Academic food chain pyramid

Last week I came across the academic food chain pyramid...

The society much like the in the animal kingdom behaves in food chains pyramids... Well we are animals after all! Sometimes, the law of strongest does not apply to humans though, it might have worked in the stone age, but not anymore...Nowadays the law of the smartest that holds power and influence rules the food chain pyramid in the society!!

The academic world is no exception; here as well the rule of power determines who gets to be on top and on the different levels in the complex food chain system... So moving along to my case...I’m a student, literally a nobody, so I would expect to be on the top bottom of the pyramid, the one that everybody seems to own... But guess what, it turns out there is someone even standing below me, the undergraduate students...Yes even in the student universe there is a marked hierarchy.

To sum it up, my supervisors are my predators like the lion chasing after its prey (that would be me) and I just became a predator for the students standing below me... Because I don’t like to see myself as predator I think I would be a vegetarian, maybe kinda like the Bambi!!

Terror by the morning...

Lately i havent had any use for my alarm clock and this due to this animal that starts making noises once the daylight breaks in! It has been painful waking up around 6 or 7 am everyday...Who would have thought something so small can make so much noise!

The male cicadas are apparently the ones responsible for all the noise, why they do it...who knows... Anyway here goes a nice (actually not that nice since it was taken with Pentax M40) picture of the ones that have been waking me up everyday.

Cumulus clouds with flat bottoms...ever wonder why?

Up until today, I never wonder about that, but I don’t why today, while in the University I looked out off the window to the city and a saw a very distinguished line separating the clouds in the sky... So I wonder why that happens! First step discover what kind of cloud I saw in the sky. That wasn’t so hard. The several types are divided for both shape related and altitude related characteristics. The ones I saw are the low altitude ones the cumulus, so called like this because they appear to be in a pile or heap.So my question got a little more specific...Why do Cumulus clouds have flat bottoms?After a little more research, and thanks to Yahoo Answers I found my answer:

It has to do basically with the temperature of the air and the point when the water condensate in to small droplets to form the clouds. Since the temperature in the atmosphere does not vary horizontally, just vertically the clouds appear to have flat bottom. The bottom of the cloud represents the so called dew point, above which the water condensates and below which the water remains in vapour!

Festival of the stars - Tanabata

Tanabata or 七夕(in Japanese) means the evening of the seventh when it takes place the the festival of the stars. It was originally inspired by the Chinese festival Qi Xi.

The Chinese folclore says that Orihime (織姫, Weaving Princess) the daughter of the Tentei (天帝, Sky King) wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the Milky Way (天の川 Amanogawa). She woved everyday very hard but she was sad because she could never meet anyone and fall in love. Her father Tentei, then, arranged a meeting with Hikoboshi (彦星, Cow Herder Star) who lived and worked on the other side of the Amanogawa River (Milky Way). When the two met, it was love at first sight and shortly afterwards they got married.

Once they got married, Orihime no longer would weave cloth for Tentei and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven.

So, in anger, her father separated the two lovers across the Amanogawa River and forbade them to meet. Orihime became so devasted with the separation that begged her father to allow them to meet, Teitei moved by Orihime’s tears allowed them to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month if she worked hard and finished her weaving.

If I could imagine Orihime, that would be her...Someone you can fell in love at first sight, someone whose movements are hipnotic and amazingly perfect. I took this picture of a Japanese woman who was wearing a quimono, during the festival! She was performing and was so kind to let me take a picture of her!

The stars took up the names of Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair) that are part the most visible stars in the summer, known as summer triangle.

Nowadays the most emblematic feature of this festival is the little paper wishes you write on a piece of paper and hang in the bamboo trees!This is a picture of one of them! The wish written on it says something like, "I wish for the health of everyone to allow them enjoyment, for happiness and for a good wedding". My wishes would be similar for health, happiness and freedom, although I end up not writting them...

Ferris wheel sights

I always had a thing for ferris wheels! I rode it maybe only once in my life but i sure do like to see them! And its curious that every city, or most of the big cities around these parts has one...this maybe my 3rd close encounter with them in Japan (the other two from Yokohama and Osaka).

Anyway, this one is from Tokyo in Odaiba. It was a lovely day and it was taken after my job fair day...I got little upset with the whole job fair thing and just went around to enjoy the neighborhood and I found it!!I can say this pic was one of the highlights of that day!!

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Eternal Sunshine of a spotless mind - 2nd time around!

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!The world forgetting, by the world forgot.Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;
Alexander Pope, "Eloisa to Abelard"English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

this second time around watching the movie made me think a little!!Even we can forget the moments that cause us some pain and the path that lead us to them, i believe we end up doing just the same all over again! why?...I dont really know...Maybe is part of being human!!

Anyway, this pic was taken in a garden in Tokyo, (last time I went there around spring time) i went there in the morning and its was very quiet, it didn't seem like I was in the midle of one ofthe busiest cities in the world...Unbelieveble the duel between the giant and the peacefull dwarf...

Yellow magic

Taking advantage of the small holidays of golden week, after seeing the advertisement on the train for the wonderful landscape of a whole slope full of narcissus or Daffodil (if you prefer, is one of those American and British English things), lets check it out. I have to confess that I never would imagine such a beautiful scenario...its was magic in yellow!!

This particular flower has an interesting story for its name, it seems that Narcissus (from the Greek mythology) became so obsessed with his own reflection that as he kneeled and gazed into a pool of water, some variations say that his reflection transformed into a flower and that why the flower is slightly bended; and some other say that he fell into the water and drowned and the plant first sprang from where he died.

Anyway its really worth going...The place is called Biwako Valley and is located maybe around 30 km from Kyoto.

Deus Quer, o Homem sonha e a obra nasce - Portugal's insights...

The picture above is from a place in Sintra (close to Lisbon) called Quinta da Regaleira that could be translated to english as the Regaleira Farm, but farm here does not mean animals, and plantations, this name is rather due to its size, I think... The whole compound is composed by the house in the picture and extense gardens with lakes and caves. This area of the country is mainly constituted by limestone, so its not surprizing to find such a extensive system of natural caves...in one of them I went in with two other foreigners that were also visiting...really dark and scary to adventure on my own... Need not to tell that my favourite part were the caves...
And to go with the magnificent master piece of architecture shown in the pictures here goes a poem by Fernando Pessoa.

Relativity

Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love. How on earth can you explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love? Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.

Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Iluminare

I love Christmas ilumations, but Japanese don't seem to enjoy it very much , this because, good iluminations are nowhere to been seen. There is some ilumitations in Kobe, something called "Iluminare" that, someone explained, is kind of the a memorial for the earthquake in Kobe, every year they do it. So there I went, the iluminations where quite alright, maybe in some parts a litlle too much, but the bad part of it, is the fact that it took 2 hours to get to the place where it started (I should mention that in normal situation would take about 10 minutes). Anyway take a look!

Warm colours cold weather

Finnaly the red leaves season came to Japan again! Its amasing, and although its my second time seeing it, it still surprises me by its ultimate perfection and beuty! Here are some pictures taken in a place located west of Kyoto , Katsura Imperial Villa. Although is a little far, I think it is really worth a visit! enjoy

walking in the snow

this is a picture from 氷の山 in Hyogo-ken. Although i saw some snow and was able to walk on it, and listen to the crush , crush sound! But it didn't snow.... :( got to trough the first snow balls of this year :) it was very cold but it was very fun

Brigde to the sky

Amanohashidate is one 3 most beautiful scenic landscapes in Japan, and its said that if you look at it from the top of the nearest mountain with your head between your legs, it will seem like its floating in mid air! Honestly I didn't see it floating, although I did put my head between my legs!

The day was great...It was a pity I didn't took my swimsuit, the place had a great beach...Surelly a good option for summer...

Beautiful mountains - Taikou

It was the first time I caught some sunny day in this mountain , it was the 1st time i saw how beautifull it is!! Back there it was freezin cold (around 5-7ºC) so could see the leaves turning red some of them already fallen...well its was a hard hike there were times that the path was difficult to follow and may I add a litle dangerous... Anyway we made it...

Trekking Diaries

Day 19th – Rising up to the sky… 3482m….

The second day of the hike went quite smoothly, we woke up around 6:30 am, and believe or not it took us 1:30h to gather our stuff and head out to our objective that day, the Mulhacén at 3482m. It was a fine weather, the sun was shining and there very little clouds in the sky, and the temperature (although we were already quite high) was very pleasant maybe around 20º. Around 8:00 am we start the climbing from 2891m high. After some shorts breaks, some of them to see the rocks...(once a geology freak, always a geology freak – sem ofença Toni, tb me incluo). The climbing was a little hard, and seem like non ending, this because we could see Mulhacén very clearly all the way…but somehow the longer we walked it didn’t seem to get any closer…Anyway we made it there around 10:50 in the morning, and I really enjoyed the moment. After many Spaniards come and go we were still there admiring the landscape (in fact I think that both of us felt like it was so hard to get there and so we wanted to extended the moment as must as possible) The feeling was fantastic, indescribable…
Once more I made it!
Don’t know for sure up until we stayed there I maybe around 45min. Then we decided to have lunch in siete Lagunas so off we went for climbing down…it took around 1,5h to reach again siete Lagunas where, once more, we ate the delicious instant pasta. After a hour break for lunch we set off for Trevelez…It took us around 3:15h climbing down. Everything went well maybe in the first hour of climbing down, at that point somehow Toni’s knees started to hurt and soon after it was necessary to do frequently small stops for his knees to rest! I have to confess I you got me scared there, I had some pain in my feet due to my lousy boots, but your knees were in far worse condition. When we reached Trevelez…both of us were exhausted, we just laid in the closest coffee shop for one hour or so just relaxing and enjoying the moment ( I may say that the icecream Maxibom was one of the highlights of that day), and remembering our adventure…back to camping I had a long shower and a delicious dinner in a place with view for the village. That night, it took me maybe 1 minute to fall a sleep…
In the beginning we had planned to go to Veleta the next day, but soon we realized that we would be going, not this time…
Thinking back, I would only do different the second day…maybe a 3 days trip is more appropriate, to climb down almost 2000m in one day, it can proved to be very hard for our knees…

The next day we would have hoped for Alhambra but unfortunately couldn’t make it, the tickets were all sold out! So instead we just walk around Granada, got pass some street tea markets, the cathedral (amasing)… It was very hot that day, around 40º…so they say is one of the hottest cities in Europe…

the mountain hut

How often do we get to such a lovely hut...it reminded me of the swiss chalés!!

Beuty up close

One of my favourite types of photos, macros...It is amasing what you can capture in photo...this one was taken in a shrine in the north part of the city - Kamigamo Shrine. It sure is worth a visit altough is takes about 30 min by bycicle to get there...

Trekking Diaries – Sierra Nevada (Mountaineering)

Day 18th

After being advised by the kind persons in the camping park, we changed slightly our trail, the aim remained the same Mullacén in 2 days. Thinking back now, maybe it would be better to do a 3 days trip and enjoy a little more the mountain and by that slowly descend. We started off that day to siete lagunas (this trail according to the locals is one of the most beautiful landspace trail to get to Mullacén) at 8:30 at the altitude of 1550m. In the village was easy to find the trail. The time course issue is always something very discussable, in this case was no exception, in our topographic map was written its took about 3 hours, in the village its said it took about 5 hours, and for us, it took about 8 hours with lots of little breaks and 45min break for lunch, for instant pasta (all we would have for meals in those 2 days).

It was a fine day, the sun was shining and that time already very hot, we set off with our heavy backpacks towards the village (still remember what my parents said when they saw me leaving the house with the backpack, are you climbing the mountain with that? , isn’t that too heavy, I wonder, maybe they were right). The thing is, there are things there are a surely a must take thing like the tent, sleeping bag, small stove, stuff for cook, some medicines in case, and the most important and one of the heaviest WATER.

The village was still half asleep, since it was still early, and the path was very easy to find following the indications given in the park. We found the indication for Siete Lagunas soon after, and then we set out of the village. The trail started in a narrow stony path commonly called ”goat path”. For the 1st maybe 2- 3 hours that was all, going up we crossed some other very friendly Spanish people, at first we manage to go with them at their rhythm but soon enough we found out, that our heavy backpacks would force us to go slower… Ironically we met them again when we reach laguna Hondera, our objective for that day, smiling and preparing to go down…Anyway, after a couple hours the landscape changed, we left the narrow path and start to walk on a the mountain trail, the trail was very easy to follow and the few places that could arise dough there were indications (nota 10), as we looked back we saw the Village Trevelez with its white houses became smaller and smaller, and after while we couldn’t see it anymore, but its was still very far from siete lagunas…We had lunch (instant carbonara) in a place called Campinuela a flat place…still a lot to go…after replenishing our energies we set off again, at this point from time to time we would find the natural creeks, of course its not advisable to drink water from them, but personally I always do for one reason, who the hell goes to that big of an effort of walking to approximately 2300-2500m of altitude and get the water dirty…there only goats…And since I’m still here, it means that the water is not that bad…(maybe much better than the one I drink from the tap). After too many breaks, and meeting once or twice groups of Spanish coming down encouraging us to keep on, we reached the Chorreras Negras, a beautiful waterfall, with little water in this time of the year, but nonetheless spectacular…This was the last effort, we were both very tired already, I remember begging for a break in the middle of the way up…just postponing the inevitable… And finally Laguna Hondera, the biggest lagoon of the Siete Lagunas complex…

Its was… I think I cannot really describe the satisfaction I felt and magnificence of the landscape… It was around 4pm when we finished, we didn’t do anything else that day, just resting and contemplating the scenery…we had to wait until almost sundown to set up the tent (rules of the mountain, camping is permitted but only 1 hour before sundown and 1 hour after sunrise) , cooked this time kind of spaghetti a la Bolognese, and had our National Geographic moment with the only animals that can climb that high : the goats (these animals are impressive…).

After setting the tent in a not so windy place (like if that existed in that place) and it was about 7pm when we went to bed. I had a cold, so that night was quite rough for me and for Antonio, since I wake him up maybe several times…During the night it was not that cold but the wind was scary (in that moment I was thankful to be in a supertent), my only regret was to have stayed inside of tent. For brief moments I saw from the inside of the tent the incredible night sky outside…this because the higher you get the less interference we have from pollution and the heat in the atmosphere…but unfortunately a good night sleep is crucial for the next day hike…Couldn’t stay and see it…

black and white

This picture was taken in a shrine in Shizuhara a small village in north of Kyoto, pass there in one of my hikes! The black and white give to it a nice feeling!! enjoy