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【No. 0362】Pulling Out Beards

Dec 15, 2015 11:13
As a result of a questionnaire to Japanese 20s-30s men, about 60 percent people pull out their beards on a daily basis.

Although it is not frequently, I also sometimes pull out my beards while thinking algorithms or math problems.

However, this habit involves much danger, such as "ingrown hair," "folliculitis," "comedo," "pigmentation," "dehydrated skin," "hair-pulling disorder."

Therefore, we should shave our beards using a shaver.

By the way, the best shaving time seems to be morning, because our beards are easy to grow at 6:00 to 10:00 a.m.
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  • 2 min read

【No. 0361】The Diameter of Holes in CDs

Dec 14, 2015 10:42
The diameter of holes in CDs is perfectly 15 mm.

This length is the same as the seven size of rings.

People seem to express it as "four" in the US, "H" in the UK, respectively.

If your girlfriend are putting a CD's hole on her finger and it looks just fit, you should remember it.

If you give a perfect size ring for your girlfriend, she must be surprised.
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  • 4 min read

【No. 0360】Janet's Law

Dec 13, 2015 13:58
Have you ever feel like a year passes by faster?

In the 19th century, a French philosopher Janet invented a law.

It is something like that the length of years that are memorized subjectively is evaluated as; longer for young persons, shorter for elders.

According to Janet, for five-years-olds one year is one-fifth of their life, while for fifty-years-olds one year is one-fiftieth, so there is a difference of 10 times in the perceptions of their one year.

It is also said that as we get older, fresh experiences decrease and lives become monotonous, so we become to feel like a year passes by faster.

As long as we continue new challenges every day, we might be able to spend quality time at any age.
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  • 5 min read

【No. 0359】Should We Eat Breakfast?

Dec 12, 2015 14:12
Although various discussions about breakfast has been performed, it eventually seems to depend on individuals.

It is said that if you eat dinner at six o'clock in the evening, the best time of your next meal is about twelve o'clock in the next day's noon.

The reason is because your body need about eighteen hours to completely absorb and digest meals.

However, if you are getting hungry in the morning or you are a growing youth, eating breakfast is good for your health.

One of the worst things seems to be that you eat breakfast even though you're not hungry.

When you force yourself to eat breakfast, not only your intestinal functions for excretion will be inhibited, but also your satiety center will fail to work normally.

In the event, you will tend to gain weight.
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【No. 0358】Honey Trivia

Dec 11, 2015 15:28
I wrote about bees' dance yesterday, but I will write about honey today.

Honey, which is produced by mixing nectar and bees' enzyme, is known as a food that will never rot.

The reason is because the sugar concentration is high and the water content is low.

When the sugar concentration is high, bacteria can't survive.

When the water content is low, fungus can't reproduce.

In fact, Dr. Davis found a 3300-year-old honey jar from an Egyptian tomb, but the quality hasn't deteriorated.

By the way, the honey amount that a bee can collect using its whole lifetime is around 5 grams(a spoonful of honey).
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【No. 0357】Bees' Waggle Dance

Dec 10, 2015 10:00
Honeybees share information about locations of nectar or their nest with peers by dancing along a figure of eight or a circle.

The accuracy of their information transfer is surprisingly high.

They can obtain a distance by integrating what they see, and a direction by sunlight information.

When they found nectar, they inform the distance by the humming length, and the direction by the angular of their dance.

Then honeybees who received the information depart with a three times of food(honey) that can fly the received distance.

They consider a possibility that they could get lost.

Once they realize that the information is right and there is no chance of getting lost, they will become to fly with only appropriate quantities of food.
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【No. 0356】Japanese Titles of Foreign Movies

Dec 9, 2015 10:58
When foreign movies are imported into Japan, the titles may completely different.

Today, I will introduce some Japanese titles from among them.

[Highly acclaimed Japanese titles]
・「The Notebook」・・・「きみに読む物語（A Story I Read for You）」
・「Sisters Act」・・・「天使にラブ・ソングを･･･（Love Song for Angels）」
・「The Legend of 1900」・・・「海の上のピアニスト（The Pianist on the Ocean）」

[Hypercriticized Japanese titles]
・「The Italian Job」・・・「ミニミニ大作戦（Mini Mini Great Mission）」
・「Gravity」・・・「ゼロ・グラビティ（Zero Gravity）」
・「Napoleon Dynamite」・・・「バス男（Bus Man）」

The meaning of "Zero gravity" has the opposite meaning of "Gravity."

With regard to "Bus Man," it just mimicked "Train Man," which was popular in Japan at that time, and the movie has almost no relevance to a bus.

Since the name was too terrible, the Japanese title of "Napoleon Dynamite" was changed to "ナポレオン・ダイナマイト（Napoleon Dynamite）" last year.
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【No. 0355】Ground Beetle

Dec 8, 2015 14:56
Do you know how to say "ground beetle" in Japanese?

It's "ゴミムシ (gomimushi; means garbage insect)," because we can often see them in garbage pits.

It's a little pitiful name, and is used as a calumny.

In particular, "メクラチビゴミムシ(mekura-chibi-gomimushi; means sightness dumpling garbage insect)," which is a kind of ground beetle, is awful name.

For a long time, Japanese entomology researchers have discussed whether "ゴミムシ" should be renamed or not.
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【No. 0354】Should I capitalize 'X' in 'X-ray?'

Dec 7, 2015 19:50
I write an upper case X whenever I write 'X-ray.'

However, the other days, my boss told me something like "when the x-ray isn't placed in the top of the sentence, the lower case x is better, isn't it?"

Then I searched for various pages, and found that both cases are used.

As a general tendency, the upper case X seems to be used (especially when the X-ray is used as a noun or an adjective).

Also, as a result that I examined 200 theses that include the word x-ray on Google Scholar, it's found that the number of X-ray is about three times as many as 'x-ray.'

Therefore, I will continue to use a capitalized X, like "An X-ray CT image is..."

I would appreciate it if you could share any thoughts on that with me.
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【No. 0353】The Temperature of Palms

Dec 6, 2015 16:51
Today, I learned the relationship between a temperature of palms and a sociability.

I don't know whether this is true or not, but those who have a low palms temperature tend to be socially awkward.

The main reason why palms become cold is a poor circulation, and this is often observed in people who are nervous, sensitive, and diligent.

On the other hand, those who have a high palms temperature tend to be relaxed and sociable.

However, it is also reported that those who have sweaty palms tend to be introverted even if their palms have a high temperature.
(I think I'm this type.)

Japanese seldom shake hands like Westerners, but we can choose an effective way of approach to other people by shaking hands.
  • in Diary
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【No. 0352】Sundry and Various

Dec 5, 2015 17:11
Today, I'd like to ask you a question about the word sundry, which I learned a little while ago.

According to my English word book, the meaning of sundry is almost the same as the one of 'various.'

Also, the Internet says that sundry means various in modern English.

Is it natural that using sundry instead of 'various'?

For example, I often write sentences like "various methods have been proposed," but can I rewrite this like "sundry methods have been proposed?"

I would really appreciate it if you could let me know about the nuances.

【No. 0351】Insect Food

Dec 4, 2015 14:56
Have you ever eaten insects?

My hometown of Aichi Prefecture don't have a culture of insect food, while those living in Nagano Prefecture where now I live sometimes eat locusts and hachinoko(which means bee larvae).

In fact, cooked locusts and bee larvae are sold in grocery stores.

I have an experience of eating such insects, but the taste wasn't too bad.

However, only the taste of silkworms was hideous for me, so I will never eat them again.

In the former Nagano Prefecture, since these insects were valuable protein sources, eating them was very important.
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【No. 0350】Escalator

Dec 3, 2015 12:06
In Japan, there are two major ways to ride an escalator.

In Kanto region (Tokyo area), people stand on the left side, and give the right side to other people in a hurry.

On the other hand, in Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto area), people stand on the right side, and space the right side.

According to the Internet, people seem to stand the left side in some countries, such as UK, Australia, or Singapore.

Also, people seem to stand the right side in other countries, such as the US, Canada, or France.

However, the correct riding way is to stand the center, and not to walk on the escalator.

These days, Japanese railway companies have appealed such a usage to people.
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【No. 0349】Contact Lens

Dec 2, 2015 14:35
I wear contact lens on a daily basis.

They are soft and disposable ones, and it costs around 2000 yen per month.

However, the actual manufacturing cost of contact lens seems to be 2 to 10 yen for each lens.

The reason why the selling price is increased is because a lot of things, such as R&D expenses, medical services costs, store management costs, and advertising costs are needed.

If you buy contact lens from online stores without any prescription, the price will become less expensive because of cost reductions of medical services and store managements.

However, it's a little risky.
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【No. 0348】Hotchkiss

Dec 1, 2015 15:09
Most Japanese call refer to a stapler 'hotchkiss.'

In fact, when you do a Google image search on hotchkiss in katakana, images of staplers will be displayed.

(When you do a Google image search on hotchkiss in English, images of cars will be displayed.)

This is derived from that the name of staplers that was first imported from the US in 1903 is "Hotckiss No. 1" by E.H.Hotchkiss.

The company, E.H.Hotchkiss was founded by Eli Hubbell Hotchkiss.

He is a younger brother of Benjamin Berkeley Hotchkiss, who is known as an inventor of machine guns.

The structure of machine guns and stapler seem to be similar to each other.

【No. 0347】November 29

Nov 30, 2015 18:40
Yesterday was November 29.

It represents an ii (11, means good) niku (29, means meats) day.

I've forgotten it.

In this day, butchers and beef barbecue restaurant in Japan seemed to conduct various campaigns.

November 29 represents also ii (11, means good) fuku (29, means clothes) day.

I think that clothing shops conducted various campaigns too.

However, I don't know about them because I had withdrawn into my laboratory.

By the way, November 29 is the 333rd day of the year.
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【No. 0346】Cats and Fish

Nov 29, 2015 13:32
In Japan, the image that favorite food of cats is fish has been established.

In fact, Japanese sometimes feed cats with fish.

However, if cats continue to eat blue-skinned fish, cats may be sick and die.

I think such an image that cats like fish should be modified.

Also, it seems to be a common sense that cats mainly eat meats in the world.

By the way, I heard that cats in the US eat pizza, cats in Italy eat pasta, and cats in India eat curry.
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【No. 0345】Japanese Numeral

Nov 28, 2015 10:34
In Japanese, when we count something like "one, two, three,...," we usually say:

"ichi, ni, san, shi(yon), go, roku, shichi, hachi, ku(kyu), juu."

On the other hand, there are also other expressions like the following as traditional ones:

"hi, hu, mi, yo, itsu, mu, nana, ya, koko(kokono), to."

In this counting way, hu(two), mu(six) and ya(eight) are twice as much as hi(one), mi(three) and yo(four), respectively.

This sounds something like rhythmic.

Also, some people think that these pronunciations are derived from Hebrew of Israel.
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【No. 0344】Forest Bath

Nov 27, 2015 10:31
The forest bath allows you to relax and to feel clear and fresh scents.

The reason is because that you breathe a harmful substance called 'phytoncide.'

Forests release this substance so as to survive, and kill surrounding plants, harmful microorganisms, and insects.

As the result, there are almost no unpleasant odors from such as animal corpses or excrement in forests.

Also, although phytoncide is harmful for plants or insects, there are no bad influences for human beings, and it brings benefits especially to people who go forests frequently like us.

However, people who have never gone to forests, such as Arctic indigenous people, could get a headache.
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【No. 0343】Mirrors in Elevators

Nov 26, 2015 14:10
In most elevators, large mirrors are installed.

Do you know the reason for this?

These mirrors are installed for people who use a wheelchair or a stroller to confirm readily the entrance of the elevator.

Also, in addition to usual buttons, another buttons for children and people who use a wheelchair are attached in many elevators.

When you press these buttons, a time that the door is open will be longer than the case of usual buttons.