Day 5060: A Special Dinner & TBT & A Wet Nose.

   

"3": junk paper collage, acrylic papers, digital.

 

  

Want music?

    Click: Aretha Franklin, Natural Woman.

2GN2S

Tuesday turned out to be a doubly special day. In the evening I was invited to dinner with the Sakai family at Kagura Tonkatsu Restaurant in Costa Mesa. They specializes in Tonkatsu, which I love. A very popular venue with great revues.

688 Baker Street, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 (714) 760-4728

We each took a picture of our selection.

Mika & Soma both ordered Pork Tonkatsu.

Atomu (Chris's) order, chicken katsu

Taigen's order, Wagyu beef.

I ordered Katsu-don: pork, egg, onions on rice, my favorite.

me, Atomu, Mika, Soma, Taigen

As good as it looks, it tasted even better. But, if I had to pick between the meal or the family, I would pick the family. There is a little history behind us. Atomu, the father, was my student over thirty five years ago, can you imagine? I called him Chris back then, and it usually pops out now too. Chris was a very special student who really exemplified what I hoped for in a student. He was especially adept at help other student learn in his own quiet way. I never knew what he did exactly, but who ever he helped got noticeably better that day. It was amazing. I was sorry to lose him when he started high school, but that is often the case, and I wouldn't want any student to miss out on high school activities.

But, some years ago as I was training at our Honbu Dojo with Demura Sensei, and I was asked if I had met a new adult student, Chris? I looked and said what is your last name? He said Sakai, and I said I know you. He smiled  and said you taught me about thirty years ago. And so we got to train together as adults and I was so lucky to be there when he earned his black belt.

But there is more! Chris and his beautiful wife, Mika had two great boys, Taigen and Soma, who were little, and sometimes would come to the dojo and sit quietly as we trained. Sometimes they would read, sometimes they would watch and now they are both jr. red belts, which is our highest rank for juniors. At age 15 they can start all over again working towards a black belt. They are both taller than me and just the nicest young men. I love to be around them. Full circle.

  

 The tiny groove under a dog’s nose, known as the philtrum, really does help keep the nose moist. It helps move moisture from the mouth area toward the nose, which supports the damp surface dogs use to smell more effectively. That part is true. A wet nose matters because scent particles in the air stick better to moisture, making it easier for dogs to pick up smells.

That said, it would be an overstatement to say this groove alone is what gives dogs their incredible sense of smell. The philtrum is only a small part of a much larger system. Dogs are able to smell so well mainly because their noses are built for it. They have far more scent receptors than humans, a powerful scent-processing system in the brain, and specialized structures that help them separate and analyze odors in detail.

So the correct explanation is that the line under a dog’s nose helps channel moisture and may help keep the nose wet, which can improve scent detection. But it is not the main source of a dog’s smelling power. Their amazing ability to detect scents comes mostly from their advanced nasal structure and overall biology. In simple words, the groove helps a little, but the dog’s entire smell system is what makes its nose so powerful.

 

   

front: Kim Israelson, Rachel Maher, Raquel Friedman, Cheyenne Lopez, Chloe Brown
back: Lius Perez, Tyler Kerce, Brandon Nomura, Brian, me, Michael Keating.

 

Some of Costa Mesa Dojo after 

Demura Sensei's Kangieko (Cold Weather Training)

Huntington Beach, CA 

2001

  

 

A 11 minute video, if only lonely, here.

 

Just because ...

Marico Sunbird

Thursday's Smiles ... 

 

  

  

Hoping you feel all the good things in your day.

  

 

 

Day 5059: Grandhunk #1 is in town! & The Binturong.

"Somber Clarise": graphite drawing, watercolor, junk mail collage on a journal page.

  

Want music?

    Click: Chaka Khan, Until You Come Back to Me.

2GN2S

 To answer the phone and it's GH#1, Jordan in town wanting to go for lunch, turns a normal day into something special. All 6'6" of his handsome self is in town for the weekend and his Granma is ecstatic! His beautiful wife, Raquel will fly in Thursday after work as they have friends to visit. We went to Tru Bru Coffee, Orange,

Jordan ordered a breakfast burrito and a cold brew, I had a plain bagel with cream cheese, tomato, lemon pepper, and mint tea.

We talked about his starting the Fire Academy next week. 

He worked five years as an EMT, Paramedic School and has now graduated, earning his national Paramedic Certification. He has been hired by Henderson Fire Department, in Nevada who will send him through fire academy. He has worked so hard and is now there. I told him about the day he graduated from kindergarten.

He was wearing a shirt and tie, and feeling great. On the way home, I asked him what he thought he'd do when he was a grown-up?

He looked at me, very serious and said, "I don't know Grandma, but I want to help people."

   

The Binturong

The binturong, also known as the bearcat, is an arboreal viverrid native to South and Southeast Asia. It is the only species in the genus Arctictis, which is further divided into nine subspecies. It has long, thick hair, and is primarily dark in appearance, but can also have a whitish speckled pelage 

 

  

 

A 3+ minute video, Tapanuli Orangutan, here.

 

 

Just because ...

Blue-backed Manakin

Wednesday's Smiles ... 

 

Hoping you feel all the good things in your day.

  

 

 

Day 5058: Rip and Tear? & Sodium-ion Batteries.

"Win": tape junk paper collage.

  

Want music?

    Click: FJK & Masego, Tadow

2GN2S

 I'm not sure if it's the ripping or the speed, but to collage with shipping tape is really fun! A step-by-step? Okay.

All you need is any clear shipping tape, mine is Scotch brand.

Magazines, newspaper, junk mail ... paper. High gloss, processed, varnished papers may resist the tape. In my opinion,  cheaper, thinner papers work best.

Then a substrate, or whatever you want to do your collage on.

I am going to use the above yellow 4.5 x 6" postcard ...

Lay the strapping tape on top of the area you want to pick up 

(heavier paper may need to be burnished) ... then rip it up!

step 1

Apply the tape to the substrate. You can't completely control what adheres to the tape, but I think that's part of the fun? 

step 2

The tape that doesn't adhere paper, adheres to the substrate, I use glue stick on the back of the adhered area of tape.

step 3

No limit on how many layers. There seems to be a learning curve ... or ripping curve? I am not an expert, but it is fun ripping & layering. My first attempts were too busy, too many layers, so this one I stopped before. You can be crop to catch a good area.

BTW: There is a popular technique also using shipping tape,

adhering the tape onto the area to be transferred, 

then wetting the tape and rubbing off the adhered paper. 

The remaining image on the tape is a transparent transfer. 

A more accurate copy & with more time involved. 

This is not that, but a different effect.

Sodium-ion batteries just became one of the most significant clean energy breakthroughs of the decade — and the world's largest battery manufacturer is already making them at scale. MIT Technology Review named sodium-ion batteries one of its top 10 breakthrough technologies of 2026, and Chinese battery giant CATL confirmed it began manufacturing sodium-ion batteries at industrial scale in 2025. The technology matters because it replaces lithium, a geographically concentrated and increasingly expensive mineral, with sodium — an element so abundant it is literally extracted from ordinary seawater and table salt, making it one of the most universally accessible materials on Earth.

Sodium-ion batteries carry real limitations compared to their lithium-ion counterparts: they cannot pack as much energy into the same cell volume, limiting their appeal for applications where weight and size are critical constraints. But for the two applications where energy density matters less than cost and longevity — grid-scale electricity storage and smaller urban electric vehicles — sodium-ion cells are proving genuinely competitive. Grid storage does not need to be lightweight. It needs to be cheap, durable, and deployable at massive scale, precisely the profile that sodium-ion chemistry delivers when manufactured at the volumes CATL is now achieving in China.

Clean energy investors are increasingly bullish on sodium-ion batteries as one of the most economical near-term solutions for grid-scale storage, particularly when paired with solar generation in hybrid solar-plus-battery facilities. As alternative battery chemistries like sodium-ion and zinc reach commercial maturity, analysts project further cost reductions that could accelerate grid storage deployment beyond even the record-setting pace already set in 2025.

Source: MIT Technology Review, 2026

#SodiumIonBattery #CleanEnergy #China #BatteryStorage #EnergyBreakthrough

 

 

  

 

A 2+ minute video, Drawing the eye , here.

 

 

Just because ...

Maroon Oriole

Tuesday's Smiles ... 

 

Hoping you feel all the good things in your day.