tobyhush

"Friends must have eaten salt together"

2009-03-23T21:17:51Z

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." "

Help keep the children safe!

2009-01-24T05:56:49Z

Special Comment on Gay Marriage ~ Keith Olbermann

2008-11-12T00:37:49Z

Stealing with pride from clockwerkdragon cause it really is well put.

Sending a friend to SF who needs cheap eats suggestions

2008-07-29T04:57:16Z

maramaye is going through San Francisco for training before going off to volunteer for at least a year for Kiva. She needs cheap places to eat around 18th St. and Folsom. Here's her post: http://maramaye.livejournal.com/199705.html
It's been ages since I've had to eat cheaply in that neighborhood so I'm hoping the current locals I know will step up and offer advice. Anyone with suggestions should go and reply.

Need advice from Mac users

2008-05-30T18:37:00Z

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.

Not an ending but a beginning

2006-11-06T07:11:47Z

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. :)

The Song of the Wage-Slave

2006-09-01T04:08:57Z

When the long, long day is over, and the Big Boss gives me my pay,
I hope that it won't be hell-fire, as some of the parsons say.
And I hope that it won't be heaven, with some of the parsons I've met-
All I want is just quiet, just to rest and forget.
Look at my face, toil-furrowed; look at my calloused hands;
Master, I've done Thy bidding, wrought in Thy many lands-
Wrought for the little masters, big-bellied they be, and rich;
I've done their desire for a daily hire, and I die like a dog in a ditch.
I used to have the strength Thou has given, Thou knowest I did not shirk;
Threescore years of labor - Thine be the long day's work.
And now, Big Master, I'm broken and bent and twisted and scarred,
But I've held my job, and Thou knowest, and Thou will not judge me hard.
Thou knowest my sins are many, and often I've played the fool -
Whiskey and cards and women, they made me the devil's tool.
I was just like a child with money; I flung it away with a curse, Feasting a fawning parasite, or glutting a harlot's purse;
Then back to the woods repentant, back to the mill or the mine, I the worker of workers, everything in my line.
Everything hard but headwork (I'd no more brains than a kid), A brute with brute strength to labor, doing as I was bid; Living in camps with men-folk, a lonely and loveless life;
Never knew kiss of sweetheart, never caress of wife.
A brute with brute strength to labor, and they were so far above -
Yet I'd gladly have gone to the gallows for one little look of Love.
I, with the strength of two men, savage and shy and wild-
Yet how I'd ha' treasured a woman, and the sweet, warm kiss of a child!
Well, 'tis Thy world, and Thou knowest. I blaspheme and my ways be rude;
But I've lived my life as I found it, and I've done my best to be good;
I, the primitive toiler, half naked and grimed to the eyes,
Sweating it deep in their ditches, swining it stark in their sties;
Hurling down forests before me, spanning tumultuous streams;
Down in the ditch building o'er me palaces fairer than dreams;
Boring the rock to the ore-bed, driving the road through the fen,
Resolute, dumb, uncomplaining, a man in a world of men.
Master, I've filled my contract, wrought in Thy many lands;
Not by sins wilt Thou judge me, but by the work of my hands.
Master, I've done Thy bidding, and the light is low in the west, And the long, long shift is over ... Master, I've earned it - Rest.

-Robert W. Service

Bermudas

2006-09-01T03:59:43Z

Where the remote Bermudas ride
In th' ocean's bosom unespied,
From a small boat, that rowed along,
The list'ning winds received this song.
"What should we do but sing His praise
That led us through the wat'ry maze,
Unto an isle so long unknown,
And yet far kinder than our own?
Where He the huge sea-monsters wracks,
That lift the deep upon their backs.
He lands us on a grassy stage,
Safe from the storms, and prelate's rage.
He gave us this eternal spring,
Which here enamels everything;
And sends the fowls to us in care,
On daily visits through the air.
He hangs in shades the orange bright
Like golden lamps in a green night;
And does in the pomegranates close
Jewels more rich than Ormus shows.
He makes the figs our mouths to meet,
And throws the melons at our feet;
But apples plants of such a price,
No tree could ever bear them twice.
With cedars chosen by His hand,
From Lebanon, He stores the land;
And makes the hollow seas, that roar,
Proclaim the ambergris on shore.
He cast (of which we rather boast)
The Gospel's pearl upon our coast;
And in these rocks for us did frame
A temple, where to sound His name.
Oh let our voice His praise exalt,
Till it arrive at Heaven's vault:
Which thence (perhaps) rebounding, may
Echo beyond the Mexique Bay!"
Thus sung they, in the English boat,
An holy and a cheerful note;
And all the way, to guide their chime,
With falling oars they kept the time.

by Andrew Marvell

The Parson's Son

2006-08-31T22:39:16Z

This is the song of the parson's son, as he squats in his shack alone,
On the wild weird nights, when the Northern Lights shoot up from the frozen zone,
And it's sixty below, and couched in the snow the hungry huskies moan:

"I'm one of the Artic brotherhood, I'm an old-time pioneer.
I came with the first - O God! how I've cursed this Yukon - but still I'm here.
I've sweated athirst in its summer heat, I've frozen and starved in its cold;
I've followed my dreams by its thousand streams, I've toiled and moiled for its gold.

"Look at my eyes - been snow-blind twice; look where my foot's half gone;
And that gruesome scar on my left cheek, where the frost-fiend bit to the bone.
Each one a brand of this devil's land, where I've played and I've lost the game,
A broken wreck with a craze for 'hooch,' and never a cent to my name.

"This mining is only a gamble; the worst is as good as the best;
I was in with the bunch and I might have come out right on top with the rest;
With cormack, ladue and Macdonald - O God! but it's hell to think
Of the thousands and thousands I've squandered on cards and women and drink.

"In the early days we were just a few, and we hunted and fished around,
Nor dreamt by our lonely camp-fires of the wealth that lay under the ground.
We traded in skins and whiskey, and I've often slept under the shade
Of that lone birch tree on Bonanza, where the first big find was made.

"We were just like a great big family, and every man had his squaw,
And we lived such a wild, free, fearless life beyond the pale of the law;
Till sudden there came a whisper, and it maddened us every man, And I got in on Bonanza before the big rush began.

"Oh, those Dawson days, and the sin and the blaze, and the town all open wide!
(If God made me in His likeness, sure He let the devil inside.)
But we all were mad, both the good and the bad, and as for the women, well-
No spot on the map in so short a space has hustled more souls to hell.

"Money was just like dirt there, easy to get and to spend.
I was all caked in on a dance-hall jade, but she shook me in the end.

It put me queer, and for near a year I never drew sober breath,
Till I found myself in the bughouse ward with a claim staked out on death.

"Twenty years in the Yukon, struggling along its creeks;
Roaming its giant valleys, scaling its god-like peaks;
Bathed in its fiery sunsets, fighting its fiendish cold-
Twenty years in the Yukon... twenty years- and I'm old.

"Old and weak, but no matter, there's 'hooch' in the bottle still. I'll hitch up the dogs to-morrow, and mush down the trail to Bill. It's so long dark, and I'm lonesome- I'll just lay down on the bed;
To-morrow I'll go... to-morrow... I guess I'll play on the red.

"... Come, Kit, your pony is saddled. I'm waiting, dear, in the court...
...Minnie, you devil, I'll kill you if you skip with that flossy sport...
... How much does it go to the pan, Bill? ... play up, school, and play the game...
... Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name..."

This was the song of the parson's son, as he lay in his bunk alone,
Ere the fire went out and the cold crept in, and his blue lips ceased to moan,
And the hunger-maddened malamutes had torn him flesh from bone.

-Robert W. Service

Enough of this

2006-08-29T16:48:27Z

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

now what?

2006-08-23T05:06:07Z

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.

Today's Show is brought to you by the letter R for Republicans who don't like NPR

2006-06-09T05:15:50Z

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 "

And now for something completely different

2006-04-11T01:50:30Z

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.

Best Martial Arts science fiction I know of

2006-01-29T05:27:02Z

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?

Mackie Messer

2005-07-10T08:10:10Z

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

and now for something completely different

2005-07-03T00:40:14Z

I have made it a point to not post links on this thing as yet but this one was too good to resist-
http://santiago.mapache.org/rpgs/exalted/monkey-style.html
Those who know me well will easily guess which attack is likely to come most naturally to me. :)

Forget the hard way, or the easy way, or any way for that matter.

2005-07-02T08:23:35Z

A way can be a guide but not a fixed path.
Names can be given but not permanent labels.
-Tao Te Ching

Something to consider

2005-07-02T08:20:15Z

The transient and the eternal are the same

Self improvement

2005-07-02T08:17:13Z

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

Let's be honest.

2005-07-02T08:11:30Z

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

In the Immortal words of Gene Wilder

2005-06-18T02:28:32Z

Directions-
"no no, can't go that way. You have to go forward to go back. Better press on."

Good advice-
"Oh, you should never, never doubt what nobody is sure about"

a lovely song-
There's no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going
There's no knowing where we're rowing
Or which way the river's flowing
Is it raining?
Is it snowing?
Is a hurricane a-blowing?
Not a speck of light is showing
So the danger must be growing
Are the fires of hell a-glowing?
Is the grisly reaper mowing?
Yes, the danger must be growing!
'Cause the rowers keep on rowing
And they're certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing.