Riding my bicycle
A Zen Teacher saw five of his students return from the market, riding their bicycles. When they had dismounted, the teacher asked the students, "Why are you riding your bicycles?" The first student replied, "The bicycle is carrying this sack of potatoes. I am glad that I do not have to carry them on my back!" The teacher praised the student, saying, "You are a smart boy. When you grow old, you will not walk hunched over, as I do." The second student replied, "I love to watch the trees and fields pass by as I roll down the path." The teacher commended the student, "Your eyes are open and you see the world." The third student replied, "When I ride my bicycle, I am content to chant, nam myoho renge kyo." The teacher gave praise to the third student, "Your mind will roll with the ease of a newly trued wheel." The fourth student answered, "Riding my bicycle, I live in harmony with all beings." The teacher was pleased and said, "You are riding on the golden path of non-harming." The fifth student replied, "I ride my bicycle to ride my bicycle." The teacher went and sat at the feet of the fifth student, and said, "I am your disciple."
Labels: motorcycles, opinion, writing
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
Words to live by
It is said that "what we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal."
Labels: opinion, writing
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
Gerber Crucial Multi-tool
In its most simple form, the basic folding pocket knife is an indispensible tool, proving its value to nearly all who carry one on a regular basis. And while handy, the classic folder is missing some rather useful features such as screwdrivers and bottle openers, which is why it isn’t surprising that eventually knife makers were lead to create the venerable and instantly recognizable Swiss Army knife. Over time as the need became apparent for additional features, namely a pair of pliers, the Swiss Army knife eventually evolved into the multi-tool, which has traditionally been a market cornered by Leatherman, though the Victorinox version is superior, neither are very pocket friendly. Finally in very recent years, we have seen yet another split in the evolution of pocket knives, with a new breed of carry friendly mid-size multi-tools, which brings us to the Gerber Crucial.
If a good mid-sized folder managed to convince a multi-tool to have a little ménage à trois with a Swiss Army knife, the Crucial would be their bastard offspring. The Crucial, aptly named for its lack of extraneous tools, pairing down the large scale multi-tool functions to what Gerber designers suspected would be most often used, is an excellent knife with only a few shortcomings. Medium in size, it is about the same length as an average Swiss Army knife and of very similar thickness, though due the pliers it contains, it is a bit wider, being about the same width as a medium sized folder. The blade opens single handedly with ease and locks solidly into place, presenting you with a partially serrated edge on a very thick blade. And while it does seem to be quite robust, you would most likely be ill advised to attempt to pry anything with the blade.
While the majority of most pocket knives are typically called into service for the use of their blades, the added features brought to the table by multi-function pocket knives are just as handy. Not wanting to exclude anything useful, the Crucial also includes a small flat-head as well as Phillips screwdriver, and while partially opening the knife gives you a little better reach with the Phillips, the flat-head is stuck with its diminutive length as its maximum reach. Turning the knife onto its other side we find the carabineer/bottle opener, which functions well as a bottle opener with a nifty bonus being that the carabineer clip holds the bottle cap once popped off, and also seems to hang on reasonably well when clipped to a pack. The final, and solid contender for most useful feature on this knife, are the very nice needle nosed pliers complete with wire cutters which are accessed by fully opening the Crucial to reveal some remarkably comfortable grips.
Personally the lack of a good solid saw is this knife’s one weakness as that is something that gets put to use relatively often on my Swiss Army knives; in spite of this, the Crucial manages to pack some very useful tools into a solid, carry friendly and comfortable pocket knife that has found its way into my routine as my daily carry.
The Gerber Crucial can be found on Amazon.com for about 35 bucks.
If you’d like to check one out in person, head to your nearest REI where they can be had for $40.
Labels: gear, opinion, outdoor, writing
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." -T.S. Eliot
Labels: opinion, writing
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Polyphasic sleep experiment - Day 4
Not going to do daily updates unless there is something fantastic to write about, otherwise, while I have had some challenges adjusting to the schedule and a few hours of a zombie-like gaze, it seems to be going well.
Labels: sleep, writing
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Polyphasic sleep experiment - Day 3
Things still going well, as I suspected I'm not hardcore about my schedule, I let it fluctuate a little bit so some naps are 20 minutes, some are 30 or so. I also combined last nights 1hr and .5hr naps into one 1.5hr nap, I think the key thing here is that we're basically talking about small blocks of sleep spread out over the day rather than one 8hr or so lump at night.
So far so good, I have only slept about 6hrs since Sat and while do feel some tiredness if I stretch the gap between naps too long, I'm generally fairly normal feeling. In fact, the usual after lunch "slump" is gone since I take a .5hr nap at lunchtime, so more or less, I'm really not ever tired. I know the first week is supposed to be the roughest, and it is unusual adjusting, but I seem to be taking to the change fairly well.
Labels: opinion, sleep, writing
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
Polyphasic sleep experiment - Day 2
So far so good. My body is adjusting to the shortened sleep periods remarkably fast, I've already had dreams in 3 of my naps, though I'm not fully rested feeling, I'm really not that tired either, which is a little nutty if you think about the fact that I've only had 3.5hrs of sleep in the last 30 hours. Otherwise, things seem to be going well with my modified schedule.
From what I gather reading about other people's attempts, a good deal give up in the first week, or are not able to wake up on time and oversleep. I'm not sure how they manage that, use a good alarm clock and it isn't an issue. Right now I'm using earplug etymotic research headphones which help block out sound and let me fall asleep, which is hooked up to my iPod Touch which I set a 30 minute or 1hr timer on; works like a charm.
Labels: opinion, sleep, writing
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
Polyphasic sleep experiment - Day 1
So today is the first day of my attempt at a polyphasic sleep pattern. There just isn't enough time to do the things I want to do, and rather than spend a third of my life in hibernation, it seemed like an interesting idea concept to try. I have read many reports on the topic, most with overall successes, though they all generally seem to revert back to a "normal" sleep pattern after a year or two, but only because of social concerns.
A few years back I did a sleep deprivation experiment and I stayed awake for 68hrs straight. I found that I needed to eat a lot more frequently, which made sense, my body needed something to provide it with energy. I'm curious to see how this experiment will go in that regard.
I've been up since 3am and will take a 20-30minute nap at 6:30-7am.
To work around a somewhat conventional 8-5 schedule, I will have a slightly modified version of the 4hrs on, 40min nap rotation.
My daily schedule will be loosely this:
07:00a - 11:30a : Awake : + 4.5
11:30a - 12:00p : Nap : - 0.5
12:00p - 05:30p : Awake : + 5.5
05:30p - 06:30p : Nap : - 1.0
06:30p - 10:00p : Awake : + 3.5
10:00p - 10:30p : Nap : - 0.5
10:30p - 02:30a : Awake : + 4.0
02:30a - 03:00a : Nap : - 0.5
03:00a - 06:30a : Awake : + 3.5
06:30a - 07:00a : Nap : - 0.5
-------------------------------
Awake time: 21 hours
Sleep time: 3 hours
I'm not much of a blogger, but this does give me an easy place to record my experiment. The first week is supposedly the worst, I guess we'll see. ;)
Labels: opinion, sleep, writing
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
Today's word is eavesdropping
I love to find out where words and phrases we often use come from, I just find it fascinating. The word eavesdropping came up in conversation today, and I was curious as to where it came from.
Henry the Eighth's palace outside London is called Hampton Court Palace. Here, in the eaves of the Great Hall, are small faces carved into the oak beams which lean at an angle of 45 degrees to the ground. These are known as 'Eaves Droppers'. Henry was known to be a strong ruler and often put spies in crowds of people to listen in to conversations. He wanted his staff (who slept in the Great Hall between banquets and would lie on straw looking up at the eaves) to know that he or his people would be listening at all times.
Labels: books, opinion, writing
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
SF Examiner from July 21, 1969
Click photo for more images.
I got this paper a few years ago at a charity auction. It is amazing to flip through it and see what was being reported back then. Everything seems so foreign, the styles, the ads, etc. One thing is funny though, some things don't change. Notice that on the front page, the only other article, second only to the moon landing is a story about Isreal bombing Suez City... sigh.
Labels: opinion, writing
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
The Yellow Brick Road
Here's a really short research paper I had to write for an English argument class a few years ago. Unfortunately it was very difficult to keep it at 2000 words or less, in fact, I hit 2000 words exactly. I more or less pose and discuss a question about the biotechnological enhancement of mankind and how far is too far? I know... a bit of a large topic to jam into a super short paper, but I wanted to write about something interesting.
Anyway, I do have to rush things a bit midway through, and I've really got to cut things short in the end due to time and space constraints, but I think it is still a reasonable argument considering what I had to work with. :)
Labels: opinion, writing
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
