I'm disappointed.

I'm disappointed. After a long time I made fried potatoes again today and thought that they would be especially fiery. My favourite vegetable dealer had offered me his new chillies: "These are monsters! One of these (He grabbed a handful of small chillies.) is as powerful as all of these."

I sliced a whole pod and added it to the potatoes. Nothing. Really nothing. Sigh... But at least the fried potatoes were good.

Sigh.

Sigh... There must be some kind of invisible sign at my door, Gandalf style. Behind this cat is a tiny baby kitten. I only got a very blurry video clip of it and don't want to be too intrusive, although this is my place, not hers. She thought that an abandoned piece of furniture was a great place to have a baby. Now I know that cat babies too announce when they are not happy...

5-7-5

5-7-5

Hmm.

Hmm... When I had several languages installed on my phone (I think pre-assistant), I could actually ask in several languages and in most cases the language was correctly identified. With Assistant, I had the funny phenomenon that I would ask a question in English and sometimes get an answer in German - or in a few cases in Japanese. (But never Chinese, which is weird considering where I live.) I'm curious what happens now...
https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/08/30/google-assistant-bilingual-starting-today-least-pair-six-specific-languages/

Well, that escalated quickly.

Well, that escalated quickly... Just this week came the news that the PRC is setting up a military base in the country and now this. To my knowledge, Afghanistan is the first country doing this.

Sorry, pay wall...

#taiwan
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/taiwan-tourists-sent-home-from-afghanistan-for-not-having-chinas-permission-stw3m6fxn

Sigh, same procedure again.

Sigh, same procedure again... It's a pity those rallies are not about justice or truth, so people there won't care and simply continue...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/german-neo-nazis-say-these-women-were-abused-by-muslim-immigrants-theyre-actually-american-victims-of-domestic-violence?source=articles&via=rss

The solution to all the fake news:

The solution to all the fake news:

Via Joerg Fliege

Originally shared by Lori Holt

#FakeNews, believe me!

"‘We’re taking a look’ at whether Google searches should be regulated"

"‘We’re taking a look’ at whether Google searches should be regulated"

Welcome to the People's Republic of America!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/08/28/trump-wakes-up-googles-himself-and-doesnt-like-what-he-sees-illegal/

Just a reminder...

Just a reminder...

Originally shared by Occupy The Polls

This was the first direct interference in a presidential election in the history of US-Russia relations. It produced bad results. #Yeltsin opened his country’s assets to looting on a mass scale. He turned the Chechen capital, Grozny, into a wasteland. Standards of living in Russia fell dramatically.

Then, at the end of 1999, plagued by health problems, he shocked his country and the world by resigning. As his final act, he named his successor: a little-known intelligence officer named Vladimir #Putin.

It is a delightful irony that shows how unwise it can be to interfere in another country’s politics. If the United States had not crashed into a presidential election in Russia 22 years ago, we almost certainly would not be dealing with Putin today.

#TrumpRussia v. #ClintonRussia
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2018/08/18/how-interfere-foreign-election/M4JZpgqpqiOsPXbTKPAu5L/story.html

It's a pity I couldn't get a better shot at this.

It's a pity I couldn't get a better shot at this. The lines you see in the lower signal are not from simple multiplexing, they are refreshs for an animated image. A number of pedestrian traffic lights in Pingdong (South of Taiwan) looked this way.

For Green, they showed a boy and a girl holding hands walking, for Red they stood holding hands, then the boy knelt down and proposed to the girl, with a heart appearing between them. Then he got up and the cycle repeated.

I wonder who's idea this was and how many were made. Most of our pedestrian traffic lights are animated, but usually it is just one person walking (or cycling) and doing so faster during the last seconds of the green phase. This is the first time I saw these.

Where do all the Berliners come from?

Where do all the Berliners come from?

The city's administration put the origin of every person in Berlin into a database and now you can search that database to see how many people came from a certain location.

The article is in German, simply ignore that and go to the interactive map. Enter a country or city name, the map will show you how many people currently living in Berlin came from that place. This works worldwide, not just for Germany.

There are for example 1265 people from Taiwan living in Berlin, 16 of them are from Chiayi, where I live now. A pity you can't organize gatherings through this map.

https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2018/08/die-geburtsorte-der-berliner.html
https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2018/08/die-geburtsorte-der-berliner.html

Oh, I hadn't thought this was practically possible yet. Surprise...

Oh, I hadn't thought this was practically possible yet. Surprise...

Originally shared by HACKADAY

It seems kind of obvious when you think about it: why not just stick a solar panel on a quadcopter so it can fly on solar power? Unfortunately, physics is a cruel mistress, and it gets a bit more complex when you look at problems like weight to power…
http://hackaday.com/2018/08/25/quadcopter-ditches-batteries-flies-on-solar-power-alone/

Let's be evil: How far do you get?

Let's be evil: How far do you get? I had to use a calculator for the batteries and was too lazy to get it out again for the mean height, so I skipped the rest, but it was quite fun...
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/aug/23/how-good-are-you-at-gcse-maths-take-our-quiz

Hmm, that could be difficult: Since climate change is a hoax created by China, Big Oil wants Donald Trump to protect...

Hmm, that could be difficult: Since climate change is a hoax created by China, Big Oil wants Donald Trump to protect them from a Chinese hoax. How do they want him to do that? By putting import tariffs on hoaxes?
#nottheonion


https://apnews.com/4adc5a2a2e6b45df953ebcba6b63d171
https://apnews.com/4adc5a2a2e6b45df953ebcba6b63d171

It's not #punday, but...

It's not #punday, but...

Via Gretchen M.

Originally shared by Jamez Frondeskias

Now that's embarrassing. OTOH, he would be the second PM in a row with that "qualification".

Now that's embarrassing. OTOH, he would be the second PM in a row with that "qualification".
https://junkee.com/peter-dutton-acdc/172388

I ate lunch in a Ghibli-themed restaurant. My dessert is the one on the left.

I ate lunch in a Ghibli-themed restaurant. My dessert is the one on the left.

Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to Brexit...

Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to Brexit...

I can't believe he said that. The captain of an aircraft carrier saying that he is frightened by submarines doing what they've been doing the last 70 years would IMHO be a reason to go shopping for a new captain who isn't afraid of little rabbits with the word "boo" painted on their noses...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/17/fears-safety-britains-flagship-aircraft-carrier-russian-sea/

🎼

🎼

I'm missing London on this list, where you can also go on the last train.

Originally shared by João Rita

Where are you going?

Octopus burning

Octopus burning

I hadn't expected this kind of entertainment when I came to Kenting...

Hint: None of the English versions is correct...

#lostintranslation

Earth can mysterious too...

Earth can mysterious too...

Originally shared by Randy Culler

WTH?!

I think I'll rather have a cow steak...

I think I'll rather have a cow steak...
#lostintranslation

While the circumstances are sadly unpleasant, this result is, as the article itself states, "fascinating"...

While the circumstances are sadly unpleasant, this result is, as the article itself states, "fascinating"...

There's much digging to do...
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/aug/15/millennia-of-human-activity-heatwave-reveals-lost-uk-archaeological-sites

Ouch... I assume Stephen Miller is not very popular at family gatherings - if he joins any.

Ouch... I assume Stephen Miller is not very popular at family gatherings - if he joins any.

Originally shared by john kinsey
https://politi.co/2w2L0Yd

The city of Taipei with its 2.7m inhabitants is rather quiet at half past four in the morning, even next to the main...

The city of Taipei with its 2.7m inhabitants is rather quiet at half past four in the morning, even next to the main train station.

The city of Taipei with its 2.

The city of Taipei with its 2.7m inhabitants is rather quiet at half past four in the morning, even next to the main train station.

Let me rephrase that: Turkey is ready to continue its war on Kurds in Syria. Just say what you do.

Let me rephrase that: Turkey is ready to continue its war on Kurds in Syria. Just say what you do.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-erdogan/turkey-ready-to-create-more-safe-zones-in-syria-idUSKBN1KX0KQ?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Climate Change Denial 101

Climate Change Denial 101

So you want to show that temperatures are going down when they are actually going up. How can you do this and even look scientific to the untrained eye? This way:

https://tamino.wordpress.com/2018/08/08/usa-temperature-can-i-sucker-you/
https://tamino.wordpress.com/2018/08/08/usa-temperature-can-i-sucker-you/

It's like rain on your wedding day...

It's like rain on your wedding day...

Via Dan J. Wilcox

Originally shared by Eph Phillips

You may have seen photos of that rather creatively drawn bicycle lane in Berlin and wondered how one should actually...

You may have seen photos of that rather creatively drawn bicycle lane in Berlin and wondered how one should actually ride there. This way:

Originally shared by Kristian Köhntopp

https://twitter.com/BerlinIstBeste/status/1027819516645007360

Guess...

Guess...

A toast!

A toast!

Until now I never had the motivation to get to it, but yesterday I baked toast bread and today I toasted it - and it was good.

Yes, there is toast bread in Taiwan, but it's terrible! It's super soft, totally white, with very fine pores. When you toast it, the surface will change colour, but that's about it. Even when the surface is starting to go black, inside the slice is still soft and white, like marshmallows.

Not having a toaster, this wasn't of much concern to me, I merely shook my head when I participated in BBQs where such "toast bread" appeared. But just this week I had discussed "real" toast with a friend, so I just gave it a try.

Next time I will try a few adjustments, especially I need a little less for my mold. Looks like I got something new to do with my students this semester. And I know what I will eat for breakfast tomorrow...

Sorry, but you got it all wrong.

Sorry, but you got it all wrong. First of all three words: Federation Of Planets. That's what they worked for, that's what they stood for: an alliance comprising not only a few countries (Remember, there are no countries in Star Trek and no money...), but several civilizations, several races. "Races" here meaning something like Klingons, Vulcans, not "people from outside our island", with which Brexiteers seem to have so many problems.

You say you admire how the people in Star Trek stand for their ideals. Yes, because they are ideals worth standing for. What is so glorious about Brexit that is worth standing for? Which part of Brexit will help our civilization move forward? The one where food in the UK may run out within a year?

And talking of standing for something: Nigel Farage has become rather quiet now. At least he doesn't need to worry about the future, having his EU pension that he will not give up. Jim Radcliffe is not the only leading Brexiteer leaving for safer countries. And then there were the guys who publicly declare Russia the archenemy, but secretly take millions from them. That is your Brexit and it is nothing like Star Trek. Except... Well, there's the Ferengi, they may be somehow similar.

Oh and by the way: Attacking spelling instead of content is usually a sign that you ran out of arguments...
https://brexitcentral.com/sir-patrick-stewart-got-wrong-star-trek-brexit-core/

243%? What's the world record?

243%? What's the world record?

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/08/georgia-defends-voting-system-despite-243-percent-turnout-in-one-precinct/
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/08/georgia-defends-voting-system-despite-243-percent-turnout-in-one-precinct/

It's not #punday, but...

It's not #punday, but...

Originally shared by Noah Axon

The headline is misleading, Germany has no problem with Russian gas, the US has.

The headline is misleading, Germany has no problem with Russian gas, the US has. Not even Ukraine has a problem with Russian gas, only with the absence of it:

Ukraine ... fears the new pipeline will allow Moscow to cut it out of the lucrative and strategically crucial gas transit business.

That is exactly the core issue and Ukraine may blame themselves for it. They didn't pay their debt, siphoned off gas and even cut off the gas supply to Europe. With an immature player like Ukraine in-between, it's no wonder a literal "workaround" was sought:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Russia%E2%80%93Ukraine_gas_dispute
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-russia-gas/friendship-no-more-how-russian-gas-is-a-problem-for-germany-idUSKBN1KR0HH?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

Terrific, they show lots of details how the costumes were made!

Terrific, they show lots of details how the costumes were made!

Originally shared by Jörg Walossek

Totoro Meetup at Comic-Con =))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r0tCXX-XFQ&feature=share

This.is.amazing!

This.is.amazing!

They even show details for many of the costumes.

Originally shared by Jörg Walossek

Totoro Meetup at Comic-Con =))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r0tCXX-XFQ&feature=share

So, cats like each other, yes?

So, cats like each other, yes?

Hahaha, never saw it from that angle...

Hahaha, never saw it from that angle...

Originally shared by Dan J. Wilcox

🐱🐱🐱🐱

It is funny because it is true!

Oh sweet memories.

Oh sweet memories... We did this in the early 90s, because sound cards were rather expensive while often not providing satisfying sound. Also, some notebooks didn't have any soundcard built in.

A R2R network fed by a mod player (Does anyone still know MOD files? Yes, I am that old.) was a pretty good solution back then.

Originally shared by Arduino

Generate audio using an Arduino Uno and a resistor ladder DAC.
https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/boris-leonov/generating-audio-with-an-arduino-and-a-resistor-ladder-dac-d5a6b1?ref=user&ref_id=523409&offset=0

Quick bucks

Quick bucks

Considering that the organizations housing those children would charge USD 775 per night for a bed in a tent city, this looks like a really big money-making scheme.

You can't do tax cuts all the time, once in a while you need to come up with something new to give your friends money...

Via Dan Thompson

Originally shared by Hadrian Micciche

There is no zero-tolerance policy. There is only a family separation policy.
"The official story of the Trump administration's family separation policy is that it came about as a result of "zero tolerance" in which every person who could be charged with a crime would be, and that meant that parents were arrested too, and since the parents were going to jail, their kids had to be held somewhere.

"But as Congress has delved into the process, grilling the Trump officials who enforced the policy, an even crueler, more awful picture has emerged.

"It turns out that border guards charged "less than a third" of the adults who crossed the border since the policy began -- but that they preferentially brought charges against parents so they could take their kids away.

In other words, child separation wasn't the inadvertent side-effect of a zero-tolerance policy." It was the policy.
https://boingboing.net/2018/08/03/deliberate-cruelty.html

The floor feels a little cooler than the surrounding air, so some of my housemates hug as much area as possible.

The floor feels a little cooler than the surrounding air, so some of my housemates hug as much area as possible.

That's a pretty good summary of what's been going on recently. Imagine this happening to your country...

That's a pretty good summary of what's been going on recently. Imagine this happening to your country...
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/08/china-is-trying-to-wipe-taiwan-off-the-map.html

So sad.

So sad.

Via Víktor Bautista i Roca

Originally shared by Linda Lawrey

From coast to coast, food-seeking scofflaws were turned away from supermarkets, convenience stores, and fruit markets as they tried to circumvent the nation’s long-standing grocery I.D. laws.
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/millions-of-americans-denied-groceries-after-failing-to-provide-id

Gigi of Arabia

Gigi of Arabia

Via Kristian Köhntopp

Via Kristian Köhntopp

Originally shared by Ariel Pena

On July 31, 1968, a young, black man was reading the newspaper when he saw something that he had never seen before. With tears in his eyes, he started running and screaming throughout the house, calling for his mom. He would show his mom, and, she would gasp, seeing something she thought she would never see in her lifetime. Throughout the nation, there were similar reactions.

What they saw was Franklin Armstrong's first appearance on the iconic comic strip "Peanuts." Franklin would be 50 years old this year.

Franklin was "born" after a school teacher, Harriet Glickman, had written a letter to creator Charles M. Schulz after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot to death outside his Memphis hotel room.

Glickman, who had kids of her own and having worked with kids, was especially aware of the power of comics among the young. “And my feeling at the time was that I realized that black kids and white kids never saw themselves [depicted] together in the classroom,” she would say.

She would write, “Since the death of Martin Luther King, 'I’ve been asking myself what I can do to help change those conditions in our society which led to the assassination and which contribute to the vast sea of misunderstanding, hate, fear and violence.'”

Glickman asked Schulz if he could consider adding a black character to his popular comic strip, which she hoped would bring the country together and show people of color that they are not excluded from American society.

She had written to others as well, but the others feared it was too soon, that it may be costly to their careers, that the syndicate would drop them if they dared do something like that.

Charles Schulz did not have to respond to her letter, he could have just completely ignored it, and everyone would have forgotten about it. But, Schulz did take the time to respond, saying he was intrigued with the idea, but wasn't sure whether it would be right, coming from him, he didn't want to make matters worse, he felt that it may sound condescending to people of color.

Glickman did not give up, and continued communicating with Schulz, with Schulz surprisingly responding each time. She would even have black friends write to Schulz and explain to him what it would mean to them and gave him some suggestions on how to introduce such a character without offending anyone. This conversation would continue until one day, Schulz would tell Glickman to check her newspaper on July 31, 1968.

On that date, the cartoon, as created by Schulz, shows Charlie Brown meeting a new character, named Franklin. Other than his color, Franklin was just an ordinary kid who befriends and helps Charlie Brown. Franklin also mentions that his father was "over at Vietnam." At the end of the series, which lasted three strips, Charlie invites Franklin to spend the night one day so they can continue their friendship. [The original comic strip of Charlie Brown meeting Franklin is attached in the initial comments below, the picture attached here is Franklin meeting the rest of the Peanuts, including Linus. I just thought this was a good re-introduction of Franklin to the rest of the world - "I'm very glad to know you."

There was no big announcement, there was no big deal, it was just a natural conversation between two kids, whose obvious differences did not matter to them. And, the fact that Franklin's father was fighting for this country was also a very strong statement by Schulz.

Although Schulz never made a big deal over the inclusion of Franklin, there were many fans, especially in the South, who were very upset by it and that made national news. One Southern editor even said, “I don’t mind you having a black character, but please don’t show them in school together.”

It would eventually lead to a conversation between Schulz and the president of the comic's distribution company, who was concerned about the introduction of Franklin and how it might affect Schulz' popularity. Many newspapers during that time had threatened to cut the strip.

Schulz' response: "I remember telling Larry at the time about Franklin -- he wanted me to change it, and we talked about it for a long while on the phone, and I finally sighed and said, "Well, Larry, let's put it this way: Either you print it just the way I draw it or I quit. How's that?"

Eventually, Franklin became a regular character in the comic strips, and, despite complaints, Franklin would be shown sitting in front of Peppermint Patty at school and playing center field on her baseball team.

More recently, Franklin is brought up on social media around Thanksgiving time, when the animated 1973 special "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" appears. Some people have blamed Schulz for showing Franklin sitting alone on the Thanksgiving table, while the other characters sit across him. But, Schulz did not have the same control over the animated cartoon on a television network that he did on his own comic strip in the newspapers.

But, he did have control over his own comic strip, and, he courageously decided to make a statement because of one brave school teacher who decided to ask a simple question.

Glickman would explain later that her parents were "concerned about others, and the values that they instilled in us about caring for and appreciating everyone of all colors and backgrounds — this is what we knew when we were growing up, that you cared about other people . . . And so, during the years, we were very aware of the issues of racism and civil rights in this country [when] black people had to sit at the back of the bus, black people couldn’t sit in the same seats in the restaurants that you could sit . . . Every day I would see, or read, about black children trying to get into school and seeing crowds of white people standing around spitting at them or yelling at them . . . and the beatings and the dogs and the hosings and the courage of so many people in that time."

Because of Glickman, because of Schulz, people around the world were introduced to a little boy named Franklin.