Anonymized children

 Those children killed in Gaza and the West Bank are anomymized. They existed only as a number. UN commission has announced as below.

  https://www.instagram.com/reels/DaFtBswHZ6O/

This reminded me of Ivan telling Alyosha in The Brothers Karamazov that he would say no thanks to God for his savior so far as innocent children are shedding tears.

It is an absolute absurdity.  

A rainy season day

It won't stop raining. Drizzly rain. A typical rainy season day. The rainy season front is being stimulated by a typhoon passing by our area. So it will be a day off for me from working in the garden farm. 

This is the battle field for me to do with weeds. They are so vigorously growing that it is often tough for me to catch up with. Battling only with hands and a small sickle. No herbicide has been used. Without pulling/cutting them, they would grow like jungle in a few days.

Piled up weeds which were pulled/cut. Added rice bran on them, they will become good compost in a few months. Almost free and natural fertilizer.  

Turnip seeds left unused last season were sown on a corner. They were successfully sprouted. Lovely. 

As I have seriously expected poor harvest in our country or even world wide in the near uture, the food self sufficiency rate being only 38% in our country or even down to 10% if considering of the seeds and fertilizers dependent on the other countries, it has been a routine for me to plant sweet potatoes which could be substituted to rice. It is a serious question why the government would do nothing for the possible food crisis. They are concerned about only military expansion but not food security. Sweet potatoes are growing well without any fertilizer etc if the soil is kept dry. 

Tomatoes. It's a fight against bugs which eat them. No pesticides. If the situation is disadvantageous against the bugs, should I protect them wrapping with nets? 

Egg plants. Already harvested a few. Whenever picking them, I remember of a good old friend, Fred, K5FA, who used to plant a lot of them and told me they were ripened in our QSOs. He is already gone away.

Flowers of carrots. Beautiful. I will collect the seeds from them and plant them in fall. 

Another flower, almost wild at our garden. Marie gold. It is beneficial to prevent growth of a kind bacillus.

Rose. It is not my territory but my wifes. I am only cutting the weeds around it and pile them there.

 So many trivial photos. They may show you how I am getting along despite of the neuralgia on legs. The pain is well controlled with a med named Pregabalin. So far, only conservative treatment is good enough for me.

Again, whenever I sit on the weedy garden and pull them, I often ask myself how long I could do this work. The answer is always evident. So far as I could. As told before, I convince myself I am blessed to care for the property which has been cared for by my maternal ancestors. In a long term view, it might return to nature, which we could not worry or care for. 

So I am looking forward to coming back on the gound with a sickle soon.

The piano quartet played at the G7 summit party

Yo Yo Ma et al, renowned players, have played a piano quartet as the news says as below.

~~~

Classic FM

Classical stars perform for world leaders at the G7 summit in Evian, France. 

An international quartet comprising of American cellist Yo-Yo Ma, British violist Timothy Ridout, French violinist Renaud Capuçon, and Italian pianist Beatrice Rana took to the stage last night to perform the finale of Brahms’ Piano Quartet No.1.

They were introduced by French president Emmanuel Macron, to an audience that also included Keir Starmer, Donald Trump, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

 Alexandra Lebon
~~~
This piece is a sophisticated chamber music by Brahms composed in his young days. Conflicts in mind while yearning for something. It's hard to believe a young Brahms has composed such a serious work in his youth. 
It begins with the dialogue between cello and viola following the theme presented by piano. It seems to express inner conlicts and to govern the entire 1st movement. The 2nd theme given by cello sounds full of longing characteristic for youth. In my view, both themes won't be resolved and drive and develop the music.
The following movements are also dominated by the same mood. It is amazing young Brahms has put such conflicts and tension into this quartet. The last movement is pictured with bohemian melody, tranquil and sweet. It soon turns to be the vivid cadenza in forte and accelerando.  
It is amazing such a piece was chosen for rendition at the summit party. I suspect "the pretending boss" might have fallen asleep hearing the elegiac melody in bohemian style while startling awake at the end.  
The actual performance at the summit is not available. In stead, here is another excellent perormance;

Tomorrow will worry about itself

When I was young preparing for the entrance exam to a med school, I was attending to a bible class. I got an acquaintance with an elementary school teacher there. We were talking on the way from the class place to the station nearby after the class was over. I Pne time, she confessed to me that she had had a few patients with schizophernia at her family, her mother and a younger brother. Her family seemed to be heavily inherited with that psychiatric illness. Even though I have read a few books on psychiatry those days, like Minkovsky or Jaspers, particularly interested in that field of medicine, I have known little about the reality to be a family member of that illness. It took me years to understand what it had meant. When she told me about that, she never stopped introvertdly keeping smile on her face. In the end of that conversation, she mentioned about the Gospel in Matthew and told me she had been living in the way this sacred words indicated.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.

Having lived half a century after that episode, this words still stay in my mind. More and more becoming a relief in the daily life. Even surrounded with serious issues, private or social, this could be a real consolation to me. In that situation, I always recall of the conversation with her on the way to the railway station. If she is doing well, she must be over eighty years of age. How has she lived the past half a century? 

Tomorrow will worry about itself. It is a real relief and tells us, not abondoning the reality, we should live the day as if the last day on earth, I believe.

Online abuse in politics

PM Takaichi has run not only the campaign of the LPDJ president last fall shown below but also the House of Representatives election in this February. With online abuse, she and LDPJ have made big wins in both elections.

LPDJ seems to have been contaminated with online abuse for past some time. It is highly suspected to have ordered a company to spread defamatory information against the opposite parties. An account named DAPPI has done it. The company has excused that an employee did it by himself. DAPPI did it in the daytime of week days. LDPJ has spent some money to the company in the name of the other projects than this DAPPI thing.  

It is politically a heinous conduct that the Takaichi administration has run massive volume of the defamation videos against the opposition party candidates in the House of the Representative election. It has occupied more than 2/3 of the seats in the House. They could do whatever they want now. However, it should be questioned if their conduct was legally and ethically right or not. 

Online abuse in politics should be regarded illegal and ethically impermissible. Because it would destroy the ground of democracy. We need to discuss about policy in detail and to make judgement based on right informations in voting behaviour. If online abuse is allowed in politics, politics would be deteriorated by those rich enough to run online abuse.  

PM Takaichi should resign.

Quote;

 Man admits creating videos critical of Japan PM rivals in LDP election　KYODO NEWS- Jun 08, 2026 - 10:05All,Japan

Ken Matsui, the head of an IT firm who says he created videos criticizing Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's political opponents for her campaign for the Liberal Democratic Party presidential race, speaks in an online interview in Tokyo with Kyodo News on June 1, 2026. (Photo not for sale)(For editorial use only)(Kyodo)

TOKYO - The head of an IT firm has said that he created videos criticizing rivals of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in last year's ruling Liberal Democratic Party presidential race, after being asked by one of her aides to help her win the election.

Ken Matsui, 33, told Kyodo News in a recent online interview that he was consulted by a secretary of Takaichi on how to "reverse" the lead of Shinjiro Koizumi, then a strong contender to win the LDP presidential election in October.

"I proposed that negative videos would be effective," he said.

Matsui was asked about his thoughts during an online meeting on Sept. 25 to discuss social media strategy during the LDP election campaign. The meeting included the secretary who was introduced to him by an acquaintance.

Takaichi won the LDP election on Oct. 4 and became the country's first female prime minister later that month. She appointed Koizumi as defense minister.

Speaking in parliament in May, Takaichi denied reports saying her camp spread videos online via anonymous accounts to smear opponents. "I have been told that my office and campaign team did not in any way disseminate negative information about other candidates or create and distribute such videos," she said.

The reports, which first appeared in the weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun in late April, claimed that Takaichi's publicly funded first secretary and others made and posted videos criticizing politicians including Koizumi, in which he was called "incapable" and a "puppet of hereditary politics."

In a written response to Kyodo News, Takaichi's office denied such allegations and said it has no plans to re-investigate the claims.

Matsui, who was also the developer of Sanae Token, a meme coin named after the prime minister, said the videos not only targeted Koizumi but another leadership rival, then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi who was emerging as another leading contender.

Hayashi is now the internal affairs and communications minister in Takaichi's Cabinet.

Matsui said he used some original generative artificial intelligence software to create 1,000 to 1,500 short videos on Koizumi and Hayashi. Around 300 social media accounts were then created on which the videos were shared.

He added he instructed the AI not to use expressions that would be slanderous and produced the content free of charge. He also said he does not think his actions violated the law.

Takaichi's use of social media was regarded as a strong factor in her victory in the party race as well as the LDP's landslide lower house election victory in February this year.

It has previously been revealed that the Koizumi camp had also asked campaign staff to make posts smearing rivals during the LDP leadership race.

Ebola virus epidemic

 Ebola virus infection is a highly contagious as well as fatal illness. It is spreading in Eastern Congo now. There are already patients or suspected cases in Italy and India in addition to the neighboring countries to Congo. The doctors struggling in Congo says it is out of control.

Here.

As this ABC article says the other countries than the US should contribute to this crisis by some means. But the US is responsible for supporting this probable pandemic since it is the country with the biggest GDP in the world.  

The Trump administration has withdrawn from WHO this January. It has imposed burden to this organization which worked for public health in the world. Surprising enough, the White House restricted those with the expertise on this probable pandemic to collaborate with WHO. 

Here.

Quarantine only slows spreading of the infectious illnesses but won't stop epidemic itself. Whether this Ebola virus infection would become another pandemic or not depends partially on the international network like WHO. There is no vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain causing the present outbreak. It may take a month or two to achieve the vaccine against this strain. Its production process and distributing it to the areas needing it require the network.

Here.

We are getting into an era of deficits of resources which easily elicit war or conflict. In this situation, if a pandemic breaks out anywhere in the world, it could result in total devastation. It is not a question whether we help those needing it but whether we may survive. 

A page has been turned

I had a phone call from FTI , the antenna tower constructor, yesterday and was told they had planned to do the work today, which I ordered them before. 

They, 5 people, have arrived here from Tokyo late in the morning. They have done all the job in a couple of hours. So fast!

Having cold tea we prepared for them, they have left for home early in the afternoon. A too quick process to get sentimental to say farewell to the tower I have used for 40 years. Their boss JF1IST seems to have retired and have his business taken over by his son. He used to build this tower in '80s.   

With the big chestnut tree cut down recently, our garden at the south east corner has become vacant and quiet as it used to be. My father has planted various trees and vegetables there 40 years ago.

We had a couple of visitors, W6IJ Tommy, thosedays WJ6O, and his wife. He has taken some photos while JF1IST and the crew have built the tower, while I was at work. having come home, I found the tower and a tribander stacked with a 2 element beam for 40m set on it. For the next decade or two, I was mad at DX chasing and contesting. In 2000s, I have more absorbed in chatting on CW. This tower and antennas have brightened up my life. Through this hobby, I have known a lot of good friends. Besides old elmers whom I have known since '60s or early '80s, with this tower, I could easily talk to friends in the East Coast or in Europe. I won't name each of those whom I became friends with on tower/antenna but sure am reminded of them. 

I am only grateful to the tower/antenna and the constructors. There used to be a few friends like JP1DJV who helped me to change or modify antennas.  

 Maybe, in some interval, I would come back to it with a tiny set up like I used to when moved here in 1979. When a person of the constructor as leaving here, I have kidded him I would aske them to build a new crank up tower. He was smiling at me.

A page has been turned in my ham radio career. 

Another peaceful day

It is a quiet and a bit hot day today. Still crisp and comfortable. I have spent all day at the garden. A few azaleas were damaged by powderpost beetle and have been cut in the garden. There are more area which we could plant some flowers and trees. Before doing that, I have been eagerly pulling out rhizomatous weeds. It is almost imossible to eradicate them since some rhizom is so deep underground that we could not access to it. Reducing the size and amount of such weeds is important to plant other kinds of plants. i don't feel bored with that garden work.

As already written in previous posts, while sitting on the garden and concentrating the work, I often recall my parents. They were often doing the same thing in this property. Living with my family with grandchildren and without any worry about living, they might be in the most peaceful days in their lives, I believe, even if I am not sure I have done best for them. 

My parents have known each other during WWII at the sanatorium, that is, very same place as we live right now. I have reiterated about that story a few times in this blog. They have married after the war and built their family with 3 children. They got through the hardest time in their lives then. Threatened to death in the war and poverty beyond words for sometime after the war. However, they got it through.

Now we are getting into the hardship in life we have never experienced during our lives. Economically, our country hit the highest nominal GDP while the real GDP remains the same. And the long term national bond is charged with the highest interest rate. These mean our country will suffer from further inflation. Takaichi administration is heading to further military buildup changing the constitution to throw away its pacifism. The social security is being cut and more self pay is being introduced. The gas and food crisis due to the war in the Middle East messes it up further. 

Spending elderly days in this situation is surely a challenge for us. Privately, we have own problems for our age as well. It is equivalent to WWII and the post war era for my parents. i won't complain of that but would live with hope for the future as my parents used to do.

My wife has prepard a gorgeous sushi dinner for my 77th birthday. A rewarding day.

My mother, maybe in her 70s, and my wife. A photo taken about 35 years ago. At a park nearby.

 

A peaceful day

It is getting even 30 deg C in the mid day here. Quite unusual temperature for this time in a year. Weeds won't wait for us tu stop growing. Both I and my wife have been cutting/pulling the weeds in the garden. Half an acre lot is a bit too much for this old couple to care for. My wife is only a part time gardener as well. 

I still sit on a small chair and run  a small sickle with single-minded concentration. Sometimes, a question why I should do this comes up in mind. I tell myself this property has been inherited through ancestors for centuries or at least from my aunt and caring for it is an honorable duty for me. It always goes on without such a self dialogue. Only being absorbed in it. After working too long, I often have some lumbago but taking a nap for an hour or so always alleviates it. 

Another question sometimes occupies my mind. It may sound a ridiculous question. Isn't it correct to get rid of weeds or unwanted plants in order to have certain plant like lawn or a vegetable grow from the ecological point of view. Isn't it an egoism for human being? Natural farming tells us to grow vegetables together with weeds so far as the latter won't disturb the former. It is sometimes surprising the latter is helping the former. On the other hand, we want our garden to have only lawn grown. Our life is disturbing the nature, isn't it? 

Considering of such a thing, I know it gets lunch time.  

Some vegetables are ready to be harvestd soon. Onions are grown. I found their leaf could be cooked and taste good if it is fresh. Dosens of them will be dried and stored to be consumed in the coming months until next spring.

Potatoes are growing as well. There are two other beds with them. Seriously, they are for the possible poverty life in the coming months.

A couple of years ago, I have planted a tree of iyokan orange at a corner of the garden. Sadly, the tree seemed to have withered in the cold weather of winter. I still found "basal shoots" at its base. I told my wife of that. In her calmness, she answered to me that it had been grafted and the rootstock grew the basal shoots. Unluckily, her observation seemed right.

Chating such a thing while pulling the weeds with my wife may be the best part of life so far. If the invasion to Iran by the US and Israel would not be ceasefired, the world, especially Asian countries, may suffer from teribble stagflation. Our administration won't prepare for that catastophic condition. The government put subsidy to the gas, not telling the people to refrain from using it. And, having intervened in the exchange trade, they have wasted the important reserve. They aimed at stopping lowering of JPY. Without improvement in the fundamentals, cheap JPY won't be normalized. So I could not help being pessimistic for the future but may enjoy peaceful days like today.

 

 

Diagnosed as spinal canal stenosis

 Having had neuralgia on lower legs and lumbago for the past few years, I had worst neuralgia this winter. A local doctor recommended me to take an MRI. The result was spinal canal stenosis of high severity. Since I have only neuralgia and backache, no bladder rectal symptom nor palsy/intermittent claudication, I would go on with only conservative treatment. Luckily, Pregabalin medication, a drug specific for neuralgia, turns out to be pretty effective in my case. In addition to this med, I would try to exercise to strengthen the paravertbral muscles and those supporting the vertebrae.

My father used to suffer from ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament in his late years of life. I might have inherited with the same disease or trait. At this age with the same kind of issue, I could fully understand what he has thought about. I should have been more thoughtful and compassionate for him. He used to come to help receptionists at my office during the lunch time when he was at my present age. After a couple of hours of lunch break working at the reception, he came back to his car and headed home. From my own room upstairs, I often saw him walking slowly with a cane across the parking lot toward his car as if dragging his legs. Time has passed. It would be my turn to spend time as he did then.

I am not sure how fast this pathological condition progresses or if it remains stable for me. It won't be fatal to me. However, it seems to be the right time for me to prepare for end of my life now. I should get things ready for my wife and the other family members after I am gone. I would prepare a farewell message or something like that. A lot of things to think about and to determine where items like my important cello etc should go. 

I should spend everyday in even more thoughtful and careful way than ever.

PS; Reading back this post, I have found a lot of typos. It tells me how I have become senile! Always check the sentence before uploading it. I should be more careful!

The 3rd movement of Brahms' 3rd symphony

Brahms is a remarkable melody maker in addition to renovating classical composition technique.

One of his melodies most impressive for me is this 3rd movement of his No 3 ymphony.

It was featured as the main theme of the movie, "Say Goodby Again", after the novel, "Aimez-vous Brahms?" by Francoise Sagan. Building up a simple audio system. 6BM8 single stereo amplifier with a pair of coaxial speakers in homebrew speaker box, I have started listening a lot of music. Yes, I was mostly indulged in movie music at first those days. It has not taken me a long time to start journey into classical music, though. I had not known this music from that movement of Brahms' symphony. I have never seen the movie itself, either. I was in the low teen days.

The university orchestra I joined as a cellist was practising this symphony. At the summer camp I was pratising cello outside as a beginner, I often listened to this music. The melody is started by celli followed by 1st violins. Cello part sings the counter melody to the 1st violin, which is even more impressively beautiful than the front melody. Listners are totally fallen in love with this melody when it is reproduced by Horn and then by strings. 

At the summer camp, the melody was coming on a breeze blown down from the mountain nearby. It has ushered in the early fall.

An unforgettable melody for me. 

A pianist Luke Faulkner has arranged it to solo piano. This rendition is also a memorable one. I am sure Faulkner has been fascinated with this music himself. This must be composed by Brahms with piano in this way.

 

The meaning of death and aging from a biological point of view

I have listened to a lecture on line regarding the meaning of death and aging from the standpoint of biology by Prof. Takehiko Kobayashi of Tokyo University. To be short, death is a result of destruction of DNA. It will work for variation and evolution. We should die for the generation ahead.

It was more interesting to me on the meaning of aging. 

Old age, defined by post reproductive age, is unique to human being. Most mammalians except for human being and few exceptions would die as soon as they finish reproducng the next generation. For human being, old age lasts long or decades. The reason of existence of old age is as follows; human being gets born without "fur" on the surface and babies won't live by themselves for the first 3 years. The new borns require "grandma" caring for them. And when we get old, we could be free from egotism and could behave in altruitism. It is a widsome of "grandpa". Whether male or female, we could live for the next generation. Proessor Kobayashi says the meaning of old age resides in that altruitism. 

Some old people, expecially those in political power, behave the opposite to this nature of the elderly. They pursue endlessly own power and fortune. Some of them behave like a saviour in the world as if a religious icon. They seem to believe they were immortal. They are often backed up by some kind of cult. People in the cult support enthusiastically such a dictating politician as if he was a saviour to the world. The supporters could not understand  what their behaviour leads them as well as the other people. Such dictating leaders lead to collapse and perish of the world. It may be due to loss of "grandma" as well as "grandpa" characteristics in humankind.

A kind of garden tree has been perished at our home possibly as a facet of the global warming

Japanese ekianthus is a popular garden tree in our country. We have had them for hedge and also solitary garden trees since we moved here about 40 years ago. They always bloomed with tiny light pink flowers at the same time of budding. In fall, they were beautifully colored like the photo below. This photo of them hedging the street was taken almost 20 years ago. 

For the past 2 or 3 years, all of them have been eated by longhorn beetles. It has ruined most of them for now, even though we have given pesticide for this pest. This pest is originally in the tropical area. Even without any scientific evidence, I suspect it might be settled down here due to the global warming. It coincides with occurrence of extreme heat in the summer here. 

The larva of this pest invades and damages the trunk of such as Japanese ekianthus or other hardwoods. It lasts for 10 months in a year. It could also damege the wood of building materials. This pest has not attracted much public attention yet. But who knows?

   

I might have taken photos of them blooming in spring. So beautiful. I am sure I have taken but they have been lost in the vast collection of photos in HDD. Too sad. I should make it sure that every photo has been stored in an external HDD. 

 I have also read about the deranged circulation of seawater in the Atlantic Ocean. In the global warming, the ice in the north pole has been thawed and poured into the Atlantic Ocean. The seawater has been lowered in density and prevens its normal circulation between the surface and the depth. It could cause the abnormal weather and the reduced production of fisheries industry. We are quietly and secrety going through a tepping point in this manner. 

This is a tiny and possibly definite experience of the same global warming at our home.

Kleptocracy?

Isn't this a kleptocracy?

Victimizing thousands of people, including a lot of children, this war is being conducted. An unacceptable crime against the international law. Without naphtha, we are being deficient of medical equipments and stuff. It is directly related with loss of lives in medical services. If those responsible for ceasefire are economically corrupted in this way, it is even more criminally inhumanistic. 

Trump always announces the news through his SNS on Friday. Immediately before that, there are a lot of trades in futures trading. They say it is highly suspicious of insider trading as follows.

From a post by The Other 98% in Facebook;

 The BBC just dropped a damning investigation that should be plastered across every front page in America, and yet here we are. The BBC examined trade volume data across major financial markets and matched it to trump's most significant market-moving statements, finding a consistent pattern of trading spikes occurring just minutes before a social media post or media interview went public. On April 9, 2025, someone piled over $2 million into S&P 500 long positions right before trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs. The S&P jumped 9.5%, and that bet returned nearly $20 million. Some analysts told the BBC the pattern bears all the hallmarks of illegal insider trading, where bets are made on information the general public simply does not have.

And the family connections make it all even harder to ignore. Donald Trump Jr. sits on the advisory board of Polymarket and acts as a strategic advisor to Kalshi, the two biggest prediction market platforms where this suspiciously well-timed speculation keeps showing up. Meanwhile, the broader trump family has been cashing in through World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture where Barron, Don Jr., and Eric Trump are all listed as cofounders. Reuters reported the family pulled in over $800 million from crypto asset sales in just the first half of 2025. This is a sitting president whose entire family is financially embedded in the markets he moves with his mouth every single day.

And here's what should make every American genuinely angry: we found out about most of this from the BBC. Not the New York Times. Not CNN. Not any of the massive, well-funded American newsrooms that are supposedly the guardians of democracy. It is a profound embarrassment that in 2026, citizens of the United States have to depend on a British public broadcaster to investigate what their own government is doing with their markets. American corporate media, addicted to access and terrified of losing advertiser dollars, has largely looked away while the pillaging happens in plain sight. The SEC declined to comment, the White House went silent, and a financial expert told the BBC there is a low likelihood anyone will ever be prosecuted. That last part might be the most honest thing anyone has said about how power actually works in this country.

A cartoon sarcasing the present situation.

Dame Judi Dench in her own words

I am not a big fan for any actress/actor. These words by Dench, however, sure belong to the wisdom of people properly grown old. I praise her in this context. To the post of this series of proverb, a portrait of recent Dench was added. Possibly in her eighties. It was what she really looked. No cosmetics nor vestige of cosmetic surgery. Her line of sight was so straight as if looking at essence of things.

I have seen her in a Shakespear movie in my young days. A vivid and beautiful actress those days. She has grown old in an ideal way. Could I live after these proverbs? "Choose your battles" sounds one of the things I need to practise in my life. Too late? Still only try to.

Quote;

 Dame Judi Dench in her own words:

"Don’t prioritise your looks my friend, as they won’t last the journey.

Your sense of humor though, will only get better with age.

Your intuition will grow and expand like a majestic cloak of wisdom.

Your ability to choose your battles, will be fine-tuned to perfection.

Your capacity for stillness, for living in the moment, will blossom.

Your desire to live each and every moment will transcend all other wants.

Your instinct for knowing what (and who) is worth your time, will grow and flourish like ivy on a castle wall.

Don’t prioritise your looks my friend,

they will change forevermore, that pursuit is one of much sadness and disappointment.

Prioritise the uniqueness that make you you, and the invisible magnet that draws in other like-minded souls to dance in your orbit.

These are the things which will only get better."

Cognitive lifetime enrichment lowers or delays the risk of Alzheimer's disease related dementia

In elderly, becoming demented or not is of primary concern of health. Dementia in elderly has been believed to ba a kind of physiological process. Recenetly, there have been more knowledges on its etiology. Aging, genetics, way of living environment and so forth. Accumulation of beta amyloid protein in the CNS seems to be a result of the process. The earlier process of degeneration is targeted now. 

It is not only a private issue but also a public probelm especially in the developed countries like Japan where aging is in fast progress in the society. Certain percentage of elderly should suffer from dementia of Alzheimer's disease and the others. It could be a big burden for the social security.

The following article says high cognitive lifetime enrichment would lower or delay deveoping Alzheimer's disease related dementia. Being able to access only this abstract of the original paper, I am not sure how lifetime enrichment has been determined and even quatified and what pathological findings in the brain have been associated with the result. Still this article in this renowned journal of neurology may consolidate our preconception that cultural and intellectual activities may lower the risk of dementia in elderly days.

What do you think I have thought of reading this article? I really have had lifetime enrichment. It is difficult for me to objectively decide what experience has enriched my life. It should be ham radio and music in my case. I won't boast of these but believe, without them, my life has been far from being rich.

Through ham radio, I have had acquaintances with people abroad and had shared the same time for decades. Subjectively, it has been the lifetime enrichment for me for sure. Through conversation with them, I have stimulated on a lot of things and have learned a lot from them. It has never been waste of time in my life, I believe. 

Secondly, music has attracted me so much since young days. Either playing an instrument or just listening to it, it is an emotional as well as intellectual stimulus for me. It has never bored me a bit. Whenever listening to Bach, I still feel as if I were present at the creation of the universe. 

Even if they haven't enriched my life as this paper says and would not help preventing me from Alzheimer's disease, I am still grateful to these elements in life and those who have shared them with me. In the upcoming several years, it becomes evident if these were the enrichment in life or not. Even if I get demented, I still owe much to them.     

Here.

 

Azalea and concern about world politics/economy

 Again, it's almost a couple of weeks since I posted the last one in this blog. I have been kept busy pulling the weeds and cutting the lawn in the garden. I have also planted a few vegetables. For an amateur farmer, as you know, it is the busiest season in a year now.

The azaleas along the entrance are almost fully out now. The same kind of photo taken at the same angle. Seemingly the same but new every year for me. A net for peas is seen on the right. Peas are growing fast now. A ridge of potato farm is covered with white non woven fabric to avoid frost damage. The dogwoods along the street ahead seem to bloom as well.

I have been concerned about the mess in the Middle East caused by Trump and Netaniyafu. Lives which should not have been lost are victimized. Especially, the girl pupils in Iran killed by missiles launched by the US military. It has been a war crime and crime against humanity which should be accused. The two leaders responsible for this tragedy are told to gain personal benefits from this war, that is, disguising their scandals/crimes. 

The more serious issue is that certain numbers of the peoples are still approving those criminal leaders. The global warming and the techno-capitalism are creating the enormous economic disparity in North-South countries and in each country itself. Together with deficit of natural resources and foods, they are endlessly increasing the economic gap in the world. I believe the majority exploited as stated above is denying every authority and believing in conspiracy and populism. They may support a leader like Trump who insists invading other sovereignties for natura resources. Religious cultism is involved in this process, which makes the situation more complicated and untreatable.

It won't be too long left to me in the world any longer. I would go on studying about this process of the global warming and the bottleneck of modern capitalism. So when it is fine, I would be in the garden ane when rainy, you may find me in my study which used to be a radio shack for decades. 

Easter and Matthews Passion

 It is the Easter today. Having been a step away from Christianity myself, I am still sure it's the season to listen to Matthews Passion by JS Bach this time in a year. As depicted before, it was spring in early '70s when I listened to this music in a concert in Tokyo. 

Here.

Without the anatomy teacher asking us if anyone would go to the concert during its training, my life has not been the same as it is. It was moving my mind so deep. I am still grateful to the teacher having given me the chance then. 

Passion is followed by ressurection. It is represented with this season with every life reviving after a long severe winter. Our life may end any time and hopeully we may see old family members and friends after death. Passion and followeing ressurection of Jesus Christ tells us how we should live and die. 

In this Passion, I believe the whole story converges into the last chorus, Nr 68, I believe. I love it most among all recitatives, choruses or arias. It was played in the funeral of my father. I might have written about it somewhere in this blog but can't find it. Putting it briefly, as my sister planned, it was played throughout the ceremony and was unintentionally finished at the same time as the coffin was closed. His life in this world ended with the last C minor chord of that music. I felt it was something above our intention.

Recalling all of memories of this great music, I would spend sometime listening to it. Here is the 68th by Gaechinger Kantorei and Bach Collegium Stuttgart conducted by Helmuth Rilling. This is the combination which I listened in the concert early '70s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-rB35BNQz0&list=RDH-rB35BNQz0&start_radio=1

Ants vs humans

Ants work well in group while people won't do without extensive communication, the following article says. 

We, humans, should communicate each other and understand the others' values or ideas. Without it, we are overwhelmed by ants.

The further problem is that fascism and/or cult makes us go straight to the dictator's intention whether it may be right or not. Cult or mind controlling fanaticism may mislead us to nightmare. In such a situation, we are inferior to a group of ants as well.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2414274121

Is it a hoax or an event going on in Israel?

I have found this graph in a post of facebook. Is this a legitimate data taken by or at Vic 4X6GP?

If this is a right radiation data, it could mean certain nuclear power plant/nuclear weapon has been destroyed in Israel.

I am afraid it would lower the threshold for Netaniyafu to resort to nuclear weapon. 

Looking it up, I found this is a legitimate data recorded in Rehovot; https://radmon.org/index.php?

I hope Vic is doing OK. This could mean there have been intensive bombing in Israel including nuclear facilities.