Author Archives: Silver Arrows

Don’t Dig Your Garden!

Something I've been reading about recently is no-dig gardening. So you've probably been told by every book, TV show, grandparent or gardener that digging is absolutely essential for gardening. But this is not true! Digging actually damages the soil. Have a look at these links:

Having healthy plants is more about having healthy soil. Look after the soil, and the plants will look after themselves.

Don't believe me? Who's digging up the forest soil for all that growth?

nodig-forest
Photo by aisvri on Unsplash

Speaking of which, I finally got round to green manuring a patch of the garden. I didn't have much luck with winter rye last time round, so this time I tried field beans. I had a germination rate of 100%, plus I got a decent amount of growth from November to February. I had a vague memory of reading an article saying to cut the plants down, then cover with cardboard (even though every other article I've seen does the digging spiel). So that's what I've done. It will take about a month to decompose, and we'll see how the soil is after. But yes, cut and drop. Leave the roots buried, and let the foliage sit on the soil. The worms will do all the work.

I didn't plant them densely enough, plus I should have planted them earlier. So next year I'm hoping I can do the whole border, starting early October and I'll plant them way more densely. Oh another problem I had was the blasted squirrel kept digging them up. For why, I have no idea. Probably just to annoy me. Blessed squirrel also broke my squirrel-proof feeder. Damn you, écu, damn you.

How Many Things am I Allergic to?

After over four years of waiting, I finally got hold of some eggs from Stepney Farm! I gave up eggs shortly after giving up dairy, because I love baby chicks and knowing that every time I ate an egg, a baby chick was going to be killed was enough to make me stop. Stepney Farm takes in rescue hens, and they have cockerels too. I've visited a few times, and they are open six days a week, so anyone can go and see how they treat their animals. I'm satisfied they are taking good care of their chickens, and they spread awareness about the cruelty that's still legal in the EU.

I was planning on using some of their eggs to make a vanilla cake, because, let's face it, vegan vanilla cakes suck. Instead I ended up having egg and chips for three days.

And I really wish I didn't.

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Random Thought No.682: The Word “Name”

Isn't it strange how the word "name" is so similar in many languages?

All the languages I've studied to a greater or lesser extent:

  • English: NAME
  • French: NOM
  • Portuguese: NOME
  • Irish: AINM
  • Italian: NOME
  • Gujarati: NAAM
  • Japanese: NAMAE
  • Finnish: NIMENI

I mean, Japanese and Finnish aren't even related to any of the other languages on this list (nor to each other, of course). But you still have the pattern of an N sound followed by an M sound.

These are what I looked up on bing translate:

  • Spanish: NOMBRE
  • Swedish: NAMN
  • Romanian: NUME
  • Indonesian: NAMA
  • Greek: Όνομα (onoma?)
  • German: NAMEN

Of course, while looking these up, I found quite a few that didn't follow the pattern. Even so, I've always found this pattern to be very interesting! Are there any other words you know that are similar across multiple, even unconnected, languages?

Page 30 — Swimming in the Sea

Translation note: the characters use the English phrase "new music", so the bit when Pearl says "'new' means 'NEW'", she's saying atarashii, the Japanese word for "new", for the second "new".

p30-lake

Episode 12 — August 2005 issue

Takumi Snippet

Takumi Shuu (??)
Ace Attorney's director and scriptwriter. It's rumoured his fuel is alcohol.
Status: ...The song that goes, "I want to set sail on a ship over the sea to another land" can, these days, elicit tears of agreement.

hamidashi Letters Corner

• Last month's issue was fun and hilarious and really good. "Polypropylene" really hit the mark. When Maya said, "It's cute," it seemed that girl had good sense, thank goodness. Takumi-san, despite your difficulties with the game, thank you so much. Suekane-san, your illustrations are always enjoyable, too. (Kazutotoro, Hyougo Prefecture)

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Page 38 — Year’s End (Shiwasu)

Cultural notes: If you speak Japanese, you may know that the months are boringly named "month one", "month two", and so on, but the months have traditional names as well. The traditional name for December is Shiwasu. It is written 師走, which uses the characters "priest"/"master" and "run", the meaning of which is often said to be that December is so busy, that even the priests are running about in a hurry. You can read more here.

There is a punny bit, where Maya uses another character for master 士, which also has a reading of shi, but has the meaning more of a person qualified to do a job. For instance, the word for "lawyer", bengoshi, uses the character: 弁護士. In this case, I have written it in uppercase: SHI.
The official name: Shiwasu = 師走
Maya's version: SHIwasu = 士走

I do wonder how she was able to communicate this with just the spoken word. Maybe the pitch accents are different.

In the letters corner, a reference is made to an Akiman illustration in the previous issue. This wasn't included in the book. The only thing I can find matching the description is this image. I don't know if it's the one, but it's tagged Akiman, and features "the two of them", but I really don't know.

p38-yearsend

Episode 16 — December 2005 Issue

Takumi Snippet

Takumi Shuu (??)
Ace Attorney's director and scriptwriter. It's rumoured his fuel is alcohol.
Status: ...Well, this year is almost over, too. How can I put it? Recently, I have an image of just rushing about all year. I wonder if it's the year's fault?

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Page 32 — Typhoon

Translator's Notes: I've updated this (Oct 2021) to fix a really stupid mistake I made the first time, although somehow, I found that version funnier. Anyway, at the end, Maya is referencing katsudon. From Wikipedia: It has become a modern tradition for Japanese students to eat katsudon the night before taking a major test. This is because "katsu" is a homophone of the verb "katsu", meaning "to win" [also the reason for my translation mistake the first time round!]. It is also a trope in Japanese police films: suspects will speak the truth with tears when they have eaten katsudon and are asked, "Did you ever think about how your mother feels about this?". This explains why Pearl serving him katsudon makes him feel more like a prisoner than before.

p32-typhoon

Episode 13 — September 2005 Issue

Takumi Snippet

Takumi Shuu (??)
Ace Attorney's director and scriptwriter. It's rumoured his fuel is alcohol.
Status: ... The production has somehow reached a stopping point. Things are more laid back. With a feeling of fullness, I properly signed it off. My apologies.

hamidashi Info Corner

I'm going to show you the contents of the deluxe limited edition of the DS release of Gyakuten Saiban — The Resurrected Turnabout.

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Page 28 — New Wardrobe

BEHOLD: The first glimpse of Phoenix's bedroom!

p28-newwardrobe

Episode 11 — July 2005 Issue

Takumi Snippet

Takumi Shuu (??)
Ace Attorney's director and scriptwriter. It's rumoured his fuel is alcohol.
Status: ... It's like playing a clarinet that doesn't make the sound of do, re, mi, fa, uh, so la, ti. So every day is a pakkyamarao day.

hamidashi Letters Corner

• For perks for pre-ordering "Rise from the Ashes", a soundtrack CD or files about creating the game would be nice. (Uehara, Saitama Prefecture)

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Page 8 — Summer

Translator's note: Maya's favourite food in the Japanese release is miso ramen. Takushuu is Shuu Takumi, the series' director.

p08-summer

[Picture text. I think the lines are Phoenix, Edgey, Phoenix, Maya. But I'm not sure. The little writing by Maya's head says "Why?"]
Phoenix: If you're just here to loiter, go home.
Edgeworth: Hm, but I'm thirsty...
Phoenix: This isn't a tea room, you know. Maya, don't you be serving tea, either!
Maya: Nick's stinginess...

Episode 1 — September 2004 Issue

Takushuu Column — Ace Attorney and Summer

Nice to meet you! I'm the Ace Attorney team's Shuu Takumi. For the three games in the series, I'm responsible for planning, supervising and scriptwriting.

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Page 26 — Golden Week

Translator's note: Completely re-translated October 2021. The last version was so full of mistakes, I had to redo the whole thing. There are still a couple of bits I'm not sure about. Golden Week is a week-long holiday in Japan.

p26-goldenweek

Episode 10 — June 2005 Issue

Takumi Snippet

Takumi Shuu (??)
Ace Attorney's director and scriptwriter. It's rumoured his fuel is alcohol.
Status: ...If it's the case that "time is money", I want to buy some time with money! I think about this while I'm working. I want more time...

hamidashi Letters Corner

Last month's issue brought forth several reactions. With attention turning to the launch of "Rise from the Ashes", expectations were getting higher and higher!

• Phoenix, Maya and Edgeworth were in perfect harmony (?) [sic] when Payne interrupted them in the middle of their conversation. Despite suddenly seeing this ordinary middle-aged man, it was my turn to discover Payne-san's charm. Takumi-san, please do your best to take care of your health. (Kazutotoro, Hyougo Prefecture)

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Page 24 — First-Years and Rookies

Notes: In the Japanese version, Payne's name is Auchi, which is a play on "Ouch", hence Payne/pain. The puns at the end are "Couch" and "Pouch". Maya's bean comment is referring to the bean throwing festival.

I think I've solved a little of the confusion I was having. I think Edgey's just been looking back through historic cases, and telling them how everything seemed to be disastrous back then, and then the 15 year old case comes up as an example. I think.

p24-rookies

Episode 9 — May 2005 Issue

Takumi Snippet

Takumi Shuu (??)
Ace Attorney's director and scriptwriter. It's rumoured his fuel is alcohol.
Status: Recently, I had the chance to follow a certain mystery author's diet. As for the enjoyment of the mystery, my true feelings ended up going beyond words.

hamidashi Letters Corner

• I'm crazy about Suekane-san's wonderful illustrations! (Saika, Tokyo Metropolis)
~ She also drew this issue's cover for us! It's the appearance of the new character, Akane [Ema]!

• It's so funny! I think "Larry-kun" is a really great character. (nas, Mie Prefecture)
~ The story is calmer this issue, but for March and April's issues, things were really crazy! I wonder what will be in the new episode?

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Rob Blanc! ROB BLANC! And Childhood Gaming Nostalgia

I downloaded the Rob Blanc games and some others by Yahtzee a year or two ago, but alas, modern technology and all that. And while I do still have a Windoze 98 box, it's a lot of trouble to get out, so these games have been gathering metaphorical dust on my D drive, until I was like, oh yeah! DOS Box! Duhhhhh.

rob blanc

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Photobucket Disables Hotlinking

Just noticed my Photobucket images have been replaced with a ransomware! Okay, well an extortion to pay up if I want to see my images on this blog and my storybooks again.

My response to you, Photobucket: Arkell vs Pressdram.

Rather than watching the money come rolling in, Photobucket is going to see its users leave in droves! Nice one, PB! Are you taking lessons from EA?

More info:

Update

Looks like someone got a clue. Photobucket has a new CEO, who is making an effort to fix things:

https://your.photobucket.com/lp-101618/link dead
Photobucket Introduces New Management Team and Pricing Plan
Photobucket still has your photos, and it wants you to come back

So our images are no longer ransomwared, but we have to put up with a massive (despite what they say) watermark. I can live with that, I guess. At least it's a step in the right direction. I mean $400 a year, as if!

Update 2021

I'm getting emails most days telling me my account is above the limit, as it seems you can only host 250 images now without paying. I don't use Photobucket for anything other than my Sims stories and some of my Dreamsong pics, so no thanks, but there are several hundred photos on there (my stories were long!). Let it die. There are better alternatives out there.

Lenovo Tab3 7 Review

No, I'm not reviewing the same product twice. My last review was for the Tab3 7 Essential, which had major battery problems. I purchased that one from Argos, who kept me waiting almost 6 weeks, until I got fed up and went in person to ask what was going on, only to be told that there had been "complications" in getting it to the repair service, which my sister said was code for "one of the staff nicked it". Well good luck to whoever did, if that is the case. May the tablet die on you at the most inconvenient times.

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Learning to Let Go

A Short Story


It was a little over two years ago that I returned to my home town after many years' absence. Walking down my old street, I stopped outside my childhood home, noticing the For Sale sign.

On the outside, at least, it was mostly the same. Money had been tight when we lived there, and the paintwork wanted redoing, the pebble-dash had chipped off, exposing the brickwork. Now, the new owners had restored the old Victorian terrace to its former glory, no longer the shame of the street.

I gazed up at all three floors, remembering. I felt a longing, a pining, to spend a few minutes in my place, to experience a small taste of my former happiness, to feel, just for a moment, that simple childhood innocence.

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