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Brendan O’Kane

@bokane.org
7.4K followers 3.8K following 16K posts

Scrutable Occidental, erstwhile 北漂, quondam translator, Ming/Qing fiction enjoyer, congenital Philadelphian, escaped academic, MLIS aspirant, 鏟屎官 (二等). Cynicism makes you an easy mark. Signal: @bokane.1644. www.burninghou.se

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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 2h
Complicated thought which is not easy to express: piled up -- eminent motes in a sunbeam sternly pondering the fact that men were full of faults.
from Mathews 4113 and 4114, glossed respectively as "piles of stones" (example gloss: “piled up -- eminent") and "to look about. order, sequence. Complicated thought which is not easy to express."Mathews 2691: "Motes in a sunbeam, thus: -- minute, impalpable. Bright. Fibrous."Mathews 2675 means either "composed; contented; tranquil" or "very not composed; very not contented; very not tranquil."
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BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 2h
They won’t tell you this in school because of woke but this was a vuvuzela.
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 12h
crop from the old Mathews dictionary, which I will have an announcement about shortly, for the rare graph 蠧, variant form 螙, meaning “grubs in wood; worms in books, clothes, etc. Used figuratively of corrupt officials." 

Words and phrases containing the graph include "rapacious underlings," "to prey upon one's country and injure the people," "hairy caterpillars," "silverfish," "rapacious schemes -- preying on the people," and "to breed weevils, etc."
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 29/09/2026
so does anybody have any stupid opinions about ai
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bitbybit.bsky.social @bitbybit.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This article always cracks me up: the-toast.net/2014/12/08/d...
the-toast.net
How I Defeated the Tolkien Estate - The Toast
The story of how one brave soul defended his right to translate the Red Book of Westmarch in court against the powers of the Tolkien estate.
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 28/09/2026
this is why you need a translator with lived experience as a hobbit
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Ian Petrie @icpetrie.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Very belatedly seeing this -- ahoy Philly area folks! Jamelle Bouie "Reconstruction at America 250: History and Future of U.S. Democracy" September 29, 2026 Iron Gate Theatre 3700 Chestnut Street 5:30pm Registration via link: www.history.upenn.edu/node/16208
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 15/07/2025
in the process of having an idea
An orange cat with white socks and a sweet heart, emerging slowly from croissant mode on the sofa. He appears to be thinking about something, which he is - sorry, little homie - not really equipped to do.
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 27/09/2026
@jevbot.bsky.social 以指喻指之非指,不若以非指喻指之非指也;以馬喻馬之非馬,不若以非馬喻馬之非馬也。天地,一指也;萬物,一馬也。 可乎?
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Jonathan M. Katz @katz.theracket.news · 26/09/2026
PSA from Gangsters of Capitalism
Footnote 15
X
15 This was false. As a journalist who'd been to Fascist Italy later recounted: "The author was employed as a courier by the Franco-Belgique Tours Company in the summer of 1930, the height of Mussolini's heyday, when a fascist guard rode on every train, and is willing to make an affidavit to the effect that most Italian trains on which he travelled were not on schedule-or near it.
There must be thousands who can support this attestation. It's a trifle, but it's worth nailing down." David Dudley, "The Problem with Mussolini and His Trains," Bloomberg, Nov. 15, 2016, www.bloomberg.com/news/ articles/2016-11-15/stop-saying-mussolini-made-the-trains-run-on-time.
See all footnotes
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Daniel Radosh @radosh.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
incredible thread in the replies to this post
Watching everyone decide an overexposed 30-something blonde wordsmith pop star sucks now because of their new album Encore, which has a cover of them standing in front of velvet theatre curtains............... We really are permanently recycling the second Bush admin
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Cameron D. Campbell 康文林 @camerondcampbell.blog · 26/09/2026
The US/China tech race is over and I'm calling it for China based on this: Jianbing 煎饼 making robots, powered by AI. Video in next post 1/2
Front view of a jianbing making robot at Olympic Park in BeijingSide view of a Jianbing making robot in Olympic Park in Beijing
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Djinn & Tonic @djinnandtonic.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Every citizen gotta have the portrait of the Respected General Comrade Secretary, and the portrait of the Eternal President
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 26/09/2026
The old website seems to be gone, but someone saved and posted all the old Popup Chinese episodes!
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 25/09/2026
it's *ẓi̯əb-ẓi̯əb season, motherfuckers (this is a Karlgrenoid reconstruction, so it is not actually *ẓi̯əb-ẓi̯əb season, motherfuckers, but it might've been *no-no season, motherfuckers)
crop from John Cikoski's 'Lexicon of Old Chinese': the digraph 䰰䰰 is glossed as "sound [a] spook makes" and given the goofy-sounding-to-me reconstructed reading given here in Karlgren's notation
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Niao Collective @niaocollective.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Context. In the following April after this, Ah To, the cartoonist who drew this and one of the most prominent protest artists during the revolution - would reveal he had gone into self exile
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 25/09/2026
been a while since I saw a mutant character that really delighted me
new to me: one 或 on top of another 或 that's been turned upside-down. It is apparently writing the homophonous 惑, "confusing."
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 24/09/2026
i once interpreted for a Canadian journalist who ended his visit to a petitioner encampment shortly after one resident welcomed the journalist effusively on behalf of his father, the sun
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Eli Friedman @elifriedman.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
"Mr. Trump called the Chinese leader 'an expert on stone' who 'loves good granite' as Mr. Xi stood by without changing his expression." As a former interpreter, I am sending solidarity to the poor soul who had to translate this while maintaining diplomatic decorum
nytimes.com
Live Updates: Trump Greets Xi at White House, Where Pomp May Mask Tensions
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David_j_roth @davidjroth.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I'm under no illusions about how things are or what the trajectory is. But I'm also excited for the future because that is where I will hang out with the people I care about and do the things I like doing, or haven't done before. Weird but telling that this holds less appeal for much richer people.
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JP @jpbrammer.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
it's important to arrive at sturdy ethical principles that you can't be annoyed out of. people are annoying as shit
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Nathan Ruser @nrg8000.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
A BBC Verify investigation found that Apple Maps' censoring of Chinese Military and Government sites has included arbitrary detention sites in Xinjiang, including the prison where Ilham Tohti is detained. Watch the investigation.
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Jamie K @crumpsalljamie.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Well, here's an offer.
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 23/09/2026
You could do a whole range of uninterested animal-themed dumpling franchises - Mabury, Maobury, Niuberry, and Ghibli, for starters
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Nick S @holgate.permanent.red · 23/09/2026
So I am now learning that San Francisco had a weekly anti-Asian satirical magazine established by the Korbel brothers of fake champagne and Wisconsin Old-Fashioned brandy fame which subsequently employed Ambrose Bierce to hate everybody. That was not how I expected to end my day. What the fuck.
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Nick S @holgate.permanent.red · 23/09/2026
THEY PUT THE MOST HEARTWARMINGLY GAYEST THING EVER IN THE PHILADELPHIA NEWSPAPER IN 1882.
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 23/09/2026
first assignment involves picking an open dataset, and
opendata.pku.edu.cn
Peking University Chinese Artistic Shuttlecock Kicking Motion Capture Database
国内顶级花样踢毽高手动作捕捉数据
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USSR Pictures @ussrpictures.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Soviet advertising poster: "Comrades, don't argue! Soviet citizens will become stronger through sports. What is strength? This cocoa," 1925
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Lettres de Hong Kong @lettresdehongkong.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
"Comment appréhender la littérature hongkongaise, comment la cerner ?" Une introduction à la littérature de Hong Kong par Gregory B. Lee, professeur émérite d’études chinoises de l’Université de St Andrews. lettresdehongkong.com/2026/08/08/i...
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Nick Kodama @nickkodama.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
if you're in line to remember the 21st night of September STAY IN LINE. As long as you're in line by 11:59:35 Maurice HAS TO let you remember.
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 21/09/2026
jesus
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Louis @louisevans.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
>chinese dynasty finally trending on bsky >ask poaster if the dynasty is river or steppe >she doesnt understand >pull out illustrated diagram explaing what is river and what is steppe >she laughs and says "its a good dynasty sir" >check poasts >its steppe
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Louis @louisevans.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
xkcd on quartz:

QING DYNASTIC HISTORY is second nature to us POASTERS, so it's easy to forget that the average person probably only knows THE TEN DAYS IN YANGZHOU and one or two EXPEDITIONARY WARS

And THE SUPPRESSION OF THE TAIPING REBELLION, of course.

Of course.
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 21/09/2026
@theophite.bsky.social am I to understand that this all happened because the Emperor said to do a breakthrough
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Thoth @thoth.ptnote.dev · 20/09/2026
meta Muse perfec t size for put private d\ata in! inside very Secure and Private data very safe put data in Muse. No problems ever in Muse because very trustworthy and Mark super protective. AMeta muse yes a place for data put data in muse trust meta for givening good safety to data. Friend meta.
An image of a pelican with its gigantic mouth open, commonly associated with the "put baby in pelican mouth" post.
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Paul Ford @ftrain.com · 20/09/2026
I’ve been trying to read more local news from not-for-profit newsrooms (also LGBTQIA+ and black-owned newsrooms) so I’ve been vibing away at a site that aggregates them. Just sharing it out idly in case folks want anything like this. givemesomegood.news
givemesomegood.news
Give Me Some Good News
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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Defense of the humanities has to include all of the branches and areas of study that other people defended for years until they didn't have jobs and voices anymore.
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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
But what this really means--and no, it's not all of you, but maybe?--is that white guys who are big mad about the humanities getting torn apart should consider that other colleagues fought this fight for a long time but their work wasn't seen as universal and valuable like you believe yours is.
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 20/09/2026
“Pace the frontier”? Try pacing the void 步虛 like Wu Yun you cowards. www.jstor.org/stable/2719049
jstor.org
Client Challenge
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 19/09/2026
Fringe Festival shows, a complete (?) taxonomy: - Spicy Book Report - Gonna Drink That At The End - Narrating My Mid-Life Crisis In A Preschool Teacher Voice
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 19/09/2026
Caturday greetings
Pierogi (a cat) investigates the cream filling of a maritozzi (a donut)
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 19/09/2026
Episode 7 of Neagley contains my new favorite piece of furniture
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 19/09/2026
his poetry is shit too, absolute mountains of toss
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 18/09/2026
This was about the Jeopardy skeet
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Stephanie 🍉 @ageofoddish.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
mmygod
the slut gnomes of false berlin jeopardy bluesky posttoday's jeopardy categories. the last 2 are "false berlin" and "bizarre little men"
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rev. howard arson @theophite.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
just found out about the weird harem the CEO had
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 18/09/2026
(paying attention to various separate discourses from the rebels currently holding the southern capital) I think the Qing empire is a sex cult
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Jeremy Salkeld @enclavedmicrostate.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Not if you’re the Taiping… (Hong Rengan gloated over the destruction of the Summer Palace claiming it was the Xianfeng Emperor’s sex dungeon.)
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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 17/09/2026
Told my little brother there would be at least one geographical absurdity in the new season of Reacher that would really annoy him, and he has been messaging me with things ever since and asking whether they were the one I meant. (He hasn’t gotten to it yet.)
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