This video is utterly captivating.
New quote:
I added the following quote from Charles Darwin to my "Words to Reflect on Section".
There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone circling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved."I heard this a few weeks ago at the Unitarian Universalist church I go to, at a service in honor of some significant anniversary of the publication of his "On the Origin of Species". There are not too many churches where you'd actually see a copy of that book sitting on the alter.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
New Song: Swings
Here's a new folky song by me called "Swings". I gave up on recording analog using my M-Audio Delta 1010LT soundcard. No matter how I configured it, no matter which PCI slot I put the card into, no matter whether I disabled all extraneous devices, including the network card, no matter whether I disabled all unnecessary services, like anti-virus, I was never able to record without infuriating pops that happened about every 30 seconds. So, my alternative strategy was to use MIDI to drive a virtual instrument. I downloaded a virtual piano trial package from truepianos.com. It sounded so nice and with such a pleasing resonance that I bought it for the lofty price of $180. I recorded this song using the Mixcraft 4 software that my brother- and sister-in-law got me last Christmas. This is completely live with no MIDI editing, so not a perfect recording.
Daitoryu Aikijujutsu
I bought and read the book The Hidden Roots of Aikido: Aiki Jujutsu Daitoryu. Daitoryu is the ancient Japanese martial art from which Aikido derives.
My impressions of this book:
- Many of the techniques displayed would not seem out of place if they were included in the Koryu Waza of Tomiki Aikido.
- Since it is so close to aikido, the techniques will not be hard for experienced aikidoka to understand, but other martial artists may have trouble understanding some of the techniques. While there are many pictures, the implementations are not always clear, and the camera angle sometimes obscures the technique. The textual presentations are terse.
- Daitoryu uses a large variety of occasionally fanciful pins. There seems to be an overt goal to free up the hands and accomplish the pin using only the feet, knees, or legs. The Tore then makes the humorous "look ma, no hands" power circle.
- Daitoryu includes some content conspicuously absent from Aikido (at least from Tomiki aikido). These include neck manipulations and the goose neck wrist lock (which they call Goka-jo).
- More strikes are included than in aikido, for example, their kote-gaeshi, in which the tore spins back-to-back with uke before reversing and applying the lock, includes an elbow strike to uke.
- They also include some techniques aikidoka might consider unrefined, for example, pins that require stepping on uke's hands.
- The book has some very nice tips on subtle steps to make a technique more efffective.
- There is much to be learned from this book and from Daitoryu. When I get the chance I may work through some of its techniques.
After reading the book, I found a few interesting Daitoryu videos on Youtube. The following is especially nice.
Since the technical content is so similar, it's hard to understand why Aikido took off but Daitoryu didn't. Sokaku Takeda, the person who revealed this secret, ancient art, had many of the features of a world leader in martial arts. He is said to have taught 30,000 students, including Morehei Ueshiba (the founder of Aikido), and Yong Sool Choi (the founder of Hapkido). He was also an accomplished fighter, regularly besting other martial arts styles. Perhaps, it is that he didn't write enough.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Annika's 6th Birthday Party
Yesterday, we had Annika's 6th Birthday Party. Melissa planned for the kids to do tie dye. On the invitation she asked each child/parent to specify what pattern they wanted to do. She ordered all the shirts and kid-size aprons and latex gloves. She tied all the shirts in advance and mixed all the dyes.
The Operating Table
Young Surgeon
Thrilled to the Molars
Because there wasn't enough space for all the kids to do tie dye at the same time, Melissa had other kids making polymer clay refrigerator magnets.
Piñatas are becoming a tradition.
Melissa planned on making a "rainbow swirl" on the cake, reminiscent of tie die, but the cake was very fragile and the frosting didn't cooperate.
Our Nextdoor Neighber, Susannah
Some parents thought it strange that Annika wanted dumbbells and a punching bag for her birthday. Her grandparents got her roller blades and pads, and some friends got her craft kits.
After the party Annika, Rowyn, and Elena worked out on the bag for over an hour and Annika is already back to it this Sunday morning. I wonder how long the bag will hold up.
Click here for the full slide show of Annika's party.
