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Diary

【No. 0057】Interesting Programmer's English

Feb 13, 2015 22:11
Today, I learned some English phrases used by programmers, and I think they were interesting. So I'd like to introduce some of them.

"I'm teenager in hex." or "I'm 20's in hex."
10 to 1F in hex means 16 to 31 in decimal, and 20 to 2F in hex means 32 to 47 in decimal. So I can say "I'm teenager in hex," hehe. If you say your age in hex, it's possible to pretend as if you're young.

"I took a core dump."
This means I drank too much or I puked. Core dump is an original memory file and it is spat up when a fatal error occurs. Anyway, this phrase This phrase represent like I'm really out of shape.

"She is Haskell."
This means she is really pure, but it's difficult to approach.

"He created a Lisp implementation in PostScript."
This means he is a freak.

【No. 0056】One of the most difficult English phrases for Japanese is ...

Feb 12, 2015 23:26
　I heard that one of the most difficult English phrases for Japanese to understand is "one of the most adjective + plural." I think this is true because I also confused this phrase. We learn that "the most" means "もっとも(mottomo)," and that the intended thing by "mottomo" should be only one. That is, "mottomo" is including the meaning of "only one." However, the words "one of + 'plural'" is attached to "the most." In view of Japanese, this is inconsistent because "one of" intends multiple things while "the most" intends only one thing. For example, when we read the sentence like "One of the highest mountains is...", we might wonder the highest mountain is not only one. Therefore, we learn something like "the most" intends things which belong to a superior group in this case. I was already accustomed to the phrase, but some Japanese are not persuaded because the Japanese words corresponding to "one of the most" is unnatural.

　Also, I heard a professor in a US university said that we should use "one of the more" instead of "one of the most." I don't know whether this point is correct or not, but I think it's interesting.
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【No. 0055】Kneel on a Cushion

Feb 11, 2015 23:11
Today, we held the sixth anniversary of my grandfather's death (and sixteenth anniversary of my grandmother's death).

Many relatives came to my home, and we chanted a Buddhist sutra.

While we are chanting a Buddhist chant, we usually kneel on our knees on a cushion.

However, I have a little bit of trouble with this posture, and as expected, my legs go to sleep.

I couldn't stand up for a while, but anyway, this event passed in peace.

Meanwhile, actually my mother is a Christian while my father is a Buddhist.

So sometimes I have no idea who I am.
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【No. 0053】Ergonomic Keyboard

Feb 9, 2015 22:23
I bought a ergonomic keyboard designed by Microsoft because Amazon had had a time sale. The keys of this keyboard is divided into right and left, and the center is swelling. This curved keyboard layout is based on ergonomics in order to let us rest our hand and wrist, and let us reach keys easily. However, it is difficult for me to type letters using this keyboard for now. That is because I usually type B by my right hand while B key is left side on this keyboard. As a result of measuring my typing using this keyboard, mistyped rate increased 30% and typing speed decreased 40%. I need many practice to master it.
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【No. 0052】Today, my boss and I checked master thesis presentations of my two ...

Feb 8, 2015 22:58
　Today, my boss and I checked master thesis presentations of my two juniors. Each presentation was 15 minutes, however, our comments and discussion took around 3 hours. Although we all got exhausted, my juniors had to make a thorough review of the points put forth by us after that. I want them to be rewarded eventually because they have been working hard.
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【No. 0051】Review My Posts

Feb 7, 2015 23:51
　Today, I tried to reviewing my posts because I sometimes make a same mistake. However, lang-8 is opens slowly, so I can't review comfortably. Therefore, I created the following web page.

http://kano.arkoak.com/lang-8/

In this page, my previous posts are published. By using this page, I can easily review my mistakes. Furthermore, I'd like to investigate a trend of my mistakes someday. I think I have made a lot of boo-boo relevant to articles.
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【No. 0050】Valedictory Lecture

Feb 6, 2015 23:12
　Today, I went to a valedictory lecture of my boss' boss. The boss, who is a professor of my university, finally reached the retirement age of 65. In the past few years, I had attended classes of the professor several times. When I realized that this is the really last lecture of him, I felt real grief.

　The lecture was about the professor's researches and history. He told us his researches as if he were children. It was very impressive. He also said something like "It's doubtful that I am adult." Perhaps he's right, because he looked very young while he was talking.

　During the lecture, he gave us an advice for developing our originality as machinery researchers. He referred to the way as 4H; Horizontal, Hard, Humor, Humanity. That is, we need horizontal thinking that is not biased, opportunity to touch hard stuff, humor for enjoying our research, humanity to pursue happiness.

　At the end of the lecture, he introduced a poem "A Psalm of Life" written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He said he especially was impressed the following passage;

In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

His lecture brought a lump to my throat. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to him.
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【No. 0048】Interesting English Sites

Feb 4, 2015 23:09
Today, I found some interesting English sites, for example, The Oatmeal, FML, Engrish.com, and so on.

The Oatmeal is a comic website created by Matthew Inman. All comics on this site were drawn by him, and a huge variety of comics are published. These comics look like really interesting, but unfortunately, I couldn't understand almost all these comic jokes without dictionaries. I think If I can read these comics smoothly, they will become more interesting.
http://theoatmeal.com/

On the other hand, I could understand some jokes of FML without dictionaries. Every day, many people post interesting events that happened to them as their diary on FML. Almost all posts are really short and simple.
http://www.fmylife.com/

I think I can take a breathing spell and learn English by reading these sites' jokes. I will sometimes try to read these jokes for my relief and studying.
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【No. 0046】TOEIC Test Result

Feb 2, 2015 22:45
Today I received the TOEIC test result.

I have to acquire at least 730 point to satisfy graduation requirements, but the result was 680 points.

Hehehe..hehe..woe is me.

My graduation is in next year March.

Until then, I'll keep trying to achieve norm anyway.
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【No. 0045】Graduation Thesis

Feb 1, 2015 23:05
　In Japan, the graduation season is approaching. As is often the case, graduate research presentations are held in Mid-February, the deadline for graduation thesis is February as well.
　Today, I read and corrected my junior's master theses carefully almost all day. It stands to reason that every sentence he wrote is perfect, but the connections of sentences were sometimes unnatural. Also, his story was sometimes logically incoherent. I was patiently looking for his mistakes and wrote correction comments. I was a little tired, but I'm happy to feel my junior's growth.
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【No. 0044】Pascal's Triangle

Jan 31, 2015 23:32
　I often solve some problems in the intervals between my study. Today, I chose a problem with Pascal's triangle from Project Euler. Pascal's triangle is a triangle that is created by the simple rules, such as following:

1
1 1
1 2 1
1 3 3 1
1 4 6 4 1

　And the problem demanded the number of entries which are not divisible by 7 in the first one billion rows of Pascal's triangle. The number of elements that I have to check is about 500 quadrillion (5 times 10 to the 17th power).

　I wrote a simple program code which calculates Pascal's triangle made of residue of 7 (modularized by 7?). However, this program took about 30 seconds to check 5 billion elements in my computer. This means it will take 95 years to solve this problem. I think there is a smart analytical solution because there are too many elements to solve using dynamic programming. I couldn't solve this problem today, but I like such a problem that remind me of the splendor of algorithms.
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【No. 0043】Fried Rice

Jan 30, 2015 23:31
Since I became hungry, I opened the refrigerator in my laboratory.

There were only some eggs and some condiments.

Also, I cooked rice this morning and it was still left.

Then I decided to make a fried rice though there were no meat and vegetables.

I love fried rice and I often make it because it's delicious and easy to make.

After a while, a rustic fried rice was completed.

It not have much of a taste, but I like it.

Mogumogu... I have enjoyed the meal.

Also, when I make a fried rice, I remember the following song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo7A85wzU0o

　 ∧,,∧
　(；`・ω・）　　｡･ﾟ･⌒） チャーハン作るよ！！
　/　　 ｏ━ヽニニフ))
　しー-Ｊ


　　　　　　　　アッ！　｡･ﾟ･
　 ∧,,∧ て　　　　　｡･ﾟ･｡･ﾟ･
　(； ´ﾟωﾟ）て　　　／／
　/　　 ｏ━ヽニニフ
　しー-Ｊ　　 　彡


　　　　∧,,∧　　　　ｼｮﾎﾞｰﾝ
　　　（ ´・ω・）
　　c(,＿Ｕ_Ｕ　　　　　　･ﾟ･｡･ ﾟ･｡･ﾟ･ ｡･ﾟ･
　　　　　━ヽニニフ

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【No. 0042】AR

Jan 29, 2015 23:59
Today I learned AR (Augmented Reality) techniques and its implement way.

Actually, I implemented an AR program in the past, but I forgot it.

At that time I used C++ to implement it, but this time, I used Unity and C# in order to cut corners.

Someday, I would like to apply the AR technique using X-ray CT in surgery.
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【No. 0041】Vacuum Cleaner

Jan 28, 2015 23:40
A few days ago, I cleaned up my room in ages.

The messy room became tidy, however, my vacuum cleaner was on its last legs.

I couldn't finish the cleanup at that time, so I've left with such a halfway feeling.

And tonight, the new vacuum cleaner that I ordered on Amazon was delivered.

I can't wait to use it until Tomorrow morning, but I have to control myself because it might be noisy.

Whenever I open a new product, even if it was a cleaning supply, I'm so excited always.
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【No. 0040】Today, I learned how to use Git.

Jan 27, 2015 22:44
Today, I learned how to use Git.

Git is a distributed version control system, and version control is really important for most programmers.

Until today, I've relied on a version control system attached IDE.

But from today, I can do version control for many kind of file types in variety of situations.

Hehehe.
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【No. 0039】FEZ

Jan 26, 2015 22:00
　2 days ago, I watched gameplay video of "FEZ," which was developed by Polytron Corporation in Canada. I felt the concept of the game is really interesting. In the game, characters are living in a 2D world, but actually, the world is 3D. One day, a central character, Gomez got a power interfering the three-dimensional space, and decided to save the world using the power.

　According to the play movie, there are many funny gimmick composed of 2D and 3D. I really like such a mystery solving game. So I decided to purchase on Steam, even though I wouldn't play the game for a while. Then, I created a Steam account and just purchase it at 980 yen. However, when I watched the Steam site today, I noticed "FEZ" is sold at 75% OFF. It's only 245 yen. I became a little sad.
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【No. 0038】Rain Bringer

Jan 25, 2015 22:37
In Japan, there is a word Ameotoko, which means a man whose presence bring on rain in events such as a travel. The word is often used as a joke, but I think it might denigrate someone. In my considered opinion, raining on a trip is not rare case at least in Japan. Actually, the number of precipitation days is 123 days a year in Japan, it's almost one-third probability. There is no wonder that it rains during travels for several times in a row.

However, if it rains for 15 consecutive times, the probability becomes less than being hit with a thunderbolt probability (or the lottery winning probability). Also, if it rains for 20 consecutive times, the probability becomes as probable as being hit by a meteorite. If there is such a person, he should be respected, I think.
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【No. 0037】Satanic Kotatsu

Jan 24, 2015 22:16
Today, I got a kotatsu out from closet.

A kotatsu, it's a traditional furniture of Japan, also a satanic tool.

It's small table with an electric heater underneath and covered by a quilt.

It's really really comfortable.

Therefore, once I sit under the kotatsu, I wouldn't want to leave from there.

The aspect seems a parasite who live with kotatsu.

Those who live with kotatsu is sometimes called "kotatsumuri," which is made up of two words, "kotatsu" and "katatsumuri." (katatsumuri means snail.)

Every winter, the lazy people were mass-produced by kotatsu, so I want to deal it very carefully.

Ahhh, I must be in heaven...

By the way, the man whose car was bumped by my one contacted me.

As repair costs, He requested ten thousand yen (almost 85 dollars) to me.

Fortunately, the repair place was his car's license plate only.

I'm grateful for surviving.
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【No. 0036】How to Pronounce Abbreviations

Jan 23, 2015 22:13
Today, I learned laws of how to pronounce abbreviations.

Firstly, if the abbreviation is composed of 2 characters, it should be pronounced in unabbreviated form.

For example, "i.e." is pronounced "that is," and "e.g." is pronounced "for example."

Secondly, if the abbreviation is composed of 3 characters, it should be pronounced each characters.

For example, "WHO," "TPP," "ODA," and "FBI."

Thirdly, if the abbreviation is composed of 4 or more characters, it should be pronounced literally.

For example, "NATO," "AIDS," "NASA," and "UNESCO."

However, there are many exceptions.

For example, "UCLA" is pronounced "yuu-see-el-ei," "MIT" is sometimes pronounced "mit."

I think the way of pronounce depends on its readability, understandability, and degree of coolness.
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【No. 0035】I performed a presentation of statistics class.

Jan 22, 2015 20:04
I performed a presentation of statistics class.

Since I couldn't enough prepare the presentation, I was little nervous.

Then, it was ended in peace except the question-and-answer session.

In the session, the teacher asked to me some questions in English, but I couldn't catch all of them.

When I couldn't understand his words, I said just "Ah-uh" or "Yes, maybe" or something words in Japanese.

It was so embarrassing.

However, fortunately he can speak Japanese fluently.

Therefore, he helped me sometimes, and I was saved.

Anyway, I somehow overcame this day.