Thursday, May 31, 2007

Google Maps - Street View

Google has added a "street view" to some cities on Google Maps. This allows you to see a picture of the location, along with the map. They drove a car around and took pictures in all directions, and linked these pictures to their maps.
GoogleはGoogle Mapsの中に通りの眺めが入った。地図と近所の写真がある。

But they have also captured other things with their pictures. Some people complain that the pictures show inside their windows. Other caught people doing interesting things. Such as:
建物と一緒に色々な写真がある。時々窓からのぞける。そして面白いやり方だ。例えば:

What is this guy doing/その人は何をするか? Maybe he left his keys home/鍵を忘れた? Then again, maybe not/その反面、忘れなかったか?

Is this guy, um, watering the plants/植木に水をやる?

Advertisement in Las Vegas/ラスベガスの広告

Here are some Stanford students, studying hard.../スタンフォードの大学生はいつも勉強しているね。

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Friday, May 18, 2007

Inland whales / 内陸の鯨

All my efforts to see whales, and some swim right past me. Right now, there are a pair of humpback whales up near Sacramento. This is more than 70 miles inland from the sea.
いくら鯨を見に行くのに鯨はのそばを通った。今ザトウクジラ2頭はサクラメントの近くにいる。海から110キロ以上だよ。

The whales are injured. Hopefully they can be lead back to the sea and recover. In 1985, another humpback, nicknamed Humphrey, did come inland, though not as far, and was lead back to sea and has been seen alive since.
鯨は病気だろう。海に帰って、元気になると願っている。1985年にハンフリーというザトウクジラは海から泳いだ。でもハンフリーより遠いだった。ハンフリーは海に帰って、数年後に海で見かけた。

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Saturday, May 12, 2007

Las Vegas

I was in Las Vegas all of last week for a trade show. One of my clients, AQUAPAL USA, was displaying their Japanese soaking tubs and hand wash basins at the Kitchen Bath Industry Show, and I was there to help them out. The products are all hand made ceramics from Shigaraki (near Kyoto). The show went very well for the company.
Kitchen Bath Industry Showの見本市のために先週ラスベガスへ行った。AQUAPAL USAというお客様は日本のお風呂と手洗器を展示した。手造りの信楽焼き物だ。見本市はよかった。

On Wednesday, we had dinner at a restaurant in the Hilton. There were interesting pictures in the bathroom there.
水曜日の晩Hiltonのレストランで食べた。Hiltonのトイレには面白い写真だった。

Because I was so busy, I did not gamble at all while I was there. When I was waiting to leave at the airport, I tried to play the slot machines with the change in my pockets, but the machine do not accept coins (dollar bills only).
とても忙しかったので、ギャンブルしなかった。空港でスロット・マシンに小銭を入れたかった、でもコインを入れられなかった。ドル紙幣だけ入れられた。

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Friday, May 04, 2007

See whales from kayak

Every year, Grey Whales migrate past California. In December and January, they are heading south to Mexico to breed. In March, the males head north to Alaska to feed. The females with calves follow in April. The mothers with their babies stay very close to shore, so they can avoid Killer Whales (which will attack the babies). This makes it easy to see them.
毎年コククジラはカリフォルニアのそばを通る。季節分娩のために12月と1月にメキシコへ移動する。雄鯨3月にアラスカへ移動する。雌鯨と子鯨は4月に移動する。雌鯨と子鯨はキラー・ホェールを襲うことを防ぐために汀線の近くにいる。

On Wednesday, there wasn't much waves or wind, so the conditions were very good to kayak out in to the ocean and try to find whales, so I took the day off from work and went with some friends to Pigeon Point to kayak.
水曜日波が短く、風があまり吹かなかったので、鯨を見やすかった。だから休暇を取って友達とPigeon Pointへカヤックに乗りに行った。

picture courtesy of Bart SelbyWe did get lucky. We saw at least 3 pairs of mothers and calves. They are hard to photograph from a moving kayak, so the pictures are not that good. Often you mostly see and hear the puff of spray from their breath. If we are reasonably close, we would see their backs. We did not see their flukes (tales) at all. (Note - the third picture was taken by the trip leader, Bart Selby, not I - thanks for letting me use the pic!)
見たよ!6頭以上見た。カヤックから写真を撮りにくいので、あまり良くない。撮は鯨の噴気孔だけ見られる。近ければ、背部も見られる。(3番目の写真はBart Selbyを撮った写真だ)

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