You know things in Chicago are bad when 70 murders in the first quarter can be seen as a good thing. But context is everything: Last year at this time there had been more than 120 murders, so I guess we should thank God for small favors.

Context is everything when it comes to priorities.  And listening to Rahm Emmanuel talking about getting people out of the cloistered churches makes me want to cringe.  It's as if he wants to throw them to wild dogs and somehow pacify the dogs.

From 剣術打擊十德 (Ten ways of striking with a sword [for the purpose of training with a shinai]) by Chiba sensei from Edo period

1. Be intense with the offensive techniques

There is a saying that the offense is the best defense. Seme is very important in kendo -- one attacks from a given distance, or goes in with a waza. A split second of inattention can invite an attack from your aite, so when you're executing a waza it's best to continue striking until your aite is overwhelmed. If the first strike missed, then continue on with the next one. And if the next one did not work, then the next, and then the next, and so on. The offense has to continue like an arrow that has left the bow. It's also advisable to drill in such intensive, continuous attack when countering as well.

Source: Kendo Nippon (剣道日本) 11/2007

Glossary
seme (せめ; 攻め): holding superior position in respect to aite through kiryoku and other ways
waza (わざ; 技): technique, skill
shikake waza (しかけわざ;仕掛け技): offensive technique

Disclaimer: This text is offered as a mere educational material. Your teacher's instructions override anything you find here. What you find here may not be suitable for the type of training you're receiving.

With two of my daughters after an hour long practice in the backyard.

If I can speak multiple languages and identify a set of squiggly lines from another, but have not love, I am but a barking dog asking to be put to sleep. And if I have predictive powers that Bernie Madoff had once been attributed, and understand the inner secrets of carcinogenesis enough to come up with a reversible solution, and if I have all faith, so as to throw Mt. Everest into the deep canyons of Mariana Trench, but have not love, I am but an anti-matter. If I unreservedly offer everything I have been blessed with to a good task, and if I apply my body to the delivery of Dunkin Donuts for my coworkers, but have not love, I gain nothing but crusty leftover donuts.

Kendo basic technique exercise demonstration by Kanagawa Police at the 2011 Kanagawa Kendo Competition.

Check these guys out starting at 6:15, they are fast! Their reaction time is super-human.

Sullivan literally zooms past the text to bring his version of Jesus into the modern day while glorifying Jeffersonian's deistic approach to the Scripture and a reconstructed Francis of Assisi as a secular humanitarian. It's sad that this type of writing by liars would be voraciously consumed by uninformed seekers.

How is the atmosphere of your dojo?  Is it tense and disciplined?  Is there a seriousness of intent and purpose?  Or is it loose and friendly?  Do kendoka gather to simply get a workout? 

The importance of maximizing the time during keiko cannot be overstated. Other than the places where there are many practitioners it is hard to find kendo dojo which open every single day of the week. It is probably more common to find kendoka practicing once or thrice a week. And it shouldn't be easy to find kendoka chatting or wasting time in various ways in a typical dojo with a sensei, but time can be easily misused, which affect not only ourselves but also those practicing with us. 

In a casual sense keiko can simply mean practice, but there is already a different word for practice in Japanese, renshu (練習). Keiko (けいこ) consists of two kanji characters, 稽古, where the first letter means to carefully think, assess, investigate, or discuss and the second letter means ancient, or old. It means to carefully think and investigate the ways of the old -- in our case, it would be the ways of the sword.

Are you practicing to develop a good kendo? An effective keiko with aite would help you become better at a real match, allowing a proper groundwork for cultivation and growth of your kendo. As a starter, here is a reminder of the basics that you should already know:

- Are kendoka practicing proper dojo etiquette? Are you giving proper respect and practicing etiquette to the sensei or the instructor?

- Are kendoka treating shinai like a real katana? People shouldn't be stepping over others' shinai, or treating it haphazardly. Don't allow children or beginners to lean on their shinai, or play around with it.

- Are kendoka carrying themselves with setsudo ? Is there a seriousness and discipline in all movements, such as sonkyo, batto, and in all forms of kamae?

- Are kendoka mindful enough to complete their uchi with zanshin? A strike doesn't stop at the point of impact. It involves a range of motions and proper change of inner readiness united with the physical body.

Glossary
aite (あいて; 相手): an opponent
setsudo (せつど; 節度): disciplined manner, attitude, or movement

It's probably not a good idea to continue eating or drinking stuff that kills bees en masse.

The researchers aren't suggesting that high-fructose corn syrup is itself toxic to bees, instead, they say their findings indicate that by eating the replacement food instead of honey, the bees are not being exposed to other chemicals that help the bees fight off toxins, such as those found in pesticides.

Abacus & computer class today.

If you had told me in my innocence that a country had murdered 6 million people, I would have thought that it had happened in a mythical past by a cruel king possessed by an evil spirit with orcish followers as his instrument of murder.

But, alas, it had happened less than 3 generations ago, through a leader of a modern political regime who had stirred his people in the name of economic and national revival. The surreal nature of this historical fact has astounded me once again. How is it that we can lose our humanity so quickly, in such a short period of time?

RESHARE:
One of the best execution of tsuki (throat attack) technique.

Reshared text:
59th All Japan Championship (2011), final match between Takanabe (Kanagawa) vs Higashinaga (Saitama). Takanabe scores a tsuki at 2:20. The included is a short clipping from Zen Nippon Kendo Renmei channel.

Kendo World's video, a full match, is here: 59th All Japan Kendo final

A longer clipping: 전일본 검도 선수권 대회 결승 찌르기 승부

It's instructive to watch how Inoue sensei drills his students on fundamentals at this Kyoto Budo Centre training session.

If you're an ultramarathon runner about to run 100 miles try this dish called, The Disaster Burrito. If you only walk about 5 miles a day, like I do, this can be ruinous for your adiposity.

RESHARE:
Anyone has more information on this?

Reshared text:
#MINDBLOWN  

+James Shewmaker +Jeremy Hodges Dropbox and Box.com have a new challenger. Here comes Google Drive: http://drive.google.com

A tip on effective training: finish once you start attacking.

A kendoka should train to be able to attack 9 to 10 times in one breath, focusing on the continuity and the integration of techniques, and potential weaknesses found in a continuous motion. This also helps to develop cardio, better hand and foot control, and strength. And men uchi should be preferred as the first hit of the attack as well as its last.

via Mike Criner at Quora

We can always use more reflection in our lives.

It's little disturbing to see how the Feds' announcement got buried by this issue of Islamic response over a badly made film that hasn't even been completed. Even though it is a significant international issue, it's like everyone in the US is talking about how people outside the US is behaving while their own banks are burning significant amounts of money in their checking accounts and in their own life savings. This SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING. Expect everything to cost noticeably more soon. You don't sustain a bad economy by playing hookie with your debt. You allow whatever needs to collapse to collapse (especially big entities) and restart with solid foundations.

Wed practice at the base

The video isn't using men/dou himo, but cho-musubi ribbon should be used for both men and dou himo. And this presents a formal way of tying it.

Glossary
cho-musubi (ちょうむすび; 蝶結び): butterfly knot

RESHARE:
Better than an acid test.

Reshared text:
#Humor   #GeekHumor  +Funny Or Die  #funnyordie   +Funny Pictures & Videos 

Have you heard of the Nigerian scam?  Here comes Nigerian scam mails with photos: #scam   #scammers   #nigerianscam  

This is just a word of warning to those who are trying to create a dual boot system on Windows 8 UEFI machine. Any utility out there that claims to safely update the BCD (Boot Configuration Data) is usually false. Microsoft has not finalized the standard for it, and the utility can prove to be destructive.  Also, do not follow instructions that use GParted application on Windows 8 partitions, because they are most likely to be outdated.

The idiot-proof way of doing it for now seems to be installing it on a separate hard drive (install GRUB on the start of boot partition and not MBR) while having the Windows 8 drive detached, and then booting into it via your computer's Boot Menu.

I know there are good instructions out there on how to do this, but I was trying to find a fool-proof way that doesn't have you dive into utilities that could potentially ruin BCD data or corrupt partitions.

+Jeremy Hodges, would you happen to know how I can search a text from one of my own comments in others' postings? Thanks.

Is anyone else noticing unusually high level of flu in Japan this season?

New Zealand even quarantined a flight from Tokyo.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/new-zealands-government-says-health-scare-on-international-flight-likely-just-seasonal-flu/2012/02/12/gIQARDPK9Q_story.html

They had a clean bill of health, but that's extremely high. They had a high one last year, but not this high!

UPDATE: Majority of them are A/H3-type strains, and some type B strains are also reported. They are VERY afraid of the spread of A/H1N1-like strain, which isn't as lethal as 2009 one, but the potential is there.

On the influence of music

I can't recall the name of the emperor, but there was a Chinese emperor who would listen to the music that people in a certain region were listening to, and assess their physical and mental health accordingly. Of course, that would be labeled as a pseudo-science today, but I think there are some valid assumptions behind that.

One of them is that the music influences people and their behaviors. I think the influence has more impact among youths. I remember how music played a central role in the lives of a couple of ultra-violent (skinheads or headbangers) students back in early 90s. I had known them from my middle school and by the time they were juniors in high school, they were going around town damaging properties and physically beating other students for no good reason. They were mostly fan of screamo-type heavy metal music.

It wouldn't be wise to argue that music actually caused such behaviors, but it probably affirmed a lot of cognitive dissonances they may have experienced in real life, and pushed the envelope of their violent passions. Music doesn't present itself neutral, it is not a sagacious leader.

I had experimented with heavy, bass-thumping music, and the adjective to describe it is "primal." It seemed to hinder frontal-cortex usage, and probably stimulates cerebral cortex, which may explain its heavy usage in dance clubs. Its direct association with sexualized lyrics is probably no coincidence either.

Educators have long been aware of its association with human psyche. One of the earliest, and accessible records goes back to Plato's time in Western corpus. In Republic, Socrates/Plato explicitly recommends use of music as an instrument to shape child's sense of morality. Later, Aristotle adds:

Music directly imitates the passions or states of the soul...when one listens to music that imitates a certain passion, he becomes imbued with the same passion; and if over a long time he habitually listens to music that rouses ignoble passions, his whole character will be shaped to an ignoble form.

Confucius saith:

To educate sombody, you should start from poems, emphasize on ceremonies, and finish with music.

I probably don't need to reiterate the importance of music in religions, but it is seen as a powerful instrument to mold people in many fields. In some religious circles, even Lucifer himself is recognized as a masterful musician who had once led angels in musical worship of the Creator.

What type of music do you listen to? What type of music would those dead philosophers recommend today?

#desktop  showoff day per +Jeremy Hodges 

Why don't more people practice kendo?

RESHARE:
Via +Adam Kenigsberg. The actual number from Palestinians is higher at around 12,480 rockets.

Reshared text:
'Land for Peace' does not work.

In the last 7 years since disengaging from Gaza, terror groups in the Strip have fired 9,393 rockets at Israeli civilians.

Can your email client do this?  I like the nutty SquirrelMail but Gmail has become a juggernaut of useful features. I can send emails in various languages w/o the bothersome task of installing a language pack on computers. Now, I just need to find friends to spam...

This is why you may want to have your child learn a martial art.

Bedroom connected to a pool via waterslide?  Yes, please. #architecture   #design   #luxury   #living   #dreamhome  

from That Used To Be Us

...When the West won the Cold War, America lost the rival that had kept us sharp, outwardly focused, and serious about nation-building at home--because offering a successful alternative to communism for the whole world to see was crucial to our Cold War strategy.
    In coastal China, India...the economic barriers had begun coming down a decade earlier. The Chinese were not like citizens of the old Soviet... they were like us. They had a powerful work ethic and huge pent-up aspirations for prosperity...knew all about cheap labor, but we had never had to deal with cheap genius...

Reflecting back to Ferguson's Civilization and Napoleon's likening China to a sleeping giant, it was a matter of time before China woke up, especially so when millions of teens in the US have been spending combined total time that spans centuries on mindless video games while Chinese and Korean students are studying in classes for more than 10 hours a day. (Please keep in mind that in those Asian countries only those who have given up being students become "gamers" that get high worldwide ladder rankings). It has been all too easy to predict how America would start losing its brainpower (as used by Friedman/Mandelbaum). Yeah, I know, I'm hearing the number of patent arguments, or biased understanding of how Chinese developed its space technology, and other misinformed views about the real facts behind the news. Once you start reading the actual history behind developments outside of the US you realize we're in a deeper trouble than we would like to imagine.

On the concept of Japanese 'artisan mind' (master craftsmanship)

Recently, the development of social networks and open access to many photographers and visual artists around the world have forced me to think about the spirit and the philosophy behind artisans, and how they are evaluated, and transferred to others. I am personally unaware of any deep Western tradition of skill transfer, but I am relatively well-read in East Asian tradition of the same. Here, as typical of my “stream of consciousness” posts, I pour out my thoughts out in open without drawing up a clear conclusion, in hope of a dialog with other thoughtful individuals who may deem such dialog important.

The tradition of craftsmanship dates back to ancient civilizations when a slave was to be dedicated to learn and continue in a very specific set of skills. Fast forwarding to the medieval Europe, it had developed into various guilds that were formed to protect, share, and refine their specialized skill sets, and such communities have evolved into modern day associations of various sorts, open and closed ones.

The idea behind the old tradition of craftsmanship, which is sometimes called 匠人精神 ([master] artisan mind) in East Asian script (aka Chinese traditional script) continues on to this day. A model that has developed to its apex can be found anywhere in the world, but for various reasons, it is much more visible and often found in Japanese culture. There are many things that Japan is famous for, such as 茶道 (the way of the tea), 剣道 (the way of the sword), sumo wrestling, kabuki, Imperial protocols, and others. The “artisan mind” (匠人精神) is probably the one of the most distinct cultural elements that the world has held in high esteem.

There was a story about a Japanese young man who had graduated from the University of Tokyo, which is the most prestigious school in Japan. He was immediately employed by a large, distinguished company, and quickly became a social elite in Japanese society. His talents put him into an executive managerial position within a decade, and without a doubt, everyone in the company expected him to take the rein of the company as the CEO. Then one day, he resigned from his position after the news of his father’s death few days earlier. Everyone in the company found it odd that he resigned over his father’s death and wondered if there could be other reasons. He was a talented man expected to lead the company as its next CEO in near future. Then few months after the resignation, he became a chef at a tiny eel rice bowl eatery. His father was the 4th generation owner chef of the eatery, and now he had become the 5th. He voluntarily went from a viable CEO candidate to a chef of a small eatery.

Such thing would not happen in success-starved countries. Having lived in Korea in my early childhood, I’ve seen countless families where parents were always telling themselves that their own children must study well so that their children could do something better than what they themselves were doing. There was no such deep tradition of skill transfer between generations, or even if it had existed people no longer practiced it in general Korean culture. This could be explained by the fact that Korea has gone through some significant dramatic changes in recent history, so people generally have stronger desire for social ascension, and the old meritocratic Confucian practice of civil examination for worldly success may be the obvious culprit. Unlike China and Korea, Japan had relatively weak influence of Confucianism, and social changes have been relatively smooth during modernization due to the active and early acceptance of Western industrialization.

There is a Japanese sweet pastry called senbei and there was a chef who sold these pastry to a local market. The shop had long lines of people every day because the taste of this pastry was excellent and people loved it. The rhythmic and coordinated movements of his hands and body were like gentle waves that were rolling in and out of a beautiful beach. But at the same time the discrete movements that did not show any waste of movements was forceful like that of a samural ((http://youtu.be/69q80z1Xc-k). People often said that they would even get a sense of happiness just by looking at him make those pastries. The chef said to his customers, “I never try to cook the same pastry that I had cooked yesterday.’

In traditional Japanese culture there are two ideologies that are at the base of such practice. The first one is the ‘artisan mind (aka dutiful mind; 職人精神)’, and the second is notion of being the ‘best under the heaven.’ Such ideas date back to 16th century when Tokugawa Ieyasu unified and ruled Japan. That’s when the old class-system (士農工商; 4 classes of people) started to break down, and created a meritocratic environment where the best in any field would get the most respect.

So, no matter how trivial a job may be, an environment was created where a person would consider the job that was passed down to him as a calling. The person would dedicate his life to a skill, and hone it ceaselessly. There are three aspects of this ‘artisan mind’ besides the historical aspect aforementioned.

1. First the ‘artisan mind’ is an attitude of relentlessly developing and cultivating a skill. Some people are born with some talent, but a skill is something that must be developed and cultivated. And there has to be enough character to humbly learn from others what needs to be learned. It’s historically apparent that Japanese learn well from others and then transform it to make it their own.

2. Second is the respect for tradition. The basis behind the ‘artisan mind’ is to protect what has been passed down through the tradition. This doesn’t necessarily imply stagnation, but that of a continuous development and refinement. Most of early prototypes of advanced Japanese cultural elements have their basis in China or Korea, but they have adopted and valued them, and developed them.

3. Thirdly, the ‘artisan mind’ has its roots in the iemoto (“family foundation”) system. It refers to a type of social relationship that was characteristic between a mentor and an apprentice in post-17th century Japan. It’s an attitude of putting an absolute value on the vertical relationship between a mentor and an apprentice through neo-Confucianistic etiquette (rei; 礼). The knowledge (學問) and refined techniques (技藝) are transmitted both in non-verbal and verbal forms. Even the underlying philosophy, including the unwritten rules, are transmitted--a near-perfect transfer, if you will.

How is such mind reflected in today’s economy? It’s true that Japan’s economy is struggling and a sense of gloom abounds among the youths, however, the manufacturing sector is still very solid because of such tradition. For Japanese, the quality of their product is life itself, and the pride they have for their products is matchless. The traditional artisan mind does not allow them to compromise on quality. This is what has made the modern, industrial powerhouse called Japan.

The interesting thing is that there is very little literature on their own artisan mind, or public awareness of such. For most Japanese it is simply finding their lot in life and doing their job. That is the Japanese artisan mind. There are numerous stores, shops, and eateries that have been in business for over hundred years in Japan. How do you stay in one place for such a long time? You can’t do that if you are trying to follow the latest trends or make quick bucks, nor would you be able to if you try to delve into other types of business just because you now have the money or social prestige. There is a strong sense of accepting and finding your place in life with a relentless, albeit reserved, will. The traditional ‘artisan mind,’ combined with Buddhistic philosophy drives many to consider their workplace a training ground of life; everyone is equal; there is no better or worse job; and that everyone achieves a type of self-realization with much effort.

(Thanks to Jang-ho Kim of Crart for providing many facts found here)

I don't think +Jeremy Hodges would need something like this, so it's for rest of us dwarves: http://www.mithrilandmages.com/utilities/MedievalNames.php

via +Susan Wise Bauer 

RESHARE:
Again, a reminder of what a numerical minority we are in the world. I think the focus on indicators for material poverty is dangerous because it allows people to think that those poor countries are in some type of dire need, and it puts us on an imaginary pedestal. Get a new perspective. Start living there, or at least visit one, and get to know the people.

Reshared text:
If the world were 100 people!

Really interesting information!

Gender, literacy rates, education and living conditions discussed.

Saddest stat: 1 out of 2 children would live in poverty.

Full infographic here http://shar.es/eU9Jp

Encouraged by +Mike Elgan via +Jeremy Hodges #young #child

Does anyone else use Microsoft's Family Safety website?  It's been down for more than a week and there is absolutely no explanation behind the sudden disappearance of the Family Safety website, where you manage all the access settings, filters, and etc.  The only thing I can guess at this point is that this may involve a sales strategy by Microsoft to force parents to upgrade their kids' computers to Windows 8. I had to switch kids' computers from Ubuntu to Windows because Microsoft Word seems to be the de-facto standard at kids' schools (my youngest (4th) was asking for version Office 2012, because that's what school uses apparently).

If this turns out to be true, I'll double up on my effort to have my kids' schools, and possibly the whole school system to convert to Ubuntu (+LibreOffice). I don't expect this to happen overnight of course.  #familysafety   #microsoft     #libreoffice   #ubuntu  

Did anyone else get the new Google+ interface? I got it on my work-related account and it's looking spiffy. (I blocked out names and work-related postings for confidentiality.)

I sometimes think of hell as a place where everyone is seeking their own significance in the name of God with no regard to His glory.

The following quote comes via +Nick Flor 

Do people in general view Christians as backward, or even idiots? During a recent parent teacher conference our oldest daughter expressed her wish to go to a Christian college. Except for the fact that both my wife and I had graduated from one and that we've shared about the benefits of attending one in the past there was very little else we've done to encourage it. It came somewhat of a surprise to us, and to her teacher as well. However, what disturbed me was the teacher's response. She had a knee-jerk reply, basically trying to dissuade my daughter from going to one. "The gap between a Christian school between a regular college is huge." And on, she went. We kept quiet. Mind you, NM's public school system is ranked 49th in the US.

Not too long ago, one of the managers who also happened to be a homosexual pointedly commented that he had met some thinking Liberty graduates. Apparently, most of other Liberty graduates are non-thinkers.

Happy New Year!
שנה טובה (Hebrew: shanah tovah)
Ευτυχισμένο το Νέο Έτος. (Modern Greek)
새해 복 많이 받으세요. (Korean: sehe bok mahni baudeuseyo)
明けましておめでとうございます。(Japanese: akemashite omedeto gozaimasu)
新年快乐。(Mandarin: xinnian kuaile)

I've only heard of kobudo (literally means, "old way of warrior"), but never seen it in action. It's lethal.

The US leaders need to remember it was a decisive battle (of Tours) that stopped the Islamic aggression, and not some pathetic appeasement begging them for a piece of temporal quiet. Too many people think we live in a civil world where everyone thinks and behaves like they do. They only grew more tactful. The intent has not changed. #standforcivility

This makes me rethink about my $75 pre-order of Leap Motion.

The shiny old. My wife proudly told my inlaws within my earshot, "He's removed the scratches and made it shiny again."  Few years back, I remember using leftover juice from 3M headlight restoration kit to try to remove scratches from the face. The foam that came with the kit was rather large for this tiny little face, but in spite of being unwieldy I somehow managed to buff it back to shine again. It was as if I had won a lottery, because previous attempts with other materials turned out to be disasters and I had two dead tickers stuck in drawers somewhere. I also took those out and brought new life to their faces again. Even though nothing was moving or any showed on their faces, I felt as if I just gained two more shiny items for free.

It was probably more than a decade ago. I was trying to find a decent one with a digital timer, and I landed on a Casio for less than 20. Then over the years it went through three wrist-straps, and thanks to my overactive arms, its face was scratched up pretty bad. It isn't any Breitling scratch-proof watch, but its quartz crystal managed to keep time very well. I don't even remember when I had switched out the batteries. Even though the outside was scratched up, the internal workings were always ticking like a newborn watch.

Then I pondered how this little watch reflects my life. A recent online, motor-reflex survey for a Harvard study resulted in an age of 31. I'm 37. This may sound little conceited, but it only feels like few years ago when my own uncles used to be in their early 30s. I may feel this way because I haven't seen them for nearly three decades now, but very often, I still feel like I'm in my early 20s. Then I realize my physical body has worn down. I huff and puff like the wolf with those three pigs when I'm only about twenty minutes into kendo practice these days. And it's becoming more difficult to recall memories I have filed away as "not very important." I used to be able to recall on demand, and people around me thought I was some kind of genius for such ability... then again, I'm reminded of the mortality, and of my creator.  I'm also reminded where I am going.  I only hope that my internals would continue to work like a newborn babe. I expect the outer to wear away, with so much scratches and wrinkles that it would not be pretty. Once I get there, I will become shiny again, just like this ol' Casio watch.

In remembrance of my grandfather, Cpl. George Gallo, on this Memorial Day.

I prefer encapsulating it as a static method in a class called Purgatory. via +Nick Flor 

Word of the day: blepharospasm. It is a word describing involuntary twitching of one or both eyelids. I'm having one today due to sleep deprivation this week. TGIF.

One of acquaintances' mother passed away last week. She was 80. My grandmother was 57 when she died of cancer back in 1997. Given my age, and ossified disconnect with the bigger side of the family, news of death has not been frequent in my small family circle.

I had a white Jindo dog (similar to Japanese Akita) as a little child but it died after eating a rat poison. He was ferociously protective and sincerely royal. He lived less than a year with us. Please understand that dogs back in those days were usually kept outdoors and never inside the house. Another furly puppy ran over by a car, and then another dog that simply disappeared into the thin air.

I don't remember from where and how, but I had two red-eye bunnies. After school I would run down to a large, traditional open-air market near my house and pick-up throwaway cabbage leaves and other veggies to feed my cute bunnies. Then one day when I came home from school with herbs and veggies, I couldn't find them anywhere. Then when I entered the house, my father was in the kitchen. I asked him if he knew where my bunnies were, and he said, "here," pointing to the meat he was cooking. Yes, I shed some tears and ran outside. My father worked as an engineer at a shipping vessel so I saw him once or twice a year, for a week or two at a time. I didn't know what to feel, nor do I feel any hostility against my father even now. However, the feeling of the loss was undeniable.

When I think about how last ten years has passed by my heart skips a beat. Then I realize that my parents will be quickly approaching 80 in 10 short years. We don't have much time. Who knows whether I will live to see tomorrow. I will be experiencing more losses. Not only of my parents, but the loss of my little children when they grow up and have their own families. I will look back with an overwhelming pang that will unwind itself to shoot across the stars. "I will kill you if you die before me," said Mrs. Maxwell to Mr. Maxwell, the preaching elder-pastor who has shared a laugh with the congregation by disclosing such private dialogue yesterday. Then, the inevitable will be here unless my wife and I leave together at the same time...

A part of being human means we deal with our addiction to consume. To live longer, to have, to gain, it's an obsession that is bottomless, vibrant yet black. The resistance to death, the resistance to loss is great. But ultimately, there is a one who has overcome death, and his was one that exemplified the very opposite side of our obsession. He willingly gave himself to loss. He sacrificed. I'm approaching 40, but his earthly life was willingly cut short at early 30s, in dying obedience to his father. He gave. He did not seek to gain.

It was a terrifying grace that pours out so much more than enough to cover our dark, broken shame. His loss was so that our deaths could be turned upside down. He overcame death, and those with him will never experience death again. The life he now lives in his body is the life that all his friends live. A life that is dead to all dark and filth of this life, and alive to the giver of life. Romans 6:8, 

A tip on effective training: strike back immediately.

You should try to develop a technique to respond well against a technique being executed on you or when you're in a disadvantageous position. Your goal should be to develop a sense of aite's rise of ki (眼; kan), a proactive attitude, a quick reflex and judgment, good timing, and the unity of attack and defense (攻防一致; kobo itchi), and a flowing movement.

If you've been following the news from Japan, you know that the heat of nationalism has been steadily rising again. (Note that it's easy to conceptually generalize a mass of people with a large brush, but I am in fact saying that the voices of nationalism have been getting louder.) A similar rise has also been true of South Korea. A commonality in both countries' nationalism is the strong undercurrent of the anti-Americanism. I don't have to explain much of this with Japan, since it's remarkably clear even if you only have a shallow knowledge of what had happened during and after the second World War. South Korea's development saw its forceful beginnings with the works of Christian missionaries as well as the old forces of Korean independence from Japan who were mostly devout Christians themselves. (Sheesh, don't mention anything about Japan's contribution to this, else you will be categorized as a "chin-il-pa" (a pro-Japanese group) for the rest of your earthly life and children in South Korea. Your whole family and all your immediate relatives were all executed for your act of treason during Joseon dynasty. Very Korean indeed.) This is why it's interesting that along with anti-Americanism there is also a strong, visible trend of anti-Christian movements in Korea (another large factor is the sweeping leadership change that has allowed for many publicly visible signs of conflict within churches).

The first president of South Korea, Syngman Rhee, has been recently recasted publicly as a type of mob boss who used religion (Christianity), prestige (degrees from Princeton and Harvard), and money (funds from Korean Americans and abroad) for his own personal gain. Stepping away from the argument, it's somewhat startling to find that the contents of the propaganda that North Korea had been using for last 50 years are now public educational materials in South Korea. Educational documentaries now regularly quote professors from Sungkyunkwan University (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sungkyunkwan_University) who are often Buddhists or Confucian atheists. All other universities in South Korea saw their beginnings by Christian missionaries. I guess those other universities are too biased, eh? Oh, and thanks to modern consumers, it has also been made the most prestigious in South Korea after Samsung took over.

So, in conclusion, the nationalist force in Japan tends to carry the same spirit and the message as the old guards. This is probably due to the fact that the old monarchy still lives on, and Shintoism continues on as usual. However, the South Korean one is largely a religious one because it sees a [South] Korean identity as one that is stripped of any and all Christian influence. Of course, these materials don't mention the fact that Korea had one of the highest percentages of slaves in the world up until right before modernization, and many cities were seen as cesspool of corruption and unethical behaviors by outsiders. A lot of independence fighters now recast as heroes were ardent communists who had even joined the Soviet communist party. I don't know which is worse. Recreate a popular Korean identity that was never there from the start and come up with a glorified version of past Korea which only existed in royal courts or historical documents, or face the fact that without the help and the sacrifice of the US (and tons of muted money from Japan as well) after the War it could never have made it this far in the world. The nationalistic propaganda wreaks havoc on historical facts to sway weak minds to believe that all those helplessly imperfect human beings in the past were real villains that are causing societal aches, pains, and frustrations they are feeling in their lives now. It's also emotionally too easy to make the connection between Japanese historical revisionism that angers, and past historical figures who had no choice but to be associated with Japan. It's hard to see anything clearly if a flag of jingoism is covering both of your eyes. There's also an old Korean that says something like, "Unworthy words come out of a mouth whose back is warm and belly full."

North Korea is winning the war in this part of warfare folks.

Have you ever been in a mindless meeting? It's sometimes called brainstorming, but without brains.

RESHARE:
For a laugh. via +Adam Dean 

Reshared text:
This is hilarious.

RESHARE:
Interesting.

Reshared text:
Design - 1: Modern

A collaboration between avant-garde designers and master artisans have resulted in products based on traditional motifs.

A high heel made out of a traditional plum blossom and bamboo
The heel is made for a traditional Korean leather flower shoe which used to be popular among women. Created by Hanbok Designer Yeong-jin Kim and Master Artisan Yeong-man Kim.

A LED lamp with a traditional Korean hat material as a light diffuser/shade
The traditional Korean hat is called "gat," which was made out of horsehair with a bamboo frame. Created by Industrial Designer Jin-woo Park and Master Artisan Chang-yeong Park.

A chest made using same architectural principles as a traditional Korean house
The traditional Korean house is called "hanok," which was built without using pegs or nails. Created by Architect Gwang-man Lee and Master Cabinetmaker Yong-sik Sim.

Related info...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gat_(hat)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanok

Source(s)
http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/12/01/2011120102503.html

#korea #hanbok #design #fashion #hanok #gat #bamboo

RESHARE:
“If you live in one of the states that unfortunately will not receive Xbox One support at launch, here are a few suggestions on what you can do,” said the representative, “You can relocate to a state that has Xbox One support, you can purchase an Xbox 360 which has no location restrictions, or you can wait patiently until support arrives at your state by 2015 or later.”

How does a company come up with an idea that its customers' lives revolve around its products? Whatever happened to the notion of serving?

via +Morio Murase

Reshared text:
Xbox one will only be supported in 21 states during launch. The other states might not have functioning ONE's until “2015 or later”

Microsoft tells you to "relocate... wait... or 360" are your only 3 options.

Here is a goodwill match between a Japanese kendoka and a Korean kumdo practitioner at Kanagawa prefecture. Even though they practice with same rules, the style of kendo is different. Koreans tend to practice more of an athletic kendo while Japanese tries not to detract too far from the traditional style, which of course is debatable, but if you look at the match the Korean kendoka is clearly not very conservative with his movements, especially with his feet. You should be able to tell which one is the Korean kendoka very quickly by the way.

A passing thought on presuppositions through early language acquisition

I don’t believe in linguistic determinism, but our presuppositions, or what I would call deep-seated assumptions that are mostly invisible to self, seem to be shaped by one’s language. Americans, Chinese, or Italians are this or that way, not only because of the beliefs, convictions and history in one dimension, but because of the framework through which one interprets such things. And how that interpretation occurs is heavily dependent on the language first acquired at an early age. Multilingual speakers often encounter a same phrase or proverb that are applied differently and in differing contexts depending on language, even though all those languages may implicitly imbue it with same aura of understanding. The contextual application can be very different. What sounds pleasing to ears, heart, or mind in one language may not be true in another. I know there are numerous examples of this, and you can probably think of one if you’re fluent in at least two or three languages.

This is also true when we deal with ancient texts. Our understanding of those texts automatically go through our preferential framework with the complex gradient of values and blink calculations, which loosely manifests as our presuppositions. This is true regardless of our mastery of the original language. Even such acquisition [of the comprehension of the original language] occurs through the use of our initial, or secondary language, and by that we get a profoundly filtered understanding of the text. In other words, we are faced with a severe limitation, for being a human at that. We and bias are inseparably related as a needle and a thread. Our early language acquisitions stain us permanently like a birth mark.

So, how do we overcome our presuppositions? Look at how we overcome our presuppositions between people groups. What does a missionary do to communicate and understand another people group living in the same time period? He lives in one. That is a special privilege. He can authentically feel, smell, taste, see, touch, hear, and speak to them. That’s how you can truly know, and get beyond one’s presuppositions. He is literally thrown out of his presupposition, and put into an uncomfortable situation of encountering a differing linguistic framework. The interpretation that communicates properly and effectively can only occur once the target framework is understood in its own context.

Unless someone invents a time machine soon, we are mostly hopeless about trying to authentically understand a people group of the past, much less their language. You may say we have a corpus of text from such and such time period in the past, but again, they pass through the linguastroenterological passageway of our linguistic framework in order to be consumed at our end. The comprehension of our target framework takes much more work of imagination to feel, smell, taste, see, touch, and hear, and then we may be able to understand it somewhat, but even at that, it would be our own unique version based on our own framework. It’s a dead-end road on this end for any type of absolute objectivity.

However, what if the author of that text is still alive? What if the author has authentically felt, smelled, tasted, saw, touched, and heard us in this time period, and he has fully grasped our own target framework in our own context? Only in this do we have a hope of ever fully grasping it in spite of our presuppositions. It is what he does, when he is face to face with us. When we can feel, smell, taste, see, touch, hear, and talk with this author then we may have a hope of truly understanding...

In life, it helps to have a low expectation in many things.

Just a note of warning to Quora users. If you try to unveil historical reconstructionist efforts by Chinese government your posts or comments get easily deleted and blocked, and your effort to bring the issue to public attention cut off by an unknown element of Quora (at the sysadmin level.) It's not clear what the deal is but my guess is that they are appealing to the Chinese gov't for future prospects or it's partially managed by Chinese nationalists.

RESHARE:
The man-purse at its finest.

Reshared text:
How to store your phone and tablet like a boss cop.

The $70 TechSling holster lets you stash your tablet on one side and your phone on the other, with some extra room for your wallet and papers.

Too much?

http://www.techslinger.com/

A tip on effective training: the importance of men uchi.

The fundamental strike is the men uchi. Focusing on this helps to prevent from being passive, allows better development of techniques and posture. When practicing, center on your aite and strike from a one-step-one-strike distance (issoku itto no ma; 一足一刀の間). First, focus on proper form while running through, and then gradually work on your accuracy.

RESHARE:
The social media this morning is aflame w/ ignorant rage over this one.

This just comes from a difference of assumptions. A closer look at the underlying assumptions between the theories of evolution and creationism would help you understand where creationists are coming from.

An excellent perspective on this is offered via a book titled Darwin on Trial by Phillip E. Johnson, a legal scholar: http://www.amazon.com/Darwin-Trial-Phillip-E-Johnson/dp/0830838317/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366991805&sr=8-1&keywords=darwin+on+trial

Reshared text:
And in the creationist news of the day...

Although that "were you there?" thing might come in handy sometime

Whenever someone uses an emoticon, o.O or o_O, I'm always reminded of The Scream by Munch for some reason. Maybe I need to see a therapist.

I replaced a broken video card recently and I'm now utilizing all of my old monitors; 1 computer with 4 monitors. This is using just one video card. Three are sitting on top of a stand-up extension table (yes, I stand when I'm working) and one on a mail slot cabinet.

1 DVI connection, 1 HDMI connection, 1 DisplayPort-to-VGA connection, and 1 USB-to-VGA connection.

Here is the relevant hardware listing for anyone interested:

- ATI Radeon 6670 or better (http://goo.gl/CAvaQ) (XFX 2 GB version from Best Buy is $102 when on sale, the best value card as of now)
- A DisplayPort adapter (for third one) (http://goo.gl/03un9) ($20 for VGA)
- USB-to-VGA adapter (for fourth one) (http://goo.gl/cpKrY) ($60) (for DVI http://goo.gl/x08hl)

Total cost was about $ 180 to zap myself with old EMF emissions once again.

USB-to-VGA adapter isn't exactly a high-performing device. I don't think you could play a decent game on that monitor for example, but it's definitely good enough for reading and any other tasks.

I've always preferred GeForce cards and never bought an ATI, but after some searching I've found that ATI Radeon cards have been leading the market with affordability and performance. I'm not sure why there is such a great price gap between two major competitors though. I hope this one lasts at least 4 years or more.

RESHARE:
This is what it means to master a skill.

Reshared text:
Beckham shows why he's the Best.

We have become a people of document shredders, from the lowest to the highest. How can anyone expect the document containing the following text has any chance to survive when even the mention of the document of a higher order has been excised from our public life. It will not get better, but worse.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

心で闘う120秒 (120 Seconds of Battle of Heart and Mind) as aired in June of 1997.

Interesting, the President now has the power of Judge, Jury, and Executioner. I thought we fought off the tyranny of the British Empire 240 years ago for a reason. We're gradually moving back to pre-American Revolution days.

"Their Constitution is important." -- Senator Rand Paul

It's pretty sad that those words aren't coming out of the President's mouth, and that many Americans sufficiently dazed with their relativistic morals to barely care where their own country is headed. Instead he says something along the line of, "I haven't killed anyone yet." This is a guy who taught the U. S. Constitution to students at a prestigious university. And this guy's government is actively blacklisting anti-government people under the pretext of homeland security.

Being patriotic now means you're anti-government. Sharing sufficient self-hatred about America's history and what this nation stands for (to the level of what this guy's wife expressed occasionally, before she realized she's under media scrutiny at all times) is really what this administration wants. No wonder why it's quickly becoming a land of desolation.

How times have changed.

http://watchdogwire.com/florida/2013/03/07/the-president-has-the-power-of-judge-jury-and-executioner/

via +Duane Sugarbaker 

After a few of the usual Sunday evening hymns, the church's pastor slowly stood up, walked over to the pulpit and, before he gave his sermon for the evening, he briefly introduced a guest minister who was in the service that evening. In the introduction, the pastor told the congregation that the guest minister was one of his dearest childhood friends and that he wanted him to have a few moments to greet the church and share whatever he felt would be appropriate for the service. With that, an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and began to speak.

'A father, his son, and a friend of his son were sailing off the pacific coast,' he began. 'When a fast approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to the shore.... the waves were so high, that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright and the three were swept into the ocean as the boat capsized.' The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with two teenagers who were, for the first time since the service began, looking somewhat interested in his story. The aged minister continued with his story, 'grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life: to which boy would he throw the other end of the life line. He only had seconds to make the decision. The father knew that his son was a Christian and he, also, knew that his son's friend was not. The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of waves. as the father yelled out, 'I love you, son!' he threw out the life line to his son's friend. By the time the father had pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beneath the raging swells into the black of night. His body was never recovered. By this time, the two teenagers were sitting up straight in the pew, anxiously waiting for the next words to come out of the old minister's mouth. 'The father,' he continued, 'knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus and he could not bear the thought of his son's friend stepping into an eternity without Jesus. Therefore, he sacrificed his son to save the son's friend'! How great is the love of God that he should do the same for us. Our heavenly father sacrificed his only begotten son that we could be saved. I urge you to accept his offer to rescue you and take a hold of the life line he is throwing out to you in this service.' With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room. The pastor again walked slowly to the pulpit and delivered a brief sermon with an invitation at the end. However, no one responded to the appeal.

Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man's side. 'That was a nice story,' politely stated one of them, 'but i don't think it was very realistic for a father to give up his only son's life in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian.' 'Well, you've got a point there,' the old man replied, glancing down at his worn bible. A big smile broadened his narrow face. He once again looked up at the boys and said, 'it sure isn't very realistic, is it? But, I'm standing here today to tell you that story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give up his son for me. You see... I was that father and your pastor is my son's friend.'

Can your car do this?

No sound (and you only need to watch first 10 seconds).

I hope that wasn't +Meirav M.'s house in England. This 20 year-old drunk driver was caught and prosecuted.

I'm thinking, "Why don't we have dashcams built in to our cars already?"

But again, US roads aren't as exciting as Russian roads.

RESHARE:
This is not a good way to eat ramen, no matter how desperate you may be for one.

Reshared text:

RESHARE:
G...ood ide...a.

Reshared text:
The advantage of stockpiling Twinkies (as TIME suggests) is that they have a half-life of several thousand years.

More eclipse photos #solareclipse

Trying to watch through Zeitgeist: The Movie and I can't help but recall Mark Twain's quote: "A half-truth is the most cowardly of lies."

Here's the formula used throughout the movie: Mix, jumble, scrape, and then match. Understanding anything in its context isn't relevant, whatever matches phonetically in English, just match. Who cares if careful studies of original texts or facts are completely ignored?

An intelligent middle school student could've had a better grasp of real history.

President Park of South Korea was at a graduation at a Police College, and said the following:

I will root out sexual violence, school violence, home wreckers, and junk food, which are four great social evils that frustrate our citizens, and I will make a nation where the law becomes a shield to socially weak.

(argh argh! -- imagine me choking on a string of Twizzler.)

Actually, the word for "junk food" can also be translated as illegal food, or low-quality food, that can potentially be dangerous to a consumer, but more common translation is "junk food." However, I had a good chuckle when I first read the transcript.

How familiar are you with a traditional farmer's daily routines? He wakes up and works to the rhythm of nature, and humbly thanks God for the harvest at every meal. A well-managed farm is only possible if a farmer is smart enough and diligent enough to do all the work that is involved in managing the cycles of nature. It struck me that a farmer is wholly dedicated to this singular task of farming on a plot of land.

Why did it strike me so fresh? Because I've been thinking about starting a small garden in my backyard, and as I learned more about the intricacies and the rhythm of nature and how a farmer is tasked with a tender management (without using harmful, artificial extras) it dawned on me that to do a really good job you have to be living on it, day in and day out. Then when you think about how the modern society has restructured and reoriented its own mind for urbanization... I won't get into this for now.

There is the totality of commitment and the singular dedication of time and space with a farmer's life. A man and his land. Adam and his garden.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. (Genesis 2:15 ESV)

How I've appropriated this to my bread-and-butter job. For us, we appropriate the precepts and principles found in such verses and apply them to our workplace. Harezt ha meqom avodah. The workplace is the land. We commit most of our time to that.

Then the old analogy between farming and parenting came to mind. If a farmer invests that much time, attains that much knowledge and wisdom, builds such gadgets and tools to care the land, then how much more should I, as a parent, be doing to cultivate the lot of our children? A farmer becomes aware of the change of seasons, tilling, sowing, nurturing, and harvesting accordingly. A total commitment. I stand convicted once again.

This is one of the majorly irritating aspects of evolutionism.  Let me quote Michael Pollan, his book The Omnivore's Dilemma to illustrate a point:

Indeed, there is every reason to believe that corn has succeeded in domesticating us. To some extent this holds true for all of the plants and animals that take part in the grand coevolutionary bargain with humans we call agriculture. Though we insist on speaking of the "invention" of agriculture as if it were our idea, like double-entry bookkeeping or the light-bulb, in fact it makes just as much sense to regard agriculture as a brilliant (if unconscious) evolutionary strategy on the part of the plants and animals involved to get us to advance their interests. By evolving certain traits we happen to regard as desirable, these species got themselves noticed by the one mammal in a position not only to spread their genes around the world, but to remake vast swaths of that world in the image of the plants' preferred habitat.

A common logical fallacy of affirming the consequent is committed here. However, continuing with this funky logic, we can only assume that Asian continent had been under the authoritarian rule of Rice, while the European continent had remained subject to Wheat until the brainiac Corn decided to take over the world with its blitzkrieg C-4 tactics from its South American home base. Yes, the context is filled with a potential for unlimited variations of narrative on __________ (fill in the blank with whatever is dominating your fridge right now.)

This one's real. Key West City Cemetery, FL.

Videos from Ito Tsutomu 2012 (thanks to Perry Heimer for the videos).

The girl in white dou (body armor) is McManus from Kent Kendo Club. She's one of the best kendokas I've ever seen on this side of the ocean.

On the first one against Lee she finishes it off with a lightning-fast men uchi (head strike) at the end.

On the second one, she gets a perfect dou uchi (body strike) against taller Goh.

Her kiai (battle cry) is also matchless.

"I still can't believe americans are prone to electing someone who is a member of a pseudo-cult that is akin to the Jehovah's Witnesses and Scientology." - an ex-Mormon using the pseudonym of Exmosis

More from ex-Mormons: http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,387469

We don't want to know the difference. We, Americans, are too scientifically and politically literate to bother with such irrelevant religious variations. They are all Christianese to us. Who cares about how our leaders view the deity, Jesus, heaven, or Christian orthodoxy? We stopped caring about such antiquated notions. They have nothing to do with bread and circuses that give us satiety. And what does politics have to do with beliefs? Private beliefs cannot be relevant to how a public servant will perform in his office. And it's all about performance.

Still unsure about the cause of cancer?  A news item from China tells of a town once designated as the City of Longevity and Health.

A Chinese city Láizhōu (萊州) in Shandong (山東) peninsula was designated by the China Gerontology Society as the City of Longevity back in 2009. And it was also designated by the government as the National eco-model village.

However, the number of cancer patients from this city has been on a dramatic increase starting in mid-2000. Since 2007, more than 30 have died from various forms of cancer. The city has been turning into the City of Cancer. The main reason is due to water and air pollution by nearby factories that have been producing insecticides. The air pollution has reached a level where residents have to sleep while covering their mouth and noses with a wet towel... this type of phenomenon is happening all across China ... the Chinese Environmental Protection agency has identified over 40,000 chemicals being released into the environment, and they are planning to monitor 3,000 chemicals that have been identified as harmful. ... there are reports that over 400 cities/villages suffer from similar things.

This is a breaking news.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/19/ahmed-dogan-assassination-attempt-photo-crazed-gunman_n_2511483.html

A gunman reportedly attempted to assassinate the leader of Bulgaria's Turkish ethnic party during a televised conference on Saturday.
The leader of Bulgaria’s Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) party, Ahmed Dogan, was assaulted by a gunman while on stage at the National Palace of Culture (NDK) in Sofia, according to the Sofia Globe. The assailant, 25-year-old Oktai Enimehmedov, climbed onstage and held a gun to Dogan's head, but the gun reportedly got stuck and was unable to shoot.

This has no direct relationship to the old idea of pan-Asian movement, but a mutual agreement to respond practically in this trying times. The potential consequence is the third largest trade block after NAFTA and EU, and an amalgamation of cultural identities moving the world even more towards the Huntingtonian vision. Political cohesion would be next to impossible in the current tide of nationalism. It's better to keep in mind that China has moved its piece first--a move towards the ancient sinocentrism.

RESHARE:
Here's an experiential account of socialized medicine. People have been too successful in selling this pitiful welfare concept because it is not just a US problem. The whole world thinks this is the way to go for a developed country. But again, even people back in Jesus' time was coming back to him and following him around for a free lunch. We like serving our stomachs little too much.

Reshared text:
This is a good article explaining what conservatives are concerned about regarding more socialized medical care.  

Texan isopods. #methinks

In case you've been craving a $ 16 foie gras burger...

Sleeping on wheel can kill, especially when you're riding a scooter.

The very first computer bug: Mark II computer at Harvard University, 1947.

While she was working on a Mark II Computer at Harvard University in 1947, her associates discovered a moth stuck in a relay and thereby impeding operation, whereupon she remarked that they were "debugging" the system. Though the term computer bug cannot be definitively attributed to Admiral Hopper, she did bring the term into popularity. The remains of the moth can be found in the group's log book at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. (http://goo.gl/8BBBu)

RESHARE:
Okay, this is a cool innovation, but wouldn't a Spaceball's oversized headgear work better as a helmet?

Reshared text:

Hyundai dreams up egg-shaped E4U personal transporter

Asian car manufacturers have been demoing Personal Mobility Vehicles (PMVs) for what seems like forever. They're usually fairly dull, but every once in a while a concept comes along that's earth-shatteringly good. Hyundai's E4U is one such concept. Looking like a bumblebee egg that fell into Tron's grid, the E4U moves by using a semisphere that constantly spins horizontally. The spinning semisphere is tilted to generate drive while two stabilizing wheels at the rear keep it moving straight. The technique is similar to how a helicopter steers — it tilts to move using its large horizontal rotor while using a vertically-mounted rotor for stability. It's not clear what exactly powers the E4U, but it seems unlikely to be gas.

Read more: http://goo.gl/rWrWX

!

Toddler on a wheelchair patted down by TSA.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c2#/video/us/2013/02/21/nr-marsh-tsa-pat-down-apology.cnn

Finally after 3 hours we've arrived at the peak. It's snowing and freezing. I'm hungry, cold, and tired. Anyone has a helicopter?

They say nothing ever disappears on Internet, but whoever said that forgot to include pre-Internet BBSes.

I operated a BBS (Bulletin Board System) on a 14.4k modem back in 1991, and I recently googled the name of my old BBS and search result came back with a text file. Deiner Von Gott is my old alias, and I still use "deiner" for few things (i.e. http://youtube.com/deiner/). It's hard to believe and nostalgic at the same time.

Some aliases of SysOps (Northern Virginia) I still remember are Spaceman Spiff, Wacky Wabbit, and Tetragrammaton. Please leave a comment if you were using BBSes in late 1980s and early 1990s.

Kim Jong-il is dead.

NK media has been portraying him as having made significant recovery not too long ago, so it's little surprising Mr. Dear Leader is gone so suddenly. It's too bad the regime itself is propped up by military generals more so than the occultist leader himself. His son has the worst reputation in NK itself, so it's much more likely that the real authority will fall on top ranking military generals while he's put forth as a symbolic, reigning sovereign of NK. In the worst case scenario, I just hope that NK military generals aren't in league with Chinese, because that would mean continued delay in reunification of Korea.

We need your help: Katana, wooden swords, hakama and gi stolen in Seattle, Washington, USA, in the middle of February of 2013. The news is couple weeks old by now, but please watch for these stolen items being sold on the Internet, especially in the US and South Americas. These belonged to Japanese senseis visiting the area on AUSKF Education Tour. Thank you for your cooperation. Below are the details and photos:

-----------------------------------
Dear Kendo Friends:  I am very sorry to forward extremely unfortunate news to you from the Seattle visit of the First AUSKF Iaido Education Tour with 
Kishimoto Chihiro Sensei and Kato Shozo Sensei, compiled from messages written by Gunnar Goerlitz.  Thank you very much.  Tom
-----------------------------------
The good news is that the seminar was a complete success. Concentrated, 
high-intensity instruction to near capacity attendees from far and wide. Clearly the objective for this cross-country barn-storming series of workshops is to help bring Iaido in the US into currency with the state of the art in Japan, and we feel the result was all that could be hoped for.

The bad news is that while we bid the visiting senseis farewell over food and 
drink at a local restaurant late in the evening thieves broke into Konno 
Sensei's vehicle out in the darkened parking lot. The three senseis' iaitos and much of their gear was stolen.

I've updated the News and Events info on Musokai's website, but we feel it is 
best to avoid mention of the theft online, so as not to alert the thieves and 
their distribution network of the possible extent of the response.

We have combed through the set of photos taken last week, both at Musokai and at RCFC. I have submitted these images to Officer Baker of the Redmond Police.

Please forward these images to anyone who would be willing to help us monitor eBay and Craigs List, and even regional pawn shops. If any of the stolen items are spotted it is important that Officer Baker be immediately contacted so that he can set up a buy-action as swiftly as possible.

I spent a couple of hours looking into every dumpster within a mile of Red Robin on the off chance that the thieves sorted their booty on the spot and dumped what had no obvious value before leaving the area, but no luck. I'll try to get over to the regional transfer station on 116th in the next few days with a pair of binoculars to see if anything turns up there. At least it seems worth a try.

Here is the contact info and case number:
 
The case number is 13-002310.
The officer's name: B. Baker
Redmond Police Patrol Officer

Office: 425-556-2626
Email: babaker@redmond.gov

Thanks,

Gunnar

Gunnar Goerlitz <goerlig@comcast.net>

Just a passing thought... there is really no excuse for a bad handwriting.

Or you can use your head like this guy does.

http://blog.daum.net/_blog/BlogTypeView.do?blogid=0Ad9U&articleno=17954237&categoryId=159540&regdt=20081029165257#ajax_history_home

I adore the faith of this little kid.

...because he knows him.  Of course. :-)

Do we really know the True Hero ?

RESHARE:
An anvil just fell on my head, thanks to +Jeremy Hodges the Road Runner. Mip, mip, phew-huuuuu.  Little does he know that chopsticks and an advocacy for more garlic in his diet has been on the way. ;-)

Reshared text:
This week's #TenTagsTuesday selection is +Michael Han.

If I needed to pick someone to be jealous of, it might just be Michael.  He's my own version of the "Most Interesting Man in the World."  When I read his feed, including his "passing thoughts," I am humbled at the kind of intellectual productivity he accomplishes, and then I remember he also teaches his daughters to code at night.  Yes, really.

Michaels Ten Tags are:
#Theology   #Coding   #Linguistics   #Korea   #Philosophy   #Kendo   #Literature   #Education   #Gardening   #History