mushin no shin

So I passed my green belt test this weekend, I’m officially another step down the ladder. Next stop, brown!
This month also marks my two year anniversary. It’s a little strange to look back on the time that’s passed — things change so slowly that you almost don’t recognize it. It’s easy to get discouraged and [...]

So have you seen those commercials for Chicquita’s new banana package? Well, shoot. I think those of us still stupid enough to buy our produce at Kroger’s would settle for bananas that are still fresh at the store.
Ugh. I really shouldn’t have to throw away the first one I peel off of the bunch.
I’m seriously [...]

80’s lyrics quiz –

(via both (evil)amy and lynnster)

On Hillary –
The Onion says it best:
“The last thing America needs is a radical liberal who supports the war and the death penalty while opposing flag-burning and gay marriage.”
On Bill, but not that Bill —
it seems that Bill Richardson has announced. I don’t know a whole lot about him myself but Logan at Freedom [...]

…when 2 hours of yoga, followed by 2 hours of karate, followed by 2 hours of yoga — only leaves enough time in between to scarf down some greasy fast food for lunch.
Sigh.

So last night the Nashville Symphony served up another steaming slice of Shostakovich. (Hoo-boy did I pick the right year to subscribe or what?)
It was quite tasty, and soloist Leila Josefowicz was outstanding (and as I discovered in the pre-show discussion, she was also quite charming in a nerd-ish way that I find irresistible — [...]

There already *is* a tax on porn. It’s 7% statewide with an additional amount varying by county. You may have heard of it before. We call it the general sales tax. See, it’s called ‘general’ because it’s not specific. By not being specific, you don’t single out some groups of people to pay the share [...]

Section 220, entitled “Disclosure of Paid Efforts to Stimulate Grassroots Lobbying” imposes onerous reporting requirements that will chill constitutionally protected activity. Advocacy organizations large and small would now find their communications to the general public about policy matters redefined as lobbying and therefore subject to registration and quarterly reporting.

There are only so many vacancies at the top of the pyramid. If you don’t change the shape of the pyramid itself to make it less hierarchical, the only thing you’ll accomplish by giving everybody a master’s degree will be to increase the educational requirements for dragging around a giant block of granite.
– Kevin Carson

Another piece of news just came across the wire, it seems that Ron Paul, the paleo-libertarian congressman from Texas, is announcing a run for the GOP’s 2008 presidential nomination.
Frankly I don’t know what to think of it. I have more than a few disagreements with Dr. Paul to be sure, but compared to anyone else [...]