149 - Jedi Cats Fighting

The odds are, if you do find "this kind of thing" funny that you have already seen this video before. But, just in case you have not seen it, this is brilliantly hilarious. It looks so real it is as if the cats actually have lightsabers in their tiny paws.

Sometimes I wonder if I have seen so much crap on the internet that I find nothing funny anymore. Then something like this comes along and reminds me of how brilliant people, and cats I guess, can be.

148 - Bruce Lee is amazing...

First off this is not my article... I am copying it word for word of this webpage so of course all credit goes to the following webpage:

http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-reasons-bruce-lee-may-have-been-superhuman.php?utm_source=knowd.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=10-reasons-bruce-lee-was-superhuman

But just in case anything ever happens to the link I am going to copy in the text here myself.

"Bruce Lee is a household name and, although he died relatively young, the legacy he left simply by being really good at punching people is astounding. Now there are many oft-repeated facts about the supposed almost superhuman abilities of Mr. Lee, and a simple Google search for his name leads to dozens of people questioning the veracity of them. So here are some tales of Bruce Lee’s superpowers, backed up with books. Knowledge is power.




10. The Dragon Flag

Bruce Lee was fanatical about fitness; according to his widow Linda Lee, there was never a moment Bruce wasn’t working out (the guy would watch TV doing full splits). Of all the muscles in the body, Lee was most concerned with building up his core, as he believed that the core (stomach area) is used in almost all movement, hence was greatly important to martial arts.

Is his quest to improve his core strength, Lee invented something now known as the Dragon Flag, in his honor. If you couldn’t guess already, it’s considered one of the most difficult core exercises out there. Because Lee didn’t mess around. Stallone may have brought the move to peoples attention in Rocky 4, but Lee took it to another level, reportedly being able to support his entire frame on the edge of a bench, with only his shoulders touching anything, all while the rest of his body remained perfectly rigid and horizontal to the ground.

Just imagine for a second that you’d been scheduled to fight Lee, and heard all of these rumors about him, only to see him floating in mid air. You’d run away from that set so fast that you’d explode through time to the premiere of the movie in which he kicks your ass.

9. Catching Rice With Chopsticks

Remember that scene in the Karate Kid were Pat Morita catches a fly with chopsticks? Yeah, Bruce Lee topped that. It was reported that Bruce was so keen to increase his reflexes, that he would throw rice into the air and try to catch it on the way down. Because being able to react to a small piece of rice travelling straight down is clearly the best way to prepare for large men trying to punch you. Martial arts!

Although seemingly impractical, the sheer amount of dexterity and skill required for such a feat meant that his hands had to be permanently balled into fists near women, so their hips wouldn’t detach themselves from their body, and instinctively run towards him. Probably.

8. He Was Too Strong For Regular Heavy Bags

In his time, Lee used a multitude of custom-built exercise machines that were usually created just for him by a close friend, James Lee. Some of them were made due to requests from Lee himself; others were built out of sheer necessity. Lee’s heavy bag is an example of the latter.

Coming from an unknown source, Lee’s custom heavy bag literally taunted others with its immense size. Normal heavy bags clock in at around 70 pounds, with some clocking in at a much meatier 150. Lee’s weighed THREE-HUNDRED POUNDS. And it was filled with friggin’ metal. Not because he was showing off, but because he literally couldn’t use a lighter, non-metallic one without breaking it. There are conflicted, and often confused, stories that claim Lee was able to kick a heavy bag clear through the ceiling. Though he may not have ever done that, he did give a guy whiplash by kicking one too hard. Seriously.

7. One-Fingered Pushups. One-Armed Pullups

How many push-ups could you do right now? If the answer is anything other than “so many the Earth will think I’m trying to mate with it,” you’re just not up to the standards of Bruce Lee. In his younger days, Lee reportedly liked to show off while training. And one of his favorite tricks was one-fingered push ups. It’s exactly what it sounds like, and Bruce did them for no other reason than to show that he could. What’s your party trick? Bet it seems kind of sucky now, doesn’t it?

Bruce’s immense strength wasn’t just limited to his fingers either; he was also able to do one-armed pull-ups, with some sources claiming he was able to bust out 50 like it wasn’t even a big deal. Of course, this ability wasn’t unique to Bruce, but the fact he did it simply because he could kind of makes you proud to live in a world where his biceps existed.



6. The One-Inch Punch

This is one of Lee’s more famous feats, and it’s no surprise why. Lee was able to summon so much power in his arms, that he could knock a fully grown adult male over from less than an inch away. That’s a feat so impressive that scientists poked around in martial artists’ brains, just to see how such a thing was even possible. There’s even rare footage of Lee doing the one-inch punch on a wooden board, presumably just so trees watching at home would know their place. And there are stories about him using it on inner city school kids, because Bruce valued teaching the next generation. Lesson one: don’t mess with him.



5. You Literally Couldn’t Punch Him

Bruce Lee, being a huge star who was famous for being really, really good at fighting people, naturally spent a lot of his time being challenged to street fights, because people in the ’70s were shockingly stupid.

The fights almost always ended the same way: with Bruce shrugging them off, because fighting random passers-by served no purpose. Sometimes though, the challengers just plain insisted, and thus Bruce had to get nasty. In his life, there were three verified times Lee was challenged to a fight, and none of his opponents could even land a single hit on him’ he was simply too fast. When he was challenged on the set of Enter the Dragon, Bruce took apart his opponent by deftly avoiding every blow, and by locking him against a wall. He then stood him up, and give him a lesson.

Admittedly, I fail to see the logic in teaching a guy who starts random street fights how to better beat people up. I won’t question it though, purely because I’ll be dead one day and I’ll have to justify my decision to Lee and his ghost army.


4. He Could Grab A Coin Out Of Your Hand, And Replace It With Another Coin

Lee’s speed is so legendary that most cheetahs have a photo of him on their walls, and Usain Bolt has to watch his movies in slow motion.

One of Lee’s most impressive feats of speed, was his ability to snatch a coin from your hand. The usual protocol would be Lee placing a coin in your hand, after which he’d stand a few feet away. He’d then instruct you to close your palm as soon as you saw him move.

When you saw the blur of movement that was Bruce Lee, you’d snap your hand shut and feel a round object. Your smugness would only last so long though, since your next sight would be Lee smiling while holding your coin, leaving you to open your own hand and see a different coin that Lee had placed there in less than a second. This was usually the last thing most fans saw before their heads exploded out of frustration. It’s no surprise that Lee died young; he clearly experienced time at twice the rate normal people do.



3. He Was Too Fast For Cameras Of The Time To Film

It’s an oft-repeated fact that Lee’s movements were too fast for cameras to film, so they had to slow down the footage. Well, there’s some truth to that. For some reason though, people seem to miss out the coolest part.

When this problem first arose, Lee was on the set of the Green Hornet, where he noted that all of the fight scenes simply showed him standing still while people fell over in front of him. For some reason the show’s producer didn’t like the idea of a sidekick with magical mind powers, so he asked Lee to slow down, which he did, which produced a blur instead. Lee was so fast, that he had to slow down to first be seen as a blur. This is the first time that sentence has been used about something other than an overweight person eating.



2. He Once Dislocated A Guy’s Shoulder, With A Slap

If you’re going to claim someone has superhuman powers, it makes sense to show them completely outclassing a regular person. Because this is Bruce Lee though, how about we have him outclass a highly trained martial artist instead?

As noted, Bruce required special training equipment that could cope with his power. On occasion though, he would spar and train with people stupid enough to stand within kicking distance of Bruce Lee. That distance, by the way, was also known as any country Bruce Lee was currently in.

In one such case, it’s noted that Bruce dislocated a guy’s arm during training. When confronted, Bruce became genuinely confused since according to him, “it was more of a slap than a punch.” Just read that back; Bruce was so much stronger than regular people, he could dislocate their shoulders with something he considered a light slap. Holy crap, what happened when he actually hit someone with full force? Well …




1. His Kicks Literally Sent People Flying Through The Air

For all his strength and training, Bruce Lee rarely ever showed his true power. Mainly because, as shown, he was capable of injuring people just by standing too close to them.

However, Bruce did have one trick he liked to use. One of Lee’s most treasured possessions was his training shield, which he reportedly took everywhere with him. One of his favorite “pranks” was to have people hold this shield and let him kick them. During the time he was alive, these were words that undertakers had pre-inscribed on tombstones, just in case. The amount of power he put into each kick varied, but it’s noted that he could easily lift people into the air with one of his blows.

When you’re able to make other people escape Earth’s gravity, simply by kicking them, it’s only a matter of time until God takes notice, and brings you to Heaven to serve as his personal bodyguard."

147 - I suck at computer games.

Wow, I am so bad at computer games. I love them... but some of them, damn I suck at them. Of course it does not help that the game I am trying to play is Supreme Commander mod Forged Alliance, and did I mention that I am in bed. So it is not the optimal playing area. Is it!

As long as I don't tell you that I was playing on easiest... yes.

146 - Google = Skynet

Google purchased a company in the last few days, well now that is nothing new, I read somewhere that Google has purchased a new company at least every week for the last few years. No, what is so significant about THIS company is that it is an AI company. An Artificial Intelligence company.

The company is called DeepMind. Now the press loves this - Google is creating Skynet from the Terminator!!! Ahhhh everybody run somewhere in panic. For a start even if they were there is no use in running.

So then other people are asking why Google has purchased an AI company? Damn it seems kinda obvious to me. DeepMind has alot of very skilled people working there, Google might keep the people with the company, it now has even more brains to add to its current brains. But it is an interesting thing to think about when you talk of AI. I spoke to a few people about AI and they were saying that the computer will not actually be intelligent, it will just be simulating intelligence. That for me simply does not convince me. I do really believe that computers will be intelligent. Some day computers will have rights. Some day men and women will fall in love with computers probably.

A thing that happens to people when I begin talking like this is that they look down the road a few year and think of AI and look at their toaster, then think of AI again and look at their laptop, AI, fridge, AI television. No no no... again all wrong! Think of 30 years in the future, 50 years! Think 100 years. Think 1000 years.

What an amazing place the world will be in a thousand years! My god. I would do anything to be able to live that long.

145 - Karate again!

It is funny how different it feels going into karate when you have done your "home work". Practiced a but every day. Thought about your katas in your spare time. When you go into the class, and early... you feel so much more relaxed. It was a good class.

144 - Friends over.. again...

Today is was Lucys chance to have a friend over.

At least this evening we got to see the fantastic Elysium. Made by the same person that made District 9. Just as bleak. Just as good. Really happy we saw it.

143 - Friends over

Sophie had a friend over today so we spent the first part of the day cleaning the house then entertaining the friend then putting the kids to sleep. That was all of Saturday!

142 - Friday!

Didn't get up to a whole lot... was really really happy that the week was over!

141 - Parks and Recreation!

I am afraid that we have gone a bit Parks And Recreation mad. Whilst good old netflix feeds us as fast as we can eat we are devouring this fantastic if not all that talked about program.

Parks And Recreation on IMDB

140 - Karate today....

I was at karate today. It felt good to stretch the old bones.

139 - 2 hours a slave to "12 Hours A Slave"

Powerful stuff dudes. Damn there are some scenes in this film that are extremely well made. Brilliant film and we were more surprised to find out that the film is based on the book of a real person who was himself taken into slavery and this is his story.

More shocking is the fact that the book and the film are toned down so that the public could believe it more readily.

138 - Missed Karate

Ahhhh I missed karate today! Whilst there was a possible change that I might have been able to get the very tail end of it I was so wrecked and tired that there was no chance really.

137 - Sunday

136 - 18/01/2034

18 January 2034 is 20 years from now... I was at a dinner with friends today and we got talking asking about what the world would be like in twenty years. Some of the questions were:

• What will we be eating?
• Do we still use fossil fuel?
• Does the Irish language still exist?
• Have we hit the singularity yet? I have already talked about the singularity before - click here to understand more about it. 
• Have we cloned a dinosaur yet?
• What will the population be?
• How will the internet be?

Basically lots of questions that you will read and give your opinion on a certain number of them. You might give your opinion on all of the questions or you might just read them. Either way it is interesting. 

What will the world be like in 20 years?

135 - 3D print your house....

Go to the following website -

http://www.contourcrafting.org/

What you can see here is amazing I think. I am friends with people who have build as a hobby a 3D printer. So a thin little ribbon of plastic get fed out through a nozzle and creates and plastic representation, layer upon layer of whatever 3D image it was told to do from the computer that controls it. Of course this technology has been around for years now and everything from lampshades to artificial hips are make using this technique.

Upscale this - alot and it lies to reason that you can print anything I guess. Check out the website to see a house being build effectively by a 3D printer.

Wow. Coming from a family of builders I find the whole thing quite interesting.

134 - Russian Mother inspires me to rant

I have a few friends that take photos. I know a girl who lives in Italy, Rome to be more specific and I look at the photos that she takes. She is a beautiful girl so for a start when she takes a photo with her in it, as long as it is in focus she is in a winner. As a backdrop she can shoot the Colosseum. She can shoot village towns with brown tiles roofs and  baby blue plastered walls.

In Ireland I have friends that can take amazing photos of the bogs and beaches and of the old buildings in the area and come up with some magical pictures.

I wonder about myself. Often I see a scene and I know, I know - that it is a great image. But I often find myself without a camera. So then I go out and I take my camera but then it almost does not feel right. Am I faking it?

Of course I am not faking it. Do not be a fool man. If I do see a good pictures now I have my camera I am prepared. There is nothing fake about that. In fact what I should do is go out more often with my camera with my camera and look for images. This girl that I know in Italy and the guy I know here - they go out on photo shoots all the time. So yes, that is the idea really, kind of totally obvious. You want to take a good picture, get out there. Of course what you see around the house might be your muse. Fine, shoot. Unless you are going to take pictures of scenery on the National Geographic Society your going to have to get off you ass. The beauty is there... but some times you have to look for it.

The above image is taken from the following website:
http://www.boredpanda.com/animal-children-photography-elena-shumilova/

133 - 30,000+ views...

My first blog was sent on April 8th 2008... it was entitled "Metro Sexual Confusion". Since then I have blogged 536 times. So right now as I speak I have 30,215 pageviews.

So I just want to thank all the people who have come back again and again and took the time to view my blog. I hope you like it. I love doing it, I know there are better blogs and there are worse ones but then there is MY one... and that is what I like. My own voice in the storm of voices that is the internet.

132 - Nice letter I saw on Huffington Post website.

Dear "Daddy,"

I don't know your name, but Kate called you "daddy" for the entire flight last week and you kindly never corrected her. In fact, you didn't even flinch as you could probably tell that she was not confusing you with her own "daddy," but instead making a judgment regarding your level of "safety" for her. If she calls you "daddy" then you better believe she thinks you are alright.

I sat Kate, my 3-year-old who has autism, in the middle seat knowing full well that there would be a stranger sitting next to her for the duration of this flight. I had to make a quick decision and based on her obsession with opening and closing the window shade, I figured she might be less of a distraction if she sat in the middle. I watched the entire Temple basketball team board the plane, and wondered if one of these giants might sit by Kate. They all moved toward the back. She would have liked that, she would have made some observations that I would have had to deal with, but she would have liked those players. I watched many Grandmotherly women board and hoped for one to take the seat but they walked on by. For a fleeting moment I thought we might have a free seat beside us, and then you walked up and sat down with your briefcase and your important documents and I had a vision of Kate pouring her water all over your multi-million dollar contracts, or house deeds, or whatever it was you held. The moment you sat down, Kate started to rub your arm. Your jacket was soft and she liked the feel of it. You smiled at her and she said: "Hi, Daddy, that's my mom." Then she had you.

You could have shifted uncomfortably in your seat. You could have ignored her. You could have given me that "smile" that I despise because it means; "manage your child please." You did none of that. You engaged Kate in conversation and you asked her questions about her turtles. She could never really answer your questions but she was so enamored with you that she kept eye contact and joint attention on the items you were asking her about. I watched and smiled. I made a few polite offers to distract her, but you would have none of it.

Kate: (Upon noticing you had an iPad) Is dis Daddy's puduter?

You: This is my iPad. Would you like to see it?

Kate: To me?????? (I know she thought you were offering it to her to keep)

Me: Look with your eyes, Kate. That is not yours.

Kate: Dat's nice!

You: (Upon noticing that Kate had an iPad) I like your computer, too. It has a nice purple case.

Kate: Daddy wanna be a bad guy? (She offered shredder to you and that, my friend, is high praise)

You: Cool.

The interaction went on and on and you never once seemed annoyed. She gave you some moments of peace while she played with her Anna and Elsa dolls. Kind of her to save you from playing Barbies, but I bet you wouldn't have minded a bit. I bet you have little girls, too.

Not long before we landed Kate had reached her limit. She screamed to have her seatbelt off, she screamed for me to open the plane door and she cried repeating, "Plane is cwosed (closed)" over and over. You tried to redirect her attention to her toys. She was already too far gone at this point, but the fact that you tried to help your new little friend made me emotional.

In case you are wondering, she was fine the moment we stepped off the plane. Thank you for letting us go ahead of you. She was feeling overwhelmed and escaping the plane and a big, long hug was all she needed.

So, thank you. Thank you for not making me repeat those awful apologetic sentences that I so often say in public. Thank you for entertaining Kate so much that she had her most successful plane ride, yet. And, thank you for putting your papers away and playing turtles with our girl.

131 - Karate is back!

Had Karate today. It was a great class. Tough and we learnt alot of our new kata Bassai Dai.

130 - Its Sunday! Lets go to the movies!

We went into town today, into Galway to treat the girls somewhat. Also Lindas brother John was going home back to Spain. So we met John and Linda parents in the morning and the kids had a chance to say goodbye to John properly.

Then we set off to the cinema. We saw Frozen. It was really good. The animation, the graphics, are amazing. The songs were great, it was a well written story, I cared for the characters who all had strong personalities. I really can say not a whole lot of bad things about the film to tell the truth. Most of all. The kids loved it :)

Another cracker from Disney - Frozen

Afterwards we had dinner with Linda parents in that place in Salthill, whats the name of it. Da Robertas.

Great day out!

129 - Saturday

Didn't do a whole lot. We watched films and waited for Linda to come home. When she did we put the kids to sleep and played a board game.

128 - The sound of silence.

No not the hippy duo of the 70's Simon & Garfunkel. I mean when the kids are in school. I am home sick. There are no radios, televisions or computers on. I walk over to the kitchen sink and get a glass of unhealthy drinking water and climatise to the room I am standing in.

It is then that I hear a recurring beep across the room. Everything is quiet and still and now this beep becomes an all encompassing siren by the television.

I look over to where the sound is coming from and see that in my haste attempting in vain to call my sister this morning I did not put the landline phone back on the hook properly. I do so now. And then....

...silence, my old friend.

127 - Irish Man Going To Mars

For once I can link something useful from that national propaganda rag known as The Irish Times.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/life-on-mars-irish-man-signs-up-for-colony-mission-1.1648449

This link is worth watching even if you know about Joseph Roche - one of the people short(ish) listed to go to Mars, the red planet.

Mars One is a not-for-profit foundation that aims to get human civilization set up on the planet Mars. All this will be expensive and since most government on Earth have war, hunger and ignorance (politics) to deal with this Dutch foundation has basically set about doing it itself - the setting up of humanity on another planet that is.

So there is a guy, Joseph Roche, who simply applied to be one of the future Martians and the big news that came out today is that he made it past the first round. Pretty cool. Now with that said, I did hear on the news that he was one of 3 Irish people selected but there is no talk of these other people. Hmm, I guess that they are not actually resident in Ireland or that the news looked at the other 2 and realized that Mr Roche is the more likely candidate.

I would definately go. Mars One

Roche is an astrophysicist who works at the Science Gallery in Dublin and realistically knows what he is getting into better than most other people. 

So you gotta ask yourself the question. Would you go up to Mars. Most people I have asked so far have said no. Thing is, I would say no too, but that is because I have responsibilities here that I cannot avoid. But lets say, for an arm chair philosophy kinda question - had you NO responsibilities would you go? Roche admits that he believes it is a one way ticket. As in, they will go to Mars and not alone will they not return but because of the radiation levels on the planet they have a shorter life expectancy. 

The people I have spoken to said "imagine never seeing grass again, imagine never seeing the sky again". On Mars you will see a different landscape, a different sky. There is no meaning at all in anything except that which you give it yourself. 

I can tell you now - if I did not have any responsibilities here on Earth I would certainly, definitely, absolutely go. That is... if they would take me!

126 - Metal Ant Colony

Here is something strangely interesting I came across today. Extra interesting because I find ants cool but I hate the sight of them. I like the way to you can see ants looking at this happening... thinking "ehhh, whats going on?"

Ha ha ha ha ha....

Not so tough in your little nest now are you little ant. See how man can wreck your home the same way you wreck mans.

125 - Windows 8.1

I was working on a computer today and it had Windows 8.1 on it. Boy oh boy. 8.1. One might think that 8.1 is an improvement on 8.0. I have not used Windows 8, and I hate to think how bad it was. At least 8.1 had the Windows key added? I was pressing the Windows key on the keyboard but it was not bringing up anything. The person who owned the 8.1 machine said that it was really easy to use once you got used to it, but you should not need to get used to it. It is simply not intuitive. I tried to uninstall Norton off the machine but I could not for the life of me find an add/remove option for it. I did find an add remove option for an app that was in the new interface at the front end but not to get rid of the full application that was installed.

Windows 8.1 Terrible user experience. 

My question is, who exactly did Microsoft talk to when they were wondering if this was an intuitive system? No messing around. I found it really really horribly bad to use! With Apple OS sales holding, mobile phone use on the rise to the point where people are not getting even laptops anymore because their phone can do what they need and the likes of Steam OS on the way you gotta ask yourself, what are Microsoft thinking. 

Rather, are they thinking?

124 - Ugh! Back to work.

Man, back to work today. Whilst I do not really mind going back to work, I kinda mind that I do not feel like I did get a whole lot of the personal projects that I wanted to get done. Everyone was sick at one point or another. It was hard to settle down and concentrate.

123 - Christening

We were at a christening today in Newport. It was nice. There are fantastic windows made by Harry Clarke.

122 - Ten Years

Myself and Linda were going out 10 years today!

121 - Friday

120 - Lovely Morning

You know it is a good day when it is 10:21am and you have already watched two episodes of Stargate SG1. Anyway, what to do with the rest of the day... I mean that in a what to do in the order of things that I have to do... I am not implying that I have nothing to do. That would be a dream. Having nothing to do! Being bored!

Anyway, enough gibber jabber.

119 - My Rasberry Pi

I got a Raspberry Pi for Christmas, however it is only today that I have gotten to fire it up. It is cool. There is a Linux operating system on it, so it can go online, run programs etc etc. Pretty much everything that Windows can do. Well, alot of what a major operating system could do I believe. However one thing that is on it is Scratch. It is cool.... you know Scratch? It is a way to teach programming to kids. You can make small games and have loops, if/else statements, moving sprites, and sounds in your game. So I sat down today and decided to make a game at last. I have used Scratch before but it is only now that I said to myself "I am going to make something proper". So I made a little game where you have to cross the screen and catch a little thingy without this horse touching you. Anyway, enough about that. 

So, how was new year celebrations? Linda told me this cool thing she saw Facebook. Pick a new skill to learn! Excellent idea, I am definately going to do it. But first I have to figure out what that means. Like really, when you think about it. What does a new skill mean? Do I have to learn how to weld? Learn CPR? So I am going to think about it for a few days, try to come up with something. If you have an idea feel free to put it my way. I would love to learn something that is kind of showing off. When I do it, people would be like "Damn, that is impressive".