Cool conscience

According to the Daily Telegraph, covering a story first reported in the Independent, people who do not believe in climate change are now protected against discrimination or persecution for their beliefs.

Blue

It happened last Wednesday. Luciano was giving out extra stripes to some of the white belts. He gave a couple of white-belt teenagers their first stripe as well, to recognise their commitment. Then he said,  “and I have one belt to award”…

Almost two years ago, on Tuesday 30 January 2007, I walked to the Budokwai for the first time. As I passed by the millionaires’ houses in the road that leads to it, the only thing that kept me moving forward was the thought that if something terrified me this much, I had to conquer that fear or never respect myself again. I did not turn back and go home. I took the next step – and the next, and the next. I went in. I signed up, I bought a gi, and I started my first martial arts class ever.

To list the highlights and the low points of the 23-month journey to my blue belt would take a very long time. To list the people I came across, and what they have taught me and done for me, would take a lifetime. But I have to mention Luciano Cristovam, who has run the Wednesday night beginners’ class since it started in February 2007.

Are You With Me?

Are You With Me?, Stephen Foster, 2007: 0743275489 (Blackwell’s, amazon.com, amazon.co.uk).

I never expected one of my reviews to get a review, least of all a review from the author of the book I was reviewing. It was a good review, too: he said that mine was the best review he’d read, and he sent me a copy of his second novel as a way of saying ‘thank you’. At the time I thought that ‘best review’ meant ‘review penetrating deepest into the mind of the author and his intentions in creating the work’. I’m not so sure, now – he might just have meant ‘review that says the nicest things about me’ – but either way, I am in his debt to at least the extent of another review.

It took me a long time to get round to opening the book. Not just the sense of obligation, but a simple fear: would Stephen Foster, like Donna Tartt and Salley Vickers, be one of those authors who ought to have got run over before publishing their second novel?

Holkham Beach, Norfolk

The emergency telephone at Holkham Beach.

Belts in BJJ

There is a very strong bias against devaluing belts in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. This is good because it means that when you do finally achieve a belt, you know it’s been worth it.

Here’s a good comparison between belts and academic achievements:

White belt – none yet.

Blue belt – university entrance (matriculation).

Purple belt – first (bachelor’s) degree.

Brown belt – master’s degree.

Black belt – doctorate.

Instructively uninstructed

For reasons that aren’t clear yet, no instructor turned up to teach us this evening. It could not have come at a more embarrassing time. Two new people had come along for their first ever class. They had bought their gis, they had paid their year’s subscription, they had psyched themselves up, and… nothing. A third guy had been just twice before – and he had had to cross the whole of London in the rush hour to get to the class, and… nothing.

For the honour of the academy, we decided to hold a class anyway.

How we learn

The job of an instructor is to cause us to learn. Quite often they do this by teaching us; but it’s not the only way.

Anticlock simulation

Here is a simulation of an hour-and-minute display (no seconds), showing progress from 6.00 to 7.00. The simulation runs 10 times faster than reality, so if you watch it for one minute you see what would happen in ten minutes of real time.

This simulation is designed to demonstrate fundamental principles and isn’t intended to be beautiful!

Sorapot arrives

Joey Roth’s Sorapot has arrived. Within five minutes there was blood on it. Here’s a picture that explains why.

Agaves are sharp. They remain sharp even when you’re trying to balance a Sorapot on them in an artistic way. They remain sharp when you stab your thumb directly on the point of one of the leaves. Fortunately blood wipes off the Sorapot very easily. Was this a design criterion when choosing the materials?

I haven’t yet tried making tea with it. I’ve read why it should make good tea and I’ve read why the design is the way it is and I’ve wished that I’d designed something like that. But actually making tea… that brilliant shiny glass will be dulled by the deposits from the peppermint tea, it’ll get misty from the water, it’ll never be the same again. And how to find tea worthy of it?

Perhaps it’ll be better to keep it as a piece of garden sculpture. Here’s a safer picture.

The packaging of the Sorapot is designed to be easily recycled. It fails miserably at this because it is too beautiful to throw away.

Turning a sphere inside out

Here is a video clip demonstrating the mathematical process of turning a sphere inside out. It’s very well scripted, with the dialogue form fitting the subject-matter perfectly.

(From John Baez via Scott Aaronson’s blog)