Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a Japanese one-pot meal for dinner.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
For public consumption, the majority of scientists had been likely to avoid the question of whether extraterrestrial beings exist in the universe or not, because of the lack of the data necessary to estimate it and the suspiciousness accompanied by numerous wild rumors. Recently, however, it has gradually become a reasonable question because of some favorable discoveries. In the present stage, the answer that extraterrestrial beings don't exist isn't correct, scientifically speaking. The other answer that extraterrestrial beings do exist in the universe isn't correct, either. The right answer to the question above is that human beings don't know it. Some recent discoveries such as the water in the soils on both Mars and the Earth's moon and an amino acid on the surfaces of some meteorites have raised the possibility of the existence of extraterrestrial beings a little bit. In the future, human beings will be able to estimate the possibility of the existence of extraterrestrial beings rather accurately when the number of solar systems similar to our solar system in the whole universe is approximately known through astronomical observations.
In the following paragraphs dealing with some SF-like topics, let's assume that extraterrestrial beings really exist somewhere in the universe. The question of whether human beings will be able to go to a distant planet and meet an extraterrestrial being there some future day or not is difficult to answer for everybody. If human beings were to find a method that enables them to travel "safely" and "controllably" beyond the limit of the speed, which is the speed of light in empty space according to the special theory of relativity, human beings may be able to find extraterrestrial beings on a faraway planet from the earth. Different from what human beings dream, however, human beings may be unable to find a method forever. Within the reach of human beings traveling at a speed up to 99% of the speed of light without a method, which is tens to hundreds of light-years away from the earth at best, human beings may discover the existence of extraterrestrial beings and their vestiges, as luck would have it. In such a very limited space, human beings may never discover any evidence of extraterrestrial beings at all.
There is another way to encounter extraterrestrial beings. An extraterrestrial being may find the earth in advance. In this case, there is no knowing what would happen to human beings. It's absolutely certain that an extraterrestrial visitor is much more advanced than a human being. Whether human beings live or die would be completely up to an extraterrestrial being who could find us. Indeed, this is a really unfortunate situation.
Space travel beyond the limit of the speed "safely" may be just impossible for all forms of life in the universe. This may be the reason why any extraterrestrial being has never visited the earth though there are many stars in the night sky. In this case, no extraterrestrial being will ever come to the earth from a far distant space. Still, there is only a small possibility to meet with extraterrestrial beings from the not very distant planets. This idea may be boring but it's surely secure.
"My intuitive belief" is that extraterrestrial beings exist in the universe. This is simply because this thought is delightful even though it's really hard for people of today to find its evidence out within our lifetime. Actually, it's very faintly possible that a fossil of the extraterrestrial microorganisms that might have lived in the disappeared oceans could be discovered in the crust of the planet Mars in the near future. For the sake of our safety, however, "my hope" is that extraterrestrial beings will never find and come to Planet Earth through a wormhole of space-time or any other means.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and pieces of Archer Farms' pizza for dinner.
My wife and I were looking forward to seeing both the movie under the title "King's Speech" which was released last Friday and the movie under the title "Black Swan" which was released at limited theaters today. Unfortunately, however, both movies haven't yet been released in Austin Texas.
Since the end of the Cold War structure in the early 1990s, the meaning of the existence of the Japan-US Security Treaty has been the subject of the argument whenever occasion arose. It's not too much to say that what was substantially agreed by the Japan-US Security Treaty are both the stationing of the US forces in Japan and the suppression of an unlikely event of its domestic warfare though there are other Articles. If an emergency had arisen in the Far East during the Cold War, the US would have staged a military intervention immediately without being asked, regardless of the Security Treaty. In the post-Cold War period, the US hasn't had any hostile rival in the military power in the Far East region, at least as the outward appearance. Since almost the same period of time, the functions of the manufacturing industries for world demands that used to be centralized in Japan have been gradually getting dispersed over various countries in Asia, especially China, as the price wars have proceeded. In other words, the gist in dispute is whether the US will stage a military intervention post the Cold War or not if an emergency should arise in the Far East. To be honest, there is an uncertainty.
Reluctantly, what Japan had to accomplish for the last two decades and has to do for the future is to increase its own defense capacity, while maintaining a nearly empty threat produced by the Security Treaty at least until the accomplishment of the expansion of its defense system to some extent observing the three non-nuclear principles, and remaining as neutral as possible. The conclusion is inevitable that there's no other choice but to protect its own country by its own efforts. Needless to say, however, war must be avoided, especially when it isn't sure whether it can terminate the war for a short period of time, withholding the number of casualties on both sides to a minimum, or not. Therefore, before increasing its defense power beyond a certain strength, an irritable character of the Japanese should be brought under control, as firmly as possible. As written several times previously, it's just a weakness from an international perspective.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Got up at ten forty-five in the morning. Ate a Japanese meal for lunch. Went out shopping at a grocery store this afternoon. Ate a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Got up at ten forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and an American meal for dinner.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate an American meal for lunch. Went to request some photos, one of which is attached to the application form for the renewal of my wife's passport, a neighborhood photo studio. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for dinner.
"This is an interesting topic found in the Reuters online news today". The following is my comment on it:
Have been taking a low dose of aspirin to reduce the risk of stroke once a day since May 27, 2009. Although whether it's true or not is uncertain, taking low doses of aspirin seems to be rather preferable in preventing some major adult diseases, including also cancer according to Reuters. By the way, it would be wonderful if both my wife and I could undergo a thorough physical examination because we both are forty-something.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
-"This is an interesting topic found in the BBC online news today". The following are my comments on it:
This topic reminded me of a short story by Mr. F. S. Fitzgerald, "A Diamond as Big as the Ritz". In the crust of a planet 1,200 light-years distant from the earth, a diamond as big as a Ritz Hotel might exist, exaggeratedly speaking. In order to visit a possible diamond-rich planet, a method that makes it possible to travel beyond the limit of speed has to be discovered. Without using such a method, a manned spacecraft that is capable of accelerating to nearly 99.99% of the velocity of light in vacuum or beyond will be necessary to shuttle between the earth and a distant planet in thousands of years when it's measured on the earth, within the crew's lifetime of tens of years measured on a spacecraft by taking the time dilation of the theory of relativity into consideration, in order to mine diamonds on a distant planet and transport them to the earth in the far future. When a spacecraft is capable of reaching 99.99% of the speed of light, the time elapsed on it is about 1.41% of the time elapsed on the earth due to the slowing down of time. Indeed, it's too hard for a spacecraft to reach such an extremely high velocity because the inertial mass also increases up to 70.7 times larger than the rest mass increasing the speed up to 99.99% of the velocity of light. In other words, it's getting more difficult to accelerate as the velocity becomes closer to its maximum beyond a certain level.
If it's just impossible to find either a method that makes it possible to travel beyond the limit of the speed or another method that enables it to accelerate to 99.99% of the velocity of light or beyond, no human being will be able to accomplish this mission forever. Instead of a manned spacecraft, an unmanned spacecraft that is capable of accelerating to 1 ~ 90% of the velocity of light and is loaded with the automatic equipment specialized for diamond mining might be able to shuttle between the earth and a distant planet in thousands, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years, without worrying about the crew's lifetime. Needless to say, neither a humanoid crew nor a humanoid miner is necessary for this purpose. There is no guarantee that human beings will still be alive on the earth until its return, however.
By the way, my preference is for platinum rather than gold and silver because of its hardness, stability, and rareness, and then the gems because of their easiness of process. My wife is rather interested in the dazzling blaze of the gems, such as a diamond.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Western-Japanese meal for dinner.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a Western-Japanese meal for dinner.
In a fickle manner, my wife changed her mind about seeing "Black Swan", which was released at a movie theater in Austin TX today. Probably, it worries her intuitively that either a strange person may wait for us at a theater, as happened previously, or a hidden unsavory meaning may be included in the movie. If only we could simply enjoy seeing a movie, listening to music, and reading a book, without any trouble.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Got up at ten-fifteen in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch. Went out shopping at grocery stores this afternoon. Ate pieces of Archer Farms' pizza for dinner.
For the last few days, by following its outline either on a couch or a bed, my knowledge of the theory of relativity that I learned about two decades ago has been refreshed. It took me months to understand the theory in my school days, but it now took me just a few hours to refresh what was once understood.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Got up at ten-fifteen in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner. Stayed at home for the entire day.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Got up at seven-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
"This is an interesting topic found in the BBC online news today". The following are my comments on it:
Voyager 1, which was launched in 1977, is now taking its way toward the heliopause of our solar system at the velocity of 17km/s, which is 0.00567% of the velocity of light in a vacuum. If Voyager 1 were to go towards the possibly diamond-rich planet 1,200 light-years away from our solar system at the constant speed of 17km/s, it would take Voyager 1 about twenty-one million years to reach there. The areas opened for developments by human beings will be limited on planets, satellites, and asteroids in our solar system for quite some time.
An idea about a future spacecraft for interstellar travel occurred to me this evening. This is a version improved by me based on a photon rocket that was originally proposed by a German engineer in the 1950s. A future spacecraft that is capable of accelerating to as near the velocity of light as possible may need to be equipped with a rocket engine utilizing the energy released from pair-annihilations between antiparticles and their particle partners. An enormous quantity of antiprotons has to be created and stored in a high vacuum fuel camber in a non-contact way at an interplanetary space station, as described in my diary on November 10, 2010. An antiproton fuel camber should be uploaded on a future spacecraft at the dock of a station. In operation, a small amount of negatively charged antiprotons is continuously brought out from a fuel chamber and jetted out from the nozzles placed at the rear of a spacecraft in a non-contact way inside the rocket electro-magnetically, with nearly the same amount of positively charged protons jetted out from the other nozzles. The antiproton beam and the proton beam are designed to cross each other. The controlled pair-annihilations that should occur near the jet nozzles surrounded by the heat-resistant reflecting mirrors generate a massive outpouring of high-energy and high-dense gamma rays in the rearward direction, like a jet engine. The inertial mass of a photon with the frequency of n is equal to the value dividing its total energy of hn by the square of c (h: Planck's constant, c: velocity of light). Therefore, only high-energy (i.e. high-frequency, short-wavelength) electromagnetic radiation is effective in transmitting force. A spacecraft emitting very high-powered gamma rays from its jets may gather speed in the forward direction, ruled by the law of conservation of momentum.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Got up at seven o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
In a design of the Pair-Annihilation Photon Rocket, the amounts of both antiprotons and protons consumed per unit of time, the size, shape, and material of the heat-resistant reflecting mirrors, and the shortest distance between the point where the antiproton beam and the proton beam cross each other and the surface of the reflecting mirrors have to be carefully optimized in order not to break the reflecting mirrors while minimizing loss of energy.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Got up at eight-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
On the assumption that the energy from pair-annihilations between antiparticles and their particle partners are converted to gamma rays and then to the energy of translational motion of a rocket without loss of energy, at a rough estimate the final velocity of the Pair-Annihilation Photon Rocket is about 70.7% of the velocity of light when the mass of antiproton fuel, that of proton fuel and that of a rocket without fuels are 25%, 25% and 50% of the entire mass, respectively. In order to reach 99.99% of the velocity of light, which is necessary for human beings to shuttle between the earth and a planet 1,200 light-years distant from the earth, a rocket engine needs to consume both the antiproton and the proton fuels, the masses of which are about 49.3% and 49.3% of the entire mass. It seems to be very difficult even for the Pair-Annihilation Photon Rocket to reach 99.99% of the velocity of light. However, in the best-case scenario, an unmanned Pair-Annihilation Photon Rocket can travel to a planet 1,200 light-years distant from the earth in thousands of years. In this case, a possible accident will take no victim.
Is there any platinum-rich planet in the not-too-distant space from the earth?
Friday, December 17, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Went to the Consulate-General of Japan in Houston in order to pick up my wife's renewed passport. Ate a lunch meal at an Italian restaurant halfway to Houston. Returned home this evening, after receiving my wife's passport there. It was about a seven-hour drive to and from Houston. Blinking often while driving a car today helped prevent eye fatigue. Ate a bowl of cereal and a bowl of vegetable soup for dinner.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Got up at eleven o'clock. Ate a bowl of cereal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner. Stayed at home for the entire day.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Got up at eight-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch. Went out shopping at grocery stores this afternoon. Ate a Japanese-Chinese meal for dinner.
With the use of pair annihilation, one of two major problems of a photon rocket, that is the energy source, is solved, but the other still remains. The gamma rays are very penetrating because their wavelength is below 0.01nm, which is smaller than a lattice constant. In order to make the Pair-Annihilation Photon Rocket gather speed effectively in the forward direction without breaking the reflecting mirrors, the reflectivity of the reflecting mirrors has to be significantly improved. The loss in energy due to scatterings of the transmitted gamma rays by nuclei and electrons, ionizations by ejection of orbiting electrons, and emissions of lower energy photons by transitions of orbiting electrons between energy levels inside the reflecting mirrors may decrease with increasing their reflectivity. Ideally, the total reflection is desirable in order to accelerate to as near the velocity of light as possible. It seems that this aim cannot be carried out by only the choice of the material among heavy metals (e.g. Tungsten) and their alloys. A unique treatment that improves the gamma-ray reflectivity of the material for the reflecting mirrors in operation, in addition to the polishing of their surface, may need to be identified. This problem cannot be settled with any ordinary method, to my knowledge. Well then, let me devise an extraordinary solution to the problem in my mind either on a couch or a bed sometimes.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
According to my proposal, in addition to a fusion reactor, an accelerator for a particular purpose, and an interplanetary space station, the development of a special reflector is also necessary in order for future interstellar travel. Currently, none of them are available. Obviously, it will require a lot of time.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Got up at six-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese-Western meal for dinner.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
"This is an interesting topic found in the BBC online news today". The following is my comment on it:
Hopefully, the fissional nuclear materials taken away from a lot of nuclear warheads disarmed under the terms of a treaty will be reused only for peaceful purposes. How many months or years these "bonus" nuclear fuels will additionally satisfy our energy needs is an interesting question. This will allow stalling for time, so that the beginning of the conversion from the currently common reactors such as LWR and HWR to the future fast-breeder reactors may be delayed to some extent.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and pieces of Archer Farms' pizza for dinner.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, a piece of shortcake at snack time, and a dish of Italian pasta and other dishes for dinner.
In a desirable mode for the reflecting mirror of a photon rocket, an incident gamma ray is backscattered by a nucleus without ejecting any orbiting electron or emitting any low-energy photon, and then a reflected ray travels right backward. On the other hand, in an undesirable mode, an incident gamma ray is backscattered by a nucleus with ejecting orbiting electrons or emitting lower energy photons, and then a reflected ray is again backscattered by another nucleus toward the inside while canceling a gained momentum out approximately. In another undesirable mode, an incident gamma ray is multi-scattered by nuclei and free electrons while consuming energy and causing needless ionizations inside the reflecting mirror. These undesirable modes happen more frequently as the incident gamma rays go deeper inside the reflecting mirror. In other words, the incident gamma rays have to be backscattered by heavy nuclei located in a few dense layers or "something else" near the surface for the application to the reflector of a photon rocket.
The reflectivity for X-ray may be tunable by depositing a certain kind of superlattice layers on the surface of the reflector and optimizing its lattice structure. It seems that this sort of method may also influence the reflectivity of gamma rays but may not be effective because of its very short wavelength. What I have been revolving in my mind sometimes since this Sunday is the above-mentioned "something else".
My wife and I have seldom watched TV programs from the summer of 2006 until the spring of 2009. For that period of time, the average time we spent watching TV programs was about ten hours per year. We haven't seen any TV program since February 2009 at all. Indeed, there is no TV set in our house.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Today is Christmas Day. Got up at ten-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, a piece of shortcake at snack time, and a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for dinner.
Went to see the movie under the title of "The King's Speech" at the Regal Arbor Theater this evening. The well-known episode in the British royal family's history in the early twentieth century about the accessions of King Edward VIII and his younger brother King George VI to the throne has ever been fascinating to me since way back. This historical comedy deals with a friendship between King George VI and his speech therapist as its theme plays out against the backdrop of the pre-WWII. In the film, the remarkable contrast in character between King Edward VIII, who tends not to follow the fixed ways, and King George VI, who hardens into the fixed ways, arouses audiences' curiosity. A speech-training scene just like "Rocky" is very amusing.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Got up at eleven o'clock. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch. Went out shopping this afternoon. Ate a Japanese one-pot meal for dinner.
Went to see the movie under the title of "Black Swan" at the Regal Arbor Theater this afternoon. The film stares deeply into the real self of a ballerina, who devotes herself to ballet dancing. She is a perfectionist with a frail mentality and lives alone with her mother with peculiarly artistic and overly protective temperaments. A ballet master of a ballet company she belongs to attempts to make her outgrown and released from a spell suitable for performing the role of Black Swan by every trick possible. Different from what a ballet master plans, she continues to seek an ideal perfectionism. At last, she achieves her perfection of Back Swan but gets cracked in conclusion.
Contrary to a Jedi master of "Star Wars" films, a very eccentric ballet master tries to lead a ballerina to the darker side. Let me add a few more words just to make sure. This film is rated R.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Got up at eight-fifteen in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Today is our 9th wedding anniversary. Got up at eight forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch. Went out shopping at a grocery store this evening. Ate a dish with Cornish Blue Cheese, pear, and vegetables as an appetizer, and a main dish followed by an additional Japanese meal for dinner.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Got up at ten-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a Japanese-Western meal for dinner.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese-Western meal for dinner. Watched a DVD of the movie under the title of "The Hunt for Red October" on my computer monitor this evening.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Got up at eight-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, a dish of Extra-Aged Appenzeller Cheese, pear, and vegetables, and a bowl of Japanese buckwheat noodle soup for dinner. Watched a DVD of the movie under the title of "Casablanca" on my computer monitor this evening.
It shouldn't be difficult for a person who was born and brought up in a non-English-speaking country, graduated from colleges there, and currently lives in an English-speaking country where one's native language isn't spoken to guess the purpose of this diary. The primary purpose is to translate the words retained in my memory from Japanese into English, by visiting as many various topics attracting my interests as possible and writing about them in English. For my diary, only the topics that aren't touching any sensitive matter were selected. If a topic is rather sensitive, an evasive expression is usually used. Take the topic of the Pair-Annihilation Photon Rocket, for instance. Naturally, this sort of advanced rocket designed for interstellar travel is far ahead of the time. It will be necessary in the world a few hundred years hence or beyond. The invention and the development of such a future device in my mind either on a couch or a bed for the purpose of refreshing what I learned about previously such as Physics, Material Sciences, and other fundamental and social sciences, and translating the technical terms in these fields kept in my mind into English shouldn't cause any trouble. This process also helps me maintain my creativity and imagination while avoiding being a person who is ignorant outside one's field. The secondary purpose of my keeping a diary is the countermeasures for dealing with groundless outrageous rumors, as written several times in my diary.
