Tootfinder

Just finished "What Elephants Know" by Eric Dinerstein. Leaves me with very mixed feelings: it's a novel in many ways about Nepal, and I don't doubt that the author's experience living there gives him a not-insignificant window into the culture, plus there are multiple people mentioned in the acknowledgements as judging faithfulness to Nepali culture. I myself have no direct connection to the country, nor enough knowledge to see any clear inaccuracies in the writing, nor ways in which it directly disrespects the culture.
That said, my instincts say this is a portrayal of the culture and country that probably elides much about the downsides of foreign influence and the monarchy (something I naturally distrust as an anarchist). At minimum, the internal contradiction is clear between the police as an inept and dangerous institution when encountered directly, but as a clean and unproblematic way to resolve problems with criminals when the Maroons subplot needs wrapping up. This is typical of neoliberals who have begun to acknowledge the most obvious problems with police but who refuse to admit the necessity of police abolition. Furthermore, there's a strong thread of white saviorism thrown in, and a big piece of meritocracy to go along with it. This story presents only highly particular fictionalized solutions to the real structural problems facing the elephants and other animals it describes, and the solutions it imagines require reliance on institutions which are in the real world fundamentally untrustworthy.
I enjoyed learning about the ecology of the Nepali borderlands, and about the cultures surrounding elephants there, plus some of the diversity of religions and cultures that interact in the area, and the story was satisfyingly written in terms of the main character's trials and responses to them, if I disregard the issues mentioned above.
If anyone has recommendations for novels in English (including via translation) by actual Nepali authors, I'd love to hear them, as I'll be looking for that perspective to balance this one.
#AmReading #ReadingNow #Bookstodon

Tipp: Flinkere Hilfe im Terminal
Wer selten die macOS-Kommandozeile nutzt, braucht oft eine schnelle Dokumentation. Dafür gibt es nicht nur die traditionellen man-Pages.
https://www.heise.de/ratgeber/Tipp-…

Tipp: Flinkere Hilfe im Terminal
Wer selten die macOS-Kommandozeile nutzt, braucht oft eine schnelle Dokumentation. Dafür gibt es nicht nur die traditionellen man-Pages.

Seattle-based Brinc Drones, which makes 911 response drones, raised $125M led by Motorola Solutions, bringing its total funding to more than $280M (Todd Bishop/GeekWire)
https://www.geekwire.com/2026/motorola-leads-125m…

Motorola leads $125M round for Brinc, fueling 911 drone expansion amid U.S. import crackdown
Seattle-based 911 drone maker Brinc raised $125 million led by Motorola Solutions, at a valuation the company says has nearly doubled from a year ago. The funding will support expanded manufacturing and a new Seattle headquarters and factory later this year.

Cowboys Rookie Power Rankings Week 2: Drew Shelton Moves Up Despite Ugly Run-Block Snap https://www.si.com/nfl/cowboys/onsi/cowboys-rookie-power-rankings-week-2-drew-shelton-ugly-run-block-snap

One click sends a command
from the Home Assistant app
on my mobile phone
via WiFi
to the WiFi Router
to a Satellite
to a ground station in Germany
to my VPN endpoint in Iceland
to London
to Amsterdam
to Frankfurt
to Zurich
to Winterthur
to my router
to my reverse proxy
to my Home Assistant server
to my access point
to the WiFi
to the WiFi-Bridge
to the door lock
*click* *motor whirring* *door…

#goodmorning
I spent yesterday loosing myself in my IT setup and still don't really know if I'm following a good solution. But I've learned a bit about Forgejo...

“Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night
Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:        
And Lo! The Hunter of the East has caught                        
The Sultan’s Turret in a Noose of Light”
(Edward FitzGerald and the Rubšiyšt of Omar Khayyšm, 1st edition 1859)
#Poetry #Translation

Juvenile white sharks are already appearing along the California coastline,
fleeing warmer than usual waters in Mexico during what’s expected to be an incredibly strong El Niño.
But while shark experts say it could be the sharkiest summer in California in a decade,
they also say beachgoers shouldn’t be too alarmed as the apex predators have spent generations learning what’s on the menu.
And humans aren’t their preferred food

California braces for its sharkiest summer in a decade – but experts say don’t panic
Young great white sharks are returning in large numbers, but researchers say humans are not on the menu

Cowboys Rookie Power Rankings Week 2: Drew Shelton Moves Up Despite Ugly Run-Block Snap https://www.si.com/nfl/cowboys/onsi/cowboys-rookie-power-rankings-week-2-drew-shelton-ugly-run-block-snap

Discord suspends livestreams in Brazil, after the country's data protection authority ordered it last week, saying Discord failed to protect children and teens (Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/brazil-discord-children-social-me…

Discord suspends Brazil livestreams after suicide raises child protection concerns
Discord, the popular platform for gamers to communicate online, said it suspended its livestreams in Brazil. The move Monday takes place in the wake of a suicide case and after a body of the country’s justice ministry accused it of failing to protect for children and adolescents. Discord said in a statement that it is implementing the suspension of livestreams after a decision by Brazil’s national agency of data protection last week and added it is in conversations “to seek a solution tha…