iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 10h

Printed out maps for the upcoming Tokyo Game Market. 11"x17" gives enough room to make all the annotations I'll need.

Printout of a convention venue with tables labeled.

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Velour Shirt @object.works · 29/09/2026

This is a metaphor for so many things these days that I couldn't choose

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 11h

@chrisbrockett.bsky.social It looks like our COLING2000 paper would have fallen in Section 5.2 "Script-Specific Tokenizers". Although looking at the paper now, I see we didn't mention our support for inline parenthetical yomi characters: 　　食(た)べた => 食べた www.microsoft.com/en-us/resear...

microsoft.com

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Card from an upcoming s̶o̶c̶c̶e̶r̶football card game.

Simple crayon drawing of someone digging their pointy teeth into someone's arm. With a Red card in the upper left and the title "Bite" at the top.

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

TIL. Sad that I had to double-check it wasn't AI BS before I would accept it though.

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Reposted by Gary Kacmarcik

elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Friend shared this video of a man unveiling the library he hid when he fled Damascus in 2011. It’s incredible

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Reposted by Gary Kacmarcik

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

New: Macklemore says Robert Kraft — who owns Gillette Stadium, where Macklemore & Ed Sheeran were to perform later this month — called Sheeran. Kraft rallied other owners together behind an ultimatum for Sheeran: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you won't be allowed in our venues.

I'm not sure how to start this. So I'm going to speak from the heart and share the truth. Ed Sheeran and his team have made the decision to remove me from The Loop tour.
But before I get into it, I want to say something that should be obvious. In this moment I think it matters. I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim. Pink is not a victim. We have careers, money, opportunities, safety and audiences around the world. Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families.

The victims are the Palestinian people. The men, women and children who have been killed, starved, displaced and forced to live through unimaginable violence. More than 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza alone. People are being killed today, and people will be killed tomorrow. I want to make sure that as I tell this story, we don't lose sight of that.

Ed is my friend. I've known him for 13 years. We've shared late nights, studio sessions and stages. He has this infectious magic about him that I've grown to love. I consider him a brother. And because of that, we've had some difficult conversations this past week. The type of talks rooted in love and respect for one another that still end in a place of fundamental disagreement. Nothing I'm writing here is out of spite or because I want to tear down his character. But as I told Ed multiple times on the phone, our friendship can't change my responsibility to tell the truth about what happened.

Last Monday, in the middle of all the media attention surrounding Pink and what I said at MetLife, Ed told me that Robert Kraft called him. We were scheduled to play Gillette Stadium later this month, which is owned by the Kraft Group. Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium. Ed also told me that Kraft had rallied some of the other
stadium owners and collectively they gave him an ultimatum: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues.

Ed was in …

What I said at MetLife I have been saying on stages around the world for almost three years. So why is it an issue now? Because now I'm sharing a stage with one of the biggest artists in the world, in some of the biggest stadiums in America. At a certain level of exposure, "Free Palestine" becomes too much of a risk. If I kept doing the shows, saying Free Palestine, with Ed implicitly supporting it, the crowd getting loud and showing undeniable support for Palestinian liberation, what artist might speak out next? The stage becomes resistance. Maybe that's why this time it became so important to silence me.

And one of the most effective ways to enforce that silence has been to weaponize the accusation of antisemitism. Antisemitism is real. And that is exactly why the word matters too much to be used as a shield against criticism of the Israeli state. When criticizing Israel, opposing Zionism or saying "Free Palestine" gets conflated with hatred of Jewish people, it doesn't protect Jewish people. It protects Israel from accountability.

I hope this isn't the end of my relationship with Ed.
Thirteen years of friendship doesn't disappear because of one painful disagreement. I hope we both continue listening, studying what is happening in Palestine and wrestling with what neutrality means in a moment like this. My door will always be open to continuing that conversation.

When my brother Omar was doing the subtitles for the video I posted from MetLife, I thanked him. He told me there's a phrase in Arabic:
لا شكر على واجب
"La shukra ala wajeb." There is no thanks for a duty.
That stayed with me. Because that's what this has become for me and millions of others around the world. A duty. Not something deserving of praise or gratitude. Not brave. Human.

Who is winning the internet, who is getting canceled, who gets to play the stadium and who doesn't, all of it becomes so small when held against what we are actually witnessing in Gaza and the West Bank. An entire people be…

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Connor taking a well-deserved break after managing a booth at PaxWest for 4 days to... launch a Kickstarter... 😅

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Reposted by Gary Kacmarcik

Daniel Newman // New Mill Industries @dnlnwmn.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

The vendors for the 2026 Indie Games Night Market have been decided on! www.newmillindustries.com/ignm

newmillindustries.com

Indie Games Night Market — New Mill Industries

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Reposted by Gary Kacmarcik

Zack Davisson @zackdavisson.com · 05/08/2026

Washington has been 100% vote by mail since 2011. I haven't voted in person since 2000. All of our ballots have individual tracking numbers and we get to watch them go through the whole process. It is the best voting system in the US.

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

My Pikachu Anker charger still brings me joy whenever I use it. Pity it was only released in Japan.

A bright yellow 65W Anker charger with a Pikachu silhouette and lightning bolts.

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Reposted by Gary Kacmarcik

lumpley @lumpley.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Something randomly reminded me to share this! lumpley.games/2019/10/21/g...

A simple graph showing two parallel skill acquisition lines. As you practice a skill, you don't improve steadily, you improve in steps: a sudden improvement, a long plateau, a sudden improvement, a long plateau...
This chart shows "creative skills" and "critical skills" improving out of step with one another, leapfrogging: your creative skills suddenly improve while your critical skills plateau, then your critical skills improve while your creative skills plateau. Creative skills: design, development, production; critical skills: analysis, interpretation, vision.

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Reposted by Gary Kacmarcik

Dr. Jonathan Foley @globalecoguy.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

I especially love this diagram.

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

In Japan, you can't go around smorking just anywhere, but only in designated areas.

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Haedong Yonggungsa Temple (near Busan)

Large gold Buddha statue in the background, small turtle statue in the rocks in the foreground.

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

So I try not to collect figures (Omg, so many. And where would I put them all). But every so often...

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

I still like having a physical calculator (they're not just for 18xx games!). These Casio models are the only ones still made in Japan.

Display of the Casio S100 and S100X calculators, available in black or navy blue.

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Of course the Ghibli IMAX movies are in theaters the day after I leave Japan.

Poster advertising Kiki's Delivery Service in IMAX.

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Reposted by Gary Kacmarcik

Aimee Cozza Illustration @aimeecozza.com · 03/06/2026

Y'all. Please remember the artists that drew these things when sending around memes. I feel for these artists who NEVER get credited for these (and some, nowadays, are even being accused of being AI!) Here's a few common ones I see (feel free to add others, I want this to be a living thread): 🧵

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

I waited and did not see a snake.

A sign in Korean and English with a cartoon snake that reads: The Area Where Snakes Appear

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Foreign language phrasebooks never have useful survival phrases like: "Can I pet your dog?"

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Reposted by Gary Kacmarcik

Jake Wright @bcnjake.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Once again: German universities were the envy of the world before the Nazis rose to power and took an ideological wrecking ball to the entire enterprise. If you want to know how long it took for German universities to recover… they haven’t.

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

My second hotel in Japan gives me two new toothbrushes every day. My first hotel gave me one each day. This prompts two questions: (A) Am I using toothbrushes wrong? I normally use the same one more than 1 day. (B) How many am I going to receive in my third hotel?

A bunch of individually wrapped toothbrushes, each labeled "Tooth Brush".

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

I had high hopes for this Baskin Robbins Rainbow Sorbet Water, but, alas, it contains Sucrolose. But at least I now know to avoid things that contain 수크랄로스.

Bottle of Korean "Rainbow Sorbet Water" from Baskin Robbins, with an orange, pineapple and raspberry on the label.

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Japan is not just for train station stamp rallies. You can also collect these manhole cover cards - free at certain tourist info centers (and some other locations).

A few trading cards depicting colorful manhole covers that can be found in Japan: one from Chiba, and another with Rilakkuma.

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

I love it when businesses can find synergies and create a mixed-use space like this.

Directory listing in a hotel: bottom entry is "Nursing Room / Smoking Room".

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

「Shinjuku 」is one of the few games in Yellow Submarine that warrants an anti-theft device.

Shelf of board games in a Akihabara Yellow Submarine. 「Shinjuku」has a security device attached, while other games nearby do not.

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

At Sai Beppu's Game Market booth, she had a limited number of "business card" tokens. #ゲムマ秋2026

An adorable little wooden token of a furry creature holding a hand of playing cards.

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

My hotel has a side table that's the perfect size for a Costco sushi tray and I don't think this is an accident.

Side table with the bottom portion partially slid out. What is inside? Could it be sushi?

Large square sushi tray from Costco fits perfectly into the bottom part of the side table.

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

「Shinjuku」sighting at the Yellow Submarine in Ikebukuro.

Table with an assortment of board games for sale - Shinjuku in the center.

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Costco Japan still has chopped onion dispensers!!

A Costco chopped onion dispenser, with a scattering of chopped onions.

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Early lunch means that I can finally get into the teppanyaki restaurant that was always fully reserved when I tried in the past.

Wagyu steak grilling in a teppanyaki restaurant with a view overlooking the Shinjuku area to the east.

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Gary Kacmarcik @garykac.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Is probably a bit of nostalgia (having played on the Genesis), but I love these Sonics. I managed to escape buying only one thing, but I'm feeling drawn back.