asymptotes

I was in Osaka in February 2024 for a scientific conference. Since it was my first time in Japan, I allotted a few free days after the conference for sightseeing.  A friend connected me with Murakami Sensei, his Japanese teacher for several years. Murakami-sensei and his wife Keiko-san graciously toured me around Kobe, where we visited several significant sights in the city and even treated me to a traditional Japanese lunch which included soba noodles and Kobe beef!   The three of us share a common passion: we are all language learners!  Murakami-sensei knows English and Keiko-san is studying Spanish. As for me, I have studied Spanish for some years, but, lately, I have concentrated on studying Japanese. It was quite an experience spending a whole day talking in three languages. While it was quite mind-boggling, it definitely was a lot of fun.  I can definitely say that that day I spent with Murakami-sensei and Keiko-san was the one of the highlights of my...

"Does God want us to suffer? What if the answer to that question is yes?" In Difficult Times We are undoubtedly in difficult times Italy is overwhelmed by number of cases and deaths due to COVID Now, news of this kind are perhaps coming much closer to home We hear the death of several doctors Perhaps we have some relatives or acquaintances who are in the frontlines or have gotten sick or are vulnerable We should also think about the daily wage earners or the homeless I don't have to explain much You can see it all over the social media We ourselves experience some difficulties during this time of quarantine We feel a bit restrained in our activities The question that comes now is: Why is this happening? Where is God in all of this? "It was not that this man sinned..  but that the works of God might be made manifest in him." Answer from the Gospel We could glimpse an answer from the Gospel from the 4th Sunday ...

Last year, I watched an anime that left a deep impression on me. It's called  蛍火の杜へ   (Sorry, I'm practicing Kanji: In Romaji it's Hotarubi no mori e , translated as "Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light" in English.) In one scene, this anime was able to mix the feelings of shock, happiness, and anguish all at the same moment. It left such a strong impact on me that I was left thinking about it for several days. To those of you who already saw the anime, I think you know what scene I am referring to. To the others who have not yet seen the anime, please watch it first (or read the plot summar y here), then come back and read the rest of this post.  I won't tell you how it happened so as not to give a spoiler. Alright, are you sure you've seen the anime or read its plot? Well then, read on. Hotarubi no mori e told about how love developed between a young girl named Hotaru (which means firefly in Japanese), and Gin, a  human who was raised ...

Christmas is commonly abbreviated as X-mas, X being a symbol of Christ. This X actually comes from the  Greek letter  chi , the first letter of  Χριστός   —    Christós  or “Christ”.  This abbreviation makes a lot of sense. Nowadays, however, I have a growing feeling that for many people, this representation has been somewhat lost. The symbol X  now means "to cross out" or "leave out" or, in recent jargon, "to cancel".    Amidst the whirlwind of Christmas activities  there is a tendency to leave out Christ in Christmas . Crazy as it may sound, it is even crazier that some people do not even know that it is actually happening.   We concern ourselves so much with Christmas preparations  —    decorations, reunions, gifts, and the  noche buena    —     that we forget about the real reasons why we are doing them.  Obviously, the solution is not to do away w...

Artificial Intelligence is Love. Below is a proof in 5 simple steps.  Artificial Intelligence is AI (substitution by initials) AI is あい (substitution by hiragana) あい is 愛 (substitution by kanji) 愛 is Love (substitution by semantics) therefore, Artificial Intelligence is Love (iterative transitivity) Q.E.D. Bonus: How does an Artificial Intelligence major confess his love? He says: I do AI - ＡＩしている (AI shiteiru). This means "I do AI - I love you".  Below is the context. "I do AI" in Japanese is ＡＩをしている (read "AI wo shiteiru" )。(Apparently, Japanese also uses ＡＩ to refer to Artificial Intelligence.) To make the sentence sound casual, the particle を (wo) could be dropped, making it ＡＩしている (AI shiteiru).  Now "AI shiteru" could be interpreted as "I do AI" (ＡＩしている - AI shiteru) or "I love you" (愛 している- ai shiteiru). This is because "AI" could be read as "AI" which stands for Artificial Intell...

This is Part 3 of a series of 4 talk outlines on the cardinal virtues 'I will take the Ring,' he said, 'though I do not know the way.'   Elrond raised his eyes and looked at him, and Frodo felt his heart pierced by the sudden keenness of the glance. 'If I understand alright all that I have heard,' he said, 'I think this task is appointed for you, Frodo; and that if you do not find a way, no one will.'   - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring Introduction Society has always admired and exalted people who have overcome great difficulties to achieve an ideal or goal Roselle Ambubuyug, blind student who graduated BS Math  summa cum laude  in Ateneo de Manila University Filipina pilot without hands Manny Pacquiao Martyrs Frodo and the quest to destroy the One Ring These are examples of the virtue of fortitude. What is Fortitude? Fortitude is the capacity to pursue an ideal despite the difficulties Fortitude st...

This is Part 2 of a series of 4 talk outlines on the cardinal virtues  'Puzzle' by Olga Shevchenko* First impression and misconceptions about the virtue Usually it is associated with control, restrain, resistance.  This is not incorrect.  However, this is not the most important thing about this virtue.  It is only an aspect, or we could even say, a consequence of the deeper meaning of the virtue. Worse is the virtue’s being associated with prohibition, ban, prevention,   bawal(Tagalog) ,   guinadili (Bisaya) . This is one of the reasons why this virtue may seem unpopular to some people. People could even look at this virtue as unmanly. Definition Temperance is the order and integration of the appetites   to the person Temperance is the proper integration of the bodily appetites to the person. In Latin, temperance means having to dispose various parts into one unified and ...