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There was another event at Bunka Gakuen University Junior and Senior High School (i.e. the school where we’re thinking of sending Emma). I wrote back in September about attending their Cultural Festival. On Saturday it was an open school event that featured activities meant to be representative of the activities in which students participate. Eri had signed Emma up for the advanced English class activity and it was great. The teacher taught it the same way that he would regularly teach English classes and I got to observe the entire thing. Emma would still have to pass the entrance exam but if she does indeed go there and do the double degree program, I think it would give her a true choice between further study in Japan or further study in Australia.
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It’s almost mid-November and there’s still no sign that my visa extension will be processed by the ostensible termination date of my current visa. I say ‘ostensible’ because Eri called the Immigration Services Agency on Thursday and they confirmed that I can not only stay in Japan after that date (so long as I have a pending application) but also leave and return. I’m still not thrilled by that idea but they were adamant enough about it that I think I will take the risk and proceed with our trip to Australia this year even if an extension hasn’t been issued before we leave.
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To that end, I looked again at different ways to get to the airport for our flight out and decided the best way is still to hire a car for the afternoon that we can return at the ‘airport’ (really an ordinary Toyota Rent a Car outlet that’s about 3 kilometres from the terminal). The memory of our disastrous experience in 2022 always looms large but the cost of a hired car is still close to double the price so I decided to rent again.
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Acquired, a podcast about successful companies, did an episode about Seinfeld and the ‘business’ of the series that I found fascinating. It also prompted me to watch some episodes again and they’re so good. It’s a bit of a process to get Plex to show a shuffled episode but I’m wondering if I can’t find some way of turning that into a one-button press (perhaps a Shortcut?).
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On the topic of podcasts, sogaiu suspected I might enjoy Beforecast and he suspected correctly. The first season is about Machiavelli and I’ve been enjoying it more than I was expecting. The only thing that gives me pause about it is the sense that it’s extremely unfair that the host, Ada Palmer, is only a year older than I am. There should be a law against this kind of thing.
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I guess I may as well make this a triad so let’s link to Designed in California, a podcast that tells stories from the history of Apple. I’ve enjoyed all of the episodes so far but I found the recent series on the origin of the iPod (parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) especially good. It’s left me quite eager to read Steven Levy’s the Perfect Thing.
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The Acquired episode on Seinfeld mentioned the website, the Seinfeld Chronicles, a data visualisation created by Andy Kirk. I spent 15 minutes exploring it, I’m not sure I’ll ever be back but it’s a remarkable website and if you’re interested in the show, it’s worth checking out.
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I didn’t watch a lot of YouTube this week but I enjoyed this video from Captain Pikant about the drum patterns featured on the Gorillaz’s 2005 album, Demon Days.
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Is it too predictable for my musical selection this week to be to ‘Feel Good Inc’? (Apple Music) I’m doing it anyway.
