w00kie's ramblings

Category: Random

  • Meta-tags proposal for the new DiggBar

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    w00kie
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    Many think the DiggBar is evil. I don’t. I find it ingenious, especially the digg.com pre-pending which will automatically generate a shortened URL for you as well as a “Submit to Digg” button if the page URL has not been submitted yet. However, when you submit a link to Digg by this way, the title…

  • Funny dog toys from Japan

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    w00kie
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    I’m going back home to Paris with the girlfriend for a week after Golden Week so of course the usual shopping lists start dropping in my mailbox. They are mainly filled with tech related stuff and gadgets that are quite a bit cheaper than in France (with a VAT at 20%, it’s hard not to…

  • Skull and Ice

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    w00kie
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    Random shots I took lately while walking around Tokyo on the weekend with my trusty Nikon D60 50mm f/1.4. A skull chariot sculpture in Marunouchi. An abandoned ice-cream stand-sign in Koenji.

  • Why do Japanese octopus wear headbands?

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    w00kie
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    I’ve been wondering about this for a long time: why are たこ always represented wearing 鉢巻? I mean, I understand the mouth, but where does the headband come from? Is it because hachimaki is a symbol of hard workers and the tako with its 8 “arms” must be good at multi-tasking? Photo courtesy of kamoda

  • Lonely Shoe

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    w00kie
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    Coming back from work I found a lonely shoe left in the middle of the sidewalk in front of a pachinko outside my train station. Girls walking by would shout out 「ええっ！気持ち悪い！」

  • Prime Ministers of Japan

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    w00kie
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    Junichiro Koizumi – 小泉 純一郎 – 2001 to 2006 – grandfather was Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Shinzo Abe – 安倍 晋三 – 2006 to 2007 – grandfather was Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda – 福田 康夫 ,– 2007 to 2008 – father was Prime Minister Taro Aso – 麻生 太郎 – soon to be sworn…

  • Otaku rush on the new Fukutoshin

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    w00kie
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    Last Saturday morning I was leaving a party at 5 A.M. in Shibuya and decided it would be nice to come back home to Shiki with the new Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin line which was opening the very day and interfaces with my usual Tobu Tojo line for an almost direct trip to and from Shibuya…

  • Welcome to my crib!

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    w00kie
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    I’m not sure if they have Cribs on MTV Japan, but this guy would have a spot on the show for sure. From left to right: a Maserati Quattroporte, a Lamborghini Gallardo and an unknown Ferrari… More pics here and here.

  • ctype_digit error in WordPress 2.5

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    w00kie
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    I’ve upgraded my blog to WordPress 2.5 last weekend. The new design of the admin backend is great and seeing things evolve like that really motivates me to pour more time into my blog and add some nice little functionalities that I’ve been thinking about lately. But it happens that I came upon an error…

  • PikaPika stop-motion genius

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    w00kie
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    Today, while reading Candyland, Remka’s blog about graphic design in Tokyo (careful, it’s in French), I was introduced to the absolute best stop-motion video I’ve ever seen. It will melt your face with awesomeness: Check out their website for more of the same and even a making-of.

  • Meeting shenanigans

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    w00kie
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    Just a random conversation during one of my team’s daily meetings at work: Colleague: We have a problem with the *censored* server. Boss: Where is that server located? Colleague: It’s in the Intellectual Property room, on the 2nd floor of the Reliability building. Me: Yeah, you know that place? It’s right next to the office…

  • Sand storm

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    w00kie
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    Last Saturday in the early afternoon, we had a huge dust storm all over the 関東 area. It started out as a very nice day, sunny 15°C, I went for grocery shopping in just a light sweater. Then around 2PM, the sky suddenly became dark, great gusts of wind started whistling around the corners of…

  • Omotesando Sunday

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    w00kie
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    Walked around 表参道 yesterday visiting interior design shops, looking for cool lamps. Nice shops to check out: The brand new MoMA store in the Gyre building (from which I took the photo) with lots of funny gadgets. hhstyle just down the road from there with very very nice and very very expensive furniture.

  • MQL baffles me

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    w00kie
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    My job consists of writing functional specifications and generally managing the architecture of a big R&D information system based on a wonderful jack-of-all-trade application called eMatrix from Dassault. I often delve deep into the application with the MQL console (for Matrix Query Language) to dig out some insight into the data we manage. And, more…

  • New year woes

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    w00kie
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    In Japan, the new year is a big thing. Unlike in western countries, it’s a family holiday when all come, eat traditional food (new year soba) and go to the temple for a blessing and good luck in the coming year. It’s also a rare time when all all shops, banks, etc. can close for…