Hi everyone,

today I was accepted to join the Judo-Dan-IT discussion group.

here is the description of the group:

This forum/mailing list is for IT professionals with black belt in Judo. For ideas and discussion eg. how to better apply IT technology for Judo etc.



The Forum was started in Dec. 2005 only in Finnish. In Oct. 2006 the address and idea was spreaded to some English Judo forums hoping to reach more IT professionals.

Easiest way to get in is to send a message to
judo-dan-it-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
with short "CV" as well in the IT field as in Judo.

As yet I don't know what the group is up to, what it hopes to achieve, what it is doing, if I'll be a useful member.

A great idea though.

Lance

I am watching "Mock the week" a satirical pseudo news quiz show.

And I suspect it just made TV history.
Adam Hills, an Australian comedian has just taken off his artificial foot and shown it to the cast and us the viewers. Not something you see from a TV celebrity very often.

I remember seeing and holding my first artificial limb (not mine you understand).

I was on a CAD (Coaching Athletes with Disabilities) course in Napier, New Zealand. On day two of the course, one of the instructors took off his leg and passed it around the room.

I had always considered myself "well adjusted" to disabilities. But it was in that moment I really realised that I was not. My whole view of the instructor changed, terrible I know, but it was what happened. That alone made the excellent course worthwhile, let alone all the other great stuff. It helped me realise that nobody is "well adjusted" unless they have been exposed to a disability. (if you follow my drift)

Adam has just stopped speaking about his foot and how he had one altered to wear a thong/flip flop/jandal. This was much like the excellent conversations I heard on that CAD course years ago, discussing the legs they had and how they had a running leg, swimming, etc. Sorta like how we able bodied folk might discuss running shoes or Judo Gi.

Oh it just gets better, Adam has just confessed to drinking beer from his artificial foot!!!! I love it when you get the real view of disability. The non-politically correct truth.

he is not "a poor disabled person', drinking a beer from your artificial foot, thats just a normal person. This show would be a great piece of viewing for all coaches working with disabled athletes and I suspect young males recently disabled, who could do with showing that being an amputee still allows you to be a nutter!

Cool!

Here's another Judo video clip for everyone from Google Video. This one has a bit more modern Judo and features a very celtic sound track, which is suitable given it features Scotland's Graham Randall.

P.s. So, Google/YouTube copyright issues. I know they are settling with some of the big boys, but what about with smaller firms, individuals, etc?
Oh if only the whole world was CC licensed eh.

Hi all,

well the podcast idea is progressing steadily along and looks like it is going to bear fruit in about 2 weeks.

I am very happy to say that Stanislaw Sterkowicz (of the Special Judo Fitness Test) has agreed to talk about the test. We are hoping to record something next week, which I then hope to make available shortly afterwards. So, please do email me any questions you'd like to ask.

I am going to start developing some sort of plan as to what will be in the podcast. I'd really welcome volunteers to speak on the podcast, be you an international or local coach/player.

I'd like to get a full range of participants, high level elite coaches, the best kids coaches, scientists like Mr. Sterkowicz.

So "stay tuned" and please do email me if you have something to say or ask about the special judo fitness test.

Lance

Just spotted this story over on BoingBoing, Creative Labs shafts MP3 player owners with feature revocation


It's shocking how in the "hi tech" world, it is acceptable to take away customers features after purchase. To me this is just like if you bought a car to drive to work and a week later the manufacturer took away the breaks!

Anyway, the tale is this:

Creative Labs has "updated" two of its MP3 players in order to break their FM radio recorder features. If you bought your Creative device because it said, "Record FM radio!" on the box, you're shit outta luck now -- Creative just stole that value out from under your nose. Guess that means I'm not going to be buying anymore Creative devices.