UNCHAINED FLOW OF WATER
Yesterday, it was rain around Tokyo and thus not hot at all.
In this morning's newspaper issued in Japan, a Japanese scientist is claiming that there is a reasonable concern that the earth has entered a cooling course instead of intensification of warming.
Anyway, it was the last day for the campaign for the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party; today the new president of a Japan’s ruling party will be elected who is promised to be selected as the next Japan’s Prime Minister.
Indeed, at around a railroad station near my residence, the five candidates came to appeal to the general public yesterday.
But, I did not go to hear them, though one of the candidates is the first female candidate for the LDP in its history, since nothing is personal at all.
I, instead, went to a museum after dropping at a postal office, though it was Sunday yesterday.
SECTION I: THREE RIVERS
Suppose there are three rivers flowing from the north to the south.
A river flowing on the west side is small but it is used for irrigation of vast rice fields.
A river flowing in the middle is not so small.
The last river on the east side is a big river.
In this topology, people once, namely 250 years ago in Japan, thought that water should be supplied from the east river to the west river in order to increase a volume of water for the irrigation and thus get a better harvest of rice.
But, whatever scheme they might take, the central river must have been crossed by a canal that was to connect the east one to the west one.
The point at issue was a flood.
If the new canal and the central river had been merged at a certain cross, a big and disastrous flood could have happened at the junction when a big rain fell in this region overflowing both the central river and the eastern river.
So, it must have been a kind of overhead crossing.
But, actually, people dug two deep holes on both the side of the junction and connect them through an underground tunnel as part of the new canal.
In this way, rice fields in the downstream of the small, western river were sufficiently irrigated with water increased through the new canal carrying plenty of water from the big, eastern river.
In addition there was no influence on the central river in terms of traffic and transportation.
This is what I learnt yesterday at the museum from a volunteer guide who looked like a retired man.
SECTION II: STONE BRIDGES IN EUROPE
There is an old and big stone bridge in Regensburg, Germany.
--------------------------------------------------------
From the early 6th century, Regensburg was the seat of the Agilolfa ruling family, and in AD 843, Regensburg was the seat of the Eastern Frankish ruler, Louis II the German. From about 530 to the first half of the 13th century, it was the capital of Bavaria. In 1135-1146 a bridge across the Danube, the Steinerne Brücke, was built. This stone bridge opened major international trade routes between Northern Europe and Venice, and this started Regensburg's golden age as a city of wealthy trading families. Regensburg became the cultural center of southern Germany and was celebrated for its gold work and fabrics.
http://www.answers.com/topic/regensburg
--------------------------------------------------------
But, it was not original engineering skills and technologies of medieval Germans that made possible the construction of this big and still useful stone bridge.
It was not even the engineering skills and technologies inherited from the Roman Empire.
They were the engineering skills and technologies imported from the Islamic world.
This is one example of the discontinuity in the European history and also the great influence of the Islamic world on the medieval culture of Europe.
Put simply, the medieval Europe was culturally behind the Islamic world without comparison with East Asia.
That is why we have to be cautions in praising the financial philosophy originated by Anglo-Saxons who were, indeed, rather a minor part of the medieval Europe.
*****************************************************
That is all for today, since this is Monday.
To make doubly sure, I have no right of voting for the LDP presidency.
Yet, as it is a public holiday tomorrow in Japan, the new Prime Minister will be elected in the Diet this Wednesday.
Indeed we have to elect a national leader who can build a canal and a bridge so smartly and scientifically even in Japan and the U.S.
That is why I think decent and smart female candidates should be respected even in Japan and the U.S.
Gen 9:22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
Gen 9:23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
Gen 9:24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
Gen 9:25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
Gen 9:26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
Gen 9:27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
Gen 9:28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.