Archive for the ‘9th dan’ Category

Spreeding is Fundamental

Visit Spreeder.com and see how fast your ninja brain can process words! The following excerpt is from their about page:

What is speed reading?

Reading with speed. ‘Nuf said. Actually, the idea behind speed reading is that we can process information much faster than we actually do in real life with a book in our hands. Several factors affect our reading speed, like subvocalization (the little voice inside our heads that reads along with us and slows us down), backtracing (rereading parts over and over again), etc.

The purpose behind apps like these is to train our minds to get rid of all the other crap. So, by having a steady input of text, we erase our dependency on backtracing. By increasing the reading speed, subvocalization can’t keep up and eventually goes away. The key here is that we don’t need to subvocalize to process information, as much as we may think we do.

What if I can’t read that fast?

You can use this application as a trainer as well as just a tool to read at your own pace. It does actually help to up the reading speed and just try to get as much as you can from an article, even if you’re not getting every word. It takes time, but you’ll soon realize that you can absorb a lot more information than you thought you were capable of.

What is the chunk size?

Chunk size is the number of words you see on the screen at any one point in time. As a beginner, you might want to start out with just one word chunks. As you increase in proficiency, you’ll find that you can take in (read: understand) more than one word per instant. Increasing reading speed is more about being able to take larger chunks than it is about the speed at which the words flicker across the screen. You need to develop both to become a true speed reading ninja.
Optimal window size?

Beginners probably want a large width and relatively small height (i.e. 800 x 100), just because when you’re beginning out you’ll be taking in small chunks (1 - 4 words at a time), and you won’t want to wrap the text. As you increase your speed reading proficiency, you’ll increase the chunk size. It’s easier to read chunks in block format (multiple lines of text), than one long string across your monitor.

Thanks to Justin, and his multifarious away message.

RIP Jerome Holtzman

"As a baseball writer, columnist and historian for more than 50 years, Jerome Holtzman was a beloved figure and made an incredible impact on the game," Commissioner Bud Selig said Monday in a statement. via

iPhone 3g pWned (for the avg. user) !

In case you couldn’t hold on to your frickin’ hat for a few weeks, the iphone-dev team, in true ninja fashion must I add, has released a classy tool for the power user. Yup, the new iPhone is officially "outta jail." We expect that the majority of ninjas are power users, in case you were confused by the title. Carry on, childr3n!

Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire - The Way of the Samurai

The Most Powerful Motivators

What are the most powerful motivators for good?

Some of us just see a better world, and can’t wait to get there. Some of us are affronted by the brutality of brutal systems. For some of us, the impetus arises from the spirit of can do in a social network, or the inspiration of a beloved mentor. And for some of us, it’s one of the four things the young prince Gautama who would one day be Buddha ran across, when he escaped his father’s castle and came face to face for the first time with

-poverty
-sickness
-old age
-death

You don’t have to be a future Buddha to notice these things, and indeed it may have helped Gautama to see them more clearly, that he had been kept hidden away in a luxurious palace, surrounded by friends and servants in the flower of youth and health until that fateful day.

But poverty, sickness, old age and death are direct affronts to our hopes: we can turn away from them and pretend they don’t exist, or we can face them and use them as the Buddha did, to act as an impetus for a life of compassion, of caring in action. [read the rest at socialedge]

Mosquito Virgin Island

Richard Branson, the savvy entrepreneur says his two private Caribbean islands have a higher purpose than serving as ultra-luxury retreats for entertainment and business A-listers. Walking barefoot on the sandy trails of his Necker Island, the British tycoon said "It is actually inexcusable for the Caribbean to need to use dirty fuels anymore when it has all these natural resources on its doorstep."

He plans for his newest property, Mosquito Island, to be transformed into what he touts as the most eco-friendly resort on the globe. Well, not if you consider the air miles it takes to get there, or didna€™t you know that you can go by boats pulled by dolphins. But nevertheless, Branson envisions 20 villas and a beachfront restaurant powered entirely by wind turbines and solar panels.

The eco-resort’s buildings would capture cool thermal airflows, eliminating the need for air conditioners. The guests’ food would come from an organic orchard, and beach buggies would be powered by bio-fuels. Righty, sorry to put a damper on your plans Mr. Branson, but according to Al Gore’s predictions of melting glaciers and polar caps won’t that put your island beneath the waves soon? Or maybe you know something we don’t?! via

The world is upon us.

The world is upon us.

Bothersome like a whimsical thought of what is apparent of achievement and what needs to get done. To think for a second that what you want is what we want is right. And to think of the later is too late and gone to be done just right. Let us bring flight to those that cannot fly and blind those that can already see.

For in the long run it is us that stand in the way. It is us, the leaders that carry the torch from a land far away to enlighten and then frenzy an irreplaceable interconnectedness. The gates have opened. Signals and co-opted simplicity shed these lights and are only less manly than the comfortable tunnels of Winnipeg, Canadia. Moving on and progressing are the hardest of things, more dense then of the iron, brass, and cult copper that are forged together on a daily commotion.

Let us bring flight to those that cannot fly and blind those that can already see. I’ll see you in station and we will have fun.

thanks for Stanky Plank for sending this in

Celebrating Bird - Documentary

A Charlie Parker documentary. Pretty good, I do say.AA Dude was a true ninja by most dojos’ rigorous standards.

Gap Evacuee Tells Story

The black van slid to a halt and the good doctor ejected himself from the shotgun seat. a€oeWea€™re evacuating!a€A he said, as he and two friends race-walked toward his house, next door to ours. Hea€™d had to talk his way past the police to get up the hill from Cathedral Oaks, sliding by only because his friends from Carp had left two Labs in his back yard before theya€™d gone to dinner.

Suzanne and I had been having our own dinner on Thursday evening when the lights finally died, after a half-hour of fritzing televisions and power-surging phone messages. We were in the Dream House, the one wea€™d bought in 2001 and moved into exactly one month ago. Wea€™d nested after extensive renovation, doing all the little things you do to make a place yours, down to the anal stuff of alphabetizing books by author, within categories, or happily noting when the hummingbirds found the feeder. When I flew back to the Chicago area for my last graduation as a professor and to check out our for-sale house there, the going-away salutations were tearful but Ia€™d already moved West in my head. I missed our cocoon. via independent