Notices by Minoru Saba (minorusaba@toad.social)

"A ship carrying humanitarian aid and activists to Gaza has been bombed by drones and disabled while in international waters off Malta"
"Freedom Flotilla Coalition claims Israel to blame for attack"
"A previous sailing launched by the coalition from southern Turkey in 2010 ended in bloodshed when Israeli forces stormed the Mavi Marmara vessel, killing 10 people"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/02/gaza-humanitarian-aid-ship-bombed-drones-waters-off-malta
#Gaza #Malta #GretaThunberg

#Via Talia Lavin
@swordsjew
Apr 30, 2025, 12:11 PM

"responses to this have included
-grow all your own food
-buy organic
-check labels
-go to the farmers market
-check for recalls
-make your own food from scratch

etc.

WRONG. none of you have read the article.

maam there are 350 million people in this country and 83% live in urban areas."

@FlockOfCats Making oatmeal with sobatsuyu (そばつゆ) and adding natto(納豆) and kimchi is quite good and filling when all out of ideas for a late supper.
Haven't tried it yet, but topping the ensemble with shredded cheese might work.
In any case, quicker than making spaghetti topped with natto and kimchi sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

"A $35 (🇯🇵 5000yen; 🇬🇧 £26) afternoon tea set served at the British pavilion at the Osaka Expo has left Japanese social media aghast"
"...”a tea bag stuck in a paper cup” — went viral on X"
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/05/02/japan/expo-britain-tea/

🔸cf: "Candella Tea Room, Kensington Church Street...a whimsical and elegant destination for a reasonable £28.95 per person"
https://www.walks.com/blog/affordable-afternoon-tea-london/

🔸Menu photo shows image conjured up by "British afternoon tea" in #Japan
https://www.candellatearoom.com/afternoon-tea-menu
#UKPavilion #OsakaExpo #AfternoonTea

Infection status
Released May 2, 2025.
- As of period from Apr 21 - Apr 27, 2025 -

No. of patients per medical facility (nationwide) 1.39
Change from prev. week -0.38
[Source: Health-Labor-Welfare Ministry weekly report]
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001483547.pdf
🔸Continuing decrease
Saga at 0.96, Tokyo at 0.82, Akita at 1.52, Hokkaido at 1.76, Okinawa at 1.0
#Niigata at 3.11

#Influenza (nationwide) 1.09
Change from prev. week -0.11
#Saga at 3.38
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001483543.pdf
#CovidIsNotOver #Japan

TIL today:
""Duck tape" is recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary as having been in use since 1899 and "duct tape" (described as "perhaps an alteration of earlier duck tape") since 1965"

🔸Spoken quickly, they sound the same, but Jack Kahl "was able to trademark the brand "Duck Tape" and market his product complete with a yellow cartoon duck logo"...so "Duck Tape" is a specific brand of duct tape😱
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duct_tape
#DuctTape #ducktape

Strolling down to the beach we came across an eye-catching structure formed from driftwood and discarded plastic buoys.
No title or explanatory notes could be found.
Art is in the eye of the beholder...probably.
#Matsuzaki #IzuPeninsula #Japan #art

Staying in Matsuzaki, a small port on the Izu peninsula, we asked about tsunami evacuation plans and were directed to the only tsunami tower in town. It was about the height of a 4-storey building with a couple of exposed flights of stairs leading up to the evacuation deck. Matsuzaki hazard map predicted tsunami would arrive 6 minutes after a big quake. Not sure if any one but the quick and able could get up there in time. Also, the gates were locked and notices were available in Japanese only.

"Sanada Maru (2016)" theme
Composer: Takayuki Hattori (服部隆之)
Performed by NHK Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Kimbo Ishii (キンボー・イシイ )
Violin: Fumiaki Miura (三浦 文彰)
Shakuhachi: Akihisa Kominato (小湊昭尚)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLdGEHK5Wlk

Sanada Maru (TV drama series)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanada_Maru_(TV_series)

After *heavy* consideration, I've decided to leave Fosstodon and move to Hachyderm.

Short version:
Given public sentiment I think it will be easier for me (personally) in the long run if I make a change.

Long version:
https://coreysnipes.com/thoughts-on-fosstodon.html

In the times before "AI" hype there were washing machines with "fuzzy logic" and "neuro" whatever.

Found reddit comment:
"Fuzzy logic was an overhyped 90s phenomenon that was largely based on the belief that one could design a control system without an understanding of control theory and somehow it would magically turn out better. That reality never materialized."
https://www.reddit.com/r/engineering/comments/pwht4f/comment/heha0c2/

...leading to Bob Pease articles[1][2]:
1. https://www.electronicdesign.com/technologies/embedded/digital-ics/article/21757343/whats-all-this-fuzzy-logic-stuff-anyhow
2. https://www.electronicdesign.com/technologies/embedded/article/21757031/whats-all-this-ball-on-beam-balancing-stuff-anyhow
#FuzzyLogic

Would expect Japan's leaders to have listened very politely to US secretary of the navy, who "posted the wrong date of the attack on Pearl Harbor twice" on his social media account[2], proposing building "commercial ships with Japanese support that would also be suitable for military use in an emergency"[1] and to have drawn appropriate conclusions re expertise in current US administration.
1. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/04/28/japan/politics/japan-us-shipbuilding/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=mastodon

2. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/navy-secretary-john-phelan-pearl-harbor_n_680fb59be4b0694adc18c581
#Japan #defence

A slow clap for this dingus, a Chinese student living in Japan, who got stuck on Mount Fuji last week and was airlifted to safety, then had to be re-rescued four days later when he went back to retrieve his phone. Here's more from @CBSNews.

https://flip.it/-Zlf_7

#Climbing #Lifestyle #Travel #AdventureTravel #Japan #MountFuji

A weird phrase is plaguing scientific papers – and we traced it back to a glitch in AI training data
Earlier this year, scientists discovered a peculiar term appearing in published papers: “vegetative electron microscopy”.
https://theconversation.com/a-weird-phrase-is-plaguing-scientific-papers-and-

Stopping for lunch at Michi-no-eki Hana-no-Sanseien-Izu-Matsuzaki (道の駅 花の三聖苑伊豆松崎), we came across "Nan-nan-sei no Kaze" (南南西の風) a sculpture in black stone by Katsuhiro Umeda, who we met by chance later that day as he was setting up a 2-person exhibition with Shōji Inaba at Casa Estrelita next door to the Izu Chōhachi Art Museum.
Life is full of surprises!
https://toad.social/@minorusaba/114403809410591020
#KatsuhiroUmeda #Matsuzaki #Izu #Japan

"...78 measles cases have been confirmed in Japan so far this year, already exceeding the number for all of last year, which was 45"
"...this appears to be chiefly attributable to visitors who brought #measles into #Japan"
"In addition to Asian countries, the disease has also been rampant recently in some areas of the United States"
"In severe cases, measles can cause pneumonia or encephalitis, which can be life-threatening"
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/editorial/yomiuri-editorial/20250427-251406/

It seems that "Nacimiento"[1] together with "El viejo y la niña" placed in front of the Izu Chōhachi Art Museum were the result of a meeting by Osamu Ishiyama, the architect of the museum and Casa Estrelita, with Etsuro Sotoo, Chief Sculptor of Sagrada Familia, when Ishiyama was travelling in Spain.

1. https://www.town.matsuzaki.shizuoka.jp/docs/2024032500022/

Katsuhiro Umeda told us that the population of Matsuzaki was dwindling. Also the local fishing industry had suffered reduced catches due to climate change and whatever was caught was now being unloaded at Numazu rather than at Matsuzaki.
Trying to stimulate local activity Umeda had proposed the 2-person exhibition in the defunct restaurant and local authorities had helped by renovating the venue.
Umeda then pointed out the sculpture "Nacimiento" by Etsuro Sotoo which stood in front of the venue.

After visiting the Izu Chōhachi Art Museum[1], we luckily caught a 2-person exhibition by Katsuhiro Umeda and Shōji Inaba, both of whom had grown up in Matsuzaki, which was running from 26 Apr to 6 May in the Casa Estrelita[2] (formerly a restaurant) next door. Umeda's work centred on terracotta sculptures, whilst Inaba's works included paintings of plants and figures fashioned from driftwood.

1. https://www.izu-matsuzaki.com/en/pages/69/
2. http://setagaya-mura.net/ishiyama.arch.waseda/projectfile/estrelita.html

Infection status
Released Apr 25, 2025.
- As of period from Apr 14 - Apr 17, 2025 -

No. of patients per medical facility (nationwide) 1.77
Change from prev. week -0.33
[Source: Health-Labor-Welfare Ministry weekly report]
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001480816.pdf
🔸Continuing decrease
Saga at 1.04, Tokyo at 1.03, Akita at 1.72, Hokkaido at 1.8, Okinawa at 1.09
#Niigata at 4.98

#Influenza (nationwide) 1.2
Change from prev. week +0.01
#Akita at 4.76
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001480968.pdf
#CovidIsNotOver #Japan