Receiving Ukemi
For those not acquainted by martial arts. The title is a bit of a weak play on words, since "ukemi" means something like "receiving through the body". Uke is generally the receiver of a technique and thus the attacker in aikido, whereas the nage is the thrower to use one possible word. Ukemi is important […]
Richard Feynman Lectures
I hold Richard Feynman in huge regard. He was a fascinating human being, a Nobel laureate physicist, his research in physics was second to none. But he was also a legendary lecturer, in both the fields of physics, and perhaps surprisingly computer science. And even more, he was an exceptionally well rounded person, a gifted […]
Models, Perception, Science, Religion, Martial Arts
This is quite a long and detailed article, if you have no vague interest in meta-physics or philosophy and associated ideas, it may hold little value for you. You have been warned! I doubt that any human being lives directly in reality. None of us has an exact understanding of reality and generally I suspect […]
Mono in Debian
I note that the controversy of Mono in Debian which reached fever pitch with the inclusion of Tomboy as part of the default Gnome applications rages on, and now RMS has entered the fray. I respect Stallman a lot. I'm a fellow of FSFE. His positions are usually well thought and argued, though I can't […]
Roberts WM201 Internet Radio
I recently bought a Roberts WM201 Internet Radio. I've used it for a while now and thought I'd post my thoughts. First of all, I was looking for a radio meeting certain criteria, it needed wifi, I wanted it to pack a reasonable punch since it would essentially be my main music source, it needed […]
Self Defence and Over Confidence
Some years ago, I saw an article on the local news showing some girls being schooled in martial arts, Karate in this case, in order to defend themselves from disreputable men (no jokes about tautologies please). It was interesting to note that many felt after about an hour that they were suddenly capable of fending […]
Ethics and Terminators
I went to Terminator Salvation tonight with Andy. I don't think what follows will act as a spoiler, but if you haven't seen it, plan to, and worry about that, look away now. I enjoyed the first two Terminator films hugely. The third one, ho hum, and this one was good entertainment except for the […]
Why you should "Take the Fifth"
I'm not an American, but like many people I'm aware of the Fifth Amendment and how it is often lampooned. I recently discussed this with someone, and I can't for the life of me remember who, was it Peter at BLUG? If it was you, you'll enjoy this. The discussion centred about why it would […]
Android 1.5 (Cupcake) firmware
I recently wrote about my experiences with the Google G1 dev phone running the 1.1 Android firmware, and discussed a number of problems. Last night I obtained the just released 1.5 (cupcake) firmware and performed the upgrade. That all went smoothly, it helped to have done it before and working out the idiosyncrasies of the […]
Note to self: Why I dislike Windows
I am not a fan of Microsoft Windows, most people who know me appreciate this to be a slight understatement. But I've used Microsoft's products. Like many people I've often had no choice. I actually use Microsoft trackballs. It's quite an irony that the best thing I can say about the world's largest software company […]