During a recent visit to my parents' house, I weeded the garden for the first time in a year.

A year ago, we installed weed control sheets over the entire garden, but grass was growing in the gaps between the sheets or even through them.

The grass that grew in this environment was like the thickness of a tree. In fact, there was such awesome grass that we had to use a chainsaw to cut it.

I had been wielding a chainsaw since the evening of the day I returned home, when suddenly, from behind me, I heard an eerie sound and fled at once.

"bees, polistes wasp"

I had heard that my sister had already repelled two nests using this spray before I returned home this time, so I was not expecting their appearance.

I looked carefully and found a palm-sized beehive under the eaves.

I thought this was dangerous, so that day I put two mosquito coils under the eaves and left -- and this was a big mistake.

-----

Early in the morning of the next day, I was convinced that I had been "annihilated" by the 20-second continuous spray of the above-mentioned spray gun, then slept a wink and started work at 10:00 in the morning.

And as I started to work, there were more than 10 bees in the garden, staying in the air and ready to attack me.

This was my fault, as the mosquito coils of the previous day had left the main bees in a waiting state outside the hive.

So, what I did was -- while weeding with my left hand, I held the spray gun with my right hand and intercepted the attacking bees in the air, a battle mode of weeding that I had never experienced before, "bee fighting weeding".

The work efficiency was not good at all.

-----

It reminded me of the incident where the U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan accidentally turned a friend's car into a beehive with their machine gun.

And later, while packing the grass into a garbage bag, I found another beehive.

This time, I didn't make the same mistake.

I sprayed the spray gun at once and made sure there was no sign of a counterattack. After that, I threw some lit newspaper under the hive and sprayed it again with the spray gun. With this improvised flamethrower, I reduced the bees and the hive to ashes in an instant (*).

(*) Amateurs, please do not try this. I am an expert in "playing with fire," having repeatedly burned and blown up things with various chemicals since I was in elementary school.

After this attack, there were no more bees in the garden.

-----

The coronavirus, the terrorists, and the bees -- all to be eradicated in an instant.

The importance of this was reconfirmed during this garden maintenance.

As I wrote here,

"VOYAGER: Tombstone Without a Date"

I just watched the Shin-Evangelion movie version on Amazon Prime because I wanted to hear the song.

(I watched the video while coding, but I was able to clear up a couple of code concerns.)

Well, as it turns out, I didn't understand a single millimeter of this global masterpiece of animation until the very end.

It's a shame that I don't have the receptors to understand, but I can't help it.

-----

On a similar note, I recently re-read Sakyo Komatsu's "The End of the Endless Stream" for the umpteenth time in as many years.

When a section of notes from Time and Awareness, written by the main character, appeared in the last chapter of the book, I felt so nostalgic that I almost swooned.

I scribbled this passage on the wall of my room in the university dormitory.

Looking back, that was the starting point of my devotion to "time and space.

And when I think of how this is connected to the content of my recent column on quantum mechanics, I am deeply moved.

-----

Then, in the epilogue scene, "An unidentified person in distress who has been asleep for 50 years awakens in 2016," I felt like I had been struck dumb.

-- the first draft of "The End of an Endless Stream" was written before I was born

-- The first time I finished this book was when I left my tent as a high school sophomore touring alone, with rays of light in the form of a direct hit from the eastern horizon and a carpet of clouds spread out at my feet.

-- And that I continue to exist now, beyond the "tremendous" future time and space of "2016," which was unimaginable at the time.

I am confused and bewildered by this fact.

-----

I'd like to watch "The End of the Endless Stream" made into a film, but the "Lukif" in me is trying to stop me from doing so, that is the embodiment of resistance to all vectors of change...

I was recently asked to write a book, however, compared to the table of contents, direction, and writing style of the other co-authors, I thought

"Yeah, I don't think I could write in this style"

and, I offered my resignation.

It was a collaborative writing project that had already started, but I could see that my writing style would probably result in "multiple rounds of revisions with the proofreader.

they accepted my resignation after I logically told him my prediction: "As a result, everyone will be unhappy."

-----

However, I had already started writing the manuscript I was initially asked to write.

I thought, "It would be a shame to abandon this entirely," so I decided to use it as the basis for an e-book.

This is my first trial of an e-book, and it's quite a hassle -- I wrote about it here.

-----

"If you let Ebata write whatever he wants, we'll end up in big trouble"

I don't know how they think, however, I received an unusual offer: "Let us check (proofread and review) your manuscript".

For me, it was a wishful thinking that I would be able to supervise for free, so naturally I accepted the offer.

Then, at the meeting, I was pointed out a "pretty big mistake".

However, the "misunderstanding" spilled over to the entire text, so the revision process took more time than I expected.

-----

Now, I am not sure if I will be able to reach a successful release, but it will probably be a very different kind of technical book.

If you are interested, please consider purchasing this product.

"Buffets" and "buffets" - all-you-can-eat services with fixed prices - started in Japan 63 years ago, in 1958, at the Imperial Hotel in Japan.

In the past few years, as general-purpose IT service platforms have become cheaper, various "subscription" services have started to be linked to smartphones.

"Subsc" is an abbreviation for subscription, which simply means "a service where you pay for the period of time you receive the service".

Amazon Prime, NetFlix and other movies, Amazon Music Unlimited and other music, clothing rentals, furniture rentals, hotel chains, comics and books, office suites, cafes, English conversation classes, cram schools, home delivery, futons, and so on.

-----

Thus, it's clear that the foundation of our lives is shifting to IT platforms -- or rather, to smartphones and PCs.

"Japan's Digital Competitiveness Ranks 27th, Weaknesses in Data Analysis and Human Resources"

Our country's digital competitiveness is being trounced by our neighbors, South Korea, Taiwan and China.

I'm reading this exhibitor's report right now, and I can summarize it in a nutshell,

"We have a world-class network environment, but our digital technology is in tatters"

This seems to be the case.

"Is it me? Is it us, the IT engineers, who are at fault?"

I am so upset.

Well, that aside.

-----

I found something called "Viking" for bulky trash collection.

"All-you-can-carry services on the truck"

I was impressed by the catchphrase, which was really easy to understand.

My columns are long.

However, "long" means a lot of research, a lot of calculations, a lot of diagrams, and a lot of writing.

And, I spend a lot of time using my brains and facing the computer for a long time.

So,

"I love how long Ebata's columns are!"

I think it would be nice if one of them would comment that way, but I have yet to see such a comment.

-----

I'm wondering if people who comment "more concise" would do so even if it's a romance novel.

I know there are many kinds of romance novels, but the framework of a story is basically like this.

(Step 1) They encounter

(Step 2) Various troubles/events occur.

(Step 3) They break up or get together

Three lines. You can finish reading this in three seconds.

However, I don't know anyone who says that romance novels are "long".

Well, even if you think so, I think it is because we all know that it is "nonsense", "rude" and "vulgar" to claim so.

-----

There are many things that need to be written in short form.

Reports to be submitted to superiors and organizations must be written with as clear an argument as possible.

To begin with, the first thing that newcomers to the workforce are thoroughly trained in is how to write a concise report.

Especially in the case of engineers, a huge amount of time (about 2 years) is spent on thorough training (I think this probably hasn't changed).

If it is a research paper, you have to summarize the results of a 200+ page study into a few pages.

If it is a conference proceedings, it is two pages.

Compression algorithms such as zip, tar, cab, 7z, and so on are nothing

Don't underestimate "sentence compression skills" of our "trained engineers"

-----

So why are my columns so long?

The reason for this is clear.

"Because I have so much to write/say"

Then, one might say, Ebata cannot criticize "the story of a principal of an elementary and middle school with no presentation skills," but this is an unfair criticism.

This is because I do not 'abuse children in any way,' such as keeping them standing up in the hot sun and making them collapse from anemia.

And I insist, 'If you don't want to read it, you have a 100% guaranteed right to stop in the middle.

Moreover, the editorial department of EE Times Japan also measures how many pages of Ebata's column a reader leaves.

This is why I have been trying to devise various ways to compose a "long column" (which I will keep as a "trade secret").

Anyway, I am very unhappy to be lumped in with the self-satisfied, boring, and unentertaining stories of incompetent school principals.

-----

I am currently working on this month's column, using MindManager.

I'm in the middle of a "deadline crunch," and it's during these times that I'm unlucky enough to stumble upon interesting content.

Right now, I'm hooked on "Marginal Operation" by Yuri Shibamura, and it's slowly stealing away my precious time before the deadline.

(To be continued)

My senior daughter completed her second dose of the new corona vaccine today at the Self-Defense Forces Tokyo Large Scale Vaccination Center in Otemachi, and the entire Ebata family has completed its vaccination mission.

At this point, she seems to have "no" adverse reactions.

She said, "Sometimes I notice palpitations".

Well, I think the reactions will start tomorrow, and I have no intention of relaxing the Ebata family's measures against household infection.

Vaccination can only reduce the probability of infection or illness (especially severe illness), and low resistance to mutant strains is also a concern.

Still, I feel a bit "relieved".

-----

I remember that when my wife and I were both getting our second dose of vaccinations, the woman sitting next to us was acting strange.

Her face was bright red, had a scared expression on her face, and she tightened her body, so I thought, "Anaphylaxis is coming?" I was about in a position to support her body.

However, I noticed, that

"Huh? She is not injected yet, isn't her?"

I don't know if the woman was afraid of the shots or the vaccination, however, she was terribly afraid.

-----

Anaphylaxis can also be triggered by psychological factors.

I just did a search on one of the reports for "anaphylaxis" and "psychogenic" and found that 22 out of 44 reports were determined to be "psychogenic reactions".

I can't judge the whole case by this one, but I was surprised by the large number, 'still 50%'.

-----

The mind and body are inseparable entities.

I remember being shocked when I actually calculated the number of young women dying from mental illness (anorexia, etc.) on my computer.

Anorexia is killing more young women than coronavirus (at the moment).

That aside.

-----

-- "Dispelling fear" is needed to increase vaccination rates.

I came to confirm that this was the case.

But I also know that science and logic have a hard time competing with emotions like fear.

I'm thinking, "What can I do?

The day after the second dose of the Moderna vaccine, my senior daughter came out of her room in the early afternoon, feeling dizzy.

I followed her down to the kitchen and asked her a lot of questions, and she 'scolded me'.

Afterwards, I was ordered to go to the supermarket to buy some additional fruit.

Today, she seems to be sleeping and waking up all day long.

She looks like a "full combo" too.

Ms. M, who is in charge of editing at EE Times Japan, recently proposed a series of articles,

I remember the title,

"New behavioral theory for "engineers who are not loved by English" Returns"

-----

After being posted to the U.S., the author, who has been "running away from English" for 20 years, is now in a tight spot again.

Well, "writing" is fine. I'll write as much English as I want. I don't care if it's 100 pages of English, more other 200 pages.

However, tomorrow, I have to take a 'presentation in English' and a 'question-and-answer session' among people who only speak English, and they are the leading researchers in the world.

Today, I was auditing another session.

There was an "audio signal and video stream" from Zoom that I couldn't understand at all.

-----

I'm really hoping that the whole world will cancel tomorrow and the day after tomorrow will come.

(Continuation from yesterday)

After continuing to listen to the lecture from the previous day, the memory of the "engineer unloved by the English language" in me came back.

That is,

"What is important in a question and answer session is not communication. It's the groove and momentum"

After the 15-minute presentation, the 5-minute question and answer period was coming.

The English questions from the administrator (chairperson) were relatively easy to understand, so I consumed a lot of time by blabbering on and on about more than the answers to the questions.

However, I could not understand any English from the contributors (other presenters) of the session.

The only thing I could understand was the term "dissatisfaction" in the title of my conference paper.

But from there, I "guessed all the questions," and "built a story based on that guess," and just kept blabbering on -- phrases that were just a bunch of words with no grammar.

When I finished speaking, I could see that all the participants in the session were smiling wryly, saying, "It can't be helped now," and the administrator gave me a look that said, "That's enough. presentation....". And she said. and she said "Thank you, Tomoichi. Any question? O.K. Let go to the next presentation...."

"Where there is a will, there is a way" is not matter for me. "Where there is a matter, there is the matter" is correct.

My presentation at the international conference ended with a "matter" of surpassing five minutes.

------

"I've acquired the rare ability to carry on a conversation without understanding what the other person is saying.

An engineer, unloved by English, has returned now.

I don't like "overseas business trips" that use up huge amounts of energy and exhaustion.

From a cost-benefit perspective, it is not a very efficient form of business.

I have a sneaking suspicion that those who say they like to travel abroad are not doing their job properly. I have a bad feeling about them.

Aside from that.

The international conference I attended this time was of course a "virtual conference".

Of course, I am submitting a conference paper in anticipation of that (corona disaster).

In addition to the ease of not having to give a presentation in front of front-line researchers in the field, I also had the opportunity,

"Question and answer session can be conducted in a real-time chat forum"

This is very significant.

After all, all I have to do is keep the translation engine standing by next to the Zoom screen.

The accuracy of modern translation engines is so high that I can respond in real time.

Thanks to this, I was able to ask questions about all the presentations, as far as my own session was concerned.

This was an unprecedented achievement for me -- even if no one appreciated it.

In the first half of this year, I made two international conference submissions in a row.

This is a

"A sneaky strategy for engineers who don't love the English language, making the most of the Corona disaster"

-----

In Japan, a nation unloved by the English language, the Corona disaster is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for engineers to earn their quota.

However, when I checked, I found that only two Japanese were participating in this conference.

As someone who knows the days when each maker company sent more than 10 young researchers to the IETF conference during the bubble period, I honestly can't believe it.

Well, I guess it depends on the theme, so maybe there were not many Japanese people at this conference by chance.

But even taking all that into account, Japan, as a country with a large number of engineers who don't love the English language, I think

"If we don't strike now, when will we strike?"

If the world goes back to the way it was, it will be too late.

Needless to say, the corona disaster is a calamity that should be extinguished as soon as possible.

At the same time, however, the Corona disaster is the greatest advantage for "engineers who are not loved by English".

-----

We must not miss this period.

I would like the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to propose a national strategy to "reinstate Japan as a technological powerhouse and revive its international competitiveness during the Corona disaster period.

Of course, it will be loudly criticized not only in Japan, but also all over the world, but I guarantee you that it will stick in the hearts of "engineers who are not loved by English".

-----

But -- it may be too late.

When I looked at where the attendees came from, I got the feeling that even North America, not to mention Japan, is in a "slump".

Southeast Asian and Europe countries were the strongest -- and the nearby continent was still overwhelming.

I have learned a lot from doctors in the field, and I publish their content in my column.

These columns have been written after much thought and deliberation on my part.

Therefore, I think that I am "100% responsible" for the content.

If someone is hurt by the content of my column, I will certainly pay for it to the extent that I am comfortable with it, and if I am not comfortable with it, to the extent that the judiciary orders it.

-----

I "support" the new COVID-19 vaccination based on the scope and risks I have thought and through.

I believe that I am fully accountable for my actions.

So far, I have not had any arguments or trouble with people who "refuse" to be vaccinated against the new coronas -- maybe.

To be honest, I'm relieved because I was prepared to be harassed in various ways.

-----

Recently, however, we have been locking our doors more tightly and maintaining the surveillance camera system more frequently than usual.

The reason for this was because I read the following article.

The motive of the perpetrator is that he "broke into the facility of the Organization for Promotion of Regional Medical Functions (ORSF), an independent administrative institution (Minato-ku, Tokyo) chaired by the chairman of the government's subcommittee on countermeasures against new coronavirus infections, and smashed the glass at the entrance.

"I hate the Chairman"

was the only reason for the perpetrator

-----

Of course, I can have no sympathy for this criminal and I can criticize him for his poor behavior.

I don't care about the life of the guy who violated someone

However, when violence is committed, as a rule, the victim has only one choice: 'lose'.

This is because even if we can retaliate (compensate for damages), it is not a "win".

And I am absolutely certain that "I will be hated by someone".

-----

People who fight with proper procedures are not so scary. This is because there are many ways to deal with them.

What scares me is people who ignore logic and attack only with emotion, as in this case. There is no way to deal with this.

-----

This is why the Ebata family is currently focusing on counter-terrorism as well as domestic infection.

There's no point in thinking, 'What's the point of attacking a little thing like me?

Again, common sense doesn't work on people who don't understand common sense.

I've avoided using the camera for remote meetings, but now I'm being asked to use it for conferences, award ceremonies, and other events.

Well, being able to see the speaker's facial expression is useful for remote meetings, but there is the problem of "being able to see into the room".

However, whether you are using Zoom, Teams, or Skype, you have the ability to specify the background screen, so you can choose the screen you want.

I believe that one's personal preferences can be read by the way one chooses to use this screen.

For example, if you attend a budget meeting with Waikiki Beach in the background, people will think, "Doesn't this person need a budget for next year?" or something like that.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to think about those unwanted things.

-----

In my case, I use "background blur" for my cumbersome room.

It's too much trouble to think about the background.

However, the other day, I couldn't set up this background screen properly and had to show my room in front of more than 100 people.

Well, I'm thinking that no one probably felt uncomfortable just because they were shown my room in "the way I live".

In the latter half of last week, I spent several days attending conferences that were held late at night (ending at 3:00 a.m.), which completely threw off the rhythm of my life.

In addition, I spent the weekend writing for more than 12 hours a day to meet the deadline for my column.

However, over the weekend, the fatigue was so great that my writing had to be interrupted several times.

Then, as an insomniac, I would find myself in a vicious cycle that would accelerate my insomnia even further.

Last night, I took a sleeping pill (not stabilizer) for the first time in a long time, thinking "if I can get a deep sleep, I might be able to get rid of my fatigue," and I was able to get a sleep that felt like I was sinking into complete darkness.

"When I woke up this morning, all the fatigue that had been hiding inside my body came out on the outside of my body."

I couldn't get up from the futon anymore.

I'm finally writing this diary after about an hour of moving my body little by little, wondering if this is what recovery from "cold sleep" looks like in science fiction.

(Source: "Goodbye Jupiter")

-----

I think "I've always been able to handle this level of hard works", however, I was reminded of an old saying.

"I don't want to grow old."

Recently, NHK BS's N-Spe has been rebroadcasting past programs related to earthquakes.

As usual, I'm watching the recordings "alone" for about 15 minutes each day.

My family is not interested in this kind of content, and even my second daughter is scared to leave the living room.

-----

I knew very well that the land of Japan is like a sheet of styrofoam floating on the water, having read Sakyo Komatsu's "Sinking of Japan.

However, I was surprised to learn from recent research that this "Styrofoam board" is broken into several more pieces (about seven).

In other words, the land of Japan seems to be moving in pieces (not just moving, but rotating and so on).

To begin with, Japan continues to move in centimeters per year, no matter where it is.

We know this from the data from the large number of electronic reference points (GPS observation points) that have been set up around Japan.

-----

Now, ladies and gentlemen of the National Geographic Institute.

We, the Ebata family is ready to offer our yard as a free place to set up an electronic reference point (I think there may have been some troublesome issues with land acquisition and so on).

If the power is less than 100W, the Ebata family will also pay for the electricity (please do not prepare a back-up power supply).

If you want to use a wired connection, you can use the Ebata family's Internet connection free of charge (but please make sure that the amount of communication does not interfere with the daughters' YouTube viewing).

The condition is that you provide me with one interface to connect the location information of the electronic reference point set up in Ebata's yard to my PC.

Of course, if possible, I would like to have real-time information on all the electronic reference points in Japan, but I think this information is probably "information equivalent to a national secret," so I don't ask you to go that far.

I will be satisfied first of all if I can get real-time movement data of our house.

With that data, I would like to make a "hyperlocal (the Ebata house only) earthquake prediction.

-----

I think there are probably quite a few engineers in Japan who would be willing to do this (at least two more I know of).

If you have plans to increase the number of electronic reference points, etc., please let me know.

When I have extra foods, I would like to donate them to a food bank or a food drive.

However, in our family, most of the ingredients are frozen and eaten all.

Or, since any ingredients (usually by me) can be used as ingredients for curry roux, I don't think there will be any surplus of ingredients.

In the first place, I don't "check" expiration dates when it comes to instant foods and canned foods.

However, when I tried to research, I knew that food banks and food drives that are operating publicly seem to be reasonably strict about the expiration dates of their food.

It is only natural.

This is because it can be a matter of "health" or, in the worst case scenario, "human life".

-----

When I was a college student, I used to receive a lot of expired food from the parents of my students at cram school, but I never had any problems.

I was a struggling student (although I didn't really feel like it), so I didn't refuse anything that came my way, as long as it was edible.

I think this was possible because of the special connections I had with the parents as an individual.

"Pride? What is that and is it good?" This is fine -- especially for students.

-----

Therefore, I would like to operate a "self-responsibility & no-indemnity food bank" on a non-profit and non-official basis.

Organizing it would be troublesome, so I want to create it as a "food relief system that works on a completely decentralized human network".

Yes, it is the operational form of terrorists and guerrillas.

However, there is no possibility of "anti-social forces" coming in. Because it's not a good business at all.

By the way, I don't have the slightest sense of "giving" or "volunteering".

This is because the network will be based on my perfect self-interest, for "I'm going to create a system to help me (Ebata) , who will need help in the future.

In short, it's "insurance".

Nowadays, I call myself a "solitary engineer", but not so long ago, I was doing what is now called "sociable"

I've been thinking about this as I reread my diary, which I used to write in the past.

-----

I used to be the head of the tennis club at the laboratory, or rather, I was "made" to be the head of the tennis club.

So, the head of the tennis club was embarrassed that his 'service didn't go into the opponent's court,' so he went to tennis school.

There was a disgraceful rumor going around that "Ebata was groping girls at the tennis school".

Ebata: "No way. I don't see anything but tennis balls in the school."

I denied the rumors.

In fact, I was the one who took my lessons seriously, and since I belonged to an advanced class, there were very few "so-called 'girls'".

There were "women who were serious about tennis", but they were a different kind of people from the "so-called 'girls'".

And It turned into a disgraceful rumor:

"Ebata is groping middle-aged people with daughters or granddaughters of the right age at the tennis school.

Well, that's beside the point.

-----

As a matter of fact, I think that the effectiveness of "marriage apps" are less than

- Lessons such as tennis school and English conversation classes

- Participation in neighborhood association events and volunteer activities

- Visiting grandmothers and grandfathers in aged care facilities, etc.

These indirect approaches seem to have a higher success rate.

This is because it is not the "system" that evaluates you, but "human being".

Therefore, what is important here is to do these things with "no ulterior motive" and with "genuine interest".

-----

Approaches designed to "meet" girls fail at a much higher rate.

We elderly people are trained to recognize such people.

I believe that the idea of "perfection" is the biggest obstacle to getting the job done.

- I have always told my children, "Round up at 70-80%. Never aim for 100%.

I am a thoroughgoing "perfection denier," as described in.

- It's okay to "copy and paste" English documents.

I am a "short-cut supremacist" as described in

But of course, there are only a few people in our country who can proudly claim this "denial of perfection" and "cutting corners".

In addition, even if the ideology is the same, the level of standards varies from person to person, so naturally there will be differences of opinion.

In particular, this disagreement is manifested in the form of "reprimand" by the top in an organization.

-----

I think "reprimand" is unpleasant for anyone.

There are only two ways to avoid this "reprimand" in an organization.

(1) Do nothing

(2) Do it in silence.

If it is (1) above, nothing can be done, and if it is (2) above, it will become a problem (accident) later on.

I'm not going to say something stupid like, "Look at 'reprimand' as a positive" (but there are so many people like that that it's disgusting).

I think it's better to think of "reprimand" as a component of work (or a part of a schedule).

When I think of "incomplete" + "reprimand" as a set menu, my work will move faster (or move at my pace).

Well, even though I know what I'm doing, I sometimes choose "(2) Do it in silence"

And sometimes, I have serious accidents.

-----

Recently, I realized that there is a phrase in an ancient book (Sun Tzu) that truly makes this idea "right".

"A soldier respects speed."

In other words, "faster is better, even if it is based on a poor vision"

The problem is the 'soldiers...' part, well, that too is true.

We are, after all, "soldiers" who are "cogs in the organization.

I have just opened my bookstore, "Ebata-san's Bookstore".

The writing request I received here took a very different direction and landed in an unexpected place.

Well, I think I got lucky with this one.

If I hadn't had this opportunity, I wouldn't have had the chance to research and try "how to e-publish".

-----

To be honest, I can hardly say that I know how to "do e-publishing" yet.

The reason why I chose this e-book download site is because I have purchased many books (technical e-books) from that site in the past.

What's more, I liked the ease with which I could just upload the PDF without being bound by rules about page numbers and appendices, which I have no interest in.

To begin with, I am not interested in bookbinding at all. I even take off the cover and lose it while reading a book.

However, the e-book download site I chose this time instructed me to create a "cover". So, I appropriated an illustration I had made myself in the past and made it appropriately.

It would be nice to be able to publish electronically from my own website, but I was disappointed when I saw the "payment system fees" before, so I'm not going to bother with this.

Also. I'm not interested in increasing the amount of books in my collection either -- it would only make my house smaller.

Nevertheless, paper books are still superior to e-books in the following two ways.

(1) You can find the book you want in an instant, just by looking at the bookshelf.

(2) You can resume reading the next day even if you submerge it in the bathtub.

-----

What makes Ebata's Bookstore different from other bookstores is that

"Books by me, for me, by me"

In other words, 'I can write what I want without concern for any organization (publishing company, etc.).

"Marginal Operation" by Yuri Shibamura is interesting.

(If you are interested, please Google it.)

I think it's interesting because the content (setting, situation, characters) is interesting -- the balance of reality, fantasy, and a bit of future technology is also good.

-----

I think the "Information Illuminator" is feasible, but I don't think it's feasible to visualize the status of the enemy forces.

Simultaneous tracking of more than 1000 objects would be difficult with the current wireless system, and the time lag would be negligible.

As a researcher who has been thinking about various "child watchdog systems" in this way, I also "enjoy" the fact that I can think about near-future devices.

Incidentally, there is a story here about a reseacher who slipped up and shocked his boss with a joke: "First of all, the priority is to make Japan a society where an average of 300 children a year are killed in crimes".

That aside.

-----

As a column writer, the style of writing in this book is very informative.

"Anyway, it's easy to read."

I don't really know what a "light novel" is -- I've asked my junior daughter and others to define it, but they don't have a clue -- but

If a light novel can be defined as "an easy-to-read book," then I think it's no problem to say that it's "ultimate book".

In comparison, I feel that 70% of my column is filled with adjectives, industry terms (and graphs and tables).

-----

I don't think the following comparison is valid, however

As a fan of Kaoru Takamura's work, "Marginal Operations" is reading more than 20 times faster than "Marks' Mountain".

Yeah, it's not really appropriate, I guess.

But, well, I enjoy reading Marginal Operations, so I've decided that I'll only read this book when I'm walking.

In this way, I can change the feeling of "walking is too much trouble" to "I want to go out for a walk as soon as possible" and incorporate it into my daily routine.

When I was a student, I lived in a student dormitory (Gakuryo) that claimed to be self-governing.

The dormitory was such that one of the seniors had a field hockey stick in his room at all times.

Conversations like, "I will need weapons in case someone steps into the room," and the usual warnings about "internal strife," don't seem too strange--

It was a dormitory that persistently retained the residue of the security struggle of the 1970s.

There was a time when someone thought "violence" was not the exclusive domain of violent devices (police, self-defense forces) (with having a distant look).

Well, it's not surprising that rational thinkers (e.g., engineering approach) are excluded in such places.

-----

The other day, just before midnight, the doorbell rang at my house.

I have no idea who would be visiting my house at this hour.

I went downstairs to my room with my SHOULDER TAPPING ROD at the ready. There, my senior daughter, who was unable to enter my house because of the chain key, had just come in after my wife opened the gate for her.

I was momentarily taken aback by the fact that I was not equipped with a weapon in my room.

-----

Ebata: "I have to deploy the weapons in my room."

Wife: "I put my father's golf clubs in the umbrella stand at the entrance."

Ebata: "Then we won't be able to subdue the intruders after they raid our home."

So, I'm currently considering purchasing a wooden sword.

Also, if used as a weapon, it could kill the intruder, which is quite annoying.

In fact, in the 70's, these things (crowbars) were cheaper, used by militants in internal fights.

It seems that this device can be used for its intended purpose.

All of my family members, except for me, can't fight the "insect".

When a insect comes into the room, they will make a big fuss and call me (in the worst case, I will be ordered to go home to work).

In case of cockroaches, the day will be a disaster.

-----

I have tried many different methods to get rid of (miss and otherwise kill) insects.

Well, in cheap hotels in Thailand and India, newts, geckos, and palm-sized spiders were sticking to the walls, but at night, I slept normally.

Basically, I want to avoid unnecessary killing anything unless I think it is dangerous or annoying. It is true.

But my wife and daughters only say to me, "Do something" -- not "Kill it".

-----

The assassination team belonging to Japan government is probably just being told by their superiors to 'do something', I think.

I know that the degree of difficulty and psychological burden of the work I am assigned to do is very different, but...

I unilaterally consider them to be "comrades".

With hearing the following,

Network specialist.

Database specialists.

Embedded systems engineer.

Cloud engineer.

AI engineer.

IoT engineer.

AWS engineer.

Virtualization engineers.

"Shut up!"

I think.

"If it has to be done, it has to be done". It is an engineer.

No matter what the technology, start from anywhere, buy tons of materials (at my own expense), read the Web, bow down to everyone (even the jerks), and then start from scratch again and again -- that's what being an engineer is all about.

It is a world in which there is no 'end', in which I keep moving forward as far as possible in a multi-dimensional space consisting of time, society, and technology.

I have done so until now, and I believe I will continue to do so in the future.

-----

Incidentally, my company is now starting the system called the "Digital Human Resources Certification System".

I'm going to observe my co-workers carefully.

The books "My youth romantic comedy is wrong, as I expected" would be a masterpiece.

I don't "admire" that main character. Please don't misunderstand me.

I wanted to write that kind of work.

Well, I don't know what a "romantic comedy" is, I can't write it well, and honestly I don't want to, however that main character's mindset, values, and worldview is what I wanted to write about

However, if I were to write it, it wouldn't be based on a "romantic comedy" but probably on a "solo trip to Southeast Asia" -- hmm, I wonder if anyone would read it?

-----

And, well, I hope you've explained it in such detail.

"My father said that "My youth romantic comedy is wrong, as I expected" was great."

I hope you will hesitate a little to tell your friends in a light-hearted way, my daughter?

I'm a little embarrassed.

I'm currently finding time in the gaps (10-minute unit) to lazily write my second book.

In the article, I wrote an explanation of Docker. I am proud to say that the content is quite good, so I would like to introduce it here.

===== from here =====

By the way, my image of Docker containers is

- A unit of apartment (concubine's house) where you can ask multiple mistresses (different versions of applications) of your sisters or brothers only when you feel like it.

- Communication with the inside of the apartment building is thorough, using only the intercom (port number), so there is no need to set environment variables (PATH or LIB) for the host OS (Windows 10).

- (We engineers refer to this as "not having to pollute the home (host OS) environment").

- If you install two or more different versions of the same app on the same OS (e.g. Windows 10), you won't be able to launch the app correctly, and even if you could, you probably wouldn't be able to run it properly because of the messed up configuration environment.

- When you don't come to need the app, you can 'make the whole apartment disappear, including your mistress,' so there's no aftermath.

===== to here =====

I think this is the correct way to describe Docker containers -- however,

Someone might think that "there's something wrong with Ebata's personality".

I was replacing a company phone, wondering how long it had been since I was excited to use a new device (smartphone or PC).

After two hours of charging, it became useless, so I had to ask the company to 'replace the battery'.

However, I received a nuanced response that said, "Since it is beyond the period of use, it would be helpful if you could replace the equipment so that we don't have to deal with it," so I agreed.

When I replace the battery, I am entrusting my "company phone," a device that contains highly confidential information, to a third party.

Of course, it is not hard to imagine that the confidentiality agreement would be unimaginably cumbersome.

From the SDGs viewpoint , what does this means ? I thought, however,

Well, I'm sure my old phone will be fully initialized and the battery will be replaced and put to good use in areas controlled by the Taliban -- just like Japanese cars after they are scrapped.

-----

At any rate, since the company phone is a device that is linked to the company system, I had to install complicated security software and had to enter three different passwords a total of about 30 times.

To be honest, it was a bit of a chore.

In addition to that, I, I, I'm not really interested in smartphones, so I basically just chose the same model as before and made a replica of my previous phone.

-----

I know I'm being really persistent, but I'm seriously wondering if flip phones will ever come back.

It is small, has a long service life, is simple to operate, and takes a short time to charge.

For video, music, and remote meetings, a PC or tablet will suffice.

For LINE, it's enough to display text, and I don't need stamps.

However, as a "researcher working on the research and development of services based on the use of smartphones," I am aware that I am saying things that are quite contradictory.

-----

During this replacement, I inadvertently forgot to migrate the phonebook.

No, this time it was not intentional, it was just my fault.

So, I'm currently using only the call history -- and the trouble is, I'm not having any trouble at all.

Email and LINE are enough for my life.

This weekend I was supposed to be working on the structure of my new book, but I found myself struggling with docker.

I tried to reproduce it in an environment that worked three years ago, but it "didn't work".

So I tried to find out why it didn't work, and found that only about two people in the world had encountered the same problem.

(To be precise, "the number of people posting that trouble on the Internet is two.)

The best thing to do when encountering such a problem is to "give up".

This is because it consumes an enormous amount of time and has a high probability of not being resolved.

If it is your "job," you may not be able to escape. However, if it is a "pastime" or a "hobby," it is essential to "escape" as soon as possible.

-----

However, there is a psychological effect that interferes with this rational behavior -- it's called "sunk cost".

Sunk cost is the cost of not being able to recover an investment.

The sunk cost effect refers to the fact that the effort, money, time, etc. spent will affect future decision making -- the inability to exit while continuing to incur a deficit.

-----

The most common sunk costs are "exam wasters" and "qualification wasters".

"If you're an unsuccessful comedian, it's your own fault. However, "The cost of maintaining a fast breeder reactor is said to be 55 million yen per day, and the cost of decommissioning it is 150 billion yen.

Of course, they have been funded by our blood tax.

Today, I will not talk about the pros and cons of these.

However, if we were politicians, we can imagine how scary it would be to make the decision to "throw away" something that has cost us so much.

And, well, frankly speaking, researchers can be called a "sunk cost machine".

-----

So, even if it is in the category of "entertainment" or "hobby", my existence itself is a "sunk cost" as I lose time on weekends.

I finished reading all of "Marginal Operation (Revision)" by Yuri Shibamura today.

I've been walking with my headlights on while reading at night, and I think it's good to have a book that makes me concentrate so much, with saying "Oh, I'm home already".

The book is set in China, Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand.

I've been studying the geopolitics of this area.

Illustrations (pictures) are nice, but it would be nice if they could add a map.

A schematic of the battlefield would be even better.

The researcher (me) of a patent specification mass production machine with drawing supremacy thinks so.

-----

After reading the books, I really felt sorry for the country of China.

I'm looking at Google MAP right now, and I'm still amazed at the vastness of China.

I was almost dizzy from the length of the border line, which is a long stretch of land, much of which is disputed territory.

From a geopolitical point of view, which is basically based on the principle of "hostile relations with neighboring countries," I think it must be very difficult to govern such a vast territory.

If they were to adopt the so-called Western values of democracy (human rights), they would not be able to survive as a country, I think.

-----

About 80 years ago, our country tried to do the same thing with oceans and continents, and failed spectacularly.

(Google "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" or "Absolute National Defense Sphere.")

By the way, Germany also expanded in Europe (this is a "continent") around the same time, and also failed.

"I think that "big/expansive" is basically "troublesome".

By the way, one of my juniors once told me that if the total distance required for logistics exceeds a certain value, the country comes to lose the war.

Maintaining wide and long fronts and borders is a huge cost.

-----

In comparison, the Ebata family maintains their territory with two surveillance cameras, sensors, and a Raspberry Pi.

And it's all self-supporting, with only one operator.

Being small is basically being cheap and easy.

"Hooray for petit bourgeois"

The other day, the president of a company to which I had been personally loaned a control device for a long period of time (more than three years) mailed me. The subject was,

"Could you please return the devices?"

I was a little surprised, since I have often offered to return them when inquiring about part numbers.

Later that day, I dismantled part of the Ebata family's system and returned all the devices I had borrowed.

Well, I'm not too worried as I still have a few devices left that I picked up at the junk shop.

-----

I are aware that the global shortage of semiconductors has caused delays in the production of various products. However, in light of the fact that even an individual like me is being asked to do this.

I realized that they were really in a critical situation.

-----

I was reminded that EE Times Japan, to which I am a regular contributor, is really an information site for the semiconductor industry.

I thought that if I released such a diary, Ms. M, who is in charge of my columns, might at least give me a hard time, if not beat me up.

But I thought, 'If I get scolded, I can write the next diary,' so I'm releasing this.

Today, new my column is released, so I take a day off.

Dancing Buzzword - Behind the Buzzword (15) STEM education(3)

Recommendations for STEM-infused "free research for summer vacation"-type package education"

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The "digital twin" came up in a panel discussion at an academic conference I attended the other day.

I'm working on a system that utilizes human emotions, and I tried to join the discussion, but I missed the timing of the question.

I still regret it.

A large part of the reason for this is that 'it takes a lot of courage to break into a panel discussion in English.

When I heard a panelist say apologetically, "Sorry, I don't understand what you are saying.

For a week, I'll be rolling on my bed in self-loathing and shame.

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In this column, I estimated the amount of computation for a "3D simulation of (sneeze) droplets" and was astonished at the huge amount of computation.

The Japanese supercomputer provided many very convincing visualization simulations against the corona disaster.

I think the contribution of the supercomputer was very significant this time.

However, even I, a poor engineer who cannot use a supercomputer, would like to try this simulation on my home computer (even if I have to scale it down).

(To be continued)

(Continuation from yesterday)

I'm wondering if I can do that with buying an external GPU and using the parallel processing features of the Go language.

As for my budget, I think I can manage to spend up to about 100,000 yen.

If you are an individual, corporation, or research institute that is attempting to do a PC-based droplet simulation (or a similarly heavy physical simulation), please let me know.

I would like to discuss various issues with you.

-----

A single physical phenomenon such as a sneeze requires a supercomputer, so it is clearly impossible to create the world of SAO (Sword Art Online) with computer resources.

Well, if the physical phenomena are good enough to apply a simple model, then there might be a possibility, but... No, it would still be tough.

I can't believe I'm letting a computer calculate the physics of all the events in virtual space in real time, even if we

- scrape together thousands or tens of thousands of current supercomputers.

- put all the power in the country

I feel that the limit is to create a virtual space with "about 50 students in a small school space".

I think "real-intelligent artificial intelligence" is still more feasible.

Alternatively, I suppose you could use the "human brain" to calculate the physics of the spatial model -- but that sounds very dangerous.

This is because, unlike semiconductors, synapses in the brain can be easily destroyed by weak electricity.

After all, it is such a fragile thing that even if left alone, it will destroy itself with age (and lead to dementia).

That aside.

-----

Now, the core of my current research on "human emotion-based systems" is a human agent that incorporates a very simple and straightforward emotion function.

These are scattered in large numbers in the virtual space of the simulation and kept moving freely.

A human agent is, to put it bluntly, a non-player character (NPC), a character that is not controlled by the game player.

Whenever I give a research presentation, I am often asked by the audience, "Whose emotions is the NPC referencing? My answer is always the same.

"It's me" ----- This is the truth story.