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| Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 | | 5:52 pm |
Making religion work in the technological environment
There is a large corporate IT department with zero network downtime. Their upgrades happen on schedule, and their security is always up to date. Every member of the department gives the credit completely to their strict adherence to a religious rite traditional in the department. On the winter solstice, each year, the entire IT department gathers and determines which member of management, or of affiliated departments such as marketing or finance, has been most helpful with suggestions, oversight, and general involvement with the workings of the IT department. They hold a fancy party in the IT space, with that individual as guest of honor. During the party, each member will find time to stop by, congratulate the guest of honor, and mention something of their hopes for how the IT department will function in the coming year. As the finale of the party, the guest of honor is bound and ritually dismembered atop the (unused since the previous year) conference table, so that they may personally give the appropriate deity the benefit of the guest of honor's inspired thoughts and wise guidance. Old timers gripe that religious fervor has died down over time - they recall when the rite was first instituted, after 7 quarters in a row of high downtime and frequent security failures. At that time a Messenger was found for each of the seasons. After the first year productivity significantly improved, and after the fifth year of constant uptime, it was felt safe to change to a yearly rite. And after all, as the old timers lament, finding a suitably qualified Messenger gets harder each year. | | Thursday, February 14th, 2008 | | 10:06 am |
I need some new candidates!
75% Bill Richardson
70% Chris Dodd
65% Barack Obama
65% Mike Gravel
63% John Edwards
61% Hillary Clinton
58% Joe Biden
58% Dennis Kucinich
44% Rudy Giuliani
44% John McCain
43% Ron Paul
42% Mitt Romney
41% Mike Huckabee
40% Tom Tancredo
40% Fred Thompson
2008 Presidential Candidate Matching QuizNot a bad quiz viked from kalwein Didn't turn out quite as I expected. | | Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 | | 7:38 am |
Brave New World
Sometimes I get pretty depressed (frequently right after reading a newspaper or following the news on the net) and it sometimes affects my productivity at work. But thanks to advances in modern medicine this sort of problem may soon be solved for many of us. Of course, "I'll make a monkey out of you" may be more a threat than a promise by then. So if suddenly the lines at the DMV start moving a LOT faster, don't worry, it's just a new automation initiative. Hmmm, I'm starting to see that this LiveJournal thing may be rather cathartic after all. | | 12:31 am |
I'm really hoping it's not that time again
My family has been in this country for rather a while. I had 17 ancestors in the American Revolutionary War. While American history has never been my preferred area of research, I've done a certain amount of reading in the area. And it wasn't fun while it was going on. Definitely something you don't start on a whim, or because of momentary political reverses. But I'm getting increasingly worried that 200 or so years is about as long as a system can last without a reboot. I guess coming up on Election Day made me think about it a bit more than usual. A fairly short article nastily tied together a number of the trends that have, over time, made me wonder when I and every other truly patriotic American is going to have to actively remember the oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic" that most of us took when we did our military service. And maybe apply it in a way that won't be appreciated in the "halls of power" My [fading] hope is that Congress will realize that if it doesn't seriously initiate the impeachment process, then it may be too late to prevent its becoming a mere appendage to an imperial presidency. After all, we've already shown the world how NOT to handle a regime change, let's try to give them an example of how to do it right. And if such an attempt were to be opposed with force, then maybe it's time to refresh that tree of liberty again. | | Tuesday, April 25th, 2006 | | 10:19 am |
So - whats wrong with America?
Ran into a long, but IMHO very worth reading, blog article here Hostile Takeover laying out - in more detail and with more references than I would get around to - some of the root causes and effects of too long a "probusiness" mindset. Not that there is anything wrong with business, freemarkets, and capitalism when they are merely a significant part of society. But think of society as a garden, and corporate enterprises as the roses. Kept under control, they are one of the showpieces. Allowed to take over, and you have nothing but a tangle of thorns, that may look pretty on the outside, and smell nice, but make the space completely unusable for anything but insects and rodents. | | Tuesday, April 11th, 2006 | | 11:11 am |
| | Friday, April 7th, 2006 | | 11:04 am |
| | Thursday, February 23rd, 2006 | | 9:54 am |
Woes of Winter
WIntertime - it's too cold to do anything anyway (not as true as it used to be) and it's easy to get out of shape. Given that I spend 3 hours plus a day commuting, I have limited time for extracurricular activities. Some aspects of my current job are social - so I ended up at around 20 "office parties" in December. Result: net gain of around 20 pounds. Annoying, especially because it's nobodies fault but my own. So I make it to a rapier practice Tuesday, pretty much without gear but I manage to get a bit of fencing in anyway and I'm all out of breath after a few rounds. Then I make it to another rapier practice last night, and again I have no stamina - a half dozen bouts in an enclosed area (no running around needed) leaves me wheezing. And I'm thinking of starting heavy list again? Right. Time to seriously re-institute the morning workout. I am NOT a morning person. I've been able to do the morning thing consistently before, but usually only when I'm training for something specific (learning new MA, need to work up particular muscles for competitive MA, etc.) I doubt I'll have more than 30 minutes to work with (sleep is good too) so I'm trying to figure out how to get best use of the time. Crunches and MA style pushups are definitely going to be in there. Stretching always takes a lot of time - I'd prefer to do Tai Chi which is more diversely beneficial, but I have very limited space in a cat-free area. Some point control practice would be nice, as would some heavy-bag work, but I'm not sure I want to have that much gear set up in a multipurpose rec (or 'wreck') room. Weights are good, but I will probably set up a pair of dumbbells instead of using the machine - quieter and fuller range of motion available. Also some leg work is essential - deciding between squats and doing the weights from a horse - may do both. But I have to do something - experience and trickiness will only take you so far. | | Wednesday, November 30th, 2005 | | 12:11 pm |
| | Thursday, November 10th, 2005 | | 3:53 pm |
Another amusing quiz - these things WILL eat my mind
 | You scored as Captain Jack Sparrow. Roguish,quick-witted, and incredibly lucky, Jack Sparrow is a pirate who sometimes ends up being a hero, against his better judgement. Captain Jack looks out for #1, but he can be counted on (usually) to do the right thing. He has an incredibly persuasive tongue, a mind that borders on genius or insanity, and an incredible talent for getting into trouble and getting out of it. Maybe its brains, maybe its genius, or maybe its just plain luck. Or maybe a mixture of all three.
Captain Jack Sparrow | | 71% | Batman, the Dark Knight | | 58% | Neo, the "One" | | 58% | Lara Croft | | 58% | El Zorro | | 54% | Maximus | | 50% | Indiana Jones | | 50% | James Bond, Agent 007 | | 50% | William Wallace | | 46% | The Terminator | | 46% | The Amazing Spider-Man | | 42% | </td>
Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com |
| | Monday, October 24th, 2005 | | 3:38 pm |
Aide of Washington
This is in answer to a challenge from davebooth whose hysterical filk of "The Wild Rover" is there displayed. With apologies to all those fair maids of Amsterdam plying their own, far more honest, trade: In Washinton there was an aide, wey hey a Rove'ing. whose lack of honour's now displayed, mark well what I do say. In Washington there was an aide, who'd mastered the dirty political trade. No more I'll go a Rove'ing with an outed aide. He'd start by throwing his own party, wey hey a Rove'ing. Free beer and girls at Dixon's rally, mark well what I do say. He'd start by throwing his own party, just a pre-election joke it's plain to see. No more I'll go a Rove'ing with an outed aide. His scamming skills he freely taught, wey hey a Rove'ing. "It's politics, not moral rot," mark well what I do say. His scamming skills he freely taught, till Watergate made the water too hot. No more I'll go a Rove'ing with an outed aide. His bugged office he couldn't ignore, wey hey a Rove'ing. But investigators knew the score, mark well what I do say. His bugged office he couldn't ignore, with a battery good for two hours, no more. No more I'll go a Rove'ing with an outed aide. Examples of morality, wey hey a Rove'ing. He and Mosbacher don't agree, mark well what I do say. Examples of morality, his false leak's caught for all to see. No more I'll go a Rove'ing with an outed aide. At push-polls he is quite the card, wey hey a Rove'ing. Assume an inch then imply a yard, mark well what I do say. At push-polls he is quite the card, morals and race in one canard. No more I'll go a Rove'ing with an outed aide. He sold Iraq, helped sink Kerry, wey hey a Rove'ing. Blows smoke and lies with equal glee, mark well what I do say. He sold Iraq, helped sink Kerry, tried to spin Katrina's misery. No more I'll go a Rove'ing with an outed aide. His skills cost us a massive fee, wey hey a Rove'ing. More than is measured in money, mark well what I do say. His skills cost us a massive fee, but agents he'd give up for free! No more I'll go a Rove'ing, indicted aide. | | Wednesday, September 28th, 2005 | | 12:31 pm |
| | Monday, June 6th, 2005 | | 3:07 pm |
| | Tuesday, May 3rd, 2005 | | 3:54 pm |
with apologies to Paul SImon
Inspired by triskele2's comment at a live steel practice, and with an ending sharply diverted by redsonja 50 Ways To Cleave Another Your problem is your foe's not dead she said to me Here's some simple tricks to kill him messily I'd like to help you in your combat strategy There must be fifty ways to cleave another She said it's plain to me your footwork is by guess Furthermore your guards and cuts and thrusts are random and a mess Now an easy demonstration if you will acquiesce I'll show you fifty ways to cleave another fifty ways to cleave another You just cut off the head, Fred, Take out the spleen, Gene You can carve out the heart, Mart Just hack him in three Slice up the ham, Sam You can throw in a gut cut Just chop at the knee, Lee If he tries to flee She said a bleeding foe's no reason to refrain from all the followups that cut and cut again I said I must dismember him and I will fear no pain to learn the fifty ways She said why don't I sweep your blade your guard is not so tight And I believe that very soon your entrails will see the light And then she killed me After which with frightening delight She used all fifty ways to cleave another fifty ways to cleave another You just cut off the head, Fred, Take out the spleen, Gene You can carve out the heart, Mart Just hack him in three Slice up the ham, Sam You can throw in a gut cut Just chop at the knee, Lee If he tries to flee Current Mood:  amusedCurrent Music: Iron Maiden - Rest in Pieces | | Monday, April 25th, 2005 | | 1:45 pm |
This is not bad at all - wonder what the actual system is
You Are A Weeping Willow Tree |
You are a dreamer, and you're into almost any kind of escapism.
Restless and capricious, you love to travel to exotic places.
You are easily influenced by others, as long as they don't pressure you.
You tend to suffer in love until you find that one loyal, steadfast partner.
An empathetic friend, you love to make others smile and laugh. | Viked from Tamyris | | Tuesday, December 21st, 2004 | | 5:13 pm |
Rapier in 12 easy lessons - the class notes
This is an outline with notes of what I put together as the rapier basics, in the order I think best to teach them. Comments and criticism welcome. This should be equally appropriate for epee bladed weapons and any of the various facsimile blades now in use. GENERAL NOTES: 1) ALL exercises, guards, actions, positions, footwork, etc. are taught and drilled using both left and right hands from the beginning. I won't bother to say "using both hands", it's assumed. LESSON 1: Holding the Sword Finger position, control with thumb and forefinger opposite each other, relaxed grip, 1st and 2nd fingers in front of quillons, handle rests in V of hand. RELAX! Control of the weapon exercise: teacher will move finger to various points, student will move point to touch finger. LESSON 2: Space and Reach Place student with feet shoulder length apart (shoulders should fit BETWEEN feet, not as if resting on them). Rapier held properly in one hand. Student should extend arm gently, and turn at waist reaching in all directions with rapier. Let them loosen up, hips should remain straight, balance even. Explain to them that their reach now exceeds their grasp - by about 36 to 42 inches. And everything in that space is THEIRS! Let them explore turning flexibility at the waist. LESSON 3: Stance Feet still shoulder width, stance is | __ weight should be 60% on rear foot, 40% on front foot. Knees bent so that knee is directly over toe (back leg) Knee is not quite over toe (front leg). If front foot was brought together with back foot, it would form a right angle like so |-----__ . Picture a hook in the top of your head suspending you from the sky. Your body is hanging, relaxed but erect, essentially you are sitting in your stance. General rule - your front toe should be pointing at what you want to hit - this will do amazing things for your accuracy. Exercise: Turn at waist again without shifting hips, this time also lean torso in all directions still without shifting hips and while maintaining weight distribution. RELAX! LESSON 4: Guards: Explain the diamond of defense. Inside and outside line, high and low line. Diagram for right-hander as if facing behind page: high-------/|\---high inside----/_|_\--outside ----------\-|-/ low--------\|/---low inside-----------outside Sorry for all the extra dashes - this is doing the HTML thing with whitespace and I don't have the mental energy to figure out how to fix it right now. The cross is how your body can be divided into zones for attack/defense. The diamond is what you have to protect with the entire length of your blade; NOT just with the point or the guard. Hand 3/4 extended, pronated or supinated. Italian guards and actions usually use the pronated hand, which gives greater power, better cutting actions and a more solid defense. French guards and actions usually use the supinated hand giving finer point control, quicker and more subtle blade actions, and greater sensitivity in the defense. Use whichever best serves your need at the moment. Generally, point in highline to the opponent's outside eye, point in lowline to the opponent's forward knee. This means: If a laser beam suddenly shot straight out from your blade, it would strike your opponent in the referenced location. If the point is not threatening your opponent at all times, it usually means unfortunate events are about to occur. Angulation should be such that the closer the opponent's blade to you (on the outside of your guard) the further from your body it is forced. This also relates to leverage, a crucial point that is easier to show than to describe. RELAX THE SHOULDER! Off hand can go anywhere it likes for the moment - don't try to pose it, just relax. Concept introduction: Offensive defense, defensive offense. Through control of lines, angulation, distance (covered later) and direction (covered later) every offensive movement has elements of defense, every defensive action contains elements of offense either explicit or implicit. OK folks, this is it for tonight (I'm a little backed up at work, as usual, and will have to go to the rest later). The lesson headings to follow are: 5: Parries 6: Thrusts 7: Cuts 8: Flow 9: Linear Footwork, Distance 10: Off hand use 11: Footwork in the Round 12: Putting it all together This is not intended to be a complete "Art of the Rapier", more the basics with guidelines to potential directions. And this is just the lesson-plan, to teach it right is *very* hands on. And let the games begin! Current Mood: creativeCurrent Music: Bottle Rocket :Demo CD, Shonen Knife | | Monday, December 20th, 2004 | | 6:46 pm |
Tricky
<td bgcolor="#000000">I Am Maui</td></tr>| You love life and you're determined to live to the fullest. You use your bag of tricks to protect those you care about and to teach those who mess with you and yours a lesson, but you're not unreasonable. You're a tinkerer and an inventor, you love to build stuff. You enjoy hanging out with good friends or being out in nature. Like the Hawaiian Trickster Maui, your amiable nature fools those who think you're an easy target. You're not. | Which Trickster Are You?
Take the Trickster Test at www.isleofdreams.net. Viked this from Tamyris. Amusing - didn't think there was a Trickster I hadn't heard of. Though I took a look afterwards at all the possibilities and my favorite is missing - Monkey, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven | | 3:06 pm |
Rapier in 12 easy lessons
A couple of friends commented they would be interested in what swordplay stuff I'm working on - and this does seem like a pretty good forum for my occasional vague maunderings on the subject. Recently I volunteered to, for the first time in a very long while, teach someone rapier-play from scratch. Everyone I've worked with lately has had some experience and/or training, so I have just gone on from what was already there. As a result, I haven't thought about "How to Teach Rapier" for quite a few years. Since I originally came from a classical tradition (modern foil, epee and sabre, with somewhat more attention to "what if they were sharp" and somewhat less to sport-only aspects) and since I had (and have, unfortunately he is in the past tense) incredible respect for my teacher, I was pretty much teaching as I was taught. Some of which is not especially applicable to rapier, and much of which I now believe to be actually counterproductive to cut and thrust rapier in the round, using both hands and a full body target. Though it all works extremely well in the limited ruleset of modern fencing. So having some free mental time I sat down and started thinking out how to teach just rapier. I am also working with some friends with live steel - backsword, staff, dagger, and a few other things I haven't gotten to them with yet. And something that is being a real pain in the neck is the terminology for the various standard guards/lines/wards. I find myself saying "sabre septime" for one guard and "foil septime" for another, completely different guard. My students have been pretty good about this - I think they have shown more patience than it deserves. Especially when French carte is different from Italian - yikes! But it also makes the guards seem far more fragmented and arbitrary than they really are. So I wrote up some quick notes for how I think I would like to teach it. I ended up with a 12 part program to turn out a complete (IMO) rapier fencer. Unfortunately I had limited time that day, and there is only so much you can do in one day with any hope of retention. But I got through about 5 3/4 of the 12 points with what I felt was very good results. I'm going to see if I can get some feedback, and see if I can schedule getting through the rest of it with the fencer-in-training. But I think I will pull the notes out of the fencing bag and write them up here for comment/criticism/discussion. | | Monday, August 9th, 2004 | | 3:44 pm |
| | Thursday, June 17th, 2004 | | 1:18 pm |
Surprisingly accurate start for the new year
Picked up from valisdream. I though things were a little strange after New Years, but I just blamed it on Bush. Question - if I destroyed the human race, who are all you zombies? |
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