Art of war; fencing

I feel an allusion to Confucius' Art of War would be appropriate <here> but I lack the proper reference (feel free to insert said quote between the <>).  I like this one though which comes pretty close: He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.

Fencing is sexy

Until today, I've never gone fencing but I found the overall experience, however reminiscent of my ever evolving eye-hand-leg coordination deficiency, was very rewarding. I can't recall another sport in which you are immediately cognisant of your opponents attacks/defences and introspective of your own strengths and weaknesses. Its a strategy game as much as it is about strength (ahem for me it's poor upper body strength and balance and...).

One thing that the Instructor said that really stuck is the fact that, in fencing, you can immediately begin to tell the personality of the person you are fencing against; whether they are emotional, bow to pressure easily, over-zealous etc.  With this knowledge I could deflect my opponents attacks without having to huff and puff all over the place - as we inevitably did when my partner hopped from one 'vulnerable' angle to the other (mind you your allowed only to parry in a straight line...no 'fencing' dance)

To be an adequately good beginner fencer requires very little physical effort.  A body that is relaxed and flexible is more amenable to fencing.  Sure there are lungs and all that bending but the main idea is deflecting and anticipating your opponents next moves which leads to attack. To borrow an analogy from the Tao of Pooh: a body of water will deflect a ball bounced against its surface; no matter how hard you attack the ball it will never pierce the water's surface.  Strength is good but knowing when to use it makes you a better player.

To the tao of fencing :P and it can be all mine for $95 a month.

Who are we really fooling?

Picture fail: photo attempt no. 1092377

Cooler than thou

Before I continue with yesterday’s commentary on virtual identity, I’d like to first clarify some terminology I had used (Thanks Jess for your suggestions!)

First, I mentioned in the last paragraph that: ‘’It is in my opinion that this social malaise is attributable to…de-sensitized self identity.’’ I admit, on occasion, I am prone to self-grandiosity when it comes to wordiness (maybe the residuals from an overly ambitious Social Science post-secondary education) so I’ve tagged the word ‘self’ in front of the word ‘identity’.  What I wanted to reference was the identity of self.  Our self-worth has been demoted to a popularity contest akin to the amount of face-time and friends we get online.  The phenomenon is widely recognised and even merits the occasional joke; in one particular scene in ‘’Due Date’’, Annoying Guy (so called because I can’t remember his name) proudly proclaims that he has 90 friends on facebook and in his words, ‘’12 of them are pending, but I got 90 friends on facebook.’’

FYI I'm hotter than you

However, the seemingly innocuous ‘’anonymity’’ veil provided via the Internet, either via web forums or video sharing platforms that do not immediately reveal user identity, provides a platform for users to abuse targets safely without retaliation.  But how far has our morals fallen when we can easily gripe about a certain TV personalities cellulite on the web when we are not immune either to the same problem.  With the sheath of our brightly light computer screens, remorse and accountability for actions perpetrated online is detached from our ‘real-world’ selves.  It is easier to attack a virtual target than a real person.  It is probably comparable to one attacking an avatar whilst believing that the real person is remains unharmed. New forms of harassment, such as cyber-bullying, have found its niche in such form.

Secondly, that by ‘’ by scattering ourselves virtually, we are spreading ourselves and our identity too thinly in order to seek approval from many and in the process forgetting what makes us us’’. In the storm that is Facebook and Twitter updates (good for you if your ‘’eating your favourite dish with mum’’?), the immeasurable ‘’fun’’ that is our life is validated only as soon as it is updated as a fb or twitter status.  With this social online profile, a certain archetype of cool online aesthetics – imagine a certain aloofness that speaks ‘’take my picture or whatever’’ attitude – demonstrates our ultimate hip status.  Indeed such forays into developing a public persona invariably stroke our desire for aesthetics not only for oneself but also towards others.  Ultimately, the pictures frame how we are perceived by our peers – hopefully of the happy and fun-loving kind.  If you’ve ever noticed, this prompts a certain generic formula. Just Google it.  If you can Google it than its generic enough that it can be applied formulaically.

It is permissible, of course, that one would not want to post a bad picture of themselves (or as I say, when you have a ‘’bad face day’’) but the compulsion to look a certain way to fit in with our online peers has seemingly trumped our own individual personality. Who are we really fooling?


And on the tails of my supposition comes the recent conviction of a burglar who decided it was a bright idea to self-incriminate himself by posting pics of himself on his victim's facebook. Good job Einstein. You earned bragging rights for your smooth thievery ways.

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Laughing all the way to the bank (genetically blessed bank that is)

This is worth a laugh and a half. Poor 'ugly' saps just when they thought that their lives couldn't get any worse this happens. The latest article in the Intelligence claims that one thing us average people have leveraged our existence on - our seeming intellectual superiority over pretty people (really but who uses ''hyperbolically happy'' in a sentence?).  It should stand that the conclusions of the study are drawn from the fact traits like intelligence and physical attractiveness are considered highly heritable.

The study indicated attractive men have IQs that are 13.6 points above the average, while beautiful women are 11.4 points higher than average.

To all the pretty people out there: we want you

Since intelligent men are more inclined to achieve more success, they are "more likely to marry beautiful women," Kanazawa said. "Given that both intelligence and physical attractiveness are highly heritable, there should be a positive correlation between intelligence and physical attractiveness in the children's generation."

So I guess if you have a mom like this; and a dad like this; you could get a kid like this.  The fate of the world is yet again sealed in the hands of the (naturally) pretty people - take heart those of you artificially enhanced. I personally subscribe to a more pragmatic approach whereby such traits are begot through better economic and social opportunities.  But if all MDs are as hot (and for each other) and smart as they are in Grey's Anatomy then maybe Kanazawa was onto something.

Can't everyone just get along

Bless you winter.

I've stopped springing out of bed early in the morning to catch the first rays of light. My usual spirited stride down the sidewalk has been replaced now with something that resembles more of a boardwalk shuffle.  I've even found myself putting off  rigorous activity. Yes. Walking to the TV and having to turn it on does count as physically straining. Yet all these are not atypical of the winter blahs.  Living in a city makes it harder to appreciate the white stuff. Salt, dirt, slush, and whatever ill-gotten creation is made when all 3 are combined with snow does not make it any more fun. Nor are the rude individuals who seem to make their prerogative in lifeto spread their unique quality of uncheer.

To use Rodney King's quote in a more colloquial fashion; ''why can't everyone just get along.'' Or maybe people are just angry ALL the time?  Certainly, we all have our inner demon but what qualifies us to dole out our frustration upon random strangers? Maybe its being at the wrong place at the wrong time. But maybe where you live is what makes is making you angry.  I had no knowledge, prior to reading this article from the Sunday Times, that ''queue rage'' existed - well certainly puts a name to what I went through while in queue to pay for groceries. FYI, I was on the receiving end (poo poo to those who could ever think I'd ever be mean to someone - well except for the people who take up copious space in the swimming pool, my former room mate, people who demonstrate general disregard for their job and to the people they service, and arrogant people):

When egos run high

We appear to be living in an age of rage. Earlier this week there seems to have been an incidence of “queue rage” in a supermarket during which a man was punched - and later died. The death raises the whole issue of apparently random acts of violence that are often the product of momentary losses of self-control.
...
Experts have said that in decades such as the 1960s and 1970s people tended to turn their frustration inwards, perhaps taking their anger out on their spouses behind closed doors. The tendency now is to turn it outwards: to externalise the problem to a complete stranger.


Indeed, in an age of indiscriminate self-valorisation, entitlement and conspicuous materialism, we all seem to be jonesing for some illusionary lifestyle.  It is in my opinion that this social malaise is attributable to the degradation of traditional social networks that scattered and de-sensitized self identity.  The wholesale digitisation of our daily routine has legitimized a whole industry based the need to hawk our presence over the internet; the number of ''hits'' generating indirect ''approval ratings''.  But more disturbing is the surfeit rise of videos and pictures, of a violent nature, willingly posted via the web jockeying for approval and personal conquest.  It was not too long ago when such acts were deemed inappropriate and yet now they are broadcast in popular television shows.  I admit that such shows have also achieved a level of audience awareness that may not have been achieved using other channels of communication.  In general, however, by scattering ourselves virtually, we are spreading ourselves and our identity too thinly in order to seek approval from many and in the process forgetting what makes us us.
...(to be continued)