Sequels in April 2014

April 23, 2014
Three perspectives of seller and buyer

This article is followed by additional discussion. I attempted to categorize several tools and services in 3 by 3 matrix.

Hmm, wrapping paper is more suitable for the examples of Back end goods for an experience, than cooking paper. (May 1, 2014 revised)


April 17, 2014
Cloud storage services (2)

Copy is an excellent service as a cloud storage. It caused no trouble till now. I will continue to use it for a while.


*Sequel


April 10, 2014
Nexus7 and Rakuten LTE SIM

It is also good. With continuous internet connection, Nexus7 has changed to a powerful gear. It is also an advantage that the battery is a pretty long life.


April 2, 2014
BD of Madoka Magica Movie 3: Rebellion

Unfortunately, I have not watched it at home yet. According to the publisher's note, it includes two versions. I expect to enjoy both of them.


April 1, 2014
I will be a trillionaire

Nothing to say, it is a joke. I sometimes receive this kind of spam mails. There is no free lunch.

Karuizawa (1)

I went to Karuizawa the last weekend.

Karuizawa is a middle-east region in Japan. It is famous as a summer resort because of its low temperature and beautiful landscape.

I lent a cottage for a few days to stay there.

Nagano Shinkansen (Super Express) is available to reach Karuizawa. It takes only one hour from Tokyo.

There was a calm and silent atmosphere.

I could find some shops providing bicycle for lent. And there were some estate agents around the station.

Nearby the station, a big shopping mall was open. It included several outlet stores.

The landscape was so relaxing.

I ate some vegetable foods, in addition to pasta at an Italian restaurant.

(To be continued)

Obama visit Japan and Korea

President Barack Obama came to Japan, meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on April 23. They seated together at Sukiyabashi Jiro, a Japanese Sushi Restaurant.

Mainichi: Obama opens Japan trip at famous sushi restaurant

Sukiyabashi Jiro is regarded as the best sushi restaurant in the world. Obama seems to be satisfied to eat the dinner. However, some Japanese media reported that Obama did not eat the whole contents provided by the chef. I do not know the truth.

The CNN: Obama begins Asia trip with 'the best sushi I've ever had'

Japan Today: Obama ate only half the sushi course: media

During the dinner, they discussed some political matters. It was important to gain some compromise from Abe regarding the negotiation of TPP for Obama. However, it seems that little attention is paid for TPP in the US citizens. Therefore, it is unclear how much Obama was concerned to TPP in this conversation.

After visiting Japan, Obama went to Korea. This trip was introduced accepting the request by Korea, according to Japanese media. This visit may be beneficial to Korea a lot.

What is empathy? (2)

What is empathy? (1)

Another supervisor of mine also taught me about how to empathize with the client. He chose to ask for help to the client. According to him, empathizing the client is basically difficult, because some clients have unique and strange worries to consult. The more their troubles are special, the more it is difficult for you to imagine them. To overcome this difficulty, you should know the emotion of the client more precisely. You can understand him only by asking your client about his feeling about the matter. Therefore, empathy is born from asking.

This concept relieved me, since it says that it is not embarrassing to ask for more detailed expression to the client. Former days, I misunderstood that psychiatrists had to read the mind of clients without any conversation. But it was ridiculous. Whenever I feel hard to empathize, I just talk with him. Finally, I will be able to trace his flow of mind.

One of my ex-bosses had an opinion that empathy is hardly achieved. When you feel that you can empathize with the client, you cannot empathize truly with him, because the client is absolutely different from you. He stated that empathy was not a goal, but a process. You make efforts to understand the client deeply, but it is a tough work. You try to save the client, but you are forced to face that it is not easy. You moan, discouraged, and feel desperate. These streams of emotion are an essence of empathy. Both your client and you are trapped in the troublesome situation. You are struggling together. This process is worth to be identified as empathy.

His thought is a little abstract. To be honest, I hardly understand his words still now. At least he described the complexity of empathy. He taught me that it is dangerous to feel that I completely understand about empathy with little experience.

Empathy is very complicated, although we often feel empathetic with others. Actually, there is no definite goal about this issue. Nevertheless, I dare to dig the concept continuously, for improving my skill as a psychiatrist.

What is empathy? (1)

Being able to empathize with the client is an essential ability for a therapist. It is not limited in clinical psychiatric setting. Even if you can understand the story told by the speaker, you would never gain the reliance of him unless you were empathetic with him. In other words, can you trust the adviser who seems not to be sincerely concerned about you?

Thus, theory of empathy has been paid great attention in clinical psychiatry. Learning how to empathize with the client is a great challenge for all therapists. There are lots of articles explaining this matter.

My boss told us that empathy was repeating what the client said. It sounds a little rough, but makes a point. Actually, it is not the only thing you should do is to empathize with the client. More important is to report your empathy to the client. So how to do? The answer is that you say what you heard from the client.

This theory is sometimes jeered, named "parrot method". But mirroring the words of the client has some advantages. First, you can avoid criticizing the client using repeating what you hear. Critical attitude easily breaks therapeutic alliance. The second reason is more scientific. When you mimic the expression of your client, your brain evokes an emotion in accordance with the words you say. It helps you to understand the thought of your client more deeply.

(To be continued)

Comparative advantage in housekeeping

The other day, I saw a discussion on a BBS. A woman asked for help about her personal life. Several persons made an answer for her.

The question was related to housekeeping job. She was married and a housewife. Her husband always complained about her performance of housekeeping, such as cooking, cleaning, and washing. "You are so dull and lazy. I can be hardly patient."

Actually, she was not good at this kind of task. She was not dexterous, but made strenuous efforts every day. So, after being blamed by the husband, she could not avoid from saying, "So, you should do instead of me! Try it!"

It was surprising for her to watch that her husband was carrying out the tasks without any troubling. His works were efficacious. He cleaned up the rooms with minimized waste of time. She was forced to recognize the fact that she was less effective than her husband at housekeeping, even still she was engaged in such tasks for a long time.

She felt desperate. Then, she made a question for some advices on the internet.

How do you reply to her?

To be honest, this BBS is infamous as many users are very provocative. Actually, there were several comments speaking ill of her. As far as I checked, few responses were truly useful.

My answer is typically based on economics. It is a good sample to explain the concept of "comparative advantage."

Comparative advantage means that a thing can take advantage, or contribute to the total achievement, even if it is absolutely inferior to others.

For example, imagine an excellent business person (e.g. CEO) and a rookie. The CEO can perform everything much faster than the rookie.

Here is two tasks. One is planning a business. The other is typing a dialog. The CEO can make planning ten times faster than the rookie. For typing, the CEO is faster than the rookie by twice. So what? If the CEO is involved in the both tasks, they will be done quickly. However, the rookie has no tasks to do. It is waste of payment for him. In contrast, if the rookie is engaged in typing exclusively, the CEO can make use of his time of typing into planning much more. It will be beneficial for the whole company. This situation can be described as the rookie contributes to the company with sparing the time of the CEO.

This is comparative advantage. You can notice that there is no advantage in the rookie. Even an absolutely inferior person can help more skillful persons with his usual power. This kind of thought seems hopeful for most ordinary people.

Therefore, I would like to say to the woman. "You should continue housework. Your minimal contribution can aid your husband, letting him concentrate on his own job. You can be proud of you."

Three perspectives of seller and buyer

Very recently, I read an article entitled "There are three types of goods" (in Japanese). Before reading it, I imagined what was written in this article in advance, as I always try.

I guessed the three types of goods: goods for use, goods for an experience, goods for an emotion.

Goods for use are a so called commodity. We must buy foods, clothes, hand soaps, pencils, and so on. We consume various things every day. The virtue of this kind of goods is usefulness itself.

Goods for an experience are not value itself. There is a popular phrase, "Why does a man buy a drill?" The answer is obvious, "to make a hole". He perhaps has an intention to fix a wooden rack. So what? You can propose him to repair it on your own, instead of him, with additional payment. It means that you provide a service for him. It would be preferable for both you and him. However, if the man was going to enjoy a DIY work, your proposal would be contraindicative. The value of goods for an experience highly depends on the context of the buyer.

The last category is goods for an emotion. These goods are often luxurious, or at least rare. When buying them, your purpose is simply to own them. An ancient coin, a gorgeous wristwatch, a stamp, or even a trading card is included in this category. Different from other types, these goods are not consumed. Some book lovers tend not to read ones: they simply hoard them.

Hmm, a little unique classification. After that, I began to read the article.

The result was far from my imagination.

Actually, the author categorized the goods into "Front end goods", "Back end goods", and "Concept goods". This is a classification on the side of sellers, not for buyers.

Front end goods are for advertisement. They are usually sold with extremely low cost. Back end goods are the main source of income. The seller should carefully calculate their stock to make a profit. And concept goods are a symbol of the shop. They are often very expensive and seldom sold. For some companies, creating this kind of goods is essential to stand.

For example, a glass of beer is a front end in many bars. Beer is cheap for its cost. In contrast, some snacks are very easy to make but they are relatively expensive. They represent back end. Lastly, some kind of vintage whisky are very conceptual.

I had an experience that I imagined a thing as a reader far from the intention of the author. It may be due to my stance as a consumer. Quite interesting.

*sequel

Massaman Curry

As you know, I am a curry lover. Today, I made Massaman Curry on my own.

Massaman Curry is a kind of Thai cuisine, chosen as the most delicious food in the world by the CNN. It is a curry generally composed of chicken and potato, flavored with several spices and coconut milk.

My past entry: The very best cuisine

I was surprised by the good taste of it when I ate it for the first time. I sought some materials to make it by myself. Fortunately, S&B food has released a pack of paste of Massaman Curry. So I tried it.

First, I fried some blocks of chicken.

Next, I mixed some kind of cut vegetables with chicken. In the original recipe, only potato is used in it. But I committed carrot and onion in addition to potato.

Then, these materials were boiled in water.

Finally, the paste was introduced. Wow! I got it.

Great job!

Massaman Curry looks hot at a glance, but it is actually sweet and spicy. Everyone can eat it regardless of his taste. Furthermore, using this sort of paste, you can cook it with ease. I recommend it for all of you.

TOEFL and TOEIC are shut down in the UK

It is shocking news. TOEFL and TOEIC are no longer available for immigration to the UK.

The PIE NEWS: ETS tests no longer accepted by UK visa authorities

It was originated in a TV program. The BBC reported two cases of trick in TOEIC performed in the UK. In one case, several fake examinees participated in the fraud. In the other case, answers were provided to examinees unjustly. Received the information, the UK government made a decision to suspend accepting the results of TOEFL and TOEIC of UK residents.

Mirror: BBC Panorama investigation finds English visa tests were FAKED - with answers read out for students

Hot House Media: UK suspends Toefl & Toeic pending fraud probe

Educational Testing Service (ETS) is an NPO in the US which organizes several examinations including TOEFL and TOEIC. Finally, it abandoned extending the license agreement with the UK.

The administrator of ETS made a comment about its decision on the websites of both TOEFL and TOEIC. The main content of them are similar, but in TOEFL side, it is clearly described that this case of fraud was limited to TOEIC.

TOEFL: Update on TOEFL® Testing in the U.K.

TOEIC: Update on TOEIC® Testing in the U.K.

It is critical that the cases of cheating seem to be performed systematically, not by an individual. This kind of organized crimes has a potential to destroy the whole reliance to the security of an examination. It is possible that similar cases occurred in another place undetected.

By the way, I am so sympathetic to candidates who have an intention to stay in the UK. They have to take IELTS or other English tests for applying a visa. In fact, whoever can achieve a good score in TOEFL must be a good English user. But for most examinees, it is tough to change the strategy to get a high mark in another type of examination.

A conservative hero, Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Today, I watched "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", a newly Marvel Comics movie. Unfortunately, I could not find any cinemas nearby where the 3D version was provided, so I watched the 2D version.

It was a typical Hollywood movie. It contained amazing actions, brave stories, and attractive visions.

The hero, Captain America was working for Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. But he felt difficult to trust Fury, as he always concealed the core of operations he was engaged. One day, Fury told Captain about a plan S.H.I.E.L.D. was carrying out. It was a computer programmed watchdog. After arguing with Captain, Fury asked Alexander Pierce, a member of the World Security Council, for postponing the launch of the plan. Then, Fury was stabbed by troops, to nearly be dead. His last words to Captain was "Do not trust anyone".

In this film, a watchdog system using a satellite and heuristic analysis upon human behavior. Using it, the government can shoot anyone who has the possibility to become a terrorist. This is symbolic as mirroring of some military technologies. In this film, this watchdog was described as an inappropriate method to maintain the security.

Captain America was born before the WWII. He believes the absolute justice and liberty. Therefore, he cannot accept the way of Fury, since he does not hesitate to choose a dirty means to achieve the final fruit. Captain looks conservative, and it makes him heroic.

"Anyone but Avengers is all enemies" This is a copy promoting this film. The members of Hydra, an evil alliance was the villains. Hydra overcame the S.H.I.E.L.D. To be honest, I felt this plot was not realistic. Hydra was united by the ideology of Nazi Germany. It is nearly impossible that such an outdated thought has survived for several decades in the US. Perhaps, someone intended to utilize the organization for his own purpose, separate from original one.

By the way, Smartphones took some important roles in several scenes. But you know Smartphone is far from perfect. I wondered that there were no bugs in the applications they installed.

Personal Rating: 3 (fair)

Ara, destructive project of Google

Google unleashed a new project named "Ara". It may change the market of Smartphone.

The Wall Street Journal: Google Unveils Project Ara, a 'Modular' Smartphone

Engadget: Google's Project Ara wants to revolutionize the smartphone industry within a year

With this scheme, you can choose several modules such as CPU and camera, as well as several sensors to combine them into a Smartphone. It made me imagine PC DIY. A couple of decades ago, some geeks were fond of creating their own PC from each part they chose. This PC with which I am writing this entry is also a customized one. Recently this hobby is out of fashion, since it is more reasonable to buy a PC assembled by the company.

Google will resurrect this old fashioned custom. Custom made Smartphones have some advantage. First, there are a vast variety of designs. Many companies will release several parts, one after another, like iPhone covers. You can equip some vital sensors if you would like to do so. Second, parts are compatible. If you are satiated to your machine, you need not buy another one, simply change some parts.

In addition, Google has announced that it will cost only $50 to create a Smartphone which meet the minimum requirement. The setting of cost is so destructive that many companies providing cheap machines will starve. In contrast, Apple and some other companies which can produce exclusively beautiful ones may survive the battle.

Google committed that it would introduce the first product within a year. I am excited to know the news.


*Sequel

Cloud storage services (2)

Cloud storage services (1)

Amazon Cloud Drive
Amazon also offers cloud storage service. You can use 5GB for free. In addition, any documents, MP3 files, and movies you bought from Amazon are to be stored in this cloud. Of course, they are not calculated into your cloud storage.
I have utilized it for a few years with Kindle international version. Due to a Feed sending service I utilized, my Amazon Cloud Drive had already been fulfilled.

I tried Sugersync with iPad several years ago. It looked attractive, but it caused some troubles. Actually, I feel any online storages are a little unstable.

Next, I found Wuala. It seemed usual cloud storage service at a glance. But it is far different. It provides digital storage with P2P file sharing system, not from cloud servers. The file you uploaded will be stored on local drives of someone else. You can always access it because multiple copies are created on other users' drives automatically. This scheme is a little similar to Bitcoin. Unfortunately, it is possible that Wuala is not invulnerable. There are some reports that a certain file was found on another person's hard drive.

Finally, I decided to utilize Copy. This service with a simple name offers 15GB storage with free. As far as I tried it, it was a very comfortable service. It is easy to use. Transferring speed is good. Moreover, you can get additional 5GB for each person you invite to Copy.

To be honest, I made a mistake. I created a link to my OneDrive unintentionally in a folder on Copy. Then, Copy and OneDrive were copying each other and the storage was nearly fulfilled with junk files. As soon as noticed, I rapidly erased the troublesome link.

*Sequel
**Sequel

Cloud storage services (1)

Recently, My OneDrive caused several troubles as I predicted. A certain folder had changed inaccessible. In addition, some messages appeared describing issues about sign-in. I was so irritated that I decided to abandon OneDrive.

There are many companies providing cloud storage services. I am wondering what should I choose.

Google Drive
Google Drive is one of the most popular services of online storage. Google started to discount the fare for volume of storage, as I mentioned. You can use 10GB for free, and 1TB for $10 per month. It is a cool solution. However, it is a little fearful that Google comments that the license of the contents you uploaded through the services of Google is to be belonged to Google in its policy. Even if Google may never abuse this regulation, I should be careful to utilize Google services for secret products.

Dropbox
It is also a famous service as well as Google Drive. Dropbox is a company which offers cloud storage exclusively. One advantage of this service is good usability. You can manage it with ease. However, it offers only 2GB for free.

Yahoo Box
This service is provided by Yahoo! Japan. I am a premium member of Yahoo! Japan. So I can use 50GB of online storage in Yahoo Box. Of course it is reasonable, since I have to maintain a Yahoo! Premium account for continuing to use Yahoo! Mail. Firstly, I chose this one as the successor of OneDrive. Unfortunately, it was covered with lots of bugs. It froze again and again. Finally, I failed to upload my files. As I noticed there are many criticisms against this service.

(To be continued)

Is the reference from Wikipedia accepted in an academic article?

Nowadays, there are enormous information on the internet. We look into various websites on the internet whenever we need to know something important. In most cases, the answer to our question is found on the internet. The internet is so called a online textbook, and sometimes superior to authorized textbooks.

However, it is sometimes risky to trust the information on the internet. In some topics, online information is very inclined. In addition, there are lots of erroneous description on the internet, because it is easier to state a personal opinion without any authorization or inspection on the internet than to publish a paper article.

So, paper books and articles are more authorized than the online information, as a principle. In addition, it is difficult to correct some description in a book than on the internet. It makes us deliberative to publish a paper article.

Then, is it inappropriate to refer to the internet for writing a book? Of course not. We can utilize any information around us. Simply, we are responsible to guarantee the correctness of the information we referred to.

However, it is a little complicated in the region of academism. According to this article, academic articles in which some description in Wikipedia were referred are increasing recently.

British Medical Journal: References that anyone can edit: review of Wikipedia citations in peer reviewed health science literature

This is an academic paper reporting the frequency of citation from Wikipedia in the academic articles. The result is not surprising. Not only in some niche journals, but also in many articles published in famous journals utilized citations from online articles.

The authors warned that some description in Wikipedia can be rewritten occasionally. In such cases that the referred article were rewritten after the publication of the paper, readers of this paper who investigated the description in Wikipedia would be misled. It is far from the intention of the authors of the paper.

I agree with this opinion. However, it is not cool that we never utilize online information to avoid the risk of alteration. I believe that Information technology will solve this problem in the near future.

Troublesome elders

There is a word "Rogai" in Japanese. It is a slang to mean an old person who causes some troubles. Young people tend to use this word on the internet. In typical cases, they criticize their boss using this word.

Actually, elder people have many advantages, as well as disadvantage. Indeed, elders usually have much experience which helps young people to do the right thing. In addition, most of them are not so aggressive compared to young people. The reason may be that they have learned from their early life that it is no use to be aggressive excessively for pursuing the achievement. In general, they are tender and patient. Furthermore, they have constructed many good relationships, both in personal and for business. As a result, elder people have much more money than younger.

I think that young people tend to deem these factors as vicious ones. For example, older people often behave in accordance with their experience in the past. They attach greater importance to their memory of success than newly information. Such attitude looks too conservative for young people. The calm trait of older people is also annoying younger people in some occasion.  Rookies are willing to grab an immediate profit. They hardly wait for a chance. In their perspective, elder people look a little dull for them. Moreover, mutual relationship developed in aged people is so sturdy and complicated that young people have a difficulty to join in it.

Above all, younger people cannot understand the characters of older people as strengths.

On the other hand, there are a couple of traps elder people are sometimes caught.

Traditional companies in Japan offer lifetime employment for many employees. It is a solid and well made system to maintain human resource available for the company with low cost. In such a company, young employees cannot earn enough money met with their labor. During their ability and potential are higher than their salary, they will be promoted and get more salary. After their development becomes static, their salary will no more be raised, but neither be reduced. Therefore, some of the senior employees remain higher position than they deserve.

Moreover, the life expectancy has been enlarged than ever before. Many companies are struggling to offer some jobs for old employees. It is certain that younger people are robbed of job opportunities by older people.

I believe that each generation can be cooperative in the society. However, it is difficult, especially for young people, to understand the thought of other people who lived in a different age.

Article 9 of the constitution as a candidate of Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize committee seems to nominate Article 9 of the Japanese constitution as a candidate of the Nobel Prize.

Mainichi: War-renouncing Article 9 nominated as candidate for Nobel Peace Prize

The Japan Times: Article 9 nominated as candidate for Nobel Peace Prize

It results from a small exercise of an old Japanese Naomi Takasu, who thought that, Article 9 deserved to be given the Nobel Prize, as well as the European Union which has protected many countries from war. Article 9 states war-renounce forever. He collected 24,887 signatures of supporters to propose it as a candidate of the Nobel Prize. According to the association of "The Nobel Peace Prize for Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution," the Nobel Prize committee in Norway reported that it officially received the proposal.

As a Japanese, I am glad to hear this news. But the situation is a little complicated.

The ruling Democratic Party of Japan and Abe administration have a discipline to rewrite the constitution. The contents of the reform include Article 9. Some people are anxious that Japan would proceed to war. In addition, tension between China, South Korea, and Japan has been stronger than ever before. Although no one declares Japan should attack foreign countries, the danger of occurring wars is progressing.

The movement of citizens was begun in the atmosphere above.

As far as I know, there are few foreign media took up this news. The possibility that Article 9 will be given the Nobel Prize is extremely low. However, I feel that there is political intention in the Nobel Peace Prize, recently. Barack Obama was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. This award might restrict him against expanding the battlefield in Afghanistan.

Then, it is possible that, the more efforts Abe administration makes to rewrite Article 9, the more probable Article 9 will be chosen as the Nobel Prize. It is quite ironic.


*Sequel

What distinguishes successor from loser

Recently, Andy Bailey, chief executive of Petra Coach created a post card. A total of 16 things which distinguish successful people from unsuccessful people were printed on its surface. Dave Kerpen of Likeable Local, the receiver wrote it on his blog. It helped the postcard to be broadened,

Neatorama: 16 Differences Between Successful and Unsuccessful People

The contents of 16 things are described in this entry. The figures illustrated are also beautiful.

I agree with most of the things. Especially, whether you embrace change or not is decisive. Some people who succeeded in the past tend to dislike to change anything more. But it will bring a failure in the near future.

Difference between operating from a transfomational perspective and operating from a transactional perspective is complicated. I do not think that transactional perspective is always bad. However, a motivating system with reward and punishment is not sustainable for a long time. People who are accustomed to financial incentive tend to trick each other. Instead, alliance bonded with strong philosophies are invulnerable to temporal chaos.

Successors do not avoid continuous learning. Instead, unsuccessors are trapped in their own instinct and experiences in the past. It is a red signal for you that you talk about your own experiences.

The 16 things are not enough to be successful in your life. You should be sincere, industrious, tender, and pleasant. In addition, you need certain luck. There are little difference between winner and loser. Nonetheless, it is critical.

Nexus7 and Rakuten LTE SIM

Today, I installed a SIM card into Nexus7. Finally, I could utilize Nexus7 with wireless network. However, there were some traps to set it up. For someone's reference, I will write some tips about its procedure.


(1) Nexus7

Nexus7 is an Android tablet developed by Google. I bought one of 2013 versions.

First of all, you must be careful that there are two versions of Nexus7. You should buy a Nexus7 which equips a SIM card slot, not Wifi version, to utilize mobile network anywhere.

In addition, it would be recognized that some kind of Nexus7 are not applicable to LTE in Japan. The 2013 version is applicable to LTE.


(2) Rakuten SIM card

I got a SIM card provided by Rakuten, a famous internet company in Japan. Rakuten is also a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO). It offers several telecommunication, borrowing network from NTT Docomo, with low cost. The monthly fee is less than $10. Surprisingly, the speed is not so slow, 1.5MBPS of downloading data. There are several companies other than Rakuten, which provide similar services.

You must choose MicroSIM card, not NanoSIM one. NanoSIM is available to iPhone. Rakuten does not accept a request for changing the SIM card.


(3) Inserting SIM card

This process is quite simple. Be careful to treat the SIM card. If you touch the IC chip, it is probably broken with ease.


(4) Setting

This part is a little confusing.

First, you must connect your Nexus7 to a Wifi network. If did not so, you may fail.

Some articles in the internet direct that you should turn off the Wifi and wait a couple of minutes after the initial settings. But in my case this procedure was not working. I called the setting to choose the mobile network setting. Then, I inputted several data according the instructing paper sent from Rakuten, to create a new APN protocol. When you made a contract of "Entry plus plan," you should input the APN name as "f1.mobile.ne.jp", instead of "lte-mobile.jp" if your Nexus7 is not applicable to LTE.

After inputting the data, perhaps you cannot save the setting. It is a bug occasionally occurs. You should try it again.

Finally, you reboot the OS sometime. I hope it will work well.

*sequel

Meaning of entering a college

Recently, the rate of people who enter college is quite high in developed countries. Seventy-four percent of Americans and a half of Japanese enter a college, according to an official report by the Japanese government. The average rate of entering college is 62% in the OECD. Higher education has been dramatically spread.

Then, is it truly valuable for a person to study at college? There are very ironic data about it. The Economist showed that graduation from a college is not beneficial in terms of total income in many cases. According to this article, many graduates are struggling to get back their financial investment of entering a college in later life.

The Economist: Higher Education Is college worth it?

It is no doubt that it is not the only purpose for a college student to earn much money in the future. Nevertheless, this result is shocking.

I think that there are three goals of graduating from a college.

First, you cultivate some specialized knowledge and techniques for the future development at work. The most typical case is medical school. You have to graduate from medical school to become a physician. Some kinds of scientists also utilize their experience at a college directly for further research. MBA is another good example. They are so very lucky that they can apply what they have learned to their own job.

Second, even if you cannot utilize a certain knowledge you learned in college, you can acquire some basic skills necessary in a business, such as logical thinking, literacy, project management, and so on. For example, after gaining a bachelor of French literature, perhaps you can make a planning paper for a product, with a large amount of documents. It is a sense of culture.

The third advantage of graduating a college is signaling. If you are an examiner, which person do you adopt, a graduate from Harvard, or uneducated one? Although discriminating a person with educational level is no good, academic background shows some information about yourself. It is a little pity if this is the only meaning of graduating from college.

I think there is somewhat unbalancing. For some people, continuous studying is beneficial, but for others not. There should be many opportunities to choose your own academic history. We should avoid the both situations; that a person who hope to enter a college cannot do so, and that anyone enter a college regardless of their own talent.

SmartWatch

Recently, my wristwatch was broken. It is a wave clock which adjusts the time automatically with receiving the clock wave. It is powered by solar energy so that it does not need any maintenance of batteries. However, it does not work properly any more. It is regrettable since it is one of my favorites.

I was interested in SmartWatch, during seeking a successor of this wristwatch. SmartWatch is an archetype of gadgets which equip an OS to be utilized as a digital tool. Sony and Samsung have already released some types of Smartwatch. They adopted Android OS and a touch panel to their products. So you can use them like a tablet.

Sony SmartWatch is advertized as it can be connected to Xperia, a flagship Smartphone by Sony Mobile Communications. Samsung's Galaxy Gear series are also available to connect to Galaxy smartphones via bluetooth.

You shall be more excited to know Apple is also developing Smartwatch. There are lots of rumors about "iWatch." It may equip a curved display. Some analysts say this amazing device will be released during Q3 in 2014.

Know Your Mobile: Apple iWatch Release Date, Specs, Features & Design: When Will It Finally Arrive?

Samsung does not keep silent. It is also developing a new SmartWatch which includes wireless telecommunication.

Patently Apple: Samsung Reportedly Preparing New Standalone Smartwatch

To be honest, I bought a wristwatch-like gear several years ago. It equipped MP3 player, movie player, storage, and MP3 recorder. For the first time I was excited as it would be usable for multiple use. However, it contained a critical disadvantage: whenever the battery run out, the clock is reset.

And now, I am wondering whether SmartWatch is attractive. Actually, I do not feel some wearable devices so smart. First of all, I wear a glasses. So Google glass will be annoying for me. Some wearable devices equip health sensor such as pulse meter. But I need not this kind of function. Instead, I prefer lighter and long-acting devices.

Meaning of knowing process and clinical pathway

April is the beginning of fiscal year in Japan. In addition, most schools are also opened in April. Thus, we meet many new faces in this month every year.

I often tell them about the history regarding several rules and procedures in our organization, as well as the regulation itself. The reason is to let them understand more deeply for the work. These stories include some anecdotes, some of them are suggestive, and others are boring. More or less you would be able to imagine the process to establish today's figure from understanding its history.

For example, some PCs are not connected to the internet. I guess you would make a complaint for its inconvenience. However, if you knew that computer virus invaded the system the other day to destroy all personal information of customers, you would be able to accept the labor to distinguish the secure PCs from others to be connected to the internet.

Knowing the process is sometimes more important than knowing the rule itself. You know the words "Clinical Pathway." It is a clinical tool to provide standardized care in some medical situation. It looks like a flowchart and includes several description of the most typical treatment such as explanation, examination, medication, surgery, regulation of daily activity, and so on. Clinical pathways are created based on a comprehensive analysis of clinical case samples. It is tuned up so that approximately 70% of the patients are applicable to the clinical pathway. Even young doctors can know what to do for the patients using the clinical pathway. It is a remarkable advantage of creating clinical pathways.

However, it should not be forgettable that you can learn about patient care the most during the creation of clinical pathways. Through its process, you look into a large amount of medical case records. It would let you understand deeply about those cases. Instead, memorizing a clinical pathway automatically would let you know only how to deal with typical cases. And there are no cases completely typical.

Again, the process is more important than the conclusion in some occasions. I dare to tell the rookies about it, without being too conservative.

Predicting the future is difficult

Forecasting the future is a tough task. Especially in the region of information technology, the speed of growth is very rapid. Most people seem to struggle to catch up with modern trends. It is almost impossible to predict the situation in the future exactly.

Recently, CNN published an article regarding this theme, entitled "Five predictions for the web that were way off." It presented some authorities such as Bill Gates and Newsweek, to confirm that they also had failed to strike the prophecies.

CNN: 5 predictions for the Web that were WAY off

Besides them, there are many predictions which have never been realized. For instance, Steve Jobs said that American people would not read ebooks so much frequently. His words are proven to be false by the evidence that the majority of sales of Amazon bookstore is Kindle ebooks now. To begin with, is there anyone in 1990 who predicted the recovery of Apple?

By the way, I am very bad at future estimation. I did not believe You Tube would be popular, for I thought that creating personal movies was a difficult and annoying task.

Now, the growth of the internet is not declining. However, the world is more conservative than geeks imagine. The internet based nation has not been established. Facebook had a certain influence on the Spring of Arab, but proceeding to democracy is still sluggish. Some people dreamed that Bitcoin would be a completely liberal currency, although it remains a toy for professional speculators.

Frozen, accepting your love

Today, I watched a movie titled "Frozen." It is one of Disney animation films.

In Japan, Frozen has been broadcasted since very recently. It is a little strange that the 3D version was enjoyable only in a few cinemas. So I visited a TOHO Cinemas in Lalaport Tokyo Bay.

This is a landscape of Lalaport. It looks like a ship, isn't it?

The storyline is spun between the royal sisters. Elsa had a supernatural power make everything touched by her hand frozen. One day, she unintentionally hurt her little sister, Anna, due to abuse of her power. After that, her parents secluded her in the royal castle to hide her power and trained her for that she could control her own power. Elsa attempted to keep calm and feel nothing, and it resulted to shut Anna out.

At the coronation ceremony, Anna met a prince named Hans. She fell in love with Hans and got engaged with him immediately. After hearing the report from Anna, however, Elsa refused to bless the couple. She got angered, to change the whole the kingdom into a glacial region. Anna decided to chase disappeared Elsa to fetch her to save the kingdom.

A key word of this story is "true love." At the beginning of the story, an old troll says, "the Heart is hardly to change, different from the brain," followed by that the only thing to melt frozen heart is true love. These phrases are quite suggestive.

Anna had to seek true love for a certain reason. Whether Hans can provide it for her was one of the promising points. I do not reveal the climax for the readers who have not watch it yet. But it should make sense that, accepting the mercy of others beyond the fears to hurt the persons is also one expression of love.

The 3D scenes are amazing. The figures of heroines are very cute. In addition, several musical numbers decorate the film with impressive emotion. The main theme "Let it go" is symbolic that it expresses the ambivalent mind of Elsa waving between feeling free and refusing others.

Unfortunately, growth in the mentality of Elsa was not described enough, compared to Anna. It is a disadvantage of this work. Nonetheless, this is a splendid film.

Personal Rating: 4 (good)

Unequal society and mental disorders

Two months ago, an opinion article was published at the New York Times. The author insisted that people tend to be mentally ill in an unequal society. It caused broad discussion.

The New York Times: How Inequality Hollows Out the Soul

There are 393 comments described at the official site of the NYT. At a glance, comments against the original article are dominant. I am also opposed to this claim.

First, mental disorders should not be referred with regard to this point of view. They, at least a considerable part of mental illness, is understood as biological dysregulation. Although socioeconomic factors are important for the consideration of our happiness, it cannot be a direct cause of illnesses.

Second, the author referred to several data explaining the relationship between poverty and mental disorder. However, it is unclear whether the author chose these data with an appropriate way of selection. There are enormous similar studies all over the world. You can deduce any conclusion using an intentional combination of some particular facts. Readers are not able to check the validity of this article because the author did not clarify any sources of information.

Third, if these conditions above are solved, who can realize the complete equality? Is the absolute goal communism, or social capitalism? No one can answer this question. It is no doubt that excessive inequality causes lots of troubles towards the following generations. The author only declared this fact using another term.

After all, it is not sure that the modification of inequality can reduce the rate of mental disorders at all. In my impression, people are less likely to be mentally ill, but if once occurred, it would get more severe, in an equal society.

Drones of Facebook, Balloons of Google

Facebook has started to cover the whole world with its service. It is planning to launch flying droids to broaden the internet connection.

BBC: Facebook drones to offer low-cost net access

It is not a joke. Actually, Facebook bought a Somerset-based designer of solar-powered drones for $20 million.

The Guardian: Facebook buys UK maker of solar-powered drones to expand internet

Google also declared to utilize balloons for the same purpose as Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg insisted that drones were superior to balloons as the means of telecommunication.

ITProPortal: Facebook releases more details on drone project: Will monopolistic telcos ground Zuckerberg?

I wrote that Facebook would be an infrastructure itself in the past entry. Though it was rather a metaphor, it is going to be an internet service provider soon.

The reason why Apple won the battle of music store is not iPods, but iTunes. It established an environment in which users were completely satisfied. Amazon is also planning to let Kindle be a commodity so that everyone can buy ebooks without stress or hesitation. Google has developed Android and Google Play. Instead, Facebook has equipped only a Software as a Service. It is quite natural that it desires Facebook Phone or other solution.

There is another point of view. Both Google and Facebook are infiltrated to almost all developed countries. These are already red oceans. They intend to cultivate developing counties as a new market. However, there are two problems around this new business. First, the internet connection is so vulnerable in these regions. And second, they are not so wealthy that quick monetization is difficult.

Satellite internet can be a solution of these challenges. It will be cheaper to fly some drones than to create wired internet structure. In addition, offering a large amount of information via the internet with low cost will let the people living in developing countries richer. I think that their ambitious plans of Google and Facebook is rational.

By the way, which is better, drones or balloons? I am not sure. If they fall, balloons would cause less serious trouble.

BD of Madoka Magica Movie 3: Rebellion

Today I got a BD of Madoka Magica Movie 3: Rebellion.

It is the third cinematic animation movie of the Madoka Magica series. I wrote the impression about this extraordinary story in the past entry.

Madoka Magica itself is a famous animation in Japan, as I wrote here.

The Blue Ray Box is well constructed. It looks gorgeous, including a DVD version and a soundtrack CD.

To be honest, I consider this storyline should be enjoyed as only a dissidia. As I referred, it is decorated with a kind of narrative trick. It is too complicated to enjoy without deep thought. You will hardly understand the truth after you watch it once. Therefore, I do not recommend it unless you are a geek.

*sequel

I will be a trillionaire

Very recently, I received an email from India. I did not recognize the name of the sender. Suspecting it was a junk mail, I read it carefully.

Soon I was astonished to know the content. According to the sender, one of my distant relatives had deceased by the earthquake at Smatera. Surprisingly, he left a huge amount of the estate up to $1.5 trillion. But he had no family or close relationships in his life. The sender, who named a foreign accountant director, was seeking any descendants of him. At last he found me as one of the legitimate successors.

He proposed sharing the fortune divided by fifty-fifty. I think it is a little arrogant. Of course I will give him adequate reward, but he is merely an intermediary, isn't he?

So, I will be a billionaire, no it is not exact, but trillionaire! At first I will have to pay the inheritance tax whose amount I can hardly imagine. I will recruit a lawyer, an accountant, and also maids. What an odd and fantastic life!

*sequel