Notices by Minoru Saba (minorusaba@toad.social), page 11

And on humanity's visionary side:

Not only can we see neutrinos, we can now measure their spectrum. In essence, we can see neutrinos in *color* and start to track down the cosmic sources that create them.

https://www.science.org/content/article/cosmic-neutrinos-kink-could-help-explain-particles-origins #science #nature #physics

@David @gaijinmommy.bsky.social
The red shinkansen is the Komachi which is linked to the Hayabusa on the Tokyo to Morioka stretch before being decoupled and heading on to Akita on rails modified from the existing narrow gauge.
It's the only shinkansen I've been on which passes through railroad crossings and a switchback (at Omagari).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komachi_(train)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayabusa_(train)

"US military acknowledges ‘mistake’ in US civilian’s arrest on Okinawa street"
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2025-12-11/el-okinawa-military-police-patrols-usfj-20064186.html
🔸Hadn't seen this in Japanese media, but seems Asahi Shimbun (27 Nov) quoted "Stars and Stripes" article of 26 Nov and pointed out possible breach by US military of Japanese police authority.
https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASTCW1GJ4TCWTPOB001M.html
#Okinawa #HotPotato

"The kanji for ”kuma”, meaning bear, was picked [to represent] the social mood in Japan this year"
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20251212/p2g/00m/0na/048000c
#kanji #bear #Japan

Infection status
Released Dec 12, 2025.
- As of period from Dec 1 - Dec 7, 2025 -

No. of patients per medical facility (nationwide) 1.26
Change from prev. week -0.18
[Source: Health-Labor-Welfare Ministry weekly report]
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001609614.pdf
🔸Week 25 of 13th wave
Saga at 0.54, Tokyo at 0.51, Akita at 1.96, Hokkaido at 3.37, Okinawa at 0.33, Niigata at 3.38

#Influenza (nationwide) at 38.51
Change from prev. week -6.48
#Fukuoka at 65.56
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001609793.pdf
#CovidIsNotOver
#Japan

Strong jolt in Tokyo about 5 min. ago.
Seems epicentre was up in Tochigi or Ibaraki.
Fastest response seemed to be Yahoo! Japan.
https://emergency-weather.yahoo.co.jp/weather/en/earthquake/
#Japan #earthquake

⚠Preliminary info: #earthquake (#地震) about 20 km SW of #Utsunomiya-shi (#Japan) 2 min ago (local time 19:05:21)❗MAGNITUDE NOT AVAILABLE YET❗Updates at:
📱https://m.emsc.eu/#app
🌐https://m.emsc.eu
🖥https://www.emsc-csem.org

"This is a weird moment in fusion. Investors are pouring billions into the field to build power plants, and some companies are even signing huge agreements to purchase power from those still-nonexistent plants."

"...as Ed Morse, a professor of nuclear engineering at Berkeley, summed it up to me: “They don’t have a reactor.” "
(MIT Technology Review, 25 Sept 2025)
https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/09/25/1124050/fusion-future-funding/
🔸i.e. This is bananas!

@peertube the image look really AI-generated 🫣

"Violence has subsided but not stopped since the Gaza truce took effect on October 10, and at least seven people were reported killed on Saturday"
"Although fighting has diminished, Israel has continued to attack Gaza and demolish what it says is Hamas infrastructure"
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-talks-critical-moment-qatari-prime-minister-says-2025-12-06/

NOAA SWPC is predicting a higher than anticipated G3-level geo-mag storm this evening due to the arrival of a coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS).

This is unrelated to the recent X-class flares off the western edge of the Sun.

Coronal holes are cooler, less dense regions than the surrounding plasma. Their open, magnetic field line structure allows the solar wind to escape more readily into space, resulting in streams of relatively fast solar wind.

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
4/n

"[Japan's PM] Takaichi told Parliament last week that there was no possibility of a ”Truss shock,” downplaying parallels with the 2022 selloff in gilts and the pound that sank British Prime Minister Liz Truss' plan for unfunded tax cuts"
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-prime-minister-takaichi-tries-avoid-truss-shock-2025-12-05/
🔸Lettuce couldn't be reached for comments?🤔
#Japan #Takaichi #Truss #lettuce

Vivaldi Four Seasons: Winter (L'Inverno), original version
Performed by Cynthia Miller Freivogel (baroque violin by Johann Paul Schorn, Salzburg, Austria, 1715) and Voices of Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPdk5GaIDjo

I still mask indoors at all times. It might suck, but by God:

☑️ no colds or flu in >5 years
☑️ no Covid reinfections to make me relapse on long Covid
☑️ marked safe(r) from whatever infection RFK Jr is allowing to spread this time
☑️ helps out higher risk people
☑️ because it's been politicized, scared people know I'm not going to Karen out on them
☑️ it repels MAGAs too
☑️ My survival sticks it to Trump and RFK Jr

That's one heck of an upside.

#Covid #CovidIsNotOver #LongCovid

Infection status
Released Dec 5, 2025.
- As of period from Nov 24 - Nov 30, 2025 -

No. of patients per medical facility (nationwide) 1.44
Change from prev. week -0.2
[Source: Health-Labor-Welfare Ministry weekly report]
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001604660.pdf
🔸Week 24 of 13th wave
Saga at 0.5, Tokyo at 0.58, Akita at 4.16, Hokkaido at 3.23, Okinawa at 0.4, #Niigata at 4.49

#Influenza (nationwide) at 44.99
Change from prev. week -6.13
#Saitama at 74.81 !!
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001604838.pdf
#CovidIsNotOver
#Japan

"...the satellite will complete Japan's seven-orbiter geolocation system, called the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System [which] is key to providing uninterrupted services without relying on satellites from other countries"
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20251202/p2g/00m/0sc/006000c

🔸Orbits of QZSS satellites result in "ground traces [that] are asymmetrical figure-8 patterns"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasi-Zenith_Satellite_System
#Japan #QZSS #satellite

It's Thursday (木曜日: mokuyōbi) here in Japan and since 木星 is Jupiter, the Japanese "Thursday" seemed to align more with the French "jeudi", but remembering Jupiter was partial to thunderbolts and thus equating to Thor solved the puzzle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thursday

What was harder to resolve is "Wednesday", but apparently OED suggested both Odin and Mercury were "gods of eloquence" (and 水星 is the planet Mercury, hence 水曜日). Interestingly "mittwoch" sidestepped all this.🙂
https://www.etymonline.com/word/Wednesday

"Japan launches its version of DOGE to cut wasteful spending"
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20251125_B4/
🔸An example of Japan's govt currying favour with US admin with a publicity stunt or a gross lack of self awareness😓

"Flood death toll rises rapidly across south-east Asia to more than 900"
"Large parts of Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Sri Lanka reeling after rare cluster of storms"
https://www.ft.com/content/61371c71-6518-4bd2-a702-7e74ba29e9c6
🔸"Rare" events increasingly becoming the norm.
#ClimateChange

"China is bearing down on Taiwan – enabled by Trump’s weakness and vacillation" (Simon Tisdall, The Guardian)
"The US hasn’t just left Ukraine vulnerable; it is also provoking Xi’s intensifying attitude towards what he considers a renegade province"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/30/china-donald-trump-xi-jinping-taiwan-trade
🔸Which probably explains Japanese media finally (albeit timidly) daring to point out US admin's for-profit attempt to throw Ukraine to the Russian bear. (As if we haven't had a surfeit of bears to worry about)