jetfuel's New Writeups

Matsuya (place)

2002-06-30T08:12:59Z

Matsuya is a chain of gyuudon ("beef bowl") restaurants in Japan. A Matsuya shop is easy to spot by its distinctive yellow sign and circular logo.

There are a few key factors that make Matsuya one of my main sources of nutrition:

1. Food: You get a lot of food, and it is tasty. You can go with the standard gyuudon bowl and miso soup, or you can opt for the curry. It's all good. Also, Matsuya offers kimchi, unlike other gyuudon shops. Dumping the kimchi on top of the gyuudon makes for an especially delicious meal. There are also pitchers of water on the table so you don't have to keep asking for more.

2. Price: You can fill up for 290 yen. As of 6/30/2002, that comes to US $2.42. In expensive-as-heck Tokyo, that's a downright miracle.

3. Service: Your order is placed by buying tickets out of a vending machine. This means your order will never get messed up. The folks that work there are friendly, and their "…

Nicknames for Apple products (idea)

2002-06-30T06:37:45Z

Apple has the habit of giving several of its fine products the same name. The result is that each product ends up with several nicknames.

Power Macintosh towers have generally gone by their development code names: Gossamer, Yosemite, Yikes!, Sawtooth, Quicksilver, etc.

The Titanium PowerBook G4 has the almost universally understood nickname, "TiBook". It's cute, it gets the point across, and it produces a nice parallel with the iBook. Before its release, the TiBook was known by its mysterious code name, "Mercury".

There are no less than four products that go by the name, PowerBook G3. These are known by their development code names, as well: Kanga, Wall Street, Lombard, Pismo.

The newer iBook enclosure has been named the iceBook by users, for its frosty clear/white design. Official Apple documents, however, call it the iBook(dual USB), as if the addition of an extra USB port is the primary characteristic that sets these models apart…

FFERP (idea)

2002-06-30T03:49:09Z

Freeform Email Roleplaying. This is a kind of FFRPG, though the existence of FFRPGs was unknown to the creator when FFERP was invented. The idea is to marry creativity and simplicity. Instead of a hefty rulebook, FFERP has a manifesto:

Freeform Email Roleplaying Manifesto, v 1.0.2
William Van Hecke

Priority 1: Fun.
Priority 2: Advancement of the story.
Priority 3: Enhancement of the game.

Guideline 1: Your character develops as you play. Start with a name; the rest will come to you. Anything goes, but be responsible.
Guideline 2: The world develops as you play. Feel free to add to it as you play. Anything goes, but be responsible.
Guideline 3: There are no dice, stats, or inventories. If it makes sense for your character to be able to do something, assume she can. If it's tricky, indicate that she is trying and the DM will rule. If it makes sense that…

Counter-useful interface elements (idea)

2002-06-27T17:29:42Z

Sometimes the tools we use contain bits that either contribute nothing to the tool's usefulness, or actually detract from it. For some reason this seems more acceptable in software than in physical, tangible tools.

Windows Media Player's default interface has large, empty slabs of window that do nothing. Imagine a hammer with flaps of plastic dangling off its business end.

Realplayer's interface contains a plethora of advertisements, controls, and wasted space that span about three times as much space as the media-viewing area. Now, you can get a free wrench, but it is four feet long in order to fit all the advertising.

An AOL Instant Messenger or MSN Messenger window is about ten times as large as it needs to be in order to display your friends' screen names. Your tweezers weigh three pounds, because they now feature a stock ticker. Also, they will make cute noises before and after you tweeze anything.

Usefulness and elegance still exist, though, if you know where to look...

Spontaneous Fast-Forward Game (idea)

2002-06-17T18:23:23Z

This is a psychological game you can play with yourself. Pretend that your consciousness has just flashed forward to now, from some number of years ago. What would the you of five years ago think about what you've done with yourself? What would impress her? What would freak her out?

I played this game a few weeks ago:

Oh kay... I'm on the floor. I'm sitting on the floor with my back against the wall. Not sure where I am.

Whoa. I'm wearing some sort of messed up robe thingie. Why am I in a robe thingie? The floor: it's made of woven mats. I think that's what they have in Japan or somewhere. But why would I be in Japan? Okay, the closet doors are looking pretty Oriental, too. And the writing on this little pamphlet here on the floor looks like Japanese or Chinese or something.

The tiny cell phone and camera on that little table. Are they mine? I hope so. The table really is low. This whole room is so tiny. It's like a hotel room but where's the bed? Am I…

Flopisox (thing)

2002-05-21T15:49:53Z

A fun term for the loose socks fashion that has gained and kept popularity among grade school and high school girls in Japan. Because students are required to conform to very strict dress codes, one of the few ways for a girl to vary her appearance is by wearing ridiculously loose socks. There are sock glue products designed to keep loose socks stuck to the desired areas of a girl's leg. Some schools have strict sock policies, however, and their students are required to wear properly-fit socks.