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【No. 0162】Little Treat

May 29, 2015 23:04
Today, I taught about programming as in the case with yesterday.

However, I think my work went well than yesterday.

I felt a sense of accomplishment when the workshop was finished.

And I ate sushi for the first time in years with my friend as a little treat for myself.

Now, I'm watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets at a relaxed state.

I think I can be in a deep sleep tonight.
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【No. 0161】Programming Workshop

May 28, 2015 23:12
Today, I held a programming workshop for a few people in a company.

Because of poor preparation, they might be not satisfied.

This workshop will continue until tomorrow.

I have to prepare for it till all hours.

【No. 0160】Collatz Conjecture

May 27, 2015 22:43
Today, I wrote a program source of Collatz Conjecture.

Although this is one of the unsolved problems in number theory, it's very simple.

For all natural number n, think that you do the following.

・If n is even number, divide n by two.

・If n is odd number, multiply n by three and add one to the result.

It has been expected that n will always reach one in a finite trial.

This problem has not been solved from about 80 years ago.

By using computer, it was confirmed that this conjecture is correct until about 10^18, but it does not much make sense.

I hope it will be solved during my life.
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【No. 0159】Compatibility Between Browsers

May 26, 2015 15:18
A few days ago, I built a web page and released it.

I was feeling relieved, but then, I got a message from a customer.

"My associate can't browse this page well. He use Internet Explorer 8."

I created the page using CSS3 and JavaScript, but the IE8 couldn't deal with them.

I immediately started to modify the page.

The next thing I knew, it had become morning.
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【No. 0158】Earthquake

May 25, 2015 22:18
Today, an earthquake occurred around noon.

It was measured level two on the Japanese intensity scale.

In our laboratory, some said "it's shaking" or "oh, earthquake?" but most of us didn't mind it.

We are accustomed to such a little tremors.

However, I think we can move quickly and appropriately to big tremors, because we have trained for earthquakes since we were in elementary school.
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【No. 0157】I Can Do Little or Nothing

May 24, 2015 16:47
Today, I tried to go to my university.

However, I couldn't enter the building because the card key wasn't found.

Perhaps, I left it with my wallet behind in my laboratory.

I contacted the laboratory's members, but everyone was taking a vacation.

I wanted to research at my university, but I am studying English at my apartment now.
  • in Essay
  • 3 min read

【No. 0156】Koala

May 23, 2015 16:56
There are a lot of zoos in Japan, but there are few koalas in the zoos.

One of the reason is that the koala's feed costs is very expensive.

Since it is difficult to get eucalypti that is the only food of koala in Japan, it costs about 10 to 20 million yen per head per year.

Also, the eucalyptus contains toxins of potassium cyanide type.

A koala's very long cecum has an enzyme that degrades the toxins, but ethanol emitted by chewing will paralyze koala's nerve and get him to sleep.

In the ranking of long sleep animals, koala that sleeps 22 hours per day is the top, while sloth that sleeps 20 hours per day is the second.
  • in Essay
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May 21, 2015 21:10
We blink our eyes about twenty times per minute.

Since one blink block our view about 0.3 seconds, we spend 6 seconds per minute in the dark(that is, 10% of our living hours).

If you watch a two hour movie, you will miss about twelve minutes of the movie.

However, since we naturally blink at breaks between scenes, we don't feel a sense of discomfort.

It is said that the reason why we blink is to moist the surface of our eyes, but the number of blinks we need for the moistening is only three times per minute.

It has not yet been elucidated why we blink so many times.
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【No. 0153】Answer is Easy

May 20, 2015 23:51
Today, I found a little claptrap quiz like following:

"Please rearrange "Airway Saneness" and make a sentence. The answer is easy."

I couldn't solve this problem, but the answer was "answer is easy."

The answer was included in the problem statement.

How frustrating!
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【No. 0152】The Number of Neck Bone

May 19, 2015 18:10
Do you know the number of bones of a human neck?

Or, what about giraffe, hippopotamus, elephant, rabbit, dog, cat, or whale?

The answer is all seven.

In fact, almost all mammals have seven neck bones.

However, while there are about 4000 species of mammals, there are a few exceptions.

For example, manati has six neck bones, and three-toed sloth has nine neck bones.

By the way, reptiles (such as snake or crocodile) have eight neck bones with no exceptions.
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【No. 0151】Tiger Shark

May 18, 2015 21:13
Tiger Shark, included in one of the largest shark species, grows up to about 3m length and weigh about 400 kilograms.

The name is derived from the fact that the sharks have stripe patterns like a tiger on their surface.

If we translate "tiger shark" into Japanese literally, it will become "トラ(tiger)ザメ(shark)," but "トラザメ" means "catshark."

If we translate "catshark" into Japanese literally, it will become "ネコ(cat)ザメ(shark)," but "ネコザメ" means "bullhead shark."

Actually, "tiger shark" is translated "イタチ（weasel）ザメ," and "catshark" is translated "ナヌカ（7 days）ザメ."

Like this, there are many confusing names in the field of animals.
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【No. 0150】Contract with MVNO

May 17, 2015 20:14
Today, I contracted with MVNO called IIJmio.

I can communicate 3GB data per month, by paying about 1000 yen.

The reason for this contract is to watch dramas at a sports gym.

I soon went to the gym, and watched TBBT season 5 on Hulu while riding a static bike.

One episode of the drama required about 40MB data communication, so I can watch about 75 episodes.

Also, the fee of one episode is corresponding to about 13 yen.
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【No. 0149】Treadmill Exercise

May 16, 2015 23:51
I go a sport gym and usually ride a static bike after some resistance training.

However, I ran on a treadmill today.

Although I tried to run 10 km, I gave up at 5 km because of knee joint ache.

Since I always ride a bicycle, my legs' function for walk/run might degenerated.

I am ashamed of myself.
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【No. 0148】Interesting Venus

May 15, 2015 22:33
Today, I'd like to write about Venus.

Venus is the most brightest planet in the planets of the solar system, and we can see it from the earth well.

Also, Venus rotates clockwise, while all the other planets rotate counterclockwise.

The period of rotation is 243 days, and the period of revolution is 224 days.

This numbers mean one day is longer than one year in Venus.

There are many other interesting features about Venus, for example, it have the highest temperature in the planets of the solar system.
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【No. 0147】Uninstall Windows 10

May 14, 2015 19:57
I uninstalled Windows 10 Technical Preview from my PC and reinstalled Windows 8.

I liked the design of Windows 10, but I couldn't do my work well because the OS frequently froze.

It took about 5 hours to reinstall the OS and softwares.

From this time, I'd like to refrain from jumping at anything new.
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【No. 0146】Website Design

May 13, 2015 22:10
Recently, I was asked a website design of a venture contest.

I didn't have enough time, but for my school and living expenses, I decided to accept the request.

And today, I was making the website almost all day.

It seems I need extra time to complete it.
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【No. 0145】Raw Egg

May 12, 2015 15:45
I like raw eggs.

I often eat natto with an yolk of a raw egg.

Someone say something like "only Japanese and Rocky eat raw eggs."

There are many countries that consider eating raw eggs as dangerous.

However, because of the thorough hygienic management, we will never become a salmonella infection in general eating.

【No. 0144】Cedar Pollen Allergy in Japan

May 11, 2015 20:00
Today, I had itchy throat.

I thought I caught a cold, but I also had a itchy eyes, so this was probably cedar pollen allergy.

A cedar pollen allergy is the most common pollen allergy in Japan, and it is said that there are about 25 million people (almost 20% of the population) who suffer from it.

The reason why there are so many cedar pollen allergy sufferer in Japan is that we have planted a large amount of cedars since the WW2 for the restoration.

Cedars are have a high growth rate and possess high value as building materials.

However, since they also have shedded their pollens too much, most Japanese people became cedar pollen allergy sufferers.

Sometimes, the pollens reach the 300 km away from the planted place.

Therefore, the cedar pollen count becomes part of the daily weather report during this time of year.

Fortunately, Japan is planning to cut down the cedars, and replant the other trees that have less pollens from this year.

I can't wait for the next year.
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【No. 0143】Forget-me-not

May 10, 2015 18:30
A forget-me-not is a flower.

This name is derived from a story in medieval Germany.

Knight Rudolph found this flower, which bloomed in the Danube, and tried to pick it for his lover Bertha, but he took a misstep and got washed away by the river's current.

He threw the flower to the riverbank using all his strength, and died, leaving the words "vergiss-mein-nicht!"

Bertha, who was left behind, called the flower Rudolph's last words.

From this story, the flower was called "vergissmeinnicht" in Germany, and it became "forget-me-not" in English by literal translation.

Also, In many other languages, the flower is named using the same meaning.