It’s not extinct

Re-discovered

It was thought that the last Golden Toad of Costa Rica died 20 years ago.

But last month a female was seen. She was healthy and full of eggs. The Golden Toad is not extinct.

Why don’t the news reports tell us this kind of news?

Why is Kaldi called Kaldi?

I guess you all know the chain of shops known as ‘Kaldi’; there is one in Shizuoka station Asty, one in the basement of the Shin Shizuoka Center, and one in Dream Plaza (is it still there?).

While I was researching the origin of the word coffee I also found the name of the first person to discover the effects of caffeine from the coffee bean.

More than a thousand years ago a young man, called Kaldi, from Ethiopia was looking after his goats, and he noticed that they became very excited and lively after eating some berries. He tried some berries himself and enjoyed them so much that he made them into a drink. Of course the berries were coffee beans from the coffee bush, and Kaldi’s drink was the first cup of coffee.

I reckon that the Kaldi chain took its name from this Ethiopian man.

Why is coffee called coffee?

One of the first products made from the coffee bean was a coffee wine.

This coffee wine was given the name ‘qahwah’, which is an Arabic word meaning to ‘delay’, because this wine had the power to delay such things as sleep, and need for food. And from this word comes the word coffee.

Why men only?

Why is CoolBiz for men only?

Why so warm?

Why is it so warm so far this ‘winter’.

Yes, I know about global warming, but it seems much warmer this year than even last year, or is global warming happening  much quicker than we all think?

Why an increase in electricity prices?

At the moment the price of gasoline is rising quickly. So the price that car-drivers pay for their gasoline is also increasing. This is easy to understand.

But the price of electricity in Shizuoka is also increasing. This I do not understand.

In Shizuoka there is a huge nuclear power station which provides our electricity. It is not a gasoline power station. So why is there an increase in electricity prices?

Why do athletes run counter-clockwise?

This question came up in one of my classes today. All athletics tracks in the world have the athletes run in a counter-clockwise (ccw) direction. It is now a rule of the International Athletics Association, but why did it happen?

There are a lot of man-made things which turn ccw. For example carousels, windmills, revolving doors, the usual direction in which people spin Hula Hoops, most washers and dryers, and baseball runners. So do most things spin ccw?

No, not really. There are many things that move clockwise: phonographs, CDs, Monopoly board pieces, door knobs, pencil sharpeners, and can openers.

This doesn’t get us any nearer an answer. One of my students suggested it is because most people are right-handed (and right-footed), but this doesn’t appear to be the reason, since in track running there is actually more force on the inside leg which is the left one.

The best answer seems to come from the direction we read. Most languages are read from left to right. It is true that Chinese and Arabic are read from right to left and traditional Japanese is read downwards left to right, but these are the exceptions.

For many people the natural way to see things is from left to right. So the spectators at the original Olympics in Greece would want to see the runners run past from their left to their right. To do this the runners would need to run counter-clockwise.

Here is the future Olympic Stadium for Beijing 2008.

Why do stations in Shizuoka have the wrong names?

I think two JR stations in Shizuoka have the wrong names: Abekawa and Higashi Shizuoka.

Abekawa station is not near the Abe River. On foot it would take at least 20 minutes to walk to Abe River from Abekawa station, that’s a long way.

A much better name would be Osada station. Osada is the name given to the area west of the Abe River, an area that used to be covered with rice-fields. Osada is the name given to the elementary and junior high schools in the area, also to the sports centre and the library.

And Higashi Shizuoka is not in the east of Shizuoka; actually it is slightly in the west. Kanbara is in the east of Shizuoka city. I think a better name would be Granship station.

Do you have any ideas for better names for stations, or do you think it is better not to change names?

Why green blackboards?

Before I came to Japan I had never seen a green blackboard. So why are blackboards green? One of my students, Kyoko, kindly told me the answer: because green is easy on the eyes.

It seems very sensible. Another word for blackboard is chalkboard, maybe we should use this word more often.

Actually I hate chalk, and chalk dust. It makes my throat dry, and also my fingers. It gets on my clothes and into my eyes. I much prefer whiteboards. But why aren’t whiteboards green?

Why shampoo?

Do you wash your hair with shampoo? Of course, every day.

But shampoo is bad for your hair!

Would you want to wash your hair in dishwashing liquid? Well, this is what you do. Shampoo is a detergent, like dishwashing liquid or bathroom cleaner, and it is made from oil. The only difference with shampoo is that it is not quite so strong, and has a nice perfume.

It is true that shampoo does clean your hair, but it also removes natural oils from your hair, which help keep your hair smooth, shiny and healthy. Your hair becomes dry and brittle, is badly damaged, and looks terrible.

Many years ago everyone used soap to wash their hair. Soap is made from vegetable and animal fats, and contains natural oils. It cleans your hair without damage.

But soap works best in soft water. Nowadays the water in most big cities is hard and alkaline, and soap does not work well in alkaline conditions.

So companies started making shampoo from detergent, which works well in all kinds of water. The shampoo companies quickly realised that their shampoo was damaging everyone’s hair, so they started selling conditioner, which replaces the natural oils in your hair. But conditioners are made with artificial oils which last only a day or two. So you need to wash your hair every day and use lots of shampoo and lots of conditioner, and your hair’s natural oils are lost.

Soap is much better than shampoo, the problem is the water.

If you live in an area with soft or medium water then it is easy to use soap, and you don’t even need any conditioner.

But if you live in an area with hard water you can still use soap if you put a little acid into the water to balance the alkali. For example you could fill a big jug with water and put a little vinegar (about a teaspoon) into the water, and use this for both washing and rinsing. This small amount of vinegar shouldn’t smell, but if you don’t like vinegar you could try lemon juice or even beer! If the water in your area is really hard then it may be best to use a little conditioner too.

This should leave your hair clean and shiny. You may find that you don’t need to wash your hair every day, sometimes warm water is enough. Your hair will clean itself with its natural oils and look even better.

Why flowers?

If I killed a small, colourful bird, then put it in a bowl of water, and put the bowl on my dining table for a few days, until the bird started to look bad, what would you think?

Why do we do this with flowers?