Bravo, Pittsburgh on securing a spot as the number 3 most mustache-friendly city. However, I believe that coming in third place was skewed by the methodology that the American Mustache Institute used for the research. After all, the white paper states, Previous AMI research actually demonstrates that Pittsburgh has the highest number of Mustached Americans per capita outside of only Graz, Styria in Austria and Tijuana, Mexico. Maybe I should grow a mustache… ...

A fascinating look at cultures around the world via photographs by James Mollison. [via kottke.org]

The drama is noticeable for its obsessive attention to detail. Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and the production team had a long debate about whether aristocrats of the period – the second series takes us from 1916 to 1918 and the Christmas special takes place on New Year’s Eve 1919 –would eat asparagus with their hands or a fork. In the end producers cut the asparagus up and pretended they were green beans, which they knew were eaten with a fork, so keen were they not to put a foot wrong. Five days of the 23-week shoot was done in replica Western Front trenches. “Because the show is so popular, we’ve a special role in teaching, particularly young people, about the war,” said Neame. “ITV wanted more of the same [as the first series]. But because this is wartime, we had a duty to show the social impact of war.” ...

A kind fellow, Joshua Goodwin, has informed me that my link-post items did not include a permalink back to my site when viewed in an RSS reader. The titles of the link-post items will continue to link to the external sites referenced; however, I have added a permalink to the end of link-post items in the RSS feed so you can now click the infinity glyph (∞), and it will link you back to the post on Indigo Spot. ...

Tim Brownson on the “I don’t have time” excuse: We all adopt the ’lack of time’ approach on a regular basis, because the easiest out in the world is to blame the clock when we want to avoid doing something. But it’s nearly always untrue and it’s seldom helpful. … I challenge you to join me and go a week without telling people you don’t have time to do something. ...

Jonah Weiner writes a superb article about the developers of Dwarf Fortress. At bottom, Dwarf Fortress mounts an argument about play. Many video games mimic the look and structure of films: there’s a story line, more or less fixed, that progresses only when you complete required tasks. This can make for gripping fun, but also the constrictive sense that you are a mouse in a tricked-out maze, chasing chunks of cheese. Tarn envisions Dwarf Fortress, by contrast, as an open-ended “story generator.” He and Zach grew up playing computer games with notebooks in hand, drawing their own renditions of the randomly generated creatures they encountered and logging their journeys in detail. Dwarf Fortress, which never unfolds the same way twice, takes that spirit of supple, fully engaged play to the extreme. ...

BBC News posts 50 examples of “Americanisms” that were submitted by readers. My favorite? “I could care less” instead of “I couldn’t care less” has to be the worst. Opposite meaning of what they’re trying to say. Jonathan, Birmingham

Leo Babauta on advertising and consumerism: I could go on all day, and in fact, we all go on all day with this game. Or instead, we could simply say, “I’m not playing that game.” Because honestly, there’s no way we can win. Spot on, as always.

The title says it all.

So good.