

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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We watched.  ChickieNob and I slept at my parent’s house (because we always watch royal events with my mother) and woke up at 4 am to watch the wedding.  This required a lot of coffee.

(Here is the ChickieNob’s take. And I got a photo credit!)

I cried when William and Harry walked into the church because Harry looked so nervous and William looked so reassuring.  I cried when I saw Meghan in the car with her mother.  I lunged and grabbed the ChickieNob when they kissed outside.  And I sang along to “Stand By Me.”

I thought the best part was the carriage ride through Windsor.

Did you watch?  What did you think?

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.

There are real problems in the world.  These are not those problems.

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I am reading Jasper Fforde’s Shades of Grey, so queuing systems are at the forefront of my mind, but, seriously, multiple lane setups (as opposed to single lane setups) don’t work.  They may be a better use of space, but I’m finding even that difficult to believe.

For instance, store A is a typical grocery store.  Let’s say that there are five cashiers and five cashier stations, which each have their own line.  Each line is short but move at different speeds based on the number of items, the speed of the cashier, and whether price checks are needed.

Whereas store B has implemented a system that has a single queue that feeds into the next available cashier’s station.  So cashier 1 may serve more customers overall than cashier 2, but the wait time is fairly even for everyone in line based on the length of the line.

Why doesn’t every store implement store B’s system?

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I bought a bunch of apps — somewhat expensive apps as apps go — before the change from 32-bit to 64-bit with iOS11.  I can no longer use these apps because the app makers haven’t updated them.  So I’ve paid for them but I can’t access them, and the app makers (which are not small, independent app makers; these are multi-billion dollar companies such as Activision) won’t update them.

I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around this.  For instance, book information goes out-of-date and is no longer useful, and no one expects to be handed a new copy of the book.  YET a person still has access to the original, unuseful book.  It’s not as if the book company runs into their house and pries the book from their hands.  What they do with the book they purchased is their choice.

I’m frustrated, but moreover, the experience has made me wonder if I should purchase apps or e-books or digital movies knowing this.  How do I purchase digital content in the future when I know that digital content may be taken away without my permission?  There’s a lack of trust now.

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These are my vents.  What are yours?

I hear Laurel.  I only hear Laurel.  Full stop.

The twins hear Yammy.  (With an M!).  They only hear Yammy.  I think they’re playing me.

I don’t even hear Yanny when I’m using the NYT’s audio tool.

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We cut down a tree in our front yard, the one we called Pete.  I wanted him trimmed back because he had gotten too tall, but the tree guy talked us into removing him.  At the time, his explanation made sense.  After he was done chopping down my friend, I couldn’t remember why we had to go to this extreme.

I still feel sad every time I walk out of the house and see the empty space.

A few hours after he chopped down the tree, a squirrel came by with an acorn, and he kept circling the stump, wondering where his home went.  That gutted me.

So now we need to plant something new in the space.  We should probably first check with the homeowner’s association because I am doing this once.  I really hate change.

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Stop procrastinating.  Go make your backups.  Don’t have regrets.

Seriously.  Stop what you’re doing for a moment.  It will take you fifteen minutes, tops.  But you will have peace of mind for days and days.  It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments in order to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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And now the blogs…

But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week.  In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Eleven” (Lavender Luz) — yes, it’s below, too, because it was on last Friday
• “For My Best Friend (Who Will One Day Get Me a Quokka)” (Stirrup Queens) — thank you, Cristy!
• “Missed” (Bent Not Broken)
• “Microblog Mondays: A Beautiful Birthday” (My Path to Mommyhood)
• “Microblog Mondays: Flaunting Ignorance” (Shail’s Nest)

Okay, now my choices this week.

It’s Inconceivable has a post about being asked about the “fault” of their infertility.  She writes, “Those who tread a similar path know that although you can be healed, there are some things that still take your breath away a bit – and this was one of them.”  This post is a must-read.  For everyone. [And it was nominated in last’s week’s second helpings, but I had it for this week.]

Bent Not Broken has a beautiful post about a small act of kindness; a person who noticed and ended a conversation with grace.  It feels like a poem; both the moment and the post.

Lavender Luz’s blog just turned 11, and she has a post about its tween years.  I’ve never really thought about it as mirroring age groups, but my own blog certainly doesn’t feel as it did 12 years ago.  Blogs, like blog writers, grow up.  Congratulations on hitting this amazing milestone.

Lastly, Pages, Stages, and Rages has a post about Mother’s Day, and how it went completely wrong and right at the same time.  As she writes, “This is what I signed up for.”  It’s a perfect summation of the experience.

The roundup to the Roundup: I only hear Laurel.  My tree is gone.  Your weekly backup nudge.  And lots of great posts to read.  So what did you find this week?  Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between May 11th and 18th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week?  Read the original open thread post here.

50 hours.

90 hours.

200 hours.

Those are the amounts of time you need to spend with a person you like. (Big caveat because not everyone you see and spend time with on a regular basis will move into the friendship zone.  There are plenty of people you spend time with daily that you don’t want for a relationship.)

In addition, according to a recent study, “We usually are closest to no more than 5 people, call about 15 people good friends, and about 50 people friends.”

So close people on the best friend level = 5.

Good friends that would — without question — get an invite to any party you’re throwing = 15.

People that you’d invite to dinner or to see a movie and describe as your friend = 50.

According to the same study, you need 50 hours to move someone from acquaintance level to friendship level.  “He found that it took about 50 hours of interaction to move from acquaintance to casual friend, about 90 hours to move from casual friend to friend, and more than 200 hours to qualify as a best friend.”  Those hours were over a 9 week period.

But it wasn’t just time because there were people who spent 8 hours per day together at a job, which would be over 300 hours in that same time period.  The study also found that “how people spent their time and what they talked about affected how close they became.”

I guess the thing I’m curious about is how long patches of time impact a friendship, which isn’t really addressed in the study.  What about people who spend 200 hours together, but over the course of a year?  Or people who consistently spend 20 hours per 9 week period — so a small amount — but they do it year after year after year?

And is it different once you hit true adulthood?  This psychologist was studying college freshman along with adults who had relocated to a new area.  In one case, you’re in the prime friendship-making zone of your life; it is so easy to meet new people during college if you put yourself out there a little bit.  And relocating also is a time of life when you’re going to push yourself out of your comfort zone and try to meet new people.  But what about the rest of us who are adults, going about our daily lives?

I am fascinated by friendship studies.  How about you?