歡樂動漫魂－－妖怪交涉人《漫畫》

漫畫名：妖怪交涉人（もののけもの）
漫畫家：御壺Ｘ龍侍（ゴツボ×リュウジ）
集　數：兩集未完
譯　者：茹茂華
※原文版2007年起～‧於2008年6月起由日本角川授權長鴻中文化※


一看到漫畫封面，當下直覺很想哇啦哇啦地鬼叫著：「御壺你這小子根本就是眼鏡控嘛！問題是，身為男性漫畫家的你，為什麼眼鏡都載在男主角身上，你腦袋裡的構造是什麼我很想知道啊啊啊－－！！」

《妖怪交涉人》其實是套很KUSO很宅很動漫很軟性很同人誌的歡樂作品，而御壺Ｘ龍侍這人還挺好懂的（笑），完全是個動漫魂火力全開的人類啊！而經由這套漫畫，總算明瞭日本的「脫力」是意指「無心之舉、不花力氣便能完成任務」之形容詞，御壺Ｘ龍侍便是其創作理念的箇中翹楚，同樣的，讀者也不用花什麼力氣，就能從中得到一段爆笑的歡樂時光。

「那一天，我，被選上了！」最喜歡的外婆與世長辭，定居東京的長孫物部伊吹與父親一同回到久違的故鄉奔喪，迎接他的除了兒時玩伴與一如往昔的家鄉景色外，居然還有「第126代‧妖怪交涉人」之神劍管理者天職，絲毫不想擔負起此任務的伊吹，但父親卻把他丟在家鄉、自個兒跑去海外單身赴任，無可奈何的伊吹開始了手法雖粗暴卻也次次皆有解決任務的學生兼妖怪交涉人之脫力生涯。

是東京嗎？
是東京搞的鬼嗎？！
是東京的水泥叢林把你變成這種無情漢嗎？！
唔唔！可惡的東京！
【截錄自「第一怪」大天狗之對白】

基本上，這類漫畫除了主角之外，其他出場人物的腦袋，大多都違反社會正常規範認知，也因為兩者的衝突，笑點的產生自然水到渠成。不過，要吐槽就得先有偏見，不論這偏見酸甜苦辣，因而實中帶虛、若有若無的刺到心砍裡，漫畫看似很搞笑，卻呼應每個人的人生中，有著充滿數不盡的可悲可笑可嘆與可憐，噴笑之餘，難免迸出饒富趣味的心酸感，也因為這樣，我對御壺Ｘ龍侍的好感度正向上提昇，即使他的作品多半會有後繼無力的問題，但仍是一位很值得追書的漫畫家！HomeAny source

Quinta noche tropical del año

Bueno esto parece que va a ser ya una rutina, noche tras noche será tropical salvo alguna noche con motivo extraordinario. Por tanto hoy se ha registrado la quinta noche tropical del año, ha sido de 20,8ºC a las 5:56 horas. De nuevo el maldito viento de poniente constante ha hecho una conciliación del sueño difícil.

De nuevo Torrevieja, como otras muchas noches, ha sido la ciudad más calurosa de la zona cercana a Orihuela:
Torrevieja (Alicante): 23,3ºC
Murcia (Murcia): 22,1ºC
Murcia - Malecón (Murcia): 22,0ºC
Cartagena (Murcia): 21,9ºC
Alicante (Alicante): 21,4ºC
Denia (Alicante): 20,9ºC
Molina de Segura (Murcia): 20,6ºC
San Vicente del Raspeig (Alicante): 20,6ºC
Muchamiel (Alicante): 20,4ºCAny source

Giornata verde in casa Google

Scritto da: Chiara De Servi, Account Strategist

Pochi giorni fa i googlers di tutto il mondo si sono cimentati in una nuova, piccola sfida a sostegno delle comunità locali e dell'ambiente. Tra i principali progetti di green service abbiamo piantato alberi, pulito parchi e spiagge.

Noi Googlers italiani ci siamo dati appuntamento al Boscoincittà e al parco delle Cave, due parchi pubblici che si trovano in una zona periferica e problematica della città di Milano.

Con l'aiuto dell'associazione Italia Nostra abbiamo lavorato a diversi progetti, coinvolgendo realtà locali come la cooperativa La strada e l'associazione via Quarti.

Una giornata di lavoro per sistemare un sentiero in legno, pulire boschi e vivai, ripristinare le reti intorno alla cava Ongari, riverniciare le porte da calcio dove giocano i ragazzi di via Quarti e con orgoglio restituirgliele.

Certo sono davvero piccole azioni ma l'impatto è stato immediato. Prova in fin dei conti che non occorrono grandi mezzi per fare qualcosa di buono, solo un po' di volontà ;)

Any source

Calor, Xafogor i ruixats estiuencs.

Dissabte 21 va entrar l’estiu astronòmic però ja portàvem un parell de dies que es feien notar arreu del país. A la comunitat andalusa i extremenya, per exemple, les temperatures ja han arribat al llindar dels 40ºC. A Tossa de Mar, s’han apropat als 30ºC i la nit de dimarts a dimecres va representar la primera nit tropical amb 22,1ºC de mínima, recordar que les nits tropicals és quan la temperatura mínima és superior als 20ºC.
Si observem la taula següent de les màximes i les mínimes d’aquests darrers dies, podem veure com l’estiu ha arribat i de forma ben marcada. Sembla que durant els propers dies la calor ha de ser la tònica del dia a dia.

No obstant, i degut aquesta calorades i al pas de petites àrees d’inestabilitat, a la zona pirenaica es podrien produir ruixats localitzats, que de cara a divendres es podrien estendre en punts del nord-est, en principi no sembla que hagin d’arribar a Tossa tot i que si hi haurien intervals de núvols a partir del migdia.

Un altre element meteorològic que notem aquest dies, és la xafogor. La xafogor, és la temperatura subjectiva que sent el nostre cos, aquesta temperatura és l’acció conjunta de la temperatura ambient (calor) i la humitat relativa de l’aire.
L’èsser humà transmet calor (transpiració del cos), quan la humitat de l’aire, conjuntament amb la temperatura ambient, és elevada, dificulta la transpiració del cos i és aquí, quan notem la sensació de xafogor. La suor, per exemple, és degut a la saturació de la transpiració corporal. A la taula següent, podem veure la temperatura de xafogor amb unes condicions determinades temperatura i humitat.

Any source

You Don't Mess with the Krughan

In response to Arnold Kling's June 24^th post:

Arnold, you're not wrong in saying that your misinterpretation of a Krugman quote is wrong. The problem is that Krugman never meant what you think he meant.

Here's the quote you refer to:

"Well, a futures contract is a bet about the future price. It has no, zero, nada direct effect on the spot price"

You're interpreting it as though Krugman said it has no effect on the spot price. He didn't say that. He said it has no direct effect on the spot price. And just two sentences later he goes on to say, "Any effect on the spot market has to be indirect...".

What did Krugman mean by all of this?

The Futures market and price is clearly related to the spot price, and can clearly affect it. You don't have to get all flowery and philosophical to see the key direct way, which is through arbitrage. The futures price cannot get too much higher than the spot price or else there will be arbitrage opportunities that are easy to see and will be jumped all over, bidding the futures price down and the spot price up.

For example, suppose the futures price of oil in one month were $140, and the spot (today) price were $130. An investor with good credit and access to funds could sign a futures contract to sell 100 million barrels in one month. Then, he could borrow $130 million and use it to buy 100 million barrels of oil.today. He would store the oil for one month, and then sell it at the price guaranteed in the futures contract, $140/barrel. With no risk, he would guarantee himself a profit of millions because interest costs on the $100 million he borrowed for one month, and the storage costs of the oil for one month, will be less than the $10 million difference between 100 million barrels bought at $130, and sold at $140.

Arbitrageurs will jump all over this and keep buying at spot and selling at futures until the futures and spot prices get close enough that the difference between them won't be big enough to pay the interest and storage costs. So, the futures price can never get too much higher than the spot price. And when the futures price is bid up – perhaps by speculators, this will pull up the spot price with it – but notice how; through arbitrage, through speculators buying on spot and holding in storage – hoarding! Just like Krugman said.

Speculation is only going to boost the spot price if there is some hoarding.

But an important issue, still, is how much hoarding is necessary. I discussed this in my June 17th post, and Columbia economist Guillermo Calvo eluded to it as well in a June 20^th post; the amount of hoarding necessary to push up the price a lot depends on how inelastic the supply and demand curves are in the short run, or very short run.

If you look at Krugman's graph in his May 13^th post , he has the supply and demand curves drawn pretty diagonally, indicating a lot of elasticity in both the supply and demand. The empirical reality in the very short run might, however, be that those lines are very inelastic, very close to straight vertical lines. In that case, when you boost the price, the gap between them that develops is very narrow, indicating that not that much has to be hoarded.

So, if supply and demand in the short run, or very short run, are inelastic enough, then perhaps a small enough amount would have to be hoarded that it could go undetected by the oil inventory records. Theoretically, this is possible, but I'm just not expert in oil inventory recording and the empirics of oil elasticity, so I can't really say how likely this is in the real world.

In any case, Krugman is right that speculators can only hurt us if they're hoarding. That's the only way they can affect the price, and this is true for anything. Speculators helped bubble up housing because they bought homes and held them for like a year or more. They held them, hoping the price would keep going up. They didn't sell them the next day, and when they did start selling them that really helped deflate the bubble. Speculators helped bubble up tech stocks in the late 90s because they bought them and held them for like a year or more, hoping the price would keep shooting up. If they sold them the next day, they would not have contributed to that bubble.

Any source

Cuarta noche tropical del año

De noche en tropical en noche tropical y tiro porque me toca...Hoy se ha registrado la cuarta noche tropical del año, ha sido de 21,4ºC a las 6:16 horas. De nuevo el maldito viento de poniente constante ha hecho una conciliación del sueño difícil.

Vamos a ver que localidad cercana a Orihuela ha sufrido la noche más calurosa en el día de hoy:
Santomera (Murcia): 24,9ºC
Aeropuerto El Altet (Alicante): 23,2ºC
Torrevieja (Alicante): 22,8ºC
Murcia (Murcia): 23,1ºC
Alicante (Alicante): 20,9ºC
Cartagena (Murcia): 21,8ºC
Denia (Alicante): 21,8ºC
Molina de Segura (Murcia): 22,0ºC
San Vicente del Raspeig (Alicante): 20,8ºC
Novelda (Alicante): 21,0ºC

Parece ser que la pasada noche en Santomera, a escasos 15 kilómetros de Orihuela, se ha dado un efecto foehn o se ha acumulado el calor en la ciudad de una forma extraordinaria.Any source

Comienza el Descenso Veraniego de las Reserva Hídricas

Después de una Primavera tan lluviosa, el calor veraniego a llegado. Y por primera vez en este año, las Reservas Hídricas comienzan a descender. Este descenso, es del todo Normal, y en nuestra zona, suele durar unos 3/4 meses de media, para volver a empezar con su aumento a partir de Septiembre u Octubre.

Así, Barcena registro un descenso importante, con -10 hm3 menos que la semana pasada (-2,93%).

Prada también registró un descenso significativo, con -2 hm3 menos que la semana pasada (-1,64%).

En el resto de los embalses , San Martín continua al 90% y Peñarrubia se mantiene al 84,62% de su capacidad total. La Cuenca de Ourense también se nota una elevada perdida, y desciende -36 Hm3 hasta el 72,93% ( 1.169 Hm3 ) de su capacidad total.

Any source