“Something mysteriously formed,
Born before heaven and earth.
In the silence and the void,
Standing along and unchanging,
Ever present and in motion.
Perhaps it is the mother of ten thousand things.”
Ninjas, News and Politics
Iran has suspended Reuters’ accreditation in Iran over a story the news agency ran on Iranian women practicing the art of ninjutsu.
At issue is wording in the Reuters report that called the women “ninja assassins” with the perceived implication that they’re training to protect the country from Western infidels.
In a statement, Reuters writes:
The story’s headline, “Thousands of female Ninjas train as Iran’s assassins”, was corrected to read “Three thousand women Ninjas train in Iran”.
Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance subsequently contacted the Reuters Tehran bureau chief about the video and its publication, as a result of which Reuters’ 11 personnel were told to hand back their press cards.
“We acknowledge this error occurred and regard it as a very serious matter. It was promptly corrected the same day it came to our attention,” said editor-in-chief Stephen J. Adler.
Meantime, some of the women are suing Reuters for misrepresenting them.
“Reuters has introduced us as assassins to the whole world,” says one. ”The truth must come to light and everyone should know that we are only a group of athletes. We are supervised by the Ministry of Sports and the federation of martial arts.”
Background via The Atlantic.
Image: A Ninjutsu practitioner performs a split as members of various Ninjutsu schools showcase their skills to the media in a gym at Karaj, near Tehran. By Caren Firouz, via Reuters.
(via freepressnews)
After 7 times it starts to lose its meaning
They keep telling me to stay home and I keep telling them I can’t because I haven’t found it yet.
They keep tripping me as I walk and I keep willingly falling, knowing I’m getting stronger every time.
They keep coming from all directions and I keep calm, for I have a full deck up my sleeves, all aces of spades.
keep
NYPD
A terrorist organization by definition.
It Just Seems So Pedestrian
From the moment this idea of traveling around the states entered my mind bringing rollerblades along has been a necessity. It really must be strange to someone else reading that, perhaps I should delve deeper into my psyche to explain. I’ve spent so much time with my feet attached to my skates that they really have become an extension of me. Think of it like this: Walking around after all these years from when you were a toddler until now in your adulthood feels pretty natural to you right? Now imagine if you really, REALLY enjoyed walking. I’m not talking about walking around on neat trails or on mountain paths seeing cool things, but just the activity of placing one foot in front of the other to perform a forward traveling motion. That’s how it is for me with blading; every single stride is an enjoyment and I’m constantly analyzing the strides and the feel of the wheels spinning, adjusting and making quick mental calculations to improve the timing of the next stride. I love it. Can you now see that I am speaking truth when I say it feels more natural to be on my skates than when I’m walking? Maybe I’m not using the right nomenclature, I can’t think of anything in English to describe it. If you know of something please let me know. Ah! I can use Heinlein’s term: I know how to walk, but I grok rollerblading. How’s that?
Whenever I’m visiting a city, riding as a passenger I’ll often blurt out an exclamation like: “Wow look at that!” and usually unless I’m with one of my best friends the other people in the car are confused at what I’m looking at.
“Look at what?” is a common reaction.
“That rail, it’s perfect!” I reply, pointing at a long handrail stretching across some shallow steps in front of some random building. These are the things I notice in cities. For me, it is really the only purpose for a city. The rest of it: Offices, stores, apartments, etc. just a bunch of bullshit that was added after the master architect designed the base of the buildings around them, with the marble ledges and angled sidewalks. No one appreciates this type of architecture more than a skater. In the architect’s mind they created art in front of that office building of which patrons use daily but never so much as glance at. To a skater, it becomes a new form of synergistic art as we perform a sort of dance on top of their work of art. If only those architects knew, which of course most don’t have a clue. :)
Yes, that’s right. I skate aggressively. I’m one of “those damned kids always skating on the sidewalks” unfortunately for me it was not just a rebellious youthful phase. Can you understand what that means? Skating has become a passionate art form for me, yet most places it is against the law. I’ve been censored, forced to confinement in one of thousands of parks which destroy the creativity in using a new obstacle in a unique way. In fact every time I try to practice my art form without acting as a true ninja, I am threatened with arrest and most of the time handed a hefty citation. Imagine if you were writing a song that annoyed old people(because seniors still vote the most) who can’t understand it, they complained and the government took their side and said you can still write that type of music, but only in certain locations and only with predefined characteristics set in place by people you have never met and think creating music is just an exercise of strumming a guitar. How would you react?
I’m not talking about rollerblading, and yet I am.
Back on track, I could strap my blades to my backpack as I bike between cities. Indeed, this was my original plan, but this opens up a logistical nightmare as I’d have to park my bike, “rec” around the city on my blades then come back to pick up my bike. While entirely possible it adds much planning time and a lot of backtracking. Another problem with bikes I ran into is if a sudden phenomenon(not an anomaly) beckons me to fast travel I would have to find some hidden locale to chain my bike until a time where I can pick it up again. Can’t exactly bring a mountain bike on a plane and it’s a hassle bringing it on a bus or train. What’s the answer, or rather, what’s my answer?
A bran-fucking(because I’m not into spanking) new design for the style of blades I use:
The Kizer Powerblade Arrow UFS Frame
I’ll break it down for you. Aggressive blades use the Universal Frame System, the frame is what is connected to the bottom of the boot and holds the wheels in place. Normal UFS frames can only hold a maximum wheel diameter of about 57mm. These new “powerblade” frames hold up to 80mm which translates into a much, much higher top speed. The sacrifice is the lower center of gravity smaller wheels provide, meaning it will be more difficult to land a 10 foot drop without messing with my ankles a bit. I’m ok with that. :) To give a reference, recreational rollerblades generally hold wheels that are 72mm in diameter. “rec” wheels when paired with proper bearings can net top speeds on flat ground in excess of 30mph(when full sprinting). Powerblades however, when mixed with aggro bearings way beyond the technology of recreational skates will give me some very staggering speeds. I’m also ok with that. ;)
This option which suddenly opened up for me(someone over at Kizer is gonna get a kiss from me when I meet them) solves all sorts of issues and will save me literally thousands of USD’s that I was planning to spend on a proper bike+replacement parts. It also means if I find some wicked looking stretch of wilderness I want to trek I won’t have to worry about if the bike will make it through; just unstrap my blades, loop them through my backpack and start hiking. God I can’t wait. haha.
Are you getting a tingling sensation in the back of your brain saying “wow I want some” yet? No? Well I haven’t showed you the coolest part yet, and that is the boots I’m getting to use with the powerblade frames:
Meet the Xsjado(it IS pronounced “shadow”). Your eyes are not deceiving you, those are rollerblades that come with shoes which strap into the skate. The ones in the link aren’t the exact model I’ll be purchasing but it gives you a reference. It is possible to strap in virtually any shoe to these skates but the ones designed for them lock in place much better.
An additional benefit to using blades as my primary mode of self-transportation is the fact that I can carry a great amount of replacement parts and wheels because of how small and light weight they are. Oh what fun!
Anywho, I think I’ve rambled enough for one week.
Tschaiou.
Oh one more thing… the next time you’re having a lucid dream try reading something, like a nearby book. It’s so funny watching your brain fill in the most nonsensical strings. Hahaha!
