Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Got up at eight-fifteen in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a Japanese-style meal for dinner.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a meal for dinner.
A hail-fellow-well-met democratic style of leadership is one of the old particular styles (cf. October 1, 2008). This decision-making style is sometimes required when a leader is completely uncertain about the best direction to take. A leader also adapts this style of decision-making for the purpose of evasion of responsibility. Hopefully, it's a rare case.
As well known, in most cases, the best decision isn't in unison with what the majority wants. A leader always needs to know what both the best direction and the majority opinion are by collecting as much reliable information as possible and to make a choice from a number of alternatives or a middle path, depending on each situation. It goes without saying that, instead of leaving it to others, a leader should take responsibility and do it.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and pieces of California Pizza Kitchen's pizza for dinner.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Got up at nine-fifteen in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal and a piece of pizza for lunch, and a Japanese-style meal for dinner. Today the first snow fell.
A democratic style of leadership has undergone some metamorphosis, especially in a nation with both one-party rule and high audience ratings for TV programs. So-called public opinion is easily controlled in such a country. As long as its economy is continuously growing, the international situation is stable, and the outside world isn't putting pressure to do it, no strong leadership from either the politics or the bureaucracy may be necessary there. Instead, enterprise groups and partially the home and foreign governments control the majority opinion through the mass media behind the scenes, and as a result guide a nation, while keeping up the appearance of democracy and redeeming its weakness. They probably say that they do not intend to control people but to educate them.
On the other hand, in the US, this conspicuous tendency could not be found because the two-party system has been rigidly maintained and there exists no strong alliance among corporations and industries. Actually, there always exists the nexus between political power and industry including mass media. Although each media group has strongly tied up with a political clique and helped to personalize it, its influences on public opinion in terms of politics used to be insignificant. For the last two decades, however, the power of each media group has been enlarging more and the influence of the mass media has been getting stronger, as the TV audience ratings increase and the popularization of the Internet advances, instead of slow publishing business. As a consequence, pop cultures have been deeply permeating into the world of politics in the US. It's 21st century.
Neither the former nor the latter is my favorite.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Got up at ten o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a meal for dinner. Checked and raised the pressure in the tires of my pickup truck this afternoon.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Got up at eleven-fifteen. Went out for lunch at La Madeline and shopping at grocery stores this afternoon. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for dinner.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
If a Westerner happens to watch Japanese TV programs except news programs, their frivolousness and undignifiedness may surprise him/her. As the result of very fierce competition between TV companies for audience ratings, these companies have accommodated themselves to the denominator of public taste for the production of entertainment programs. Only government-run broadcasting produces somewhat educational programs even in this category.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Got up at seven-fifteen in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a meal for dinner.
Sooner or later, all fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas, and also all nuclear fission fuels such as uranium and plutonium on the earth will be depleted unless the circumstances change. The fossil fuels may be used up within one to two centuries at the earliest. Probably, these energy sources will be drained within five centuries at the latest. The remaining amount of nuclear fuel deposits on the earth seems to be uncertain. Switching to the fast-breeder reactor would enable us to extend some considerable time for nuclear fission fuels to fill our needs (cf. April 12, 2009).
Obviously, mankind will need to identify non-supplementary renewable sources and/or new practical sources of energy in the future. The most interesting renewable source of energy to me is the Enhanced Geothermal Systems (cf. September 15, 2008) though its practicality has not yet been confirmed. The perpetuity of the thermal energy that is obtained from so-called Hot Rocks in the EGS is attractive even though they may require a recovery period for temperature after about twenty to thirty years of use. Currently, there exist several technical problems left in the EGS, but it seems that they aren't fundamental problems. Although, in this stage, the costs of construction of the EGS power plant including drillings aren't affordable for practical utilities, they may drop in the future once its practicality is proven and the necessity for it rises. Hopefully, the practicality of the EGS will be verified in the near future.
As you know, the most anticipated new source of energy is Nuclear Fusion (cf. March 30, April 10, May 17 and May 26, 2009). Desirably, it uses very abundant sources of energy on the earth. However, the nuclear fusion reactor is still in the early stage of the experiment. It goes without saying that the fusion reactor won't play any important role in climate change issues within the next four decades. This technology may allow mankind to replace all fossil and nuclear fission fuels one or two centuries later if this works.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a simple Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese-style meal for dinner.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a Japanese-style meal for dinner.
As written two days ago, the remaining amount of nuclear fuel deposits on the earth seems to be uncertain. Uranium is isolated from various ores such as uraninite and carnotite found on the earth. Indeed, an indefinite amount of these ores should also exist on the other planets and satellites inside/outside our solar system. Needless to say, however, the transportation of nuclear fuels to the earth isn't a good idea.
All isotopes of uranium are radioactive and harmful. Naturally, these radioactive substances already existed underground long before the birth of life. After the refining of uranium from these ores, uranium-235 is enriched using the centrifugal separation method. The enriched uranium is used as fuel for a nuclear fission reactor. During fission reactions in a reactor for the generation of electric power, transuranium elements such as plutonium are produced by neutron irradiation of uranium-238, as by-products. All of the transuranium elements that have ever been found and created are also radioactive. Reusable elements such as uranium-235 and plutonium-239 are separated from spent nuclear fuel at a reprocessing plant. Finally, radioactive nuclear waste is disposed of at a nuclear waste repository.
What it comes down to is that radioactive nuclear fuel comes from the underground, and after the nuclear fuel cycle, radioactive nuclear waste is returned to an underground nuclear waste site. Mother nature decides the places where uraninite, carnotite, and other ores exist. Very carefully, mankind has to choose the places where radioactive nuclear waste is disposed of.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and pieces of California Pizza Kitchen's pizza for dinner.
Most renewable sources of energy such as solar power and wind power can play supplementary roles only. It seems to me that, in this category, only hydroelectric power and geothermal power can potentially provide a considerable proportion of our energy needs.
The development of technologies that enable the reduction of the power/fuel consumption of products such as electrical appliances, automobiles, and houses seems to be effective and meaningful, in any case.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Got up at ten forty-five. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a Japanese-style meal for dinner.
There is an uncertainty concerning the safety of the Enhanced Geothermal Systems associated with earthquakes. The EGS may trigger earthquakes but it doesn't cause major earthquakes. The main cause of earthquakes is known to be the presence of faults in the Earth's crust and plate tectonics. Rapid cooling of hot rocks and rapid heating and expansion of water, by pumping water through a drilled hole into a chamber and fissures in hot rocks (200 ~ 500 degrees C or above), may cause phreatic explosions deep underground that may lead to rapid movement along the faults when the strains have been built up among the neighboring faults. Therefore, no significant earthquake can be triggered with the use of the EGS if no considerable strain is built up on the faults.
A dangerous idea occurred to me. First of all, this is a rather nonsense one. There are many active faults on the earth. If the mechanism above is right, the basic concept of the EGS may be used to prevent catastrophic damages due to earthquakes by gradually and controllably releasing the strains on the known active faults in a seismic area. Drilling holes in the ground to an active fault and then pumping cold water through them periodically may relax the strain little by little, by causing weak earthquakes intentionally. The reason why this is a dangerous idea is that the first attempt may trigger huge earthquakes. Although, sooner or later, such earthquakes will occur in a seismic area when the build-up strain is released suddenly and spontaneously, the sufferers from it should blame executors for doing it usually. Mankind's dominion over nature is always hard. Let it be.
According to Wikipedia, "Research conducted at Los Alamos National Laboratories and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories examined the use of supercritical CO2, instead of water, as the geothermal working fluid with favorable results."
The use of supercritical CO2, which is CO2 in a fluid state at a temperature and pressure greater than its critical temperature and pressure behaving like a gas with a density like that of a liquid, may not only increase gain in electrical power but also reduce a risk associated with the earthquake because of the limited use of water. CO2 doesn't always play a villain's role.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Got up at eight forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch. Went out shopping at grocery stores this afternoon. Ate a Japanese-style meal for dinner.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
It isn't an exaggeration to say that fossil fuels are finite resources within the range of the universe mankind can reach. Fossil fuels are formed in the geological past from the decayed remains of plants or animals on the earth, and it will take millions of years to replace them. Fossil fuels can be discovered only on the planets or satellites where there used to be life more than millions of years ago.
The dependence of mankind on valuable fossil fuels has been increasing and all of them will be exhausted within hundreds of years. The combustion of fossil fuels at a fast pace has been increasing levels of CO2 and other air pollution in the earth's atmosphere, which potentially leads to global warming.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. A backup copy of computer files to an external hard drive was made this morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a Japanese-style meal for dinner.
My pickup truck has been used for our going out shopping in the neighborhood, and my wife's car has been used for our going on a longer drive for multiple purposes. In this way, ecology and convenience can be compatible with each other without leaning on high technology and without sacrificing our safety. Obviously, luxurious large-size vehicles with high efficiency should offer us better quality and safety of driving.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a simple meal for lunch, and a Japanese-style meal for dinner.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
According to the Forbes Magazine published a couple of months ago, "at today's usage rates, the proved reserves of oil, natural gas, uranium, and coal can satisfy our energy needs for the next 42 years, 57 years, 85 years, and 137 years, respectively." "Exploration turns up new supplies all the time."
It's uncertain how much undiscovered sources of energy are left beneath the ground. Optimistically speaking, they are a double or triple of the currently proved reserves. This may be too optimistic.
The advance in the technology of nuclear reactors can significantly extend the time remaining of nuclear fuels when a large amount of plutonium-239 is artificially and effectively produced by neutron irradiation of uranium-238. Natural uranium contains only 0.72% of its radioisotope of the uranium-235, which can be directly used as a nuclear fuel. Uranium 238 is ~99.3% of natural uranium.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and pieces of California Pizza Kitchen's pizza for dinner.
Nuclear power is either the cheapest or the second cheapest source of energy. On the other hand, currently, the most expensive energy source is solar power.
There are many applications of this technology. As well known, solar power is a peaceful source of energy, though solar cells may contain small quantities of toxic substances such as arsenic or cadmium, depending on the type of solar cells. However, as far as solar cells are properly disposed of after about twenty to thirty years of use, they don't cause any soil contamination. Solar cells don't emit any air pollution such as smoke, gases, and dust, don't kill any animal, and don't increase the percentage of fatal car accidents. Needless to say, in the case of solar power, there is no risk of a leak of radiation or a trigger for an earthquake.
Solar cells are ideal for use in outer space. The state-of-the-art solar cells are usually used for these applications. For uses on the surface of the earth, only in clear daylight, a solar cell can convert sunlight into electricity at a rate suitable for practical uses. The sunlight is weakened in the earth's atmosphere, is often screened by clouds, and is hidden behind the earth at night. Therefore, energy storage is one of the important issues for the continuous availability of energy all day long. Energy loss during the charging of the battery should be a critical problem.
It seems that the installation of the solar cell system with no energy storage on the whole surface of the roof of the house that is specialized for the air conditioning of its rooms, especially in the daytime of summer, is interesting. In this case, the hotter it is outside of the house, the more air-cooling the solar cell system gives inside. However, a house owner may need to be anxious about serious hail damage to a very luxurious roof when a storm comes.
The electric power gain from solar cells increases with improving the conversion efficiency and widening the area. Actually, there are many types of high-efficiency solar cells available and under development, such as multiple junction cells, thin film cells using exotic materials, and crystalline Si cells. The conversion efficiency of these solar cells is in the range of 15 ~ 45%, according to Wikipedia. Taking both cost and performance into consideration, however, such high-efficiency solar cells aren't competitive with fossil fuel power. Currently, lower-cost solar cells (~ 10% efficiency) are rather promising for the purpose of replacing a proportion of fossil fuels potentially. If the power loss during charging the energy storage were significantly minimized, solar cells could replace them partially in warm, hot, and desert regions in the future. If not, solar power will continue to be a supplemental source of energy.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Got up at ten-fifteen in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for dinner.
The description below is found in the Wikipedia:
--- Hybrid Nuclear Fusion is the use of a combination of nuclear Fusion and Fission processes to achieve a net positive output of generated power. In the LIFE project at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory LLNL, using technology developed at the National Ignition Facility, the goal is to use fuel pellets of Deuterium and Tritium surrounded by a fissionable (or fertile) blanket to produce energy sufficiently greater than the input (laser) energy for electrical power generation. The principle involved is to induce inertial confinement fusion (ICF) in the fuel pellet which acts as a highly concentrated point source of neutrons which in turn converts and fissions the outer fissionable blanket. ---
The fuel of a laser fusion reactor is a solid deuterium pellet with about 80 microns diameter, and the nuclear fusion reaction in it is supposed to burn out before the plasma sphere disperses in all directions due to an increase in thermal motion. Unlike the tokamak reactor, a laser reactor doesn't require the confinement of the plasma sphere with a strong magnetic field. It sounds rather safer.
In the hybrid nuclear fusion reactor, nuclear fusion reaction is used to convert almost any isotope of uranium, including uranium-238 (~99.3% of natural uranium), into fissionable elements by neutron irradiation. Therefore, a spent nuclear fuel that has been maintained at a nuclear waste repository can be reusable as fuel. Fast neutrons that are emitted from fusion reaction also induce fission reaction in it.
The following description is also found in the Wikipedia:
--- In parallel with the ICF approach, the University of Texas at Austin is developing a system based on the tokamak fusion reactor, optimizing for nuclear waste disposal versus power generation. The principles behind using either ICF or tokamak reactors as a neutron source are essentially the same. ---
It's uncertain whether the information above is just a joke or not.
A tokamak-type reactor is one of the orthodox thermonuclear fusion reactors. A tokamak reactor is designed to confine doughnut-shapely plasma at about 150 million degrees C using a strong magnetic field generated with the superconducting magnets. If a superconducting magnet were to break down during the operation of a reactor, for example, due to a leakage of liquid nitrogen or helium from these magnets, very high-energy plasma would be no longer confined to the center of the reactor. Doughnut-shaped plasma rapidly disperses due to intense thermal motion. In other words, it blows up the reactor while emitting an enormous amount of fast neutrons and gamma rays in all directions. If only deuterium is used as fuel (D-D fusion reaction), the accident does not spread any other harmful material around. Possibly, the D-T reaction was planned because of the easiness of the ignition. It seems that, as far as a fusion reactor is located at a depth of tens of meters, most of the emitted fast neutrons can be absorbed into the ground even if the worst should happen. Therefore, the development of a tokamak reactor itself is meaningful and doesn't cause any unmanageable destructive problem if only a small amount of fuel is loaded in it.
However, in the case of a hybrid nuclear fusion reactor, its wall is blanketed with enriched nuclear fuel, depleted uranium, or spent nuclear fuel. The possible accident of the hybrid tokamak fusion reactor may lead to serious radioactive contaminations in the surrounding area. This may be a hybrid between the instability of a magnetic confinement fusion reactor and the harmfulness of a fission reactor. Hopefully, only a very small amount of mixed fuel of deuterium and tritium will be loaded in the hybrid tokamak fusion reactor. It is my belief that, for quite some time, the hybrid option won't be added to the tokamak-type fusion reactor. The dangerousness of adding a hybrid option to the magnetic confinement fusion reactor should be discussed after the expected success of the ignition of a fusion reaction in the future. It seems that a tokamak-type fusion reactor is more appropriate for conventional power generation using an electric dynamo.
Anyway, this sort of nuclear reactor may allow mankind to make full use of all isotopes of uranium on the earth, if a fusion reaction can be ignited in it in the future. In this case, uranium could satisfy our energy needs for about ten millenniums. However, there is always a risk of a leak of radioactive substances.
It seems that the price of a hybrid fusion reactor is much higher than that of a fast breeder reactor, because of additional very high power systems for the ignition of fusion reaction. Moreover, the price of a fast breeder reactor can be reduced down to nearly that of a conventional light-water fission reactor. Although the efficiency of the conversion to fissionable elements in a fast breeder reactor is lower than that in a hybrid fusion reactor, a fast breeder reactor is more promising for the generation of electric power for the next tens of years when a problem associated with liquid-sodium coolant is fixed, for example by substituting helium-gas for it (April 12, 2009). The other possible problem of a fast breeder reactor is known to be that it may raise the level of the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Actually, obstructive tactics against such a next-generation reactor have been unfolding on the international political stage. Different from a thermal reactor and a fast breeder reactor, a hybrid fusion does not require the enrichment of uranium. However, this fact may not help control the proliferation of nuclear weapons because a hybrid fusion can be an effective generator of plutonium-239 by neutron irradiation of uranium-238. The ignition of nuclear fusion using either laser or heating devices is theoretically possible but has been most difficult to accomplish in practice simply because the required temperature and/or pressure are extremely high. Hopefully, a hybrid fusion reactor could replace a fast breeder reactor long afterward.
A regular hot fusion reactor may allow mankind to replace all fossil and fissionable sources of energy, if not only can a fusion reaction be ignited and controlled, but the effective production of electric power from a fusion reaction can also be achieved in the future. In the case of the Deuterium - Deuterium reaction, its fuel, that is, deuterium would satisfy our energy needs through all ages. In the case of the Deuterium - Tritium reaction, its reaction can be reached at the lowest energy. Tritium is very rare (10-16% of natural hydrogen) on the earth. However, it can be produced by the D-D reaction as a by-product in a reactor. Tritium is radioactive, emitting weak beta rays. In the case of the Deuterium - Helium-3 reaction, it gives a higher energy yield than the other two reactions. Helium-3 is rare on Earth but may be abundant on the moon. The D-He3 reaction is cleaner than the other two because it doesn't produce any radioactive element while emitting a much smaller amount of fast neutrons.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Got up at eleven o'clock. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch. Went out shopping at grocery stores this afternoon. Ate a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a Japanese-style meal for dinner.
"This is an interesting topic found in the BBC online news today". The following is my comment on it:
It seems that the US base in Okinawa should remain at its present place or be relocated to land in Guam. Indeed, this local issue itself isn't my concern. A comprehensive defense program draws my attention somewhat.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Got up at eight-fifteen in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
What some scientists and engineers in an area have been aiming at with the development of reactors is the realization of the natural phenomenon, that is called nuclear fusion reaction and can be seen everywhere in the universe, in order for the establishment of the technologies for our future energy. More exactly speaking, it' called thermonuclear reaction. The enormous energy from the stars, including the sun of our solar system, is a result of fusion reactions among hydrogen nuclei triggered by its own gravity in their core. Interpreting it in a broad sense, solar energy is a sort of fusion energy. Solar power uses weak radiation of light and heat from the existing huge sphere of fusion plasma in the core of the solar system in order to generate electricity using photovoltaic cells and so on.
Actually, mankind had already ignited nuclear fusion artificially. Each of the current permanent members of the Security Council had individually ignited it by using the heat from nuclear fission reaction for the purpose of the experiment and development of the hydrogen bomb in the 1950s and 1960s. The destructive power of it is thousands of times higher than that of an atomic bomb.
Let me write about rather outrageous topics, like SF. It's my understanding that some of the so-called tabletop (cold) fusions are like the Loch Ness Monster, Nessie. Hopefully, this statement won't draw blame on me. However, not all cold fusions are so. For example, the Muon-catalyzed fusion is one of the exceptions. Indeed, it's uncertain whether the Muon-catalyzed fusion, which uses negative-muons as catalyze to cause the D-D or D-T fusion reaction without using a heating or laser device, can be categorized as a cold fusion or not. Surely, it isn't a tabletop one. Muon is an unstable subatomic particle (a mean lifetime of 2.2x10-6 sec.) and can be observed in the decay processes due to the cosmic radiation reaching the earth's atmosphere. Because only a small quantity of unstable muon can be artificially produced in a particle accelerator, a muon interacts with other particles with a very small reaction cross-section, and energy output higher than energy input can't be gained, the Muon-catalyzed fusion hasn't been considered for the source of energy, within my knowledge.
It's my belief that there is no easy way to start a fusion reaction. The following tells why. Deuterium is very abundant in the oceans of the earth (0.015% of natural hydrogen). If everyone were to become capable of igniting fusion reactions as easily as one starts a fire with a match on a tabletop, an insane person could refine a huge amount of deuterium from the nearly inexhaustible water, could store it in liquid state in a huge tank, and could ignite the D-D fusion in it easily. It isn't so difficult to estimate how much deuterium is necessary to crash the earth to pieces. Therefore, there shouldn't exist such an easy cold fusion. The ignition and sustainment of fusion reaction must be very difficult for peace. To be honest, this isn't a scientific opinion. Hopefully, no one will find a way to do it forever.
If the ignition and sustain of fusion reaction at room temperature without using large-scale equipment were not impossible, someone could discover a method to do it and would make it generally known in the future. Whoever could he/she be? Is he/she a Savior or a Destroyer? If you happened to find it, you would be the most dangerous and wanted man alive for the governments and the energy industries all over the world.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Got up at eight forty-five in the morning. Ate a simple meal for lunch. Ate a piece of shortcake at three o'clock. Went to see "Me and Orson Welles" at the Regal Arbor Theater this afternoon.
A high school student Richard, who wants to be a playwright in the near future, encounters Orson Welles through a curious turn of events in front of his Mercury theatre in New York City and takes a role as a substitute in Shakespeare's drama Julius Caesar produced by him just a week before its first public performance in winter of 1937. Orson Welles's intense character and self-centered way to produce a play steers its premiere at his theatre to a success, while covering up manageable problems and removing risk elements. In the movie, Orson Welles's character is described as a typical charismatic leader.
Regardless of whether it's likable or dislikable, the success rate of a project and productivity can increase with strengthening dictatorial and totalitarian tendencies. In the case of a group with an old-fashioned dictatorial leader, the quality of its output strongly depends upon the outstanding capabilities of a leader. As you know, however, it's really difficult to find out such a talent. If a leader is mediocre, the product is also mediocre.
In the world in the twenty-first century, there exist safer and better ways to produce good work. First of all, the right degrees of flexibility and discipline in the right place are important. Naturally, in the place where more creativity is required, the degree of freedom should be enhanced, while in the place where more routine is required, that of order should be. In an organization, the systems that are designed to support a leader in decision-making should be provided. The appropriateness of these systems to an organization depends upon its size and situation. In a democratic society, as an organization becomes large in size, the necessity of a sort of democratic way has to increase, though it makes it dull. However, any system for evasion of the responsibility of a leader is unnecessary.
Ate a Japanese meal for dinner.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Got up at eleven o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a piece of shortcake at three o'clock. I drank glasses of cider and ate a Japanese-style meal for dinner.
Traveling on a holiday still has entailed higher risk.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Got up at ten forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch. Went to see Sherlock Holmes at the Regal Gateway Theater and to buy some items of food at grocery stores this afternoon.
This movie drew a large audience today. In Arthur Conan Doyle's original novels, John H. Watson describes Sherlock Holmes as bohemian in habits and lifestyle, according to Wikipedia. Conan Doyle described his fictional character Holmes from Watson's viewpoint as an eccentric with no regard for contemporary standards in the late nineteenth century. In this movie, the eccentricity of Sherlock Holmes isn't measured on the basis of standards about a hundred and twenty years ago, but he is an eccentric even on the basis of the present age. He may be too eccentric for a Conan Doyle fan. This characterization may be wise for an entertainment film adaptation in modern times. This is an adventure movie full of the unraveling of mysteries and the scenes of the martial art "Baritsu". This action movie reminded me of "Lupin III". A three-piece of Watson's tweed suit attracted my attention.
Ate pieces of California Pizza Kitchen's pizza for dinner.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Got up at eleven-thirty in the morning. Ate a piece of pizza and a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a Japanese-style meal for dinner. Stayed at home for the entire day.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Got up at eight-thirty in the morning. Ate a simple meal for lunch. Went out for dinner at Eastside Café this evening.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Got up at eleven o'clock. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Got up at ten-fifteen in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch. Went out shopping this afternoon. Ate a Japanese-style meal for dinner.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Got up at eleven o'clock. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for dinner. Stayed at home for the entire day.
Watched a DVD of the movie "The Right Stuff" this evening. This film's ending is splendid. It depicts the scene in C. E. Yeager piloted an NF-104A to challenge the Russian's world record of the highest altitude by aircraft, which had become almost meaningless in 1963 the beginning of the era of space exploration, while showing synchronistically the other scene that astronauts of the Mercury Project were watching a dancer performing like a swan on a stage at the Astrodome. Yeager's NF-104A failed to break the record and fell from a height like Ikaros. The next is his return, followed by the last scene showing the last Mercury flight.
