Wikipedia entry on the Japanese addressing system
"Street names are seldom used in postal addresses... and most Japanese streets do not have names." #link
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Date: February 2011
"Street names are seldom used in postal addresses... and most Japanese streets do not have names." #link
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For keeping track of upcoming cinema and disc/download releases. US-centric, but that shouldn't matter too much. #link
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Tokyo Story is pretty fantastic, far better than Kane. See also: The AV Club's best films of the '00s. #link
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I'm surprised this is up for deletion, as its utility is pretty self-evident to me. See also: Kitchen Myths and The Baseball Myth. #link
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There's something off about that headline, but there's a good selection of long-form writing here. #link
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Jim Rossignol's book on gaming culture available in full online. Shame it's not downloadable as an e-book. #link
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Understanding games as stories and systems, the latter with limitations that must be respected by the former. Or something like that. Lots to think about. See also: Emmet's frustrations with conventions in game design. #link
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"It's a hard job, but someone's gotta do it. #link
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Just for the lulz, like. #link
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The rest of 2005, condensed into hyperlink form:
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Best of the web right here. Just read it. #link
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Interesting looking print-and-play strategy board game, based on Nintendo's Advance Wars. #link
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Interview with the Day Today/Brass Eye mastermind. I haven't yet seen Four Lions, so this will serve as a reminder. #link
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Words aren't required for this one. #link
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With hex codes! I heart this [c/o Kottke]. #link
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Upload and image and get an appropriate colour palette. Neat. #link
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Weirdly, 2005’s ratio of dead links was much higher than the previous two years. But with a bigger overall volume of links, I salvaged enough to make up two posts. Here’s the first:
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Fed up with the Wii Balance Board‘s fluctuating readings – and the time spent getting through the menus in Wii Fit – I’ve bought a proper doctor’s weighing scales so I can keep better track of what I’m losing (or not, as the case may be). After a few days, I seem to be a kilo heavier on the scales than what the Wii tells me; I’m more apt to trust the scales.
What else this week? To town on Saturday night to see Wire at The Academy 2, which is one of the shittier venues in Dublin. It’s basically a wine cellar with a dancefloor surrounded by iron columns and a stage that’s barely six inches off the ground, so there’s no hope for me when the tall motherfuckers push up to the front. We can do better than this.
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Big furore over this; I can't recall it ever being done before. But it's no surprise that the Mail are behind the stunt. I mean, there's mockery at your competitors' misfortunes, and then there's a direct attempt to mislead consumers. Gutter journalism at its worst. #link
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Haven't yet opened my own copy of the Panorama. Yet no matter how good it is as a product in and of itself, if it's a prototype for what a daily newspaper should be it was ill-conceived from the start: there is simply no way that amount of effort, that amount of variety, can go into a daily publication. It's a pipe dream. Now as a weekend paper, that's a different matter. #link
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The big problem here is that it's never been easier for web novices to learn about the web, but their patience has dwindled by the same degree. It's the same reason why people don't read manuals. #link
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The editor of the Guardian style guide writes in praise of subeditors: "Given the indispensable contribution that they make, it seems perverse that the role of subs has been questioned, albeit mainly from those more interested in the cost of everything than the value of anything." #link
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So many samples! Never know when you're gonna need something like this. #link
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"UpStart is a non-profit arts collective which aims to put creativity at the centre of public consciousness during the Irish General Election Campaign in 2011. We plan to do this by reinterpreting the spaces commonly used for displaying election campaign posters in Dublin City." Best thing to come out of this whole ridiculous situation. The poems are my favourites; better than any bullshit election manifesto. (By the way, if anyone starts a Flickr gallery of these posters, please do let me know.) #link
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Completely forgot about this when I was in New York last year; seems like I traced some of his steps. Another time! #link
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It's been a year since he died; too few have learned his lessons. #link
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Saved here for future reference. #link
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Bit of a genre mash-up here, as none of the bands really sounds like the others, but still a decent introduction to underground and experimental rock in Japan. #link
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"Our most powerful 21st-century technologies -- robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech -- are threatening to make humans an endangered species." I've already Instapaper'd this to read on my Kindle. #link
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On the resurgence of cassette-only labels. My take on it is that it's definitely genre-based -- it's all drone and noise artists, really -- and it's become a bit of a hipster thing for many, no longer just an aesthetic choice. Anyway. See also: 101 Cassette Labels and Expressway's Guide To The Cassette Underground. #link
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If there's one thing the US media has over the press on this side of the pond, it's this: fabricated stories end careers in the States, but seem to make them over here. #link
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"It’s about experience and advice based education and information -- telling people who want to get into various sectors of journalism the truth of the business, giving practical advice, encouragement and tips." Site seems to be a bit fallow at the moment, but I'm still looking forward to those podcasts. #link
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"Maybe Sonic Youth's signing to a major in 1990 -- spurred by pragmatism, bad histories with dodgy indies, and just the right amount of youthful/artistic naivete -- laid some of the foundations toward helping us be okay with the right kind of corporate assistance 20 years later." Yeah, but. Sonic Youth were a special case. And where are they know? Signed to an indie (Matador). Still, some good thought food here. #link
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"Who would have expected all this to grow from a single street vendor who refused to pay bribes?" See also: follow rolling updates on the revolt in Egypt at Storyful. #link
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More links from the archives, this time 2004:
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Good stuff here. And if I might add to the reading list for statistical literacy: Ben Goldacre's Bad Science column. #link
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It's about one episode, but it also explains why the show as a whole is so damn good. #link
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I still need to read the Max Brooks books; I feel like I've missed out on the whole zombie zeitgeist. #link
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