Expanding a ZFS pool in TrueNAS SCALE

Recently, TrueNAS SCALE 24.10 was released and added a long-awaited feature: the ability to expand a ZFS pool. This allows additional disks to be added to an existing pool, increasing its capacity.

This feature is called expand pool in ZFS, but TrueNAS names it as "extend" so that can be a bit confusing. Still, it is the same thing.

According to the documentation, this is the procedure:

1. To do so, go to Storage. Locate the pool and click Manage Devices on the Topology widget to open the Poolname Devices screen.

2. Select the target VDEV and click Extend to open the Extend Vdev window.

3. Select an available disk from the New Disk dropdown menu. Click Extend.
4. A job progress window opens. TrueNAS SCALE returns to the Poolname Devices screen when complete.

This is a really neat feature to have, and I got myself a refurbished HDD (CMR) and added it to my existing ZFS pool. As my existing pool uses SMR drives, things can be really slow... the plan is to slow replace the SMR drives with CMR ones as and when finances allow.

 

To see the actual status of the expansion, the following command can be used in a shell.

zpool status

Or if you want to see a particular pool, for example, a pool called mainpool, use

zpool status mainpool

Meanwhile, after 11.5 days, the expansion of the pool has finally been completed.

Cells at Work! live-action movie

Live-action adaptations of manga and anime can be hits and misses. So when they announced the live-action movie adaptation of Cells at Work!, I was a bit skeptical because this series has quite a bit of a fantastic element to it. But it also features a cast of famous actors and actresses in Japan, so I did my best to finish up work and make time to see the movie.

The story shuttles between the actual persons where the cells are working--Niko, a high school girl played by Ashida Mana living with her widowed father--as well as the cells within Niko and her father. I find the overall flow to be very well done. There is the overarching story of Niko as she goes about her life, with different things happening to her. As something happens, you then see the inner workings of the cells inside her. You get to see the red blood cells transporting oxygen and carbon dioxide from place to play, and the white blood cells fighting off germs. Niko's father shows the "Black" side of this series that is found in Cells at Work! Code Black. There is also an arc about cancer cells.

While the movie features a stellar cast, most of them actually have their faces painted in all kinds of colours (Sato Takeru's face is white because he plays a white blood cells, while it was difficult to figure out who were playing the different germs since their faces were painted in different colours). But the kids playing the blood platelets were just as cute as portrayed in the anime (I have not read the manga).

The movie also managed to make my eyes teary, I really don't know why. Maybe it was the great acting of Ashida Mana.

Another thing to note is that the "black" part of the movie shows what happens when Niko's father consumes alcohol, which shows this "liver cabaret" scene... it could be a bit too, erm, "adult" for younger audiences. And this movie had a younger audience. When I went to see the movie, there were parents who brought along their kids, some as young as kindergarten age while others were in lower grades of elementary school.

I left the theatre feeling quite happy at having watched a nice movie that successfully adapted a mange into live action. It is not often that you see such successes, but the movie was able to capture the key elements of Cells at Work! and skillfully used computer graphics to create some of the more fantastic elements, blending them with real people. I really recommend this movie, which is able to stand on its own even if you have never read the manga or watched the anime.

Lunar occultation of Saturn (December 2024)

There was a lunar occultation of Saturn tonight. This happens when Saturn appears to go behind the moon. Due to the distance between the Earth, moon, and Saturn, and the sizes of the moon and Saturn, such an event is only visible at certain times in certain parts of the world. I happen to be living at a place where it was visible this time. So I took out my camera and tripod to try and take some photos.

 

You can see Saturn just before it goes behind the moon.

 

Saturn almost gone (need to zoom in)

 

Saturn as it starts to reappear from behind the moon.

I was lucky that there were no clouds during this time, but the wind was very strongly resulting in the camera being a bit shaky and the photos turning out a bit blur. In the end, I had to use GIMP to sharpen the images a bit, but it still didn't help make Saturn appear clearer. Sigh.

 

Another lunar occultation that I managed to photograph:

Lunar occultation of Uranus

 

Visiting calligraphy exhibitions

When I went to see my piece exhibited at the 80th Onchikai Shodo Exhibition 第80回温知会書道展 at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (東京都美術館), I saw that there were three other calligraphy exhibitions taking up four halls in total at the same place. So I went to see the works by other calligraphy practitioners from other calligraphy societies as a way of learning and gaining inspiration.

 

The 59th Shoshin Exhibition 第59回書心展 by Nihon Shodo Kenkyukai 日本書道研究会 took up two halls at the museum. What surprised me was that the pieces were really really big, being about 3 metres tall and about 70cm wide.

 

The 24th Lanting Calligraphy Exchange Tokyo Exhibition 第24回蘭亭書法交流東京展 by Nihon Ranteikai 日本蘭亭会 (Japan Lanting Society) took up one hall. This exhibition also includes works by calligraphers from China.

 

The 70th Toyo Calligraphy Art Exhibition 第70回東洋書芸展 by Toyo Calligraphy Art Association 東洋書道芸術学館 took up one hall too. It is interesting as there are also works that use older calligraphy scripts to create something more picture-like.

I took quite a number of photos and hopefully will have time to look through them for better inspiration and learning.

80th Onchikai Shodo Exhibition 第80回温知会書道展

I went to Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (東京都美術館) today to see my calligraphy piece on exhibition at the 80th Onchikai Shodo Exhibition 第80回温知会書道展.

The exhibition took up 2 halls out of the available 12 at the museum, of which 1.5 halls were works by standing members (instructors and above) while half of the remaining hall was used to exhibit winning submissions from general members of the calligraphy society.

A thing I noticed is that there were more works in hansetsu 半切 size this year. This was the size that I used in my submission last year, and it ended up looking kind of small among the other pieces, mostly 2x6 feet and some 2x8 feet. Which was why I decided to use 2x6 feet paper for this year's piece.

 

This is the piece that I submitted this year. 河海不择细流故能就其深

It was nice going to see the works by other calligraphy practitioners, especially since I am still wondering what to write for next year's round of exhibitions. Hopefully, I can decide on what to write soon, since I need quite some time to practise.

Violet Evergarden orchestra concert in Thailand on 17 and 18 January 2025

Following the first Violet Evergarden orchestra concert outside Japan, held in Beijing, China on 8 June 2024, a while ago, it was announced that a similar concert will take place on 18 January 2025 in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand. The concert will be held at Prince Mahidol Hall, the largest concert hall in Thailand and located in Mahidol University.

 

Event link for 18 January 2025

(Source: Violet Evergarden official X account)

Due to the great response, it was announced today that a second session will take place on 17 January 2025 at the same place.

Event link for 17 January 2025

(Source: Violet Evergarden official X account)

Both sessions will feature TRUE, Chihara Minori, and Yuuki Aira. Music will be by Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Thanapol Setabrahmana.

It is so nice to see such orchestra concerts continue to be held overseas. I also hope that they will again hold the concert in Japan, since I really enjoyed the 2021 concert.

My overall thoughts on Violet Evergarden The Movie

Events:

First cast greeting event for Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie: Cast greeting event to thank fans

Production staff event at screening of Violet Evergarden the Movie

Letter of appreciation from Violet Evergarden's author Akatsuki Kana

Post on Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

 

Translations of short stories:

Gilbert Bougainvillea and the Fleeting Dream (unofficial translation of "ギルベルト・ブーゲンビリアと儚い夢")

Violet Evergarden short stories: "Logbook entry" and "Diary entry" (unofficial translation)

The Starry Night and the Lonely Two (unofficial translation of 星降りの夜とさみしいふたり)

Diethard Bougainvillea's If (unofficial translation of ディートフリート・ブーゲンビリアIf) 

The Tailor and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of 仕立て屋と自動手記人形)
 

Tellsis (Nunkish) translation:

Decoding the Violet Evergarden postcard

Translating the message card from Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

Last line of Violet's final letter to Gilbert

My Tellsis language translator in Flutter that runs on Windows, Linux, and Android

My (old) Python script for translating to and from Tellsis language (Nunkish)

 

Insights on the movie:

Was Ekarte Island based on Folegandros?

Touching scenes in Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie is a story about guilt

Article about story consistency/inconsistency in Violet Evergarden the Movie

 

Audio commentary notes:

Production staff

Voice actors

Music staff

Violet Evergarden TV anime series

 

All posts related to Violet Evergarden.

Initial D vs MF Ghost

Initial D and MF Ghost are both manga series by the same author, Shigeno Shuichi, and adapted into anime. I became interested in Initial D after watching the first season of MF Ghost (which is in its second season now; the manga series is also on-going). I haven't read the manga for either of them, so my thought are limited to the impression I have from the anime adaptations.

I found Initial D to be more gripping than MF Ghost. Both adaptations feature races and spend a considerable amount of time on them. However, the races in MF Ghost did not feel as exciting to me, compared to those in Initial D. Both of them feature cars drifting and overtaking and speeding away, so what sets them apart?

I think it could be that Initial D focused heavily on a single character, Fujiwara Takumi. While Takahashi Keisuke also featured more in the later seasons, it was very clear that Takumi is the main character, the protagonist of this series. While other races were talked about, Takumi's races were always shown. In contrast, MF Ghost's main character/protagonist is Kanata, but the race scenes kept switching between him and other drivers. To me, this kind of diluted the sense of excitement as the pacing keeps being disrupted.

The other reason could be because the races in Initial D are one-on-one, while those in MF Ghost are either time trials (which means you just see a driver speeding along) or 15-driver races, where the protagonist may spend a large amount of time trying to catch up or keep position. The races (at least, the portion shown on screen) in Initial D are always dogfights, but those in MF Ghost end up covering more drivers that kind of dilutes the attention on any single one.

Takumi's races in Initial D are downhill races, and the differences in engine power are not as big compared to the races in MF Ghost, where the courses have both uphill and downhill portions. It is always more exciting to see someone win through skill rather than pure engine power, and in that sense, Initial D shows a lot more of that.

Therefore, I found Initial D to be more gripping, more exciting. Even though its use of computer graphics is kind of dated (especially the earlier seasons), it manages to give a sense of "being there" because the show follows a single driver throughout the race. Meanwhile, I am looking forward to seeing the rest of the anime adaptation of MF Ghost (hopefully, it adapts the entire manga series).

Calligraphy pieces from practice (November 2024)

After my final exhibition submission for the year, I had no idea what to write for next year's round of exhibitions. So I decided to use other people's works as reference for practice, hoping that I can find some inspiration.

 

I usually put my practice pieces under my monthly miscellaneous posts, but this time, there were quite some pieces created from practice, so I decided to put them in a separate post.

 

憑君莫話封候事 一将功成萬骨枯

孤帆遠影碧空尽 唯見長江天際流

賢者不得志於今 必取貴於後

誰家玉笛暗飛聲

停車坐愛楓林晩

杯中山影分秋色

春蚕到死絲方尽 蠟炬成灰涙始乾

羌笛何須怨楊柳 春風不度玉門関

Two versions of 但使龍城飛将在 不教胡馬度陰山

黄河入海流

和気致祥

龍飛鳳舞

Two versions of 行雲流水

秦時明月漢時関 万里長征人未還

 

November 2024 miscellaneous calligraphy pieces

These are some other calligraphy pieces that I wrote in November 2024.
 

夢

 

義

 

天長地久

 

氣 

風林火山

 

Just for fun, 秋月楓雨 (autumn moon, maple rain)

 

Revisiting some pieces from the past

独臂君子神雕伴 白衣淑女侠侣行

 

精锐之师稳天下 湛湛冰心治万民

 

Rubbish generated in two weeks

Generating rubbish in a systematic way

 

I am also saving the rubbish to use as blotting paper, which I will need a lot when I start working on the exhibition pieces for next year.

 
October 2024 miscellaneous calligraphy pieces