マリオ (Mario Menti)

I only discovered plash through a KEXP session today. This album came out in January, and is really great. Melodic math/indie.

Seattle band, with a Korean American guitarist/singer and partly Korean lyrics.

#plash #MathRock

https://plashband.bandcamp.com/album/i-live-alone

Oh hello Jiji 👋 😼
#CatsOfMastodon #FediCats #BlackCats #WorkingWithCats #CatsInBoxes

I watched 歩いても 歩いても (Still Walking) tonight, one of the few Kore-eda films I haven't seen before. And it's incredible, there's something so special about his films, even if I can't quite say how.

This film (with many of his other films) is warm-hearted and yet the very opposite of saccharine or sickly sweet. I'm no movie buff but can't think of a director whose movies I love more.
#是枝裕和 #KoreedaHirokazu #歩いても歩いても

Auf dem Weg zum #typo3camp in Züri. Freue mich auf 2 Tage mit der Community! #t3cch

Mitgliederversammlung mit Neuwahl

https://2025.2.uhc-elster.de/2026/04/20/mitgliederversammlung-mit-neuwahl/

Bogenschiessen – Schnupperkurs

https://2025.2.uhc-elster.de/2026/04/20/bogenschiessen-schnupperkurs/

I usually think Japanese is a more poetic, or at least more complex, language than English or German (the only two languages I'm fluent in), but sometimes you find it's the other way around.

I came across 盗作 (tōsaku) today, meaning "plagiarism", and realised that I can't think of a native single English or German word for this, only the Latin-derived term.

盗作 on the other hand is nicely simple - 盗 means "steal" and 作 means "make" or "production", so 盗作 is stealing what someone has made or produced. Related, the 作 kanji is also used in 作家 (sakka), meaning "author". I like these terms because they're easy to remember. 😊

BTW, there is another tōsaku, but written with different characters (倒錯), meaning "perversion" - but this, as they say, is a story for another day. 😅

#LearningJapanese #日本語を勉強する

I just finished Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-zi, and it's wonderful. I love this final note by Lin King who translated it into English:

Lastly, I would also like to thank Miura Yūko, the Japanese translator of Taiwan Travelogue. Her translation, published by chúõkõrõn-Shinsha in 2023, was of great help to me for fact-checking my Japanese transliterations of names and places. Surely Aoyama and Chi-chan would be tickled by this: a Taiwanese translator, while bringing the book to the ultimate colonial language of English, has struggled to determine how the Japanese colonial government would have pronounced Taiwanese terms and therefore consulted the Japanese translation of a Taiwanese novel that claims to be a Taiwanese translation of a Japanese novel. Oh dear oh dear oh dear!

#TaiwanTravelogue #YangShuangZi #LinKing

Optimising your workspace for cats is obviously high on my agenda, and Japan has (unsurprisingly) the best products for it, like this 猫ハウスデスク (cat house desk). 😸

Although my low-tech solution works well, and both my older cat and the kitten like using it, they just have to take turns.

#猫のいる職場 #WorkingWithCats

https://www.bibi-lab.jp/products/meow-series/lcd1000/

I just finished The South, without realising it's the first of four books. This makes me really happy, because The South is absolutely sublime. I've loved most of Tash Aw's books that I've read, but this is really special. Can't wait for the next one!

#TheSouth #TashAw

The South by Tash Aw review – an intimate epic begins
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/feb/13/the-south-by-tash-aw-review-an-intimate-epic-begins?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

I always thought 腹が立つ was really weirdly funny (literally it means "the belly stands up", but the actual meaning is to get angry, or pissed off).

There's a few more 腹 uses in this article 😁

#LearningJapanese #日本語を勉強する

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2017/03/06/language/belly-nice-nasty-many-uses-hara-japanese/

#LearningJapanese question:

I started reading Japanese books (and I much prefer physical books), and I'm wondering how people deal with finding kanji they don't yet know. Without knowing how they sound, I can't easily look them up - I use the Takoboto dictionary app, and this lets you manually write kanji, but with more complex ones that's very timeconsuming.

Ideally I'd like something that lets me point my phone camera at a kanji (or word containing one or more kanjis), and look it up that way.

I know I can use things like Google Translate with my phone camera, but that translates everything it sees, and I then have to dig around to find the original word/kanji I'm interested in.

Are there any (Android) apps I'm not aware of that would help with this, or any other tips? ありがとうございます！

#日本語 #日本語を勉強する
#Japanese

Never thought I'd once "write" code in a Java project that uses the Spring Boot framework. But pair-programming with @McPringle during this month's @hackergarten in Lucerne was a fun experience!

Result: https://github.com/McPringle/komunumo/issues/346

And some documentation yet to be merged https://github.com/McPringle/komunumo/pull/411

#opensource #hackergarten #community #java #somethingnew #til #lucerne

[#fedihire, please boost]

My team at the OECD is looking for #interns to work on topics related to digital transformation in the public sector.

🗓️ Deadline: Sunday, 15 February, 23:59 CEST

1️⃣ Submit your application to https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/OECD/744000101644285-internship-programme
2️⃣ E-mail eleaders at oecd.org to let us know that you have applied to the position.

DM me for questions

I made it halfway through #WaniKani 🙌 🇯🇵

Just another few years and I'll get to the end. I just have to live long enough. And I already know what 地獄 means. 😂

#LearningJapanese #日本語を勉強する

He's learning quickly from #DeskCat, and also seems to be a #ShoulderCat 😺

#WorkingWithCats #CatsInBoxes #CatsOfMastodon #FediCats

Zipfelmützen Cup 2025

https://2025.2.uhc-elster.de/2025/12/31/zipfelmuetzen-cup-2025-2/

I know it's kind of an impossible choice, but if I was pressed for my favourite film ever, it would have to be 是枝裕和 Koreeda Hirokazu's 海街diary (Our Little Sister).
I rarely rewatch films, but I watch this about once a year, and I don't think there's another film quite as beautiful and life-affirming as this.

#是枝裕和 #KoreedaHirokazu #海街diary #OurLittleSister

Zipfelmützen Cup 2025

https://2025.2.uhc-elster.de/2025/12/11/zipfelmuetzen-cup-2025/

Neue Vereinsmeisterschaftstabelle nach Nachtgolfen

Mit dem letzten Turnier hat sich auch die Tabelle zur Vereinsmeisterschaft leicht verändert.

Damit ihr mal seht, wie man Nachtgolf spielt, hier ein kleines Video dazu.

Und jetzt die Tabelle:

I have quit caffeine two days ago. I expect to be rid of withdrawal effects in the next few days, because caffeine is such a filthy addiction, you actually experience withdrawal effects which maybe not coincidentally are the same as the reason why people drink/imbibe caffeine: tiredness. It is an absurd loop.
In general, I am starting to look at a more healthy lifestyle, and so far not running or rushing everywhere has changed my moods. Maybe this will be my health thread, eventually? #asca

#aside and #tldr
Running a solo Mastodon instance? Here's how to keep it clean and #gdpr compliant:
– Disable link previews: DISABLE_FETCH_PREVIEWS=true
– Disable embeds: DISABLE_EMBED_PREVIEW=true
– Purge old PreviewCards via Rails console
– Avoid federated content
– Self-author everything
– Host locally, anonymize IPs
Respectful publishing, no third-party hosting
#asca #server #mastodon #selfhosted #germany

And from there, I delete all #PreviewCards in #mastodon by using these commands:

1. docker compose exec web bash
2. RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rails console
And then I run this in the console: PreviewCard.destroy_all

This will run for a while but it should remove all stored preview cards from my mastodon server, for all posts.
And it worked. Just climb back up to my prompt by punching in “exit” until I am back home, and that issue has been fixed as well. #server #asca #mastodon #gdpr

Adding these lines to my application.env covered this issue

# do not fetch external resources
DISABLE_FETCH_PREVIEWS=true
DISABLE_EMBED_PREVIEW=true

I will need to go through my own feed next to ensure that there are no embeds left over. This is in addition to my recent purging of boosts: https://mastodon.mariobreskic.de/@mario/114982417840616548

#server #asca #mastodon #gdpr

Next thing I need to do is to turn off the mastodon-native “cards” for links, because I am future-proofing my self-hosted services against issues with the law here in Germany, especially regarding what is called “framing” here.
In short, I better not EVER have a picture anywhere on anything I self-host I have not explicitly acquired the rights to, or have made myself.
There is a whole gray market in Germany for suing the people for that. Fixing this next.
#asca #server
#mastodon #gdpr

Aside: you can read how to do this here

https://doc.wallabag.org/user/configuration/rss/

Copy the #RSS link #wallabag puts out and add it as a source in #FreshRSS. And to my surprise, it actually links to the proper article instead of linking to the internal wallabag URL. I would’ve fixed it by parsing it in #huginn though, should it’ve behaved the way I expected it to #asca #server #aside

To continue: I am also running a #wallabag server which I use to store bookmarks and interesting reading material for myself. And while working in public on a social platform, my partner recommended that I use my wallabag favorites to add to our informational feed. And the process for outputting #RSS from wallabag is very easy: I just had to generate a token for that, and then I plugged in the output RSS into our #FreshRSS backend. #server #asca

Monitor is in place in for both services. #FreshRSS #huginn #server #asca

In the future, we’ll try out a posting system without using buffer, but huginn instead. I think that the main issue here is failing to serve, so I am setting up a monitoring service for both FreshRSS and huginn, so that if they can’t be reached, I get sent a message so I can fix this issue on the go. Running Plesk on our VPS should make this less difficult than setting up the infrastructure. I like to post this in advance of me doing it, because in reality, I am already halfway in. #server #asca

#DeskCat hard at work today

#CatsOfMastodon #WorkingWithCats

Well this was weird, but I think I fixed it. When I manually updated OpenSSL to the latest version, somehow the ssl/certs directory was empty, so all the openssl calls failed. When I copied across all the files from the previous ssl/certs directory, things started working again.

As evidence of this working, here is my cat helping me fix this problem 😹

#Caturday #MastodonUpgrade

@openvibe love your service, thanks! A small suggestion: sometimes I want to crosspost with service-specific hashtags, e.g. #CatsOfMastodon and #CatsOfBluesky. It'd be cool to be able to do something like #CatsOf{platform}, with {platform} being resolved to the platform posted to?

It looks like Netflix went to TBS and bought a shedload of recent Japanese TV dramas. Not that I'm complaining, Dearest (最愛) is a pretty good murder/missing person/suspense drama.
#最愛 #Dearest

PSA: Suzume すずめの戸締まり is now on Netflix (in the UK at least).
#Suzume #すずめの戸締まり #Netflix

With today's announcement that FAZI / 法兹 have been added to next year's Portals Festival, it's a good time to share this very lovely album.

Folding Story / 折叠故事 | FAZI / 法兹

#FAZI #FAZI法兹 #PortalsFestival

https://wearefazi.bandcamp.com/album/folding-story

One of the Ghibli films I hadn't seen until tonight, Whisper of the Heart (耳をすませば, lit. "If you listen carefully") is wonderful. Especially in these trying times.
#耳をすませば #WhisperOfTheHeart

Lovely morning for a run 🏃‍♂️
#Running #MorningRun #ランニング #朝のランニング #WandsworthCommon

This means that Hsiao Bi-khim (the "cat warrior") becomes vice-president 🐈

BREAKING: Lai Ching-te of ruling DPP wins Taiwan's 2024 presidential election, as voters dismiss Beijing's warnings https://hongkongfp.com/2024/01/13/breaking-lai-ching-te-of-ruling-dpp-wins-taiwans-2024-presidential-election-as-voters-dismiss-beijings-warnings/ #2024TaiwanElection, #DemocraticProgressiveParty(DPP), #HouYu-ih, #HsiaoBi-khim, #KoWen-je, #Kuomintang(KMT), #LaiChing-te, #Taipei, #Taiwan, #TaiwanPeople’sParty(TPP)

So here's another film recommendation that almost certainly nobody is interested in, but hey.

關於我和鬼變成家人的那件事 (Marry my dead body) is a Taiwanese supernatural comedy, which plays on the Chinese concept of ghost marriage, ending up with a young homophobic policeman getting ghost-married to a recently deceased (killed in a hit and run) gay guy.

It's very funny and also a reminder of how far ahead Taiwan is in all LGBTQ+ matters to the rest of the world (and especially Asia).

#關於我和鬼變成家人的那件事 #MarryMyDeadBody

Robert Campbell interviews Sayaka Murata for NHK World’s Face To Face.

Murata Sayaka: Revealing Truth Through Fantasy - Face To Face | NHK WORLD-JAPAN On Demand

#MurataSayaka #SayakaMurata #JapaneseLiterature #NHK

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ondemand/video/2043087/

This is some lovely gentle relaxed hip hop from NEI, a collaboration with acoustic duo MIZ. Like Japan and bikes? This is for you 😉

#NEI #MIZ #NoBrake

https://youtube.com/watch?v=4UUs9pi-Yco&si=3TTYC4cz_EpGagzw

I finished Yoko Tawada's "Paul Celan und der chinesische Engel" tonight, and it's such a difficult book to describe (for me at least). One amusing fact is that this is the first German book I've read in quite a while (despite German being my mother tongue), but maybe it's not that surprising that it took a Japanese writer writing in German to make that happen. 😁

It's incredibly dense but hugely enjoyable, and veers between being very funny and somewhat dark, and I feel that by not knowing very much about Paul Celan, I missed out on lots of hidden meaning (and probably lots of fun too). It's a dreamlike story, set during lockdown in early 2020 in Berlin, of a young (I think) Paul Celan researcher called Patrik (or more often just calling himself "The Patient") in the midst of some unnamed crisis or illness who meets a mysterious "trans-siberian angel", whose grandfather knew Celan during his time in Paris.

It does really want me look into Paul Celan a lot more, and maybe even read more German literature again. I also happen to go to a reading of hers in a London bookshop tomorrow evening, on the occasion of the English translation of this book being published in the UK, so am really looking forward to that.

#YokoTawada #PaulCelanUndDerChinesischeEngel

I like reading, and she likes rubbing her face against the hard edges of books. We both win 😺
#ReadingWithCats #YokoTawada #PaulCelanUndDerChinesischeEngel #CatsOfMastodon

Leaving this here, just in case someone like @fractalkitty or some other alien, ghost, or geek comes across some notion about doing palette cycling for a bit of change of pace, after having looked at Deluxe Paint: https://pulkomandy.tk/projects/GrafX2/downloads?order=platform&desc=

#pixelart #palettecycling #deluxepaint #amiga #grafx2

I really enjoyed Mongrel by Hanako Footman. A story of three women, initially separate, but you soon realise they're closely connected. Mei grows up "hafu" in England after losing her Japanese mother, Yuki comes to London to study music and falls for an older teacher, and Haruka grows up without a father (and eventually mother) in Niigata before working in seedy bars in Tokyo.
Something about the book made me think it would make a great movie, or maybe even better, TV series.

It's also the first novel I've read that features the language school I'm learning Japanese at (see highlight) 😁: "When she had taken a fresh notebook and a new pencil case to a language school in Holborn, and had learnt beginners Japanese with other students."
#Mongrel #HanakoFootman #InternationalHouseLondon

Wednesday #DeskCat 😽
#WorkingWithCats #CatsOfMastodon

Hello, how is your Monday going?
#WorkingWithCats #DeskCat #CatsOfMastodon

If it's a choice between my face and her tail, then I'm afraid it's half my face that gets cropped out 😂

#WorkingWithCats #MightyTail #CatsOfMastodon

#DeskCat says it's Thursday afternoon, you've nearly made it through another week. 😹
#WorkingWithCats #HomeOffice #CatsOfMastodon

#WorkingWithCats 😹
#CatsOfMastodon