muralog/_input/posts/2019-08-08-a-little-more-about-me_part-1.markdown

---
title: "a little more about me: part 1"
published: 2019-08-08
---

### looking at other blogs, a first post is often an ***about me***-type post. guess mine's past due.

![me in a nutshell](/images/k-on-yui-bitch-im-sugoi.gif "yui from k-on gif with caption: bitch, i'm sugoi")

# straight from my fedi profile:

> free sw, read/writing, philosophy, gaming, music, CUTENESS, learning japanese!

**allow me to elaborate a little.** 

## 01 free sw

**free sw** is obviously me using a form of shorthand to write 
[free software](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html "free softare definition by the fsf")
which i usually just call *non-proprietary software* so people don't think i am talking
about software that is **free as in beer** *as opposed to* **free as in speech**
(**which comparison seems more foreboding the more time goes on and as our
society transitions to unprecedented levels of mass-surveillance which inhibits
all freedom**). speaking of surveillance and digital freedoms, if you have any
money to spare or are able to volunteer in some way the [eff](https://eff.org "eff website home")
is constantly fighting for everyone's privacy and digital rights. 
[donating](https://supporters.eff.org/donate/join-eff-4 "eff donations page")
to them is probably the best thing you can do to try and
reclaim the internet. 

there are few foundations/orgs/people/etc. i would donate to if i had the
money. here is a list of ones that come to mind atm:

* **free software foundation** (**fsf**)
* **electronic frontier foundation** (**eff**)
* **pleroma** (possibly)
* **[fairsocialnet.ch](https://fairsocialnet.ch)**, parent org of **[tooting.ch](https://tooting.ch)**, my first **fedi** account
* my current [fedi](https://fedi.absturztau.be) account's admin (if he's accepting donations)
* the maintainer/s of [git.lain.church](https://git.lain.church) and [lain.church xmpp](https://lain.church/xmpp/conversejs)

hmmm… that's already a pretty big list. i guess i'm more philanthropic than i
thought 😋 (**冗談だよ**ーit's more that i didn't think there were that many
people/etc i would trust with my money **笑**).

## 02 read/writing

another big one. when it comes to reading, i like a pretty big variety of
books—from reference books about **lego**s or **red dwarf** to fiction books of many
sorts. my **favourite** book is probably 
`the little prince` (`le petit prince` in the original french)
by `antoine de saint-exupéry`. i do plan on reading the original french version
after i learn french (it's next on my language list after japanese) and i do
already own the french version (and several english copies as well as one
japanese one). `the little prince` is out of copyright in many places (**although
it will remain copyrighted in france until the end of `2044`, according to its
wikipedia page**) so i recommend reading it first (if you speak french, read it in
french; if you speak english, read the `katherine woods` translation despite
its errors) then going on over to its page on
[wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Prince) and reading about
the book there. if you read in english, this is a good opportunity to learn
about the few errors in translation in katherine woods's translation. you'll also
learn that as of april 2017, it became the **most translated non-religious book
in the world** (over 300 languages~[source](https://www.yahoo.com/news/little-prince-becomes-worlds-most-translated-book-excluding-134906696.html "linked from wikipedia")).

other books i like/love/recommend:

> note: [🔊] indicates the audiobook's worth listening to, too

* the **entire** **`realm of the elderlings`** series by **`robin hobb`**[🔊]
    * start with **[assassin's apprentice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin%27s_Apprentice)**
* almost anything by **`neil gaiman`**[🔊 if read by the author]
    * **`coraline`**, **`neverwhere`**, **`american gods`**, the **`sandman`** comics are all good starting points
* `the kingkiller chronicles` by `patrick rothfuss`
    * (at the time of this writing only the first two books of the trilogy are published but they are excellent)
    * [🔊] although the reader mispronounces the name **basil** in the first book (`the name of the wind`), he corrects this error in the second book (thankfully)
* pretty much any `sherlock holmes` mysteries by `sir arthur conan doyle`
* `the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy` series by `douglas adams`[🔊]
* `the expanse` series by `james s. a. corey`
    * (not finished but released consistently on schedule)
    * [🔊] make sure narrator is `jefferson mays` for main series books
    * the first book is called `leviathon wakes`.
* `the first law` trilogy by `joe abercrombie`
    * [🔊] highly recommend reading by `steven pacey`
    * the first book is `the blade itself`.
* `to say nothing of the dog` by `connie willis`[🔊]

well that list seems long enough (and disproportionately represents how much
reading *v* listening of books i've done 草) and so does this blog post. so i
guess this is going to be yet another multi-parter. better add a **part 1** to
the titles of the post.

***stay tasty, mates! o/***