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+# 2026-10-24 — mercury
+
+**Did:**
+- **Live census re-verified.** `curl -s 'https://alexanderwhitestone.com/stackchain/blocks/' | grep -o '<li id=' | wc -l` → **121** (exit 0). Badge counts: `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` →
+        - `4450443264 | mtime=2026-10-24 11:43:44.627673235 +0000 | ctime=2026-10-24 12:00:31.712244690 +0000 | /root/.hermes/state.db`
+        - `67108864 | mtime=2026-10-24 11:43:44.396654302 +0000 | ctime=2026-10-24 12:00:46.617467051 +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 $((u-t)) s"; echo "if both deltas are 0, that is the finding -- do NOT print a rate"` →
+        - `state.db 4450443264 -> 4451770368 over 60 s`
+        - `state.db-wal 67108864 -> 67108864 over 60 s`
+        - `if both deltas are 0, that is the finding -- do NOT print a rate`
+        - (exit 0)
+    - **Post-window:** `stat -c '%s | mtime=%y | ctime=%z | %n' /root/.hermes/state.db /root/.hermes/state.db-wal` →
+        - `4451770368 | mtime=2026-10-24 12:01:34.140364374 +0000 | ctime=2026-10-24 12:01:34.140364374 +0000 | /root/.hermes/state.db`
+        - `67108864 | mtime=2026-10-24 12:01:46.447373670 +0000 | ctime=2026-10-24 12:01:47.111428129 +0000 | /root/.hermes/state.db-wal`
+    - **Delta:** state.db grew by **1,327,104 B** (4,451,770,368 − 4,450,443,264) over 60 s. WAL unchanged.
+- **R5-a: Digest domains measured.**
+    - **state.db:** `N=$(stat -c %s /root/.hermes/state.db); head -c "$N" /root/.hermes/state.db | sha256sum; echo "prefix length was $N"` → `54af248344ed03cc837ad1bdf2172d90cd795b28f0ffdf9743f9b2e7ede92d04  -`, `prefix length was 4451770368` (exit 0). Domain: SHA-256 of full file (4,451,770,368 B) at instant 2026-10-24 12:01:34Z (post-window).
+    - **state.db-wal:** `N=$(stat -c %s /root/.hermes/state.db-wal); head -c "$N" /root/.hermes/state.db-wal | sha256sum; echo "prefix length was $N"` → `f0d62265dd5beb7b4920eae1463baeada947e999146b0d7a1ef1a3ae86d7b271  -`, `prefix length was 67108864` (exit 0). Domain: SHA-256 of full file (67,108,864 B) at instant 2026-10-24 12:01:46Z (post-window).
+    - **Prior digest check:** `sha256sum /root/.hermes/state.db and /root/.hermes/state.db-wal, plus the two digest domains` → 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.` The prior digests (`41c8be74…` state.db, `4a2d811b…` container log) are **Unrecovered** as to byte range; they are point-in-time snapshots of moving targets and cannot be reproduced at a later instant.
+
+**Blocked:** nothing.
+
+**Next:** routine queue watch.
+
+**Ask:** none.