On today's beach walk I saw a large mussel shell and a couple of oystercatchers. 🐦

Large open mussel shell on sand.
A pair of oystercatchers on the beach: one sitting on the sand, one standing on one leg.
A pair of oystercatchers on the beach, both standing on one leg.

Somehow I never watched Star Trek: The Animated Series (1974). I just watched S02E01 (by mistake, I’ll start back at Season 1 next time).

Wonderful 1974 futuristic sci-fi cartoon!

Photo of a bridge scene from Star Trek The Animated Series S02E01.

Another good read from Jana DeLeon, with some switching around of secondary characters and an intriguing plot — Fortune Teller. I enjoyed this book. Even with so many prior books in the series, and a few long-running gags, such as Gertie's handbag, the author has kept things fresh. 📚

Book cover: Fortune Teller.

Folks on Micro.Blog mentioning places they’ve visited. For me much of Western Europe, Scandinavia, UK and Ireland, Pacific Islands. Of special interest: I lived in Düsseldorf, West Germany and visited East Berlin when those distinctions were still a thing and Vanuatu when it was called New Hebrides.

The other day LeonP wrote about blogs being viewable on any device.

That led me to wonder how my blog looks on my 2018 Kindle Paperwhite. The answer is: not too terrible.

My site as it looks on Kindle.

Heh, Aotearoa becomes more multicultural. Stories are legion of immigrants and visitors asked to "bring a plate" to an event who have turned up with an empty plate, puzzled about needing to bring it. 🤣

The wording Bring a plate of food clarifies what to bring to the event.

Hmmm:

When we hear the word 'fungi', [mushrooms are] what we think of first. But … only about 10 % of fungi species produce mushrooms. And they only do so when it suits them. Most fungi species are microscopic, like yeasts.

Fungi of Aotearoa, by Liv Sisson, Chapter 1, Location 350 of 3628

It's Samoa Language Week here in Aotearoa. This 25 minute documentary about traditional tattoo as service is so interesting, and moving: Tautua: Inked in Service.

BTW: Samoa is pronounced with the stress on the Sa. That syllable has a long a and rhymes with car.

Listen to it in the film.

Still from the film shows a man being tattooed.

Wowee: The new imitation game

… CarynAI, a bot which “replicates [Caryn Marjorie's] voice, mannerisms and personality”. Interacting with it costs $1 a minute: in the first week it was available it raked in $100,000.

Thanks to A Feminist look at Language and things related to language.

Another one for folks interested in language — 18 minute video about weak and strong forms of words, and how in English the positive may just disappear: The Genius of Weak Forms.

Still from the video shows the word was is barely spoken while the was in wasn't is stressed.
Still from the video shows the word was is barely spoken while the was in wasn't is stressed.

This afternoon I thought I’d try photos of sea spray. The sea was a bit rough today. B&W filter via Photos.

Sea spray 27 May 2023Spray coming off the tops of the waves, gull in foreground.
Spray coming off the tops of the waves.

Kei te pēhea tonu tātou? How are we really doing?

Yellow and black bilingual sign in an outdoor public setting.

If you’re at all interested in language, or in indigenous culture take 10 minutes and watch this fascinating documentary (via Kottke) — Hand Talk:

Hand Talk sign language has been used by indigenous communities for thousands of years

Screenshot showing signs for asking someone their age.

This is a very heartening good news story. Take a moment to read this non-fiction comic by Toby Morris : The Side Eye: Anahera, our neighbour. 🐦

Note: Kiwi is a Māori word. There are very few specific plural forms in Māori, and definitely no plural ’s'.

Image from the comic  by Toby Morris.

Image from the comic by Toby Morris.

I was already pretty cheery this morning but listening to Korolova b2b Jonas Saalbach @ Praia da Adraga, Portugal (55 minutes) just lifted me right up. I just love the beat in this one.

Screenshot of the artists on a beach.

Ahhh, my rejoicing was premature… After a couple of minutes the left AirPod just stopped working. From memory, if I put it back in the charging case for a few minutes it’ll work for a few minutes again. Still, I guess the right earbud still works…

It’s a miracle: my AirPods (1st gen) live again! Last year there were problems, fixes didn’t work, they were dead, they sat in my Must ship to Apple for recycling pile for months.

Then I discovered an issue with my charges-everything setup. Charged them for 2 days and they work again!

Airpods settings screen.

A Micro.blog Community Library. What a great idea from @KimberlyHirsh.

Time for a needs assessment! Micro.blog community, what resources do you need in the Micro.blog Community Library?

Nope. No Kuaka | Godwits round here. Nope. 🐦

Two Kuaka Godwits with their heads completely buried in shallow water as they feed.

Our beach doesn’t have rocks (unless you count chunks of pumice) but there’s plenty of driftwood. Sometimes a buried log will emerge after the tide flows out.

A sturdy piece of driftwood emerges from the sand, with a pool of water around it, left by the retreated tide.