Akita Toriyama (1955-2024)

Vita brevis, ars longa.

A smiling man with glasses against a plain background.
Spanish: Un hombre sonriendo con gafas contra un fondo plano.
Basque: Irribarre egiten ari den gizon bat betaurrekoekin atzealde lau baten kontra. An animated character with spiky black hair, smiling, wearing a red gi with a black belt, and blue wristbands and shoes, is posing energetically against a white background.
Spanish: Un personaje animado con pelo negro y puntiagudo, sonriendo, vestido con un gi rojo con cinturón negro, y muñequeras y zapatos azules, posa enérgicamente sobre un fondo blanco.
Basque: Ile beltz zorrotzadun pertsonaia animatu bat, irribarretsu, gi gorri bat eta gerriko beltzarekin, eta urdinak diren eskumuturrekoak eta oinetakoak jantzita, atzeko fondo zurian energia handiz posatzen ari da.

#geekery #art

Exclusive offer

Going through my spam folder right before cleaning it up, it still amazes me that reputable firms in my line of business send email offerings stating a «Exclusive offer just for you!». The contents of the email are nothing but exclusive and the emphatic language is just poor taste. I really can’t imagine anybody taking the bait. #thoughts

App store scam?

It’s the second time in a few days that, as soon as I enter the App Store app on my iPhone, it offers me to install Tik Tok. Not just the add, but a sheet asking me if I want to install it. I may have accidentally clicked on something, but I really don’t think so. Has anybody noticed the same thing? Can it be some ad abuse or scam? #geekery

Thursday

I want to focus on the good thing of the day. It’s taking me a while to think about them. I guess it’s easier for me to whine, I practice bitching and moaning more.

Two clients told me that they liked my work, after sending them the arguments I presented in court on their behalf. An important part of my job, since the outcome of a trial is not entirely in my hands, is that my clients feel that I did everything I could to defend them.

I did progress a little in the research that I’m stuck with. I still don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel (you’re whining again, Estebantxo!) but i’m getting there.

I had a delicious bocadillo for dinner. Thinly sliced and roasted chicken breast, Piquillo red peppers, Argelian sauce, on a toasted baguette.

I’m going to bed. That’s the best part.

Thank you for giving us micro.blog, @jean.

"Good things come in small packages." That was my first post on Micro.blog, 7 years ago today.

I wrote it to be cute, but over time, I learned to believe in the power of small:

Ever since I became the community manager of Micro.blog, I’ve developed an appreciation for the beauty of going “micro”: microposts, microcasts, micro meetups, microcosms of interesting humans interacting online on a human scale. (“Micro All The Things”; posted Nov. 30 2019)

Wednesday

I am quite impressed by the automatic transcription of podcasts on the Apple Podcasts app. That this is the highlight of the day does not speak very well of my achievements today. Anyway, that’s that. #thoughts
#geekery

🚀 It’s Time to Give Up on Everything but Email – Manu

In all seriousness, if in 2024 you’re using one single email address for everything that’s a you problem, not an email problem. Also, Ian, let me ask you a question: what’s the alternative here? Do we all move to Slack/Discord/Teams? Do we all move everything to DMs? Do you think that’s a better solution?

There’s a reason why emails are still here. They’re still here because they work. Is email perfect? No. Is there a better alternative? Also no.

I wholeheartedly agree with Manu. Separating work and personal email is easy enough. And filters are necessary to manage subscriptions and other types of messages, but with a minimum setup, email can be tamed. #thoughts
#geekery

I keep Cabify and Ubers apps on my phone for impractical and melancholic reasons. I can’t use them at home, but I keep dreaming with traveling to countries where public officials are not sequestered by the taxi lobby. #thoughts

I don’t even have time to catch a cold. #thoughts

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live

Come on, people, you didn’t tell me Rick and Michonne were back!!!

Two serious-looking individuals stand against a fiery backdrop, with text The Walking Dead - THE ONES WHO LIVE dominating the bottom

Monday

I am pissed by SCOTUS’ 9-0 decision regarding Colorado’s ruling on the application of the 14th Amendment to Trump. I’m sure the progressive justices did what they thought was right. The problem is the conservative ones will never do the same. They will always find according to what the conservative agenda needs. Just like the Massachusetts Secretary, any official or court deciding on a local or state ballot should be able to decide that a former officer who engages in or gives comfort to insurrection is ineligible. #thoughts

🚀 Internet gardening | James' Coffee Blog

A few months ago, someone referred to be as an "internet gardener." This title has stuck in my head ever since. I often note that I love tinkering with my website. Whereas some people garden plants, I garden the web. I write the thoughts on my mind. Sometimes, these are technical. Other times, whimsical. Other times, emotional; the result of months of contemplation and years of processing. I experiment with new ideas (plants); when I am out of ideas, I try a new plant.

This is exactly my plan for this blog. I want to document here a fellow gardener that shows me the way. #thoughts

🚀 Hiro Report - Hiro.Report - 03MAR2024

Happy Sunday, everyone! We have a short and (hopefully) sweet one this week:

A new report by [@hiro](https://micro.blog/hiro) and it is, as always, full of goodies. You don’t wanna miss it and you do want to spread the word. #geekery

Sunday

I closed February and planned the first two weeks of March today. It’s quite overwhelming. A few projects that needed to end in February did not, and they crawl into March menacing the projects that have mid-month deadlines. Still, I think I managed to identify two big rocks and several smaller ones for this week, so as long as nothing new shows up (which will prove to be a futile dream my Monday noon) everything should be OK.

Since I’ve activated my micro.blog ActivityPub user, replies sent from Mastodon to my posts show up both in the micro.blog timeline and like comments in my blogs' posts. I can reply to them from the timeline and they show back in Mastodon. This is exactly what I wanted. I can stay in my blog and in micro.blog and know that I can interact with people in Mastodon, and these interactions are not lost because they are recorded in my blogs, where they belong. #geekery #thoughts

One more step

Into a simpler digital life. More focused on blogging and slower, more meaningful interactions.

I redirected my three different Mastodon accounts to my ActivityPub user in micro.blog. So the people that followed me in Mastodon are now following my micro.blog persona. I did not import the follows I had over there. I only want to keep my micro.blog follows and every new acquaintance will come organically from there. I deactivated my Twitter/X account. It’s not the first time, in the past I have always reactivated it because I didn’t want to loose the user handle, but that’s not very important any more, so we’ll see if Twitter/X is gone for good. After 16 years, 14 of them very intense. The friends I made there, I hope, will know how to reach me.

I’m keeping LinkedIn for now. It’s not very demanding and I always find value in the professional stuff that people share over there.

So the plan is to stick to my blogs for writing and NetNewsWire for reading. Interactions will come, hopefully, more and more via email. And if anybody reaches out to me in the micro.blog timeline, that’s a peaceful place, too. So all is good.

Machair by Angie Lewin

We have this at home and we love it.

Stylized illustration of a vibrant flower field with various colorful blooms and foliage against a backdrop of gentle hills and a blue sky with white clouds.
Spanish: Ilustración estilizada de un campo de flores vibrante con varias flores coloridas y follaje contra un fondo de suaves colinas y un cielo azul con nubes blancas.
Basque: Lorezain batzorde estilizatua, lorategi koloretsuekin eta hostoekin, mendi leunen eta hodei zuriekin zerua atzealdean.

🚀 Machair | Angie Lewin

Machair

Screen print

Image size: 335mm x 460mm

Edition size: 95

#art

The Deposition by Lovis Corinth

It’s impressive how real the portraits look.

A distressed bearded man cradles a lifeless body against a backdrop of onlookers and a crimson sky.
Spanish: Un hombre barbudo angustiado sostiene un cuerpo sin vida frente a espectadores y un cielo carmesí.
Basque: Distira handiko gizon bizar-duna gorputz bizigabe bat besoetan du, ikusle eta zeru gorri baten aurrean.

🚀 Paintings of Mary Magdalene: Gospel times – The Eclectic Light Company

Lovis Corinth (1858–1925), The Deposition (1895), oil on canvas, 95 × 102 cm, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne. Wikipedia Commons.

The Deposition (Descent from the Cross) (1895) was one of Lovis Corinth’s major paintings from his early days in Munich, and won a gold medal when exhibited in the Glaspalast in Munich that year. It shows the traditional station of the cross commemorating the lowering of the dead body of Christ from the cross, attended by Joseph of Arimathea and Mary Magdalene.

This work is another thoroughly modern approach to a classical theme, in its framing, composition, and the faces. Its close-in cropped view suggests the influence of photography, and the faces shown appear contemporary and not in the least historic. These combine to give it the immediacy of a current event, rather than something that happened almost two millennia ago.

#art

A life line

Hold tight.

Rusty metal ring threaded through a white rope against a blurred rocky background.
Spanish: Anillo metálico oxidado enhebrado en una cuerda blanca contra un fondo rocoso desenfocado.
Basque: Herdoilaturiko metalezko eraztun bat zuri koloreko soka baten zehar eta harkaitz lauso atzealde baten kontra. #thoughts

Inpernupe

A pile of various-sized rounded rocks, seemingly moist, fills the frame, possibly near water.
Spanish: Un montón de rocas redondeadas de varios tamaños, aparentemente húmedas, llena el marco, posiblemente cerca del agua.
Basque: Tamaina ezberdinetako harkaitz biribildu multzo bat, itxura batean hezea, markoa betetzen du, seguruenik uraren ondoan. A large, white rock stands out among darker stones, possibly in a natural outdoor setting.
Spanish: Una gran roca blanca destaca entre piedras más oscuras, posiblemente en un entorno natural al aire libre.
Basque: Harri zuri handi bat nabarmentzen da harrizko ilunen artean, litekeena da kanpoaldeko ingurune natural batean. #thoughts