Darth Avlectus

Well, actually I'm cleaning up my place--but I thought I'd make a funny for ya.

General Beavis--anyone?

http://megaduce.deviantart.com/art/Grievous-n-Buthead-19122134

Say, speaking of age, just how old are you? I'm (actually) 666.

WHAZZZAAAAAAAAP?! It's tha weekend tyme Uhh'gain.

What you doin'? Chillin' cozy with da bitchez?

Getting your huff on?

Playin gamez like the SW nerds we all are?

Spendin' some quality time in America's favorite reading place--

Sorry to hear that.

--maybe it has something to do with me breaking a mirror on friday the 13th after walking under a ladder. I'm unaffected but it seems like the world all around me is going to hell.

How goes it my "republicrat" buddy?

Aw... Pretty boy.

You gonna see Friday the 13th--Naruto?

--Make sure you bring hinata.

Well, that's what waiting for the game to hit the bargain bin is for.

I wasn't impressed with what I heard about Soul Calibur 4 and it met my expectations for it which was kind of low since it was a transitional step to next gen consoles. (*Hated* they took away story adventure mode). Moreover a 360 isn't exactly geared (controller setup wise) for that kind of fighting game.

That's a big problem nowadays: total technical stuff, yet often not enough memory for a good long game or good story. At best. Yeah same problem with heavenly sword--not that Nariko isn't a hot piece of @$$ mind you, just that...well, it was too short.

While GTA4 wasn't as great in gameplay perks or as large as predecessors, like San Andreas...it had me pretty entertained for quite a while--but you know this already.

Izzy's burger spa where I live has Galaga. I think the gihest level I can make it is ~13.

My all time record being Lv 15. Don't remember the score though since it's been so long. I got 3rd place. They unplug it to reset the score here and there. Maybe they should have a wall of fame.

Next accident--actually earlier: Arc Welder. Metal Shop. Making potato gun.

The short arc stick of weld is normally brittle--so brittle you can just twist and break it. otherwise you turn off the machine (preferred) and chop it with a chisel(at least). I had made it hot and pliable by making 2 passes adjoining the pipe cut at an angle to the baseplate. Was impatient. Buddy yanked on the (+) lead with the weld to help, I gripped the workpiece with my right hand and yanked the in the opposite direction. Didn't watch where I swung my left elbow--hit ground (-) pole. --Never knew what a mix of fire, razors and barbed wire felt like all at once in my chest and arms until a minute later I came to, realizing I had been zapped and thrown into the wall behind me and mildly passing out. 250V at 50-75% power output. Screwed up my heat reception until mid 2007--happened 1-17-02. Been more static charged ever since.

Incident 2: (you'll need to look up an N2 laser to get the jist enough for this to make sense)...Power supply turned off and disconnected from the laser unit on the hot (+) side, my project mentor was inspecting the return (-) side's connection. I was adjusting the spark gap again to optimize timing. Mind you this was on a fold out table with a metal frame. Owing to the nature of the laser itself (its metal plate capacitors retaining a charge), I guess I was grounded to the table frame with my foot against it. My mentor was doing his thing and I suspect his belt buckle either made contact with (or got close enough to) the table frame. Considering it was holding some small charge at a voltage of 10-15KV I would not be surprised if it leapt some. Either way we both got a nice hard ZAP out of it.

I remember you now...the guy I called horsey dude, all in good fun of course. What's up man?

Yup. She sure is.

---

You BIT it? Damn, son.

As far as electrical accidents...where do I begin? I'll start with the most minor.

Neon sign transformer/inverter. 15KV ~20mA. Not deadly but unpleasant nonetheless.

Using it as a power supply for my N2 laser I'd built for my senior project.

Incident 1: Adjusting the timing spark gap I wound up getting bitten by a copper strip of the assembly. Metal chunk embedded into my fingernail slightly. A couple minutes with a grinding dremel fixed it. My finger and part of my hand was numb for several minutes.

I have more l83r.

Oh, hey man. What's up? No big deal.

Have you heard of X-Play? It';s one of the survivor shows from when G4TV bought TechTV...they have gone from casually joking about it to just downright trash talking the older games. It's so irritating.

I agree with you. I think the older games do set the foundations for today's stuff, and also believe today's gaming is acting too high and mighty for its own good. Something about the production value today just...falters. Perhaps we've advanced so quickly that expectationshave risen even more quickly to unrealistic levels.

Ah, I see your groups. Impressive. Yeah, I liked the early to mid '90s gaming I played across macs and apples. Mine is more home consoles, I guess. Gray Jedi? I think I like you...

No problem.

Yes, I bleieve that's called "red herring fallacy"--which he (of all people) knows better than to do. He's careful he doesn't contradict himself. And if he does, he just does more maddening "hairsplitting". --yeah, someone like that actually tried sassing a kendo sensei once. He just wouldn't SHUT UP, and this sensei was from japan. Hence very little tolerance for any crap. Guy left with more frustration and a nice red welt on the forehead.

I was anti theist or atheist...it ultimately didn't hold water.

I came to realize I was not an evil man. Further, I could not forgive myself for things I had done. I had to learn how.

I'm spiritual but not religious.

--Oh believe me, he reads them. I've seen him on his visitor messages and he temporarily unblocks others to stir it up and then re-blocks them when convenient. It's okay, such pretentiousness is laughable.

--I'm not a jesus freak. However, that is good you intend to do right in the world.

Well, that is certainly understandable--you kind of sound like my parents.

I can be liberal depending on some issues and conservative on others--depends on the issue ya bring up, I guess.

I'm I guess 'net' more to the right and, while I'm all about capitalism, I'm also one of its biggest critics noting how and where it doesn't work...or just simply "capitalist but not bastard capitalist".

You're one of the more coherent people dealing with...the hairsplitting drama. Thank you for keeping it civil. 'Course if they were in a kendo club speaking out of turn like that in a sensei's presence--sensei would be delighted to initiate 'correctional disciplinsation' with his bokken. --I could picture you doing something like in a gym that with with a rapier, while LF'ers limped out.

I have also read Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Doe philosophy. So like him, I'm basically taking form other arts and developing my own style. I definitely want to learn more of that in my lifetime.

I have stumbled across Arnis and see something here to improvise on my melee fighting. A Phillipino martial art. Armed and unarmed.

Funny that they often had infighting and were subjugated by their neighbors--so their military history is not much to speak of...YET, whenever Moslem extremists would attempt something, or the few times some of history's best militaries attempted to invade--they always won. They beat Chinese militia, they beat Samurai, and they repelled Conqistadores.

Last but not least I have a pal in the military who has gotten some kind of specialized training blending a number of styles--he had most compliments to say about Krav Maga, Jeet Kune Doe, and Aikido. We sparred and he totally whooped my ass. I look forward to sparring him again.

Meanwhile, I've also started checking out Shaolin martial arts--quite possibly the most profound of martial arts I have come across. As I mentioned I came to know it some from my fencing instructor. I do plan to pursue this eventually. A Native American friend of mine is versed in karate that is close to its Shaolin roots. I'm currently training from him in those and native American rituals--I'm part Native American myself--so illegals who tell me to go back to europe can go eat **it--since they have Spaniard in their blood they can go back to euroope with me. .

Shaolin encompases Gong fhu and Taiji Qian (Kung Fu and Tai'Chi). There is rich philosophy, spiritual practices, and I think some medicinal secrets that science has yet to explore.

...Continues (Don't worry, I'm almost done)

Friends and I have our "guild" where we go out in the woods and set up. Unarmed or weapons.

I have putted around with Kendo and large melee armaments. Informally on and off. Kendo is principally much the same as other sword arts--application is different. Furthermore it is so philosophical and it requires a certain mindset. Euro sword arts are what you make of them and what you bring to them. I mean no discredit whatsoever to either one. Kendo is more formally established like a school or way of life. Euro is its own discipline and not so formal. I don't get into which one is better--a martial art is not best judged based on how good it is against another, it is best judged on whether it is effective (and HOW effective) it is for the purpose for which it was developed/intended. ...continues.

(You will want to read from bottom post up since it shows most recent post first...)

Anyway, so far as other martial arts, Kenpo has served me well; I can disarm others, I can stop encounters from escalating, and most useful I learned some tactics to avoid injuries from falls. My instructor was the first woman in the lineage to become a black belt champion. Mitoshi's lineage. This was a turning point for me with martialist/martial arts philosophy. Before, I'd been a scrapper and a brawler.

Since I have a friend who was a kenpo 'master' (I think he has slipped a bit, personally) we occasionally strategize and spar. He's beaten me more often, but on the ground I managed to get the better of him once and he could not get out of it. He either keeps it a striking match, or uses his natural attributes if it gets upclose--he hasn't made the same mistake since. I'm used to fighting larger opponents. So someone like yoda would probably kill me....continues

I'm reluctant but I suppose I'll help carry the fencers--we are just a group.

I worry about one of the more experienced arrogant blokes trying to take the whole thing from us--but as a group we are as agreeable as we are disagreeable. We are our own entity even if we are infighting. So it would be a grab for individuals and talent. Time will only tell...

Also, these past years, when a law enforcement guy started taking fencing awhile back, he recognized that several including myself had potential for other martial arts. Now I'm getting recognized by martial artists and police. I will soon take up Jiu-Jitsu/Aikido. Since from my wrestling days I'm a good grappler, I have some aptitude for it.

.......continues (sorry if it gets so long!)

I then took up rapier/sabre fencing--not strictly MA but might as well categorize it such. I've come a long way. I just don't care to get into it with the more arrogant fellow fencers. I have skill, and talent...now if I would have taken a more active role, I'd have been a high ranking member.

My instructor was a practitioner of Shaolin Kung Fu--we've spoken on those things a few times which has lead me to a further path. He likes that I am not arrogant as the others. Unfortunately he moved away to Hawaii.

The group is somewhat on the rocks. I'm not in school now, so there are some problems for me. After a falling out it is getting back together after over a year of time apart. We are reassembling.

The fencers over the region I live in want as many as they can get. So the snobbish people are more rare, thank heavens. I feel somewhat responsible living in the middle of the 2 main areas for competitions to try to keep things going here where I live....continues

Ah, a good one.

Well, My first contact was with kickboxing--didn't go so well since the guy was always doing tournaments and ceded responsibility to his oldest students about half the time. After 4 months passed and I'm still unable to defend myself I quit. I learned how to fight the hard way--had to.

You could count wrestling in middle school.

So finally some 17 years later I came to learn Ken-po basics in college. Though it was a beginner class, my experience shone through quite well. It was quite a reconciling experience. Funny thing was that, since I was knowledgeable I always got used as the example. Though my height is 5'8"(~173 cm) my reach is a bit longer-over 6'. I got apired with the tallest guy who was 6'4".

...continues

Ah Gawd. Like how I almost spent $900 on goth stuff--$495 on a cool pair of thigh high boots alone. Sense kicked back in though.

Any questions so far in general? I'll answer as best I can.

Oh gawd.

Like that time I almost spent $495 on a pair of thigh high Goth boots and nearly as much on gear and clothes...It was just so cool looking--I'm not even goth.

Finally sense kicked in.

I look like a mountain man and I dress...the same all year. Like an average joe.

Especially now that I haven't worked out in 3 years and I'm not as cut as I used to be.

Let me guess, you are one of those types who, regardless of political labeling are capitalist, but not bastard capitalist. Si? No?

Did you have any questions in general? About anything?

P.S. I know you're into all that communism anarchist stuff, just kindly setting the tone here.