I Am Still Alive

Some of you have been worried about me. You’ll be happy to hear that I didn’t die or abandon this journal—I simply got a job.

Thankfully that is coming to an end soon, and I’ll be back on here again with more techniques and articles (and hopefully footage, whenever I get a video camera).

In the mean time, I thought you may be interested in hearing what my other interests are outside of jiu-jitsu. And even if you’re not, indulge me this one actual “blog” post about my personal life.

Since I last wrote…

I’ve been researching cognitive sciences, particularly disorders like prosopagnosia, synesthesia, sleep paralysis, autism, savantism, and feral children. Thank the Discovery Channel, Kim Peek, Daniel Tammet, Wired magazine and Carl Sagan for turning me on to those.

I’ve been playing around with Möbius strips, Klein bottles, the forth dimension and ten spatial dimensions. This all started because I use one-sided loops to entertain bored kids.

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around Newtonian and quantum physics, the electromagnetic spectrum, the uncertainty principle, and the theory of relativity. It struck me that I should probably try to understand the largest advancements in science of the past century.

I’ve been studying evolution, natural selection and genetics for the same reason.

I finished The Tipping Point and Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. The first explores how social trends and ideas suddenly spread and become popular. The second looks into rapid cognition and snap judgments. I felt The Tipping Point was the better book, but Blink has its good moments too.

I read Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt. I never realized statistical analysis could be so fun. Or that sumo wrestlers cheat.

I am nearing the end of The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan and look forward to reading more of his works, such as Billions & Billions.

I may or not finish The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. The original Wired article was probably enough.

Gladwell, Levitt and Anderson form part of a circle of authors that reciprocate quotes for the covers of each others’ books. The next in their “clique” I want to check out is Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse.

I received copies of River Out of Eden by Richard Dawkins, The Origin of Humankind by Richard Leaky and The Way Life Works by Mahlon Hoagland.

I just began Science Matters by Robert M. Hazen. Set a crash course for psuedointellectuality.

I was halfway through Cat’s Cradle when Kurt Vonnegut passed away.

I read The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman in my quest for COMPLETE WORLD KNOWLEDGE and hobo names.

I’ve been listening to Illinois by Sufjan Stevens and 23 by Blonde Redhead.

I beat Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess.

I finally got into Lost, and I’m looking forward to Heroes starting again.

I’ll get back to the regularly scheduled jiu-jitsu updates soon.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 22nd, 2007 at 5:37 pm and is filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response.

7 Responses to “I Am Still Alive”

  1. Trog Says:
    April 23rd, 2007 at 7:35 am

    You still training?

    I went in last week and tried to train, only to mess my knee up more. I need to stay off the mats till it gets better.

    Im going up to the school today though, i miss it.

  2. boufling Says:
    April 24th, 2007 at 2:18 pm

    You should read this book (Godel, Escher, Bach):

    http://tinyurl.com/2v4mwh

  3. tsneds Says:
    April 28th, 2007 at 11:47 pm

    Nice book list,I’ll be checking a few of those out myself(Sagan,Levitt),great to see other grapplers(Judo man myself) with diverse interests!!! Here are a couple more for you to explore in the future:

    1.Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
    by Chip Heath & Dan Heath

    http://www.amazon.com/Made-Stick-Ideas-Survive-Others/dp/1400064287/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-6288059-9265410?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177821494&sr=1-1

    2.Fear: The Friend of Exceptional People
    by Geoff Thompson

    http://www.amazon.com/Fear-Friend-Exceptional-Geoff-Thompson/dp/1873475411/ref=sr_1_1/103-6288059-9265410?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177821358&sr=8-1

    3.The Twelve Universal Laws of Success, Second Edition, Expanded
    by Herbert Harris

    http://www.amazon.com/Twelve-Universal-Success-Second-Expanded/dp/0974836214/ref=sr_1_4/103-6288059-9265410?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177821678&sr=1-4

    4.The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

    http://www.amazon.com/Four-Agreements-Practical-Personal-Freedom/dp/1878424505/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-6288059-9265410?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177821818&sr=1-1

    5.Strong and Fearless
    by Phil Nuernberger PH D

    http://www.amazon.com/Strong-Fearless-Phil-Nuernberger-PH/dp/0936663340/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-6288059-9265410?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177821946&sr=1-1

  4. tsneds Says:
    April 28th, 2007 at 11:54 pm

    Oh I almost forgot,on the cognitive sciences tip,check out the Brain Sync podcasts here: http://www.kellyhowell.com/podcasts/

    Subjects include:

    Take a nap & change your brain
    How Beliefs Control Biology
    Is it possible to be lazy, laid back and successful at the same time?
    Did you know that taking risks is good for you?
    Etc.Etc.

  5. tsneds Says:
    April 29th, 2007 at 12:03 am

    Nice to see other Grapplers with interests outside of their sport,here are a couple more books you may enjoy:

    1.Strong and Fearless
    by Phil Nuernberger PH D

    2.Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
    by Chip Heath & Dan Heath

    3.The Type-Z Guide to Success: A Lazy Person’s Manifesto to Wealth and Fulfillment
    by Marc Allen

    4.Fear: The Friend of Exceptional People (Paperback)
    by Geoff Thompson

  6. datdamnmachine Says:
    May 3rd, 2007 at 2:30 pm

    I’m in the same boat as the first poster. I may have a broken toe and possibly another one…one on eat foot…fun stuff. I stayed off the mats for about 3 days to rest and went back to class yesterday. I didn’t do any rolling and I was taped up pretty good. Since the injury, I’ve decided to devote some time to some personal hobbies of mine.

    I do technical support, mainly internet, networking, secure remote access, stuff like that. I deal with Cisco routing equipment. I’m working on a project for testing SSL VPN:

    http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns340/ns394/ns171/ns347/networking_solutions_sub_solution_home.html

    Something for all the geeks out there.

    When I’m not doing that, I’m doing the typical geek stuff like watching anime, UFC fights with friends, trying to find a girlfriend who can perform a decent omaplata…you know, the stuff that makes life worth living.

    Glad to see you back Aesop, didn’t know what happened to you for a while.

  7. Yojimbo Says:
    May 3rd, 2007 at 7:24 pm

    One of my favorite Sagan books is “The Dragons of Eden”. Check it out bra

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