@samuelwa.de
Vancouver-based editor at @chinadigitaltimes.net, a Berkeley-based nonprofit publishing news and translation about human rights and censorship in China.
Knows changes aren't permanent, but change is. Will stand on the ocean until I start sinking.
Knows changes aren't permanent, but change is. Will stand on the ocean until I start sinking.
Pinned
samuelwa.de
@samuelwa.de
· 23d
Translation: Farewell to a Deleted WeChat Account, "Du Fu of Huanhua Creek"
"Pointing out society’s problems isn’t 'negative energy'—it comes from hoping society can improve. Today’s 'negative energy' is tomorrow’s positive energy."
"Pointing out society’s problems isn’t 'negative energy'—it comes from hoping society can improve. Today’s 'negative energy' is tomorrow’s positive energy."
Translation: Farewell to a Deleted WeChat Account, "Du Fu of Huanhua Creek"
Late last month, WeChat moderators’ axe fell on "Du Fu of Huanhua Creek," apparently prompted by a post questioning online comments about Sino-Japanese tensions. On their other account, "History Rhyme...
chinadigitaltimes.net
"Du Fu wrote 'The state broken, its mountains and rivers remain,' and 'Crimson gates reek with meat and ale, while on the streets are bones of the frozen dead.' Certain people would have called this 'negative energy.' But a thousand years on, it's positive energy that schoolchildren learn by heart."
I will not argue about temperature units on Christmas Eve.
I will not argue about temperature units on Christmas Eve.
I will not argue about temperature units on Christmas Eve.
I will not argue about temperature units on Christmas Eve.
I will not argue about temperature units on Christmas Eve.
I w
I will not argue about temperature units on Christmas Eve.
I will not argue about temperature units on Christmas Eve.
I will not argue about temperature units on Christmas Eve.
I will not argue about temperature units on Christmas Eve.
I w
December 25, 2025 at 1:33 AM
I will not argue about temperature units on Christmas Eve.
I will not argue about temperature units on Christmas Eve.
I will not argue about temperature units on Christmas Eve.
I will not argue about temperature units on Christmas Eve.
I will not argue about temperature units on Christmas Eve.
I w
I will not argue about temperature units on Christmas Eve.
I will not argue about temperature units on Christmas Eve.
I will not argue about temperature units on Christmas Eve.
I will not argue about temperature units on Christmas Eve.
I w
Happy Gruberfall, everyone
December 25, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Happy Gruberfall, everyone
Reposted
CDT 2025 Year-End Roundup: Quotes of the Year (Part One)
"While 'Quotes of the Day' may just seem like playful banter, they’re actually a form of linguistic guerrilla warfare from a population under intense pressure."
"While 'Quotes of the Day' may just seem like playful banter, they’re actually a form of linguistic guerrilla warfare from a population under intense pressure."
CDT 2025 Year-End Roundup: Quotes of the Year (Part One)
As 2025 draws to a close, CDT editors are compiling a series of the most notable content (Chinese) from across the Chinese internet over the past year. Topics include this year’s most outstanding quot...
chinadigitaltimes.net
December 24, 2025 at 11:53 PM
CDT 2025 Year-End Roundup: Quotes of the Year (Part One)
"While 'Quotes of the Day' may just seem like playful banter, they’re actually a form of linguistic guerrilla warfare from a population under intense pressure."
"While 'Quotes of the Day' may just seem like playful banter, they’re actually a form of linguistic guerrilla warfare from a population under intense pressure."
Yes, important to be aware of this. It’s a psyop designed to a) exaggerate their technological capabilities—because of course they can’t really track him at all—and b) conceal the fact that they actually shot him down accidentally in 1983.
If you don't know about the NORAD SantaTracker, you should.
www.noradsanta.org/en/map
Merry Christmas Eve.
www.noradsanta.org/en/map
Merry Christmas Eve.
Official NORAD Tracks Santa
www.noradsanta.org
December 24, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Yes, important to be aware of this. It’s a psyop designed to a) exaggerate their technological capabilities—because of course they can’t really track him at all—and b) conceal the fact that they actually shot him down accidentally in 1983.
I just showed Daughter the trailer for Muppet Treasure Island (she’s in a big Tim Curry phase), and when Kermit showed up, she asked, “is that George Washington?”
December 24, 2025 at 6:38 PM
I just showed Daughter the trailer for Muppet Treasure Island (she’s in a big Tim Curry phase), and when Kermit showed up, she asked, “is that George Washington?”
Reposted
"One company, Rocket Money, is capitalising by selling an app that helps cancel subscriptions. It too charges a monthly fee."
Subscription overload is exhausting Americans
The battle for Warner Bros could be the last straw for cash-strapped viewers
www.ft.com
December 24, 2025 at 6:29 PM
"One company, Rocket Money, is capitalising by selling an app that helps cancel subscriptions. It too charges a monthly fee."
Reposted
Searched back through Blue Sky for this.
Which is one of the best things I saw all year in any medium.
Which is one of the best things I saw all year in any medium.
This is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed, the craft here is impeccable.
December 24, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Searched back through Blue Sky for this.
Which is one of the best things I saw all year in any medium.
Which is one of the best things I saw all year in any medium.
Reposted
“CCTV News sets aside five minutes a day to scold her. This has been going on for a month, so she must be utterly ashamed by now.”
December 24, 2025 at 8:11 AM
“CCTV News sets aside five minutes a day to scold her. This has been going on for a month, so she must be utterly ashamed by now.”
This is the deep-future descendants of domestic cats beaming them back through time as revenge for the long-begrudged laser pointer humiliations.
#apod 2025-12-24
Mystery: Little Red Dots in the Early Universe
Web page: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251224.html
Mystery: Little Red Dots in the Early Universe
Web page: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251224.html
December 24, 2025 at 6:40 AM
This is the deep-future descendants of domestic cats beaming them back through time as revenge for the long-begrudged laser pointer humiliations.
Reposted
As the most seasoned Canada watchers have always said: the American mind thinks in quarters; the Canadian mind thinks in winters
December 24, 2025 at 5:52 AM
As the most seasoned Canada watchers have always said: the American mind thinks in quarters; the Canadian mind thinks in winters
Honestly, they’re all pretty bad. It’s hard to single out one or two.
Time to start a bluesky Christmas fight: Most over-rated and under-rated cuisine?
For me:
Over-rated: French
Under-rated (globally): Mexican
Under-rated (US specifically): Indonesian
For me:
Over-rated: French
Under-rated (globally): Mexican
Under-rated (US specifically): Indonesian
December 24, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Honestly, they’re all pretty bad. It’s hard to single out one or two.
The opening sequence from Trading Places is a poem on its own.
December 24, 2025 at 12:42 AM
The opening sequence from Trading Places is a poem on its own.
Wait, is this film why they’re all terrified of DEI?
watching my favorite christmas movie and what is possibly the great american comedy about class and race
December 24, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Wait, is this film why they’re all terrified of DEI?
I did not know this, and do not know how to process it
it is crazy to think that eddie murphy was only about 21 when he filmed this movie. just a remarkable amount of skill and talent and he is still a half decade away from his peak.
December 24, 2025 at 12:36 AM
I did not know this, and do not know how to process it
It’s a testament to his performance (and accent) that his character comes across at all sympathetically.
mvp of this movie imo is denholm elliott. every single face he makes and line he delivers is hilarious
December 24, 2025 at 12:29 AM
It’s a testament to his performance (and accent) that his character comes across at all sympathetically.
See, @alexludoboyd.bsky.social, it’s not just me.
watching my favorite christmas movie and what is possibly the great american comedy about class and race
December 24, 2025 at 12:22 AM
See, @alexludoboyd.bsky.social, it’s not just me.
Not many people are willing to stand up for her on here, but I will say this: Bari Weiss saved my life. And if Bari Weiss saved your life, or got you back with your ex-wife, sing Bari Weiss.
The Bari Weiss hysteria continues. Exactly what in "this piece isn't ready" and "try harder to get comment from the administration" constitutes the death of American journalism? www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
What Bari Weiss Got Right
And what she got wrong
www.theatlantic.com
December 23, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Not many people are willing to stand up for her on here, but I will say this: Bari Weiss saved my life. And if Bari Weiss saved your life, or got you back with your ex-wife, sing Bari Weiss.
She thinks it takes effort?
I take back all my criticisms, this is an incredible article solely for this single sentence
December 23, 2025 at 10:54 PM
She thinks it takes effort?
Gosh, I wonder if any other factors are involved in imbalanced dating standards there? #seriouscountry
December 23, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Gosh, I wonder if any other factors are involved in imbalanced dating standards there? #seriouscountry
If you controlled *this*, you could probably … hmmm
Allspice is a single spice?! “Allspice is the dried fruit of the Pimenta dioica plant.” [en.wikipedia.org]
Allspice
Allspice, also known as Jamaica pepper, myrtle pepper, pimenta, or pimento, is the dried unripe berry of Pimenta dioica, a midcanopy tree native to the Greater Antilles, southern Mexico, and Central America, now cultivated in many warm parts of the world. The name allspice was coined as early as 162
en.wikipedia.org
December 23, 2025 at 9:51 PM
If you controlled *this*, you could probably … hmmm
Elementary school history lessons probably shouldn’t be an entirely unexpected source of wisdom, but I think the Peasants’ Revolt line “When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?” sank in perhaps a little deeper than *they* expected.
what's a bit of wisdom from a place you wouldn't expect that's stuck with you? I think of a line from a Crazy Ex-Girlfriend song,
"People aren't characters. They're complicated
And their choices don't always make sense" all the time.
"People aren't characters. They're complicated
And their choices don't always make sense" all the time.
December 23, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Elementary school history lessons probably shouldn’t be an entirely unexpected source of wisdom, but I think the Peasants’ Revolt line “When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?” sank in perhaps a little deeper than *they* expected.
I was literally just wondering how I was going to purge a virulent smooth-jazz Kashmir earworm, and this pops up. All things are connected, man. We are all One.
If Stayin’ Alive Had Been Written in 16th Century. A quartet sings the Bee Gees tune as a madrigal. “A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance…” [kottke.org]
If Stayin’ Alive Had Been Written in 16th Century
Watch Jonas Wolf and three friends sing a choral arrangement of the Bee Gee’s Stayin’ Alive in the style of a madrigal. Just in case (like the me of 1 minute ago) you don’t know what that is (although you will recogniz
kottke.org
December 23, 2025 at 7:04 PM
I was literally just wondering how I was going to purge a virulent smooth-jazz Kashmir earworm, and this pops up. All things are connected, man. We are all One.
Reposted
Always love getting mail from @skeuomorphpress.org and @ryancordell.org !
December 23, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Always love getting mail from @skeuomorphpress.org and @ryancordell.org !
Reposted
Today is a good day to pick up Micah's book. If you don't already have these skills, let me tell you they are going to be very useful in the near future.
Here's a good book on the skills I think will be useful to journalists and citizen-researchers of the future, written by my colleague @micahflee.com
December 23, 2025 at 4:48 AM
Today is a good day to pick up Micah's book. If you don't already have these skills, let me tell you they are going to be very useful in the near future.