Blackout

One day, in the evening, my family was in the living room and chatting about something not important, such as dinner or TV programs on that night, when it started to thunder all of a sudden. Before long, we found all of the household appliances stop working.

I have never had blackout for more than a decade, thankfully due to durable infrastructure Japan provides us with. Seeing my kids enjoying the blackout, I thought that everything will be resuming soon, but my expectation did not come true.

After sunset, my residential area was covered with complete darkness.

One hour later, electronic experts came here and climbed a pole close to my house. Although I did not figure out what was being done on the electric pole, it took me by surprise that electrical power came back to our town a few hours after their arrival.

What a relief! It seems like that the recovery was not a blessing for my little kid because he made believe he was exploring a cave in an unmanned island. Maybe, it was the case with me, since the sky during the blackout had the most beautiful stars that I have ever seen.

P.S.
Next day, my wife noticed that the electronic shutter of the garage did not work. I tried to fix it, without success. A mechanic told me that it would cost about $1,000 to have it repair. Oh my goodness. However, he continued, saying that the same trouble developed around here, findings suggestive of the association with the thunder, and the unexpected expenditure would be guaranteed by insurance. The negotiation is still under way, but I am really positive about this accident. We have to be thankful to the electric pole struck by the thunder, instead of us; Nobody was injured and nobody was killed. Money cannot buy anyone of our family.

Elon Musk's first work?

Are you a big fan of computer games?
If so, have you ever heard of a game called Blastar?

I am reading a biography of Elon Musk, a well-known inventor and innovator. According the book that I am really into right now, he got his first computer at the age of 9 years and started learning programming using BASIC ― one of the computer languages to write codes.

BASIC was the easiest language to master at that time, and I also learned it when I was a middle school student. What was wonderful is the age that he studied it ― just 9 years old!

He created a video game, Blastar, as shown in the left panel at the age of 12. It is reported that, when he was asked the game, he said, "a trivial game, but better than Floppy Bird."

Surprisingly, the game Blastar is still available in modern age. If you want to try it, click here. It does not matter which is better, Blastar or Floppy Bird, since the backgrounds are completely different. The former was in 1984 and the latter was around 2014 or 30 years after Musk's first work.

Reportedly, Elon Musk sold the game to a computer magazine for $500 (equivalent to $1,200 nowadays). That means that he has been a good business person since he was very young.

High school baseball

My little son, my wife, and I went to a baseball stadium called Koshien to watch a game of the Japanese high school baseball championship in summer.

It was a fine weather without any cloud in the sky, as you can see (some clouds can be shown though). To be honest, it was too hot to watch a baseball game outdoors. My skin got red and hurt after the game, but I was satisfied because my elder son's high school won the game. The victory, however, did not surprise us because his school is considered one of the teams that would come in first place in the competition.

This is my first visit to the Koshien stadium for the first time in three or four years. I do not think that I am a big fan of high school baseball, which is very popular in Japan and some are crazy about it, like my Dad, but I have plans to get there again in order to root for the team.

Now, the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic games are also going on, and proudly, Japanese athletes have achieved great results including 6 gold medals, 1 silver medal, and 10 bronze medals so far. How fantastic they are. They have been pouring energy into everything and everyplace in Japan.

Not to mention that I have been so excited about sports this summer.

Shimanto River

My family of five had a 3-day trip to Shikoku Island by car. It was a lot of fun.

One thing that interested me was Shimanto river, which is considered one of the purest river in Japan. The river is close to nature, less controlled by humans, and rich in traditional Japanese scenery. I was actually moved by the landscape surrounding Shimanto river.

Over the river, there were some unique bridges that had no side walls on he bridge. No wonder that lack of side walls put passengers and cars crossing the bridge at risk for falling into the water. It seems, however, that the structure is useful for the bridge to protect itself from breaking down when a massive flood occurs.

I have heard that a bridge like that is called "Chinka bashi", meaning "able to get under the water for safety in the situation of increasing in river water." I am not 100% sure if this theory works on practice, but there is no doubt that crossing this bridge by car makes the driver feel uneasy.

Take a look at the left lower panel, where we are going over the bridge with our car. I could see anything but the surface of the river through the side windows of the car, because the bridge had no protect side wall. What was worse was the width of the bridge, which was almost as wide as that of a family car. This can explain the reason why the trial scared me (I am not a coward), although my three kids were excited.

I guess that we should not have crossed the river by car because a car itself would not be suitable to such a beautiful nature.

Money box

My summer vacation this year has just started.

While I was having toast and coffee in the living room, my youngest sun wake up and came to me, saying, "Dad, do me a favor and help me create this." What he showed me was Piggy bank on the book. Strictly speaking, it a coin bank with a miraculous trick.

Take a look at the left picture. This is a saving box that my son and I  made this morning. It was not a tough job and totally took about an hour.

One thing that is really interesting to me is a ball of Pokemon in the white box. It looks like as if the ball is floating in the air, doesn't it?

This trick box is consisted of a hemisphere attached on a mirror and a cardboard cube with a window in the front side. The combination may be simple but the effect is beyond my imagination when the mirror is obliquely placed.

Another thing that surprised me was his ability to create something. Over years, I have helped my son with his craft homework during his summer vacation, however I have never felt his powerfulness regarding doing it yourself than ever before.

No wonder that my little son is evolving. Next year, I might not be needed anymore.