Hotel Ocho - Restaurant + Lounge The Death Of Expertise I am (or at least think I am) an expert. Not on everything, but in a particular area of human knowledge, specifically social science and public policy. When I say something on those subjects, I expect that my opinion holds more weight than that of most other people. I never thought those were particularly controversial statements. But democracy, as I wrote in an essay about C.S. What’s going on here? I fear we are witnessing the “death of expertise”: a Google-fueled, Wikipedia-based, blog-sodden collapse of any division between professionals and laymen, students and teachers, knowers and wonderers – in other words, between those of any achievement in an area and those with none at all. What has died is any acknowledgement of expertise as anything that should alter our thoughts or change the way we live. This is a very bad thing. Worse, it’s dangerous. This isn’t just about politics, which would be bad enough. In politics, too, the problem has reached ridiculous proportions.
Functional Swords Medieval Weapons Armour Daggers Knives and Japanese Swords Functional Swords Finally. Functional swords that look like the originals, feel like the originals, flex and balance like the originals, and finally, can actually cut like the originals. Windlass Steelcrafts Reliks is proud to be a premier retailer for Windlass Steelcrafts. Windlass Steelcrafts SkyJiro Forge Swords Reliks is happy to announce exciting news for the practicing martial artist, sword collector and Japanese sword enthusiast. Skyjiro Forge Katana
Origins Of Popular Jewish Surnames Correction, Jan. 29, 2014: Some of the sources used in the reporting of this piece were unreliable and resulted in a number of untruths and inaccuracies. The original post remains below, but a follow-up post outlining the errors, as well as further explanation, can be found here. Ashkenazic Jews were among the last Europeans to take family names. Some German-speaking Jews took last names as early as the 17th century, but the overwhelming majority of Jews lived in Eastern Europe and did not take last names until compelled to do so. The process began in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1787 and ended in Czarist Russia in 1844. In attempting to build modern nation-states, the authorities insisted that Jews take last names so that they could be taxed, drafted, and educated (in that order of importance). Until this period, Jewish names generally changed with every generation. Jews distrusted the authorities and resisted the new requirement. MATRONYMICS (daughter of …) Let us close with a ditty:
Target Sports Canada - Ontario's Premiere Shooting Destination. Introduction Growing out of the wisdom of China, India, and Japan, Zen became a powerful movement to explore the lesser-known reaches of the human mind. Today we are rediscovering modern significance in its ancient insights. This course is an attempt to encounter Zen in its purest form, by returning to its legendary masters. This course offers a treasury of Zen tradition: teachings, anecdotes, stories, legends, sayings, and wisdom culled from the classic texts of Chinese Chan and Japanese Zen. When Westerners first encountered the strange Zen dialogues and antics that had been treasured in East Asia for a thousand years, there seemed to be more madness than method. Now we realize that the masters were communicating with exceptional directness and freedom in a language of awakening. In this course we try to let Zen speak for itself. . . . understanding how the tradition views itself must be the basis for all later criticism.
The Ultimate Weights-Free Workout: The Body It may trouble you to learn that the gym is not the best place to get the ideal male body. Most health clubs are based around the idea that you want to target and isolate individual muscles for enlargement. If an exercise puts you on a machine, chair, or bench, it probably isolates muscle. If a workout promises bigger biceps or pecs, it probably isolates muscle. Muscles were designed to work together in groups. Bodies that are built up by isolating muscles look asymmetrical and clumsy. Overly defined six-pack abs, for instance, help us do only a meaningless skill—flex our abdomen. The job of a torso is to transmit the so-called hoop forces needed to hold your body rigid in a pull-up, push-up, or handstand—either for exercise or applied in real-world situations. "Gym-styled exercise cannot produce naturally elegant physiques," says Frenchman Erwan Le Corre, the founder of MovNat, a back-to-nature-style fitness movement.
Meditation | Mind & Sport Institute “I would go to bed feeling like I didn’t even want to live”- Jerry West As reported on NBA.com, NBA Legend Jerry West known as ‘Mr. Clutch’ and ‘The Logo’ (since the NBA logo is an image of him) “says he has battled depression since childhood, when his father would beat the future Hall of Famer, causing low self-esteem that has plagued him despite a successful career as one of the NBA’s biggest influences. West says his West Virginia childhood was devoid of love and filled with anger as a result of his abusive father, who left him feeling tormented and worthless. “I would go to bed feeling like I didn’t even want to live,” West says in a segment airing Tuesday on HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.” “I’ve been so low sometimes and when everyone else would be so high because I didn’t like myself.” Glen Bias Leonard Kevin “Len” Bias (November 18, 1963 – June 19, 1986) was a first team All-American college basketball player at the University of Maryland. [youtube]
How to Make a Clock Run for 10,000 Years | Gadget Lab Billionaire Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos has a long-term plan: to build a clock that runs for 10,000 years. (Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com) High on a rocky ridge in the desert, nestled among the brush, is the topmost part of a clock that has been ticking for thousands of years. It looks out over the ruins of a spaceport, built by a rich man whose name was forgotten long ago. Most of the clock is deep inside the mountain, below the ridgeline. To get there, you hike for days through the heat; the only sounds are the buzzing of flies and the whisper of the occasional breeze. 'In the year 4000, you'll go see this clock and you'll wonder, "Why on Earth did they build this?"' No one knows who built it, or why. Why else would they build something that had no purpose except to mark time for thousands of years? The rich man is Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, and he has indeed started construction on a clock that he hopes will run for 10,000 years. Pages: 1 234567View All
9 Ways To Become The Master Of Your Own Mind Many of us spend an exorbitant amount of time and energy -- not to mention money -- taking care of our bodies, and trying to keep ourselves looking and feeling our best. But when it comes to the mind, less attention (literally) is paid. Taking care of the mind can come as an afterthought, and often we think of the mind as something outside of our own control. "Our life is the creation of our mind," according to Buddhist scripture. But even if it's not enlightenment you're after, developing a good relationship with your mind is critical to building a life that is successful on your own terms. Make time for stillness. Meditation has been around for thousands of years, and it's perhaps the single most powerful tool out there for gaining mastery over your mind. Pursue meaning over pleasure. Not all happiness is created equal, and in your own pursuit of joy and bliss, keep in mind that the type of happiness you're after can make all the difference. Read, read, read. Let it be.
Sake showdown: Canada v. Japan Sake, a Japanese tradition for at least 2,000 years, is making headway in the land of beer and rye. Ontario Spring Water Sake Company, which opened in Toronto's Distillery District this spring, is just the latest brewery to produce domestic sake, joining the likes of Vancouver's Artisan Sakemaker at Granville Island and Richmond, B.C.'s Nipro Brewery. (Masa Shiroki opened the Granville Island brewery, the country's first premium sake brewery, in 2007.) Domestic production is good news for Canadian sake aficionados, as it allows them to sample namazake, or fresh, unpasteurized sake, which is difficult to import from Japan. It also gives the uninitiated more reason to give the time-honoured drink a try. More than many other alcoholic beverages, sake is incredibly versatile, says Yuuji Nagaoka, who designed the ample sake menu at Toronto's acclaimed Kaiseki Sakura restaurant. Sake is best sampled in a specific order. Think you know your ginjo from your honjozo? 1. Mr. Mr. 2. Mr. Mr. 3. Mr.