Monday, July 1, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
It's believed that the rise in the world's temperature due to the continuous accumulation of greenhouse gases in the earth's atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution has caused the extremes of climate. Overall, climate change may be more prominent in the inland semiarid areas of a large continent than on an island country, though the coastal areas that lie in the path of the hurricane, typhoon, or cyclone may have been afflicted and the areas that lie along the bank of a river may have been flooded with its frequent occurrence and its extremeness more than before.
It's rather warm in Nagano Prefecture Japan this spring and rainy season. Because my physical condition had been inured to the scorching heat of Texas for the last sixteen years, the mild warmth of the sun hasn't made me uncomfortable in Nagano so far. On the other hand, according to online news, the climate condition in the US has been intense this year, as usual in recent years. A gigantic tornado and many others caused extensive damage to some residential districts in the southwest-central region early this spring. Recently, the spread of wildfires is preying on the people in the west-central and southwestern regions. The persistent drought has devastated the plains and the farmlands. A record-breaking heat wave is now hitting the southwestern region.
The hurricanes often wreaked havoc along and near the shoreline of the Gulf and east coasts. Whether the Gulf of Mexico will be calm or not during this hurricane season is unknown.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
A postcard that included our ballots for the election for the House of Councilors was delivered to us today. None of the names of the local candidates for the House of Councilors was informed us about.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
The advantages and the disadvantages of bringing up people to have a childish mind will be talked about today. One of its advantages is the easiness of control over the mass of infantile people by using both the mass media and education. Although it sounds like a fake democracy, high officials and media moguls may say that it helps us redeem a weakness of democracy when it's properly used. They may also say that democracy is too dangerous for them to continue without having such a way of control. Practically speaking, such a way can't be totally denied. To be honest, however, it isn't likable. The other advantage is that, unlike an adult with liberal thinking, a person with a childish mind never be capable of threatening the old guards.
It's my belief that one of the biggest disadvantages is the possible increase in the crime rate. The crime rate of the children is much lower than that of the adults. This isn't because of a good aspect of a childish mind. This is because the children aren't knowledgeable about various matters including criminal matters and are physically weak. Let's compare a person with a child's mind and the other person with an adult's mind, on the assumption that both persons have the same amount of knowledge, and the same physical, authority, and financial powers. On this condition, a person with a child's mind is more dangerous because he/she is incapable of controlling his/her emotions, being realistic, taking objective views, and seeing through to the heart of things including a lie and a fraud.
Friday, July 5, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
As written previously, it's my view that both the thermal power generation and the transportation that burn fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas extracted from the petroleum and gas fields and the shale field underground continue to play a key role for the next couple of decades, though China still continues to rely on the coal-fired power generation dominantly. As is well known, fossil fuels are limited resources. The United Nations forecasted that the world's population would reach 10 billion before 2100. If the trend continues, the degree of reliance on both the nuclear power generation that uses as fuel the fissionable materials such as uranium and plutonium and/or the fusion materials such as deuterium and tritium, and the transportation that uses electricity directly, the other mediums generated using electricity from the power plants such as liquid hydrogen & oxygen, or those generated burning other fuels such as biofuels will start to expand in the next phase. It may be 30 years from now or earlier. It's my personal view that a criterion for judgment to avoid expanding the reliance on nuclear power generation, while only expanding renewable resources of energy, may be whether the Catholicism Church and other major religious organizations will soft-pedal their dogmas against birth control, apart from the difficult issue of abortion, in the near future or not. Most likely, it will not happen soon.
The most interesting technology of renewable resources of energy is the Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS), to my knowledge. The potentially long lifespan of its power plant and the constancy of its power generation are very attractive, compared to others. However, both the difficulty of digging a very deep hole while seeking out the hot rocks buried deep under the ground, cementing some leaky parts, and avoiding the waters of the underground rivers, and the costs for it are unknown to me. During its operation, both the input and output flow rates of a fluid circulating the EGS should be monitored, so that its safety can be improved. When an amount of leakage of a fluid is detected, a fluid in the EGS should be pumped out and a leaky part should be repaired with a special tool. For a while, the places where the experiments of the EGS will be carried out should be very carefully selected, taking many factors such as the presence of hot rocks within the reachable depth, and the absence of underground water and of human habitats into consideration.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast and a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch. Went out shopping at a grocery store this afternoon. Ate a Japanese meal following an aperitif for dinner.
It's a tropical day in many cities of Japan today. Here, the temperature is rather mild but the humidity is very high.
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal following an aperitif for dinner.
It's a tropical day in many cities of Japan, again. The weather conditions here were unstable all day long.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
Today's maximum temperature is 89.6 degrees F (32 degrees C). The temperature rose near or above 35 degrees C in many cities in Japan today.
My opinion on the comparison of a two-party system to a multi-party system will be talked about today. As written previously, my preference is for a two-party system. It isn't usual for a voter to find a political party holding up political ideas, all of which a voter can agree with. On most occasions, a party holds up not only some agreeable ideas but also other disagreeable ideas to a voter. A voter needs to know which party makes more agreeable election pledges than others do.
In the case of a two-party system, it's easier to know which of the two parties is favorable. It's often said that a two-party system tends to exclude some very minority opinions from the political stage and to limit the birth of a new political tide. However, it isn't necessary to rely only on the birth of a new party in order to usher in a new phase in politics. The existing two parties can breathe fresh life into themselves to some extent when they attempt to win each election. Each of them can have a wider scope covering various moderate minority opinions. The stability of a two-party system prevents either a radical group or an extremist from having political power thoroughly. Instead of relying on the roles of the minority parties, the countries that have a two-party system have to set much value on the right of free speech of each individual. Following each change of government, the wastefulness that arises from overturning the decisions that the former government made should be carefully refrained from.
On the other hand, in the case of a multi-party system, there is a better chance to find a political party holding up the political ideas, most of which a voter can agree with, though it's rather difficult to know it. It seems that the difficulty in choosing an agreeable party isn't attributable to the difficulty of the ideologies presented by a party but to that of the political system. A multi-party system tends to allow minorities to exercise a little bit of their influence on the government at the political stage, for instance by participating in a ruling coalition. When a proportional representation system is adopted, any wasted votes can be avoided. Unfortunately, for some reason, there is an undesirable tendency for the countries that have a multi-party system to set less value on the right of free speech, especially when the countries used to impose a dictatorship or de facto one-party rule in early-modern history. Because there is not a small possibility that either a radical group or an extremist group may become a political party and may acquire a ruling power, the relationships between the political parties and the mass media have to be carefully monitored and dealt with here. There is also quite a high possibility that de facto one-party rule recurs. Although a one-party government is better than a dictatorial government, both have common problems naturally.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Got up at six-thirty in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
The tropical heat continued last night. It's a tropical day in many cities of Japan. Today's maximum temperature is 92.3 degrees F (33.5 degrees C).
Two days ago, a late-night TV program gave an explanation of a newer synthetic diamond. It's called either the super-diamond or the poly-diamond. According to that TV program, the hardness of a poly-diamond, the grain size of which is about 10nm, is considerably higher than that of a single-crystal diamond. Both the temperature and the pressure necessary to compose a poly-diamond are much higher than those necessary to compose a synthetic diamond. A piece of graphite has to be kept at such a high temperature and a high pressure in order to lead to its phase transition to a poly-diamond state. Simply speaking, it means that a poly-diamond is harder but it's more expensive.
It seems to me that the value of a poly-diamond isn't competitive with that of a natural diamond, as a gem. Because of its polycrystalline, the brilliance of a poly-diamond is less, and because of the presence of the grain boundaries and the nitrogen impurity, the color of it is amber. For various industrial purposes, however, a poly-diamond is promising. For example, a poly-diamond may be put to practical use as the material for the blades of a drill. The use of the poly-diamond blades may allow drilling a hole into the hard substances such as the metals and rocks, without wearing the blades particularly.
The laser drill may be more advanced because of its accuracy. In common with the poly-diamond drill, the laser drill also requires a large amount of electricity to operate. The key questions are which requires less electricity on the whole, which is more durable, and which is faster.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
The tropical heat continued last night. Today's maximum temperature is 89.8 degrees F (32.1 degrees C).
Today, the continuation of the explanation of my opinion on a two-party system will be talked about. To put it briefly, the bottom line of this topic in my diary is what kind of a two-party system may fit for Japan. In Britain, one of the two major parties is the royalists' conservative party and the other is the labors' left-of-center party. In the US, one is the conservative party and the other is the reformers' party.
Probably, because Japan has a strong tendency toward bureaucratism and has never been enlightening, neither the Britain-like nor the US-like two-party system is suitable for Japan. In pursuance of its constitution, the existence of the royalists' conservative party isn't reasonable in Japan. Fundamentally, Japan's bureaucracy isn't supportive of its reformers' party. A squabble between some members of the reformers' liberal parties and the government officials is deplorable. Therefore, a two-party system that can divide the opinions of the government officials of Japan into two major groups may be appropriate. One may be the capitalists' right-of-center party and the other may be the socialists' left-of-center party and/or the labors' left-of-center party. It's also reasonable to form the other two parties, one of which may be the pro-Western party and the other of which may be the pro-Neighboring party. Here, the center is where Japan currently stands. It seems that the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan somewhat bears a resemblance to the former party of the above-mentioned kinds of two-party systems, though it still retains some traces of the power relationships among factions within it not based on ideology. The other is still in a befuddled state.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
The tropical heat continued last night. Today's maximum temperature is 91.4 degrees F (33 degrees C).
Both a 1.8 L bottle of Junmai sake and a 1.8 L bottle of Japanese spirits distilled from rice were delivered to us yesterday. Both of them can't be found at any liquor and grocery stores within walking distance, probably because a limited number of them are sold or they are sold for a limited period only.
The percentage of rice-grain weight remaining after milling for this Junmai sake is 70%. The individuality of this sort of sake is enjoyable because of its richness in local and brewery colors. Following the fermentation it's left to age for two years before bottling. The influence of the aging process for years on its taste of sake brewed from roughly polished rice-grains interested us. It sounds like red wine. The concept of sake brewed from rice grains milled to 50% of weight or less, that is to say, Daiginjo, seems to be analogous to that of white wine.
How nice the taste of Japanese spirits distilled from rice is, compared to those from sweet potatoes or barley, is also interesting. This spirit contains about 25% of alcohol. It's much lower than the percentage of alcohol in brandy.
As often seen in some SF movies and spy movies, a government in a near-future society may require by law its citizens to carry indispensably either a card or a cell phone with a tiny device that allows it to track its citizens using the GPS or other advanced positioning system. A tiny device may be implanted into a part of the body of its citizen, though it may sound rather painful. Once it's legalized and implemented, the everyday lives of all the people in a society can be always monitored and recorded systematically and automatically. Obviously, the use of these tracking systems should violate people's privacy at the present time. This story sounds weird. However, this is technically possible. Indeed, nowadays, the surprisingly widespread of the credit cards and the cell-phones has made it partially possible for the governments to track their peoples' behaviors to some extent, if necessary.
This idea to monitor all the people through the GPS may help its government reduce the number of various misdemeanors. The government officials from the former East Germany may like such a surveillance system and may say that the prevention of crime should make progress with tightening and widening the surveillance. Unfortunately, however, it may not be effective in reducing the number of felonies. The potential criminals who are going to commit major offenses can deceive the watchers' eyes rather easily. For them, it isn't difficult to break it or extract it. It's rather easy to jam communication between a device and a satellite.
It seems to me that the advancements in both the education system that mildly regiments young people and the education system that develops their objectivity are more successful than that in the extremely strict surveillance using the GPS.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast and a Japanese meal for lunch. Went out shopping at a grocery store this evening. Ate a Japanese meal for dinner.
The tropical heat continued last night. Today's maximum temperature is 91.4 degrees F (33 degrees C). According to some weather forecasts this year, the melting of Arctic ice and glacial ice caused the extension of a serious cold snap from the Siberian air mass to the skies of Japan, so that the weather became colder than usual in Japan in winter. In July, in addition to a blast of humid hot air in a regular high-pressure system extended from the Pacific, a blast of dry hot wind from the Mongolian Plateau is bringing about tropical days. Such extreme the weather condition causes distress to every living thing.
Wasting the funds on useless things has become increasingly difficult to admit in our time. Even in the science and technology fields, the achievement of a considerable measure of success has been expected. At least, the achievement of some measure of success has been demanded increasingly. When an organization fails to realize the expected result for a project, it will be confronted with difficulty in raising funds for its next projects.
Probably, for various reasons related to the conveniences of some organizations, they led my wife and me to the place where we are currently living. One may be an advanced technology of transportation that enables people to travel rather swiftly running near the surface of the ground but is high-priced and also negligent about the potential risk of an accident due to rogueries. This transportation technology becomes much more costly when some ideas resolving its problem in safety are adopted. This technology may be OK only when it's used in an ideal society where no rogue lives. The other may be an advanced technology of power generation that is renewable but very expensive. To my knowledge, it's the most expensive method to generate electricity, especially when the desirable disposal of a number of its orbiting equipment is taken into consideration. Unless the life span of the equipment is significantly extended, for instance up to 50 years, 100 years or longer, and a new method to retrieve them at a reasonable cost is discovered in the future, this technology won't promise success. Technically speaking, both technologies seem to be possible. However, both of these technologies lack practicability.
The invitation to a sports festival may also be related. Anyway, it's about the flow of funds.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Got up at seven-thirty in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal following an aperitif for dinner.
Regardless of the aging period of only two years, the color of this sake turns amber recognizably. This sake feels better on the tongue than expected because of its aging. Both a mild and rich taste of aged sake and a fruity taste of unpasteurized sake are enjoyable.
It's a cloudy day. Today's maximum temperature is 84 degrees F (28.9 degrees C).
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Got up at eight-thirty in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal following an aperitif for dinner.
It's a cloudy day. Today's maximum temperature is 82.4 degrees F (28 degrees C).
The advancement of modernization of the way of thinking doesn't deny the appreciation of the retrospective and tasteful senses. Having a keen appreciation of classical arts should be favorable. Some sorts of earthenware including some sake or tea-drinking sets sometimes interest me. Drinking sake or tea with an aesthetic utensil helps us live somewhat elegantly.
On the other hand, the advancement of modernization of other ways of living while leaving that of the way of thinking behind should be deplorable.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
Today's maximum temperature is 81.5 degrees F (27.5 degrees C).
Today's topic will deal with my additional opinion on the retrieval of artificial satellites in orbit around the earth, which costs a lot and consumes energy tremendously. It seems that the question of whether the retrieval of artificial satellites is necessary or not boils down to the necessity of humans' staying in the earth's orbit and human space travel for the moment. As long as some countries continue to send humans into outer space, the retrieval of artificial satellites will be necessary in the near future.
If all the countries agree that a human stay in the earth's orbit and a human space journey are unnecessary anymore, the retrieval of the artificial satellites could be ignored. The possibility of a collision between two artificial satellites or that between an artificial satellite and a spacecraft is very low because of the vastness of the earth's orbit. Although the probability of a collision increases surely with the number of artificial satellites in the earth's orbit, its increase should be very slight for quite a long period of time. A collision should be undesirable because of an expensive compensation for its damage but it may be overlooked when it sustains no casualty and the maintenance of the artificial satellites in the earth's orbit is very beneficial. However, it seems that a majority of the advanced countries won't agree to the above-mentioned proposal.
A Japanese TV drama last night included a message about Joan of Arc from the pro-English entertainers to the pro-French entertainers. The other TV program that was broadcast just before the TV drama had a joke on a breeding case in Japan. Their long-standing rivalry still can be found in every corner of the world. As expected, it's rather harsh during this period.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
It's a cloudy day. Today's maximum temperature is 84.7 degrees F (29.3 degrees C).
About twenty years after the Aizu War, which was a part of the Boshin War of 1868, Mt. Sho-Bandai near Aizu suddenly broke into fragments taking 461 human lives around. Unfortunately, a large-scale phreatic explosion occurred in a gap below the ground of the Mt. Bandai region. The change in volcanic activity of a volcano with plentiful underground water is sometimes dangerous. They were very unlucky those days.
The total period of my stay in Aizu-Wakamatsu city in the middle of the 1990s was within one year. My visit to some of the lakes that were formed at the northern root of Mt. Bandai soon after that explosion has been only once.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
It's a cloudy day with occasional heavy rain. Today's maximum temperature is 83.3 degrees F (28.5 degrees C).
The distribution of the artificial satellites in orbit around the earth isn't uniform. Some levels of the earth's orbits such as the synchronous orbits are getting crowded with artificial satellites increasingly.
The establishment of the orbits that are specialized only in maintaining the inoperative satellites may be a good idea (see the simplified figure below). The orbits only for the disposal of the inoperative satellites can be defined and located just below the crowed orbits. This may be called the junk orbit. When an artificial satellite has reached the end of its useful life, it should be brought into a junk orbit near its original orbit. In this case, the possibility of a collision mostly between the inoperative satellites only in the junk orbits will increase with the launching of the satellites constantly. An undesirable increase in the possibility of a collision involving an operating satellite out of the junk orbits can be restrained. The effort, time, and energy necessary to bring them into the junk orbits should be much smaller than those to bring them to the surface of either the earth or the moon. The presence of junk orbits having many inoperative satellites may require a pilot or an operator to watch out carefully for the clear path of the flight of a rocket carrying a new satellite to an earth's orbit only when it's passing through the junk orbits or may impose restrictions on the choice of the flight path of either a rocket or a spacecraft designed for travel outside the earth's gravitational field in order to avoid passing any junk orbit, but it's influence on the multipurpose e.g. communication, geodetic, meteorology, positioning, academic investigation, spy and military of the currently operating satellites should be a minimal. It seems to me that this is a practical and agreeable idea. This idea to establish the junk orbits may allow humans to travel to outer space rather safely without being troubled with the retrieval of the inoperative artificial satellites in orbit around the earth.
BTW, the safe flight paths for travels outside the earth's gravitational field can be easily identified when the earth and its crowed orbits and junk orbits are mapped in 3D.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
It's a fine day. Today's maximum temperature is 84 degrees F (28.9 degrees C).
The improvement of the life span of the artificial satellite that is designed to generate electricity using the attached efficient solar panels in the earth's orbit while transmitting electricity to the receiver on the ground is the other key factor for its cost reduction. Because an artificial satellite is designed to be operative in the vacuum, the degradation of the function of its parts due to the chemical reactions with other substances in the atmospheric circumstance e.g. oxidation and deoxidization can be avoided. Unlike Voyager 1 and 2, which have been traveling in the opposite direction to the sun since 1977, however, the solar energy satellite for power generation has to stay in orbit of the earth and be exposed to the high-density rays of the sun as long as possible to maximize the generation of electricity, composed of not only the electromagnetic waves but also the high-energy cosmic rays, especially those emitted from the sun with the bursts of flare. Because its surface has to be turned directly to the rays of the sun, the part that decides the life span of a solar energy satellite may be the solar panel. The advancement in the steady research efforts on the choice of the compound semiconductor substrate, the design of the structure, and the adoption of the ideal coating may enable it to improve its life span to some extent. However, it may be difficult to extend the life span of it under this circumstance up to the range of 50 years or longer. In order to put this technology to practical use in the future, its life span should be longer than those of a nuclear power plant and a hydroelectric power plant, at least. The story about the solar energy satellite is brought to a close because no exact data is available now.
Friday, July 19, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
It's a cloudy day. Today's maximum temperature is 79 degrees F (26.1 degrees C).
Some of the wild ideas that were described in my diary in September 2011 may be used to move an inoperative satellite from a current orbit down to a nearby junk orbit. Naturally, the traditional idea of carrying an inoperative satellite to a junk orbit by using a space shuttle should also work. It's most convenient that a satellite moves to a junk orbit spontaneously when it reaches the end of its useful life.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Got up at seven-thirty in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast. Went out shopping at a grocery store this morning. Ate a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal following an aperitif for dinner.
Today's maximum temperature is 84.4 degrees F (29.1 degrees C).
Watched a technical action movie entitled "From Paris With Love" on TV tonight. This movie contains some aspects as a parody of 007 and Star Wars I, II & III. In the movie, a pair of the heroes under the influence who work for the US government agency corresponds to Darth Vader, rather than James Bond. One agent is young Vader and the other is veteran Vader. That's the humor of this drama incorporated by a French movie director.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Got up at six-thirty in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal following an aperitif for dinner. Went to vote in the election for the House of Council in Japan this afternoon.
Today's maximum temperature is 87.4 degrees F (30.8 degrees C).
After the abdication of King Albert II for the reason of ill health, his son ascended the throne. Crown Prince Philippe became the king of the Belgians today.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
Today's maximum temperature is 85.8 degrees F (29.9 degrees C).
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
It's a tropical day in many cities of Japan. Today's maximum temperature is 85.6 degrees F (29.8 degrees C).
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
It's a rainy day. It's a tropical day in many cities of southwestern Japan.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
It's a tropical day in many cities of Japan. Today's maximum temperature is 85.3 degrees F (29.6 degrees C).
The comparison between an airplane and a train in terms of safety will be talked about today. The derailments of freight cars frequently happen in the US. Recently, some other countries in North America and Western Europe have also been experiencing a rash of railway accidents including dreadful derailments. Actually, train accidents have occurred too often for the last couple of months. A derailment of a train may take dozens of lives in an accident. Even in Japan, the frequency of fires started at an electrical system of the passenger trains has become unusually high though the derailment has seldom occurred so far.
On the other hand, the frequency of fatal airplane accidents should be less than that of railway accidents. This is simply because the number of flying airplanes is currently smaller than that of the running trains. A vehicle in motion at a high speed on or near the ground always entails some risks, especially when its speed is above a certain value. An airplane flies safely because it moves at a very high altitude during all the time of flight with the exception of its takeoff and landing times, though its top speed is much above the aforesaid speed. In most cases, an airplane crash may take more lives than a train derailment may do. In a worst-case scenario, a couple of hundred lives may be lost in an airplane accident. For the last year or two, some sorts of failures mostly in the electrical systems e.g. the battery system of the new model of the airplane in which many electrical appliances were installed occurred very frequently, so flights from many airlines including some major Japanese airlines were suspended for a while.
Each of them has its merits and demerits in terms of the safety of the passengers. As people usually do, for a shorter distance travel people should choose a train that can run at a reasonably slower speed, and for a longer distance travel, especially for overseas travel, people should choose an airplane that can fly at a high speed. After the airplanes were used for the terrorist attacks against the US on September 11, 2001, the risks of terrorism using the airplanes have been checked carefully. The addition of the terrorism factor to airplane safety is one of the main reasons why the comparison between them for longer-distance travel is still meaningful.
There's nothing surprising in what has been described today. The comparison between them in terms of energy is the other reason and is now becoming interesting increasingly. It will become a very important issue when the oil, which is currently the primary fuel of airplanes, is on the verge of depletion in the near future.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
It's a tropical day in many cities of Japan. Today's maximum temperature is 86.9 degrees F (30.5 degrees C).
The comparison between an airplane and a train in terms of energy consumption will be talked about today. The travel of a jet airplane consumes more fuel than that of a train for a given distance and a given number of passengers. As well known, a jet airplane is a flying guzzler. On the other side, the construction of railway infrastructures should cost a lot more, should consume more energy, and should emit more greenhouse gases than that of airline infrastructures, especially in the continents.
The time when people will have used up all reserves of oil on the earth may come within decades. If the trend continues, alternative jet fuels that are generated using electricity from power plants such as liquid hydrogen & oxygen, or that are generated burning other fuels such as biofuels will be necessary. The use of liquid hydrogen & oxygen gives the jet engine stronger thrust than standard jet fuel does, and the use of typical biofuels gives the jet engine weaker thrust than that does. Because of its very explosive power, the use of liquid hydrogen & oxygen involves considerable danger for passenger airlines. Liquid hydrogen & oxygen are produced by consuming electricity. The jet engine utilizing liquid hydrogen & oxygen emits no greenhouse gas by itself, though depending upon the type of the power plants the generation of electricity may emit considerable quantities of the greenhouse gases, as usually seen. The jet engine utilizing typical biofuel emits less than jet fuel, though the refinement process of biofuel by burning other fuel or using electricity also can emit considerable quantities of greenhouse gases. Therefore, the future of aircraft will depend upon the success in the development and the widespread of the technologies that enable abundant generation of electricity while emitting few greenhouse gases.
In any case, however, reliance on airplanes can't be overthrown for the purposes of overseas travel. It's hard to believe that for the purpose of passengers' travels overseas a ship will replace an airplane. For shares of the domestic travel markets in many countries, both the airline and railway services have found themselves competing with each other. The competition between them is now growing in intensity. Indeed, this is a very complicated issue involving many factors in the business, energy, national security, and ecology.
BTW, because of the lack of either a battery that is capable of storing a large quantity of electricity to fly an airplane or a reactor in a compact size that is capable of generating electricity safely, the plasma jet engine, which I described in my diary in September 2011, isn't appropriate for the purpose of the propulsion of an airplane in the earth's atmosphere at the present time. Further advancement in fuel cell technologies without utilizing liquid nitrogen may be one of the possible technologies that enable an airplane with a plasma jet engine to fly in the sky safely in the future. The other may be a fusion reactor. When the nuclear fusion reactor is realized and can be downsized significantly in the future, a plasma jet airplane may be able to fly sometime. This is about a potential future airplane with a dream energy source. It may be just a dream.
However, there is no doubt that the plasma jet engine is capable of making a spacecraft travel outer space for a long period of time without waiting for the realization of either an advanced safe fuel cell or a small fusion reactor though its speed isn't super. The "Escargot" can fly in the outer atmosphere without exposing people on the earth to danger. The above-mentioned inoperative satellites would be carried to the junk orbits by the Escargot about 50 years or longer from now.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Got up at eight forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast. Went out shopping at grocery stores this morning. Ate a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal following an aperitif for dinner.
Tasted Japanese spirits distilled from rice with dinner this evening. The ingredients of these spirits are rather luxurious than those of other common spirits. After fermented and distilled from rice, it's stocked for 3 years before bottling. It has a strong aroma and a rich flavor. This spirit is recommended for a Japanese heavy drinker.
Today's maximum temperature is 83.8 degrees F (28.8 degrees C).
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Got up at eight forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal following an aperitif for dinner.
Today's maximum temperature is 82.4 degrees F (28 degrees C).
The distillation of ethanol is one of the mainstreams of biofuel. The process of it is exactly the same as that of spirits by a distillery. The fungus produces ethanol with biochemical reactions by consuming nutrition from the organisms in the solution. Ethanol can also be produced by chemical synthesis. The solution is then distilled into pure ethanol. The distillation process requires the sources of energy to boil the solution up. Usually, some sort of fossil fuel or electricity is used for the purpose of the distillation.
The use of ethanol as fuel gives the jet engine weaker propulsion than that of jet fuel. It's unknown to me whether its propulsion is strong enough to fly a large airplane or not. The addition of a synthetic fuel that isn't made from fossil fuel and has a strong explosive power to ethanol fuel may be necessary for this purpose.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Got up at seven-thirty in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
It's a rainy day because the seasonal rain front went southward. Today's maximum temperature is 72.3 degrees F (22.4 degrees C).
In spite of my lack of knowledge of the drilling technology at all, some ideas about it will be described today. Possibly, these ideas don't go beyond the bounds of amateurism.
According to some articles about the Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) found in both a magazine and some websites, this system is currently in the course of evaluation. There are several technical hurdles to cross before it becomes a reality. Simply speaking, the difficulty of it can be attributed to the question of how to create the ideal closed path that reaches very deep under the ground. Fluid with high thermal capacity such as water has to be circulated throughout the closed path in order to carry heat from the bowel to the surface of the earth and generate electricity on the ground surface. The leakage of fluid from or into the closed path should be minimized. It sounds easy on the surface, but it's really difficult when the depth of the holes that are necessary to reach the hot rocks is taken into consideration. The necessary depth may be 5km or deeper.
The figure below depicts an idea to seal either the porous layer or the other leaky layers when drilling hits it. During drilling a hole downward, a certain amount of pressure is periodically applied to the air inside a hole in order to detect a leaky zone after making the lid fit on its entrance. When a leaky layer is detected, a drilling penetrates it as seen in Fig 1. Next, the diameter of a hole through a leaky layer is widened using a drill specialized for this purpose (Fig 2). Then, the think block is built on the sidewall of the widened zone of a hole by spraying it with cement (Fig 3). After the cement is set on the sidewall of a hole through the leaky layer and the air pressure test is passed, a drilling downward may restart.
The figure below depicts an idea to seal the permeable layer of the aquifer when drilling hits it. When a permeable layer is detected, a drilling penetrates it as seen in Fig 1. The level of underground water should depend upon the balance between the atmospheric pressure and the underground water pressure when it's confined. It's rather difficult to handle the situation when underground water is confined strong enough to well out from the opening of a hole with great force. Therefore, drilling through a layer filled with strongly confined water should be avoided. Next, the diameter of a hole through a permeable layer is widened using a drill specialized for this purpose (Fig 2). Then, the widened room is entirely filled with a special kind of cement that can be set even in water (Fig 3). If necessary, a heater is buried in the middle of filled cement in order to dry it up. After the cement fills the room through the permeable layer, a laser drill is utilized to penetrate the fixed cement block without damaging it (Fig 4). After confirming the solidness of the cement block left on the sidewall through the permeable layer, drilling downward may restart using an ordinary tool.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
It's a cloudy day. Today's maximum temperature is 86.5 degrees F (30.3 degrees C).
When drilling reaches a stratum composed of hot rocks, the temperature of which is approximately 500 degrees C, it's completed and then the other drillings should start. According to some information on the conventional EGS, one deep hole is used for the purpose of supplying water down to deep underground in order to boil water up. Water is pumped out from the bottom edge of a hole and spreads around it through the soil in a stratum composed of hot rocks. The rest of the deep holes that are created near a hole for the water supply are used to bring some amount of boiled water up to the ground surface. It seems that this concept is rather dangerous because it could cause the increasing accumulation of vapor in the fissures deep underground for a while and the rise in vapor pressure there could cause the explosion sometime.
The figure below depicts my idea to connect the bottoms of the drilled holes. Only two holes are formed. One deep hole is aimed at the water supply, and the other hole is for the hot water gain. Laser drilling is used to connect the bottom edges of two deep holes accurately. In order to accomplish an accurate drilling horizontally, a maker that indicates the target position is located in the bottom of one of the holes. In this idea, a laser drill that consumes a large amount of electricity is used only for limited purposes. After connecting the bottom edges of the deep holes, all the walls of the holes are entirely coated with a thin waterproof heat-resistant film so as to suppress any small leakage. Probably, after the operation of the system for a couple of decades, a thin film has to be recoated on the walls. Then, the openings of two holes are connected to the water pump and the steam turbines equipped with the generator that are located on the ground respectively, so that the closed path of the EGS is completed. It can be said that the EGS is a very large-scale steam boiler. The hot water circulates through the closed system using the power of the water pump in order to transmit thermal energy from the deep underground efficiently and to convert it into electricity using turbine-driven generators. It sounds simple on the surface, but it's really difficult to realize it.
The circulation of water with the pump requires the consumption of electricity. For the purpose of the production of electric power, the electricity that can be gained from the EGS has to be larger than that that can operate the water pump to circulate water in the system. This idea to realize the ideal water circulation system helps reduce the energy consumption necessary for pumping water. The shallower the stratum with the desirable hot rocks found underground, the more successful in terms of the costs and the efficiency of the EGS.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a piece of bread for breakfast, a Japanese meal for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
It's a tropical day in many cities of Japan today. Today's maximum temperature is 87.4 degrees F (30.8 degrees C).
Most of the technologies for power generation that have been put to practical uses such as fossil-fuel-fired thermal power generation, nuclear (fission) power generation, solar power generation, water power generation, geothermal power generation, and wind power generation cleared the technical hurdle previously that the energy output as a manageable state such as electricity must be greater than the energy input. This is one of the difficult hurdles to the realization of the fusion reactor. Probably, it's the most difficult hurdle. The energy inputs for thermonuclear power generation, which are used for both the ignition and the sustainment of fusion reaction in a reactor, are known to be enormous, compared to those for other power generations. Some breakthroughs in both science and technology that enable to convert very efficiently the energy carried by the fast neutrons and the gamma rays that a fusion reaction emits into a manageable energy such as electricity will be necessary.
