Scree

noun : an accumulation of loose stones or rocky debris lying on a slope or at the base of a hill or cliff.

Mercy does not exists without more severe options

Published January 21, 2014 · All posts on Jan 21

I certainly don’t doubt for a minute that O Sensei could have devastated his training partners. Their ukemi demonstrate their respect for that potential. But I’m told that Saito Sensei opined that without mercy, ukemi is impossible. Certainly that is not to imply that practicing severe forms and injuring people has a place in the dojo. Practicing the severe forms short of injury, however, may be fundamental. Without that, how can you personally claim to be merciful? You, whatever your mental state or intentions, would be constrained by your limited technical knowledge.

~ Charles Warren, from «http://blog.aikidojournal.com/2012/07/15/on-mercy-by-charles-warren/»

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Subtraction

Published January 18, 2014 · All posts on Jan 18

Too many possessions is clutter, visual stress, cleaning, maintenance, debt, less happiness. Too many tasks makes it harder to focus on any one thing or get anything done. Too many things we want to learn means we never learn anything well.

~ Leo Babauta, from The Necessary Art of Subtraction

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The U.S. Federal Reserve

Published January 16, 2014 · All posts on Jan 16

As we approach the 100 year anniversary of the creation of the Federal Reserve, it is absolutely imperative that we get the American people to understand that the Fed is at the very heart of our economic problems. It is a system of money that was created by the bankers and that operates for the benefit of the bankers. The American people like to think that we have a “democratic system”, but there is nothing “democratic” about the Federal Reserve.

~ Michael Snyder, from «http://www.redflagnews.com/headlines/25-fast-facts-about-the-federal-reserve-please-share-with-everyone-you-know»

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OK plateau

Published January 15, 2014 · All posts on Jan 15

And so we get to the so-called “OK Plateau” — the point at which our autopilot of expertise confines us to a sort of comfort zone, where we perform the task in question in efficient enough a way that we cease caring for improvement. We reach this OK Plateau in pursuing just about every goal, from learning to drive to mastering a foreign language to dieting, where after an initial stage of rapid improvement, we find ourselves in that place at once comforting in its good-enoughness and demotivating in its sudden dip in positive reinforcement via palpable betterment.

~ Maria Popova, from The Psychology of Getting Unstuck

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Being awake

Published January 10, 2014 · All posts on Jan 10

It’s worth the effort, because being awake means we’re not missing life as we walk through it. Being awake means we’re conscious of what’s going on inside us, as it happens, and so can make more conscious choices rather than acting on our impulses all the time.

~ Leo Babauta from, 12 Indispensable Mindful Living Tools

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On Aikido grading

Published January 9, 2014 · All posts on Jan 9

For several years, I’ve been on the verge of writing something about grading within Kinokawa. Stefan Stenudd has, hit all the high points, and saved me a lot of effort:

Therefore, though with some reluctance, I have kyu and dan gradings in our dojo, trying to make sure that everyone advances in grades in accordance with his or her advancement in aikido. That’s not rocket science, but it’s not a piece of cake either.

~ Stefan Stenudd from, The Gordian Knot of Grading

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If you’ve been studying with Sensei Wirth for some time, you’ll notice a few obvious differences – things like our having changed to colored belts for kyu ranks ~2001/2002, hakama for dan ranks, etc. He also dives deeper into the details of performing higher level dan gradings – which is something that I don’t have to worry about.

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Stop data-mining me

Published January 8, 2014 · All posts on Jan 8

Data brokers have pioneered advanced techniques to collect and collate information about consumers’ offline, online and mobile behavior. But they have been slow to develop innovative ways for consumers to gain access to the information that companies obtain, share and sell about them for marketing purposes. Now federal regulators are pressuring data brokers to operate more transparently.

In 2012, a report by the Federal Trade Commission recommended that the industry set up a public Web portal that would display the names and contact information of every data broker doing business in the United States, as well as describe consumers’ data access rights and other choices. But, for years the data brokers have been too busy to build a centralized Web portal for consumers. So, we decided to help them out and StopDataMining.me was born!

~ http://www.stopdatamining.me

Go there. Then, one by one, follow the links to the data mining companies “opt-out” forms. These companies ALREADY know who you are.

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The Mighty Ducks

Published January 6, 2014 · All posts on Jan 6

Let’s set aside the fact that a guy who gets convicted of a DUI is put in charge of a children’s hockey team, and instead focus on the fact that this bum of a coach managed to change the lives of the Mighty Ducks, and my life as well.

Today we’re going to learn from Coach Gordon Bombay (EMILIO!!) Charlie Conway (spazz!), Adam Banks (cake-eater!), Folton Reed, GOLDBERG!, and the rest of the Mighty Ducks about leveling up ourselves and our lives.

~ Steve Kamb from, How The Mighty Ducks Will Make You A Better Person

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Gut bacteria

Published January 4, 2014 · All posts on Jan 4

Scientists are just beginning to learn about how our decisions at the dinner table — or the drive-through — tweak our microbiome, that is, the communities of bacteria living in our bodies. But one thing is becoming clear: The critters hanging out in our intestine influence many aspects of our health, including weight, immunity and perhaps even behavior.

~ Michaeleen Doucleff, from Chowing Down On Meat, Dairy Alters Gut Bacteria A Lot, And Quickly

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Have you ever seen a copy of Gray’s Anatomy? (*sigh* No. It’s a book. The TV show is the rip-off.)

…also, Time Well Spent by Douglas Adams.

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Stumbling Blocks

Published January 2, 2014 · All posts on Jan 2

The story of oil limits is one that crosses many disciplines. It is not an easy one to understand. Most of those who are writing about peak oil come from hard sciences such as geology, chemistry, and engineering. The following are several stumbling blocks to figuring out the full story that I have encountered. Needless to say, not all of those writing about peak oil have been tripped up by these issues, but it makes it difficult to understand the “real” story.

~ Gail Tverberg from, Stumbling Blocks to Figuring Out the Real Oil Limits Story

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The little book of contentment

Published December 29, 2013 · All posts on Dec 29

It’s been a long journey, but I’ve enjoyed it. I struggled with feeling bad about my body, feeling insecure about myself, doubting my abilities to make it without an employer, doubting myself as a writer, not believing I had discipline or the ability to change my habits.

And all this led to other problems: I sought happiness and pleasure in food, beer, shopping, distraction, TV. I procrastinated, I let my health get bad, I smoked, I was deeply in debt, unhappy with my work, never exercised, and ate lots of junk food.

~ Leo Babauta from, The Little Book of Contentment

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The book is a short, and completely free, download.

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Lofty goals

Published December 28, 2013 · All posts on Dec 28

To my mind, the most important guiding star on our journey is integrity. We have to practise what we preach, and this means embodying the principles we aspire to and letting them permeate every aspect of our lives.

These lofty values and principles we aspire to in training; courage, determination, commitment, humility, honesty, quality, consistency, perfection – what good are they if we abandon them when we end the training session and return to our daily life?

~ Dan Edwardes from, «http://www.parkourgenerations.com/blog/way-pathfinder-part-two»

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WolframAlpha

Published December 24, 2013 · All posts on Dec 24

I wonder how many Sundays are between June 17th 2012 and today?

WolframAlpha: 79.

Ho. Lee. Crap. That’s awesome.

You do know about WolframAlpha, right? …the “computational knowledge engine”? No? Go there. Ask it things.

Stephen Wolfram is a character. (But anyone whose thesis committee contains Richard Feynman gets a complete pass in my book.) “This math stuff is annoying…” Bam! Mathematica. And if you want to really go “whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!”, try to wrap your brain around, A New Kind of Science.

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Interview with Koichi Tohei

Published December 20, 2013 · All posts on Dec 20

The way people most talk about ki these days tends toward the occultish, but I will say that I have never done anything even remotely involving the occult. Much of what Ueshiba Sensei talked about, on the other hand, did sound like the occult.

In any case, I began studying aikido because I saw that Ueshiba Sensei had truly mastered the art of relaxing. It was because he was relaxed, in fact, that he could generate so much power. I became his student with the intention of learning that from him. To be honest, I never really listened to most of the other things he said.

Stories about Ueshiba Sensei moving instantaneously or pulling pine trees from the ground and swinging them around are all just tall tales. I’ve always urged aikido people to avoid writing things like that. Unfortunately, many people don’t seem to listen. Instead, they just decrease the size of the tree in the story from some massive thing to one only about ten centimeters in diameter. In reality, it’s pretty difficult to pull even a single burdock root out of the ground, so how in the world is someone going to extract a ten centimeter pine tree, especially while standing on its root system? Such things are nothing but exaggerations of the kind often used in old-fashioned storytelling.

The stories have gotten rather incredible since Ueshiba Sensei passed away, and now people are having him moving instantaneously or reappearing suddenly from a kilometer away and other nonsense. I was with Ueshiba Sensei for a long time and can tell you that he possessed no supernatural powers.

~ Koichi Tohei from, «http://members.aikidojournal.com/public/interview-with-koichi-tohei-1/»

From, Interview with Koichi Tohei by Stan Pranin.

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How to discuss politics

Published December 16, 2013 · All posts on Dec 16

Of course, one way to make sure you never sound like an idiot when discussing politics (or have to suffer someone else who does) is to just avoid discussing politics in polite company. That said, sometimes a spirited discussion on current events is fun and informative, and sometimes you have the opportunity to talk to someone with an opinion or background you’d like to benefit from. In this post, we’ll show you how to approach those political conversations from an informed, civil angle, without a conversation with someone you may disagree with devolving into a mouth-frothing mess like you’d see on Sunday Morning talk shows.

~ Alan Henry from, How to Avoid Sounding Like an Idiot When Discussing Politics

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