2010年10月31日日曜日

軽井沢で1 (In Karuizawa 1)


 さる10月27、28の両日、軽井沢で旧金沢菫台高校新聞部の同窓会「菫台時報会」(第14回)が行なわれ、参加した。出発前に滞在する日々の軽井沢の予想気温をインターネットで調べると、最高で5度となっており、冬装束を準備して出かけた。それほど寒くなければ、早めに会場へ行って、散策を楽しむところだったが、予想気温の低さに驚いて、集合時間に近い夕刻に到着する新幹線の列車を選んだ。

 出席予定者は12名だったが、間際に3名のキャンセルがあり、「ホテル鹿島の森」に参集したのは、盛会だった頃の半分以下の9名だった。しかし、政治・経済・社会問題を声高に論じてあきない口達者な連中が何人もいて、相変わらず賑やかな会合だった。[写真はホテル鹿島の森の前の庭園。28日の朝、撮影した。]

On October 27 and 28, I attended the 14th reunion of the newspaper club of the former Kanazawa Kindai Senior High School (the reunion is named "Kindaijihō-kai") held in Karuizawa. Finding on the Internet that the highest temperature expected during our stay in Karuizawa would be 5 degrees centigrade, I went with winter clothes. If it had not been so cold, I would have enjoyed walking in Karuizawa before the meeting. However, I was surprised to the temperatures expected and chose the bullet train that arrived at Karuizawa close to the meeting time in the evening.

The number of people who initially entered in the list of participants was twelve, but three persons made cancellation. Thus, the number of persons actually came to the site of reunion, Hotel Kajimanomori, was only nine (less than one half of the number at the best time of the reunion). However, there were some participants who liked loudly and tirelessly to discuss political, economic and social issues, and the meeting was lively as ever. The photos above, taken in the morning of 28th, show the front garden of Hotel Kajimanomori.

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

About Biology

"The evolutionary origin of laughter," Technology Review Physics arXiv Blogs (October 29, 2010). —"A new theory attempts to explain one of the great puzzles of evolutionary biology: why we laugh." [Retweeted by Neil Gunther and Tim Jones]

[From Tim Jones] Interesting, but the explanation of humor would be more so.

[To Tim Jones] The evolutionary origin of humor? It might come after the establishment of the theory on the origin of laughter. Let's expect it.

[From Tim Jones] Yes; it could well be. The article reminded me that laughter can be separate from humor (nervous, embarrassed, etc.).

[To Tim Jones] Yes, laughter comes not only from humor but also nervousness and embarrassment. The Japanese often show a smile for the last reason.

[From Tim Jones] I know! My boss was Japanese between 1992 and 1996 (from Nippon Steel). I just did not like to mention it (embarrassed laughter ;-).

[To Tim Jones] It's interesting (or embarrassing) that you learned embarrassed laughter from contact with your former Japanese boss.

About Books

"Book Review: A Skeptic’s Case for Nuclear Disarmament by Michael E. O’Hanlon," New York Times (October 29, 2010). —I don't support O’Hanlon's solution.

About English Language

I'm doing it! [Retweet of 朝日ウイークリー's words:] @asahi_weekly 『iPad英語学習法』著者、湯川さん @tsuruaki によると、英語学習には英語ツイートが有効。「英文日記」連載の石原さん @mayumi_ishihara も推進者で英語ツイートの輪 #twinglish を。[Retweeted by 朝日ウイークリー]

About Physics

"Between graphite and diamond," Physical Review Focus (October 29, 2010). —The structure made by a 2003 graphite compression experiment involves bct-carbon ("body-centered tetragonal").

Exchange of Words with Friends

[From Tim Jones] It was a very multi-cultural environment in Brussels. I learnt a lot there from different cultures/nationalities. If only everyone could have the same experience, we would all understand each other better. The world is getting there . . . slowly.

[To Tim Jones] I also liked to have multi-cultural environment on the occasions of international academic meetings. Thus we, scientists and engineers, might be better diplomats than the actual ones who work in the fields of politics.

[To Chiara Maieron] I should be glad if you could enjoy looking at my second watercolor work "A Landscape of the City of Water" for the exhibition to be held next month.

[From Chiara Maieron] At a quick look it looks beautiful! I'm now going to Lyon tonight, to fly to Seattle tomorrow. I'll check your work again from there.

[To Chiara Maieron] Thanks for your kind words about quick look at my watercolor. Have a nice flight and good days in Seattle!

2010年9月分記事へのエム・ワイ君の感想 (M.Y.'s Comments on September-2010 Articles; in Japanese only)

 M.Y. 君から "Ted's Coffeehouse 2" 2010年9月分への感想を9月28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. 郷里・金沢

 金沢の街の風景・名所の美しい写真と筆者の描いた絵を添えて、9月13日から15日の3日間が、懐古風にまとめられた旅行記です。A 先生と古くからの友人、合わせて3名の方々と会い、その合間をぬって、ありし日の郷里・金沢を偲ばれたこの旅は、いつまでも心に残るものでしょう。10回の連載には、生活の場としての金沢のよさも紹介され、読んで、見て、楽しいものでした。

 昨年米寿を迎えて金沢市などから祝福を受けたA先生[小学6年生のときのクラス担任]は、手術すれば失明の恐れもある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。

 K.T. さんとは、14日に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。

 高校同期の友人 K.Y. 君とは15日に、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。

 13日に A 先生の家を辞してから、私の母校・菫台高校まで歩く。高校1、2年生のときに私の住んでいた家が、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た。

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。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。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。

 14日には、城下まち金沢周遊バスの1日フリー乗車券を買って、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。私は3~4歳の頃、写真にある天神橋の近くの町に住んでいた。

 周遊バスを再度利用して、片町まで行き、犀川大橋を渡ってから、川岸の道へ降りてみる。桜橋と、遠方に白山へとつながる山系が見える。

 この他、金沢蓄音機館や天徳院、尾山神社、金沢の中心街、香林坊北側の裏通りを撮った写真もあり、「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わりである」と結んでいます。

2. ウォーキング・コースの風景

 8月19日から9月12日まで、12回にわたって掲載された夏のウォーキング・コース風景は、私が昔見て、いまは変わっている景色が所々にあり、興味深く拝見しました。貴宅から往復数キロのコースだと思いますが、夏の空遠くに和泉山脈が見える川沿いの道、木の茂る公園、子ども達が遊んでいる広場、竹林、今も残る田圃、普通の町中の道など、変化に富んだ道を、季節により変わる美しさを楽しみながら逍遥され、健康維持に努められるようすが目に浮かびます。

3. About Hobbies, from and to chiamai(9月9日)

 「chiamai さんから:こんにちは、ようやく一枚の写真をお見せします。あまりよい出来ではありませんが、私が雨とストレスで眠れない様子がお分かりになるでしょう。
 chiamai さんへ:こんにちは、抽象絵画のような雰囲気の芸術的な写真ですね。長い露出をかけて撮ったのですか?
 chiamai さんから:親切なお言葉ありがとう。私のカメラで、長い露出ですが、自動設定で撮りました。「普通」の写真も何枚か撮っていますが、このほうが半睡状態で、私を起こした雨に腹を立てている様子がよく表現されています。
 chiamai さんへ:分かりました。きょう、御地のとても早い時間にリツイートされたのに気付きました。こちらも、朝から久し振りの雨です。

 彼女の写真を開くと、古風な橋を隔てて城のような建物を背景にした真夜中の静かな雨景色(9月8日)がぼかして表現されています。距離と時差を超越した、筆者との簡単な会話のやり取りと、彼女の心象を巧みに表現したこの写真を見ると、不思議な世界に誘われた気がします。

2010年10月30日土曜日

水都の一景 (A Landscape of the City of Water)


 表記題名の水彩画を先日描き上げた。来る11月15日から18日まで堺市役所本館エントランスホールで開催される美交会展に、私が出品する予定の2点のうちの一つである。

 「水都(水の都)」とは、大阪の一つの愛称である。江戸時代、各地の大名がここに蔵屋敷を作り、在来の川に加えて多くの水路を作って年貢米を運んだため、そのように呼ばれるようになった。

The other day, I have finished drawing the watercolor of the title as shown above. It is one of the two works I am going to present at Bikōkai Exhibition, which is to be held at the main building of Sakai City Hall from the 15th to 18th of November.

"The City of Water" became one of the affectionate names of Osaka in Edo Period, because a number of rivers and canals crossed there. Canals were made in that period by daimyo (powerful territorial lords) of different regions of Japan to carry annual rice tax from and to their kurayashiki (house for storage and living) by boats.

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

About Astrophysics

"Earth-sized planets may be more common than we thought," physicsworld (October 28, 2010). —"Almost one in four stars like the Sun could harbor an Earth-mass planet, according to US researchers."

About Books

"Exploiting Entanglement," Science Vol. 330, No. 6004, p. 588 (October 29, 2010). —Jeremy L. O'Brien reviews Anton Zeilinger's Dance of the Photons: From Einstein to Quantum Teleportation. This book was also reviewed by Geoff Pryde in Nature Vol. 467, p. 1042 (October 28, 2010). [Retweeted by Glaucio Souza]

[From Glaucio Souza] It seems to be a good book.

[To Glaucio Souza] Yes, it does, to my trouble of enlarging the list of must-read books.

"Space-time turn around," Nature Vol. 467, p. 1034 (October 28, 2010). —Lee Smolin reviews Roger Penrose's Cycles of Time: An Extraordinary New View of the Universe.

"The poetic beauty of equations," Vishy's Blog (October 23, 2010). —Includes excerpts from the foreword to It Must Be Beautiful: Great Equations of Modern Science (via Graham Farmelo).

About Peace and Politics

[To J. Tanaka] 最近のノーベル賞受賞者では、益川博士が平和活動に熱心です。ノーベル賞講演(Toshihide Maskawa: Nobel Lecture 日本語)でも、戦争の愚かさについて触れておられました。科学関係のノーベル賞講演では、きわめて珍しいことだと思います。

[From J. Tanaka] ちょっとした発言でも、最近話題になった科学者の中で最も好感の持てる方です。

About Physicists

Ioannis Giomataris writes an obituary of the physicist who transformed the measurement of high-energy particles: "Georges Charpak (1924-2010)," Nature Vol. 467, p. 1048 (October 28, 2010).

About Physics

"How to hunt for hidden photons," Technology Review Physics arXiv Blog (October 28, 2010). —Ref: "Hidden Photons from the Sun" (arxiv.org/abs/1010.4689).

"Compact X-ray source could rival accelerators," physicsworld (October 27, 2010). —Plasma wiggler is much more brighter than previous attempts.

About Psychology

"Scientists plan to record people's dreams," Telegraph (October 28, 2010). —"Scientists think it will be possible to record people's dreams and then interpret them, according to a new report."

From conversation on Facebook of yesterday

[Mary Ellen Goree] Why does the word "dyslexic" have to be so difficult to spell?

The Japanese Ministry of Education and Science is planning to add some Chinese characters to "the regularly used Chinese Characters" to be taught at primary and secondary schools. The list of characters to be added includes a very difficult one "鬱," meaning "mental depression." I'll never write it by hand.

[Mary Ellen Goree] Hmmm, I wonder if any Japanese students will become depressed by their inability to write "鬱." ;-)

2010年10月26日火曜日

セイタカアワダチソウ (Canada Golden-rod)


 セイタカアワダチソウ(背高泡立草、キク科)。2010年10月18日、ウォーキング途中で撮影。

Canada golden-rod; botanical name, Solidago canadensis; family, Asteraceae. The photo was taken on October 18, 2010, during walking exercise.

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

About Peace and Politics

参院で自民、民主の国対委員長が、参院憲法審査会規程制定へ合意。参院で過半数を割った民主党が、自民党の要請受け入れの形。参院で同規程を作る緊急性はない。民主党政府が参院で諸法案の審議に自民党の協力を得るための党利党略。憲法問題を党利党略で扱うとは、とんでもない。—「参院憲法審査会『規程』策定への動き」九条の会メルマガ 105号、編集後記 (2010年10月25日) から短縮して引用。

[Retweet of Felicia Weiner's words] "A grim portrait of civilian deaths in Iraq" disclosed by Wikileaks Documents, New York Times, The War Logs (October 22, 2010).

About Physics

"Video: Murray Gell-Mann talks quarks," guardian.com (October 22, 2010).

Exchange of Words with Friends

[To J. Tanaka] 「故郷を離るる歌」の RT ありがとうございました。私がこの歌を好む理由は別途ツイートします。なお、23日付けの「恐縮です…」という貴殿のツイートに、いま貴殿のホームを見て気づきました(私の名前の前に@がなかったため)。フォロアー数は私の方が少なく、しかも、多くは外国の方です。

[To J. Tanaka] 私は小学生のとき大連で終戦を迎えました。日本への引揚げが始まる数カ月前、中国人による大連市当局が日本人家屋の約半分を中国人向けに明け渡すことを命じたので、中国東北部奥地から引き揚げに備えて大連まで来ていた人達と近所の家族を含め、わが家に数所帯が同居しました。その中の、近所から入って貰った A 家には小学生姉妹がいて、不便な生活環境にも関わらず、「故郷を離るる歌」を朗らかによく歌っていました。姉妹の一人が学校で習ったばかりだったからでしょうが、間もなく故郷・大連を離れることになるという思いも込められていたかも知れません。
[Shortened English version of the above] I like "The song of leaving native land," because I often listened to it sung by daughters of one of families, with whom I lived together in Dalian for a few months after the end of the World War II. It was just before our leaving the land.

[From J. Tanaka] 少女の合唱団が朗らかにうたっているこの悲しい筈の別れの歌には不思議な魅力を感じました。ちなみに私の故郷はその気になれば何時でも帰れるところですが、堺市です。 鳳神社へも歩いて行けます。でも今この歌をかわいらしくも上手な少女の合唱で聞くと本当に不思議な感動を覚えました。

[To J. Tanaka] 貴殿の故郷は私の現住所の近くのようですね。奇遇です。「九条の会メルマガ105号からの引用をRTいただき、ありがとうございます。貴殿も九条を守ることに関心のあるご様子、嬉しく思います。

2010年10月25日月曜日

巻積雲2 (Cirrocumulus Clouds 2)


 波状の巻積雲。2010年10月16日午前10時12分、わが家の近くで撮影。

Wave-shaped cirrocumulus clouds. The photo was taken on October 16 at 10:35 near our house.

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

About Internet

Tried to use Wolfram Alpha: Computational Knowledge Engine by putting the day of my birth and got time difference from today, anniversaries, phase of the moon, etc. of that day. It was Wednesday; 27584 days ago; 40th anniversaries of the first Sino-Japanese War and the signing the Treaty of Shimonoseki (both in 1895); and waxing gibbous moon.

About Music

I liked a YouTube video "故郷を離るる歌 (The song of leaving native land)" [高音質ステレオ (High-quality stereo)]. [Retweeted by J. Tanaka]

2010年10月24日日曜日

巻積雲1 (Cirrocumulus Clouds 1)


 巻積雲。絹積雲とも書く。うろこ雲、鰯(いわし)雲、さば雲などとも呼ばれる。2010年10月16日午前10時12分、わが家の近くで撮影。

Cirrocumulus clouds. The photo was taken on October 16 at 10:12 near our house.

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

About Physics

"Entanglement warms up," Physical Review Focus (October 22, 2010). —Theorists propose a technique for entangling two oscillators at around 1 degree Kelvin.

"Experimental search for quantum gravity," by Sabine Hossenfelder [arXiv:1010.3420v1] (Submitted on October 17, 2010). —A brief survey of existent and planned experimental tests. [Retweeted by Glaucio Souza]

About Scientists

"Benoît Mandelbrot: from cauliflowers to cosmic secrets," Telegraph (October 22, 2010).—"Ian Stewart pays tribute to Benoît Mandelbrot, who discovered a formula to explain the beauty of the world around us."

2010年10月23日土曜日

高積雲 (Altocumulus Clouds)


 高積雲。まだら雲、ひつじ雲、むら雲ともいう。2010年10月14日午後4時4分、書斎の窓から撮影。

Altocumulus clouds (Alto, "high", cumulus, "heaped"). The photo was taken on October 14 at 16:04 from the window of my study.

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

About Astrophysics

"Moon really is 'silvery' Nasa discovers," Telegraph (October 21, 2010). —"Scientists have discovered that the surface of the Moon does actually contain deposits of the precious metal."

"How wet the moon? Just damp enough to be interesting," Science Vol. 330, p. 434 (October 22, 2010). —"The moon's recently discovered hydrosphere is nothing like Earth's watery regime."

About Books

"Royal Society's science book prize will be the last," BBC News (October 21, 2010). —"After more than two decades of sifting through the annual offerings of popular science publishing, the award is closing down due to lack of funding." [Retweeted by S. C. Kavassalis with her comment on the situation, "No!")

About Mathematics

An interesting proof that the volume of the bead with the height h is equal to the volume of the sphere with the diameter h! [Retweet of Arjen Dijksman's words] My blogpost: What's the volume of a bead? [Got a thanks message from Arjen for this retweet.]

About Physicists

"An interview with Anton Zeilinger," physicsworld, blog (October 15, 2010). —"A quantum pioneer who doesn't know his limits."

About Physics

"Neutrino spectroscopy can probe the dark matter content in the sun," I. Lopes and J. Silk, Science Vol. 330, p. 462 (October 22, 2010). [Retweeted by Colin Peters]

About Science

"In nature, number one dominates," physicsworld (October 20, 2010). —Numbers starting with the digit 1 occur most frequently in scientific data. [Retweeted by J. Tanaka with a comment, "数って本当にミステリアスです."]

2010年10月22日金曜日

稲木 (Inagi: Hanger for Rice Plants)


 従来、田園では秋になると、イネを刈り取ったあと、束ねて、木材や竹で作った稲木(いなぎ、いなき、いのき)[稲掛け(いねかけ、いなかけ)、稲機(いなばた)、稲架(はさ、はざ、はせ、はぜ、はで)などとも呼ばれる]に掛けて天日で乾燥させる光景が見られたものである。しかし、最近は農作業の機械化が進んで、このような風物があまり見られなくなった。写真はわが家の近くの小さな田で見た、稲木で稲を干してある様子(2010年10月13日撮影)。

After reaping, farmers used to hang rice plants on inagi (also called inekake, inabata or hasa), made of woods or bamboos, for drying them in the sun. Because of progress in the mechanization of farming, we rarely see the scenery of rice plants hung on inagi these days. However, I found one in a small rice field near here and took a picture (October 13, 2010).

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

About Physics

"Why has Physics Today's news coverage of string theory been so sparse?" Dayside, physicstoday.org (September 2, 2010). —Two reasons are given as follows: (1) Speculative theories whose prospects for vindication are remote don't quite deliver. (2) In fields where significant individual advances are hard to spot, the expert-written feature article is often the better editorial option.

About Astrophysics

"Astronomy: Galaxy sets distance mark," Nature Vol. 467, p. 924 (October 21, 2010). C"A galaxy has smashed the record for the most distant object ever observed."

2010年10月21日木曜日

ハナズオウの二度咲き (Reblooming of Chinese Redbud)


 ハナズオウ(花蘇芳、マメ科ジャケツイバラ亜科)。通常は3月ないし4月頃、葉に先立って花をつける。写真の右側に、春に咲いた花から出来た豆果も見られる。2010年10月19日、堺市・鈴の宮公園で撮影。

Chinese redbud; botanical name, Cercis chinensis; family, Caesalpiniaceae. This plant normally blooms in March or April before leaves come out. On the right side of the photo, legumes grown up from spring flowers are also seen. The photo was taken at Suzunomiya Park, October 19, 2010.

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

About Biology

"How the leopard really got his spots," Guardian (October 20, 2010). —Scientists suggest an evolutionary explanation for the leopard's spots.

About Physics

[Retweet of S.C. Kavassalis words] "The cosmological constant (non)-problem" by Eugenio Bianchi, A talk at International Loop Quantum Gravity Seminar (October 19, 2010). The PDF file of the slides is also available. —"The acceleration in the cosmic expansion is well-understood and well-accounted for, by current fundamental physical theory. It is not due to a vacuum energy or a mysterious substance; but is a long distance repulsive force due to the intrinsic dynamics of geometry."

2010年10月20日水曜日

ボケの二度咲き (Reblooming of Flowering Quince)


 ボケ(木瓜、バラ科)。通常は3月ないし4月に花をつける。2010年10月18日、堺市・津久野南団地で撮影。

Flowering quince, also known as flowering quince, Japanese quince or mugua; botanical name, Chaenomeles speciosa; family, Rosaceae. This plant normally blooms in March or April. The photo was taken at Tsukuno-minami Estate, October 18, 2010.

From tweets of October 19, 2010 (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Arts–Science Interaction

"The art of tiny tech: The 2010 Microscopic Photo Competition prizewinners," Scientific American (October 13, 2010). [Retweeted by Glaucio Souza]

About Physics

"Wishing isomers a long life," Physics (). —Discovery of highly excited long-lived isomers in neutron-rich hafnium and tantalum isotopes.

"Fundamental constants from topological insulators," Physics Synopses (October 18, 2010). —An optical exp to measure the fine structure const proposed [Retweeted by Fermin Aceves]

"Row over NASA primate-radiation experiment," Nature News (October 18, 2010). —Controversial test to find safe exposure level for astronauts (see also the next link).

[Retweet of SETIInstitute] "Space Station living, radiation, and monkeys," Discovery News (October 14, 2010): Interesting thoughts from former astronaut!

Exchange of Words with Friends

[To tomyi] Blog コスモス (Cosmos) のQTをいただき、ありがとうございます。『益川博士のつぶやきカフェ』のご感想拝見。読んだような気になりました。

[From tomyi] ありがとうございました。未だ慣れてないもので、ユーザー名リンクされてかったようでです(-_-;)

[To tomyi] たまたま Timeline 欄(英語サイトで見ています)で拝見しました。QTのツイートが @Mentions 欄に出ないので,なぜかと思っていましたが、@の前にスペースが必要ですね。

2010年10月19日火曜日

コスモス (Cosmos)

 コスモスは、キク科コスモス属の総称。アキザクラ(秋桜)ともいう。2010年10月13日、ウォーキング途中で撮影。

Cosmos is a genus, with the same common name of Cosmos. The photo was taken during walking exercise on October 13, 2010.

From tweets of October 18, 2010 (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Science

"Special report: Morality put to the test," New Scientist ().—Morality is no more exclusively the theme of philosophy and religion.

Exchange of Words with Friends

[To F414] Thanks for your RT of my blog post "ザクロの実 (Fruits of Pomegranate)". Why are you interested in pomegranates?

[From F414 in reply to me] I recently had a convo about the meaning of pomegranates relating to the film "The Draughtsman's Contract" (see blog entry).

[In reply to F414] Thanks a lot for your reply. I enjoyed part of your long blog entry (September 27, 2010) on the film.
There, I found the following description:

In this film he [the director of the film, Peter Greenaway] has, as his focus, people who live in a false culture, who spend their time worrying about whether their gardens match up to their neighbor’s and whether their oranges are sweeter than their neighbor’s pomegranates.

[To J. Tanaka] フォローありがとうございました。私からもフォローさせていただきました。鏡像問題について考察していらっしゃいますので、『認知科学』Vol. 15, p. 496 (2008) 掲載の小亀・高野・多幡による誌上討論(小特集—鏡映反転:「鏡の中では左右が反対に見える」のはなぜか?)をまだお読みでなければ、別刷りを差し上げたいと思います。

[From J. Tanaka in reply to me] フォローして頂き、光栄です。ただ今HPを拝見し、ツイッターも拝見しましたが、殆どが英文の高度な内容で、いったんたじろいでしまいました。

2010年10月18日月曜日

トキワマンサクの二度咲き (Reblooming of Chinese Fringe Flower)


 トキワマンサク(常磐万作、マンサク科)。1枚目の写真は、基本種で、ごく薄い黄色の花をつける。2枚目の写真は、花が紅色の変種、ベニバナトキワマンサク(中国原産で葉も赤みを帯びる)。通常の花期は5月頃である。2010年10月14日、鳳公園で撮影。

Chinese fringe flower; botanical name, Loropetalum chinense; family, Hamamelidaceae. Photos: upper, basic variety with pale-yellow flowers; lower, pink-flowering variety; both taken at Ōtori Park on October 14, 2010. The normal flowering period of these plants is around May.

From tweets of October 17, 2010 (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

Exchange of Words with Friends

[From Neil Gunther] "Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why." — Bernard Baruch.
[Re: Winnie-the-Pooh] New York Journal of Books (August 25, 2009).

[In reply to Neil Gunther] Thanks for your tweets of a quote about Newton and your critical review of "The Strangest Man." I haven't yet finished reading this thick book.

Science News

[Retweet of S. C. Kavassalis's words] "Benoit Mandelbrot, Mathematician, Dies at 85" New York Times (October 16, 2010) :(
[See also: a blog post, "Benoît Mandelbrot (1924 – 2010)," by Kavassalis (October 16, 2010); and a newspaper article,"Benoît Mandelbrot obituary," Guardian (October 17, 2010). —I have Mandelbrot's book, "The Fractal Geometry of Nature," but have read only 1.5 pages!]

2010年10月17日日曜日

ザクロの実 (Fruits of Pomegranate)


 ザクロ(石榴、柘榴、若榴、ザクロ科)。2010年10月13日、ウォーキング途中で撮影。

Pomegranate; botanical name, Punica granatum; family, Lythraceae. The photo was taken during walking on October 13, 2010.

From tweets of October 16, 2010 (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Astrophysics

"Star-chaeology: Astronomers zeroing in on early, unseen stage of star formation," Scientific American (October 13, 2010). —Two recent papers have proposed possible "first cores" – short-lived objects that give rise to protostars.

[Retweet of The SETI Institute's words] Why NASA doctors space photos: No, it’s not a conspiracy! "NASA uses Photoshop! It's a conspiracy!," Discovery, News (October 13, 2010). —"To bring us the best imagery the cosmos has to offer, some image processing is often needed, says the author in this commentary." [Retweeted by Glaucio Souza and Rosa Amarilla]

About Books

Me too: [Retweet of S. C. Kavassalis's words] John W. Moffat, Einstein Wrote Back: My Life in Physics (Thomas Allen, 2010) (See the promotion video.) I haven't read this book yet but really must. [Retweeted by Glaucio Souza]

[Retweet of New Physics Books's words] A Scientific Autobiography: S. Chandrasekhar: With Selected Correspondence," edited by Kameshwar C. Wali (World Scientific, 2010).

About Science

"The Spirit of Lindau: The past, present and future of the Annual Laureates Meeting," Scientific American (October 14, 2010). —"This video explores the story and spirit of the annual Lindau Nobel meeting." [Retweeted by Bodensee]

"Video: Space expert denies she is 'ambassador to aliens'," Telegraph (October 15, 2010).

Quotations

[Retweet of PhiloQuotes's words] There was never a genius without a tincture of madness. —Aristotle

2010年10月16日土曜日

歌声喫茶 in さかい (Utagoe Coffeehouse in Sakai)


 昨日の午後、近くの西文化会館・セミナールームで開催された「歌声喫茶 in さかい」に参加した。出演者(一ノ瀬陽子、宮本由美、喜多陵介)の歌と伴奏に合わせて参加者一同がレンタル歌本 [1] の歌詞を見ながら歌うのである。参加者総数は約 70 名で、そのうち男性は 10 名ほどだった。10 分間の休憩を入れて 2 時間、出演者が選んだ歌の他、参加者のうちの希望者が始めに紙に書いて提出したリクェスト曲を含めて、多くの歌を歌った。

 リクェストの数は時間内にとても消化出来ないほどあり、私の提出したリクェスト用紙は読み上げられなかった。しかし、同じ曲「浜辺の歌」のリクェストは何人かの女性たちからあったということで、採用された。私は最近、この歌の 3 番の歌詞を覚えたばかりだったので、リクェストしたのだ。6 割ほどは知らない歌だったが、楽しい時間を過ごした。

Yesterday afternoon, I joined "Utagoe Coffeehouse in Sakai" held at the seminar room of Nishi Culture Hall, Sakai. It was the event in which participants sang songs following the singing and accompaniments of performers (Yoko Ichinose, Yumi Miyamoto and Ryosuke Kita), just like at Utagoe coffeehouses, which had been popular in Japan in ca. 1955–1975. They provided a pair of rental books [1] for us to find lyrics. The total number of participants was about 70, among which only about 10 were men. We sang many songs for 2 hours with a 10-minute break.

Some of the songs were chosen by the performers; and the rest was selected from the requests submitted at the beginning of the event. There were so many requests, so that not all of them could be sung. They did not read my wish sheet. However, the same song, "Hamabe no uta (Song of Beach)" was adopted because it was also requested by some number of women. The reason of my request was that I recently learned the third piece of the lyrics of this song. I did not know about 60% of the songs we sang, but had a joyous time.

  1. ともしび歌集 うたの世界 533 & 2010年版セット, Tomoshibi Group Publications, ID D30045 (2009 & 2010).

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

About Hobbies

「キンシバイ」と「ビヨウヤナギ」だと思ったのは、「タイリンキンシバイ (Hypericum calycinum cv. 'Hidcote')」と「セイヨウキンシバイ (Hypericum calycinum L.)」だった。ブログ記事を訂正。

About Life Science

"Cancer caused by modern man as it was virtually non-existent in ancient world," Telegraph (October 14, 2010). [Retweeted by Fermin Aceves]

About Mathematics

Retweet of S. C. Kavassalis's words] Beautiful math in all browsers: MathJax. [Retweeted by Colin Peters]

About Physics

"Everyone from Aad to Zutshi didn't see an excited quark," physicsworld, Blog (October 13, 2010). —Physicists get excited about seeing nothing.

[From Neil Gunther] [The number of authors of the Physical Review Letters paper about "nothing"] Just computed: 3173; this is a veritable phonebook :)

[To Neil Gunther] Did you estimate, by computation, the number of authors of that paper? It is an awful number.

[From Neil Gunther] Wrote a program that read the list (nine pages) of authors and literally counted all 3173 names.

2010年10月15日金曜日

ハナミズキの実 (Fruits of Flowering Dogwood)


 写真はハナミズキの実。2010年10月13日、わが家の庭で撮影。

The photo, taken at our yard on October 13, 2010, shows fruits of flowering dogwood.

From tweets of October 14, 2010 (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Life Science

"Regular strolls and country walks preserve memory in the elderly and middle aged," Telegraph (October 13, 2010). —"Walking a mile a day could help stave off memory loss and Alzheimer's disease in the elderly, research shows." [Retweeted by lie in la la land]

"What is going on in the brain when we experience déjà vu?" Scientific American (October 7, 2010). —Guesses based on models of memory. [Retweeted by Karin Fornazier]

About Physics

"Physicists count the number of atoms in 1 kg of silicon," Tech Rev, Physics arXiv blog (October 14, 2010). —The answer is 6.02214084(18) × 10^23. ("1 kg" should read "28 g" or 1 mol, as commented by several persons at the blog post.)

About Science

"Science masterclass," Nature Vol. 467 No. 7317, Supplement, pp. S1-S23 (2010). —"[T]he hard work, inspiration and ultimate recognition associated with a life dedicated to scientific enquiry, . . ." (Free full access).

About Technology

[Retweet of FQXi Physics's words] Free Download: Physics World’s Nuclear Special Issue (via Valeriu Tudose and Karin Fornazier). [Retweeted by Karin Fornazier]

Quotations

"Opening a book alone under the lamp, I make friends with the person in the world unseen." —Kenko Yoshida (via heppoco_daze, translated from Japanese by me).

2010年10月14日木曜日

大連の旧小学校同窓会 (The Reunion of a Former Primary School in Dalian)


 日本人の引き揚げ時期が近づいたため1941年末(私が5年生のとき)に廃校になった大連嶺前小学校の、日本での同窓会(嶺前会)総会が2年毎に開催されて、今年第16回を迎え、さる11日に東京のホテル・グランドパレス(1枚目の写真)で開催された。参加者総数は210余名で、われわれの同期生は11名だった。現会長(2枚目の写真)は、もう少し若い卒業生に席を譲ることになったが、全員の高齢化(最も若い会員もすでに70歳を超えている)に伴い、4年後に開催される第18回総会で打ち切りとなる予定である。

Near the end of 1941 (when I was a fifth-year pupil), Dalian Reizen Primary School was closed to prepare for the start of Japanese people's returning to the homeland, and graduates of the school have had a reunion (general meeting of Reizen Association) every two years in Japan. The 16th reunion was held last Monday at Hotel Grand Palace (the upper photo) in Tokyo. The total number of participants was about 210, and there were eleven classmates among them. The current chairman of the association (the lower photo) gives the role to another graduate younger than the former, but the reunion is planned to be discontinued after having the 18th meeting in 2014 because of the aging of all the members (the youngest ones are already over seventy years old).

From tweets of October 12 and 13 (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Astrophysics

"Milky Way is square, according to new galactic map," Technology Review, Physics arXiv blog (October 13, 2010). —"Some of our galaxy's spiral arms are straight rather than curved, giving the Milky Way a distinctly square look, say astronomers."

About Books

[Retweet of New Physics Books's word] Judging Edward Teller: A Closer Look at One of the Most Influential Scientists of the Twentieth Century by Istvan Hargittai (Prometheus, 2010).

About Life Science

"Neuroscience, free will and determinism: 'I'm just a machine'," Telegraph (October 12, 2010). —What we think of as freedom, Professor Patrick Haggard says, is a product of complexity.

About Physicists

"Newton, Moonlighting as an Alchemist," New York Times (October 11, 2010).—The scope and details of his interest in alchemy are now becoming clear.

[From Edmund Harriss] Newton spent even more time on theology and the age of the world (his conclusion, about 10,000 years) Calculus was somewhat of a hobby. Newton's excellent biography: Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton, By Richard S. Westfall (Cambridge University Press, 1983).

[In reply to Edmund] Thanks about Newton. I have a copy of the biography but have not yet time to read it.

[From Neil Gunther] "Isaac Newton the alchemist," Google video, PBS NOVA (2005).

About Physics

"White holes and kitchen sinks," Technology Review, Physics arXiv blog (October 12, 2010). —Scientists' long belief has been proved experimentally. (Retweeted by Colin Peters in a modified form)

"Synopsis: Leveraging the LHC advantage in energy," Physics (October 11, 2010). —"Although the ATLAS Collaboration at the LHC has just begun taking data, they are already able to place new bounds on some models of physics that go beyond the standard model."

About Technology

"Computer beats human at Japanese chess for first time," New Scientist (October 12, 2010) (via Cliff Pickover).

Music

[Retweet of garboviola's words]【ガルボ演奏】映画『80日間世界一周』より —Garbo's viola performance, From "Around the World in 80 Days."

2010年10月13日水曜日

アオサギ (Grey Heron)


 アオサギ(蒼鷺、サギ科)。2010年10月11日、堺市・石津川で撮影。

Grey heron; zoological name, Ardea cinerea; family, Ardeidae. The photo was taken at Ishizu River, Sakai, on September 11, 2010.

From tweets of October 9 (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

About Arts

"Do You Know Your MoMA? 10/08/2010," MoMA. —"If you think you can identify the artist and title of each of these works . . . please submit your answers . . ."

[Retweet of Cliff Pickover's Words] Images and movies of the Buddhabrot— S. Casey, "Buddhabrot: Do Not Filter Out the Non-Escaping Trajectories," Blog site The Laughing Bone (October 10, 2007). —"The Buddhabrot is a special rendering of the Mandelbrot set which, when traditionally oriented, resembles to some extent certain depictions of the Buddha."

About Internet

Tried to use Twifficiency via Republic of Math. The result: "Score 38%. You are doing well on Twitter, are keeping up with your Tweets, but could still do better." Oh!

[From Republic of Math] LOL! I guess we all could do better.

[To Republic of Math] Thanks for message about my Twifficiency result.

About Life Science

[Retweet of Science News's words] Life may have started sky high," Science News (October 8, 2010). —Experiments suggest basic chemical ingredients formed in the upper atmosphere.

About Physics

"Vibrations skip across vacuum," Physical Review Focus (October 8, 2010). —Acoustic phonon tunneling, possibly applicable in nanoelectronics and the development of devices that harvest energy from temperature gradients. (Retweeted by Glaucio Souza)

Exchange of Words with Friends

[From heppoco_daze, about the photo in my blog post of October 9, 2010] 甘いオリーブの香り~♪ 私の住む方は、ちっちゃいオレンジ色の花を多く見かけますが、黄色っぽいのもあるんですね…。

[In reply to heppoco_daze] いや、これはまさに「ちっちゃいオレンジ色の花」ですが、日がよく当たって黄色っぽく見えているのです。デジカメの7倍ズーム機能を使ったせいもあって、小さな花でないようにも見えます。

Quotations

"Becoming is conscious, being unconscious." —Erwin Schrödinger, "My View of the World" transl. from German by C. Hastings (Ox Bow, 1983) p. 51.—One must be unconscious more often at higher ages.

2010年10月9日土曜日

キンモクセイ (Sweet Osmanthus)


 キンモクセイ(金木犀、モクセイ科)。2010年10月8日、わが家の庭で撮影。

Sweet osmanthus; also known as sweet olive, tea olive and fragrant olive; botanical name, Osmanthus fragrans var. aurantiacus; family, Oleaceae. The photo was taken at our yard on October 8, 2010.

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

About Arts

"Vargas Llosa, a storyteller enthralled by the power of art," New York Times (October 7, 2010). —"A fascination with the human craving for freedom (be it political, social or creative) and the liberation conferred by art and imagination."

About Astrophysics

"Something slammed into the rings of Saturn and Jupiter," Scientific American (October 7, 2010). (Retweeted by Glaucio Souza)

About Chemists

David Kroll, "Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2010: Remembering Mizoroki," Terra Sigillata (October 6, 2010). —A senior friend of mine wrote me that Mizorogi of Mizorogi-Heck reaction was a classmate of his at the University of Tokyo. Then, I searched "Mizorogi" on Google and found the above article. It is a great pity that Tsutomu Mizorogi died of pancreas cancer at an age a little over 40. It was nine years after publishing the paper about his finding, earlier than Richard Heck, of the Mizorogi-Heck reaction.

About Peace and Politics

[Retweet of Nobelprize_org's words] 2010 Nobel Peace Prize: Liu Xiaobo "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China." See Official press release 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.

About Physics

"Does dark matter trigger strange stars?" physicsworld (October , 2010). —Balls of free quarks in space may be initiated by dark matter. (Retweeted by Glaucio Souza)

"Andre Geim explores the flatland," physicsworld, Blog (October 6, 2010). —"Watch a lecture about graphene by the Nobel winner." (Retweeted by S. C. Kavassalis; in a modified form with the link to the video of 2008 by Rieko Kawabata)

"Free papers by 2010 Nobel prize winners," physicsworld Blog (Octover 5, 2010). —IOP Publishing opens up its archive.

"Nobel Prize thrusts graphene into the spotlight—But can it deliver?" Scientific American (October 7, 2010). —"Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have described a way of making graphene that preserves the material's conductive properties, an early step toward graphene silicon electronics."

About Technology

Features, opinions and reviews about nuclear power: October-1st entries of physicsworld's "In depth" channel.

2010年10月8日金曜日

ヒガンバナ (Red Spider Lily)


 ヒガンバナ(彼岸花、ヒガンバナ科)、別名リコリス、曼珠沙華(マンジュシャゲ、またはマンジュシャカ)。2010年9月29日、ウォーキング途中で、田の畦に咲いているのを撮影。

Red spider lily; botanical name, Lycoris radiata; family, Amaryllidaceae. The photo was taken during walking at the ridge of a rice field on September 29, 2010.

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

About Arts

[Retweet of Nobelprize_org's words] 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Mario Vargas Llosa, a truly international citizen, committed to social change.

About Books

"Cosmology: No miracle in the multiverse," Nature Vol. 467, p. 657 (October 7, 2010). —Michael Turner reviews The Grand Design: New Answers to the Ultimate Questions of Life written by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow (Bantam Press: 2010).

About Physicists

[To Rieko Kawabata] Thanks for your kind advice. I have submitted a set of my questions to Professor Geim on Nobelprize.org by my YouTube user name tttabataj.

[From Rieko Kawabata] "Why did you use the hamster?" Fantastic. :-) Thanks for your questions.

"Ig Nobel to Nobel: Creative (and fun) science wins" NPR (October 5, 2010). —In 2000, Andre Geim won the honor for the magnetic levitation of frogs.

About Physics

"How molecular frisbees could encourage nuclear proliferation," Technology Review, Physics arXiv blog (October 7, 2010).

About Scientists

At the barber's, I happened to hear the radio say, "The father of the Nobel Laureate Akira Suzuki was a barber and died in Akira's childhood."

Humor

[To drskyskull] See also: J. H. Hetherington et al., "Cat tales reveal footnotes to history that give one pause," Phys. Today 50, April 94 (1997). (drskyskull thanked me and retweeted this message.)

[From S.C. Kavassalis in reply to my tweet and the retweet of it by drskyskull] Or "paws," as it were. :p [Note by T.T.: This is an excellent joke about the title of letters to the editor from J. H. Hetherington et al. cited above.]

2010年10月7日木曜日

バス旅行「秋のかやぶき音楽堂コンサート」4 (Bus Trip, "Autumn Concert at Straw Thatched Music Hall" 4)


 写真はかやぶき音楽堂の天井(上)と舞台(下)。天井に見えている太い梁の上の壁際には、2階と3階の客席がある。1階客席は、床に敷かれた座布団の上に座るようになっており、長時間姿勢を保つのがやや苦痛だった。

 コンサートの演奏者ザイラーピアノデュオ(エルンスト・ザイラー、カズコ・マサダ・ザイラー)は、日本各地はもとより、世界各地で4手のための連弾アンサンブルとして活躍しているほか、世界各地で未出版や廃版になったピアノデュオ曲の発掘にも精力的に取り組んでいる。この日の演奏曲目は、ロベルト・シューマン「小さな子どもと大きな子どものための連弾曲集 Op. 85」より「No. 1 誕生日の行進曲」他8曲、ヨハネス・ブラームス「シューマンの主題による変奏曲 Op. 23」、同「愛の歌(18曲のワルツ)Op. 52」、同「ハンガリー舞曲」から Nos. 11〜16。

 帰途のバスの中で、ゲーテが好んだという植物の、ザイラー夫妻が増やした苗が土産として配布された。夫妻からの説明書には、その名が「プリオフィルム」とあったが、調べてみると、ベンケイソウ科リュウキュウベンケイ属のセイロンベンケイ [Kalanchoe pinnata (Lam.) Pers.]、別名トウロウソウ(灯籠草)である。学名のシノニムに Bryophyllum pinnatum (Lam.) Oken または Bryophyllum calycinum とある。「プリオフィルム」は、Bryophyllum がなまったものであろう。

The upper photo shows the ceiling of the straw thatched concert hall; and the lower, the stage of the hall. Near the walls above the thick beam seen in the latter photo, there are seats of the second and third floors. In the auditorium of the first floor, each listener sits on a zabuton. It was somewhat painful to keep my position on a zabuton for a long time.

The performers of the concert, Seiler piano duo (Ernst Seiler and Seiler Masada Kazuko), are actively working as an ensemble duo for four hands at different locations not only in Japan but also around the world. They are also actively searching the music for a piano duo that was unpublished or abandoned. The numbers of the concert were as follows: Robert Schumann, No. 1 (Birthday March) and other 8 numbers from 12 pieces for piano 4-hands (For Big and Small Children), Op. 85; Johannes Brahms, Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann, Op. 23; 18 Love Song Waltzes, Op. 52; Nos. 11–16 from Hungarian Dances.

On the way back, the seedlings of Kalanchoe pinnata, the plant Johann Wolfgang von Goethe loved, were distributed as souvenirs from Seiler and his wife.

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

About Chemistry

[Retweet of Nobelprize_org] 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki, for new ways of linking carbon atoms. See the official press release.

About Physics

"2010 Nobel Prize in Physics," AIP Journals. —Overview of graphene, Press releases, AIP articles by the laureates, etc.

"Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov win 2010 physics Nobel for graphene," Physics Today, Physics Update (October 5, 2010). (Retweeted by gtsouza)

Humor

Andre Geim co-authored a paper with his favorite hamster (via RogerHighfield, AlexConnor and RKawabata). Who did the same with a cat? (Retweeted by fermin771009)

[About my previous tweet] The physicist who coauthored with his cat was J. H. Hetherington (see "Cat as Coauthor" by Greg Ross). "Their" paper is: Physical Review Letters Vol. 35, p. 1442 (1975). (Retweeted by fermin771009)

[From ColinPeters] "Chester is believed to be the only cat who has published research in low-temperature physics." (From "Cat as Coauthor," via tttabata)

[From sc_k in reply to my tweet above] Hope for the felis Klein!

[In reply to sc_k] Surely, you shall be able to do the same with your felis Klein someday as Hetherington and Geim did.

[From drskyskull] In 1975, J. H. Hetherington co-authored a physics paper with his cat, F. D. C. Willard! (h/t tttabata via sc_k!) Read the story here: "Thoughts on Furpeople (Cats)." (Scroll down to "Cats and Publishing Physics Research.")

Does anyone know how and why Andre Geim made his hamster the coauthor of a paper http://bit.ly/ateCtU? (RogerHighfield, AlexConnor and RKawabata)

[From RogerHighfield in reply to the above] Because Andre Geim levitated his hamster!

[In reply to RogerHighfield] Thanks a lot for your reply.

[From RKawabata] You can add your question to Prof. Geim directly on Nobelprize.org's YouTube channel, now open to questions for all 2010 Laureates.

[In reply to RKawabata] Thanks for your suggestion for adding my question to Professor Geim on Nobelprize.org's YouTube channel, but I got the answer from RogerHighfield.

2010年10月6日水曜日

バス旅行「秋のかやぶき音楽堂コンサート」3 (Bus Trip, "Autumn Concert at Straw Thatched Music Hall" 3)


 写真は「秋のかやぶき音楽堂コンサート」の行なわれた音楽堂(上)とその付近の田園風景(下)(京都府南丹市日吉町胡麻)。音楽堂は福井県大飯郡の禅寺「善応寺」の旧本堂を移築したもので、迦陵頻窟(からびんくつ)と名づけられていて、これは「迦陵頻伽(かりょうびんが)という鳥のいる部屋という意味」である。迦陵頻伽は、仏教において極楽浄土にいるとされる美しい鳥をいう [1]。

The upper photo shows the hall where the concert we listened to was held; the lower, the countryside near the hall (the site is Goma, HIyoshi-cho, Nantan, Kyoto). The hall was formerly the main building of the Zen temple, Zen'oji, in Oi, Fukui. It was moved here and named Kalavinkutsu after the beautiful bird Kalavin supposed to live in the Buddhist paradise [1].

  1. Kayabuki.com and the leaflet of the concert.

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

About Applied Mathematics

"Alice, Bob and Carla: Quantum love triangle revealed," Technology Review physics arXiv blog (October 5, 2010). —About a paper in press in SIAM Journal of Applied Mathematics.

About Astrophysics

"Why Mars is a lightweight," Science News (Ocotber 4, 2010). —"Red Planet too far from the action to grow big, astronomers contend."

About Books

G. Bacciagaluppi and A. Valentini, "Quantum Theory at the Crossroads: Reconsidering the 1927 Solvay Conference," reviewed by Martin Jähnert, Physics Today October, p. 53 (2010).

About Peace and Politics

[Retweet of eemachi_sakai's words] 昨夜はシャープ堺工場立地に対して大阪府と堺市が実施している破格の「優遇策」の不当性を訴えた住民訴訟の弁護団会議。世界的企業に330億の補助金、税金は10年間80パーセントオフの大盤振る舞い。一方で、財政難を理由に教育、福祉、文化施策は徹底した切り捨て。こんな税金の使い方ってアリ?

About Physics

[Retweet of Nobelprize_org's words] See the official press release for the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics. —"The Nobel Prize in Physics 2010 was awarded jointly to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, both at University of Manchester, UK, "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene." (Retweeted by more than 100 persons)

[Retweet of Nobelprize_org's words] Konstantin Novoselov is one of the youngest Nobel Laureates in Physics since 1973, only 36 years old!

"Graphene pioneers bag Nobel prize," physicsworld (October 5, 2010). —"Geim is also famous for his 1997 "flying frog" experiment in which he and his colleagues in Nijmegen levitated a frog using a powerful magnet. He shared the 2000 "IgNobel" prize for his efforts and is the first individual to win both awards." (See the section "Humor" about another anecdote of Geim.)

[Retweet of guardianscience'swords] "Video: Brian Cox's guide to quantum mechanics," Guardian (October 5, 2010).—"In 'The Hunt for the Higgs,' Cern physicist Brian Cox presents his handy guide to quantum mechanics and the subatomic world, the elusive Higgs boson and the biggest machine on Earth – the Large Hadron Collider or LHC."

About Psychology

"The language that lovers share is a 'window' into the state of their relationship," Telegraph (October 4, 2010). —"Couples develop their own language of love that ebbs and flows depending on the state of their relationship, scientists believe."

About Technology

"Smarter than you think: Aiming to learn as we do, A machine teaches itself," New York Times (October 4, 2010). —About The Never-Ending Language Learning system, or NELL, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Humor

[Retweet of RKawabata's words] The paper Andre Geim co-authored with his favourite hamster "Detection of earth rotation with a diamagnetically levitating gyroscope," Physica B: Condensed Matter Vols. 294-295, pp. 736–739 (2001). (via RogerHighfield and AlexConnor) —The name of the coauthor is "H. A. M. S. ter Tisha"!

2010年10月5日火曜日

バス旅行「秋のかやぶき音楽堂コンサート」2 (Bus Trip, "Autumn Concert at Straw Thatched Music Hall" 2)


 兵庫陶芸美術館での見学後、篠山市の「お菓子の里丹波」の本館で昼食。ここには旧・神戸市警垂水署を移築改装したミオール館その他の施設もあるが、雨が降り出したので、本館から見える庭園の一部の写真を撮ることが出来ただけだった。

 2枚目の写真の手前に写っている「つくばい(蹲踞)」には、「吾唯足知」(われ、ただ足るを知る)の4字が、中央の口を共有した形で刻まれている。これは京都・龍安寺のつくばいにある文字と同じである。

After seeing the exhibition at the Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo, we had lunch at the main building of "Okashi-no-sato Tamba (Tamba Sweets Village)"in Sasayama. "Okashi-no-sato Tamba" is a tourist attraction and has Mior House (former Kobe-Tarumi Police Station reconstructed and renovated) and other facilities. However, it became raining, and I was able to take photos of part of the garden seen from the main building.

At the bottom of the second photo, we see a stone basin with four Chinese characters. Each of these characters shares the central bowl representing 口 as its part. The four characters together (吾唯足知) make a poem to mean "what one has is all one needs," which is the basic anti-materialistic teachings of Buddhism [1]. We also see the same poem on the basin of Ryoan-ji Temple in Kyoto.

  1. "Tsukubai," Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2 January 2010 at 10:14).

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

About Astrophysics

"The post-singularity future of astronomy," Technology Review physics arXiv blog (October 4, 2010). —"Astronomy could be the first discipline in which the rate of discovery by machines outpaces humans' ability to interpret it."

About Mathematics

[Retweet of republicofmath's words] "What is a triangle? The role of definition," Blog site Republic of Mathematics (October 2, 2010).

Wrote a comment on the above blog post: I get 1+α, not 0, for αx+1 with x=1. Am I wrong?

[From republicofmath in reply to my comment] Tatsuo, thanks for your blog comment. I made your correction.

[To republicofmath] You're welcome. The corrected figure for the triangle became less like a triangle in appearance.

About Physicists

"Fred Hoyle: the scientist whose rudeness cost him a Nobel prize," Observer (October 3, 2010). —"As the winners of this year's Nobel science prizes are about to be announced, Robin McKie looks back at the controversial life of groundbreaking scientist Fred Hoyle." (Retweeted by republicofmath)

2010年10月4日月曜日

バス旅行「秋のかやぶき音楽堂コンサート」1 (Bus Trip, "Autumn Concert at Straw Thatched Music Hall" 1)


 昨日、妻とバス旅行「秋のかやぶき音楽堂コンサート」に参加した。バスは午前9時に JR 大阪駅前を出発した。まず、兵庫県篠山市にある兵庫陶芸美術館へ寄った。ここは、2005年に出来た新しい美術館で、敷地面積は 49,000 平方メートルある。特別展「型が生み出す、やきものの美—柿右衛門・三田—」を見学した。写真は、同美術館の庭園と建物のごく一部である。

Yesterday, my wife and I joined a bus trip titled, "Autumn Concert at Straw Thatched Music Hall." The buses started at 9:00 a.m. from JR Osaka Station. We first dropped at the Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo, located at Sasayama, Hyogo. The museum is a new one completed in 2005 and has the site area of 49,000 square meters. There, we appreciated the exhibition, "The Beauty of Pottery Created by Molds: Kakiemon and Sanda." The photos show only part of the gardens and the buildings of the museum.

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

About Peace and Politics

[Retweet of PeaceMusicFesta's words]【声明文】政府の辺野古決定は残念に思いますが、私たち Peace Music は決して諦めません。今こそ再び辺野古の浜で野外音楽フェスを開催し、希望の歌をかき鳴らしたいと思います。実現に向け、皆様力を貸して下さい。Peace Music 知花竜海・伊丹英子 (via someone else; retreated by more than 100 persons)

[Retweet of NS_keitai's words] 1960年代の後半、日本政府が、核兵器の保有について極秘裏に検討を進めていたことが、NHK の入手した機密資料からわかりました。 (Retweeted by 13 persons including me)

2010年10月3日日曜日

タマスダレ (Fairy Lily)


 タマスダレ(玉簾、ヒガンバナ科)。2010年9月27日、わが家の庭で撮影。

Fairy lily or white rain lily; botanical name, Zephyranthes candida; family, Amaryllidaceae. The photo was taken at our yard on September 27, 2010.

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

About Astrophysics

"Neutron star formation could awaken the vacuum," Physical Review Focus (October 1, 2010). —"A theory predicts that under some circumstances, the energy of the empty space around a neutron star (bright spot at center, surrounded by supernova remnant) could exceed the energy of the star's mass. [. . .] 'It's an invitation for some further research.' " (Retweeted by ColinPeters)

About Language

[Retweet of utadahikaru's words] The Japanese [word for] thank you[,] "Arigato[,]" literally means "hard to find." The opposite of taking something for granted. Beautiful language, isn't it? (via someone else; retweeted by more than 100 persons)

[Retweet of newscientist's words] "Cosmic accidents: Inventing language, the easy way," (October 2, 2010). —How language was born and helped humans.

About Life

Am going to join a bus trip for a concert at a straw thatched music hall in Goma, Kyoto, tomorrow.

About Mathematics

"Math DL: MAA Writing Awards," —We can view past winning pieces by name or subject listing (via Internet Scout). ("Math DL" means "The MAA Mathematical Sciences Digital Library;" and "MAA," "the Mathematical Association of America.")

About Peace and Politics

[Retweet of PeacePhilosophy's words] "So-called 'Sympathy Budget' is only 28% of the total expenses Japan is paying for US bases 「思いやり予算」は在日米軍関連経費のたった28%である," Peace Philosophy Centre blog (October 1, 2010) When governments and media talk about "sympathy budget," we tend to think that's all Japanese taxpayers are paying . . ."

About Physics

[Retweet of grahamfarmelo's words] "Quanta, symmetry & topology." —Video of richly insightful talk by Frank Wilczek (September 24, 2010).

"Information Physics: The New Frontier," Kevin H. Knuth, arXiv:1009.5161v1.

Quotations

[Retweet of sciencewisdom's words] To my mind to kill in war is not a whit better than to commit ordinary murder. —A.Einstein http://iwise.com/XUlgt.

2010年10月2日土曜日

ハナトラノオ (Obedient Plant)


 ハナトラノオ(花虎の尾、シソ科)。2010年9月17日、わが家の庭で撮影。

Obedient plant or false dragonhead; botanical name, Physostegia virginiana; family, Lamiaceae. The photo was taken at our yard on September 17, 2010.

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

About Arts

"Vote for your favourite accelerator photos," physicsworld, Blog (September 28, 2010). —Participating laboratories are CERN, DESY, Fermilab, KEK & TRIUMF. (Retweeted by ColinPeters)

About Astrophysics

"A dance of extrasolar planets," Science Vol. 330. No. 6000, p. 47 (2010). —Two Saturn-size planets show time variations in transiting their star. (Retweeted by gtsouza)

"Lost rover found on moon with retroreflector still intact," Technology Review arXiv blog (October 1, 2010). —"The Russian Lunokhod-1 rover, lost for over 30 years, is surprisingly well-preserved, say astronomers who have worked out its position to within a few centimeters."

About Physicists

"Georges Charpak: 1924–2010," physicsworld (September 30, 2010). —Particle physicist who had won 1992 Nobel prize "for his invention and development of particle detectors, in particular the multiwire proportional chamber" died on September 29 at the age of 86.

About Science

"Annual Ig Nobel awards presented for the most 'improbable' research," Telegraph (October 1, 2010). —"Roller-coaster rides can relieve symptoms of asthma, beards are a health hazard and randomly promoting workers creates more efficient companies are among a host of 'improbable' scientific findings to win a spoof Nobel Prize this year."

Exchange of Words with Friends

[To ColinPeters] Oh, it's your wedding anniversary today. Congratulations!

[From ColinPeters] どうも

2010年10月1日金曜日

遅咲きアサガオ (Late Blooming Morning Glory)


 写真は遅咲きアサガオ。アサガオはヒルガオ科に属する。9月17日、わが家の庭で撮影。

Late blooming morning glory. The botanical name of morning glory, Ipomoea nil; family, Convolvulaceae. The photo was taken at our yard on September 17, 2010.

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

About Astrophysics

"Gliese 581g: the most Earth like planet yet discovered," Telegraph (September 29, 2010). See also: "New planet may be able to nurture organisms," New York Times (September 29, 2010); the related paper, S. S. Vogt et al., "The Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey: A 3.1 M⊕ Planet in the Habitable Zone of the Nearby M3V Star Gliese 581" (via ExoplanetApp).

About Books

"Policy: Towards nuclear zero," Nature Vol. 467, p. 528 (September 30, 2010). —Joseph Cirincione reviews Richard Rhodes's book "The Twilight of the Bombs: Recent Challenges, New Dangers, and the Prospects for a World without Nuclear Weapons" (Random House, 2010), writing, "Fact-packed final volume of a quartet on nuclear security is required reading."

About Peace and Politics

[Retweet of minakopengin's words] 「政党助成金09年報告 総選挙 税金頼み:宣伝費 民主57億、自民61億円」しんぶん赤旗 (2010年9月30日). —政党助成金の実体がこの記事で明らかに。こんな制度は今すぐやめよう。

[Retweet of lhoaglund's words] 先月映画 "ANPO" の森美術館での上映後、石内都さん、中村宏さんと3人でトークしました。映画 "ANPO" についてもっと知りたい人にとって、きっと面白いと思います。このリンクお勧め。

学習会「核兵器、戦争はなくせるか? Yes. We Can!!」成功 :皆さんのご協力により、先のブログ記事でお知らせしました表記の学習会には59名の参加があり、成功裏に終了しました。ありがとうございました。署名とカンパにも多数ご協力いただき、厚くお礼申し上げます。… 福泉・鳳 憲法9条の会ブログ (2010年9月30日). —写真入り報告。

[From itadori3 about the above tweet] 早速すばらしい記事の掲載をありがとうございました。聞きましたら、この学習会に感動されて1万円カンパをしていただいた人や、感動の気持ちを俳句にしたためて送って下さった人もおられたとか。ご苦労様でした。…

About Physics

"Physicists convert information into energy," Technology Review arXiv blog (september 30, 2010).—"Build a tiny staircase and place a small polystyrene bead on the bottom step (a staircase is fairly straightforward to construct using electric fields). [. . .] Keep a close eye on the bead using a video camera and every time you see it go up a step, change the electric field so that it cannot drop back down again. This is like placing a barrier behind the bead. As you repeat this process, the bead will move up the staircase, driven by Brownian motion."

The changing of electric field mentioned above supply energy to the system from the outside, so that I wondered if this could be an "information heat engine." However, the authors, S. Toyabe et al., of the related paper (arXiv:1009.5287v2) write, "Under real-time feedback control, the particle climbs up a spiral-stairs-like potential exerted by an electric field and obtains free energy larger than the amount of work performed on it."

Quotations

「経験」とは、自身の内的な成熟のために「心の平衡を失うこと」を厭わずに「身を開いて」生きることなのである。そしてまた読書という営みも、「開かれた」姿勢でなされなければ、「経験」にはなり得ないものなのだ。——泉谷閑示「読書する怠け者、読書しない怠け者」図書 No. 740, p. 11 (2010年10月号); "Experience" comes from living for one's own inner maturity by "opening oneself" without hesitating "to lose mental balance." The deed of reading also requires an "open" attitude to become "experience." - Kanji Izumiya, "The lazy person who reads and the lazy person who does not," Tosho No. 740, p. 11 (2010). (translated from Japanese by T. T.)