2010年9月30日木曜日

黄色のアメリカノウゼンカズラ (Trumpet Creeper, Yellow)



 黄色のアメリカノウゼンカズラ(アメリカ凌霄花、ノウゼンカズラ科)。9月11日、ウォーキング途中で撮影。

Trumpet creeper, yellow; botanical name, Campsis radicans; family, Bignoniaceae. The photo was taken in the course of walking exercise on September 11, 2010.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Peace and Politics

天木直人「憲法9条こそ最強の安全保障政策だ」日経ビジネスオンライン (2010年9月29日). —「憲法9条は単に条文だけでできているものではない。そこには戦後65年間の我が国の戦後史が…。憲法9条こそ最強の安全保障政策である。」

「在日米軍経費、日本負担 初の7000億円台:再編費増で押し上げ」しんぶん赤旗 (2010年9月29日). —これこそ事業仕分けで削らなければ。

[Retweet of ohmas's words]「“辺野古には多様な生き物”」NHKニュース (2010年9月29日).

[Retweet of ohmas's words] 日本自然保護協会が『辺野古緊急合同調査レポート(速報)~生物多様性豊かな辺野古の海』(2010年9月28日) を発表!

[Retweet of gonbanahana's words] ジュゴン保護キャンペーンセンターは10月3日からアブダビで行われるジュゴン会議に参加します!日本政府は参加を拒否しています:「ジュゴン保護第1回締約国会議」ジュゴン掲示板.

About Physicists

"Martin Rees: 'We shouldn't attach any weight to what Hawking says about god'," Independent (September 27, 2010) [via "Should we attach any weight to what Stephen Hawking says about God?" physicsworld Blog (September 27, 2010)].

Humor

[Retweet of pickover's words] "Museum of unworkable devices," A page of Donald Simanek's.

2010年9月29日水曜日

ヤブラン (Lilyturf)


 ヤブラン(藪蘭、ユリ科)、別名リリオペ、サマームスカリ。2010年9月10日、わが家の庭で撮影。

Lilyturf, big blue lilyturf, border grass, or monkey grass; botanical name, Liriope muscari; family, Ruscaceae. The photo was taken at our yard on September 10, 2010.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Books

The Japanese edition of @grahamfarmelo's "The Strangest Man" translated by Michiyo Yoshida was published from Hayakawa Shobo, Tokyo, on Seotember 24, 2010: 「量子の海、ディラックの深淵―天才物理学者の華々しき業績と寡黙なる生涯」—The Japanese title is not the direct translation of the original but means, "The Sea of Quantum, Dirac's Abyss: The Highly Gifted Physicist's Glorious Achievements and Reticent Life." The translator Michiyo Yoshida is a junior of mine at Department of Physics, Kyoto University, but I don't know her personally. She did a difficult work quite quickly while I'm still reading the original edition!

About Physicists

"Frank Oppenheimer" by Alice Bell, Guardian, Science blog (September 27, 2010). —Brother of the famous Robert, Frank was more than just a physicist . . . (Retweeted by fermin771009)

About Physics

"First observation of Hawking radiation," Technology Review, Physics arXiv Blog (September 27, 2010). —Belgiorno et al. say that they have seen it by firing an intense laser pulse through a so-called nonlinear material. (Retweeted by gtsouza)

"Time-saving steps," Physics, Synopsis for Phys. Rev. C 82, 034306 (2010). —A new calculation scheme speeds up the solution of nuclear physics problems. (Retweeted by gtsouza)

"Physicists are close to uncovering the fundamental rules of reality: String theorist Brian Greene on his hopes for science over the next 30 years," Discover From October issue (September, 14, 2010). (Retweeted by gtsouza)

[Retweet of sc_k's words] "The New Nu News!" by @ethansiegel (re: the latest MiniBooNE results), Science Blogs, Physical Science (September 28, 2010).

"Gauging high-speed spin inside a Lilliputian world," New York Times (September 27, 2010): I.B.M. scientists have modified a scanning-tunneling microscope, making it possible to observe dynamic processes inside individual atoms on a time scale one million times faster than has previously been possible. —About the work of S. Loth et al., Science Vol. 329, p. 1628 (2010).

"Time likely to end within earth's lifespan, say physicists" Technology Review, Physics arXiv blog (September 28, 2010). —"There is a 50-% chance that time will end within the next 3.7 billion years, according to a new model of the universe."

[Retweet of grahamfarmelo's words] "Health and Safety in Particle Physics II," Guadian, Life and Physics - John Butterworth (September 28, 2010). —What would happen if you put your hand in the path of the LHC's beam of protons? (via @jonbutterworth)

About Society

[Retweet of michiokaku's words] "U. N. to establish protocols for when we make contact with aliens," Big Think, Dr. Kaku's Universe (September 27, 2010).

「伊東乾の源流探訪:何が日本の若者を俯かせてしまうのか?―ブエノスアイレスから見た不思議の国・日本」日経ビジネスオンライン (2010年9月28日). —日本の大学、大学院の問題点を突き、「エネルギーのある日本の若い世代は、もっと世界に目を向け、外に飛び出していくのが大事」と述べる。

2010年9月28日火曜日

郷里・金沢 10 (My Hometwon Kanazawa 10)


 上掲の2枚の写真は、金沢の中心街、香林坊の北側の裏通りを撮ったもの。東側には用水路があり、柳並木や和風料理店のある穏やかな街並が続く。懐かしい郷里の街を、もっと方々歩きたかったが、今回の金沢旅行の写真はこれで終りである。

The above two photos show the back street of the north side of Kōrinbō, the center of Kanazawa. This is a quiet street with a canal on the east side and lined with willow trees and Japanese restaurants. I wanted to walk around more streets of my dear home town, but these were the final shots during the trip of this time.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Books

[In reply to CurvatureFlow] Thanks a lot for telling me about the excellent book, "The Shape of Inner Space: String Theory & the Geometry of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions" written by Shing-Tung Yau and Steve Nadisand (Basic, 2010) and Peter Woit's review of it at the Blog site "Not Even Wrong."

See also: the home page of the above book and the interview with the main author S.-T.Yau, "The math behind the physics behind the Universe," Discover, From the June issue (2010).

About Peace and Politics

"TBS Special Program on Film ANPO and Linda Hoaglund (映画「安保」とリンダ・ホ―グランド監督 TBS特集)," Vancouver Save Article 9, Blog —Videos. (Retweeted by lhoaglund)

[Retweet of lhoaglund's words] このリンクは英語のANPOブログのリンクです http://bit.ly/9XHXSe。とにかく写真を見てください。英語のラストのメッセージはオバマ大統領へ、「オバマ様、これがあなたの理想の民主主義教育ですか?」ちょっと辛辣かな?

[Retweet of mdnjp‘s words] "U.S. Ambassador Roos visits Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum," Mainichi Daily News (September 27, 2010).

About Writers

"The biography of Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)" (via @Sherbrukka). —". . . the father of environmentalism . . ." —Edward O. Wilson

2010年9月27日月曜日

2010年8月分記事へのエム・ワイ君の感想 (M.Y.'s Comments on August-2010 Articles; in Japanese only)

 M.Y. 君から "Ted's Coffeehouse 2" 2010年8月分への感想を9月26日づけで貰った。同君の了承を得て、ここに紹介する。青色の文字をクリックすると、言及されている記事が別ウインドウに開く。




1. "The A-bombed country's moral responsibility: To seek withdrawal from the 'nuclear umbrella'," Kenzaburo Oe, Asahi Shimbun, August 17.

 筆者は上記の英文のツイッターを発信し、「『被爆国の道義的責任とは何か:「核の傘」離脱求めてこそ』大江健三郎、朝日新聞、8月17日付け見出し。本文は彼独特の回りくどい表現で記されており、ツイッターに引用すべき簡潔明瞭な文は見当たらない」と、日本語のコメントを付しています (8月18日付けブログ中に引用)。

 私なりに簡単にまとめますと、——菅首相の広島の平和記念式におけるあいさつは「唯一の戦争被爆国である我が国は、『核兵器のない世界』実現に向けて先頭に立って行動する道義的責任を有していると確信をいだきます」。道義的とは、オバマ大統領の2009年プラハ演説での moral の訳語。それから数時間後の記者会見での菅首相の発言に、「核抑止力は、我が国にとって引き続き必要だ」と。これについて、大江健三郎氏は「一貫しないところがあり、しかもその矛盾をもたらしている根は深い」と指摘しています。

 私も両発言を放送で聞いた時、全く同じ考えを抱いたものです。大江氏は、菅発言とは逆の方向にあると感じられる発見についても、次のように触れています。

 《抑止力は他の国家よる脅威という文脈においては、多くの国家にとって依然として十分な考慮に価するものとされているが、このような目的のために核兵器に依存することは益々危険になっており、その有効性は低減する一方である。》と沖縄返還時の核密約の働き手キッシンジャー氏はじめ、米国の元高官G.シュルツ、W.ペリー、S.ナン氏らリアル・ポリティクスの古強者は、オバマ大統領の2009年プラハ演説にあらためて呼応する強力な活動を展開して、それがアメリカ、ヨーロッパの「核兵器のない世界」への流れを作っています。

2. 敗戦後65年 (Sixty-fifth Anniversary of Japan's Defeat in World War II)

 次のように述べられています。

 日本が第2次世界大戦で負けてから、きょうで65年になる。敗戦のその日、私は大連の国民学校(小学校)の4年生だった。竹で鉄砲を作って遊んでいたが、日本が負けたと知ってやめた。[…略…]
 私は、戦勝国の人々によって、日本の国民はみな奴隷にさせられるのかと思い、生きている心地がしなかった。[…略…]約1年半後に引き揚げ船で内地へ帰り、故国の土を踏んでほっとした。
 いま、わが国は戦争放棄を明記した憲法9条を持っている。これを変えて、愚行を繰り返すようなことがあってはならない。

戦争を経験していない世代にいろいろな戦争経験を伝えることは、大切なことだと思います。

 私の場合は、国民学校3年の昭和19年秋、日本の方が安全だとの判断で、父だけ中国の上海に残り、母と子は日本に引き揚げました(その時は戦争が終われば上海に戻る考えで)。昭和20年7月に父から母に「召集令状に応え出征する。子ども達をよろしく頼む。」と簡単な手紙で伝えてきました。7月末になると田舎の町でも「学童は田舎に "つて" を頼って疎開するように。出来ない人は集団疎開をさせる」との通達が出されました。母は父の伝えを守り、母子離散することを避け、 "つて" を頼りに疎開することを決心しました。空いた養蚕場を借りましたが、電灯がつくまで2~3日は、太陽と共に寝起きする生活が続きました。

 8月15日の敗戦の詔勅は、夏休みでまだ転校もしていませんでしたので、知るよしもなく、昼過ぎ、 "つて" の国民学校6年生の息子さんがやって来て敗戦を教えてくれました。寝耳に水で、本当にびっくりしました。母と、とぼとぼ歩き村役場まで行き、事実を確認した時、母は敗戦のショックに加え、父の安否をきづかい涙していました。それから半年経って、「上海の家にいて元気に暮している。やがて、帰国できるだろう」との父からのハガキが届き、母子ともども、大喜びしましました。これは生涯忘れ得ぬ感激でした。人びとは国のいうがままに従い、国は責任を持たず、状況判断ができる正確な情報は伝えられず、ひたすら運命に翻弄される——これが、戦争のもたらす悲劇の一つです。

郷里・金沢 9 (My Hometwon Kanazawa 9)


 写真は尾山神社の神門。神社は1599年に金沢の東にある卯辰山に建てられ、1873年に現在の場所、尾山町へ移され、この名となった。神門は1837年に造られたもので、和・漢・洋折衷様式となっている。その高さは、避雷針を含めて25 m ある。3階にはオランダ製ステンドグラスの窓があり、この階は灯台として使われたともいわれている。1950年、重要文化財に指定された [1]。

The photo shows the main gate of Oyama-jinja, a Shinto shrine established in 1599 in Utatsuyama, east of Kanazawa. It was moved to its present location, Oyama-chō, in 1873 and got the present name. The main gate, constructed in 1875, is a mix of traditional Japanese, Chinese, and European religious architectural elements. The gate is 25 m high including the lightning rod. The third floor is famous for its Dutch stained-glass windows and is said to have been used as a lighthouse. The gate was designated an Important Cultural Asset in 1950 [1].

  1. "Oyama Shrine (Ishikawa)," Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (14 July 2010 at 04:08).

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Books and Internet

Have read the review of the Japanese version of Nicholas Carr's book, "The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains," and think about lessening my time for tweeting.

[From stleoscience] May be a natural/necessary change, the way literacy changes our brain, only in a different way. Maybe it's too late anyway!

[To stleoscience] I agree with you.

About Media

"Op-Ed at 40," Interactive Feature, New York Times. —Includes Brian Green's "My Big Bang" in the section "Science."

About Peace and Politics

午後、福泉・鳳地域「憲法9条の会」主催の学習会。 会場ほぼ一杯の55名が参加。まず、一同による「さとうきび畑」の歌の合唱で盛り上がり、続いて、近隣の9条の会との交流と、関西学院大学教授・原水爆禁止世界大会起草委員長・冨田宏治氏の講演「核兵器、戦争はなくせるか? Yes, We Can!!」があった。いずれも充実した内容だった。(Retweeted by kark530)

「From itadori3]「さとうきび畑」の歌よかったですね。 Sさんの歌はすばらしくて、歌わずに聞き惚れていました。

「さとうきび畑」鮫島有美子, 多田羅迪夫 (バリトン), YouTube: この歌は、第二次世界大戦における日本国内での最大規模の陸戦で、日米最後の大規模戦闘となった沖縄戦が背景。1945年3月 26日から約3ヵ月間、激戦が展開された。全戦没者は20~24万人とされ、そのうち沖縄の民間人犠牲者は9万4千人におよぶ。(ウィキペディアによる)

きょうの講演で大きく学んだこと:国連総長は広島会議でのメッセージで「核抑止」論こそ幻想、と述べた(http://bit.ly/cHgpVY 参照)。沖縄海兵隊の抑止論も安保による抑止論も、同様に幻想である。

About Space Science

Realization would be wonderful: Retweet of madgestar's words] "UN to appoint space ambassador to greet alien visitors," Telegraph (September 26, 2010).

2010年9月26日日曜日

郷里・金沢 8 (My Hometwon Kanazawa 8)


 写真上:金沢駅の地下道脇に、小さな日本庭園が造られている。これは金沢の街の雰囲気にいかにもふさわしい。写真下:天徳院の山門を入ると、左手にこの古木がある。

Upper photo: Kanazawa Station has a small Japanese garden beside its underpass, showing a remarkable association with the atmosphere of the streets of Kanazawa. Lower photo: Entering the gate of Tentokuin Temple, we see this old tree on the left side.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Arts

"Kafka’s Last Trial," New York Times Magazine (September 26, 2010). "Isn’t that ... Kafka’s works ... belonged to humanity?" —A long and detailed essay. (Retweeted by fermin771009)

[Retweet of MuseumModernArt's words] Time for this week's 'Do You Know Your MoMA?' challenge (September 24, 2010). How many works and artists can you identify?

About Astrobiology

[Retweet of michiokaku's words] "Alien invasions—Should we be worried?" Dr. Kaku's Universe, Big Think (September 24, 2010). —Answers to e-mail questions.

About Astrophysics

"Black hole silhouettes," Science News Vol. 178, p. 22. —"Scientists attempt to image a shadow and its tumultuous ring." (Retweeted by gtsouza)

About Environment

"Why philosophy is a waste of time (go birding!)," Punctuated Equilibrium hosted by Guardian (September 24, 2010). —I find not so much difference between Dworkin and MacKay, ha-ha!

About Physics

"Measuring the magnetism of light," Physical Review Focus (September 24, 2010). —"Two experimental groups have managed to directly isolate the magnetic field effect from the total effect of light." (Retweeted by gtsouza)

Exchange of Words with Friends

[From chiamai] Thanks for sharing the link to Olivia Fermi's "On the Neutron Trail". I found it in the tweet summary of your blog.

[To chiamai] Supposed that you would like it. I should have attached your Twitter username in parentheses as you did.

2010年9月25日土曜日

郷里・金沢 7 (My Hometwon Kanazawa 7)


 記載の順序が日時順でないが、13日に A 先生の家を辞してから、私の母校・菫台高校(現・金沢商業高校)まで歩いた。1枚目の写真は、その途中で通った天徳院の参道と山門。向って右の石柱には、上部の文字が欠けていて見にくいが、「葷酒(くんしゅ)山門に入るを許さず」と漢文で書いてあり、不浄なものや心を乱すものは山門内に入ることを許さない、の意である。高校時代に同じ言葉を漱石の作品中に見つけて喜んだものだ。当時はなかった左の石柱には、「珠姫の寺」とある。天徳院は1623年、加賀三代藩主・前田利常が前年に24歳で死去した正室・珠姫を弔うために建てた寺である。

 高校1、2年生の時に私の住んでいた家が、山門を入って左へ折れ、少し行ったところに、いまもその頃とほとんど同じ形で立っている。さらにその先へ行くと、母校の直ぐ近くに、中学生時代に住んでいた家もある。大連から引き揚げて来た私たちは、どちらの家でも、家主さんのご親切で二階の一部を間借りさせて貰っていたのである。2枚目の写真が母校の正門である。弧状の門は、数年前に新しく出来たもの。運動場では現在、史跡発掘調査が行なわれていて、その大半を生徒が使用出来ない状態になっていた。

I am writing without following the chronological order of events in Kanazawa. After visiting Mr. A, I walked to my alma mater, Kindai Senior High School (presently Kanazawa Commercial High School). The upper photo shows the gate of Tentokuin Temple I saw before arriving at the school. The Chinese characters on the right pillar mean, "Those who are unclean or disturb the mind are not allowed to enter the gate." I was glad to find the same words in one of Soseki's works when I was in high school. The pillar on the left, not present in those days, has the words, "Temple of Tamahime (Princess of Pearl)." In 1623, the third feudal lord of Kaga, Toshitsune Maeda, built this temple to mourn the death of his wedded wife, Tamahime, who had died the previous year at the age of 24.

Turning left just inside the gate of Tentokuin and going a little, I found the house where I had lived during my first and second years of senior high school, in almost the same shape as before. Nearer to my alma mater, there is also the house I lived in my junior high school days. In both these houses, we, coming back from Dalian after the end of World War II, had rented part of the second floor by the kindness of the owners. The lower photo shows the entrance of the alma mater. The arc-shaped gate was built a few years ago. On the playground of the school, the excavation of the historical site is in progress, and students cannot use a large part of it now.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Astrophysics

"The ubiquity of micrometer-sized dust grains in the dense interstellar medium," Pagani et al., Science 329, 1622 (2010).

"Ancient star poses galactic puzzle," physicsworld (September 20, 2010). —The High Dispersion Spectrograph found unexpected barium.

"Saturn's aurora captured on film," Telegraph (September 24, 2010).—"A spectacular light show seen dancing across the atmosphere of the planet Saturn is helping scientists understand one of nature's most beautiful and mysterious phenomena on Earth – the northern lights."

[Retweet of seanmcarroll's words] Primordial magnetic fields found? We've wondered for a long time whether B-fields came from galaxies, or before. "Universal, primordial magnetic fields discovered in deep space by UCLA, Caltech physicists," UCLA Newsroom (September 21, 2010).

About Books

"In retrospect: The celestial message," Nature 467, 398 (September 23, 2010). —"John Heilbron reflects on the first telescopic survey of the sky, published [by Galileo] 400 years ago."

About Peace and Politics

[Retweet of koike_akira's words] 尖閣諸島は、歴史的にも国際法上も明確な根拠のある日本の領土。70年代まではどの国もそれに異議を表明せず。ポツダム宣言受諾時にも中国は尖閣を要求せず。当時の中国や台湾の地図には尖閣の記載なし。日本政府はこうした事実をきちんとアピールすべき。

About Physicists

"The Feynman Variations," physicsworld. —About @ProfBrianCox's BBC Radio 4 show "The Archive Hour."

About Physics

Experiment at laboratories of NIST, Boulder: [Retweet of JenLucPiquant's words] Now 'this' is totes awesome! (via alexwitze) Time dilation on a tabletop: "Everything really is relative," Science News (September, 23, 2010).
The paper mentioned in the above report is: Chou et al., "Optical clocks and relativity," Science 329, 1630. (Retweeted by gtsouza)
See also: "Einstein's theory of relativity works on a human scale," Telegraph (September 23, 2010). (Retweeted by F414)

"Glowing review," physicsworld, Blog (September 21, 2010). —A peek at the reactor and experiments at the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble.

About Science and Politics

[Retweet of ProfBrianCox's words] If you agree, then would you consider signing in support of UK science at this dark time - and please retweet: Science is Vital.

About Sports

Congratulations! [RT of TheRealMariners' words] There we have it! Ichiro singles in the 5th to make it 10 consecutive years of 200+ hits. #Ichiro200. See also "Ichiro first to 200 hits in 10 straight years," Reuters; "Ichiro ties record with 10th 200-hit season," (via mlb) (related videos available).

2010年9月24日金曜日

郷里・金沢 6 (My Hometwon Kanazawa 6)


 さる14日午後、K.T. さんと別れてから、午前に乗った「城下まち金沢周遊バス」を再度利用して、14番目の停留所、片町(ラブロ前)まで行った。犀川大橋を渡ってから、川岸の道へ降りて、写真を撮る(上:犀川上流、桜橋と、遠方に白山へとつながる山系が見える。下:犀川大橋)。

After meeting K.T. last Tuesday, I again took Kanazawa Loop Bus to the fourteenth stop, "Katamachi, Raburo-mae". Then, I walked across Saigawa-ōhashi (the Big Bridge of Sai River) and went down to the path on the side the river to take photos. Upper photo shows Sai River in the upstream direction; we see Sakura-bashi (Cherry Bridge) and, in the distance, the mountain range leading to Mt. Haku. Lower photo shows Saigawa-ōhashi.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Astrophysics

[Retweet of SETIInstitute's words] "Hubble spots ghostly space spiral," Discovery News (September 7, 2010). —Amazing view of a dying binary star system!

About History of Physics

Have learned about Enrico Fermi's granddaughter (via the New Atlanteans on Facebook): "Olivia Fermi on the Neutron Trail" – A blog site. (Retweeted by charmqgp and SpaceGurlEvie)

About Physics

"Dimensions vanish in quantum gravity" New Scientist September 22, 2010). —About the work by Steven Carlip (arXiv:1009.1136v1) and those of previous workers.

About Science

[Retweet of sc_k's words] Thomson Reuters predicts the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics. —Seven possible candidates.

About Science Journal

Welcome! – "Announcement: Nature's new look," Nature (Editorial) 467, 368 (September 23, 2010).

About Technology

"A US nuclear future?" Nature 467, 391 (September 23, 2010). —Joint authors give opposing opinions in detail about building nuclear power plants in US.

Exchange of Words with Friends

[From heppoco_daze, about my blog post of September 22] きっと美しいものには邪魔が入るんですねぇ。綺麗に写ってます (^^)v

[To heppoco_daze] 月の中の「兎」を写せないかと思いましたが、コンパクト・デジカメでは無理なのでしょうか。

Words to Friends

[To madgestar] You've got my vote in the #GoldenTwits.

2010年9月23日木曜日

郷里・金沢5 (My Hometwon Kanazawa 5)


 天神橋から、昔住んでいた家のあった通りまで行ってみたかった。しかし、正午に K.T. さんとホテルのフロント付近で会う約束だったので、それに遅れてはいけないと思い、戻ることにした。橋場町の金沢駅方面行きバス停の向いには、何度か訪れたことのある金沢蓄音機館が見える(写真)。K.T. さんとは、ホテルの和食堂で昼食をしながら、共通の友人 Y.A. さんの入院、その他について、2時間ほど話し合った。

From Tenjinbashi, I wanted to go to see the street I lived in my childhood. However, I had an appointment to meet K.T. (called Minny in my diaries of student days) at noon around the reception desk of the hotel I stayed, so that I had to return without visiting that street. From the bus stop of Hashibacho for the buses going in the direction of Kanazawa Station, we see, on the opposite side of the road, Kanazawa Phonograph Museum (the photo above), which I visited a few times before. K.T. and I talked over lunch at the Japanese restaurant of the hotel about the hospitalization of Y.A. (a mutual friend of ours) and other topics until about 2:00 p.m.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About History of Physics

Wrote email to A. Masaike to thank for the reprint of his paper, "Nuclear physics research at Kyoto University during World War II and the investigation of it by the occupation forces" (in Japanese). As for Thomas Smith mentioned in the paper, I found the following Web sites:

1) Irwin Scheiner, Andrew E. Barshay and Mary Elizabeth Berry, "IN MEMORIAM: Thomas C. Smith, Ford Professor of History, Emeritus, Berkeley 1916—2004," University of California Web site.
2) "Obituary: Thomas C. Smith, professor emeritus dies at 87" by Media Relations, UC Berkeley News (08 April 2004).
3) Andrew Barshay, Mary Elizabeth Berry and Irwin Scheiner, "Thomas C. Smith," From the "In Memorium" column of the May 2005 Peerspectives, Web site of American Historical Association.

[While working at the headquarters of the Sixth Army in Kyoto after World War II,] Smith was asked to be an interpreter for two officers from the Navy Department in Washington who had arrived to oversee the dismantling of the cyclotron at Kyoto University, and (however inadvertently) aided in the confiscation of Professor of Physics Arakatsu Bunsaku’s notes on the use of the cyclotron. This invasion of the scholarly activities of Arakatsu so disturbed Smith that his joy in remaining in Kyoto dimmed. Several months later he requested a return to the United States where he was quickly demobilized from Marine service.
"Returning from Japan with a determination to study Japanese history, Smith transferred his studies from UC Berkeley to Harvard University, which offered a Japanese history doctorate. Upon completion of his doctoral thesis in 1947, he accepted an appointment as an assistant professor at Stanford University where he remained until his appointment at Berkeley as Ford Professor of History in 1970." [Quoted from 1); a moving story also written in Masaike's paper.]

About Peace and Politics

[In reply to chiamai's words (via @italiansfrancia): "French soldiers 'deliberately exposed' to nuclear tests," BBC News (February 16, 2010) (to tttabata)] Thanks for your tweet to make me notice the news about the bad history of French nuclear weapons tests.

About Physics

"[S]ome of the particles are intimately linked in a way not seen before in proton collisions." [Retweet of physorg_com's words] Large Hadron Collider scientists spot potential new discovery: CERN," physorg.com (September 21, 2010). (Retweeted by fermin771009 and gtsouza)

About Science

[Retweet of bbcnews's words] "Winds could explain Biblical parting of the Red Sea," BBC News (September 21, 2010). —Computer simulations show how it could have occurred. (Retweeted by hey_leia and gtsouza)

2010年9月22日水曜日

中秋の名月 (The Harvest Moon)


 きょう、9月22日は中秋の名月。雲が出て来ていて、間もなく隠れてしまいそうだが、周囲に何もないよりも面白い写真になる。

Today (September 22), we see the harvest moon. Clouds are coming and soon will hide the moon. However, the moon with some clouds around it makes the picture interesting.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Arts–Science Interaction

"Physics and Art – is there any connection?" by F. Wagner (PDF) (via AboutPhysics's "Physics as Art").

About Physics

"Nothing there, yet," Physics 3, 78 (2010). —About the paper "First dark matter results from the XENON100 Experiment" by E. Aprile et al.

"Cosmic nudity," Physics. —About the paper "Black strings, low viscosity fluids, and violation of cosmic censorship" by L. Lehner and F. Pretorius.

"Pinpointing earthly gamma rays," Physical Review Focus. —Results of analyzing the Italian AGILE satellite data of "terrestrial gamma-ray flashes."

"Neutrino telescopes could settle the question of which way antimatter falls," Tech Rev arXiv blog —"If gravity repels antimatter, then the generation of neutrino telescopes now being built could spot the tell tale sign." (Retweeted by charmqgp)

About Science of Consciousness

"Sizing up consciousness by its bits," New York Times (September 20, 2010). —Dr. Giulio Tononi, "The theory has to be developed a bit more before I worry about what’s the best consciousness meter you could develop."

2010年9月21日火曜日

郷里・金沢4 (My Hometwon Kanazawa 4)


 さる14日午前、城下まち金沢周遊バスの1日フリー乗車券を買って、六つ目の停留所・橋場町(交番前)で下車、浅野川の縁を散策した。この川は犀川と並ぶ金沢の大きな川(二級河川)の一つで、後者が男川と呼ばれるのに対して、こちらは女川と呼ばれている。上の写真は、浅野川にかかる梅ノ橋。その橋の向こうに浅野川大橋も見えている。下の写真は、梅ノ橋の一つ上流にある天神橋。私は三〜四歳の頃、この橋の近くの町に住んでいた。

Monday morning last week, I bought a one-day ticket of Kanazawa Loop Bus and took the bus to the sixth stop ("Hashibachō; Koban-mae") from the starting point of Kanazawa-Eki ("Kanazawa Station"). Then, I walked along Asano River. This river is one of the two large rivers (class II river) in Kanazawa and is also called On'na (female) River. The other class II river is Sai River, also called Otoko (male) River. The above photos show bridges over Asano River. The upper one shows Umenohashi (Plum Bridge) together with Asanogawa-ohashi (the Big Bridge of Asano River) far beyond. The lower shows Tenjinbashi (Tenjin Bridge; Tenjin means the Shinto kami of scholarship) located upstream to Umenohashi. I lived in the street near the latter bridge when I was 3–4 years old.

From tweets of yesterday afternoon (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Astrophysics

"What's eating the stars out of our galaxy's heart?" @marcuschown, New Scientist (September 20, 2010). —"The centre of the Milky Way is darker than you'd expect – and not just because it's home to a supermassive black hole."

About Science

"Podcast: What the brain can and can't do; Are we reaching the end of discovery?" Guardian. —"Professor Barry Smith delves into the mysteries of the mind and looks at what goes into making a decision. Plus, Professor Russell Stannard argues that we are reaching the limits of what humans can understand."

2010年9月20日月曜日

郷里・金沢3 (My Hometwon Kanazawa 3)



 写真上:JR金沢駅東口の「鼓門」。木製で、2005年に完成。その奥に巨大な総ガラス製の半球形天井「もてなしドーム」が続く。写真下:同駅西ビル。旧市街は駅の南東に広がっていたが、最近、北西側の開発が進み、2003年、石川県庁舎もこちら側に移転した。

Upper photo: "Tsuzumi Gate" having pillars of the shape of tsuzumi (a Japanese drum), at the east entrance of JR Kanazawa Station. This wooden gate was completed in 2005. Behind the gate, a building with a large hemispherical ceiling totally made of glass, "Motenashi Dome" (Hospitality Dome) stands. Lower photo: Ekinishi Building (East Station Building). The old town of Kanazawa was mainly in the southeast of the station. Development of the northwest region was advanced recently. In 2003, Ishikawa Prefectural Office moved to this side.

From tweets of yesterday and this morning (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Arts

[From heppoco_daze] 東京では、[ユトリロ展は]終わってしまったようですね。没後120年ゴッホ展が国立新美術館で開催されるようです。

[To heppoco_daze] ゴッホ展 は、10月1日〜12月20日ですね。その間に上京の機会がありますので、ぜひ見たいです。

About Blogs

NPR blog site recommended by Scout Report: "13.7: Cosmos and Culture." —Engage in a dialogue about present crucial issues!

About Books

Went to Osaka Science Museum this afternoon to study quantum field theory in "Theoretical Physics Circle" and also attended a meeting after meeting. There, we discussed about what "time" is and got no definitive answer. Have to read @seanmcarroll's "From Eternity to Here."

[From sciencegoddess] @seanmcarroll's book, "From Eternity to Here" is very good. You'll enjoy it.

[To sciencegoddess] Thanks for your kind words about "From Eternity to Here." I reordered the paperback edition of it to be released on October 26, 2010.

About Peace and Politics

福泉・鳳地域「憲法9条の会」主催 学習会のお知らせ:来る9月26日午2時から、学習会「核兵器、戦争はなくせるか? Yes, We Can!!」を開催します(詳細はリンク先参照)。こぞってご参加下さい。

[From itadori3] 自治会や祭りの用事でバタバタしており、お役に立てなくてすみません。小学校の運動会の日でもあり、近所から数名だけですが参加してくれます。当日司会をいわれて今から緊張しています。成功させたいですね。

[To itadori3] 福泉・鳳地域「憲法9条の会」のブログに学習会チラシのイメージを載せたのが、初めは小さ過ぎ、文とともに、何度も手直しをしました。司会、よろしくお願いします。

2010年9月19日日曜日

美術展二つ (Two Exhibitions of Arts)


モーリス・ユトリロ展を見た駅ビルからの京都市街の眺め。
A view of Kyoto City from the building of JR Kyoto Station,
where I saw Maurice Utrillo Exhibition.


 昨日、京都市美術館へ、友人が出品している新象展を見に行き、帰途、モーリス・ユトリロ展も見た。ユトリロの描いた街の絵の多くは、写真や絵はがきを参考にしていたと知った。私もそのような方法で水彩画を描いているので、親しみを覚えた。しかし、注意深く観察すると、中には遠近法において、幾何学的に不正確な(一階と二階の狭まり方の比率が異なる)ところのあるものも見受けられた。芸術は科学的でなくてもよいのだろうが…。[英語版はもっと詳しい(とくに前半)。]

Yesterday morning, I went to Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art to see Shinsho Exhibition, in which a friend of mine, Saiko Yoshihara, presented an abstract painting. Yoshigoro Mizutani, one of common friends of Saiko and me, also came to see the exhibition from Takatsuki. Saiko's artwork is always composed of circles and curves in different colors and entitled "Dairen (Dalian; her birth place) something." This time, the title was "Dairen–焔–2010" (焔 means flame), and the tone of colors, including black and red, was darker than her earlier works, which gave us warm impressions with light tones. The old city of Dalian in her memory is now burning into flame. What comes next? Is it ash?

The three of us talked for a while at the coffee shop in front of the museum. Saiko recommended us to see Maurice Utrillo Exhibition at Museum "Eki" Kyoto. Therefore, Yoshigoro and I came to JR Kyoto Station together, but he said that he would like to see Utrillo Exhibition without having lunch. I was unbearable to do so, and the result was that we saw the exhibition separately (this is what male friends sometimes do).

From Utrillo Exhibition, I learned that Utrillo painted many of his works of streets on the basis of photos and picture cards. I'm using a similar method in watercolor painting! There were about 90 works of Utrillo including those painted with gouache (nontransparent kind of watercolor), so that I had much to learn there. Looking at carefully his works, however, I found that some of those have the perspective geometrically inaccurate (the ratios of diminishing of the heights of the lower and the upper floors are not the same). I know that arts and science are different but ...

From tweets of September 17 and 18, 2010 (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Arts

"And the winner is . . ." physicsworld, blog —"US photographer Tom Lowe won the 2010 astronomy photographer of the year award."

About Astrophysics

"Map of moon's craters reveals its cataclysmic past," Guardian (September 17, 2010). —"Scientists used instruments aboard Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to scan the surface of the moon for impact craters measuring at least 20 km wide."

About Biology

"The ecological significance of tool use in New Caledonian crows," Science; Supplementary material "Clever crows," ibid., Video Portal. —The clever crows get very nutritional food.

About Mathematics

[Retweet of pickover's words] "Pi record smashed as team finds two-quadrillionth digit." News (September 16, 2010). —"A researcher has calculated the 2,000,000,000,000,000th digit of the mathematical constant pi – and a few digits either side of it."

About Peace and Politics

伸びていますね。皆さん、もっともっと協力しましょう! [Retweet of hutenma1's words] http://jimorikouken.web.fc2.com/普天間基地撤去を求める高校生の会:現在、署名3443筆 (Retweeted by behamah and DugongDugongDug)

About Physicists

[Retweet of ProfBrianCox's words] [ProfBrianCox has] a show on Richard Feynman on Saturday evening on radio4. robinince wrote a nice introduction to him.

About Physics

"Searching the Sun for dark matter," physicsworld News (September 10, 2010). —"Interesting but more information needed to make a detailed critique."

"First observation of a macroscopic quantum jump," Tech Rev, arXiv blog (September 17, 2010). —Possible applications for quantum computing etc. (Retweeted by charmqgp)

About Science

"Evolution of national Nobel Prize shares in the 20th century," arXiv.org, arXiv:1009.2634v1 [physics.hist-ph]. —Graphs show century's migration patterns (brain drains and gains) in the sciences and other fields. (Retweeted by fermin771009)

Exchange of Words with Friends

[chiamai's words] Amazing astro-pics (via tttabata)! Winners: Astronomy Photographer of the Year: Exhibitions. —Visit the museum: NMM.

[To chiamai] Hi, Thanks for your retweets. Began to post sketches and photos of Kanazawa on my blog but may be slow, because it's a season busy for going out.

[From chiamai] The astro pics are incredible! I'll check your blog. I have posted a few pics of what I see when opening my window.

[To chiamai] Oh, your photos clearly show that Grenoble is a wonderful place!

[From chiamai] Thanks! My pics are a bit mono-thematic, but the reason why I chose this view is that it is close to the flat and that I like the idea of documenting its evolution. [Rewritten by T.T. with some guesses]

2010年9月17日金曜日

郷里・金沢2 (My Hometwon Kanazawa 2)


 昨日掲載のスケッチの下に続く眺め。宿泊したホテルの、奥でL字型になっている側面の一階部分が見えており、従業員用出入り口かと思われる。15日午前、高校同期の友人・K.Y. 君との面会時間までの間に急いで描いた。彼とはホテルの喫茶室で10時半から12時少し前まで愉快に語り合った。

The image shows my sketch of the view from the hotel window, just below that of the picture posted yesterday. Here, we see the first floor of the inner side of the L-shaped hotel building. Possibly there is an entrance for the hotel employees. I quickly made this work Wednesday morning while waiting for the time of appointment with K.Y., a high-school friend of mine. K.Y. and I had a merry time of conversation at the coffee shop of the hotel from 10:30 to a little before 12:00.

2010年9月16日木曜日

郷里・金沢1 (My Hometwon Kanazawa 1)


 9月13日に郷里の金沢へ行き、15日に帰宅した。13日午後には、小学校6年生のときのクラス担任だったA先生を訪れた。昨年米寿を迎えて金沢市などから祝福を受けた先生は、目が手術すれば失明の恐れもあるという厄介なタイプの白内障になり、医療技術の発展を待って手術を見合わせておられるとのことだった。しかし、精神的にはすこぶるお元気で、差し上げた私の自費出版書の内容などを中心に大いに話がはずんだ。

 宿泊したホテルの部屋は三階で、窓が狭い横町に面していることもあり、眺めはよくなかったが、ビルの谷間に小さな和食堂が悠然と店を構えている様子が面白く、スケッチしたのが上掲のイメージである。

Went to my hometown Kanazawa on Monday, September 13, and returned home on Wednesday. Monday morning, I visited Mr. A, who was the class teacher in my sixth year at primary school. He became 88 years old last year to be blessed by the city etc. However, he has gotten such a variety of cataract that surgery might lead to blindness. Therefore, he is postponing surgery to await the further development of medical technology. However, he had strong mind, and we talked much about the contents of my book I brought to him and other topics.

The hotel room I stayed was on the third floor, and its window was facing the narrow alley. Thus, the view from the window was not pretty enough. However, a small Japanese restaurant, proudly standing among tall buildings, provided lovely setting for my sketching (the image above).

From tweets of September 12–16 (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Astrophysics

"Discovery of habitable earth-like planet 'to be announced in May 2011'," Tech Rev arXiv blog. —"Put the date in your diaries."

"Cosmic question," Physics. —Where do cosmic magnetic fields come from?

About Mathematics

[In reply to peterflom's words] You can enlarge the image of 100 important math equations by clicking on it. I can also name only a few.

[From peterflom] Thanks! Yeah, I know a few of them, but not many.

About Peace and Politics

Film "ANPO" (extract and description). —"It depicts resistance to U.S. military bases in Japan through an electrifying collage of paintings and photographs, as well as animated, narrative and documentary films by Japan’s foremost contemporary artists."

[Retweet of ihayoichi's words] NHK沖縄放送局映像が、YouTubeの http://bit.ly/dBOphF にあります。沖縄海兵隊は、海兵隊を残したい防衛省や外務省に呼応して、グアムから海兵隊を呼び戻す配置案を作成したのです http://bit.ly/aIx3to。私[伊波洋一]の説明映像が http://bit.ly/cXoVqP にあります。

"The Test Ban Challenge: Nuclear Nonproliferation and the Quest for a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty,"George Washington University, National Security Archive.

About Physicists

"Obituary: Nicola Cabibbo (1935-2010)," Nature —Pioneer in understanding the weak force of particle physics. (Retweeted by fermin771009)

About Physics

"Secret corps of filmmakers documented nuclear bomb tests," New York Times. —"Risking their lives to capture on film hundreds of blinding flashes, rising fireballs and mushroom clouds." (Retweeted by fermin771009)

"Uncertain sources," Physics. —About the paper "PAMELA results on the cosmic-ray antiproton flux from 60 MeV to 180 GeV in kinetic energy" O. Adriani et al.

"From liquid argon to M theory?" @jonmbutterworth, Guardian, Science. —Physics theories from an experimentalist's viewpoint.

[Retweets of LHCbExperiment's words] "Beautiful atoms," September 6, 2010. —The LHCb has observed beautiful atoms at LHC at CERN. The atoms are bound states of the beauty quark and anti-beauty quark (via grahamfarmelo).

About Technology

Communication age: [Retweet of Alyssa_Milano's words] Fascinating: "Arthur C. Clarke predicting the future in 1964" (via chloroformdays and ABC).

Quotations

[Retweet of philoquotes's words with a comment] "We make war that we may live in peace." —Aristotle. — This is ironical, and we should not think war is good. (Retweeted by chiamai)

2010年9月12日日曜日

ウォーキング・コースの風景 12 (Scenery in the Courses of My Walking Exercise 12)


 写真は堺市・鳳公園。2010年8月30日に撮影。

The photo, taken on August 30, 2010, shows Ōtori Park, Sakai.

Note: Next post will be on Thursday, September 16, because of my going on a trip.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Books

[Retweet of seanmcarroll's words] @seanmcarroll reviews "The Grand Design": "The 'Why?' Questions, Chapter and Multiverse," Wall Street Journal, Books & Ideas (September 11, 2010). —The bottom line: "Our best hope for constructing sensible answers lies with scientists and philosophers working together, not scoring points off one another."

[Retweet of guardianscience's words] "Gods of science: Prof_S_Hawking and ProfBrianCox discuss mind over matter," Guardian, Science (September 11, 2010).

About Mathematics

[Retweet of pickover's words] "100 important mathematical equations. (large version)" How many can we name? —See also Michael Anderson's Web page that uses the photo cited. (Retweeted by fermin771009)

[In reply to tttabata and pickover] Hard to see them on the blackboard, but I did see the law of cosines up there . . . and the quadratic equation.

About Peace and Politics

[Retweet of GeoShore's words via pfanderson] The atomic bomb cake (1946) . . . and the controversy (well detailed). —The latter is a blog post at "Conelrad Adjacent."

About Physics

"The physics of mud and hair gel," Physical Reveview Focus. —Experiments point toward soil engineering to control moisture loss.

2010年9月11日土曜日

羽毛ケイトウ(黄) (Plumed Cockscomb: Red)


 羽毛ケイトウ(羽毛鶏頭、ヒユ科)。2010年8月30日、堺市・笠池公園で撮影。

Plumed Cockscomb; botanical name, Celosia argentea var. plumosa; family, Amaranthaceae. The photo was taken at Kasaike Park, Sakai, on August 30, 2010.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Astrophysics

[Retweet of newscientist's words] "Found: Natural bridges on the moon," New Scientist, Space (September 9, 2010).

About Internet

"New formula shows who's really top of the tweeters," New Scientist, Tech (September 9, 2010). —Link to top 100 list. (Retweeted by PureSEOdaniel)

About Peace and Politics

「九条の会」メルマガ詳細, 102号 (September 10, 2010).

"Global Leaders: Save Women and Children," Avaaz.org. —Let's sign the petition!

About Photography Related to Science

"Astronomy photographer of the year," National Maritime Museum, London (Exhibition to be held September 10, 2010–February 27, 2011).

[Retweet of guardianscience's words] "In pictures: The secret world of the microscopic," Guardian, Science (September 10, 2010).

About Science

[Retweet of HowStuffWorks's words via Discovery] 3D may be taking over, but what about another dimension? "Can our brains see the fourth dimension?" How Stuff Works.

About Science and Religion

[Retweet of ProfBrianCox's words] Interesting article on atheism versus religion by the eminently non-dickish @alomshaha —"Thank God (and Richard Dawkins) I'm no longer an 'angry atheist',", Guardian, Science blog (September 9, 2010).

2010年9月10日金曜日

羽毛ケイトウ(赤) (Plumed Cockscomb: Red)


 羽毛ケイトウ(羽毛鶏頭、ヒユ科)。2010年8月30日、堺市・笠池公園で撮影。

Plumed Cockscomb; botanical name, Celosia argentea var. plumosa; family, Amaranthaceae. The photo was taken at Kasaike Park, Sakai, on August 30, 2010.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Astrophysics

"Slowly, painfully Seiji Ozawa regains his bounce," New York Times. —'The conductor Seiji Ozawa has characteristically exuded life, energy and a positive spirit, both on the stage and in personal contact. [ . . .] "I felt that I was very happy that I became a musician," he said. "Music was so important. And then I had so much time, and I couldn’t do anything else, and music became more and more important." '

About Astrophysics

"Eight of the most extreme places in the solar system" (Slide show), Scientific American.

"Non-expanding cosmology attempts to oust Big Bang theory," Technology Review arXiv blog. —David F. Crawford, arXiv:1009.0953v1. (Retweeted by hey_leia)

About Peace and Politics

[Retweet of hutenma1's words] 普天間基地撤去を求める高校生の会:現在、署名2458筆。—署名に協力して上げて下さい。

About Physics

[Retweet of madgestar's words] "Exotic matter could show up in the LHC this year," New Scientist. (Retweeted by fermin771009)

[Retweet of jonmbutterworth's words] Physical Review Letters now accepted the first LHC paper to explore beyond the Standard Model.

About Science

[Retweet of Nobelprize_org] Mark your calendars with the 2010 Nobel Prize Announcement dates, starting on October 4: Announcements of the 2010 Nobel Prizes and the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

About Universe and God

"Baroness Greenfield criticizes 'Taliban-like' Stephen Hawking," Telegraph. (Retweeted by Physlad and hey_leia)

Exchange of Words with Friends

[To haisyasan] 珍しい同姓のよしみでフォローさせていただきました。私の父の出身地は石川県七尾市東浜ですが、貴殿もその辺りにご関係はありませんか。

[From haisyasan] 先生の名前は存じております。残念ながら地元丹波篠山市の出身です。よろしくお願いします。

[To haisyasan] お返事のツイートとフォロー、ありがとうございました。丹波篠山のご出身ですか。それでも、はるか遠い祖先でつながっているかも知れませんね。よろしくお願いします。

2010年9月9日木曜日

ツルナシアサガオ (Morning Glory without Vines)


 ツルナシアサガオ(蔓無し朝顔、ヒルガオ科)。2010年8月30日、わが家の庭で撮影。

Morning glory without Vines; family, Convolvulaceae. The photo was taken at our yard on August 30, 2010.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Books

"Many kinds of universes, and none require God," New York Times. —More about Stephen Hawking’s new book.

About Hobbies

[From chiamai] Hi! I finally dared to post a photo. Not good, but gives the idea of me not sleeping because of rain and stress :)

[To chiamai] Hi, It's an artistic photo with a flavor of abstract painting. Did you get it with a long exposure?

[From chiamai] Thanks for your kind words. I used a long exposure, but with an automatic setting in my camera. I have also taken 'normal' pics, but this corresponds more to my being half-asleep and a bit angry at the rain that woke me up.

[To chiamai] I see. Today I noticed your retweet at quite an early time of your zone. We also had rain this morning after a long while.

About Internet and Science

[Retweet of edyong209's words] Join in RT @Sheril_: "Thoughts from around the web on The Science Writing Renaissance," Discover Blogs, The Intersection.

About Physics

"Why spacetime on the tiniest scale may be 2-dimensional," Tech Rev arXiv blog —Will any kind of experiments be able to prove the idea mentioned? (Retweeted by fermin771009)

2010年9月8日水曜日

ウォーキング・コースの風景 11 (Scenery in the Courses of My Walking Exercise 11)


 写真は堺市西区の南部に残る田園。2010年8月28日に撮影。もう稲穂の香りが漂っていて、幼い頃に住んだ田圃の多い小さな市(石川県七尾市。その後、村を併合して面積は拡大された)を思い出させた。写真中央の道の先を、昨日掲載の写真の和田川が横断している。

The photo, taken on August 28, 2010, shows rice fields remaining in the southern part of Nishi-ku, Sakai. There smelled ears of rice already. It reminded me of my childhood when I had lived in a small city (Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture) with a lot of rice fields. At the forward of the road lies Wada River in the photo posted yesterday.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Astrophysics

[Retweet of newscientist's words] 'Astronomers create laser-powered "artificial star",' New Scientist. —"The glow helps astronomers to achieve sharper images by working as a reference point to correct their instruments, allowing them to adjust for the blurring effect caused by the Earth's atmosphere."

About Books

Began to read Marcia Bartusiak's The Day We Found the Universe (Vintage). —"While notorious for being a man of few words .." (p. x). You may ask if Dirac appears here. No, this man is Calvin Coolidge, the thirteenth president of the United States.

[madgestar's words came between my previous tweets about Bartusiak's book (sent in two), as follows: "Popular science books take off: a big bang in physics publishing," by TomChivers*, Telegraph. I wrote about this happening:] This is quite interesting, because the article cited writes about the publishing phenomenon of "the soaring popularity of popular physics books" like the one I am reading.

* The name of the person whose user name on Twitter is known is expressed by it.

[Retweet of oanasandu's words via astronomy2009 and chiamai]: Postcards from the Edge of the Universe". —A book with beautiful photos of astronomical bodies (free electronic versions downloadable).

[Retweet of oanasandu's words via astronomy2009 and chiamai]: Postcards from the Edge of the Universe". —A book with beautiful photos of astronomical bodies (free electronic versions downloadable).

About Physics

"Physicists build a memory that stores entanglement," Tech Rev arXiv blog. —"[T]he most exciting aspect of all this is that the entanglement survives the process of storage and release at all."

[Retweet of sciencedaily's words] "How long does selenium radiate in nuclear waste?" Science Daily. —"In order to estimate the safety of final storage for nuclear wastes, it is important to know the half-lives of the radioactive elements of the nuclear waste as accurately as possible."

"Peter Higgs, UCL and William Waldegrave," by jonmbutterworth, Guardian —This article refers to David Miller's cocktail party analogy of the Higgs mechanism. (Retweeted by jonmbutterworth with the comment, "Indeed. He [Miller] is the common link.")

About Psychology

"Forget what you know about good study habits," New York Times. —"The findings can help anyone from a fourth grader [. . .] to a retiree [. . .]"

2010年9月7日火曜日

ウォーキング・コースの風景 10 (Scenery in the Courses of My Walking Exercise 10)


 写真は堺市内を流れる和田川。写真前方で石津川に注ぐ。2010年8月30日に撮影。

The photo, taken on August 30, 2010, shows Wada River in Sakai. This river flows into Ishizu River at the forward of the view.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Arts

Yesterday, my wife and I went to see the 1934 German film "Abschiedwalzer: Zwei Frauen um Chopin" (Japanese title "別れの曲"), which had been shown in Umeda, Osaka, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Frédéric Chopin's birth. It rather comically depicted Chopin's love of his motherland Poland and two women, Constantia Gladkowska and George Sand.

About Physics

[In reply to materion's words, "Fundamental laws of physics are same everywhere. If the fine-structure constant is not same everywhere, this would mean that it's not a constant."] You're right, indeed, but Dirac would be pleased in heaven.

[From materion] I do not remember if Dirac expressed something about variation of fine-structure constant.

[To materion] I mean Dirac large numbers hypothesis. It does not refer to fine structure constant, but the gravitational "constant" was assumed to be inversely proportional to the age of the universe.

[From materion] Thanks for pointing out Dirac's large numbers hypothesis. Gravitational constant must be in some way interconnected with the fine-structure constant.

2010年9月6日月曜日

サルスベリの花のある風景5 (Scenery with Crape-myrtle Blossoms 5)



 2010年8月24日、堺市・鈴の宮団地の小公園で撮影。

The photo was taken at a small park in Suzunomiya Estate, Sakai, on August 24, 2010.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Books

Book Review, Guy Deutscher's "Through the Language Glass," New York Times. —The review is so good that it makes me want to read the book.

About Sports

都市対抗野球、珍しい私と同姓の多幡雄一選手(写真)のいるホンダ(狭山市、昨年優勝)を応援していたが、さる3日の対東京ガス戦で2—4で負け、連覇を逃していたことを、いまインターネット検索で知った。

About Universe and God

"Are we living in a designer universe?" Telegraph. —It is interesting that John Gribbin wrote this article just before "Hawking's denying God's creation fever." (I wrote the same comment on the Facebook page of Gribbin. He replied, "Well spotted!")

"Is physicist S. Hawking right that physics, not God, created the universe?" Poll, Gardian Yes: 37.5%, No: 62.5%. What do you think?

[From F414] God was created by imagination; the universe by energy. The universe came first.

[To F414] Yes, I think so too. I wanted to hear rather comments on the result of the poll. When I saw the result about 8 hours before the closing of the poll, "Yes" was 85%, and I thought the opinion of the British was sound. However, I was surprised at the final result.

[From F414] God is comforting; the unknown is not. Personally I love the unknown, the unthought, the not yet imagined; but that's just me.

[To F414] Science seeks for the truth of Nature; religion, the peace of mind as you mean by the words "God is comforting." From this point of view, the poll itself (or Hawking's saying) is nonsense. There should be no debate between science and religion.

Exchange of Words with Friends

[To chiamai] Hi, It's perhaps morning there. I woke up from a nap after lunch.

[From chiamai] HI! Yes it's morning, and I'm up a bit later as it's Sunday. Have a nice afternoon :)

[To chiamai] Your time zone is UTC+2 hours including +1 hour of daylight saving time (DST), right? Ours is UTC+9 hours. In what months do you use DST?

[From chiamai] Right, we are currently UTC+2 hours. DST in the European Union is used between the last Sundays of March and October. What about Japan?

[To chiamai] We used DST from 1948 to 1951 but don't use it now. Only in the most northern area, Hokkaido, it is used experimentally.

[From itadori3] サルスベリは今わが家に咲いている唯一つの花で、暑さにため息をつきながら毎日眺めています。猿がすべることからこの名前とか…。孫に教えたけど「ウソつき」という顔をされました。漢字は関係ない「百日紅」なんですね。

[To itadori3] サルスベリの木の肌は、サルがすべりそうなほどツルツルなので、その名があり、百日紅と書くのは、花の咲く期間の長さからの別名を当てているのでしょう。

2010年9月5日日曜日

サルスベリの花のある風景4 (Scenery with Crape-myrtle Blossoms 4)


 2010年8月16日、堺市・八田寺町で撮影。

The photo was taken at Handaijicho, Sakai, on August 16, 2010.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Arts

"Mingei International Museum: Folk Art, Craft, Design."Mingei is the Japanese word for "art of the people" (via Internet Scout).

"Yoshitomo Nara Nobody's Fool," Asia Society's Museum in New York City. —Exhibition of a variety of works by the Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara (via Internet Scout).

About Books

Book review, "Washington Rules" by Andrew J. Bacevich, New York Times. —"As foreign policy debates in the run-up to the November elections degenerate into Muslim-bashing bombast, the country [USA] is lucky to have a fierce, smart peacemonger like Bacevich."

About Peace and Politics

[Retweet of CloseTheBase's words] Follow "CloseTheBase" on Twitter!

About Physics and Cosmology

"Eternal black holes are the ultimate cosmic safes," New Scientist —Stephen Hsu's work "White holes and eternal black holes" popularized. (Retweeted by rosaamarilla)

About Universe and God

Comments by RogerHighfield and grahamfarmelo are quoted. —[Retweet of madgestar's words] "Stephen Hawking's Universe theory," Daily View.

"Hawking and Archbishop 'could both be right' on God," Channel 4 News (via the author John Gribbin on Facebook).

Exchange of Words with Friends

[To chiamai] Hi, we tweeted at almost the same time.

[From chiamai] Hi! I was about to check out your photos :)

[To chiamai] I find few kinds of flowers to get a shot these days. Here hot summer days are still continuing.

[From chiamai] The pic is nice, even if taken in August, and I found the interesting links to Hubble and to the IAEA report as extra bonuses :)

2010年9月4日土曜日

サルスベリの花のある風景3 (Scenery with Crape-myrtle Blossoms 3)


 2010年8月14日、堺市・八田北町で撮影。

The photo was taken at Hatta-kitamachi, Sakai, on August 14, 2010.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Astrophysics

"Hubble's greatest hits," physicsworld. —A review of the Hubble Space Telescope's revolutionary discoveries.

About Books

Book Review, Suman Seth's Crafting the Quantum: Arnold Sommerfeld & the Practice of Theory, 1890–1926, Physics Today. —'[F]or the general reader, [this book] is an account of the transition from the old "quantum-number mystique" to modern quantum mechanics based on general symmetry principles and invariance.'

About Nuclear Technology

[Retweet of UN's words] New IAEA report: "International Status and Prospects of Nuclear Power" (via iaeaorg).

About Physics

"The discovery of superconductivity," Physics Today —Kamerlingh Onnes's careless notebook entries have confused the story.

"Changes spotted in fundamental constant," physicsworld. —The author of the news is less doubtful than the author of the article in Tech Rev arXiv blog about the same news.

"Three-year extension recommended for Tevatron," ibid. —"[T]o search the entire range of likely masses for the Higgs boson, and perhaps even find the first evidence of its existence."

[Retweet of wiredscience's words] "String theory finally does something useful," Wired Science. —"[P]hysicists at Imperial College London and Stanford University have found a way to make string theory useful, not for a theory of everything, but for quantum entanglement."

About Science

[Retweet of CatherineQ's words] This is *really* good [for educational purposes]: "The Scale of the Universe," Htwins.net.

About Universe and God

"In praise of . . . God," Editorial (Comment is free), Guardian. —Many people write their comment, but I do not want to do so.

[Retweet of madgestar's words] "Hawking: God not needed for Universe to be created", Universe Today. —With a video.

About Hawking again: [Retweet of jonmbutterworth's words] Ooh, found it here. —"Stephen Hawking: Physics Leaves No Room For God," YouTube from Times Channel 4 News. Professor John Butterworth of University College London himself is one of speakers.

2010年9月3日金曜日

サルスベリの花のある風景2 (Scenery with Crape-myrtle Blossoms 2)


 2010年8月14日、堺市・八田北町で撮影。

The photo was taken at Hatta-kitamachi, Sakai, on August 14, 2010.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Blogs

[Retweeting sk_c's words: Blog Post: Introducing "The Language of Bad Physics" to PLoS.] Congratulations on the move of your blog to a new home!

About Quantitative Biology

"The new science of network archaeology," Tech Rev arXiv blog. —The "idea is to look at the process in reverse" and "is likely to generate some interesting new insights into the process of evolution, not to mention the history of the networks."

About Technology

"Accelerators for America's Future," symmetry. —This article should be helpful for the Japan's Ministry of Education and Science. 日本の文部科学省が参考にするとよい記事である。

About Universe

"Stephen Hawking says universe not created by God," Guardian. —Hawking says this in a forthcoming book, "The Grand Design."

"Is physicist Stephen Hawking right that physics, not God, created the universe?" Poll; comment is free. Guardian. (Retweeted by chiamai)

Quotations

[Retweeting marcuschown's words: "I am sure the universe is full of intelligent life. It has just been too intelligent to come here."—Arthur C. Clarke.] Ha-ha! I like these words!

2010年9月2日木曜日

サルスベリの花のある風景1 (Scenery with Crape-myrtle Blossoms 1)


 2010年8月11日、堺市・津久野南団地で撮影。

The photo was taken at Tsukuno-minami Estate, Sakai, on August 11, 2010.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Astrophysics

"The extraordinary tale of red rain, comets and extraterrestrials," Tech Rev arXiv blog.—"[. . .] more evidence will be required before Kerala's red rain can be satisfactorily explained."

About Hobbies

[To chiamai] Hi, I should be happy if you could look at my watercolor "The Grove in Summer" on your last summer holiday. [chiamai wrote kind words by the name of Chiara in the comment column of yesterday's blog article of "Ted's Coffeehouse, where the watercolor mentioned above was posted.]

[In reply to itadori3's words, "遠近感がとてもよく出ていて、ゆったりとしたよい作品ですね。こんな場所でじっくり散策をしたい気持ちになりました。"] ブログに掲載の水彩画「夏木立」をお褒めいただき恐縮です。

About Mathematics

"Japanese man calculates Pi to 5 trillion digits on homemade computer," Telegraph

2010年9月1日水曜日

水彩画「夏木立」 (Watercolor "The Grove in Summer")


 写真は、7月末頃から描き始め、さる8月29日に完成した水彩画「夏木立」。2010年5月30日に堺市・大仙公園の片隅で撮影した写真を参考にしたもの。写真は、暗い部分が多いにもかかわらず、爽やかな感じだったのに惹かれて、絵の対象に取り上げた。透明水彩絵具、ホルベイン「ウォーターフォード・ホワイト」水彩紙 F6 (410×318 mm)。

 絵の写真は、最初に戸外で、日が陰っているときや、直射日光の当たる条件の下でとってみたが、赤みがかった色がうまく出なかった。結局、書斎で、フラッシュのつく条件下で撮ったものを採用した。

The photo shows my watercolor entitled "The grove in summer." Drawing began near the end of July and finished on August 29. I made it with reference to a photo I took in Daisen Park, Sakai, on May 30, 2010, because I liked the refreshing sight of that photo in spite of the presence of a large portion of the dark area. Transparent watercolors and "Water Ford White" watercolor paper of F6 size (410×318 mm) made by Holbein Art Materials Inc. were used.

As for the photo of the watercolor, I first got shots in the open air when the sun is in and out of clouds. However, the results were not satisfying in either conditions, because reddish colors were not reproduced faithfully. Finally, I adopted the photo taken in my study room by using the flashlight of the camera.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Astrophysics and Cosmology

"Why don't we see white holes in space?" Jennifer Ouellette (JenLucPiquant on Twitter), Discovery News (via aboutdotcom). —'[Stephen Hsu at the University of Oregon] postulates that it must explode, thereby releasing huge amounts of energy: "quasithermal radiation." He concludes that stable white holes simply cannot exist in empty space, and that is why we see no evidence for them.'

About Books

"[. . .] science, while it diminishes our cosmic pretensions, enormously increases our terrestrial comfort. That is why, in spite of the horror of the theologians, science has on the whole tolerated." —Bertrand Russell, "In Praise of Idleness," p. 163. [Finished reading this book (started on July 9).]

Other quotes from and comment on this book tweeted earlier:

"The notion that the desirable activities are those that bring a profit has made everything topsy-turvy." p. 12.

"Curious learning not only makes unpleasant things less unpleasant, but also makes pleasant things more pleasant." p. 25.

Bertrand Russell proposed communal architecture to improve the condition of working women, but it is a pity that this proposal has not yet been well realized over the world.

"It is the psychology of the producer that makes men more anxious to sell than to buy, and that causes Governments to engage in the laughable attempt to create a world in which every nation sells and no nation buys." p. 48.

"To the young of all lands Hollywood represents the last word in modernity, displaying both the pleasures of the rich and the methods to be adopted for acquiring riches." p. 134.

"The idea that a special training may be necessary to understand, say, the theory of relativity, causes a sort of irritation, although nobody is irritated by the fact that a special training is necessary in order to be a first-rate football player." p. 136.

Additional comment:

Russell writes that he is in opposition to Communism but that he is as convinced a Socialist as the most ardent Marxist, adducing nine arguments in favor of Socialism. This might seem contradictory. However, the investigation of his definitions of the two theories assures us that his attitude is natural. Russell identifies Communist as the person who accepts the doctrines of the Third International. The International intended to fight "by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and the creation of an international Soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the State" (quoted from "Comintern" in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 14 August 2010 at 01:539). On the other hand, he has some hope that a less catastrophic transition to Socialism than a violent upheaval is possible.

About Environment

"Bjørn Lomborg: $100bn a year needed to fight climate change," Guardian. —A 'skeptical environmentalist' and critic of climate scientists changed his tune to declare global warming a chief concern facing the world.