words, words, words

We are off on holiday to Tunisia….

So the scientists all agree about one thing for certain.  The earth is heating up. They are mostly in agreement that it is our fault. They seem to have a lot of different opinions on what is going to happen if it continues heats up.

Is it a crisis?  Should I hop in my private jet to fly somewhere and shake my fist with the rest of the forward-looking people on the planet?  I’m not too sure.  Weather is very very complicated.  We are members of a race that can fly around and dodge flaming junk, but we still can’t predict if it will be raining 3 weeks from now.  At any rate, let’s assume that global warming will be very very bad.

Here is my solution: Let’s find the worlds best carbon experts, maybe at a bicycle company, and find a way to pull the carbon out of the air and give it to them. It can’t really be that complicated. Again, we can split the atom… We can use the carbon to make bicycles and we can all ride around instead of producing carbon dioxide.

Tah-dah, problem solved.  And for my next trick….

I’ve been doing judo about once a week at the Budokwai, primarily to help my standup game, but also because it is similar to chess and it is fun. I went to my first grading today and had two matches. The first was a draw, the second I won by a collar choke. It was an enjoyable experience, though. I realize that I have a lot to learn. Oh, I skipped from white belt up to seventh kyu. A high orange belt. High visibility deer hunter orange.

I watched a really good Google Video called Mindfulness Stress Reduction And Healing
Following one of the suggestions, I stopped and checked to see if I was in the shower last time I took a shower. Turns out I wasn’t.

Also, I finished a really good book, Special Topics in Calamity Physics

I am going to the Google London Headquarters on Thursday, I’ll try to take some pictures of the wide array of snacks that they have.

I saw two pigeons sharing a piece of fried chicken.

I just got sized up by a one-year old on the tube. He was watching me eat my sandwich and he looked like he was trying to decide if he could take my sandwich away. For all the talk about bullying in England, this kid was the first one that actually made me uncomfortable.

This kid was a bad-ass. He had a cookie in one hand and was eating a banana peel with the other. I was scared.

I have been to a couple of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments lately and was going to summarize the results. Here they are:

• Campeonato Sulamericano – Silver Blue Belt Master Heavy
• 3e Coupe Suisse Jiu Jitsu Brésilien — Gold White Belt Middle Heavy
• Bristol Open — - Gold White Belt Absolute 
• Gracie Invitational – Silver White Belt Absolute
• Amsterdam Open — Bronze White Belt Middle Heavy Weight, Bronze Beginner No-Gi Middle Heaveyweight (I lost to the same guy twice, who won gold in both divisions.)

I finally feel like things are starting to come together. I’m getting over a lot of bad habits. Part of it is that I now am winning by submission in contests. You save a lot of energy for your other matches and don’t have to worry about points. Conservation of energy. It also helps with your confidence I’ve found.

At university, I had a bicycle which I bought from a very Sanford and Son-eque store in Tampa. The place was a cornucopia of crap… junk tumbling out of a strange smelling horn of plenty. After much deliberation, I bought a vintage Ross Europa for 10(ten) American dollars.

This bike was terrible. It had one gear, coaster brakes, and was from an era where the only thing you needed a bike for was getting your baguettes home before they were cold. Back then, there were no “mountain bikes”, people didn’t need “gears”, you could only hope to get from point A to point B without falling over. The Ross Europa could do this admirably. The bicycle weighted about 50(fifty) pounds and was like an antique tank. If I ran into a curb, I could chip the curb and go over it. There was no stopping this thing once you got if moving. If you could get it moving. In the flat terrain of Tampa this was about all you needed in a bike.

It would have been fun to ride through grass or on a path, but I chose the economic and safe route. Also, being mindful of the rampant bicycle thievery, I bought a Kryptonite lock for my bicycle. I’m no dummy and I know that bicycles disappear near University campuses faster than free donuts. The guaranteed, industrial strength, super-lock cost about 30(thirty) American dollars.

One day, I went into a store and left my bicycle outside. I thought I had locked it. For some reason I left had put the lock on the bike and walked away from it without removing the keys. When I returned, my bicycle was still there, but my lock and key were missing.

What is the moral of this story? Does it make sense in Arabic?

Ready?

You know your bicycle is a piece of crap when someone steals your lock and leaves your bike.

Here is a great picture of a polar bear petting a seal.

I really like the style of this image.

Also, there is a polar bear in the background using subterfuge. He/She is covering his/her black nose to be more camouflaged. That way he/she can sneak up and pet the seals stealthily.

See… seals don’t like to be have their fur ruffled.