text:
"It's pointless to perform an atemi unless your strike
is the kind of strike that would have a real effect."
Hiroshi Isoyama entered the Iwama Dojo of Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba as a boy of 12. He is one of a few rare individuals—another being Morihiro Saito—to have been exposed to the founder during the period of maturation of modern aikido. Isoyama is passionate about his study of aikido and this dynamism is reflected in his explosive technique. Now retired after a long career in the Air Self Defence Force, Isoyama is devoting full time to his pursuit of training and teaching. He is becoming increasingly well-known internationally as well and has frequently traveled abroad in recent years.
Aikido in Iwama Following the War
Aikido in Iwama Following the War
Aikido Journal: Please tell us how you got your start in aikido.
Aikido Journal: Please tell us how you got your start in aikido.
Isoyama Sensei: It was back in 1949, which as you know was a very difficult time for Japan. My family ran an inn. Various kinds of people came to stay there, including members of the yakuza, and given that fact, I thought it would be foolish not to learn some kind of martial art. It happened that the local aiki dojo (it wasn't called "aikido" yet, and the dojo would come to be called the "Aiki Shuren Dojo") had just begun children's classes, so I went with some other kids from the neighborhood to join. I was twelve at the time.
O-Sensei was still living in Iwama then?
O-Sensei was still living in Iwama then?
Yes, it was only after about 1955 that he gradually started making trips away from Iwama. O-Sensei taught the evening children's classes.
Was the instruction the same as that at the Hombu Dojo in Tokyo?
Was the instruction the same as that at the Hombu Dojo in Tokyo?
I don't know what the instruction in Tokyo was like then, but he used to go up and take hold of the wrist of all of the students individually and teach them that way. He himself didn't take ukemi, but he would do whatever the technique was -shomenuchi ikkyo for example—to each person on the mat individually while everybody watched. He never gave any particularly detailed explanations.
There were no tatami mats in that dojo, so the training could be quite painful. That was one reason it was difficult to get people to come train. After a number of years they finally did put tatami in the dojo, but we had been doing it on the wooden floor for so long that at first we had trouble adjusting. If you happened to smack your head on the wooden floor it would make a big noise, but the pain never seemed to penetrate your whole head. After we put the tatami in, though, the pain would hit you right to the core. Naturally, the way we took ukemi changed when we moved from the wooden floor to the tatami mats.
Who was at the dojo back then besides Saito Sensei?
Who was at the dojo back then besides Saito Sensei?
There were people the late Takeo Murata, Sakae Shimada (present Ibaraki Prefectural Federation chairman), and Sachio Yamane. In any case, as I said there were not many people training there at the time. Also, Kunio Oyama, who later became a student of professional wrestler Rikidozan, and people like that were there as uchideshi.
I understand that you eventually joined the Japanese Self-Defense Forces.
I understand that you eventually joined the Japanese Self-Defense Forces.
Yes, I joined the Air Self-Defense Forces and was sent to Chitose in 1958.
Did you form an aikido club there in Chitose?
Did you form an aikido club there in Chitose?
Yes. At first my only students were members of the American military police, but eventually I was asked by the commander of the garrison to teach members of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces as well. I learned English then, too, out of necessity.
During your recent visit to Los Angeles did you teach in English?
During your recent visit to Los Angeles did you teach in English?
Yes, entirely in English! What else?! (laughs)
Since many of your students among the American military police must have been much physically larger than you, did you have to come up with new ways to make your techniques work on them?
I certainly did. Practicing with people like that is completely different from working with people who are smaller than you. Doing even something like ikkyo against a much larger opponent is very difficult, especially in terms of the way you have to enter and the timing you have to use. Training with people like that was a great experience from which I learned a lot.
My kataguruma and gansekiotoshi techniques, for example, started out with me trying to teach koshinage. When I tried to do koshinage on some of the taller men I found that they could just step over me; no matter how I tried the technique, I couldn't manage to throw them because the height difference meant I couldn't get my hips into a good position in front of theirs. Then I had the idea to try putting them across my shoulders instead of across my hips, and that's how I started using those techniques. I wasn't trying to be rough or flashy, I was just trying to get the techniques to work. Necessity is the mother of invention!
There in Chitose there were many wrestlers and boxers and the like who came to make fun of what we were doing. Because of the wartime draft, there were all kinds of different people in the American military. Normally during aikido practice you enter and apply your technique as your opponent is moving in with his attack, but when I did that many of them would complain that they weren't ready yet; they wanted me to let them get a good hold or choke on me and then see if I could still do my techniques. Normally in practice the opponent will strike from the front and then move around behind nage so uke doesn't have a chance to apply his attack fully. But that didn't convince them and they wanted to first get me in a tight hold and then challenge me to try to move out of it.
In other words, you had to perform under the most difficult possible circumstances.
In other words, you had to perform under the most difficult possible circumstances.
There was one fellow, a wrestler who had placed sixth in the Helsinki Olympics, who rolled onto the ground and wrapped around me from behind so that I couldn't use my hands or feet, and from that position challenged me to try to move. The only part of my body that was still free was my head, so I snapped my head backwards into his face and struck the bridge of his nose with the back of my head. This is prohibited in wrestling, of course, but such rules don't apply to budo. As I struck his face I gave a shout and used the momentary opening to get away. I told him, "That's how budo is!" and he was convinced. That sort of thing happened on a daily basis.
Did you ever talk to your American students about the founder, Morihei Ueshiba?
Did you ever talk to your American students about the founder, Morihei Ueshiba?
Yes. I even took some of them to Iwama to meet him. They couldn't believe it when they saw me being thrown all over the mat by O-Sensei. They said, "How can someone like you, who can throw all of us so easily, be thrown around like that by an old man?!" I replied, "That's what I'd like to know!" (laughs) I explained that aikido had nothing to do with one's age. They asked if they could try holding onto O-Sensei themselves and one of the most lively came up and was downed and pinned the instant he tried. They couldn't figure out how they'd been controlled like that; they just knew they had.
Last time I went to the United States I met one of those former MPs who had been my student. I hadn't seen him in forty years. After earning his shodan he had returned to the U.S., graduated from a university in Boston, and later served as an officer in Vietnam. After that he joined the FBI where for many years he was involved in studying and teaching arrest techniques, or what we would call "taihojutsu" in Japanese. He used the Internet to help me look up some of the others who had also been my students back then. It's really wonderful how aikido builds relationships like that. Even if they're cut off for a while, still they have a way of coming back to you again.
Budo as the Undercurrent of Aikido
Budo as the Undercurrent of Aikido
How would you say that your emphasis on the importance of budo in aikido developed?
How would you say that your emphasis on the importance of budo in aikido developed?
Since I'm in the position of teaching aikido, I feel I have to keep myself oriented in one consistent direction. People practice aikido for a variety of reasons—to keep in shape or stay healthy or what have you—but it is clearly "budo" that is the undercurrent running beneath aikido. There's no problem with people practicing aikido simply as a good way to stay in shape, but I think they still should also cultivate the kind of vigilance that strives constantly to avoid showing openings to potential opponents. This is an important underlying aspect of budo, and I think neglecting it or allowing it to become too minor a part of your training will result in a divergence from the real spirit of aikido.
The founder's thinking changed over the years between the time he started teaching aikido and later in his life, so naturally the kinds of movements he used also changed. There are very few people who had direct contact with him over the span of several decades, so in many ways it's like that old story of the three blind men all feeling different parts of an elephant and giving different descriptions of what an elephant is. In that sense, I wonder if there is anyone at all who understands O-Sensei's greatness completely.
Some people were in contact with O-Sensei when he was spreading aikido purely as a budo; others only began learning from him once his thinking had evolved to emphasize aikido as "a way of harmony"; still others learned from him at various periods later in his life. All of these will have different viewpoints and interpretations, and I don't think it's possible to say that any of these is better than the others.
I also think there are differences depending on the age of the learner. Younger people naturally sought a stronger kind of aikido, while those who were older may have been drawn to aspects such as harmony and spirit, and so these are what each absorbed from O-Sensei. Issues like these make it very difficult to talk about aikido in clear-cut terms.
As you know, O-Sensei never wrote much about aikido in books, although some of this techniques are recorded in Budo. Sometimes I've wondered why he didn't write more about aikido, but on the other hand, I think I might understand: his thinking gradually evolved, and he may have felt that anything he wrote in his younger years would potentially end up being contradictory to his thinking later on. The same is true of his techniques: if he had said anything definitive about them at any point, he might have ended up contradicting himself later on as he evolved.
Another difficulty is that different people have tended to interpret O-Sensei's words in different ways, even though he may have actually said the same thing to all of them. People then end up expressing their own interpretation as if they had absorbed all of what he meant, leading in turn to small variances and eventually to misunderstandings.
When O-Sensei taught he never gave any particularly detailed explanations. One reason was that the many people who came to practice aikido under him were all individuals of a certain higher standing in society, for example military officers, politicians, high-ranking practitioners of other martial arts, people from the financial sector, the heads of private enterprises, and various others all well-established and respected in their fields. Giving too much detail to people like that, for example teaching them things like "this is the way you do a proper bow" and so on would have been regarded as condescending and offensive.
During practice O-Sensei often spoke in honorific language to individuals of higher social standing and us regular students alike. I was very moved by that attitude and way of interacting with people.
One example might be the debate about atemi, which hardly exists any longer as part of most aikido technique. What are your thoughts on the use of atemi, from a combative perspective?
One example might be the debate about atemi, which hardly exists any longer as part of most aikido technique. What are your thoughts on the use of atemi, from a combative perspective?
Doing atemi simply for the sake of doing atemi results in nothing but empty form. It's pointless to perform an atemi unless your strike is the kind of strike that would have a real effect. An atemi doesn't necessarily have to be a deadly blow, but it should be capable of doing a certain amount of real damage. Also, if you want to think seriously about atemi, you also have to think about kicks.
Karate, for example, has excellent striking and kicking techniques. I would say that most karate movement is predominantly straightline, while aikido tends to emphasize more circular or spherical movements. Both of these have strengths and shortcomings and I don't think you can say unconditionally that one is better than the other. In any case, if you're going to use strikes and kicks as atemi in aikido you need to think constantly about how to incorporate them in a way that takes the timing and other characteristics of aikido movement into consideration.
The Weapons Controversy
The Weapons Controversy
The use of weapons in aikido is another issue about which there are a number of differing views. Do you think weapons have a role in aikido training?
The use of weapons in aikido is another issue about which there are a number of differing views. Do you think weapons have a role in aikido training?
I definitely think they do. Techniques like tachidori (sword-disarming techniques) and jodori (staff-disarming techniques) are included as part of dan-level testing, and people who have been doing only empty-handed techniques won't be able to perform these, will they?
Also, if you don't have a strong command of weapons techniques yourself, there is no way you'll be able to respond correctly when your opponent has a weapon. Do you think you'd be successful if a kendo expert challenged you to try doing aikido's tachidori against his sword? Or if a practitioner of Muso-ryu jo gave you the chance to try taking his jo away, would you be able to do it so easily? I doubt it.
I think weapons techniques are extremely important, but I also think it's dangerous to practice them only shallowly; if you're going to practice weapons techniques, then practice them properly and thoroughly. This is one reason I don't think there's much need to practice things like tachidori and jodori in so many variations. Tantodori (knife-disarming techniques), too, is something I've practiced against a live blade, but only with a couple of variations. All you need is one or two techniques, and if you've really mastered those then I think you're as well-equipped as you can be for defending yourself against such things. Of course, whenever weapons are involved there will always be an element of danger.
Since we can't actually practice with live blades in the dojo we use wooden swords (bokuto) instead, but if you want to make your training as effective as possible it's essential to think of the bokuto as a live blade, not just a stick. That includes making your attacks fast and decisive and filled with intent. You won't be able to cultivate the proper degree of seriousness if you're cutting in a way that is only for the purpose of taking ukemi. It's a good idea to keep this sort of thing in the back of your mind when you're training with weapons.
It's often said that there are no matches in aikido. I think there are several dimensions of meaning to this, but O-Sensei once said, "Victory and defeat are merely relative, whereas aikido seeks not relative but absolute strength. Therefore, aikido is training daily to 'win before fighting'."
What do you think was the founder's vision for weapons techniques? For example, according to Morihiro Saito Sensei, the founder trained with weapons a great deal and consequently Saito Sensei's aikido contains many weapons techniques. On the other hand, others point out that the founder didn't teach weapons at the Hombu Dojo, and in fact got angry if people there did practice with them.
What do you think was the founder's vision for weapons techniques? For example, according to Morihiro Saito Sensei, the founder trained with weapons a great deal and consequently Saito Sensei's aikido contains many weapons techniques. On the other hand, others point out that the founder didn't teach weapons at the Hombu Dojo, and in fact got angry if people there did practice with them.
I think it's probably true that O-Sensei didn't teach weapons techniques at the Hombu Dojo. That may have been because he didn't have that much time to train there. When he was back in Iwama he had plenty of time for that sort of thing, and those of us who were there were indeed taught weapons like the ken and jo. So what Saito Sensei says is correct, and so is the comment that O-Sensei would get angry if people practiced weapons at the Hombu Dojo. In fact, I've seen O-Sensei get angry myself, although that was because people were doing paired sword practices (kumitachi) even though they couldn't even do solo sword swinging (suburi) very well yet. I think O-Sensei felt that if his students were going to do sword, they should do it properly, and he got angry if he saw them just swinging their swords as if they were in some samurai drama.
Once for a demonstration with Saito Sensei-I think when I was about a sandan-I asked O-Sensei if I could use a live blade for our tantodori demonstration, but he rejected the idea. I think he had a clearer understanding of my real ability than I did at the time and knew it wouldn't be a good idea. A while later I did use a live blade at another demonstration that O-Sensei couldn't attend, and of course I injured myself. I felt so foolish, and it took injuring myself like that to figure out why he had denied my request the first time.
There are people who practice other martial arts along with their aikido, for example by mixing it with iaido or karate. Some study karate to figure out ways to deal with punches and kicks, while others do kendo to learn more about that kind of cutting and striking.
There are people who practice other martial arts along with their aikido, for example by mixing it with iaido or karate. Some study karate to figure out ways to deal with punches and kicks, while others do kendo to learn more about that kind of cutting and striking.
I think it's fine to do that kind of thing to a certain extent, but I also think if you push it too far to the front of your training it's likely to turn your aikido into mere fighting. In the end what it amounts to is an attitude challenging other forms of budo by thinking about how to get the better of them or win against them.
But I think what is more important is to remember O-Sensei's admonishment to "win before fighting." He is known to have even said "even nuclear bombs don't frighten me," based on the thinking that you simply have to prevent your opponent from dropping them in the first place, which is what is more important. This lack of fear comes not from knowing one's power to retaliate in a conflict, but rather from a spiritual orientation that leads you toward solutions that avoid conflict in the first place. Weapons are unnecessary where there is no conflict, nor will you be attacked when you are in such a place. O-Sensei said, "Our training each and every day is a true battle." He also said, "Never fear another style (ryuha), no matter how great or large; but then also never despise or make light of a lesser style, no matter how small." And also, "Aikido has it's own goodness, and there are good things about other styles."
It is a fact that after the war most of the people teaching aikido, O-Sensei included, stopped teaching weapons, but I think the important issue is to try to see how O-Sensei himself evaluated and understood the practice of weapons.
It is a fact that after the war most of the people teaching aikido, O-Sensei included, stopped teaching weapons, but I think the important issue is to try to see how O-Sensei himself evaluated and understood the practice of weapons.
I think he probably felt that there was a necessity for weapons techniques. That's why he joined the Kashima Shinto-ryu and studied other styles as well. This is nothing but guesswork on my part, but I think O-Sensei regarded weapons as an essential element of aikido if it is to be practiced as a budo.
Indeed, in the past when people thought about budo they tended to think of it as "composite" or "comprehensive" budo (sogo budo), which naturally would have included the study of weapons.
Indeed, in the past when people thought about budo they tended to think of it as "composite" or "comprehensive" budo (sogo budo), which naturally would have included the study of weapons.
Yes, but it's also important to think about how we understand the purpose of our training. If our training aims merely at becoming strong on a surface level, then weapons become nothing but murderous tools. I think it is more important, whether you're using a sword or a jo or something else, to pursue your training in a way that will help you improve yourself as a person and cultivate a better sense of humanity. In other words, the goals of your training are the more important issue when considering the role of weapons.
For O-Sensei the goal seemed to be to use the weapon as a channel or conduit through which to draw in the energy of the universe. I think that sort of thing played an important part in his use of weapons.
For O-Sensei the goal seemed to be to use the weapon as a channel or conduit through which to draw in the energy of the universe. I think that sort of thing played an important part in his use of weapons.
He often performed an exercise called nijuhappogiri (cutting twenty-eight times) in which he would cut seven times in each of the four directions as a way to dispel wickedness and evil (jaki) in the surrounding space and also to clear such wickedness from his own heart or spirit. I think it is fine to swing the sword if you are doing it in that sense.
In his later years O-Sensei seems to have been "possessed" by some deity (kami). For example, he is known to have said when scolding one of his students that "this isn't Ueshiba scolding you, it's the kami!"
In his later years O-Sensei seems to have been "possessed" by some deity (kami). For example, he is known to have said when scolding one of his students that "this isn't Ueshiba scolding you, it's the kami!"
Yes, I've often heard that, but I think what he meant was that he personally was not scolding the student out of anger, but rather that he had scolded them from the broader viewpoint-the "larger eye" if you will-of the kamisama, in order to help them grow. In that sense, I'm not sure it's quite right to say that O-Sensei felt he was "possessed by the gods"; it was rather the people around him who interpreted his actions that way. That's what I think, anyway.
Another thing I would mention about O-Sensei's greatness is that while he himself was an ardent believer in the Omoto faith, he never once told his students that they should become believers, too. I think that says something about his truly high caliber.
Budo practitioners in the old days tended to be the kind of people who studied not just one thing but many. O-Sensei himself felt it his life's mission to put together his own unique style of martial art, so naturally he was a very enthusiastic about studying things.
It's impossible to make something new without a certain amount of inspiration, isn't it?
It's impossible to make something new without a certain amount of inspiration, isn't it?
There have been a number of attempts to create new forms of budo following the war, but most of them have not lasted more than one generation past their founding. There are very few that have remained so solidly as aikido has. Even the judo that we have today is completely different from the judo that was left by founder Jigoro Kano.
I think it's difficult to fully understand O-Sensei's originality without studying the background of his studies, particularly the budo that he learned and his involvement in the Omoto religion.
I think it's difficult to fully understand O-Sensei's originality without studying the background of his studies, particularly the budo that he learned and his involvement in the Omoto religion.
Yes, no matter how much you approach it on a surface level. For example, we tend to imagine that O-Sensei got involved in the Omoto religion because he felt drawn to it after coming up against a "wall" in his practice of Daito-ryu aikijujutsu, but this understanding is probably rather simplistic and I think the reality is probably much deeper. I think aikido is a piece of traditional culture, in the form of a budo, that is worth passing on to future generations. And because what is worthwhile in it is its inherent spirituality, it would be a mistake to limit our training to grasping only the technical aspects. It's important to train in a way that takes into account the spiritual and the technical alike.
Learning From Injuries
Learning From Injuries
I understand that you were injured a number of years ago.
I understand that you were injured a number of years ago.
Yes, to the extent that I could not even move at all. I had a knee injury, but I ignored it and did too much and ended up injuring my lower back as well.
Rehabilitating yourself after such an injury must have been very difficult without a strong will.
Rehabilitating yourself after such an injury must have been very difficult without a strong will.
There was a renowned joint specialist at Tokyo Women's Medical College near the Hombu Dojo who told me I probably wouldn't recover, that the only thing I could do was avoid moving my back as much as possible to prevent the injury from worsening. I believed what the doctor had told me and did my best to avoid moving that part of my body, but gradually the condition worsened anyway, and because I wasn't using it at all this one leg started getting weaker and thinner. I could barely even make it to the toilet without a walking stick.
After continuing like that for about two years I started to wonder whether by following the doctor's advice I wouldn't actually end up completely disabled. That's when I decided I'd better take things into my own hands and started working on various ways to heal myself, including finding ways to put certain loads on the muscles to help build them up again. I kept repeating the process over and over for about two years. I believed in myself and my body's capacity for self-healing.
Have you continued doing any special exercises?
Have you continued doing any special exercises?
Yes, because I know it's all over if one day I think there is nothing left to do. Aikido is the same way, in fact; if you reach a point where you're satisfied with what you have done, where you think nobody can surpass you, then that's where you stop. O-Sensei often said that "training (shugyo) continues until the day you die. I think this is an important attitude to take, and one that can be applied to everything.
It's also important to realize that, for example, no matter how famous or well regarded a medical doctor might be, he has not personally experienced your condition himself and so can't know about it entirely, can't understand the real nature of the pain. It's for that reason, in fact, that as soon as I've improved a little more and can walk a little better, I would like to use my experience somehow to be of even a little help to others who are experiencing the same kind of pain.
International Aikido Federation
International Aikido Federation
During the era of the late Doshu Kisshomaru Ueshiba, aikido spread greatly abroad, and it was about twenty-three years ago that the International Aikido Federation was created. I understand that you were one of the ones active in that, so I wonder if you would share your thoughts about the importance of this organization.
I think Japan seems to have the slightest interest in the International Aikido Federation when it should be the country that shows the most interest. One reason may be that we are too blessed with aikido in this country, by which I mean there are so many aikido teachers here that you can still do aikido without making any particular efforts to join such a federation. It may be that we are jaded in that respect. What we must remember, though, is that there are plenty of countries in the world where people do not have such easy access to aikido teachers and facilities. I think our number one task should be to build such an organization into one that can support those people being able to practice aikido without having to spend much money.
The organization of aikido in Japan is very vertical, with the Zaidan Hojin Aikikai and the Doshu at the top, then the various shihan on the next rung down. The IAF, on the other hand, is organized along a more horizontal, more democratic model. Getting these two to mesh well must present some subtle difficulties from time to time.
The organization of aikido in Japan is very vertical, with the Zaidan Hojin Aikikai and the Doshu at the top, then the various shihan on the next rung down. The IAF, on the other hand, is organized along a more horizontal, more democratic model. Getting these two to mesh well must present some subtle difficulties from time to time.
It's true, because the Japanese organization is so strongly vertical the way of thinking tends to be completely different. In Japan there seem to be quite a few strong teachers who are confident and independent and figure they can still keep practicing without having to become a member of such an organization. That would be fine if it were just within Japan, but given the international nature of aikido I think there is a need to gradually strengthen the role of what is now a weak organization in order to have a place for activity that can contribute to proper understanding of aikido among the many people practicing it around the world. There is no point and nothing to be gained if only the numbers of people practicing aikido increase while we let an understanding of the aikido spirit get weaker and weaker. If we let that happen aikido will become something other than what O-Sensei envisioned. What we need is not an organization that will restrain individual action through some hierarchical or other structure, but rather one that will promote relationships of mutual friendship among its members.
The more aikido spreads the more different groups there are to be associated with. Right now the one with the greatest involvement is the World Games, an international athletic event held every four years for various sporting activities not included in the regular Olympic Games organized by the GAISF starting in 1985. There are many different categories of membership in the World Games, and since it wouldn't be good if the Aikikai itself was to become a member of that, the IAF has instead.
If you're talking only about aikido, then it's true that there is little need for extra organizations standing between dojo and direct interaction with the Hombu. But thinking about the kind of thing I've just mentioned, perhaps such an organization is actually necessary.
Especially in Europe, where there tends to be more government involvement.
Especially in Europe, where there tends to be more government involvement.
Yes, France is particularly like that. For example, only individuals recognized by the French government are authorized to give out dan and kyu rankings.
Things definitely seem to take on a political coloring in such cases.
Things definitely seem to take on a political coloring in such cases.
This essentially has nothing to do with aikido, particularly since aikido has no competitive matches and is clearly different from the various sports. However, if you start emphasizing the fact that aikido is different it becomes isolated, then stops growing, and finally starts to fall apart.
My idea would be to have foreign aikido practitioners come to Japan to spend between two and five years at the Hombu Dojo practicing and learning Japanese and so on, then dispatch them to teach at various local dojo (as is the case with many of the young Japanese teachers), and after about eight years in Japan have them return to their native countries. This would allow them a chance to understand the Hombu Dojo's thinking, objectives, and ways of doing things, and also help them become bridges across the language barrier once they return home. From an international perspective, if there were such people then it would be easier for people to place their trust in the Japanese side and things would go more smoothly in the various countries where aikido is being practiced. Right now the linguistic and cultural barriers are considerable.
None of the non-Japanese currently practicing at the Hombu Dojo are uchideshi (live-in students) but instead live outside and commute to the dojo (except for those under Saito Sensei in Iwama, where there is still a real uchideshi system). In part this may be simply because the Hombu Dojo is a little short-handed and lacks facilities. It would be ideal if there were some more effort at the Hombu Dojo to extend and improve the lodging facilities there so that people coming from abroad to practice aikido could live more inexpensively.
It is relatively easy to run a dojo as a professional aikido teacher abroad, so we need to make a system that can help cultivate people who want to do that; otherwise we run the risk of falling behind the times.
The key seems to be to strengthen the relationships between the Hombu Dojo and those people abroad, especially since from a purely organizational perspective alone Europe will be dominant because of their political skills. Cultivating people and human resources is important.
I remember reading somewhere a long time ago the idea that "communication equals control," and that whoever controls communication will dominate. In that sense, I wonder whether dispatching information from the Hombu Dojo to dojos around the world directly, without going through the filters of the various organizations, would help strengthen the Hombu Dojo organizationally.
An Unbroken Line
An Unbroken Line
Now that we have come to the third generation of Doshu, what are your thoughts on the succession of aikido under the lineage-based iemoto system?
Now that we have come to the third generation of Doshu, what are your thoughts on the succession of aikido under the lineage-based iemoto system?
Different people have different views about that, so it is difficult to make sweeping generalizations. This may be a Japanese way of thinking, but there is an urge to maintain an unbroken lineage, to maintain and protect something that serves as a center. The iemoto system is something found in all kinds of Japanese traditions, from the tea ceremony to kabuki, and represents the transmission of these along a single consistent path. And since budo, too, is a path, I think having that kind of system may be important to its transmission.
Also, there seem to be those who view aikido as a combative system and feel for that reason that it should be succeeded by someone who is technically strong. But being technically strong is not all there is to being a true successor to a tradition like aikido. The successor also has to have clear, solid thinking, and even if he is relatively young he must be able to serve as a strong center and stand watch with a clear view from his vantage point at the top. He also has to be able to teach effectively. These qualities are very important, because if the center becomes shaky then the whole tradition becomes shaky. People like myself and others who were students of the original founder feel it is our duty and obligation, to both the founder and the Second Doshu, to do our best to support this Third Doshu so that he can fulfill his role smoothly.
What are your thoughts on the contribution to aikido made by the Second Doshu, Kisshomaru Ueshiba?
What are your thoughts on the contribution to aikido made by the Second Doshu, Kisshomaru Ueshiba?
Forgive me for relying on an often-used expression, but I like many others would say that it was O-Sensei who pioneered and created aikido and Kisshomaru Sensei who spread and promoted it. While O-Sensei tended to teach only certain select individuals, it was Kisshomaru Sensei who worked to make aikido more widely accessible, and who internationalized and organized it. It was also for these good efforts that he received the Third Order of Merit from the Japanese government. What is important now is to see what sort of efforts the third Doshu makes to consolidate the tradition. Aikido will probably continue to spread even if there are no further efforts to spread it, so the issue now is how the tradition can be consolidated as it continues to grow.
It seems that aikido underwent certain technical changes under the leadership of former Doshu Kisshomaru…
It seems that aikido underwent certain technical changes under the leadership of former Doshu Kisshomaru…
That's another issue about which it's not really possible to make sweeping generalizations. After all, even O-Sensei changed considerably between the time he was young and his later years. Kisshomaru Sensei himself was quite vigorous in his younger days, and only later, after undergoing surgery, did he begin using less strenuous movements. Even I'm that way; my technique now is considerably different from the technique I was doing when I was much younger. Whenever I demonstrate these days, all the guys I used to practice with back then always kid me about how soft and gentle I've become! I think the technical changes under Kisshomaru Sensei were in that same vein. I think what's more important is to truly give your all, to do your best and put your whole spirit into it, whether you're doing your daily training or giving a demonstration. Differences are bound to appear depending on how you view aikido-whether you view it as a budo or a way to health and physical conditioning or simply as a form of movement. Naturally in my dojo we pursue aikido according to my view of it.
One part of that, by the way, is that I take the phrase "practical aikido" as my motto, by which I mean I think of aikido as something that is not only practiced in the dojo, but that can be extended and put to use in daily life. That in turn leads to an attitude of living each and every day as if it is precious. Aikido that is only in the dojo seems to lead only to issues of who is more or less skilled, who is stronger or weaker. What is more important is what kind of person you are and how you act as a member of society. After all, even if you are a yudansha of whatever rank, if you can't somehow contribute something to society then your aikido practice has little meaning. If you can't put aikido's spirit of harmony to use in your daily life-whether as a student or in your family or at your job-then I don't think you can say that you are practicing true aikido.
To conclude, what does aikido mean to you now?
To conclude, what does aikido mean to you now?
Probably what I feel most glad about when I do aikido is that it has allowed so many people to open their hearts and come together in friendship. I think about all those who have gone before me, about those who are still young, and I think how remarkable it has been to meet so many people and make so many friends. They're all from so many different walks of life that there has been so much for me to absorb from them. I think that is probably one of the most important things about continuing to practice aikido. O-Sensei was surrounded by so many impressive people because he himself was a great man. I can hardly say the same of myself and feel I'm still lacking in so many ways, but I hope by continuing to interact with so many people through aikido I will be able to improve myself little by little. I also hope that my efforts can help as many people as possible come to understand the goodness of aikido and live happier lives because of it. That, I think, is one way I can repay the debt of gratitude I owe to O-Sensei and Kisshomaru Sensei.
Translated by Derek Steel
This interview originally appeared in Aikido Journal Number 119 available in the Aikido Journal Store


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Formulating and taking charge of your own life plan
Q: I'm in my early 40s and have multiple sclerosis. My ex left me because she didn't want to "play nurse" for the rest of her life. I don't blame her, but I am left to pick up the pieces of my life, and am having a hard time getting up the motivation to dive back into the dating pool. Why would any woman want the future that I have to offer, one of inevitable debilitation? Should I just resign myself to a life of solitude? It seems like the path of least resistance at this point.
Struggling in Olympia, WA
A: I think we'd all be better for resigning ourselves to a life of solitude. Not in a woe-is-me sense, but in the sense that we are the only people we can be absolutely sure will be with us at every stage of our lives.
Your illness — a rotten break by any measure, I'm sorry — doesn't necessarily make you worse off than others on this particular account. The ex who wasn't up to dealing with your MS may well have decided, had you not been ill, that she wasn't up to the ravages of time that every longtime couple must face. Familiarity, boredom, various other ills of social attrition, not to mention the physical deterioration that even the healthy endure.
Committed is committed, and she wasn't.
Where that leaves you is exactly where it leaves everyone else: in need of plans A, B and C. Plan A represents what each of us has now: Whether paired or single, it makes the most sense both to live in the moment and make plans for that moment to last. As in, have a healthy dinner, splurge a little on dessert, keep feeding your 401(k).
Plan B is the anticipation of change. Anything we have can be gone tomorrow, including companionship or solitude, health or illness, fears or dreams. You don't need to build your life around the possibility of change, but you do need to acknowledge and accept it. Buy insurance, keep your will up to date, don't burn bridges with people personally or professionally, and keep your eyes and heart open to opportunity in all its subtle forms.
Plan C is the wild card. If you start asking around, you might be surprised by the number of people whose lives don't bear the slightest resemblance to the lives they'd expected to live. The only way you can "plan" for such a life is to get right with yourself, get right with your choices to this point, and take a quick mental walk through your past to note the times you've had to be braver, stronger and more flexible than you ever cared to be.
If you've been this emotionally resourceful before, you can do it again. If you haven't been, you can start now. It's hard work, but where's the appeal in the alternatives? No one can take away the sense of yourself — the sense of peace — you derive from passing these tests.
While your illness will deter some potential companions, your ability to Plan-A-B-and-C it into a full, rewarding and well-managed life will attract others — specifically, those who appreciate that circumstances change but character doesn't. There may be fewer of them, but they're exactly the people you want.


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By Joe Jordan | Nebraska Watchdog
LINCOLN — A new GOP Senate poll—arguably one likely to favor Don Stenberg—finds State Treasurer Stenberg "surging" just a handful of points behind Attorney General Jon Bruning.
At the same time nearly a third of the voters are still undecided.
The poll was trotted out today by Senator Jim DeMint's (R-SC) Senate Conservatives Fund. DeMint has not only endorsed Stenberg but has helped pour a couple hundred thousand dollars into Stenberg's effort.
According to the poll Bruning had a 21 point lead over Stenberg in June, but that's now down to six; State SenatorDeb Fischer trails Bruning by 20 points.
Here's the numbers:
Bruning; 31.8%
Stenberg: 26.4%
Fischer: 11.0%
Flynn: 1.4%
Undecided: 29.4%
A statement from the Bruning campaign dismissed the numbers as part of a push poll featuring "negative attacks on Jon Bruning."
Fischer tells Nebraska Watchdog she doesn't put a lot of stock into polls this early in the primary. She then added, "the fact that neither (Bruning or Stenberg) seems to be getting even a third of the vote should be troubling to their supporters."
The pollster, Basswood Research, says "the longer Nebraska Republicans examine the two candidates, the more Bruning's support fades, and Stenberg's rises."


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EVERY day, the nation's prisons release a walking crime wave: 70 percent of state con victs are re-arrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within three years of their release.
A Justice Department study found that convicts let out from the prisons of 15 states in 1994 had been charged by 1997 with 2,900 homicides, 2,400 kidnappings, 2,400 rapes, 3,200 other sexual assaults, 21,200 robberies, 54,600 assaults and 13,900 other violent crimes, not to mention over 200,000 car thefts, burglaries and drugs and weapons offenses. Add in crimes they didn't get caught for, and the total is undoubtedly far higher.
Cutting recidivism is the next frontier in crime reduction, yet most solutions offered to date misdiagnose the problem. Contrary to received criminological wisdom, there is no shortage of rehabilitation programs. What is in short supply are mechanisms to hold prison wardens and parole officials accountable for results.
ORTHODOX criminology's line runs like this: America once made an effort to reform prisoners, but in the late 1970s a mean-spirited vengefulness took over the national psyche. Governments jettisoned rehabilitation programs and turned prisons into mere holding tanks, into which they shoveled ever more victims of criminal justice bigotry. Now inmates can't get drug treatment, education or job training. They are released from prison with bus fare and nothing else. Little wonder that so many return to a life of crime.
The best way to refute this web of error is to talk to inmates and parolees about their time in and out of prison. Not only do their experiences contradict each of the fallacies that make up the standard story, but the offenders themselves stand foursquare for the primacy of individual over government responsibility in going straight.
Fallacy No. 1: The state stiffs addicts on needed drug treatment.
Sitting in a narrow holding cell on Rikers Island, Rosa Velez eagerly recounts her treatment history since being sentenced in February 1999 for possession of one kilo of cocaine. "I did CSAT [Comprehensive Alcohol and Substance Treatment] in Taconic [State Prison], ASAT [Alcohol and Substance Abuse Treatment] in Albion [State Prison] and SAID [Substance Abuse Intervention Division] the whole time I was in Rose Singer [on Rikers Island]," she says, pushing a wisp of shiny auburn hair back from her childlike face.
OUTSIDE of prison, she has done detox and received counseling from Phoenix House, the Smithers Addiction Treatment Center and the South Bronx Mental Health Center, all at state expense and through the intervention of her parole officer.
Now Rosa is back at Rikers' Judicial Center for a parole revocation hearing, having disappeared from her current drug and mental-health program for a prolonged cocaine binge. "I need structure. I need help," she says emphatically, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she has already received quite a lot of state assistance. "I need counseling and psychological help," she adds.
And she's still going to get it. A prisoner advocacy group, the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services, will argue before the parole judge that Rosa be given 12 to 18 months of residential treatment instead of another prison term.
Have you bottomed out? I ask Rosa. After a pause, she says deliberately: "I'm ready to straighten my life out. I've been thinking about it while getting high; now it's like I'm putting my foot down."
Maybe. Certainly her attitude in the past was not ideal. The last time she went upstate for parole violations, she vowed: " 'I'm gonna get high upstate and high when I come back.' I was angry. I was rebellious."
She was true to her word. Even the loss of her children has not been a stronger motivator than her addiction. "I haven't spoken to my baby in three years," she says matter-of-factly. She is forbidden from contacting her seven-year-old daughter, who is living with the daughter's father in a location unknown to Rosa. Her 5-year-old is living in the Dominican Republic with the father's family. "I have to do what I have to do for myself," Rosa explains.
Rosa's extensive involvement in treatment programs is typical. Though I did not encounter an addict who had not been given treatment by the corrections or parole departments, critics like the Urban Institute's Jeremy Travis cite statistics showing that nationally, less than 20 percent of soon-to-be-released addicts report having received treatment while incarcerated. But not getting treatment is different from seeking and being denied it. Travis provides no evidence that prisoners are being denied sought-after treatment.
TO the contrary, many of the addicts I spoke with acknowledged refusing help offered to them. Was the treatment provided always a long-term residential program, arguably the gold standard of drug cures? No; but I also did not find anyone who blamed his relapses on inadequacy of therapy.
Fallacy No. 2: Prisons offer no opportunity for self-improvement.
Jorge Acosta, a loquacious Doe Fund client, proudly shows up at our interview with a folder full of vocational and Bible study certificates he earned while serving time for assaulting his daughter and her mother. The state sent him to a batterers' program in 1994, but he quit.
He lauds the anger-management course he took in jail, however. "It helped me a lot. It made me realize what I once was. Dr. Ruth — she was a beautiful person. She would say: 'Stop it, you're full of crap.' I loved her for that." (It almost goes without saying that Acosta, like every other ex-con I spoke to, is an addict, which means he has also been given drug treatment — in his case the intensive Project Return.)
EXHIBIT A in the advocates' brief against America's allegedly mean— spirited corrections policies is the elimination in 1994 of no-obligations federal college-tuition grants for inmates. But the overwhelming educational need among prisoners is a high school degree or just basic literacy. Rare is the prison today that does not provide GED and reading programs, and most offer a wide range of vocational education, postsecondary programs and cognitive and behavioral therapy.
Many of the real experts praise the educational and therapeutic offerings in prison. Mark, a hulking rape convict attending a post-incarceration anger-management class, asserts: "Prison today is no longer a prison. It's a correctional facility to correct what's wrong. [Though] a lot of people just go through the motions with prison programs, [the state] puts it on the table. You gotta dig deep to get it."
Indeed, the overwhelming consensus among ex-offenders is that the most important factor determining whether someone goes straight is not the availability of programs but self-discipline. "It boils down to the individual, I don't care what anyone tells you," insists Louis "Pepe" Velazquez, a gravelly-voiced extrovert who once dealt and consumed illegal substances omnivorously, but who now works for the Doe Fund. "If you don't start rehabilitating yourself in prison, you won't last outside."
Fallacy No. 3: There are no jobs for ex-cons, because the marketplace discriminates against them.
There is no denying that if you began a life of crime early and have never worked, you'll be unlikely to land a $30,000-a-year job. And you will in fact be turned down for employment again and again. But I was amazed at the number of offenders who had extensive work histories as truck drivers, deliverymen or warehouse managers, interwoven with periodic incarceration.
The overriding impediment to their continuing employment was not their prison record but their drug use. All reported losing jobs again and again because of drug-induced absenteeism and irresponsibility.
EVEN those offenders with little to no work history can hope to find employment. New York, like many states, releases nonviolent offenders from prison toward the end of their sentences to live in halfway houses in the community and go to work. Virtually everyone in work release has a job, often found while still incarcerated.
Rosa Velez, the addicted parole violator in Rikers, is typical of the less qualified work-release inmate — she was a high school dropout with no work experience and a raging drug habit. Yet within a week of leaving prison in 2000, she had found a cashier's job at a Zaro's Breadbasket in the Bronx. She subsequently worked as a cashier at a Wendy's at Rockefeller Center and at three McDonald's. Interspersed with these jobs was a 60-day return to prison for drug use and going AWOL. She also was fired from at least one job for absenteeism. Yet she keeps finding employment.
Prisoner and poverty advocates scorn such low-paying service jobs. That is folly. These entry-level positions allow people to establish a track record as reliable workers; they launch marginal workers onto the American conveyor belt of economic mobility. Many fast-food companies, such as McDonald's, are constantly searching for employees to promote; Rosa herself was proposed as a training manager before she self-destructed.
Here again, ex-offenders have a better grasp of reality than the advocates. A helmeted bike messenger with no teeth rallied a group of just-released felons at the job-search firm America Works a little over a year ago. "I'm on my second job," he told them buoyantly. "I did it on my own. It's not easy. You deal with lots of BS and peer pressure." But then he delivered the hard truth: "We need to start off at the bottom and work up. If you let go of your ego and show yourself more reliable than anyone else, they'll pick you up."
STRANGE as it is to say, I found New York's ex-offenders courteous, self- aware and likable. I almost invariably received sincere thanks for attending group meetings, even when I had tried to convey society's frustration with crime. Many employers echo my positive reaction. The foreman at a toy distributor who has used work-release inmates told me: "I was surprised at the respectfulness. Prison can be humbling."
Nearly every inmate or ex-offender I spoke with asserted emphatically that he wanted to work. Talking to these men, you find yourself wondering: Are you fundamentally different from me? Are you a criminal in an existential sense - or do you just have a weakness for bad decisions?
Now, clearly, all is not as it seems to the inexperienced observer of this population. Many criminals know exactly what you want to hear and deliver their lines masterfully, intending all the time to go back to drugging and stealing without a pang of conscience. Nevertheless, significant numbers of inmates come out of prison with solid intentions, and a few straightforward reforms could improve their chance of success.


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Will Apple Launch Both iPhone 5 and iPad 3 This Fall?
Both the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 could make their debut in September, according to DigiTimes.
The Taiwan-based blog, a frequent purveyor of Apple rumors, says several component suppliers in Apple's supply chain are gearing up to start production on these devices very soon. Citing "industry sources," DigiTimes says the iPad 3 and the iPhone 5 will be announced in September and will go on sale in October.
Although there has been buzz that Apple would launch both a smaller iPhone 4S as well as the iPhone 5, DigiTimes claims Apple will only reveal one model of the smartphone this fall. It also alleges that the iPad 3 was recently added to the production schedule. For both the third-gen iPad and the fifth-gen iPhone, Digitimes says Apple will produce "small volumes in August," only to increase production in September and August.
In the report, DigiTimes names a handful of different component suppliers including Foxconn, which handles assembly; Simplo Technologies and Dynapack International Technology, the firms that manufacture batteries; TPK Holding and Wintek, companies in charge of touchscreen panels; Catcher, which handles the chassias; and Largan Precision, which provides the camera.
While it's been widely rumored that Apple will drop the iPhone 5 this fall, there have been conflicting rumors about the timeline of the launch of the iPad 3. If Apple's habit of sticking to an annual product update cycle is any indication, the third-generation tablet won't launch until next spring. But considering Apple has broken that custom with the iPhone, they may do the same for the next iPad.
DigiTimes didn't give any details as to what could be included in the iPhone 5, but it said the iPad 3 will be thinner, lighter, and have an upgraded display.


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Guerlain Samsara Parfum
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Guerlain Samsara Parfum Reviews
Able to try from a friendOne of those scents that smells alright in the bottle and nice on a friend, but it's mixture with my personal chemistry did not work for me. Love the packaging though, and it is a distinct scent. Loved it, but not on me. — 9 years, 1 month agoKoruRi | 53 reviews
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My Reasons for Reporting This


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Syracuse, NY – Grace, the emaciated pit bull whose owner was charged last week with animal cruelty by Syracuse police, is dead, according to a pit bull advocacy group.
The dog suffered advanced kidney failure as a result of her neglect, Stefanie Higgins, president of Cuse Pit Crew, said this morning.
Grace had been picked up Oct. 1 as a stray on West Onondaga Street. She was taken to DeWitt Animal Hospital for treatment. She weighed between 30 and 35 pounds, about half of what a pit bull her age should weigh, according to hospital officials.
Grace later was transferred to the Veterinary Medical Center. There a group of consulting veterinarians concluded that Grace's condition could not be cured and she was euthanized Saturday afternoon, Higgins said.
The arrest Wednesday of Grace's owner, Marquette Jamison, was the first since Syracuse police began dedicating a specific officer to investigate animal abuse cases.
Jamison, 35, of 1511 W. Onondaga St., was charged with failure to provide medical care to an animal that needs it and failure to provide proper sustenance, police said. Both charges are misdemeanors. She was released on an appearance ticket to appear in city court.
Higgins said she received scores of phone calls inquiring about Grace since the news of her plight broke last week. More than $1,000 was contributed toward Grace's medical care, she said.
"The community really supported her. She was like everyone's dog," Higgins said.
Higgins asked supporters to sign an online petition asking lawmakers to move mistreatment of companion animals out of the state Agriculture & Markets Law and into Penal Law so those who mistreat the animals can be charged with felonies.


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much better site and more reliable
What's anyone know about Xavier PG Tu Holloway? Putting up 20/5.5/5.
As a Xavier grad (though hardly a basketball scout), here are my quick thoughts:
He is a guy who has gotten better and better every year at Xavier. He's a junior now. He is short (6'0") but is tremendous at penetrating and getting to the line- particularly valuable considering he shoots 87%. Can hit outside shots but not a great shooter- around 35% from three. Early in the year he was struggling a bit with trying to do too much to make up for Crawford's exit to the NBA, but he has grown more and more comfortable in his role as the year has gone on. Now he is playing to his strengths by using his quickness to penetrate and create, and he is a good passer. Also, he never leaves the court- Xavier is really thin because of injuries and eligibility issues, and Tu has played around 95% of available minutes so far this year.
At his height (and lack of particularly explosive athleticism), he really isn't an early entry guy. He could be an intriguing second round pick in a year though, in my opinion.
what about kemba? we could mos def use his offense....
if both brendan knight and kemba were available id rather take one than a short ish PF...
After a season of watching ACC basketball:
I like Smith in the second round (or very late first). He gets it done in the lane and knows how to use the high glass. I think he's wrong for this team with the emergence of Lance as a 3rd legitimate talent at the 1 (since Smith must play the 1, or go the way or Luther Head.)
I would not touch Singler with a 20 foot pole. I would snap up Mason Plumlee in a heartbeat at any time after pick 25 or so, he's got serious ability even if it doesn't show.
Jordan Williams looks like Sean May: he has the good, no idea if he has the bad.
I like Chris Singleton late first round as a top notch defensive wing....which this team doesn't need.
Henson is an enigma. He has legit defensive ability at the 4: he is one of those rare guys that can send a jump hook in to the stands. He is super long and he skys faster than just about any big I've seen. On the other hand, he hints at the type of face up ability that would make him a monster at the 3. His shooting form is very good, but he misses too much. He gets to the rim very well from absurd distances due to his frame and length. His handles are good for a 4, but bad for a 3. Worse than Josh, but better than most 4s for sure.
Practically everything you can say about Henson, you can say about CJ Leslie, although CJ is worse at the 4 and better at the 3. He is a serious gem or bust type player. If I thought he screwed his head on straight, I would grab him at any point after 25....but not for this team. Plays the 3 in the league, bad jumper, no toughness.
Barnes is a stone cold killer with size and a beautiful jumper. His first step is terrible right now, but he plays at a high mental level. I think he has the physical tools to become very special, but he needs to worry less about smoothness and more about quickness. His handles are bad for a 3, but I expect them to improve.
Kyrie Irving is the real deal. He only played 8 games, but I would take him with the 1st overall. He has the total package.
Delaney is not an NBA player, most likely. There are too many 2s in the NCAA that can do what he has, and he takes too many shots and vanishes too often for him to be a legitimate answer for any team in the league.
I mostly watch Carolina, Duke, VT, Maryland. I see a few potential gems in the 2nd round for the Pacers, but not solid 1st rounders at the spot where Indy will be drafting. This is, of course, based on my personal opinions that the Pacers need a rangy, athletic 2 that attacks the rim and a defensive, athletic 4.
IMO, the best pick for the Pacers from the ACC is Mason Plumlee, hopefully in the 2nd round. He is a fantastic athlete and tons of potential at the 4. He sucks right now, but he if were exposed to Tyler's intestinal fortitude he would be amazing.
Last edited by judicata; 03-06-2011 at 12:08 AM.
Kendall Marshall.
He's not leaving.
I agree. He is the heart and mind of the Heels this (second half of) the year. He's just not a realistic option for the Pacers. the Heat, on the other hand......
Anyone think we would have enough assets to pull a deal to land Jared Sullinger? I am reading up on the guy and he seems to be the idea PF to put next to Roy....
Probably not but damn if we do miss the play-offs I pray the ping pong balls finally fall our way...
6-9 with a 6-11 1/2 wingspan and a 286lbs frame....
Sweet Jesus, what a hoss that kid is. I'd love to add him to our collection of young'ins.
I don't know if we could move up and get him, but I think that, between our cap-space, picks and players, it's at least plausible.
He is real good.. I just question his D against bigger 4's in the league not saying that he wont be able to guard them but wondering how well he will be able to.
I do think that we have a realistic shot at some of the European 4's if they decide to come over... I Like John Henson though... I think he will turn out to be stud... If he can develop some offensive skills and some strength watchout...
Not really a big fan of the Morris twins either
Any thoughts on Marquette's Jimmy Butler or Virginia Tech's Jeff Allen?
It would take Paul George to get him I'd imagine. No thanks.
Henson is the next Brandon Wright. He is slightly better but the majority of his attractiveness is what people think he could be with a more solid frame and new attributes.
But the reality is he most likely will not add to his frame or game.
I see they have Jeremy Tyler going in the beginning of the second round. Thats the kid that went to Europe instead of finishing High School....I believe
Does anyone have a scouting report on this kid. he could be a low risk high reward kind of pick if we land a late first early second round pick...
I haven't really heard much about the kid in a while...
I would love to grab Markieff Morris and Rick Jackson.
I know that both of these guys are not great offensive threats, but both have NBA bodies. Both are very good rebounders. Both block a lot of shots. Neither is explosive, but man would they add the beef we lack up front.
Jackson has a back to the basket game. Not refined really, but that could come with some work. Morris gets overlooked by his brother. He is the bigger player and better rebounder, so I would prefer him due to the lower draft position. Both are late first to early second round type of players. I would look to trade down in this draft to take one or both. We desperately need toughness.
I posted this on page 10
He's playing in Japan. Having a hard time finding stats though.
Found some stats http://www.asia-basket.com/team.asp?...am=7206&Page=3
Not too shabby. 15 minutes - 8.7pts, 6rbs, 0.8 blocks. But 2.6 TO. Looks like he might be a starter now, so some of those numbers are on the rise.
First time in a long time, I've been happy with the team that was constructed, and now they struggle. I blame the coach.
game last night got me thinking...is there a replacement for Jeff Foster in this draft? Center size, athletic, boards, defense, hustles all the time, w/o a huge offensive game? I dont watch that much college so I don't know... suggestions?
I have absolutely no idea who Rick Jackson is, but one of the Morris twins on KU is a good bet too.


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- Released: Jan 1, 1984
- Sound: 8
- Lyrics: 7
- Overall Impression: 8
Users' score:
(4 votes)
Sound — 8
"Deep Purple" is the third and last album of Deep Purple Mk1. There are less psychedelic influences than the previous two albums but the classical music influences are more noticed. The album starts with "Chasing Shadows," a song about nightmares and insomnia, with an interesting drum section. "Blind" is well structured, but maybe the sound of harpsichord is a bit annoying. "Lalena" is the only cover in the album, and is a very good track. After this three soft tracks, the album moves to heavier arrangements. "Fault Line" is an instrumental track that leads to "The Painter," an heavy blues-structured song. "Why Didn't Rosemary" is very well structured and got a good bluesy riff, but its strength point is the final guitar solo, that is like the prototype of "Child in Time" solo. Then comes "The Bird Has Flown," a very hard song with a supreme riff and structure. The last song "April" shows the classical music skills of Blackmore and Lord, 8 minutes of a classical section as introduction of a good hard song. Surely this albums was another step towards hard rock, but the last of the first Deep Purple era, full of psychedelia, progressive arrangements, and '60s rock attitude.
Lyrics — 7
The lyrics are very good and suggestive especially in "Why Didn't Rosemary" and "April." They still feel full of psychedelia, very far from the Ian Gillan ones. However are more interesting than the previous two albums. This is the last album featuring Rod Evans on vocals, and he gives a perfect last demostration of his good singer skills, but hard rock was surely not his way. As said for the previous two albums, Deep Purple would have been a good psychedelic-hard rock band as well. But maybe Evans' lyrics and voice was not what Blackmore, Lord and Paice was searching for.
Overall Impression — 8
This is the last album of the first Deep Purple's era. I Think that "The Book of Taliesyn" is the best of that era, but "Deep Purple" shows how the band was growing up in harder directions and in their musicians skills. For example, the guitar solo on "Why Didn't Rosemary" shows the growing guitar mastery of Ritchie Blackmore. It must be said that during the Mk1 era, the songwriting was leaded more by Jon Lord than Blackmore. Since the next album "In Rock," the sound will more be influenced by the hard style of Ritchie. However, "Deep Purple" is a fantastic album, easier to listen than the previous albums, as it's nearer to the classic Purple style. So, listen to this last work of the '60s side of Deep Purple.


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The Clean Air Institute (CAI) has issued a policy paper assessing various transport demand management policy options for Latin American cities to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
It concludes that the region's cities already have the knowledge and technical know-how to implement such strategies, but will require strong political will at the municipal level to do so successfully.
July 2012: The Clean Air Institute (CAI) has issued a policy paper titled "Transport Demand Management: Opportunities and Challenges in Urban Areas of Latin America," which looks at the strategies that Latin American cities may consider to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through cutting unnecessary unsustainable travel and promoting more sustainable modes of transport.
The paper reviews the transport challenges and opportunities facing Latin American cities, some demand management instruments, both "push" and "pull," currently in use both in the region and internationally, and the utility and appropriateness of each for Latin America. These include: the elimination of fuel subsidies; charges on vehicle ownership to reflect externalities; limits to vehicle registration; charges for the use of roads and urban tolls; financial instruments associated with urban sustainable development such as incentives to live close to work or along public transportation routes; parking restrictions; regulatory restrictions, such as banning cars with certain license plates on certain days of the week; "pay by distance" (taxation or fees based on actual distance traveled in a vehicle); restrictions or penalties for high-emission vehicles; employer schemes, such as incentives for bicycle use.
The paper stresses that while there is no "silver bullet" or one-size-fits-all solution for Latin American cities, several studies suggest parking restrictions as the most viable in the short term, and fuel policies as the most difficult to adopt both technically and politically, while "congestion charges" might be considered an intermediate compromise. The paper concludes that while Latin American cities already have the information and technical capacity to implement demand management strategies, they require strong political will at the municipal level to implement them successfully.
CAI was created as a result of an agreement between the World Bank and the members of the Clean Air Initiative for Latin America Cities. Its mission is to improve air quality and mitigate climate change. It serves as a forum for regional strategy and project development, as well as for channeling training, technical assistance and information exchange throughout Latin America. [CAI Press Release (in Spanish)] [Publication: La Gestión de la Demanda de Transporte]


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THE Scottish Government cannot give direct help to hundreds of asylum seeker families facing destitution in Glasgow, the Deputy First Minister said.
Nicola Sturgeon was asked by Glasgow SNP MSP Sandra White what discussions the Scottish Government has had regarding providing assistance for those facing homelessness following the withdrawal of accommodation and support services.
The charity, Y People lost the contract to house asylum seekers and is unable to continue its policy of not evicting those who have been unsuccessful in their asylum application.
The organisation, formerly known as the YMCA, has written to those affected telling them of the situation, leading to alarm among many asylum seekers, and concern among politicians.
Ms White is hopeful that Holyrood will be able to work with the city council to ensure people are not left sleeping rough with no food or income.
Ms Sturgeon said it was a matter for the UK Border Agency and the UK Government at Westminster.
She said: "If asylum seekers are not adequately and properly supported, then obviously that often has a knock on effect to agencies operating in devolved areas of responsibility.
"The Scottish Government will continue to seek assurances from the UK Government that all action that is appropriate will be taken in this area."
Ms Sturgeon added it was in no-one's interest to see asylum seekers destitute.
Ms White wants to see health and social services used to ensure no-one is left destitute.
She said: "We can do something about it, if we have people on the streets in need of services.
"While we do not have responsibility or asylum cases we do for their social and health care needs.
"The Scottish Government has to step in and do something. If the council has to provide services then Holyrood can help with costs and work together so we don't allow people to be out on the streets with no food."
stewart.paterson@ heraldandtimes.co.uk


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A Leading Mobile Agency's Viewpoint
April 28, 2011
Warren Zenna, vice president, mobile strategy, Phonevalley, shared five tips for marketers interested in mobile marketing.
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Electric Travis Benjamin Should Inspire Hope for Cleveland Browns FansDecember 9, 2012
Cleveland Browns rookie receiver Travis Benjamin is a spark of hope for the fanbase and a great building block for the franchise moving forward.
The Browns organization made Benjamin the No. 100 overall pick in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL draft this past year, and he's slowly worked his way into playing time and been productive.
Entering Cleveland's Week 14 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs, Benjamin had caught just 10 passes for 140 yards and one touchdowns.
Not the most impressive numbers just yet, but he's had to work his way up the depth chart while competing for playing time with the likes of Josh Cooper, Mohamed Massaquoi, Josh Gordon and others.
Benjamin was such an attractive pick for the Browns in the draft. Outside of being an explosive weapon on every offensive down, he's an elite athlete who can field kicks and punts and has a chance to not only help the team win the field position battle, but return the occasional kicks for touchdowns.
That's exactly what Benjamin did in against Kansas City when he put the Browns ahead in the second quarter by fielding a punt deep in Cleveland territory and returning it 93 yards for a touchdown.
It's a great sign for the Browns, a team that needs a spark on both the offensive side of things as well as on the special teams unit. The special teams already has one of the NFL's best returners in Josh Cribbs, so pairing him with someone as special as Benjamin is smart.
Benjamin will eventually replace Cribbs, but for now he can learn from him.
The Browns are competitive at 4-8 this year and have been in most games they have played. Benjamin is but one piece of an offensive unit that is slowly growing together and will clearly someday be a coherent unit.
Cleveland made a point to not only go out and find a franchise quarterback in Brandon Weeden in the first round of the 2012 NFL draft. It also added a franchise running back in Trent Richardson and went to the 2012 Supplemental draft to select receiver Josh Gordon.
Weeden has struggled, but the talent is clearly there. Richardson is already one of the NFL's best with over 800 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground. Gordon has emerged as the best receiver on the team with well over 600 yards and five touchdowns.
Benjamin is the missing piece. At some point he'll become an every-down receiver with Gordon and Greg Little, giving the Browns a formidable offensive attack for Weeden to work with. Benjamin has enough speed to take the top off a defense, which will open things up for the other receivers and potentially give Richardson wider running lanes.
There's a lot to like about the future offensively for the Browns, but Benjamin is the underrated piece that brings everything together. His ability to beat teams deep completely changes the complexion of the offensive unit.
The Browns had a great offseason by adding personnel such as Benjamin that simply needs more experience to be a great unit. Benjamin flashed his impressive talents against the Chiefs, but it was just a small preview of what he is capable of each and every week for quite some time in Cleveland.


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LONDON (Dec. 18)
Jewish women have petitioned rabbinical authorities to ease the hard-ships imposed on women by the present interpretations of halacha. Mrs. Alfred Rubens, past president of the international Council of Jewish Women, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that petitions on behalf of 500,000 Jewish women throughout the world have been sent to rabbinical courts, rabbinical organizations and to individual rabbis.
The petitions charge that women suffer disabilities under halacha with regard to divorce; halitza (the release of a widow so that she can remarry); polygamy, where it still exists among Jews; and agunah, the term for a women whose husband has disappeared but has not been declared dead. They also protested unfairness to women in connection with private property. The petitions asked for a rabbinical assembly to be convened to study these problems with a view to alleviating the hardships.


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Posted 6 years ago
(124 items)
Vintage 1950s Exercycle by Westinghouse. In surprisingly excellent condition. Has the leather seat and the handle on the resistance mechanism is wood, both of which date it to the '50s. These things are very hard to find, especially in good condition, much less this good and working perfectly. An almost identical Exercycle was featured in the popular 1950s "Total Electric Home" catalogue. The best part? A guy gave it to me for free. He called me one day and said he "just didn't have room for antiques." It does take up a lot of room, but I was afraid if I didn't take it he would take it to a dumpster somewhere, and I couldn't bear the thought.


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What is it that makes a film "anticipated," anyway? It can't be that we expect it to be good. That would make it a foregone conclusion. No, if we really sit down and think about it, the films we anticipate the most are the ones that could go either way, and that – whether they turn out great or just plain awful – that we'll have to see for ourselves no matter what. That's what we're looking at today with this, Our Ten Most Anticipated Films of 2013. These are the films that could either rewrite the history of the filmmakers, or have an enormous impact on the film industry, and change the landscape of major movie releases in the years to come. Let's take a look at the films that are really going to mean something this year.
Riddick (September 6)
Vin Diesel is back in the role that made him a star: Richard B. Riddick, the morally ambiguous intergalactic criminal from the cult classic Pitch Black. The first sequel, Chronicles of Riddick, was overblown, ridiculous and squandered a lot of the good will engendered from the first, relatively grounded creature feature, but franchise creator David Twohy seems eager to go back to the character's roots with Riddick, a lower-budgeted, gritty sci-fi action thriller that once again finds Riddick fighting monsters on an alien planet and fighting mercenaries out for the bounty on his head. We don't have our hopes up too high (it's #10 for a reason), but we can't help but wonder if Twohy and Diesel can make this series take off by finally giving us what we wanted in the first place: more badass b-movie goodness. Riddick is either going to kill the franchise altogether and doom Vin Diesel to a career of Fast and the Furious sequels, or finally prove that modest genre entertainment can be better than the big-budget Hollywood crap David Twohy tried to turn this franchise into back in 2004.
Much Ado About Nothing (June 21)
Last year, Joss Whedon directed The Avengers, one of the most popular and successful motion pictures in history. This year, he's releasing a microbudget William Shakespeare adaptation filmed at his own house. Somehow we don't think it's going to make quite the same impression, but we want to see this anyway. The cast of Whedon regulars – including Nathan Fillion, Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof and Clark Gregg – should satisfy his hardcore fan base, the mainstream Avengers fans might get a crash course in just how awesome The Bard can be, and the classy subject matter might just win some of the art house snobs over to Whedon's side. And fortunately for Whedon, even if it bombs he's got The Avengers 2 comingin 2015. It seems like a no-lose situation for everybody, doesn't it? But if Much Ado About Nothing doesn't connect with audiences, Joss Whedon might get stuck making superhero movies for the rest of his career, and it would only be a matter of time before he gets tired of it and lets us all down.
Ender's Game (November 1)
Orson Scott Card's classic science fiction novel was stuck in development hell for ten years, with Air Force One director Wolfgang Peterson attached to direct, but it took X-Men Origins: Wolverine director Gavin Hood to finally get the production off the ground. Whether that's for better or worse remains to be seen. Hugo's Asa Butterfield stars as Ender Wiggins, a child prodigy drafted into a military program designed to train children for combat against a hostile alien race, and Harrison Ford is on hand to teach him the ropes. Card's book pulls no punches in its treatment of children forced into brutal situations for the greater good, and we certainly hope that Hood can do the material justice while still making the movie an entertaining sci-fi thriller. He's not the director we would have chosen for Ender's Game, so we're hoping for the best but prepared for a major train wreck, just in case.
Pain & Gain (April 26)
Michael Bay hasn't directed a low-budget movie since 1995's Bad Boys (which he made for just $19 million), but after the enormously successful – and critically panned – Transformers trilogy, he's actually going back to basics with Pain & Gain, a bite-sized crime comedy starring Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson and Anthony Mackie as body-builders who get in over their heads with a lunkheaded kidnapping scheme. Michael Bay has actually been doing quirky comedies for years, but he kept intercutting all his wacky parents and oddball workplace shenanigans with giant robots kicking the crap out of each other. Now he's finally releasing the movie it feels like he wanted to make all along, and now we get to find out if he's actually any good at it, or if he just needed to get screwball comedy out of his system.
Oz: The Great and Powerful (March 8)
Sam Raimi's first foray into blockbuster filmmaking since the Spider-Man trilogy – after the modestly successful horror thriller Drag Me to Hell – is a CGI-spectacular that reveals the origins of Oz, the magician-turned-emperor of the L. Frank Baum-created fantasy world that inspired 1939's The Wizard of Oz, one of the best fantasy movies ever made. Raimi appears to have used that classic film as a major influence, opening in black & white and borrowing character designs left and right, but isn't that fealty going to be a major logistical problem? Wasn't this so-called "Oz" just a dream representation of a real-life figure Dorothy Gale ran into the day before she was knocked unconscious by a tornado? Doesn't this whole story, well… not exist in any way, shape or form? We'll have to wait and see if Oz: The Great and Powerful makes any sense whatsoever, but Raimi's still a virtuoso visual stylist with a unique sense of humor that's been missing from the multiplex for years. This movie either will put him back on the map as a major force in blockbuster entertainment, or send him right back to the minors.
Pacific Rim (July 12)
Guillermo del Toro is such a ubiquitous presence in the world of modern cinema that it actually seems surprising that none of his movies have been box office blockbusters. Pacific Rim seems likely to turn all that around. A big budget action-palooza starring Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi, Pacific Rim takes place in the near future, where giant monsters from another dimension constantly invade the earth and humanity's only defense are giant robots with human pilots. The film's first trailer promises tons of action and creativity, so now we just have to wonder if del Toro's strange sensibilities are finally going to translate to mass audience appeal. Pacific Rim looks pretty good, but will it finally make the director a household name with audiences who usually stay away from his films in droves?
The World's End (October 25)
The fourth film from Edgar Wright – a director whose previous films, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, were all one form of cult classic or another – remains a bit of a mystery, but with a resume like that we'll gladly line up for anything he has coming up. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost headline a cast of characters whose night of epic binge drinking ultimately ties into the apocalypse… or something like that. If there's one thing Edgar Wright never had a problem with, it's coming up with clever ideas. If there's two things, it's coming up with clever ideas and making them dramatically resonant despite their inherent ridiculousness. The World's End would be one of the most exciting movie releases of the year even if we had no idea what it was about, so what little we actually have gathered doesn't mean squat. We just want him to entertain us again, and are hoping like mad that this isn't the film that screws up his winning streak.
Iron Man 3 (May 3)
The first Marvel Studios release since The Avengers has a lot to live up to, and frankly, we're not worried in the slightest. Iron Man 3 finds Tony Stark dealing with the aftermath of his dramatic character arc in Joss Whedon's blockbuster and fighting The Mandarin, played by Ben Kingsley, a villain who probably qualifies as the superhero's arch-nemesis in the comics. Robert Downey Jr. completely owns this character, and teaming him up with writer/director Shane Black, the writer of Lethal Weapon and writer/director of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, seems like a sure thing if ever there was one. Will Marvel's "Phase Two," leading all the way up to The Avengers 2, be just as exciting as the first one, or can it only be a diappointment after last year's blockbuster superhero team-up? We'll find out in May. The wait is killing us.
Star Trek Into Darkness (May 17)
If there's one thing J.J. Abrams is good at, it's infuriating internet film critics who are responsible for building – or at least reacting to – the hype for all his films. We still don't know for sure who the bad guy in this Star Trek sequel is, even though he's being played by pop culture icon Benedict Cumberbatch (the BBC's very own "Sherlock"). He's probably Kahn, or maybe he's Gary Mitchell, or maybe he's just some new guy called "John Harrison." Whatever. Abrams is playing us like a fiddle regardless, and his little guessing game is distracting us from the real issue: whether Star Trek Into Darkness is going to be any damned good or not. The trailers revealed nothing of consequence other than big special effects sequences, which were a given anyway. Is J.J. Abrams hiding a lackluster Star Trek sequel beneath mountains of speculation, or just letting us obsess over the little details so the actual film can take us by surprise? Good or bad, Star Trek Into Darkness is going to be one of the most talked about movies of the year.
Man of Steel (June 14)
Let's be 100% clear about this: Man of Steel is the "make it or break it" movie of 2013. Warner Bros. has everything riding on Zack Snyder's reboot of the Superman franchise, and if it bombs, they're completely screwed. Man of Steel is the studio's response to Marvel Studio's critically acclaimed, enormously successful superhero franchise, and will set the stage – directly or merely thematically – for their Justice League movie, scheduled to be in direct competition with The Avengers 2 in 2015. If it's a major success, both critically and financially, we're in for a new wave of potentially classic superhero movies adapted from DC Comics. If it tanks completely, the studio will lilkely enter a creative tailspin threatening the adaptation of every superhero comic book at their disposal. Worse yet, if Man of Steel sucks but makes tons of money anyway, it could set the stage for dozens of mediocre superhero blockbusters in the future. There is nothing about Man of Steel that isn't important – to the industry, to the fans and even to the character of Superman (who desperately needs a credible mainstream interpretation these days) – so the whole world is going to be watching this movie very, very closely. Can the director of Sucker Punch actually pull this off? It could go either way, and we're bating our breath until will find out for ourselves.
What movies are you looking forward to in 2013?
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline's Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.


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It's about time, Lionel!
Looks like The Commodores are about to get their skipper back.
Lionel Richie, 58, who left the band in 1982, said this weekend that he and the Commodores will indeed reunite soon for a tour -- perhaps in the next two years.
"We better do it now, or in the next 10 years nobody would care," he told the media before an appearance at Antigua's Romantic Rhythms festival.


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- When:
Add This Event To YourMonday, April 22, 2013
at 6:00 PM
- Where:
- Residence Halls
- Web Link:
- http://www.facebook.com/olafsustainabilities
- Contact:
- Sonja Smerud
Ole Thrift Shop Collection
Remember the Ole Thrift Shop in the fall? SustainAbilities is collecting your unwanted items for another Thrift Shop in fall 2013. Do some preliminary spring cleaning in each of your residence halls on the evening of Earth Day April 22nd! We will not be accepting furniture, electronics, or anything particularly gross. Please note another collection will take place starting May 16th during move out. REUSE - the best of the three R's! Look for more details from your Sustainability Representative coming soon!
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