Aikido, My Way: The Story of Kobayashi Dojos

 

Very interesting on-line Aikido book.

 

O Sensei would surprise us with how different he was from ordinary people. In his last year, he would have to be helped up the stairs and he said many times “I’m sick,” but as soon as he set foot in the practice hall, his back would straighten and he would look perfectly healthy as he gave an explanatory demonstration. But once again, as he stepped out into the hall, he would have to be helped by the deshi.

Then there were the times O Sensei would have to be helped to the toilet. We’d lift him up by his arms but it would take all our strength, it was like trying to move a giant stone.

“Sensei, we can’t move you…”

“Ah, I’m full of ki…” then he would stop extending ki and we could lift him off the bed. O Sensei was no ordinary person, that much I came to understand. He was 86.

 

http://www.cup.com/kobayashi-dojo/english/book/forward.htm

Perpetual Punching Machine

 

 

 

This is from a 1932 episode of The Little Rascals. Man, I've had jobs like that.

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/10/23/perpetually-punching.html

Got A Wii

 

 

Finally went out and picked up a Nintendo Wii.

My god the thing is fun. Ridiculously, ludicrously fun.

Hiyat and I had to tear ourselves away from the Wii Sports Boxing, Bowling and Tennis to go to bed. What a great system -- the controls and simplicity are what make it a joy. Not one for hardcore games, it's built for those that just want some quick fun with friends.

She ended up beating me in every. Single. Game. Me, the vid kid -- I've been playing video games since the Pong home system came out. A testiment to how accessible the system is.

http://wii.nintendo.com/

Mandriva 2008

 

 

Upgraded to Mandriva 2008 this weekend.

Was a bit of a bumpy go. Tried to upgrade via the software update tool (urpmi) but it killed my box. I had heard it was a bit risky, so I had backed everything up anyway. Downloaded the Mandriva one cd and installed it.

Was completely painless (except for the fact the first cd I burned had a scratch on it). Got apache, mysql, php, and everything installed right away. Detected all my hardware out of the box no problem.

Had a bit of an issue with getting VMWare installed -- needed to download the latest gcc (4.3) c++ and cpp packages, but no problem after then.

It's pretty sweet. Very fast, has NTFS write drivers (ntfs3g) installed by default, and a bunch of new features. Very clean layout.

Give it a go if you're looking for a good distro.

http://www.mandriva.com/en/download/free

Undiscovered Curve mp3

 

One of my favorite bands ever is the now-defunct UK band Curve. For some reason I found myself at their site today and found the song Weekend there as a free download. Enjoy.

 

http://www.curve.co.uk/mp3/weekend.mp3

New Cuthulhu Movie Ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jQtkGJMtH0

Dalek Sec Mask

How cool is this?

If you've been watching the new Doctor Who series, and you should, it's great -- you would have seen the Dalek-Human hybrid called "Dalek Sec".

Well, now you can dress up as him for Halloween, maybe next year -- it will be out by Christmas.

It will drive the rest of the family to distraction within minutes of being unwrapped, but a new Dalek mask made of flesh-pink ribbed plastic will be one of the must-have toys this Christmas, retailers predicted yesterday.

The mask, modelled on a one-eyed Dalek-human hybrid which appeared in the episode Daleks in Manhattan, changes the voice of the wearer to the metallic scream of the doctor's mortal enemies. Games based on films and TV characters will fill Santa's sack this year, according to toy manufacturers who made their annual prediction of Christmas best-sellers yesterday.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/retail/story/0,,2188273,00.html