言葉遊び１

どうやら、中国では言葉遊びが盛んなようです。

中国語では、みかん（橘）と幸せ（吉）の発音が近い

そのため、みかんは幸せの象徴として扱われるようです。そういえば、日本でも餅の上にみかんをおきますよね？この風習は、ここから来ているのかもしれません。

端午の節句

もともとは、楚の時代の重臣であった屈原と言う将軍の供養から始まった物です。皇帝を諌めたため、皇帝の反感を買い、結果、暗殺され、遺体は河に捨てられました（泪羅河）。屈原は民衆に慕われていたため、それを知った民衆が遺体が魚に食べられないように１）ドラムを叩いて魚を散らす２）その他の餌（団子）を河に投げ込む　を始めました。それが中国での端午の節句です。

ちなみに、日本での端午の節句の意味（子供の成長を望む等）は、全くないとの事です。
どこかで疎通がうまく行かなかったのでしょう。日本では、鎧兜を飾り、男の子の成長を望み、餅を食べるようになりました。面白い物です。

Swine Flu info

The website of NCBI is good source to learn the influenza virus. The virus can be found a lot in California...

強く儚い者たち

強く儚い者たち

Chinchilla got injury

I accidentally stepped on my chinchilla a couple days ago (he was hiding under sheets) and he had 4 broken ribs on his left side and 2 on his right. He laid down on the floor right after the accident and didn't move at all. I thought it was critical for him because I'd never seen him doing that before. So he was taken to an emergency room in a hospital on campus and had diagnosis. He was kept in an oxygen cage and taken whole body x-rays. It costed $190 for the emergency examination and $500 for hospitalization. The good thing is he is too small to have surgery. If chinchillas were big enough, vets would asked me and charge more expense... Anyway, he is eating a lot and messing up his cage as usual now. He is just a chinchilla, but I learn a lot from him. I hope he will fully recover soon. The picture is taken before he had accident.

Hotate(scallop) with uni (sea urchin) source

One day, Sea urchin met scallop and they decided to be together. The combination is amazing so they've been fascinating a lot of people. We can see them at 恩納の駅 (Onna-no-Eki) in Okinawa.

Microwave, plastic containers and cancer

My friend gave me an interesting article. That was about plastic bottle and cancer.

"A dioxin chemical causes cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at castle Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers... This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body... Instead, he recommends using glass, such as corning ware, pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food... You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc. should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons...

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead."