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| On Children ・ 子供たちThere are so many things on my plate at the moment, I cannot devote a tremendous amount of time to blogging -- I still want to write a post about "the Problem with Credit"... but that too must wait. Instead, though, I want to share a little about children.
There was a JHU trained pediatrician that once shared an anecdote about his granddaughter, who asked him, "Where were you when I was born?" To which he answered, "I was in Baltimore, working. I'm sorry that I couldn't come to see you as soon as you were born."
She then asked, "Grandpa, where was I when you were born?"
He said to us, "You learn so much from children."
Walking about Tokyo, I was struck by how few children I saw. So very few. Indeed, through a single week, I didn't see a single child. It was only on the weekend I saw a couple, and they were so dreadfully cute. I love the way Japanese children speak; their inflections fill the bi tonal language's open vowels with a wonderful mixture of innocence and fascination. Watching them play with their parents also filled me with a sense of shared joy.
The rest of the weekend saw me grinning like a village fool at every passing child and toddler.
It really struck me how precious children are to a society -- intellectually, I've always known this. No new children, and societies are gone in about 50-70 years. They are vulnerable and parasitic at birth, with so little sense, and so little strength, yet they are the only future a people have. They are hope, in a sense.
It was the first time such a visceral desire for children ever hit me.
Nesting instinct?
Oh dear...
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| ClevelandWho would have thought that it would take July 4th weekend to make me start to really love Cleveland. Perhaps it was the company, or the marvelous weather -- or maybe the amazing permanent collection at the Art Museum. Maybe it was brilliant wine at Lola's, with an amazingly smooth finish or a walk around the reflecting pool in front of the Museum. Maybe it was an amazing time at the Botanical Garden. Maybe it was the collection; A number of Picassos, Rodin, Monets, Manets, Mondrians, Gauguins... Or perhaps the fun splash of samplings at the Flying Fig -- Or perhaps a meandering walk through Ohio City. Whatever the reason, I really enjoyed the clear blue skies and beautifully cool weather. Firewarks were, of course gratis. For whatever reason, I've found a whole host of little hideouts to spend afternoons and weekends. Absolutely fabulous. I knew this place had a love for art, but my appreciation of that appreciation has appreciated markedly... | | |
| Machida vs. ShogunIn response to recent news that Lyoto Machida may be fighting Mauricio Shogun Rua in his next match.
Re: Whether Shogun Deserves a Title shot?
I think it's reasonable. Shogun, had he come in and stormed Forrest, would have been eligible. He did not, but he has regained some credibility. Right now, every top fighter in LHW UFC is tarnished in some way. The only reasonable person to give him, other than Shogun would be Rampage, who they've spent on TUF. Lyoto has fought and humiliated many of the rest, and the others have serious spots on their records.
Shogun is charismatic, despite his poor English, and I think thematically, it's a fight one could hype up.
Re: Whether Shogun will destroy Machida.
I seriously doubt the word destroy will describe the fight.
Watching the Shogun of old, to me, he relied on instinct and feel. His fighting flowed from excellent cardio and streams of diverse strikes; some flashy and others very accurate. He was a fighter that maneuvered opponents with streams of attacks, that created openings as his patients defended. After Coleman's elbow destroying slam, and the two ACLs, his body doesn't seem to be able to string those combinations together any more. I haven't seen him display that sort of consistency since the elbow incident.
I think his fight against Overeem really displayed how much cardio he used to have, when he kept going after strenuous defense. Kept going after Overeem gassed.
Shogun, IMO, thought he had his cardio back, trying to out muscle Coleman in the wrestling game... and gassed again.
Machida wrestles like a Karateka ought to; tries to toss you, but if it doesn't go immediately, he doesn't keep trying - he backs off and goes back to neutral. It's like Thai boxers, they toss you, and let the drop sap your energy and do mild damage and humiliation, then let you spend more energy getting up. Then they hit you -- a lot.
Shogun, pre damage, relied on his natural gifting to win. The one improvement I saw in his fight against Liddell was his game plan. He no longer went for strings of crazy attacks, but went for shorter combinations, dancing in and out. In a sense, this masks cardio problems. He could've fought that way for 3 rounds.
My analysis: Shogun's fundamental game plan has changed, no longer leveraging great cardio to output long strings of attacks. Perhaps if his conditioning returns, he can go back to his old style... but that may still be a long while away. Remember the Shogun of old never had any significant injuries, and was basically enjoying a uninterrupted period of being in good cardio shape. Never really in trouble from strikes, his losses had all been from submissions, that don't do much to your brain or "jaw" as it were.
I think Shogun actually has the skill set to push Machida's TMA background. He has the medium - long distance combinations that can force engagement, which none of the boxers can do. The Karate distance allows Machida to disrespect the initial 3-4 punches that most people throw, because he's already backing up when the other person starts to close. Mid 2nd closing step, one would typically parry and counter if the guy is at the right range. (And Machida has done this a lot). Basically, it's really hard to close in on a Karateka with punches.
Starting with a skip step, low sweep, or a mid kick is much safer to close the distance. Most MMA fighters don't do any of these attack-feints to close distance, because it's not necessary, and thus they don't ever integrate such techniques into their practice.
If you think about it, most of the kick punch combos you see from MMA fighting is punch punch (n times) kick, if they combo hands and legs at all. With Machida you get to see kicks setting up punches and vice versa. Heck, kicks setting up kicks.
If you watch old school Shogun, he does all of that. In the old days, he really flowed.
Having said all that, I don't think Shogun will have evolved enough. I would have loved for him to fight a couple more opponents, and continue developing his arsenal, and improving his cardio, getting a feel for what his reconstructed joints can handle. Machida is a high level opponent, where you need everything in working order. Shogun no longer has the recklessness of brash, immortal, youth, but I don't think he's yet developed the necessary craftiness and discipline to fight with the mind as opposed by "feel".
In a couple fights, I think he might have matured enough, but not yet. This would be a match I'd love to see in a year from now. But as it stands, I suspect he will lose.
I wouldn't mind being wrong, as I love both of these guys -- Perhaps Shogun is already ready.
May it be an epic battle if it happens.
:)
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| Another WeddingAnd some xkcd
http://xkcd.com/571/
Taiwan and China - From the Economist
Paths to Politics - From the Economist
Sorry - it's been really busy...
Lyoto Machida - Article 1 - Article 2
About a week and a half ago, I returned from France from a wedding. In my final year of high school, I discovered 3 friends who all shared a love of Street Fighter II. We played so frequently and feverishly, and became irrevocably bonded. While perhaps there are better, more impressive ways to bond, that bond remained throughout college, graduate schools, differences in faith, creed, foci, and geography. We played different games from time to time, learning about new ways of entertaining ourselves... although our nostalgia for playing at Shakey's or a particular mall's arcade remains. We roved the region looking for fresh machines and fresh competition. It was blissful when we knew that we ruled an arcade in terms of Street Fighting Prowess -- virtually. And now, 3 of these young lads are now married, two of which now have children.
At the outset, I'd felt quite tired even thinking of flying to Paris. It was distant, and the trip would be brief. I didn't know many of my friends other guests; so there was some trepidation at attending. Yet, it turned out to be more than fun and memorable -- it was also a time that I got to look at my friends again, and affectionately recall our shared history. Set in a chapel and celebrated at a chateau, it was positively dreamy. The weather was exceptional in that it afforded sun without being sweltering. It was a comfortable weekend, allowing all of us to explore the chateau and the surroundings happily. It was really a medieval sort of town with stone buildings and narrow streets. The drive to Chissey was also breathtaking, with panoramas of verdant fields, interrupted with fragrant fields of golden flowers. The scent wafted into the car with depth and vigour. We could scarce believe it was a field of flowers causing this powerful and pleasant sweet scent. My drive with my brother was such a great time of bonding, experiencing the countryside, skies, roads and even gas stations with glee. But most of all, I really enjoyed the wedding.
The guests loved the bride and groom. Love was in the air... and that too was sweet. The homily in a heavy French accent, followed by a magnificent reception within the chateau, and a party that contained a 10 minute fireworks show was really almost over the top... Foie gras freshly grilled was also exquisite, really allowing their guests to share their stories and memories. Burger, you've got your Fries...
Looking forward to the nuggets...
Machida --
I can't wait to see what else this guy does. He's bloody impressive.
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| OrthographyReforming Orthography - Regarding written Chinese, from the Economist
한글 - Wiki Entry on the formation of Hangul
Phagspa - Wiki Entry on Phagspa, a synthetic script, formed during the Yuan Dynasty.
General Chinese - Wiki Entry (Thanks xpiDmwAtnrfw)
tiếng Việt - Wiki Entry on the Vietnamese language and its evolution.
日本語 - Wiki Entry on the Japanese language and its evolution.
Articles of most interest: The first 3, particularly the Economist Article.
Discussing the above topics is almost pointless without reviewing some groundwork in linguistics. Again, I have to defer to those of my friends/readers with more formal training than I. However, having had a near morbid fascination for language for decades now, as well as the interplay between language and cultural preservation and development, I think I have a little perspective on the topic.
First, that grammatical rules tend to simplify over time, as evinced by the evolution of Classical Chinese or Greek to more modern forms. It's been happening in English for quite some time now. There's a lot of sense to this, because written forms are ultimately ways of codifying spoken systems. Written forms allow the development of a systematized spoken form... also help creating grammatical standards, and a uniform lexicon. Without a shared repository of terms and phraseology, the possibility of developing parallel (and contradictory) definitions and meanings becomes very easy... and, actually, happens anyway.
However, written forms aren't developed by the common user, typically, and at least historically, are created by literati of one sort or another -- and simplifications occur either through repeated use, or by reformers who want to allow for more widespread use.
Most modern systems are either alphabetic, syllabic, or phonetic. There are also universal phonetic systems designed to capture sounds irrespective of the language of origin. These are designed to represent the sounds themselves, and not the "writing of the origin."
These approaches stress the importance of the "sound" of language, and its importance in communication.
Ambiguous sounds often are accompanied by redundant phraseology or terms that help ensure that the communication is not misunderstood. Homonyms are thus clarified through adjacent terms.
Hieroglyphics and Chinese share a somewhat different approach in that they can be considered pictographic or ideographic. Morphemes can be contained in single syllables, but words constructs of several syllables, from a "audible" perspective. But in another sense, I think one can argue that there is a more interesting interplay available in individual characters. The idiosyncratic method in which a given chinese character is put together, with elements in a single character may either help communicate meaning, and other times sound; is hard to predict a priori. One has to study the language and memorize. But in some strange way, studying each word can be like studying a miniature piece of art. Someone coined the character, and decided what visual elements to put in to make it whatever it is. Sometimes you like how it looks, and how it works, and sometimes you don't.
In Alphabetic systems, you may or may not like how a given word looks, but we don't normally think of a single word as art. They do have a visual impact -- but the focus in most alphabetic systems, in my mind, is the sound, and not the "form". Indeed, the very design of the languages is to emphasize the sounds.
For me, I really do appreciate the "form." That's why simplification of Chinese to a purely phonetic system strikes me as somehow wrong.
That, of course, got me to think a lot about language construction. Modern Korean was a highly intentional project. It helped establish a greater permanance to Spoken Korean, shoring up cultural identification -- and differentiating itself from two neighbouring cultures that shared similar terms with similar sounds, due to centuries of dialogue.
One hundred years ago, four scholars from Vietnam, China, Japan and Korea (please, the order was random!) could sit down and write a discussion, and have some meaningful dialogue, without being able to speak or understand the same phonemes. That's the peculiarity of those ideograms/characters. Vietnam has done away with them, and S Korea has all but done away with them.
Within China, this phenomenon still occurs, but as Mandarin pronunciation continues to grow in universality, this dichotomy will become less and less present. At some point, perhaps there will be no need for an idiosyncratic writing system -- but to me that's a pity.
I think the very nature of the Chinese writing system helps people understand something; many things in life aren't clear, and there are many ways to do any given thing. There are so many homonyms in Chinese, and there are just as many times when the same character can be pronounced in different ways. In database terms, there are many to many relationships for a good number of characters.
That, to me, builds in a relative understanding of information. The inherent plurality, I think, opens the Chinese mind to more syncretic conceptualisations.
In contrast, Korean has evolved to a one to one relationship in terms of writing, much like German. This conceptual uniformity has implications in learning styles.
These are seriously broad strokes, but I think the languages we speak and use and write give us patterns to think with. Well worn paths that our thoughts take encourage conceptualizations down those very same paths.
If you get bored, look at the Phagspa/Hangul comparison. It's pretty cool. It gave me a perspective that I didn't have before. Many times, I think of language as something to be learned -- memorized. But the reality is, you can create language too. The fact that someone sat down and created a system that may have eventually been co-opted for another system that is now in common use is absolutely fascinating. The study of the evolution of Korean pronunciation is also fascinating, as sounds appeared and disappeared from the language in relation to the understanding of the writing regime...
Very interesting.
I actually think pinyin is doing that to Mandarin, to a certain extent, forcing language users to conceptualise sounds in certain ways.
When you think about it, prior to a phonetic system, there really was no way to systematically teach a people spread across a whole nation how to pronounce the characters/ideas. Is it any surprise that the pronunciation is so divergent?
In closing, while I appreciate the use of phonetic systems, I would be more than sad to see this very unusual (and successful!) system fall by the wayside, in the interest of efficiency. The characters, whether you call them Hanzi, Hanja, Kanji or Han tieu, have a life and art of their own. I enjoy the fact that there is at least some interest by the PRC to "de symplify" the simplified characters -- they did go too far with some words. Simplification and standardization is an inexorable trend... and, for vernacular use, essential. But you don't have to hurry the process artificially!
I don't have time, but it would be fun to talk about the evolution of Middle to Elizabethan to near modern and post modern English.
:)
I nearly forgot:
Regarding political overtones:
Chinese is called one language with multiple dialects by some, and others call it a language family, because the grouped languages may actually have mutually unintelligible spoken forms. (Please see comments).
One can look at this two ways: 1) it's a purely political, due to the interests of the government to maintain a conceptually intact single country. 2) it's actually reflective of the fact that Chinese is strongly comprised of a written corpus and a linguistic (tongue!) corpus that intermingle but differ significantly. In some senses, one could make the statement that it's the writing that unifies and that speech divides in the case of Chinese "thought/concept transmission mediums".
:)
I think in this case, for the PRC, the impulse to call it "Chinese" serves both impulses, and is not an either/or proposition. For me, I think, given all the nuances, I think of Chinese as both traditions... where it goes, nobody knows...
But God.
Next topic:
The Problem with Credit.
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Lifetime
