The other day in Otemachi of all places, I saw a group of 3 or 4 teen boys carving up a parking garage entrance on skateboards. It was jarring to see that in that area. 🛹
With the release of Apple iOS 17.3 comes “stolen device protection” (盗難デバイスの保護), in Settings, Face/TouchID & Passcode. Tap “Turn on Protection” to require biometrics with no passcode fallback, if your iPhone is outside familiar locations. Slick! 🙅♂️😈
Kindergarten teachers and their charges at a street crossing. Must be stressful! 📷🎌
FIDO2 security keys for M365 MFA have been working at my firm eSolia for over a year. Enabling an Entra conditional access policy to require “phishing resistant MFA” for admins (aka FIDO2 keys!), caused an endless loop of pain.
Jan 5 or 6 is 小寒 (shokan “a little cold”) which marks when the sun is at 285 degrees. Now is a good time to start bundling up. ❄️
If you’re living in or visiting Japan, here are some useful resources we compiled regarding disaster readiness. Stay safe and help those around you if you can. 🎌🚒
Happy New Year greetings to one and all, but our thoughts are with those impacted by the large & terrifying Ishikawa quake.
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“Kiji” pheasants have a grating call that I always said sounds like a rusty gate, but I found a more apt comparison: the scraping sound of sliding plastic hangers along a pole. 😬
It’s not a thing where I’m from, but Boxing Day each Dec 26, has an interesting origin of being a day for the more fortunate to give to the less so. There’s also Cricket and big sales. 🎁⛪️
Merry Christmas from Maru the Shiba and his humans. 🎄📷
NYT Connections is a cool game where you pick groups of four words with some connection from easy to hard.
Puzzle #196
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟪🟪🟪🟪
On 12/23 in 1982 Japan NTT designated this day “telephone card day”. My first real job was at a design co that licensed idol and actor photos, selling “tereca” printed with them and some English text, to dept stores. 🎌☎️
Per GEDA, 12/22 1997 (H9) marks when generic medicines were first allowed by MHLW, giving Japan consumers access to cheaper alternatives. Med patents expire in ~20 yrs, after which generics can be made. 🇯🇵💊
Today 21 Dec is the anniversary of the first “word-cross” puzzle, published in the New York World in 1913 (T2) by its editor Arthur Wynn. 📰
Walkers have precedence on the highways and byways of Sumida… 📷🇯🇵
Optimists waiting in the cold to buy their 年末ジャンボー “year end jumbo” lottery ticket. 📷🇯🇵
Red down left 📷
Baron Yoshitoshi Tokugawa (relative of the last Shogun) piloted Japan’s first powered flight 19 Dec 1910 where Yoyogi Park is today. 🇯🇵🪽
Robert Patrick, who played the T-1000 in one of the Terminator films has a good line in the new Reacher season on Amazon Prime. Someone asks about an alias: “Who’s Sarah Conner?” and his character quips, “I don’t give a shit, just keep an eye on that hotel.” 😆
Dec 17 1903, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, was the first 4 manned flights by the Wright Brothers over a short distance. Today you can hang glide it! 🛫📷