October fest...

October fest...

I think it can be called a success. The student council this year was very worried (because of last year's bad sales), but also way more committed to do things right.

This year we had a grill, two even, made German-style toast to accompany the roasted sausages, had apple crumb cake - and everything was gone in no time. When I went to get a piece of cake for a guest I couldn't even see a slice of toast, everything was empty. I hope the student council finally made some money.

There was of course also some cultural program. I was surprised to see so many of our second-year students involved with music: I knew there was a girl in the guitar club, but now I saw two with the rock club and quite a few students in the acapella club - nice. I should also have a video somewhere of our students dancing...

#nkust #ifad #高科大 #應德系

Another year, another birthday cake for my daughter.

Another year, another birthday cake for my daughter. She's six now, so there are six layers in rainbow colours and six hearts cut out of apple slices.

I'm not really happy about it, originally I wanted to do something with marshmallows, making a few Totoros as decoration, but that was a complete failure. I need to practice that again sometime.

The fallback was not very creative, perhaps next time I will have a better idea...

The sound of silence

The sound of silence
Hello darkness, my old friend...

Garfield found a new place to rest.

Hmm, I don't know, I can't shake the feeling that there's a pattern somewhere...

Hmm, I don't know, I can't shake the feeling that there's a pattern somewhere...

Originally shared by Lori Holt

When are we going to start hearing these people referred to for what they are, #RadicalRightWingTerrorists?

I don't quite understand why this is an issue.

I don't quite understand why this is an issue. They are actors, meaning they make a living pretending to be someone they are not. An actor should be chosen for how well he/she can play a certain character, not for their background.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/oct/20/cate-blanchett-defends-straight-actors-playing-gay-characters

Interpreter functionality now on all Android phones and Assistant-enabled headphones

Interpreter functionality now on all Android phones and Assistant-enabled headphones

I've been awaiting this. First it was only Google's Pixel Buds, but it shouldn't take too long until this feature has spread to all phones. I expected two years. It was more like one. This might have a slight affect on student enrollment numbers at interpreting departments and schools...

Edit: there is no headline displayed, G+ falling apart already? Grml...
https://9to5google.com/2018/10/13/google-assistant-headphones-translate/amp/

Ah, special powers used wisely...

Ah, special powers used wisely...

Originally shared by Carlos Costa

Good idea!!!

Well, don't let us wait for too long...

Well, don't let us wait for too long...

Originally shared by Kristian Köhntopp

https://i.redd.it/lx3dzkkbwhr11.jpg

Hahaha!

Hahaha!

Via Robyn Richards

Originally shared by Karin Nelson

Found this morning on Pluspora.com. Thank you, Cara Evangelista

No, I won't go to Facebook. I wouldn't have been here if I would.

No, I won't go to Facebook. I wouldn't have been here if I would.

Via Robyn Richards

Originally shared by David Blanar

It's been an emotional roller coaster this week and taken me a little while to put my thoughts together on the news about G+.

I'm glad people are finding workable alternatives. I wish them a smooth and seamless migration. I'm not ready to leave and don't (yet) feel the need. But that may change.

I've not met Mike Elgan though I have many times appreciated his words and ideas through the years; I fully expect he would be great to have a beer with. But I profoundly (and respectfully) disagree with his conclusion:

Social is dead and we can - and should - retreat to our blog safe spaces.

(See his excellent and thought-provoking post: https://plus.google.com/+MikeElgan/posts/gNz2B2Rw7uV)

This ghettoised approach will never work for me. Nor do I think it desirable on a societal level. Is social dead? That seems dramatic, even if worth seriously discussing. We need public commons and shared spaces that are not under the aegis of our personal domain names. I feel pretty strongly about this.

Maybe in time I'll share a little bit more about my feelings and experience with G+ as an insider. But for now, the below fairly reflects where I'm at.

Public Service Announcement

Public Service Announcement
bx7aah@pluspora.com

Originally shared by Edward Morbius

Adding followers on Diaspora (Pluspora)

Copy the username (@) and past into the Search dialog. That should find the user whether they're local to your instance or remote. I am dredmorbius@joindiaspora.com, as an example.

Click the "Add Contact" dropdown, and either add the user to an existing Aspect (similar to G+ Circles), or create a new one.

You can add users to multiple Aspects.

I've created a "Plussers" Aspect and have added a bazillion G+ refugees to that. I'll sort out who's what later.

As with G+ Circles, I strongly recommend setting your aspects generally for 1) your reading interest (high/low/medium), maybe another for people who post a lot (voluble), and consider your *posting** Aspects to be specific to groups such as family, friends, co-workers, space alien cats, etc., that you want to reach specifically for a post.

There is no equivalent of Collections or Communities. You can however both hashtag posts and follow a hashtag.

If you follow #GooglePlus on Diaspora / Pluspora, you'll see a lot of the G+ refugee activity, and reconnect faster.

https://pluspora.com

Or choose from among open pods:
https://podupti.me/

Shutting down for real this time?

Shutting down for real this time?

Originally shared by cobalt please

From a Google Source today: Shutting down G+ on the way
This article is about saving data, photos, etc. We have maybe till next August. Share from Nick Bartolo via matthew rappaport

https://www.blog.google/technology/safety-security/project-strobe/

Here comes the Alishan express, back from Mt. Alishan.

Here comes the Alishan express, back from Mt. Alishan.

Ice cream in a waffle, anyone?

Ice cream in a waffle, anyone?

Falls mal jemand auf die Idee kommen sollte...

Falls mal jemand auf die Idee kommen sollte...

Via Carsten Raddatz

Originally shared by taiwanreporter

Von Deutschland aus liegt Taiwan nicht um die Ecke – wer sich überlegt, ob er eine Reise antreten soll, hat viele Fragen. Hier versuche ich einige zu beantworten. Hoffentlich sind die wichtigsten dabei!
https://buff.ly/2O7iiBg

Yay!

Yay! Spotify just significantly increased its value for me by finally having songs by Matsutoya Yumi. Last week's suggestions suddenly included a song from her and clicking on the artist link I suddenly saw her complete discography!

Next please Nakajima Miyuki! Since the two are friends, perhaps one could convince the other...? Music by Matsutoya Yumi is hard to find on Youtube, because everything uploaded gets taken down quickly. I'm not sure if it is her or her publisher, but in the past it looked like the internet was not considered as a sales channel. Google Play Music didn't have anything of her either. So, time to celebrate!

In case you wonder who this is: The opening and end song from Kiki's Delivery Service are early songs by her.

#spotify #yuming #松任谷由実
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1LQQtqc1vQ1neUgZrjYlEU?si=CVIhKTfiQMmp_JqzdsCJPg

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1LQQtqc1vQ1neUgZrjYlEU?si=CVIhKTfiQMmp_JqzdsCJPg

8kg of gingerbread - almost, there are still pieces elsewhere.

8kg of gingerbread - almost, there are still pieces elsewhere. I will however need to distribute this to two boxes, otherwise the pieces at the bottom will be pressed into one layer by the weight of the pieces above as soon as everything starts to get softer.

I was pretty quick this time, with a cycle of only eight minutes it took me a little more than five hours to complete this batch. I know, it's a bit early, but these can be stored for quite some time, plus I think I will need way more this year and I'm not sure when I will have time again. So at least 8kg are safe...

I do however wonder what temperatures my oven is running at usually. Once I checked with the infrared toy it read almost 190C, while when I took the photo it was a mere 140C. Need to watch that...

Our fourth-year students hard at work

Our fourth-year students hard at work

The fourth year is currently preparing their graduation theatre, this year a variation of the Nutcracker. Here is the group responsible for stage decorations, it looks like they are quite on schedule. The performance is always near Christmas.

#nkust #ifad #高科大 #應德系

I had read about this group before.

I had read about this group before. Yes, there is indeed a Jewish group inside a Nazi party, because apparently there are Jews who hate Muslims more than they hate Nazis, so much that they are willing to cooperate with the latter against the former.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/07/germanys-afd-sparks-outcry-with-launch-of-jewish-group

The face of things to come

The face of things to come

Originally shared by Nic K. Mowe

Behold, America, your next Supreme Court Justice.

2kg honey, 1kg butter, 1kg sugar - this doesn't sound very healthy, so I better spread it across 8kg gingerbread...

2kg honey, 1kg butter, 1kg sugar - this doesn't sound very healthy, so I better spread it across 8kg gingerbread...

This is a relatively long and quite depressing read, showing just how bad things are in the "land of the free".

This is a relatively long and quite depressing read, showing just how bad things are in the "land of the free". For the average citizen, the greatest worry should be neither Russia nor China...

Next up came the 10th anniversary of the financial crisis – a meltdown that laid waste to the global economy, while providing lucrative taxpayer-funded bailouts to Wall Street firms.

To mark the occasion, the three men on whose watch it occurred – Fed chair Ben Bernanke, Bush treasury secretary Hank Paulson and Obama treasury secretary Tim Geithner – did not offer an apology, but instead promised that another financial crisis will eventually occur, and they demanded lawmakers give public officials more power to bail out big banks in the future.

In a similar bipartisan show of unity, former Trump economic adviserGary Cohn gave an interview in which he asked “Who broke the law?” – the implication being that no Wall Street executives were prosecuted for their role in the meltdown because no statutes had been violated. That suggestion, of course, is undermined by banks’ own admissions that they defrauded investors (that includes admissions of fraud from Goldman Sachs – the very bank that Cohn himself ran during the crisis). Nonetheless, Obama’s attorney general, Eric Holder – who has now rejoined his old corporate defense law firm– subsequently backed Cohn up by arguing that nobody on Wall Street committed an offense that could have been successfully prosecuted in a court of law.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/05/americas-new-aristocracy-live-accountability-free-zone-david-sirota

Nah, not always... I mean, sometimes I just don't have a choice, but mostly I'm really forgiving... Honestly!

Nah, not always... I mean, sometimes I just don't have a choice, but mostly I'm really forgiving... Honestly!

Originally shared by Joerg Fliege

Yup.

October Fest is approaching, so our preparations are getting a little more hectic.

October Fest is approaching, so our preparations are getting a little more hectic. The student council has assigned groups of students to every task. One of those groups is the pretzel group, which is practicing the "pretzel swing" in these photos. I think they will practice a little more next week.

The apple crumb cake group had it much easier, just putting everything down after they finally spread the dough on the baking sheet.

#nkust #ifad #高科大 #應德系

You know how in Asia they put lions and tigers on both sides of an entrance to important buildings?

You know how in Asia they put lions and tigers on both sides of an entrance to important buildings? Well, my residence just received an upgrade, one side of my gate is now protected by a tiger.