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【No. 0202】My mother came to visit me.

Jul 8, 2015 21:39
This morning, my mother departed for my apartment in order to get repair her laptop.

It was so suddenly event.

The distance between my mother's home and my apartment is around 300 km, so traveling time become around four hours by car.

In that four hours, I had to clean my room desperately because ... as you may have guessed.

After four hours, my mother reached my apartment and I invited her to my room.

She seemed to be satisfied and praised me, haha, yes.

I repaired her laptop quickly, then we went to a hot spring.

We healed our body fatigue, and ate dinner while talking various things.

It was so nice time.
  • in Essay
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【No. 0201】Red Tea and Oolong Tea and Green Tea

Jul 7, 2015 13:01
There are some kinds of tea, such as red tea, oolong tea and green tea.

However, all of them are made from the same kind leaves.

The difference is their production methods.

If we completely ferment the leaves, it will be red tea.

If we ferment in half degree the leaves, it will be oolong tea.

If we don't ferment the leaves at all, it will be green tea.

By fermenting, the leaves' green color change to bister color gradually.

In Japan, most tea that have been produced is green tea.
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  • 1 min read

【No. 0200】200th Post

Jul 6, 2015 20:11
I reached 200th post!

Somehow I have continued to post every day.

I get bored easily on various things, so I want to send a bouquet to myself, haha.

By the way, now the ratio of the number of posts to the number of corrections is almost one to two.

From now on also, I want to keep this ratio.

Incidentally, I ate ramen and fried chickens and curry at dinner.
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  • 4 min read

【No. 0199】Trivia of Mosquitoes

Jul 5, 2015 15:16
Yesterday, I searched for how can we keep mosquitoes away, and posted it.

At that time, I also learned about some trivia of mosquitoes.

So today, I'd like to tell you about the trivia.

Usually, mosquitoes suck nectar of flowers regardless of the gender.

In particular, male mosquitoes suck only nectar of flowers or juice of grasses in their lifetime.

Only mated female mosquitoes suck our blood to ensure nutrition for spawning.

The frequency of blood-sucking is around once three to seven days, and their lifespan is around three weeks, so they will do sucking no more than seven times in their lifetime.

They can spawn without sucking blood, but in that case, the number of eggs is around 10.

If they sucked blood, they can spawn about five hundreds eggs.

This implies high nutritional value of human blood.

By the way, have you heard buzzing of mosquitoes?

When you can hear the jarring buzzing, the mosquito is in a distance of about 20 centimeters from your ear.

They flutter their wings about 500 to 1000 times per second, and generate high frequency wave.

You might feel as if they were near your ear, but unfortunately it's probably wrong.
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  • 3 min read

【No. 0198】Measures Against Mosquitos

Jul 4, 2015 14:05
In this season in Japan, the number of mosquitoes gradually increase.

I really don't like mosquitoes because they often interrupt my sleep.

So today, I searched for how can we keep mosquitoes away.

・Don't drink alcohol.

Mosquitoes prefer carbon dioxides and warm things.

If you are drinking, your body temperature will rise, and your breath will contain many carbon dioxides.

Furthermore, when the alcohol is decomposed, carbon dioxides will be generated.

Therefore, if you want not to be bitten by mosquitoes, you should not drink.

・Wear pale colored clothes.

Mosquitoes prefer dark color and high brightness color.

・Put vinegar or peppermint oil near your bed.

Mosquitoes hate vinegar and peppermint oil.

・Use an electric fan.

Flight speed of mosquitoes is around 2.4 kilometers per hour, so they can't flight well due to winds of a fan.

Also, a fan diffuses carbon dioxides and smell that are generated from you.
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【No. 0197】The Relationship Between Playing Cards and a Calendar

Jul 3, 2015 13:53
Today, I'd like to introduce the relationship between playing cards and a calendar.

The red cards implies noon, and the black cards implies night.

The club cards implies spring, the diamond cards implies summer, the heart cards implies fall, and the spade cards implies winter.

The thirteen cards implies thirteen weeks of each season.

That is to say, the number of playing cards implies that a year is fifty two weeks.

Furthermore, the sum of all of the playing cards' number is 364.

If we add a joker card here, it will become 365.

A spare joker card implies leap year.
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  • 3 min read

【No. 0196】Inuktitut Language

Jul 2, 2015 09:45
Today, I learned about Inuktitut.

Inuktitut is a language that is used by Inuit who live in the northern part of Canada.

In order to express some languages of the Canadian Aboriginal, Inuktitut has been devised by James Evans in 1840.

Recently around 30 thousand people use Inuktitut, and the characters of it have unique shapes based on ancient India characters like following:

ᓵᓕ ᑕᓚᕖᓴᕆᐊᒥᒃ ᐅᓪᓗᕆᐋᓂᑦᑐᖑᐊᓂᒃ ᐊᓕᐊᓱᑉᐸᑐᖅ

I couldn't understand this sentence, but these characters excited me.

This looks as if space language, or puzzle.

By the name, my name is written as follows:

ᑲᓄᐊᑐᐊᕈ
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【No. 0195】Welcome Party

Jul 1, 2015 14:28
Yesterday, we held a welcome party for new laboratory members.

We purchased hors d'oeuvre at a Chinese restaurant, and alcohol at a bottle shop.

Then, we brought them in our laboratory and started the party.

Since I had to drive, I couldn't drink, but I made a hearty meal.

Also, the party was fun.

Now, I feel something lying on my stomach.
  • in Essay
  • 2 min read

【No. 0194】All The Time（四六時中）

Jun 30, 2015 14:40
Today, I'd like to introduce a Japanese phrase "四六時中（shi roku ji tyu）."

This means something like "all the time," but if we translate the kanji into English, it will be "in the four-six time."

The reason why "four-six" become "all" is that four times six equals twenty four.

However, in the Edo Period, a day had been divided into twelve term.

For that reason, "四六時中" was "二六時中" at one time.
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【No. 0193】The Coin Which Has The Highest Value.

Jun 29, 2015 13:00
Do you know the regularly used coin which has the highest value?

In the past, It was Japan's 500 yen coin that is almost 4 U.S. dollars.

In 2013, the 500 yen coin was introduced as the highest valued regularly used coins in the world on the Guinness Book of Records.

However, currently it is Switzerland's 5 franc, that is almost 5.3 dollars.

The reason is not only Japanese yen was breaking down, Swiss franc was inflated this year.
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【No. 0192】Japanese Young Girls' Enigmatic Text

Jun 28, 2015 18:49
In Japan, young girls tend to use enigmatic texts like actual ciphers by combining various symbols or kanji. Today, I'd like to introduce some of them. If you are interested in Japanese culture of youth, try to decipher.

Level 1 :
●　⊃冫二千ハ
●　､ζ,⊃ぅ
●　才ャス彡
●　才 力 工 └|
●　ぁξぼ

Level 2 :
●　こωL=ちﾚ￡
●　ょЗＵ＜ね
●　ﾅょぁｌ=？
●　八ジ〆まＵ〒
●　ﾚヽﾚヽち〃ゃω

Level 3 :
●　ぅ±〃ﾚヽ
●　レ†’’ｗ(キ
●　⊇〃めωﾅょ±ぁﾚゝ
●　|ナL丶ナニレ丶

For unexplained reason, they are always try to express using another characters. The answers are shown in the following:



Level 1 : 「こんにちは」「ふつう」「オヤスミ」「オカエリ」「あそぼ」
Level 2 : 「こんにちは」「よろしくね」「なあに？」「ハジメましテ」「いいぢゃん（いいじゃん）」
Level 3 : 「うざい」「げんき」「ごめんなさあい」「けいたい」
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【No. 0191】Konjac

Jun 27, 2015 15:33
Konjac that's also called devil's tongue is a Japanese food.

It is made from konnyaku imo that contains a deadly poison, calcium oxalate.

If we take in the poison, our mouth and throat will become swollen, then we will choke.

Finally we will be in coma or die as the case may be.

In order to remove poison and eat konjac, we have to do many processing steps.

The processed konjac have a unique texture, but there is no nutrition or calories.

Because of the small amount of calories, it is often introduced as a diet food.

I don't know, we don't know why we have become to eat it.

It is said that the reason might be due to food crisis.
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【No. 0190】Can I borrow the toilet?

Jun 26, 2015 09:29
When we want to use a bathroom, we often say "トイレを借りてもいいですか？（Can I borrow the toilet?）"

However, the verb "borrow" implies physically borrowing something from someone and that you must give back to it later, so it sounds strange.

I learned that we should to say something like the followings.

・Can I use the bathroom?
・May I use the restroom/washroom?
・I have to go the toilet.
・I’d like to wash my hands.
・I’m just going to use the loo.
・May I inspect the geography of the building?

By the way, most restaurants and shops in Japan have a bathroom, and we can go there without asking.

【No. 0189】Greenland and Iceland

Jun 25, 2015 14:58
Today, I learned about etymologies of Greenland and Iceland.

Both of them were named by Erik the Red in the 10th century.

Firstly, he gave an island the name Iceland, and tried to marshal residents.

However, he couldn't gather a lot of people because of the island's name.

Next, he gave an island the name of Greenland from his failure, though there were almost no green in the island.

In other words, he lied.

Resultingly, he couldn't gather a lot of people to the island as well.

Iceland has a lot of green, and Greenland has a lot of ice.

These are so beautiful, so I want to go there someday.
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【No. 0188】Celebrity

Jun 24, 2015 20:15
In Japan, the word 'celebrity（セレブ） ' is commonly used, but the meaning is slightly different.

We often use the word only in the sense of "rich man."

It is thought that if we say "rich man（金持ち）" directly, it sounds like a sarcasm.

Therefore, 'celebrity（セレブ）' came to be used instead of 'rich man（金持ち）' in some cases.

Japanese TV show sometimes introduce rich people as celebrities, but they often are not well-known.
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【No. 0187】'#' is not 'sharp'

Jun 23, 2015 10:02
Most Japanese people regard '#' as sharp, and call sharp.

However, actual sharp is '♯.'

In Japan, the official name of '#' is "igeta," but this name is not popular.

By the way, '#' is called pound or number key in the US, and called hash key in the UK.

I have never say igeta, but sometimes say 'hash.'
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【No. 0186】Definition of Meter

Jun 22, 2015 20:31
Today, I learned about a length unit 'meter.'

In the past, the meter was defined as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole, and and a prototype meter was created..

However, the prototype meter had some problems like a lack of invariance.

After that, various definitions were proposed, and in 1986, the problem was eventually resolved.

The new definition of the meter is based on light speed, and it defined as the distance that light travels in 1/299792485 seconds In a vacuum.

There is a possibility that the definition is influenced by the general theory of relativity, but CIPM(International Committee for Weights and Measures) decided that the slight error can be ignored.

【No. 0185】JK

Jun 21, 2015 14:46
Today, I learned a slang phrase 'jk (just kidding).'

In Japan, jk is also used as slang, and it has two meanings.

One is "high school girls (joshi kousei)," and the other is "by thinking it in common sense (joushikitekini kangaete)."

Therefore, I think I can say something like "JK! She's JK, JK. "

(Just kidding! She's a high school girl by thinking it in common sense.)

By the way, if we search JK on Google Images of the US, we can see a lot of pictures of J.K. Rowling.

On the other hand, if we search JK on Google Images of Japan, we can see a lot of high school girls.
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【No. 0184】XYZPDQ

Jun 20, 2015 12:12
Today, I learned a slang 'xyzpdq.'

This means "examine your zipper, pretty damn quick."

Xyz can also be paraphrased something like "your fly is open."

I think I must remind myself to examine my zipper frequently.

By the way, when we want to say xyz in Japan, we often say "window of society is open(社会の窓が開いているよ)."

This phrase implies "the important thing is hidden in the window of society."
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【No. 0183】begin to / begin doing

Jun 19, 2015 12:18
Today, I learned the difference between "begin to" and "begin doing."

According to the website, these phrases are almost same, but there are slightly different nuances.

"Begin to" emphasize beginning, while "begin doing" emphasize 'continuation.'

Also, in the following cases, "begin to" is tend to be used.

1. When the subject is inanimate.

2. When the verb after the begin express psychological state, such as see or 'feel.'

3. When the begin is progressive form.

As always, learning a little difference between nuances is difficult.