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If you like design and thinking about design, User Friendly by Cliff Kuang is a home run of a book. Just fantastic. You could follow its threads to study further, for a year. 📚

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Interestingly heard via two completely separate conversations, D2’s husband and her best friend both are programming in python now in their careers; the former for data science, the latter for the back end of web sites. All that python setup nonsense gives me a rash, though. 🐍

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TeamLab Planets in Toyosu was Fantastic

Visited TeamLab Planets in Toyosu, and the whole fam loved it. It’s an interactive art and multimedia installation that you walk through and experience. Hanging orchids move away from you as you move in their space; mirrors and lights make it feel like you’re in space; video fish swim near you as you wade in water (it’s programmed and apparently random, not just running on a loop); large translucent rubber balls react to you as you push your way through them.

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A few years back I took IDEO’s “Insights for Innovation” 5-week course, and just reviewed the assignment submissions. I did manage to implement what I wanted to, at eSolia, and think this course was worth it. 😄

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Renewed my Japan drivers license at the Futamatagawa center. A pretty efficient process for the most part, though I feel a little traumatized after having watched their safety video which contained several actual scenes of cars hitting bicycles! Be safe out there, people. 🚙

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Apple’s Image Playground (that I just got access to) would not make a fire-breathing Shiba for me, but it did set a Shiba’s tail on fire. 😜

A digital illustration features a Shiba Inu dog surrounded by humorous, fire-related captions on a screen interface with various creative icon suggestions at the bottom.
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At Unitora in Senkyaku-Banrai (Toyosu, Shijomae), before we go to TeamLab Planets. It was sooo good. 🍣

A dish featuring slices of raw fish and uni is served with cups of green tea, soy sauce, and a glass of beer on a table.
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For my birthday (59! what?!) I got this Kanazawa-ya U-shaped pillow with wool stuffing. Ordered during their New Year sale, it came with a nice case (expected) and extra stuffing and a handkerchief to boot (a bonus!). It’s great! 😴 #金澤屋

A Kanazawa-ya pillow, a package containing a pillow-case, and a sealed bag of white wool stuffing material are laid out on a cushioned surface.
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Congrats to Aoyama Gakuin for their incredible run of the Hakone Ekiden in 10:40:20, a new record. 2nd Komazawa 2:50 back, 3rd Kokugakuin 9:29 back, edging Waseda! 🏃🏼‍♂️

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Japan Shrine Donation Amounts

Do you know how much money to give when you pray at a shrine in Japan? Read on to find out the standard good-luck and bad-luck amounts! ⛩️ Visiting a shrine on the first days of the year is the 初詣 “hatsumode” tradition in Japan, but how much money should you toss in the coin box? The amounts (お賽銭 osaisen) you should and should not donate are steeped in goroawase word-play, where Yen or 円 “en” as we say, is used as a homophone for “縁” / “en” or fortune.

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Happy New Year one and all. Hope it’s a good one for you! In Japan, we have osechi like in these photos. 🎍🇯🇵

A beautifully arranged multi-tiered Japanese osechi meal with various traditional New Year foods is displayed on a table.A Japanese new year’s “osechi” meal is elegantly presented, featuring a variety of dishes including soup, sushi, tempura, and assorted side items on a textured placemat.

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Got a Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, but unfortunately it’s not possible to transfer old Kindle book purchases I made a long time ago in the US, to my main Japan-based Amazon account. The Paperwhite e-ink tech is fantastic, but it’s annoying to have to pay twice. 😤

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Been doing the “big tidy” for the past couple of weekends. Today was about changing the sink filter, cleaning the range hood, sprinkling weed killer, and lubing up the rollers and hinges in the house. 🏡🧹

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I read this a while back, and it is worth a re-read: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson 📚

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I found out I have a library card I can use with Libby, so I took advantage and checked out Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto. Kudos to translator Megan Backus, who managed to evoke the right emotions. 📚

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If you need a logo designed, consider asking Lucie Baratte, founder of Logology. They have a catalog of ready-made logos, and can design custom ones as well. We love what they did for eSolia’s 25th anniversary refresh! 🥰

The image showcases logo concepts and color palette options for "eSolia," featuring different variations and color codes.
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I like the Monokai Pro VS Code theme enough to have paid for it, and my eyes are thanking me. Good stuff from Wimer Hazenberg, and you can read about its interesting history here! 👨🏼‍💻

A code editor window displays JavaScript code using the Monokai Pro theme for VS Code, with a file explorer sidebar against a scenic landscape background.
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I for one am just glad I could find that one uuid I had forgot about, containing ‘beefcade’. 😂

A webpage titled "Every UUID Dot Com" displays a list of UUIDs with one containing beefcade highlighted and some navigation elements.
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If you code in JavaScript like so many devs do, join me in signing Ryan Dahl’s open letter to Oracle, to relinquish the JavaScript trademark. Please read and sign (with GitHub) here. 🧐📝

A webpage displays a message about a trademark issue with a list of names and icons showing supporters.
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Rawr? Not so sure about the Mozilla rebrand since the Moz://a is so very iconic and the new font (however advanced) just looks like a slab serif? See what it will look like on the JKR landing page for the redesign. 🦖