The other side of the lens

I think anyone has an experience to peep into the lens; magnifying glass, microscope or telescope. Isn't it exciting to see something you cannot see with your naked eyes?

I like microscopes. The first time I bought a microscope, I was very excited and saw anything at random, whatever I could get a sample around me; onion peel, pond water, bird's feather, my hair and so on.

One day, I hit a mosquito and what I had done was, of course, I saw a mosquito with a microscope. I hadn't seen an insect until then. What I saw was an ugly face that I would never say it looked cute. It reminded me of a scene of the movie "Alien." I couldn't believe that I hit that with my bare hand and suddenly felt like washing my hands.

If you have a child who doesn't wash his or her hands after playing with mud before eating, let him or her see mud that was taken from the hand with a microscope. You may find a tardigrade or something ugly. Yes, that's right. A microscope can be used for child training. Seeing is better than hearing.

In this sense, a microscope is a good tool to taste a thrill in daily life. You know why? As I experienced, looking in a microscope makes you see what you don't expect. It's sometimes ugly, beautiful or something beyond your imagination.

I know there are people who love thriller movies. I don't see thriller movies much, but if I were a thriller movie fan, I would peep into an eyepiece of a microscope, because a microscope will lead you to an amazing world. The world you can see in the lens is not a fiction like a movie and that makes you feel more thrilled. I guess you have never thought that you hit an alien with your bare hand.

Nowadays, there are alternatives devices that can be used as a microscope. So, even if you don't have a microscope, for example, you can see the microworld using a smartphone or digital microscopes.

Once you see the microworld around you, you will begin to look at the things around you in a different way.

photo credit: Elsie esq. Fine rotative table Microscope 11 via photopin (license) photo credit: J. Data Imagery Num6_SeaIce_20um_20X_04202018_1 via photopin (license)

Escher - Memories of the Netherlands

What do you imagine when you hear the word "Netherlands"?
Wind turbines, beautiful flowers, cheese or if you like arts, you may imagine Vincent W. van Gogh's pictures. To me, the first thing I imagine is Maurits Cornelis Escher.

M. C. Escher is famous in Japan. I think Japanese like Escher, and I'm no exception. As evidence of that, exhibitions of the work of Escher are sometimes held in Japan. I have just searched for the keyword "Escher" on the internet, here it is, I found an exhibition of Escher at The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo which opens from 6th June 2018.

Therefore, I was convinced that Dutch immigrants who live in Australia knew about Escher, and told them I like Escher's works, but nobody knew. I can think that the people whom I asked accidentally might not know Escher, but it's still surprising. I thought Escher was one of the famous people in the Netherlands.

His works are the fusion of mathematics and art which make me feel infinity and circulation. Well, I'm not a native English speaker and don't have enough vocabulary to describe his amazing works. I'll entrust comments about Escher's works to experts.

It's a bit of an old memory, my husband, Juno, and I attended The Bridges Conference, Leeuwarden, Netherlands in 2008. In that year, the International Puzzle Party (IPP) was held in Prague, Czech, so we thought that it was a good opportunity to join both, The Bridges first and then visit the IPP.

Here are pictures I took in Leeuwarden where Escher was born. The first picture was taken at the workshop of Juno's Spinner Truncated Icosahedron. This polyhedron is famous as a soccer ball. I think one of the most famous polyhedra that everybody knows.

The second picture was our outdoor shop. The attendee who wanted to sell their own works could open a small shop in Leeuwarden. There was an unexpected thing that happened. The shop we were allowed to use was just in front of Escher's birth house! In the picture below, the brick house behind Juno is Escher's birth house. This is an unforgettable memory for me.

There was another lucky occurrence. It was almost at the end of The Bridges Conference, we could see Escher's work. There were lots of his works there. If it had been held in Japan, the place would have been crowded but there were only our friend, Juno and me, three of us. I took lots of pictures but I'm not sure about copyrights' law, so I refrained to upload the pictures.

I could spend wonderful times in the Netherlands.
I would like to visit the Netherlands someday again.

* The Bridges Organization

http://www.bridgesmathart.org/

* Juno's World "Juno's Spinner" 

http://www.polyhedra.jp/polyhedron/js/index-e.html

* Juno’s Spinner (Dodecahedron Model) 

https://www.pluredro.com/shop/product/junos-spinner-dodecahedron-model/

Looks simple but difficult - Tricky Dick

If you have plenty of time and want to be puzzled, I know the one that will satisfy you.

It looks a simple structure, but is difficult to solve. It's Tricky Dick, designed by Rick Eason.

This puzzle is not new, so I think some readers have already seen it. I got this puzzle about six or seven years ago. I have heard this is a difficult puzzle, but I thought I could solve it. What happened was, I had been playing with it for about one month and couldn't solve it. I left it on my bookshelf and have forgotten about it for a long time, and I recalled that I still didn't solve it yet. 

Tricky Dick is a disentanglement puzzle. The target of this puzzle is to take out a ring. Simple, isn't it? The ring is slightly smaller than a disk connected to the end of a strap. The strap is long. I wonder if the length of the strap is the key to solve it?

 

I don't know if it's good or bad, this puzzle is high cost-effective. It's a reasonable price and can be enjoyed for a long time. Well, if you are a genius, maybe it can't be high cost-effective though. 

This puzzle is one of my favorite top 10 puzzles. I like a puzzle which has a simple structure, is not a black box type design and is difficult to solve. Tricky Dick is available on Mr Puzzle's online shop.

If you want to be puzzled, please try!

 

 

* Mechanical Puzzles - Rick Eason : Tricky Dick 

* Mr Puzzle online shop : Tricky Dick

I love Stairs 2 - Stairs in movies

Continued from the last journal, I would like to write about the same subject again. 

As a stairs lover, there are movies I cannot ignore.

Inception

If you are a puzzle lover, I guess you may be interested in Penrose Steps.
In the movie "Inception", there's a scene of two people going through the stairs in a Paradoxical architecture.
Please look at the video as shown below. In the video, from the time of 20 seconds, Penrose Steps will appear.

This movie is special because I love the world of three-dimensional rooms in the movie. I remember one of the characters, Cobb, looks for someone who can create a three-dimensional world for his job and he meets Ariadne.

There is a scene in which Cobb gives Ariadne a test to draw a maze. The test is drawing a maze, isn't it interesting? If you are a reader who has been reading my blog, you can guess I like mazes. This is a fiction story, but if it's a real story and I saw a help-wanted advertisement, I would definitely apply. This is the ideal job for me.

There is another stair scene in the movie, two men fight in a place which looks like an emergency staircase, and the lower stairs move and connect to the upper stairs. It reminds me of Escher's work.
"Inception" is full of three-dimensional scenes and I can enjoy seeing it again and again.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

The second movie is one of the Harry Potter series. As you know, the main characters live in a dormitory and there are several staircases there. I like a scene where a staircase moves suddenly and changes the direction where it connects. It is truly a witches and wizards school, isn't it?

Spirited Away

Spirited Away is a Japanese animated film. A ten-year-old girl goes into a magical world unwillingly. She gets a job and lives in a big old Japanese bathhouse. That's house that has stairs and I like that three-dimensional space. This animated film makes me think how the structure of the bathhouse looks like. It's not only me, I found a guy who made the bathhouse by 3D software, it's awesome.
Here is the video of the 3D Spirited Away bathhouse.

Everyone has different tastes, and it depends on his or her preference, the rating can be different. My preference is related to space perception, so I like a movie that describes space and sometimes time. To sum up, I love "Inception" the most.
While I'm writing this journal, I noticed that all three movie stories are based on an unreal world. Maybe it makes a movie more fantastic and mysterious.
I'm looking forward to someone making a movie reminiscent of Escher's work.

I love Stairs

I love boxes. As I wrote in the blog on 26th of April, I made lots of paper boxes when I was small. When I made paper boxes, I lived on the fourth floor of a 5-story housing complex and used stairs every day. The view from the veranda was very nice and I could see the beautiful night view of Tokyo, which was beautiful as if a jewel box had been overturned and scattered jewels.

I loved night views and there was one more thing I loved; stairs. Just so that you won't be misunderstood, I haven't exercised and am not a sporty type, so, I don't like going up stairs; I like stairs themselves. I don't know why but I like something that gives me a feeling of three-dimensional space, and stairs are one of them.

Cups which have stairs inside

About seven years ago, I was surfing the net and found interesting cups. You see the picture below; this cup has stairs inside. Isn't it strange? I like this nonsense idea of making stairs in a cup.

I bought four cups of these. Until I received the cups I didn't notice that this cup is a little inconvenient when I stir sugar because the spoon always hits the stairs, but I still like it. I love stairs but it's not like other hobbies, it's difficult to collect stairs, you know? The only thing I can do is taking pictures. So, this is a precious stairs collection for me.

The dead-end staircase

Speaking of staircases, there is one I should write about. In 2009, I attended the IPP29 (the International Puzzle Party), in San Francisco. I think some readers of this blog should have been to the IPP29. During the party, I was on a tour of the Winchester Mystery House the famous huge mansion in San Jose. 

This mansion is famous for being kept under continuous construction for decades by Sarah Winchester. Here are some pictures I took. I saw several stairs there and one of them was dead-end stairs. It looks weird and stimulates curiosity. I have no idea what the dead-end stairs were made for. It reminds me of Escher's works. This is one of my favorite places I've ever been to.

I wonder myself why I love stairs.
At least I know that stairs stimulate my imagination. I like to imagine a space that is spread after going through the stairs. I had a friend who also loves stairs in Japan. I think I was lucky I even met one and I wonder if there are people who love stairs somewhere? The world is huge; I hope I'm able to meet someone who loves stairs someday through this blog.