Outside Context - Latest Comments

Re: Wudang Mountain: A Basho Film

Goedwyche — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:07:21 -0000

thank you. delighted to find your beautiful site

Re: The Running Man : My Gym Routine

bashomatsuo — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 08:43:24 -0000

Update:

I now use slightly different equipment, main change being a proper running watch and Freerunning shoes, and since the new year I am not gymming - just running as I have the Reading half marathon in April.

We shall see if I can keep losing the weight!

Re: Nike+ SportWatch GPS Review

bashomatsuo — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:12:11 -0000

Update:

My first watch stopped syncing and I had it replaced. I later realised that this was due to a faulty Nike software update on my PC and not the watches fault at all...

Still, my new one is nice!

Recently the watch firmware updated and now you have an (gentile) Alarm and Stopwatch in the menus. You can also reverse the screen so that the text is in black.

I started running with it this year and continue to be very happy. I am now using Nike +2 Freerun shoes with the hole in for the sensor and they work fine.

However, the bad news is that the Nike plus website remains a travesty. Until that is fixed (promised "soon") then I cannot recommend this product "set" over the latest Garmins. If you want to run hightech and have the money, get the Garmin. If you have a lesser budget, don't really care for statistics and like Nike's style - get the Nike watch or wait it out for the next generation.

Basho

Re: Lets go tubing! A Basho Film

bashomatsuo — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 11:44:30 -0000

Still actively being discussed on the above thread!

Re: Operation Snakebite – the first game by Tier 1 Military Simulations

bashomatsuo — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:42:21 -0000

The film of this adventure is here:
http://www.outsidecontext.com/...

Re: Helicopter Ops at Rolling Thunder

Jack55redditchroad — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 05:29:40 -0000

How long till the full vid is up?

Re: Tier 1 Military Simulations Urban Airsoft Training Day

bashomatsuo — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:20:30 -0000

Many of the people in this team and in the article ARE in the military. One guy came back from Afghan last Nov, another has 8 years in the commandos. There is no faking in Tier 1.

Re: Tier 1 Military Simulations Urban Airsoft Training Day

doodiepants — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 22:12:41 -0000

Love those hard looks and 1000 yards stares in your pics.....I've never seen such a collection of poser congregate into one sport. http://doodiepants.com/2011/12... Join the mil and stop fakin.....

Re: Tier 1 Military Simulations Urban Airsoft Training Day

bashomatsuo — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:51:32 -0000

I have fixed the images in this article. since it was written I have started working for Tier 1 as senior marshal and as web and film consultant.

Re: The Harsh Judge

bashomatsuo — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:28:30 -0000

Thanks for the comments Redditor's.

It is a true story, I can't "prove" this of course. The way I tell it is exactly how Raymond told it to me put into the third person. There are crime reports, etc, but Raymond has asked me not to use them. I knew when writing it that there were elements of the story that would appear "embellished", but I decided that this was not my fault or problem - rather an issue with any article on the internet. The comment that "they were still in hospital" is also exactly what was told to me. I am not a reporter, or held to any standards of journalistic integrity, I am a writer (a travel writer usually), but also as a martial arts instructor (qualified - I don't teach atm) I was very interested in the event.

I too wondered about the techniques and we "replayed" the entire encounter before I understood. Raymond used the upper rising elbow because he had the knife in his hand. Anyone who thinks you cant break a lower leg bone with a downward kick hasn't had to use one in real life. I have broken a brick like that myself (I do TKD).

I did ask him why he fought them rather than give in, and he said that instinct just kicked in when he saw the knife come forwards. He is an excellent martial artist in a style of Kung Fu. It is easy to say how muggers should think, and rationalise about motives leading to predictable behaviours, but this story illustrates how reality doesn't flow smoothly like fiction. In reality people act non-rationally. Did the muggers try and stab him? I don't know, but I expect what happened was he looked like he was resisting. I have told it how Raymond remembered it,m he didn't mention "resisting" before the knife came forwards, but it must have been out for the technique he used to work.

The part of Brixton where it happened is notorious for muggings. They rob people and then disappear into the park. Why Raymond didn't notice them until it was too late is beyond me. I suppose it raises the question of being "switched on" all the time is too hard? I have seen the street in question and it is indeed quiet.

I did have complaints of racism, I should point out that everyone involved in the event was... British.

The important thing for me is that he almost killed the guy with a technique he taught. This brought him up cold later and he stopped teaching it like that. That combined with the shock of surviving the event is the part of the story that interests me.

Regards,

Basho

Re: The nature of truth

bashomatsuo — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 05:09:41 -0000

Yes, I wrote this article way back in 2004. Since then I have traveled the world and spent months in the Far East. My realisation during those travels was that I had always been of the Buddhist/Daoist mindset, I just never had exposure to the cultural background to be able to call myself as such. It was a great relief to my philosophy to be able to stand up and say, "I am a Daoist" and actually, 1) know what that meant, 2) be able to understand the philosophy and 3) be able to "name" a concept that encapsulated my ideas.

Since then I have been working towards writing a book on the subject. Thanks very much for your comment!

Basho

Re: The nature of truth

Kai Wing — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 03:33:11 -0000

this reminds me of coming to what is "real" with the idea of Zen, or other similar mental training; to not allow ideas to cloud perception, but to let which is actually there, be there. There is no actual value of rock, rock only is, and we judge it by ideas.

Re: What is consciousness? Is it the “self”? Is it “me”? Basho argues no!

bashomatsuo — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:13:31 -0000

Essentially yes. However, and it's important to state this, I have very little faith in the idea that physics and its laws actually capture the true nature of reality. I think reality will turn out to be a lot deeper and have more multi-faceted complexity than we understand now. More than we can even start to realise. So yes, the brain and it's functioning control my reality, but how this amazing organ does it and to which tune (laws) it plays... That we don't know.

Re: What is consciousness? Is it the “self”? Is it “me”? Basho argues no!

Graeme — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 01:40:29 -0000

I have only read the conclusion of this article as I think I am on board with your thinking already but please ignore this question if it is answered in the text. My question is: if you think the brain is solely responsible for actions and given that the brain is a physical object and hence subject to the laws of physics, do you then have to believe in some form of hard determinism as there is nothing non-physical interrupting the cause-and-effect relationship between physical particles that has been going on since the begging of time?

Re: Lets go tubing! A Basho Film

bashomatsuo — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:25:14 -0000

Don't rush to judgement pal.

Re: Lets go tubing! A Basho Film

Tw — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 11:55:21 -0000

You are what is wrong with the modern traveller

Re: The perfect face protection for airsoft?

airsofter72 — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 13:24:43 -0000

I don't like the mesh masks, and especially goggles, because my friend had one, and was shot with a cheap grade .12 gram BB. The BB shattered, and fragments went into his cheek. If that was your eye, your now blind in that eye!

Re: Tier 1 Military Simulation – Operation BladeRunner

nick — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:14:57 -0000

Woo-hoo! Update! And what an update: another cool video! :D
And the RSS feed is working again too!

Re: Inside the behavior of the UK looters, why do they make such bad choices?

Trouble125 — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 09:09:08 -0000

well, at a guess, the eleven year old writers were not workers.... just an thought i had, also, you can tell it was not the " workers ", by which i mean the large proportion of the population, honest, hard working type people, and we can tell it wasn't them, because they were not there... let me give you an example...

at the peterloo massacre, where the the army was actually used to disperse the crowd, and the riot act was read, 60,000 people turned up.... 60,ooo.. thats 10 percent of the uk population..., not 1600 people, who lets face it, is way less than the average soda pop conference football league crowd....

Re: The Harsh Judge

bashomatsuo — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:29:00 -0000

If your memories of a moment are much richer, then your brain has processed more information in the same time period - ergo it has processed faster. Each memory is a Neural connection after all. Many more connections have been made than usual. You might say that actually the brain has "focused" its efforts on one thing at that moment, "upping the resolution", but you cant say for certain that it hasn't actually processed faster as well. Science is just not in the position to say either way.

Re: The Harsh Judge

archon — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:23:22 -0000

good article, just a quick comment when your brain enters fight or flight it doesnt "process faster" it just takes more information from the senses and your memories are much richer afterwards so it seems like it was slower. Just the biologist in me had to say that.

Re: Headshots In Airsoft: Argument For Full Face Protection

Spyben3 — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 08:02:25 -0000

yes that last proposal is very reasonable. If people dont wear a full mask at least wear goggles and a mesh. That one layer is really gona help right?

Re: Inside the behavior of the UK looters, why do they make such bad choices?

axn — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 06:26:43 -0000

how do you know these people were not workers? Besides, are not slum, no-place people precisely the new revolutionary subjects?
I've just had enough of psycological explanations for social events...

Re: Inside the behavior of the UK looters, why do they make such bad choices?

bashomatsuo — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 05:32:26 -0000

The internet is a vast wilderness open to all. This means that you will easily find opinions and understandings so far out of line with your own that you are almost certain to be shocked and appalled at some of it.

That's fine.

What’s a more insidious danger is that you can use the chaos of the web to represent opinions of things that you would “want” to be true.

Your writing, on the link provided, is one such fantasy. You would wish that these rioters are in some way politically motivated by the same agenda as you. This is because you fantasise about using the same methods to obtain your ends, but don’t/won’t carry them out; you would rather cheer on others from the side-lines. I expect you justify this by having read the Wikipedia entry on Karl Marx and see yourself as some sort of intellectual.

Let me assuage you of that notion.

The rioters were not the vanguard of a social upheaval towards a communistic state by a rejection of capitalism. In fact it’s exactly the opposite. In the night of the long knives that will be the start of the revolution there is one absolute stage of violence: this is the moment when the workers seize the “means of production”. Notice the terms here, “workers” (Did you see workers rioting?) and “means of production” (what wealth generating apparatus was seized in the name of the people?). No my friend, these were not revolutionaries, these were wankers.

I see no evidence whatsoever that these people were after social “change”. They were after personal enrichment at the expense of others. They were robbing, stealing, taking and carolising. These were people at the trough of capitalism, people mired in the culture of money, people sucking at the tits of Minerva, these were wankers. By cheering them on in blogs and twitters it is prats like you who lend them the false justification they barely can understand. Listen to the two girls in the mp3 I linked, they are not hard bitten communist theorists expounding the dogma of their found tribe, their pockets full of Trotsky and Lenin. They were two drunken girls repeating something they heard someone else say.

Don’t confuse the chaos of rioting, something our culture has a VERY long history of (read a book: where do you think the riot act came from anyway?), with anti-capitalist uprisings reclaiming the streets and also don’t try to take the credit for actions you didn’t commit; you don’t have the right.

As for my “dualism”, since the rioters don’t think like me (a Daoist) it was important to analyse them in a framework that is not outside their context. This is always a mistake whether you are applying modern ethics to ancient cultures, national feelings to other nations or even just communism to capitalism. That’s how wars start, that’s how genocide happens and that’s how you made your mistake.

So, since these people are capitalist, I used a capitalist method to explain their actions. This wasn’t a philosophical position on my part; it was a scientific method for explaining and predicting behaviour. As Trouble pointed out in his comment, this is not a position a Daoist naturally holds; we tend towards Zen realism (for me there is no right and wrong in the world at all, simply what people do and what they don’t). I have written at length about what I think on this site and you are welcome to take a look and come at me if you have the minerals.

Finally, it’s worth pointing out that everything I suggested to happen is now happening: social programs, pillorying of the criminals, ethics classes, the lot.

That’s a mark of correct analysis.

On the other hand, your analysis has not come to pass and the revolution has not yet been televised.

That’s means you were talking rubbish.

As Dr Johnston might say, “I refute you thus!”

Re: Nike+ SportWatch GPS Review

bashomatsuo — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 09:16:01 -0000

Received today (looks like the pressure is working):

"Dear Nike+ Member,

It's been a tough couple months for Nike+. We know from the feedback that there have been a number of issues, including logging in, syncing devices, sharing runs and editing profiles. Not everyone has been affected, but if you have experienced any of those problems, I'm genuinely sorry. Running is supposed to be pure, simple and uncomplicated. And Nike+ is supposed to enhance it, not make it more complex.

Just like you, we hold ourselves to incredibly high standards, and right now Nike+ isn't living up to them. There are lots of reasons why these problems began, but this letter isn't about the excuses. This letter is about what we are doing to fix them and what's coming next.

As of today we have increased login speed and eliminated a majority of login failures. We have improved your ability to sync devices, log runs and post information to Facebook. We are also working on a new version of the Nike+ GPS app that will be released shortly. It will introduce some great new features and address some of the recent bugs.

Things are better but we aren't done yet. We're working on a brand new platform for Nike+ that includes better coaching, maps and challenges. It will be much faster, more social, and easier to use, providing more information and analysis of your runs. Also in the works are some really exciting new products and services. We are committed to relentlessly improving and innovating to ensure that, just like you, Nike+ is never standing still.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you have any thoughts or questions please email us or go to our Facebook page and we'll get back to you.

Thanks for your patience. We really appreciate you being a part of the Nike+ family. There are great things to come.

Jayme Martin
VP/GM NIKE Running"