Smile, You're at a Kaiten-zushi

I'm headed to Melbourne, Sydney, and Canberra in about a week, and I'll have a little bit of time for tourism. Any suggestions where to go, what to see, and what to do?

Strong Earthquake

At about 10:15 a.m. Tokyo time this morning on July 16, we felt a strong earthquake. This earthquake hit 6.6 (on the Japanese 7 point scale) on the western coast, so that meant roughly a 2 in metropolitan Tokyo.

Unfortunately today is a public holiday (Ocean Day) here in Japan, so I suspect many people are at home. While it's unlikely anyone was hurt near Tokyo, I am concerned about the western parts of Japan and whether anyone was caught inside an older home.

A Unique Mechanical Calculator

I find the history of computing fascinating, and very often I learn a new detail about the complex evolution of how mankind adds two plus two.

So I was thrilled to discover that, for a little over two decades, a small European company manufactured a mechanical calculator weighing as little as half a pound: the Curta. It's an engineering marvel, and it doesn't use any electricity. Curta sold these interesting miniaturized devices until 1973, by which time electronic calculators had rendered even the most inventive mechanical calculators obsolete in most parts of the world. (The abacus is still popular in a few countries, and in certain specialized fields, such as aviation, analog slide calculators are still fairly common.)

I watched one Curta on eBay soar to a closing price of US$1150. Clearly I'm not the only person to find these gadgets interesting.

Introducing Paul Pott

A longer version of the clip my brother recommended. Enjoy.



Update: This clip comes from ITV's programme Britain's Got Talent. The winner will perform for The Queen in a variety show. In his debut performance above, Paul sang a part of the aria "Nessun dorma" from Puccini's Turandot. Nessun dorma means "Let no one sleep." I think Simon Cowel was wide awake.

Update #2: Paul won.

10 Reasons Why the Mainframe is Growing in Importance

CA offers a useful list describing the biggest reasons why mainframes are becoming more relevant to today's businesses. I like this list, although I'd make clear that the numbers don't imply a ranking.

Which City Now? Redux & Updated

Here are the cities currently in the running:

Tokyo
Hong Kong
an Australian city (Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne...)
Seoul
Taipei

Of course, cities in the United States are still open. The Asia-Pacific cities are roughly in order of likelihood. If anyone has any opinions on these various cities, by all means feel free to comment.

Spring 2007 in Tokyo

We have had several weeks of glorious spring weather here in Tokyo, with seasonable temperatures, limited rain, and considerable sunshine.

Just thought I'd mention that.

Which City Now?

This past week my employer decided to split one part of the world into two parts. Thus I have to choose one of the two parts, or I can return to a third (the Americas). My options are:

1. Stay in part #1 (Tokyo).
2. Move to part #2 (pretty much anywhere in Asia-Pacific, except Japan).
3. Move back to part #3 (pretty much any U.S. city).

I'm not sure what I want to do. Living in another city is much different than visiting. Which cities treat general aviation well?

Essential English

Last week I taught some "business English" to several colleagues, and they seemed to enjoy the lesson. It was a way to combine work with some bonus language practice.

Meanwhile, here's a look at the important English young women need most. Be patient and watch the whole video: this aerobics class takes some time to warm up.



Are these women really getting any exercise?

I Did Not Steal the Gold

The news anywhere else in the world would be that a museum encouraged visitors to touch a 100 Kg gold bar.

I wonder how the four men will manage to convert the gold to something a little more spendable.