Stories

Super Important But Short for Nothing

SOS is a Morse code distress signal (· · · — — — · · ·) that is internationally recognised as a request for help. Contrary to what some people may believe,  SOS does not stand for “Save our Ship” or “Save Our Souls”. The letters "SOS" don’t, in fact, stand for anything. They just happen to be the letters that correspond to the Morse code signal comprised of three dots, three dashes, and then three more dots.

Design Classic with Unique Movement

The official Swiss railway clock, also known as the "SBB clock," is a clock design that was created for use in railway stations in Switzerland by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) in 1944. The clock has become a cultural icon in Switzerland and is considered a global design classic. The movement of its hands is unique.

What do they remind you off?

There’s a reason why QR codes might remind you of something else.

"I used to play Go [the Japanese game involving black and white stones played on a 19x19 grid] on my lunch break. One day, while arranging the black and white pieces on the grid, it hit me that it represented a straightforward way of conveying information. It was a eureka moment."
  ~ Masahiro Hara on Nippon.com, 10 February 2020

New Year’s Dive

Nieuwjaarsduik (pronounced nyu-yars-dowk) literally translates to "New Year’s Dive". It is the annual Dutch tradition (since 1965) of running into the freezing winter waters of the North Sea to celebrate the beginning of a new year.

In more recent years the Nieuwjaarsduik has done some travelling. The most famous dive outside of The Netherlands happens at Bondi Beach.

The gambling game that’s not gambling

Gambling for money is, for the most part, banned in Japan. But some sneaky punters found a way around the stringent laws in the form of pachinko: a very noisy, very colourful, and very addictive pinball-cross-pokies arcade game that’s wildly popular throughout Japan. As you will discover if you read the post, the work around is convoluted; but the system works. In 2021, the pachinko market amounted to a whopping 14.6 trillion Japanese Yen (approximately 157 billion AUD), representing almost 4% of the country’s GDP.