This will save me some time. I can check on Lake Te Anau without flying back. https://www.youtube.com/@southlandapplive/live

Exploring using OpenDisplay on the Xteink X4 to plot hourly energy consumption over the past 4 days with data pulled from Octopus Energy Japan's API. Unfortunately, there seems to be a significant time lag between the smart meter readings and the data showing up in their GraphQL DB.

Drainspotting in Matsuyama, Ehime.

#Drainspotting Takamatsu, Kagawa

I got to meet #Banio, the #mascot of the Atagawa Tropical & Alligator Garden. It started in the 1950s growing bananas, but has added 17 different species of alligators. #japan

Our local railroad company organized an express train excursion to the Taiwan Lantern Festival in Atagawa, Shizuoka. There were lots of food booths, a taiko performance, and hundreds of lanterns.

The scent of grapes was nearly overpowering as I crossed the plaza this morning in Ito, Japan.

The threaded reply feature in Google Chat is incredibly frustrating, especially on Android. It is surprising there isn't a setting to turn off this "feature."

Well, THAT increase seems a bit excessive: Last year it was US$29.99/year for MiLB.tv, but this year it has doubled to US$59.99. Who have they hired for the San Jose Giants play-by-play?

My snowperson is learning to limbo in preparation for their dream vacation to Trinidad. (Over the weekend, Ito got its first significant snow in six years.)

A hard disk failed in a cheap (i.e. old) server at OVH Canada (Quebec). They were able to swap in a replacement within 45 minutes of my opening a ticket. RAID rebuild takes longer. Admittedly, the new drive is even older than the one it replaced, but I can live with that given their response time.

Walking along the Ito River on a cool and very quiet evening.

The Scratch Foundation is seeking donations and memberships to keep the Scratch programming environment free and flourishing. I'm a fan, so I've joined. www.scratchfoundation.org/home

Thank you, Phil O'Brien and Simon Morris, for the wacky and occasionally brilliant "Matinee Idle" that has livened up Kiwi summers for over 20 years. A fun way to be introduced to some "music" I would never have discovered. www.rnz.co.nz/life/culture...

'Matinee Idle' co-hosts Phil O'Brien and Simon Morris sign off

The hosts of the divisive show say goodbye, sharing a thoughtful message about AI as the broadcaster draws the programme to a close in its current form.

rnz.co.nz

There is something oddly satisfying about pointlessly wasting compute cycles to arrive at a vanity MeshCore node ID. gessaman.com/mc-keygen/

After 16+ years, the Open Education Resource Foundation is on the verge of closing as the current fiscal host pulls out. This has the potential to close WikiEducator which has been around even longer. oerfoundation.org/2025/12/13/t...

The feijoa season has arrived in Japan. This is the (first) bag we received from a farm near Osaka.

I was back in my old Kichijoji / Mitaka neighborhood and noticed there is a new vending machine offering gyoza, steamed buns, sesame balls, and more.

We do an evening around #LoRa devices and #Meshtastic on Friday. - What are Lora, how does Lora relate to WiFi - What's Meshtastic, will bring in some devices - I'll explain this BBS use case idea, how it works Location: Nov 21st, 7pm, Meeting room 202 at Jiyugaoka juku Center, Tokyo

It is November, and that means "Butt Sumo" (尻つみ祭り) time again at the local shrine here in Ito, #Japan. Contestants stand back-to-back on a raised dais and, at the signal, attempt to bump their opponent off. The winners are sometimes surprising.

Halloween 🎃 is appearing more and more in Japan.

Yesterday's silliness involved replacing the garish LENOVO BIOS logo on my old ThinkPad with the Tokyo Linux User Group emblem.

School kids have been practicing their drumming for the past two weeks for their ride in the float. Our community's dashi was hit by an elderly driver while making the rounds on Saturday, putting one neighbor in the hospital with broken ribs. We sat out most of Sunday's festivities.

It was festival weekend in Ito. More than a dozen illuminated floats with musicians are pulled and pushed around the neighborhood.

For the past 3 years, I've been using the Open Source SilverBullet PKMS to organize my notes in Markdown files. Its major feature is how programmable it is (first in JavaScript, now in Lua). SilverBullet's author is publishing a series of tutorials on YouTube.

Welcome to SilverBullet part 1: Basic Markdown and Outlines

YouTube video by Zef Hemel

youtu.be

The Tokyo Maker Faire 2025 is being held this weekend (04~05 October) at Tokyo Big Sight.

Join Maker Faire Tokyo | Maker Faire Tokyo 2025 | Make: Japan

Maker Faire Tokyo 2025

makezine.jp

Wow, it's been years since I encountered a "you can only use this site with MSIE" alert... except now it is Safari or Chrome.

Congratulations to the San Jose Giants for sweeping the playoffs and taking home the California League championship! Now a two-month gap until the ABL season kicks off.

San Jose Giants

The official website of the San Jose Giants with the most up-to-date information on scores, schedule, stats, tickets, and team news.

sjgiants.com

JG1GPY showed off a clever, compact multi-band antenna at the SOTA JP booth at the Japan Ham Fair this weekend. A switch allows selection of direct feed (for 1/4 wave on 40m, with trailing counterpoise) or through a 49:1 transformer for end-fed on higher bands.

This weekend is the Japan Ham Fair 2025 at Ariake GYM-EX (the 2020 Olympics Gymnastics venue). A chance for the big commercial vendors to show off previews of their new equipment and a flea market to allow users to recycle older gear. onjapan.net/2025/hamfair/