Jeet Kun Do and Hap Kwon Do all in one day

Today I trained in Jeet Kun Do and Hap Kwon Do (Hap Ki Do + Tae Kwon Do).  I visited my terrific instructor Makoto Kabayama for the Jeet Kun Do instruction, you can reach him as well at 647-994-0433 his website is www.3rddegreemartialarts.com

Makoto Kabayama on the left

Helping Haiti is Helping Ourselves

Haiti remains one of the most embarassing aspects of the western hemisphere, like a poor smelly bum sleeping in the backyard of a suburban paradise. How has Haiti remained in such a slump for so many years? Corruption is one major factor. The fact that 1% of the country’s wealth is controlled by 50% of the people.

Considering the context of the earthquake, some might ask why should we bother helping poor black people who seem to be in a hopeless situation? It’s because they are there because of us. It’s because of our policies of encouraging a despotic leader that has led Haiti down the path of ruin and despair. And yet the people survive. Why? Because they are spiritually more powerful than any of us pale faced weaklings.

Helping Haiti means we can learn from them, learn from true suffering, and in turn heal ourselves. No longer are they some pot bellied (worm filled) black babies on the TV with some cheesy John Lennon song. They are our neighbours, and we know that we must help our neighbours. We must go look in the backyard of our homes and see the suffering, hands on, and see the suffering there. And through this process, the “compassion” musle we all possess will grow stronger, and we as a people will be stronger. As the scripture says, “give and you shall receive”. It’s good Karma to help the poor, for it’s only the strength of the poor that can teach the rich how to heal, and survive. So please donate, and be wary of any money that touches that ruthlessly corrupt government.

Some of you however, take the selfish or survivalist stance of, why should I help Haiti? I’m comfortable where I am. So I appeal to those of you on economic grounds. The donation of currency, whether it be US Dollars, or Canadian dollars, or even Chinese Renminbi, means that foreign goods and services that will help rebuild Haiti, will be bought and used. The rebuilding of Haiti is the ultimate in economic stimulus packages. Rebuilding Haiti will create jobs around the world, and encourage the current of currency to flow. Let’s take this opportunity to remake Haiti better than it ever was before, and in so doing, pull ourselves out of recession/depression. Haiti, with its unique mixture of French and African cultures has a unique opportunity to be a gateway between North America, France and Africa. There is no reason that Haiti can not become an economic powerhouse. We can help create the Haitiain beacon of hope, and get rich ourselves doing it. So invest in Haiti. Or next time you see Haitian coffee, buy some for your own brew.

Lastly, I would like to remind us all of Hati’s creed spelt out on their coat of arms: “Union makes the force”.  Anything is possible when we work together.  As we see from Haiti’s flag, it’s destiny that heaven (i.e. us) meets earth/hell/blood (the hatians).

Haiti’s Flag

Haiti’s coat of arms

Dan Kisch and Wayfinding for the Blind

One of the most extraordinary experiences in my life was running into Dan Kisch of World Access for the Blind when I was at the Eyetap lab.  Dan is a fully blind man, who was able to use echolocation to get around.  Echolocation, up to that point in my life, I thought was limited to dolphins, who would make clicks with and listen to the echo to determine objects (such as fish or coral) in front of them.  It’s the same principle on which sonar is based upon.

I can personally testify to how amazing it was, when Dan and I would go walking down the street and he could distinguish objects like a tree, wall or space between two cars, simply by clicking with his tongue and listening to the reverberation.  For him, it was like he was visualizing the sound space around him.  He told me that this would be much harder for a seeing eye person to learn, but that he had formed a school to teach the blind, mostly kids, these skills.

Meeting Dan made me wonder how much potential there is in our existing senses if we tried just believed enough to practise it!  I hope he is very successful with his school to teach kids with visual impairement how to “see” with sound.

By the way, here is another example of a teenager who figured out how to “see” with sound all by himself.

Visited Hatian restaurant

I visited Lakay Caribbean Restaurant (at 613 Kennedy Road) today and there was no food, instead it was a fundraiser.  I donated $20 and some “afterlife” money the Chinese burn in order to give money those in Heaven.  I also included some paper “gold” and paper “clothing” to be burnt as well.  I did this since both the Hatians and the Chinese share the same ritual of pouring out liquor for the dead.

Parkour and Free Running: The Art of Movement

I would love to learn Parkour and Free Running one day. Unleash the human animal!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEeqHj3Nj2c

EyeTap: Digital Eyeglasses

EyeTap by Steve Mann:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiFtmrpuwNY

My Hero Jet Li

Jet Li is my hero ever since I was a child, he also happens to have the same birthday as me, April 26:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeWckl9CN1k

I have a dream

I have a Dream by Martin Luther King

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk

Bruce Lee The Philosopher

A wonderful interview with the great philosopher Bruce Lee, “Be Like Water My Friend”.

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXOtmhA6Nvw

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRdTJi0v3fQ

Brainwave Music in the key of EEG

James Fung and Steve Mann (see his  disorganized thoughts on http://wearcam.org) previous worked  on the brainwave music project.  These days, the interaxon team (http://www.interaxon.ca) is bringing this technology to the olympics! in vancouver

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff-Dmlreg4I