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Links / recommendations

Web services

• Library Genesis
• OpenLibrary has scanned books that may be unavailable elsewhere
• Wayback Machine has tens of billions of now-deleted webpages
• archive.is does on-demand archiving with JavaScript execution
• Inoreader is an improvement over the deceased Google Reader
• Google Cultural Institute is a giant online art museum
• Another interface for the Google Cultural Institute
• The Garden of Earthly Delights by Jheronimus Bosch
• myNoise.net has fantastic background noise generators
• GitHub's search often turns up useful software
• Twitter's search is useful for current events
• Criticker is good for getting movie recommendations
• Goodreads is sometimes useful for book reviews
• Google Maps's near-worldwide street view can be interesting and mind-boggling
• Wikipedia's Portal:Current events is my preferred news site
• Worldometers
• earth.nullschool.net has a global wind visualization
• Worldwide AQI (air quality index) map
• PurpleAir which has more AQI data for the U.S.
• YouTube region restriction checker

Software on Linux

• XFCE4 desktop works for me as someone who wants a taskbar
• konsole with a few patches is my preferred terminal emulator. I used ROXTerm before it was end-of-lifed.
• zsh with zsh-autosuggestions and roughly this configuration
• Sublime Text 3 is the editor I use for everything but org-mode
• VS Code is the editor I use for everything but org-mode
• A self-hosted GitLab is useful for issue tracking / "someday" to-do lists, at least when patched to show more issues per page.
• Emacs with org-mode for notes and tracking everything that needs to get done.
• I moved from GitLab to org-mode using my issue converter and now run Emacs with this configuration.
• notmuch in Emacs for searching my email archives
• Google Chrome with the extensions listed below
• tig for reviewing git commits
• I use tig with my tig-helpers
• ripgrep for searching through code
• redshift for changing screen color temperature
• foobar2000 (in Wine) for playing and converting music
• foo_wave_seekbar for foobar2000 provides a SoundCloud-like seekbar
• Wine for running Windows programs on Linux
• youtube-dl can download video or audio from hundreds of different sites
• mpv media player
• [ and ] keys change playback speed
• my VLC-like conf file
• feh image viewer with this configuration
• geeqie image viewer for viewing photos with non-sRGB color profiles
• I use my own grab-site for archiving websites
• easystroke for mouse gestures on Linux
• xbindkeys for binding extra mouse buttons and global key shortcuts
• Monitoring tools: htop, dstat, nethogs, iftop, pv
• Grafana, Prometheus
• Anki for memorizing anything using spaced repetition
• Tagaini Jisho is an offline Japanese dictionary and kanji lookup tool
• acme-tiny for getting certificates from Let's Encrypt
• lftp for uploading to FTP servers
• mp3splt for splitting long audiobooks
• fzf for filtering through long lists
• libimobiledevice for mounting, backing up, restoring, debugging iOS devices
• ddcutil for changing monitor brightness and input source

Chrome extensions

• uBlock Origin is an indispensable ad blocker
• SingleFile saves webpages properly
• Disable Download Bar
• Quick Tabs for searching open tabs and MRU-switching
• Copy Links copies all selected links to the clipboard
• Violentmonkey is an open-source userscript runner
• chrome-newtab replaces the new tab page with a blank page
• Old Reddit Redirect to always land on old.reddit.com
• Japanese
  • Yomichan popup dictionary
  • jisho-ojad adds pitch accent info on jisho.org
  • jisho-forvo adds "Play on Forvo" links on jisho.org

Fonts (tested on Linux)

• PT Sans is freely available and looks great at hidpi and lodpi
• Noto Sans Mono CJK {JP, KR, SC, TC} for CJK
• PragmataPro for fixed-width

Non-game software on iOS

• PDF Viewer by PSPDFKit GmbH for reading PDF files; this has a good color inversion mode and can stay zoomed out below 100%. It also integrates with the Files app instead of using its own storage.
• Marvin 3 for reading epub files; this has good typography and a vertical scrolling mode - tap the second icon from the left at the bottom row here, but note scrolling between chapters is discontinuous as with other readers.
• Gboard has an autocorrect vastly superior to the stock keyboard
• Signal
• AnkiMobile Flashcards
• myNoise
• Overcast for podcasts, audiobooks, other recordings. The 'Smart Speed' feature here can save you hundreds of hours.
• PhotoSync for uploading photos to a computer
• AdGuard for blocking ads and also distracting websites with custom filters
• Firefox for viewing pages on a dark background without activating Reader mode
• Google Translate, Maps, Earth, Gmail, Authenticator, Arts & Culture
• YouTube
• YouTube Music
• foobar2000 (with foo_upnp you can play the music stored on your computer.)
• WireGuard for VPN setups
• Japanese for doing Japanese word lookups
• Foreign numbers for practicing listening comprehension of numbers
• The Orchestra (iPad-only)

Single-player games

• Antichamber (PC)
• Deus Ex (PC Windows-only, works in Wine)
• The Witness
• Katamari Forever (PS3)
• Tametsi (PC Windows-only / Proton)
• NetHack or nethack4 (PC)
• if you're OK with needing spoilers and too many keyboard controls
• Duet (PC, iOS)
• Tetris Effect (PC, PS4)
• Mushroom 11 (PC, iOS)
• Portal (PC)
• Bonfire Peaks (PC, PS4, PS5, Switch)
• C&C: Red Alert (PC Windows-only)
• Ellipsis (PC)
• Ynglet (PC)
• Mars First Logistics (PC)
• Ending (iOS, Android, PC)
• Dissembler (PC, iOS)
• Pushing It (web)
• Ape Out
• Baba Is You
• Absurdle (web)
• ULTRAFLOW (iOS, Android)
• Zip—Zap (iOS, Android)
• Net (web, PC, iOS)
• Galaxies (web, PC, iOS)
• Downwell (PC Windows-only, works in Wine; iOS)
• Redout (PC Windows-only, also has multiplayer)

Puzzles

• Bongard Problems (an index of all of them)
• Klotski - try Klotski Pro in the app store because this is no fun with a mouse
• 2048

Internet Art

• Windows 93
• Akiyoshi's illusion pages

Films

~10/10

• All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001)
• Swallowtail (1996)
• Possession (1981)
• Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
• Miracle Mile (1988)
• Whisper of the Heart (1995)
• Under the Skin (2014)
• Come and See (1985)
• Hanyo (1960)
• The Atomic Cafe (1982)
• Chinese Box (1998)
• 3-Iron (2004)
• Ghost in the Shell (1995)
• Millennium Mambo (2001)
• Lost in Translation (2003)
• The Cat Returns (2002)
• Weiner (2016)
• Riding Solo to the Top of the World (2006)
• Hedgehog in the Fog (1975)
• The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (1987)

~9.5/10

• Ping Pong The Animation (2014)
• Battle Royale (2000)
• Confessions (2010)
• Cyclo (1995)
• The Vietnam War (2017)
• Mind Game (2004)
• Norwegian Wood (2010)
• The Rapture (1991)
• Thomas in Love (2000)
• Run Lola Run (1998)
• Network (1976)
• Ran (1985)
• 5 Centimeters per Second (2007)
• Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
• Triumph of the Nerds (1996)
• Jodorowsky's Dune (2013)
• Lessons of Darkness (1992)
• Ivan's Childhood (1962)
• The Office (U.S.) (2005-), seasons 2-5

~9/10

• Fireworks (1997)
• Dredd (2012)
• Aku no hana (2013)
• Firefly (2002)
• Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)
• Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)
• Akira (1988)
• eXistenZ (1999)
• Chungking Express (1994)
• Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
• Walkabout (1971)
• Sonatine (1993)
• Dolls (2002)
• Birth (2004)
• Like Someone in Love (2012)
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
• An Education (2009)
• The Man in the Moon (1991)
• 20th Century Women (2016)
• The Art of Japanese Life (2017)
• Good Time (2017)

< 9/10 but memorable or notable

• Melancholia (2011)
• The Quiet Earth (1985)
• Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)
• Fallen Angels (1995)
• The Isle (2000)
• Bad Guy (2001)
• Memories of Murder (2003)
• The Girlfriend Experience (2016), season 1 only
• Rick and Morty (2013-)
• Audition (1999)
• Limitless (2011)
• The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
• Veronica Mars (2004-2007), seasons 1-2 only
• Redline (2009)
• Cat Soup (2001)
• Leave No Trace (2018)
• The World (2004)
• A Boy and His Dog (1975)
• Lust, Caution (2007)
• Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009) even though it goes downhill

YouTube

I had a list here, but now you can just look at my subscriptions.

Music

• Yoko Kanno - entire discography
• Oneohtrix Point Never - entire discography
• Manual - entire discography
• Claude Debussy
• Monolake - Hongkong
• Nils Frahm
• Yo La Tengo - Don't Have To Be So Sad
• Ryukyu Underground
• Thinner netlabel (all files)
• Kahvi Collective netlabel (all files)
• Alexander Brandon - Deus Ex OST
• Ulrich Schnauss - Stars

Novels

• Stanisław Lem's Solaris 🎧
• Camus' The Stranger 🎧
• Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem 🎧 and sequel The Dark Forest 🎧
• Ryū Murakami's In the Miso Soup
• Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves

🎧 = a good audiobook is also available

Comedy

• Mitch Hedberg - Strategic Grill Locations
• Mitch Hedberg - Mitch All Together