| "Friends must have eaten salt together" |
[Mar. 23rd, 2009|02:06 pm] |
An interesting article from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7920434.stm
It has some interesting comments about numbers and qualities of friends. I'm mostly posting it to stir up trouble though I suppose it's less likely to do so on LJ than on Facebook or something like that.
"The average number is about 150, says leading anthropologist Robin Dunbar. "
<snip>
"They usually consist of an inner circle of five "core" people and an additional layer of 10, he says. That makes 15 people - some will probably be family members - who are your central group and then outside that, there's another 35 in the next circle and another 100 on the outside. And that's one person's social world."
or another choice quote:
" There's a limit to how many close friends like this you can have and it's probably between six and 12, he says. "I think this idea that you can have virtually limitless numbers of friends does water down the concept of friendship. I think it's one of those things where less is more." "
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| Need advice from Mac users |
[May. 30th, 2008|11:30 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  aggravated | ] |
Thelightofmylife's Mac started making horrible noises last night and flashing the "no boot disk available" icon. The sounds make me think the hard drive is the problem and since I replaced it within the last 6 months, that doesn't surprise me.
However, I'm sick of working on it and I'm suspecting that the hard drive needs professional help so I need recommendations for Mac repair shops in Portland especially if they are likely to be able to handle toasted drives. Otherwise, I'll have to pull the drive and go with one of the high-end recovery companies I know of. |
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| Not an ending but a beginning |
[Nov. 6th, 2006|12:11 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  excited | ] |
I finished Ulysses yesterday.
I thought I might be sad, but as I got closer to the end I started finding myself thinking things like "now I can go back and read <x> section again with the concordances!" I'm never going to be done reading this book, if for no other reason than some of the sections are such fun to read. And I hope that as I improve my education, I'll be able to go back and read again and understand the various sections better (like the one that is written in all of the styles of English literature starting with direct translation from Latin.
I specifically made this post public in the hopes that when people are searching on Ulysses, they'll find it and realize that it doesn't have to be a hard book to read, that it's funny and raunchy and full of good jokes. It just takes a little effort and time and then you'll find things like sections comparing reading the news paper to going to the bathroom, like a long hallucination where the main character is subjected to complete feminizing and domination by a whorehouse madam, like his wife's rambling ranting internal monologue on her life, her (many) lovers, her good and bad memories of Leopold Bloom and inordinate details on her sex life (little or none of which is with her husband).
What a wonderful book. :) |
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| Enough of this |
[Aug. 29th, 2006|09:47 am] |
I have been using this as a way to pass along information but I'm kinda done doing that. At this point I am going to go back to locking my posts. If you are interested in seeing them let me know and create an account and I'll add you.
FYI - I've added a story or two about my father to the previous entry as a comment
thanks,
t |
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| now what? |
[Aug. 22nd, 2006|09:33 pm] |
We had the memorial for my father on Wednesday Aug 16th, first a small family gathering and then a larger gathering open to anyone who wanted to attend. It was at the Dolphin Club in San Francisco. For being the middle of the day on a weekday, I was surprised at the number of people there- well over 200 people were there. The whole thing was basically just people telling stories about my father. I told some that I may write in a comment on this post.
Then on Sunday the 20th I piloted the Fort Point swim (from the Golden Gate bridge (roughly the South Tower base) with my father's best friend (it was actually done as a memorial swim for my father, everyone wore swim caps with his name on them). That was a true pleasure and I was really happy to discover that we seem to be pretty good at rowing together. Then we picked up my mother and spread his ashes in the bay at one of his favorite spots.
I'll write more in the comments.
His obituary is here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/11/BAGRGKGKTE1.DTL
His short story about his trip rowing from San Francisco to Sacramento is here:
http://www.tsca.net/pdf/TABv25-3.pdf#search=%22phil%20kohlenberg%22
on page 9. |
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| Today's Show is brought to you by the letter R for Republicans who don't like NPR |
[Jun. 8th, 2006|10:10 pm] |
http://civic.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/
Oh. My. Fucking. god.
House Republicans just voted to slash funding for NPR and PBS this year--and eliminate funding altogether in two years. If you appreciate public radio and television (and if you don't maybe you don't belong on my friends list) go sign the petition and pass this along.
"Everyone expected House Republicans to give up efforts to kill NPR
and PBS after a massive public outcry stopped them last year. But
they've just voted to eliminate funding for NPR and PBS--
unbelievably, starting with programs like "Sesame Street." [1]
Public broadcasting would lose nearly a quarter of its federal
funding this year. Even worse, all funding would be eliminated in two
years--threatening one of the last remaining sources of watchdog
journalism [2].
Sign the petition telling Congress to save NPR and PBS again this
year:
http://civic.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/
Last year, over 1 million of us signed the petition, and Congress
listened. We can do it again if you pass this message along to any
friends, neighbors, or co-workers who count on NPR and PBS for news
or children's programming.
This would be the most severe cut in the history of public
broadcasting. The Boston Globe reports the cuts "could force the
elimination of some popular PBS and NPR programs." NPR's president
expects rural public radio stations may be forced to shut down.
The lawmakers who proposed the cuts aren't just trying to save money
in the budget--they're trying to decimate any news outlets willing to
ask tough questions of those in power. Americans trust public
broadcasting more than any corporate news media [3]. This is an
ideological attack on our free press.
President Bush's budget proposed cuts to NPR and PBS [4], but
Congress is going even further: slashing 23% of this year's public
broadcasting budget--$115 million--and denying NPR and PBS any
funding in two years. The cuts immediately terminate support for
commercial-free children's shows like "Sesame Street," "Clifford,"
and "Maya and Miguel."
The House and Senate are deciding if public broadcasting will
survive, and they need to hear from viewers like you. Sign the
petition at:
http://civic.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/
Thank you for all you do.
--Noah, Eli, Adam G., Tom, Marika and the MoveOn.org Civic Action
Team
Thursday, June 8th, 2006
P.S. You can learn more about the threat to public broadcasting from
our friends at Free Press at:
http://www.freepress.net/publicbroadcasting/
Sources:
1. "GOP takes aim at PBS funding," Boston Globe, June 8, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1864&id=7967-4238603-
wExZvZOX_tnkvfEXlnEzGg& t=4
PBS' Ready to Learn program (funds "Sesame Street" and other
children's shows) http://www.pbs.org/readytolearn/
2. "CPB Responds to House Appropriations Subcommittee's Proposed
Funding Levels for Public Broadcasting," Corporation for Public
Broadcasting, June 7, 2006
http://www.cpb.org/pressroom/release.php?prn=551
3. "2005 'Open to the Public' Objectivity and Balance Report,"
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, January 31, 2006
http://www.cpb.org/aboutcpb/goals/objectivity/
4. "Bush Budget Pumps Propaganda, Slashes PBS," MediaCitizen,
February 7, 2006 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1865&id=7967-4238603-
wExZvZOX_tnkvfEXlnEzGg& t=5 " |
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| And now for something completely different |
[Apr. 10th, 2006|06:45 pm] |
Contrary to all previous habits, I'm going to start actually posting (relatively) personal information here while I'm on sabbatical (4/14 - 6/11). A friend did this while he was on his and it was a nice way to keep up with what he was doing.
I'll still probably keep them private so if you want to see them, sign up for an account and let me know I should add you to the list. |
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| Best Martial Arts science fiction I know of |
[Jan. 28th, 2006|06:34 pm] |
This is my list of the best martial arts science fiction.
I decided it was time to put it together in hopes that someone might be able
to recommend something I haven't read yet.
First, the criteria. I'm happy to read most scifi and most martial arts fiction but to go on this list it needs to be good at both. The best means that I can see the fights and they make sense. No fucking flying spin kicks against someone who's two feet away from you and attacking. That's bullshit. The scifi needs to be good an interesting too. :)
Before I mention any other book, I want to mention one that came out recently-
"The Musashi Flex" by Steve Perry ISBN:0441013619
If you have _any_ interest in martial arts or scifi, go buy this book. This is a prequel to the Matador series that I mention below and it's excellent. Read it then tell everyone you know who likes scifi to go read it too. My goal is to ensure enough copies are sold that he writes another one in the series.
Now the authors (not in any order)-
Steve Perry - Pretty much anything Steve Perry writes you can bank on being good martial arts scifi. He's a life-long martial artist and a great writer.
Steven Barnes - Steve Barnes has non-martial arts/scifi books but his MA/scifi is right up there with Perry's. He's also done a bunch of collaborative stuff that has good martial arts in it too.
Richard K. Morgan - Morgan gets a nod for his Takeshi Kovacs novels which have a very interesting take on how to deal with lots of people with amped reflexs, but all his books are good and have some martial arts that are worth reading though it's more as a sprinkling than as a main topic.
Daniel Keys Moran - Moran gets included just for creating Night Faces. And characters that just rock. Fair warning; if you really learn to love his books (as I did) he'll break your heart cause as far as we (his collective fans) can tell, he's got the entire series in his head and HE'S NEVER GOING TO FINISH WRITING IT. :(
Now the books. I'm not going to comment on them much except where there is a specific item that is distinct. These are all books I own and re-read or have on my "gotta buy a copy damnit" list. These are not in any order.
Warriors of Blood and Dream (Edited by Roger Zelazny) - This is a collection of short stories from bunches of good writers and almost all of them are really good.
These two don't focus on martial arts but what fighting they have is good.
Achilles Choice (Niven & Barnes) - Mostly judo but good overall plot and an interesting issue.
Saturn's Race (Niven & Barnes) - Mostly silat
Cybernetic Jungle (S.N.Lewitt) - only one I've found that uses capoeira (it's set in Brazil).
All by Steven Barnes:
Street Lethal
Gorgon Child
Firedance
(Those three ^^^^^ are a series and are must haves)
The Kundalini Equation - this is just a cool idea and one that I think any martial artist would find interesting. heh. so would anyone else.
Blood Brothers
All by Steve Perry: (in chronological order inside the series, as far as I can remember)
The Musashi Flex
The 97th Step
The Man Who Never Missed
Matadora
The Machiavelli Interface
(not sure about order after these, it's been a while since I read them. Need to buy new copies)
Albino Knife
Black Steel
Brother Death
all of the above are Matador stories and are definitely on the must have list
Daniel Keys Moran
Armageddon Blues - limited martial arts, mostly knives
Emerald Eyes - very little martial arts but necessary for appreciating the rest of the series. And excellent
The Long Run - ditto
The Last Dancer - excellent martial arts, uber cool and hot main character.
So. Who's got something they think is worth adding to the list? |
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| Mackie Messer |
[Jul. 10th, 2005|01:08 am] |
Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne
und die trägt er im Gesicht
und Macheath, der hat ein Messer
doch das Messer sieht man nicht.
Ach, es sind des Haifischs Flossen
rot, wenn dieser Blut vergießt.
Mackie Messer trägt 'nen Handschuh
drauf man keine Untat liest.
An 'nem schönen blauen Sonntag
liegt ein toter Mann am Strand
und ein Mensch geht um die Ecke
den man Mackie Messer nennt.
Und Schmul Meier bleibt verschwunden
und so mancher reiche Mann
und sein Geld hat Mackie Messer
dem man nichts beweisen kann.
Jenny Towler ward gefunden
mit 'nem Messer in der Brust
und am Kai geht Mackie Messer
der von allem nichts gewußt.
Und das große Feuer in Soho
sieben Kinder und ein Greis -
in der Menge Mackie Messer, den
man nicht fragt und der nichts weiss.
Und die minderjährige Witwe
deren Namen jeder weiss
wachte auf und war geschändet -
Mackie, welches war dein Preis?
Wachte auf und war geschändet -
Mackie, welches war dein Preis?
Denn die einen sind im Dunkeln
Und die andern sind im Licht
Und man siehet die im Lichte
Die im Dunkeln sieht man nicht |
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| Self improvement |
[Jul. 2nd, 2005|01:14 am] |
My shadow's
Shedding skin and
I've been picking
Scabs again.
I'm down
Digging through
My old muscles
Looking for a clue.
I've been crawling on my belly
Clearing out what could've been.
I've been wallowing in my own confused
And insecure delusions
For a piece to cross me over
Or a word to guide me in.
I wanna feel the changes coming down.
I wanna know what I've been hiding in
My shadow.
Change is coming through my shadow.
My shadow's shedding skin
I've been picking
My scabs again.
I've been crawling on my belly
Clearing out what could've been.
I've been wallowing in my own chaotic
And insecure delusions.
I wanna feel the change consume me,
Feel the outside turning in.
I wanna feel the metamorphosis and
Cleansing I've endured within
My shadow
Change is coming.
Now is my time.
Listen to my muscle memory.
Contemplate what I've been clinging to.
Forty-six and two ahead of me.
I choose to live and to
Grow, take and give and to
Move, learn and love and to
Cry, kill and die and to
Be paranoid and to
Lie, hate and fear and to
Do what it takes to move through.
I choose to live and to
Lie, kill and give and to
Die, learn and love and to
Do what it takes to step through.
See my shadow changing,
Stretching up and over me.
Soften this old armor.
Hoping I can clear the way
By stepping through my shadow,
Coming out the other side.
Step into the shadow.
Forty six and two are just ahead of me.
-Tool |
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| Let's be honest. |
[Jul. 2nd, 2005|01:09 am] |
Choices always were a problem for you.
What you need is someone strong to guide you.
Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow,
what you need is someone strong to use you...
like me,
like me.
-Tool |
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