Bitcoin

Recently, Bitcoin has become to a current topic.

Bitcoin is one of virtual coins in the internet which anyone can use. We buy some amount of bitcoin at an exchange station. Some online stores accept the paying with bitcoin. It is an advantage to use bitcoin without exchange fee.

Bitcoin has a potential to change the world. That is, bitcoin is not connected to any nation.
To begin with, any coin is a symbol of trust. There are no coins or bills which is equal to real value. The $1 coin is worthy of 1$ because everyone thinks so. To speak precisely, the USA guarantees that $1 has valuable for 1$, and citizens trust the USA. Therefore, when a nation is involved in a chaos such as wars, the value of the coins in the nation would decrease. They cannot use their national coins in a nation extremely vulnerable.

Then, who assume the value of Bitcoin?
The answer is nobody, or all of the users.

Whenever a lot of people trust Bitcoin, it works as a real coin. In contrast, if no one accepts the deal using Bitcoin, it would be completely useless.

There were some virtual coins provided by the companies. Mileage is popular. Linden dollar is virtual coin only available in Second Life, a virtual community. The providers are responsible for the maintenance of their coins. On the other hand, who is responsible for Bitcoin is quite unclear.

Some nations are concerned very much to Bitcoin. They worry about Bitcoin for two reasons. First, Bitcoin may be utilized for illegal activities such as money laundering. Second, Bitcoin is hard to taxable. If most people use Bitcoin rather than real money, the government hardly control their finances itself.

Germany has accepted Bitcoin as legal currency. It is a brave decision.
In contrast, the USA seems to restrict the usage of Bitcoin. I also understand the position of the US government.

DW.de: Germany lends real value to bitcoin virtual money
TechCrunch: Bitcoin Clampdown Continues As Federal Judge Says It's A Currency

To grasp currency is almost equal to gain a nation. In addition, it is always a new technology to destroy an old scheme.
I will pay attention to the future of Bitcoin.

The very best cuisine

I saw a list of the 50 best foods of the world published by CNN in 2011.

CNN: World's 50 best foods

I have not eaten lots of the foods in this list yet, although I think it is valid.

This is the list I have already eaten.
(*This list will be updated continuously.)

50. Buttered popcorn, United States
48. Potato chips, United States
47. Seafood paella, Spain
46. Som tam, Thailand
45. Chicken rice, Singapore
43. Tacos, Mexico
38. French toast, Hong Kong
34. Maple syrup, Canada
33. Fish ‘n’ chips, Britain
32. Ankimo, Japan
31. Parma ham, Italy
29. Ohmi-gyu beef steak, Japan
28. Pho, Vietnam
23. Lasagna, Italy
22. Brownie and vanilla ice cream, global
21. Croissant, France
18. Kebab, Iran
16. Egg tart, Hong Kong
14. Donuts, United States
9. Ice cream, United States
8. Tom yum goong, Thailand
6. Hamburger, Germany
5. Peking duck, China
4. Sushi, Japan
3. Chocolate, Mexico
2. Neapolitan pizza, Italy
1. Massaman curry, Thailand

Massaman curry, the top item of the list, I ate just several days ago for the first time at Shibuya. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo.

It was quite delicious. Massaman curry is categorized in red curry but it tastes sweet, rather than spicy. Perhaps coconut milk included makes it mild. Almost everyone may accept its taste. However, I think that some kind of Indian curry is more delicious than Massaman.

I would like to eat rest foods in the list someday.

Connecter for PS3 gamepad

Recently, I bought some old games via GOG.com a web site suppling computer game as I referred to.
They a couple of action games. Then, I noticed that I had no gamepad for PC.

Actually, as a computer gamer, I had possessed several gamepad or related devices. However, I dropped all of them last year, for I thought I would not play action games any more. This prediction had been broken.

I remember I used my PS3 controller as a gamepad for PC for a while.
PS3 controller is not originally suitable for PC use. When connected via micro USB cable, a controller is recognized by the Windows OS. But it cannot work properly.
Then, installing a certain software enables PS3 controller to work.
The other day, I used to the software. But finally I uninstalled it for some disadvantage.

I searched the software. However, I could not find it. Although some similar softwares were detected, they were crippled.

After all, I chose to buy a normal gamepad for PC.
Entering an electronic store, I saw a cute item.

This is it! It is a converter from PS3 controller to PC gamepad.
How to use is quite simple. After installing the driver, I connected the PS3 controller to the PC through the converter via micro USB connecter. That's all. Opened the control panel, I saw that a PS3 controller was available as a gamepad.

This excellent item costs about $17. It is not so cheap, but reliable.
I found one via Amazon.co.jp after that. It was a little surprising that no tool like this was detected at Amazon.com.

Now I am playing Guilty Gear XX #Reload. Much fun!

Syria war is coming?

The situation around Syria is growing more strained.

Heard that chemical weapon was used by the Syrian army, the US seems to be willing to defeat Syria to act as a police of the world.
However, citizens in the US do not want to bomb Syria. Several posts showed the answer of Americans not to support the intervention of the US military upon Syria.

HUFF POST: The American People Really Don't Want To Bomb Syria (POLLS)

If the operation is carried out, this will be the most hated wars for the US.
In contrast, lawmakers in the US seem to be positive to attack Syria. President Obama decided to ask for the opinion of the congress. Even some leaders belong to the opposite Republican party claimed the necessity of the bombing.

The NEW YORK TIMES: House Leaders Express Their Support for Syria Strike

On the other hand, the UK, one of the major allies of the US abandoned to cooperate with the US. The majority of members of Parliament voted opposition. Ask for reconsideration about it was also declined.

BBC NEWS: Syria crisis: Calls for second UK vote rejected

More than 150 UK soldiers were killed in Iraq war began in 2003. Economic status is not so good in the UK now. The UK perhaps hesitates to intervene other countries. Prime Minister Cameron failed to gain the consent of the parliament.

Every person and every nation have their own position. The war looks not to be avoided. However, I wonder the US has a solution to unite Syria after disarming the military of Syria. Corruption of a hegemony calls more confusion, in general. It is a longstanding problem which is not solved even now.

Children behaviors and family time: is it related?

Today I introduce an academic article about the relationship between the behavior of children and their parents.

Mothers' and Fathers' Work Hours, Child Gender, and Behavior in Middle Childhood

The author describes that the boys of a father who worked 55 hours or more in a week showed more externalizing behaviors. They recruited thousands cases and observed them for 10 years at maximum. The behaviors of the children were measured with the Child Behavior Checklist, which was used to evaluate problematic behaviors of children, by their mothers. They also gathered some factors of the condition of the families such as working time ,financial status, level of education, and so on from the parents.

The result was that the children whose father worked more than 55 hours in a week showed higher scores of problematic behaviors.

The authors seemed to claim that time spent with their children was so important for them. However, this survey has failed to show the evidence about it. No association was found between the time spent with children and their behaviors. The author guessed that the quality of time was more critical rather than the quantity of the time they spent with their children. But I think it is not persuasive.

My hypothesis is more simple: aggressive children are born from hyperactive fathers. Hyperactivity is a characteristic which is difficult to interpret. In childhood it may be problematic. They may tend to externalize one's failure. In adulthood, aggressive lifestyle is preferable to some extent. Some of the fathers can have bipolar spectrums or ADHD trait. These concepts are still vague, and so likely to be underestimated. The author declared that mental problem of the parents did not significantly influence the result. But potentially hypomanic persons are seldom assessed as mentally disordered.

In total, we should be cautious to evaluate the result of this research. 

By the way, I was noticed about the research through a certain Japanese news site. The site introduced this research as an evidence of the harm of bad companies in which the employees were forced to work for a long time. The website did not show the link to the article itself. It is an example of warped interpretation and insincere citation, I think.

Closed circle and death game

Today, I watched a Japanese movie describing a death game in a closed circle.
I dare not to write the title because it was no good at all. I hear that the original novel is splendid far different from the movie. So I will read the original work.

Closed circle or Locked Lodge in Japan is one of the archetypes of mystery. Being locked in the house or other narrow place, all the people cannot escape because of some natural disasters or intentional tricks. Then, a murder case occurs. The people are fearful to know that they have to stay with the unidentified murderer. It is a stereotype that the person who says "I dare not to be with the murderer! I do not believe anyone! I shall go home!" will be the next victim.

In addition, "Death Game" is also an archetype in a context of mystery. It is a situation that the participants have to suspect each other and are forced to attempt to kill others. This kind of novels describes the human mind and behaviors in an extremely serious condition.

I like this type of stories. However, few works have satisfied me.

I feel that most of Death Games do not have reality at all. Of course it is a fiction. But I want to read a persuasive novel that I feel this situation of the novel can exist in the real world. Actually, there are only two patterns of the reason of Death Game. One is an experiment of psychology and the other is a gamble for extremely rich persons. Both of them are not persuasive for me.

Today's movie was not an exception.

In Japan, there are lots of work dealing with closed circle. I love Mr. Yukito Ayatsuji, who create several thrillers of this theme, such as Jukkakukan no Satsujin [A murder case in Ten-edged mansion].
On the other hand, Death Games are popular in Manga, rather than novels, in Japan. Mr. Nobuyuki Fukumoto is one of the most famous writers dealing with gamble and psychological war as a theme.

Facebook makes you unhappy? A controversial research

A few days ago, I saw an interesting article which was a warning about the usage of Facebook.
This is a research article published in PLOS One, a famous academic journal.

Facebook Use Predicts Declines in Subjective Well-Being in Young Adults

This article describes an experiment. Approximately 80 young participants were asked to use Facebook via iPad. They took some self-check tests for 2 weeks. The result is that the longer time they use Facebook, the less they are satisfied in daily life.

So, does Facebook cause unhappiness? As an academic article, the author made several remarks about the interpretation of the result. The finding was significant, but not so big that it is unclear whether this result can be generalized. We should be cautious to make a decision about this matter.

The authors suggested the relationship between the influence of using Facebook and direct social contact. According to them, people frequently contact with others via offline tend to be influenced negatively from using Facebook. This finding is difficult to understand. Is it possible that solitary people are immune to negative impact on Facebook?

I am also concerned about the characteristics of the participants. This article does not mention of whether the participants are accustomed to the internet or SNSs. I think that this experiment would be tough for beginners of these activities.
The term of the experiment may be too short to evaluate the influence of Facebook precisely. In my experience, it takes a couple of months to be familiar with this kind of services.

To begin with, why is Facebook harmful?
Perhaps you can imagine a hypothesis. Facebook and all any other SNSs can visualize our real life. If you try to hide your own activity, you have to see the daily activities of other people in the network society. Most people want to make themselves look bigger than the real. Thus, you would see a lot of people look like happy, perhaps compared to you. It annoys you. It makes you envious. Comparison to others is unhealthy in most situations.

This is a hypothesis. Of course, Facebook has much more advantages. I do not think that people should quit Facebook even if this study is correct. Nevertheless, it should be said that we have to investigate more in detail about the influence of social networking on our own mind and the society.