US ambassador injured in South Korea

Mark Lippert, the US ambassador to South Korea was slashed with a razor by an activist on March 5th. He was to give a lecture in Seoul. It was fortunate that the injury was not fatal. He was admitted to a hospital. Park Geun-hye, the Korean president, visited the hospital on 9th.

The Guardian: US ambassador to South Korea slashed with a razor by political extremist

The perpetrator who was arrested just after the incident was Kim Ki-Jong. He is a left-winged activist. He condemned the ambassador about the attitude against Japan and North Korea during the assault. According to his insist, joint military exercise of the US and South Korea has made it difficult for South Korea to be united with North Korea.

It seems that there is a backbone of this incident. Wendy R. Sherman, Under Secretary for Political Affairs in the US mentioned on February  28th that it was no good to agitate nationalism in her speech. Her intention was deemed to control the Korean policy being blaming Japan for the war crimes. Some Korean citizens are likely to have got angered by her comment.

US Department of State: Remarks on Northeast Asia

Actually, Kim has a similar crime history. He threw a piece of concrete at the Japanese ambassador in July 2010, resulting in an injury to an officer. He received a suspended prison sentence. At the time of this case, public opinion was supportive to the perpetrator, because Japanese were not liked by Korean, according to some journalists.

However, the present case is quite serious. This incident is potentially harmful to the relationship between the US and Korea. The Korean government may be eager to reduce the negative impact of this case.

Of course, it is unlikely that the US will become hostile to Korea immediately because of this incident. But, Korea will face a tough situation in diplomacy for a while. Recently, Korea has been struggling to keep close to both the US and China. But the US seems to want Korea not to be so much friendly with China. It will become difficult for Korea to decline the political requests of the US.

In Japan, a similar case happened in 1964. A mental disordered offender attacked Edwin O. Reischauer, the US ambassador to Japan. He took serious injury, but saved his life in hospital. Reischauer was very supportive to Japan, and there is no evidence that this incident had a negative impact on the relationship of both nations. By the way, he was infected with a hepatitis virus due to the transported blood of Japanese. These cases revealed two big problem in Japanese public health, mental hygiene and blood administration.

Different from the case of Reischauer, the perpetrator has a definite political intention. It makes the situation more complicated.

It seems to be challenging to fix this situation. I hope both Korean and the US government to keep calm and maintain a good relationship.

*Sequel
**Sequel

Does smartphone make change on medical care?

Nowadays, we all possess a smartphone. It looks like natural at a glance. But actually, it is extraordinary, considering the fact a modern smartphone matches a supercomputer made in a couple decade ago in the function.

There are several ways to utilize these tiny, but talented gadgets. It is regrettable that the most successful applications in the smartphone market is gaming. On the other hand, recently, some medical solutions using smartphones attract public attention.

D free is a unique architecture enabling to prospect the timing you should go to bathroom. There is an attachment to stick on your stomach. It senses your bowel movement and estimate when your faces will go out. It sends a message to the smartphone 10 minutes before the time.

I am doubtful if this gadget will work precisely. Nonetheless, it will be innovative, in particular in the scene of caring. There are many aged people with dementia. Cleaning after the excretion is a serious burden for caregivers. It has a potential to overcome this annoying problem.

Peek Retina is an adapter for eye examination. You can take detailed photos of your eye with this gadget. Opticians diagnose your eye condition with these photos even if you cannot visit a hospital.

Diabetes is one of the diseases causing blindness. The reason why diabetic patients lose their sight is abnormal angiogenesis in the retina. For this reason, they require regular observation of the retina. This invention may alleviates the cost of examination.

There are many other products potentially beneficial to the health. In the future, you will be able to consult Siri for your health problem.

However, developing a medical equipment is still challenging. Professional tools should meet a high standard to be authorized. Otherwise, they would shorten your life. Apple has abandoned introducing some medical equipment to the first model of Apple Watch. I think that this decision is deliberative. Repeated trial and error are needed for the establishment of exactly working machines. It will take several years before you rely on your smartphone about your health.

The possibility of Academic Review Coin

As I wrote yesterday, Bitcoin and its architecture have a great potential. Everyone will issue their own stock, visualizing their reputation and trust.

My past entry: Bitcoin and reputation economy in the future

There are many possibilities of utilizing crypt currency. For example, I am considering to adopt this scheme to the administration of an academic journal.

To explain my idea, you have to know how academic journals are issued. Once a manuscript was submitted to a journal, the editors of this journal investigate the quality of the study. Next, the editors ask for a review of the manuscript to some other researchers than involved in this study. The reviewers look through the manuscript to examine the validity of the study. Referring the opinion of the reviewers, the editors make a decision whether the manuscript is accepted or rejected. In most cases, considerable amendment is requested to the authors before publication, following the recommendation of the reviewers. Thus, the reviewers have a role to ensure the appropriateness of the final article.

For this reason, reviewers have a great responsibility. In addition, examine a paper is time-consuming. However, reviewers receive no rewards. For the review process keeps anonymity, reviewers never declare that they have reviewed a certain article. It means that reviewers cannot take an honor for reviewing some valuable articles. The review is absolutely voluntary task.

I have engaged in reviewing several articles. Although it is exciting to examine a manuscript written by another researcher, reviewing is a tough task. Indeed, editors are always struggling to maintain excellent reviewers.

Digital currency potentially has a power to overcome this challenge.

Imagine it, the publisher of an academic journal issues a unique digital currency, named Journal Coin (JC). And the JC is delivered to reviewers for a reward of reviewing the manuscript. Then, if the article they reviewed in the past is cited to other articles, the reviewers gain more JC. Being cited is usually a proof that the article is valuable. On the contrary, if it was revealed that the article was a product of plagiarism, the reviewers are penalized by being got rid of the JC, if they still keep the involved JC. The scheme of crypt currency keeps all transaction in its log, and anyone can see the amount of JC in each account. It represents the reputation of each researcher.

When this journal become famous, the JC will construct a market. The publisher can sell the JC for real money to raise the budget for the management of the journal publishing.

This is merely my inspiration. But I believe that someone is planning to construct a similar system for functional publishing of academic journals.

Bitcoin and reputation economy in the future

The price of Bitcoin is rising recently. Some people indicated the influence of hyperinflation in Ukraine.

(This chart was generated via Kraken.)

CoinTelegraph: Ukraine’s 272% Hyperinflation Rate Boosts Bitcoin’s Prospects in Eastern Europe

Bitcoin is a crypt currency which has no central administrator. It was introduced several years ago. Nowadays, there are many exchanges all over the world. Its price is still volatile. Some months ago, it fell down by 50% from $400 to $200 per 1BTC, following the cracking case of BitStamp, a major exchange.

USA Today: BitStamp'sbitcoin "breach" results in loss of $5.4M

Notwithstanding the frequent scandals about it, Bitcoin is a revolutionary technology. It has no particular organization. It means that no one can damage the value of Bitcoin with a certain policy. Therefore, it becomes trustworthy at the financial crisis in a country. On the other hand, nobody can ensure the value of Bitcoin on their own. Such a contradictory character is one of the reasons Bitcoin is difficult to be understood.

My past entry: Bitcoin

My past entry:Bitcoin is recognised, but notaccepted in the UK

My past entry: Bitcoin in chaos

The scheme of Bitcoin is not limited to digital currency. You can create your own currency with the architecture of Bitcoin, at least theoretically. Indeed, there are some internet services of issuing digital currency. GetGems, a new company developed a messenger application, issued a digital currency "Gems," as a token used in the application. You can transfer Gems to another person via the application. GetGems sold some amount of Gems in advance it released the application to gain a budget to develop the product. It this application becomes popular, the price of Gems will be raised.

Thus, anyone will be able to have their own currency. I heard that a blogger issued his token to deliver it to readers. The more his blog becomes popular, the more his token become valuable. As you know, this token is quite similar to the stockpile.

In the near future, everyone will issue their own stockpile. It means that the reputation of each person become visible. Stockpile is a symbol of trust and reputation. So is the money.

Toshio Okada, a Japanese commentator, prospected an era of "reputation economy." In his words, people in this era will exchange their reputation for something, instead of currency. For example, you cannot buy 100,000 active followers in Twitter for $100,000. In contrast, you will earn $100,000 with ease if you have 100,000 active followers. Thus, reputation will be more powerful than money, according to Okada.

Okada's opinion is noteworthy. Indeed, in ancient China, people needed good reputation to get a higher status. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook also aims at the visualization of personality of each person. However, reputation itself is hardly to be measured. It is a disadvantage compared to the money.

My past entry:Facebook makes you unhappy? A controversial research

Digital currency will overcome this problem. Bitcoin and relevant technology will open the door to the era of the reputation economy.

Doubtful policy of harsh punishment to juveniles

In Japan, a discussion regarding the amendment of the Juveniles Act was ignited following the occurrence of a murder case. A 18-year-old boy is suspected to have killed a junior high school boy and attempted to behead him.

To be honest, I am indifferent to this case itself. As I repeatedly say, the media reports are very often  biased, even far from the facts sometimes. So, I hesitate to make any comments referring to the crime report in general. I dare not to watch the news about this case.

Whenever an extraordinary crime case occurs, some self-styled specialists say something on the TV. Then, some politicians begin to insist the necessity of the amendment of the penal act or relevant legislation. Their proposals are often realized. However, nobody could have proven the efficacy of these policy changes.

The Juvenile Act has been amended some times in these some decades. Most of them aimed to punish the delinquents more harshly. As a result, are juvenile crimes reduced? It is difficult to answer this question, because juvenile crimes have been decreasing for a couple of decades, notwithstanding the public perceptions that recent juveniles have become violent.

This graph is made from the data published by the government. See White Paper on Crime.

Ministry of Justice: White Paper on Crime (in English)

Some people also say the quality of the juvenile crimes has become cruel. I cannot agree with this opinion. Before the WWII, there were many reports of juvenile crimes, some of which are far from our imagination.

Amazon.co.jp: Senzen no shonen hanzai [Juvenile Crime before the WWII] (in Japanese)

Strengthening the punishment is not a trend limited to juveniles. Recently, the government amended the relevant laws to punish more seriously the persons with some diseases potentially damaging their concentration who caused a traffic accident. It was just after a serious case occurred by a track driver with epilepsy. The offender of this case skipped to anti-epileptic medication against the medical advice, and had past history of accidents. Actually, this guy may deserve to be blamed. However, if he had abandoned driving the track, he would have lost his job. I am doubtful if there were some compensations offered to him when recommended to stop driving.

Furthermore, it is ridiculous to make a drastic change responding only a few extraordinary cases. Most of the juveniles, patients, and citizens are benign. There are many examples that a shocking case influenced the society through an emotional argument. Most of such changes were not desirable, based on the ex post facto consideration.

To be honest, I had been supportive of the harsh punishment policy until some years ago. But now, I think there are little evidence harsh punishment ensure us the safe society. Japanese are traditionally polite and adherent to any regulation. Such cultural background has prevented us from an increase of crimes. On the other hand, we have not been concerned to organize our society spontaneously. Neutral and scientific point of view is required to address this matter.

My best computer games (4) Heroes of Might and Magic 3

My best computer games (1) OBLIVION
My best computer games (2) Baldur's Gate
My best computer games (3) Master of Magic

Heroes of Might and Magic (HoMM) series are turn-based strategy games. They originated from Might and Magic (M&M) series, a popular fantasy role-playing games. The original developer of M&M was bankrupted, so UBI Soft has succeeded its brand. HoMM7 will be released soon. I have tried all of HoMM series, and I think HoMM3 is the best.

Heroes of Might and Magic III wiki

In HoMM3, you command several heroes to conquer any opponents. Heroes can arrange a troop composed of several creatures. Each creature has various abilities, such as fire breath, energy drain, flying, and so on.

There is a total of nine factions in this game. It has been determined which creatures belongs to each faction. For example, you can recruit Spearmen, Archers, and Angels in "Castle." In "Dungeon", Medusae and Red Dragons are available. There is an argument which is the strongest faction. I think "Dungeon" and "Elemental Conflux" are the most powerful.

Some heroes can learn magic spells. Spells are divided into four schools; Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. Heroes with a specialization skill can enhance the corresponding spells. Actually, earth school is much stronger than other schools, because "Resurrection" and "Town Portal" become extremely useful with Earth magic specializing skill.

HoMM3 can be played by multi-players. Unfortunately, I have not played this game with any human opponents. In a local rule, "Town Portal" spell is banned because of its excessive power. Single playing is also enough to enjoy for many hours.

HoMM3 is still available via GOG.com. The two expansion sets, "Shadow of Death" and "Almagedonn's Blade" are included. Recently, a high definition graphic version of HoMM3 was developed. This new version is sold in Steam. In addition, some voluntary players have developed unofficial modification software.

Heroes of Might and Magic 3 HD edition

HoMM3 is a little similar to Master of Magic, but more simple and easy to play.

Too dirty to be a psychiatric hospital

In Ireland, a representative psychiatric hospital in Dublin was deemed not to be appropriate, by the authority.

The Mental Health Commission carried out this inspection in August 2014, concluded that this facility built in 19th century was outdated. The Health Service Executive (HSE) is considering to replace this facility soon.

The Irish Times: Central Mental Health hospital ‘unsuitable’ as mental health facility - report

According to the report, there were some suggestions regarding the appearance and equipment of the facility. For example, the bedrooms looked like cells and some corridors were too narrow. In spite of the effort of the cleaning staffs, some rooms were dusty.

The contents of the report seem rational. And it is unavoidable for such an old building to become outdated some day. Also in Japan, psychiatric hospitals built in the 20th century are dirty and dysfunctional somewhat. Some traditional hospitals were made from wood, and equipped only bedrooms shared by many inpatients. In addition, some hospitals cannot meet the safety standard to survive an earthquake. Rebuilding or reforming is required in many facilities within some decades.

In European countries, there are some hospitals reconstructed from a castle or a prison. They are quite invulnerable, but far from comfortable to stay. On the other hand, nowadays, environmental issues for inpatients are much concerned than before. It is not easy to utilize those buildings for a long time continuously meeting the need of the residents.

By the way, this report also mentioned the CCTV setting. The fact that CCTV cameras are in operation should be notified, according to the report. In Japan, most psychiatric hospitals adopt CCTV cameras to observe the status of the patients in a seclusion room. But it is uncertain the patients are notified about it. Some psychotic patients are suffering from the delusion of observation. Definite explanation to the patients regarding utilizing the CCTV is needed, not only to respect their human right, but also to relieve them from unnecessary suspicion.