A few days ago, we were surprised at news about a meteor hitting in Russia. This meteor seems to be 17 meter and 10,000 tons in the air which was not found in advance. This had nothing to do with a asteroid which was found by NASA and was supposed to approach to the earth closer than orbits of communication satellites in the following day.
Although some people might come up with a question about a lot of videos which captured the meteor, I also came up with a question of why so many people could captured the meteor clearly and why a lot of them were from dashboard on a car.
According to news which I put its link below, there is one reason why so many people put own video camera on own car dashboard. It seems to has something to do with situation of driving a car in Russia. Peoples do that to protect themselves from bad drivers, corrupted police men. Hit and run seems to be very common, and police men demand you money to make you pull over your car without any violation. Additionally, insurance companies do not pay you money easily without any definite proof. Therefor, a video on dashboard is only a way of protecting you as a definite proof in Russia.
Reference
News
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
Asteroid at Russia. Is it coincident ?
When I came back home today, my wife showed me video a meteor in Russia which looked like big and broke windows by sonic boom with huge sound. I'm not sure if this i coincident, but I just read a article about a asteroid called 2012 DA14 which is approaching to the earth and it will get closer than communication satellites.
According to the article linked below, a chance of hit seems to be very low, but when I heard of this news in Russia, it reminds me of the 2012 DA14.
Are these independent or correlated ?
2012 DA14
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/outthere/2013/02/14/the-most-important-thing-you-need-to-know-about-the-215-asteroid-flyby/#.UR4AmKVFAzY
Sunday, February 10, 2013
MSG : Monosodium Glutamate
Have you cared about Monosodium Glutamate, MSG ?
I often go for lunch at Japanese restaurants with my colleagues. One of reason is that I am Japanese so I want to eat Japanese food because I grew up in Japan and I'm still used to it. Second reason is that I want to expand Japanese food culture and want them to try it as much as possible.
These days, some people says that they hesitate to go to Japanese restaurant so much due to MSG when I say that I want to go for lunch there. According to them, if they eat Japanese food much, they fell their tongue going numb. At first I did not know what MSG means, but I figured out what it is later by checking it on line. MSG stands for Monosodium Glutamate which is, what it is called, flavor enhancer for umani. It seems that it was paid attention to and became famous in bad meaning a few decades ago. What happend at that time is that many people complained that they suffered from headache, numbness, thirst and several symptoms after eating Chinese food, which is called Chinese restaurant syndrome. Chinese restaurants used to use much MSG, although Japanese restaurant use it much as well, so MSG was suspected to be a main cause of symptoms. At the time, many researches were done to prove that there is connection between MSG and the syndrome, but it was not proven scientifically. When I check the Wikipedia about MSG, I recalled something similar story. A few decades ago, peoples in Japan complained almost same symptoms after taking some essence which is called like "essence of umami" and is used for many Japanese food to make it tast better. It is also containing MSG most in terms of ingredients. It was before I was born, so I did not know it, but my mother-in-law told me so and she said that it's impossible not to take it as long as she lives in Japan but she tries to avoid it as much as possible. I also recalled another thing which happened to me, I often make home made ramen noodle at home. I once made Menma which is basically bamboo shoot boiled with many essences. At the time, I remember that I put much chicken flavor essence which contains much MSG. After eating home made ramen including it, I and my wife surprisingly felt our tongue going numb. I did not know what caused it, but now I understand.
Wait a second !
How does it affect on our body ? How harmful is it on our body ? Does it reduce our life time ? Are we going to suffer from disease if we usually take it ?
We do not know accurately how MSG affects our body. However, if you look at Japanese food, many food surly contain MSG. But life expectancy is so long up to mid 80s. From this fact, it seems like it does not affect on life expectancy in Japan. Life expectancy largely depends on your eating habit so something might compensate it...
I often go for lunch at Japanese restaurants with my colleagues. One of reason is that I am Japanese so I want to eat Japanese food because I grew up in Japan and I'm still used to it. Second reason is that I want to expand Japanese food culture and want them to try it as much as possible.
These days, some people says that they hesitate to go to Japanese restaurant so much due to MSG when I say that I want to go for lunch there. According to them, if they eat Japanese food much, they fell their tongue going numb. At first I did not know what MSG means, but I figured out what it is later by checking it on line. MSG stands for Monosodium Glutamate which is, what it is called, flavor enhancer for umani. It seems that it was paid attention to and became famous in bad meaning a few decades ago. What happend at that time is that many people complained that they suffered from headache, numbness, thirst and several symptoms after eating Chinese food, which is called Chinese restaurant syndrome. Chinese restaurants used to use much MSG, although Japanese restaurant use it much as well, so MSG was suspected to be a main cause of symptoms. At the time, many researches were done to prove that there is connection between MSG and the syndrome, but it was not proven scientifically. When I check the Wikipedia about MSG, I recalled something similar story. A few decades ago, peoples in Japan complained almost same symptoms after taking some essence which is called like "essence of umami" and is used for many Japanese food to make it tast better. It is also containing MSG most in terms of ingredients. It was before I was born, so I did not know it, but my mother-in-law told me so and she said that it's impossible not to take it as long as she lives in Japan but she tries to avoid it as much as possible. I also recalled another thing which happened to me, I often make home made ramen noodle at home. I once made Menma which is basically bamboo shoot boiled with many essences. At the time, I remember that I put much chicken flavor essence which contains much MSG. After eating home made ramen including it, I and my wife surprisingly felt our tongue going numb. I did not know what caused it, but now I understand.
Wait a second !
How does it affect on our body ? How harmful is it on our body ? Does it reduce our life time ? Are we going to suffer from disease if we usually take it ?
We do not know accurately how MSG affects our body. However, if you look at Japanese food, many food surly contain MSG. But life expectancy is so long up to mid 80s. From this fact, it seems like it does not affect on life expectancy in Japan. Life expectancy largely depends on your eating habit so something might compensate it...
Friday, February 1, 2013
Smog check of my mini cooper : Warnigs came out after the check
Today I will tell you a story which I was surprised at when I did smog check. After the check, I got a few warnings on the front panel !
I will sell my car, so I checked rules of how to sell a car in California, then I noticed that I need to have a smog check certification and give it to a buyer. According to DMV, it seems that a car which is less than 4 years old does not need it but otherwise a seller have to prepared it. My mini is 5 years old, so I need it. I did not come up with where to go, but I recalled that the gas station at which I usually go to get gas is showing the sign saying that they can do smog check of up to middle class size. This place is close to my apartment, so I went there without making reservation. Fortunately, it was very good timing, a mechanic could start to do it soon, then he put a cable jack inside my car which is below the handle. He seemed to check some electrical check. After that he put some sensor which is head part of a cable into a muffler. He seemed to check how much toxic gas my car is emitting while accelerating a car which two front tires were on roller of a machine, called dynamometer. It took 15 minutes totally from the begging to the end. My car passed the check. After I paid money, around $40, I got a certification finally. When I turned on my car, I noticed that a few warnings came out at the front pannel. Generally, a mini cooper checks its status every time a engine is turned on, and if there is something wrong, then it tells you as a warning mark at a front panel. At that time, I got ABS warning, a engine warning, and another one which I forgot... I told the mechanic that something was wrong, but he said that it was ok and they would disappear sonn when I start to drive for a while. As he said, warnings except the engine warning disappeared soon, but the engine warning did not. I was going for my office and fortunately there is the mini cooper dealer at which I always go to have my car fixed, so I stopped by the dealer to ask the warning. I did not make a reservation, but peoples there were kind and took a look at my car. When I told that I just took the smog check, then I was told immediately that this kind of situation often happens for mini. A smog check is usually done while its tires are on roller of a machine. Its situation is unusual in terms of driving, so a mini cooper is confused with it so it tells warnings. So even a engine warning disappears, but it sometimes takes a few days. As I was told, the warning disappear in a few mile drive later.
What I want to say here is that if you consider to take a smog check of your mini, a few warning will come out, but don't be surprised and don't worry, they will disappear in a few mile drive.
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