got pics...

to show but amid alcoholism I lost my camera phone, along with numbers and a memory card loaded with memories.

sleepless sky show

Old habits die hard. I always have a difficult time going to sleep the night before a trip. So the sun gradually starts to climb the hill earlier and earlier now it's 4:30am and soon it'll be 4:00 sharp.

Being sleepless I cleaned and packed, and finally decided to breathe some fresh air that my lung can't remeber ever having existed. While walking in my street admiring the number of chirping birds in sight, I looked up and saw this:





It's not one of those planes doodling in the sky. I know it's hard to make out but what can one really expect from a cell phone camera? The meteoroid charges across right above my head making no noise, but obviously disintegrating as it leaves a trail of burning micrometeorite, lights up the dim sky like a fireworks show. As I'm rushing back to the house to grab the camera it disappears into the other corner. Judging from the direction it's headed it'll strike the Pacific but more than likely it'll just burn out in the atmosphere. What a spectacular display!

Remebering my last meteor shower, in NYC it was a chilly 40-degree early morning in 2001 if memory serves, I don't recall any of the two hundred a minute meteorites to look as clear and slow as this one. It took a good five-minute for it to travel across the entire arc of the sky.

sleeping, memory, overworking

Not exactly looking for an excuse for my poor memory, I came across a science article that attempts to explain a correlation between sleeping and long term memory. Basically what it says is while one sleeps, the brains work to file away memories. As you may or may not know we humans only remember things for a very short period of time, somthing like 30 mins, so in order to be able to recall events from a much earlier time, sleeping aids the process in which a sequence of happenings for the day get transferred from a "RAM"-like storage to a "HDD". However if sleeping hours decline the ability to "back up" the daily data goes sharply downhill. That might explain why my long term memories often appear as if I've lived under water. That among other things carves me into the person who wants consistently to live in the moment, in moderation, paradoxically so.

The other day a student who happens to be a doctor commented on my vaction plan as "It should do you some good." Only then I realized I have been working a bit too much. You know when a doctor from the land of workaholics, quality issues aside, says you work too much, it's time to admit it. Six full days a week two of them from 10am to 10pm, it's been the least lazy one year.

off to HK

Just a couple more days I'll be off to Hong Kong. It's time I took a vacation to do some much needed nerves unraveling. Can't wait!

To do:
go shopping,
drink some good wine,
meet with family, friends,
have dim sum, Chinese food,
go clubbing, possibly bar-hopping.

the strangest weather

I'm sitting in front of the computer at home when the sun starts to fade at 12 noon after what seems to be the brightest day in spring, then all of a sudden icy rain falls from the sky, not hail, not snow, not sleet, but rain mixed with ice that melts on impact and makes a distinct noise of which you know instantly is not rain. Air temp is 10-14C (~57F). Weird.

The big quake in Russia earlier also bothers me since it happened in a remote site where geologically shares the same faultline as Japan, though to the far north.

I moved

For 2000 yen more each month, I moved into a nicer apartment. A few minutes farther away from the center of town but also newer and slightly more spacious. All in all I'm pretty satisfied. The neighbors have relatively large houses. I get the high tech toilet that seems to be really cool. Living/bed room is nice and clean. Tiny bathroom and kitchen.

hanami 2006

An archiveed picture of some students from Western Female High School (Baltimore, Maryland) during cherry blossoms in 1941.

Here is one of the two things that can never be overrated in Japan- hanami (花見). Trying to catch a glimpse of its short-lived full bloom bestows a sense of urgency on the already hyped annual event.

The people here take it pretty serious. They orderly sardine into crowded parks or wooded areas to picnic with friends and family under the trees, often in the evening when drinking is involved. My personal favorite though, is not when the flowers are blossoming but right after, when the uniquely pink petals fall like snow, enveloped in artificial twilight.

As of today (2006.4.12), the conditions of cherry blossoms through out Japan (although with rain being dumped down the way it has been, in kanto (関東) at least, maybe there will be hardly any flowers left):


http://woman.excite.co.jp/garbo/sakura/

The Big Freeze

A while ago National Geographic aired a new episode of Naked Science titled Big Freeze, one that has something to do with the Earth's climate instead of the entire universe's.

To sum it up, we live in a time called the interglacial period when the world doesn't freeze over like during an ice age, allowing civilizations to flourish. Many scientists believe though that an ice age is, judging from past climate patterns for thousands of years, overdue.

The good news is an ice age takes time to emerge. The graduate change and our ability to adapt to new environments are not exactly the worst combination.

The bad news is along with these studies, climatologists discovered something very strange- the extended period of warm climate that we benefit from, is everything but normal. It's indeed a freak of nature. Long story short, there was a bizarre absence of freezes that should have hit during the interglacial but haven't. When it arrives finally the world will go through a rapid and drastic temperature drop crippling or even wiping out the human race.

What can trigger these quick big freezes:
1) volcanic eruption
-volcanic acid reflecting sunlight resulting in dropping temp, also likely to effect food supply causing famines, civil disobedience, eventually wars and/or anarchy.

2) global warming
-either a man-made process or natrual, the larger amont of fresh water from melting ice sheets pouring into the ocean each year is a fact, which slows the Great Ocean Conveyor, a natural oceanic system that adjusts global temperatures.

Doomed or not, What're our chances?
Scientists say that there is a 50% chance we will see a big freeze in the next 100 years.

Now on surviving it:
How life survived the big freeze

Download Big Freeze on here

Recent evidence suggests we might be heading towards a Big Freeze with the power to cause a global catastrophe with mass extinctions. This new freezing climate could hit us far sooner than we think with little or no warning. The next ice-age may stillbe in the distant future but ironically could Global Warming be a possible trigger that will accelerate climate change? Naked Science examines what may cause temperatures to plummet and how abrupt climate change could spell disaster for Earth.

solar eclipse

Some views of last week's total eclipse of the Sun were better than others. One spectacular view occurred over Adrasan (near Antalya), Turkey and was captured there by industrious astrophotographer Stefan Seip. The above digital mosaic caught the Moon in several stages as it moved between the Earth and the Sun. During the center frame, a total solar eclipse was visible, the Moon completely blocked the Sun, the area became dark, and the magnificent corona of the Sun became visible. The foreground frame from the same location was taken during sunlight. The next total eclipse of the Sun will occur in August 2008 and be visible from parts of North America, Europe, and Asia.

source: NASA