Archive for March, 2006

I found this article at this site: http://www.discover.com/ask-discover/?qid=37

Why are yawns contagious?
— Lise Ragbir
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Robert R. Provine , University of Maryland, Baltimore County, replies:
Virtually any stimulus associated with yawns— including viewing, reading about, and even thinking about, yawning— evokes yawns. (Are you yawning yet?) Yawning spreads in a chain reaction through a group, a compelling example of human herd behavior and a reminder that we are not always in conscious control of our actions. The urge to replicate an observed yawn is clearly an automatic response triggered by our brains.

Studies partially explain the reason for yawning. Although we yawn more when sleepy or bored, it is unclear whether yawning increases alertness. And scientific evidence refutes one of the most popular myths of yawning— that it happens in response to low oxygen or high carbon dioxide levels in the blood or brain. Test subjects do not yawn more when breathing air with enhanced levels of carbon dioxide nor do they yawn less when breathing pure oxygen. One fact explains a lot of apparently inconsistent data. People yawn most during behavioral transitions, such as just after waking and shortly before bedtime. Yawning may help facilitate those changes. Contagious yawning may synchronize a group’s behavior so that, for instance, a whole family goes to sleep together.

Tonights workout was rough. We started by doing kata. Then we moved into yakusoku kumite; a sort of prearranged sparring. After that, we “suited up” for some sparring. We did round-robin style sparring: 2 minutes sparring, 30 seconds rest, new partner, repeat. We did that for a good 15 minutes. It’s amazing how exhausted you can get after only 8-10 minutes of sparring. I thought I was gonna have to be carried away in an ambulance. Nights like tonight make me realize how out of shape I am. It was fun though.

I did much better tonight than the last time I sparred with them. I managed to exact some retribution on the brown belt that so easily dispatched me last time. I knocked him to the ground a couple times, and got him several times unanswered.

I also sparred with the other brown belt in class. I felt a little bad at one point when I blasted him right square in the nose. He didn’t even attempt to block. It was really a beautiful shot. I also landed a couple of front leg front kicks right to his solar plexus.

I don’t remember if it was before or after I sparred Nathaniel (the second brown belt), but I had to spar with Sensei Walker tonight. That was fun, but it was painful also. That man is good. I got a couple good shots in, but let’s just say that my nose will probably still be numb tomorrow. He rang my bell more than once; including a very nicely placed hook kick to the schnozz.

After that, I sparred with one of the green belt girls in the class (I’m guessing that green belt is about 7th kyu). She did a really good job, but unfortunately I was pretty ramped up from sparring with the other guys. I landed a couple kicks, including a mean side kick, that I know had to hurt her pretty good. She was quite the trooper though. She never quit. She just kept on coming at me. She has really good speed and power, now she just needs to work on that distancing.

I got several compliments from Mr. Koener and Sensei Walker tonight. John complimented me on my foot sweeps that I used during sparring, and several other things that I didn’t even know I was doing. Both of them complimented me on how fast I’m picking up things in class. Sensei Walker seemed pretty amazed that I picked up the first black belt kata in about 2 hours today from watching a video on the internet. It’s flattering, and good, to get the compliments, as it lets me know that I’m on the right track and doing well; but it’s a little embarrassing as well.

Saturday’s workout was a nice light workout for me. I went through all the matsubayashi kata prior to shodan, and then went through several of the shotokan kata. Nothing spectacular, but a decent workout. After I got done doing that, I helped work on her kata. I hope I helped her some. I tried to relay some information to her that I wish someone had told me prior to black belt. That’s a personal peeve of mine. There’s some things that, for some reason, nobody tells you before black belt level that are very basic concepts. I think if that information would be divulged to the beginners more often, that their karate would improve much quicker. It could be just my opinion though.

I know it’s late, but it’s been a long weekend. Thursday nights class was nothing spectacular, but just some good training. It consisted mostly of kata. Lots of kata. I had a pretty rough time of it though. I can now do all the kata required prior to black belt level on my own. I do them just fine by myself; their not ready for a black belt test yet, but I can do them. However, in class, I really struggled. I think that I was just thinking too much. I’d think about what I had to do as I did it, and that would cause me to second-guess myself. It was quite embarrassing, but I made it through. I’m also struggling learning the kata fukyugata-ichi as well as the pattern exercise they call oyo-tanren. They aren’t required items to know for testing, but they do them all the time in class. The problem is that I can’t find a video or description of them anywhere on the internet. Google fails me on this one.

Best buy called the wife’s phone today regarding my non-functional, 1-month shy of 3 year old laptop. They were rumoured to have left a voice-mail saying: The laptop is unserviceable. Bring in your receipt and pick out a new computer.

I’m a little trepidatious about this. I can’t hardly believe they are going to let me do such a thing. However, I am hoping that they give me a full store credit for the laptop. If they do so, I should receive somewhere upwards of $3000.00 store credit. After doing a quick cursory check of BestBuy.com, it appears that the most expensive, non-mac laptop they have is about $2000.00. If this is the case, I may just have to pick out a new laptop and that flat-screen tv for the bedroom.

More updates will come as events unfold.

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2006/03/27/561926.aspx

HOLY COW! is all I can say about this…

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=337898

about the digital copyright stuff… here’s a link… to a link… to a letter to mail to your representative bitching about it…

http://www.slash7.com/articles/2006/03/20/help-limit-the-digital-millenium-copyright-act

Kata, kata, and more sochin. 3 guesses (and the first two don’t count) as to what we did Saturday morning. It was good though. I managed to do what I wanted to do the previous week: brush up on my shotokan kata. Unfortunately I didn’t do all the ones I wanted because I got roped into doing sochin with and . I had forgotten how much I hate that kata. Actually, it reminded me why I get tired of doing most of the shotokan kata. My knees, hips, and back hurt so bad for the rest of the day and the next. Those long, low, deep (dare i say overly to all those adjectives) stances really damage my old body. I guess it’s good that I’m also working on kata with higher, shorter stances to counter-balance my shotokan kata.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4808746.stm