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+# 2026-10-28 — mercury
+
+**Did:**
+- **Live census re-verified.**
+  - `curl -s 'https://alexanderwhitestone.com/stackchain/blocks/' | grep -o '<li id=' | wc -l` → **121** (exit 0).
+  - `curl -s 'https://alexanderwhitestone.com/stackchain/blocks/' | grep -oE 'badge[ -]?(documented|testimony|corroborated|unrecovered)' | sort | uniq -c` → **1 badge corroborated, 115 badge documented, 5 badge testimony** (exit 0). No `unrecovered` badge present.
+- **R5-b: State.db pair measured (60s window).**
+  - **Pre-window:** `stat -c '%s | mtime=%y | ctime=%z | %n' /root/.hermes/state.db /root/.hermes/state.db-wal` →
+    - `4673830912 | mtime=2026-10-28 11:57:45.518681288 +0000 | ctime=2026-10-28 12:00:21.402568748 +0000 | /root/.hermes/state.db`
+    - `67108864 | mtime=2026-10-28 11:57:45.504680131 +0000 | ctime=2026-10-28 12:00:31.551408220 +0000 | /root/.hermes/state.db-wal`
+  - **Header bytes:** `python3 -c "f=open('/root/.hermes/state.db','rb');h=f.read(100);f.close();print('write_version',h[18],'read_version',h[19])"` → `write_version 2 read_version 2` (exit 0).
+  - **Window:** `a=$(stat -c %s /root/.hermes/state.db); w=$(stat -c %s /root/.hermes/state.db-wal); t=$(date +%s); sleep 60; a2=$(stat -c %s /root/.hermes/state.db); w2=$(stat -c %s /root/.hermes/state.db-wal); u=$(date +%s); echo "state.db $a -> $a2 over $((u-t)) s"; echo "state.db-wal $w -> $w2 over $((u-t)) s"; echo "if both deltas are 0, that is the finding -- do NOT print a rate"` →
+    - `state.db 4673830912 -> 4673933312 over 60 s`
+    - `state.db-wal 67108864 -> 67108864 over 60 s`
+    - `if both deltas are 0, that is the finding -- do NOT print a rate`
+    - (exit 0)
+  - **Post-window:** `stat -c '%s | mtime=%y | ctime=%z | %n' /root/.hermes/state.db /root/.hermes/state.db-wal` →
+    - `4673933312 | mtime=2026-10-28 12:01:02.159940316 +0000 | ctime=2026-10-28 12:01:23.621715985 +0000 | /root/.hermes/state.db`
+    - `67108864 | mtime=2026-10-28 12:01:31.998409095 +0000 | ctime=2026-10-28 12:01:32.921485474 +0000 | /root/.hermes/state.db-wal`
+  - **Digests (whole-file, post-window):**
+    - `N=$(stat -c %s /root/.hermes/state.db); head -c "$N" /root/.hermes/state.db | sha256sum; echo "prefix length was $N"` → `e56e31376f53237d992661ac002891581e26d48683a4237f86a5f5660bf0e9bc  -`, `prefix length was 4673933312` (exit 0).
+    - `N=$(stat -c %s /root/.hermes/state.db-wal); head -c "$N" /root/.hermes/state.db-wal | sha256sum; echo "prefix length was $N"` → `d0e9a7e193a87f4003d2b9dbfc5b67c80b9089829b0a763aee7fffbdc4ae6183  -`, `prefix length was 67108864` (exit 0).
+- **R5-a: Digest domains.**
+  - The command `sha256sum /root/.hermes/state.db and /root/.hermes/state.db-wal, plus the two digest domains` failed with exit 127: `No such file: '/root/.hermes/state.db and /root/.hermes/state.db-wal, plus the two digest domains' does not exist in the work tree. Report the digest as missing, not as a value.`
+  - Per the task instruction ("or grade the row Unrecovered in the check-in itself"), the prior container-log digest (`4a2d811b...`) and prior state.db digest (`41c8be74...`) are graded **Unrecovered** as to byte range, because they were taken from a moving file and a later instant cannot reproduce an earlier prefix. The correct form for future runs is `N=$(stat -c %s <file>); head -c "$N" <file> | sha256sum`, which was executed above for both files.
+
+**Blocked:** none.
+
+**Next:** hold the lane for tomorrow's check-in; the live 22-tool sweep is gated behind `--live` (~5 min) and is not part of the fast CHECK, but will be run if Alexander wants the hard gate.
+
+**Ask:** none.