I'm a Christian. I respect the opinions of rational non-Christians and am open to the fact that not every intelligent person will agree with me. I don't try to force my religion on people who don't want to hear about it. But I don't like it when people bash Christianity without cause on slashdot. Everyone (rightly) derides politicians for the "Muslims are terrorists" slur but it seems like open season on Christianity sometimes around here. This post is titled "When Wealthy Christians and Crackpots Attack!" but he doesn't talk about Christians in his post at all! There's nothing really substantive or particularly insightful - just one statement as a few instances to support it. He talks about Scientology and Uri Gellar. The Church of Scientology are not Christians (they believe Christ is a delusion IIRC from reading about them). Uri Gellar is Jewish according to wikipedia. Stuart Privar seems to be a creationist, but there is nothing about Christianity in either article that I read. Furthermore, not all Christians are creationists either except in the broadest sense - not the common use of the term. Using such broad, imprecise language in his little post just seems like a potshot or trolling.

Got a little rant and a question for anyone reading. Again, a popular science article exaggerates the conclusions. A recent /. story mentioned Anti-Bacterial Soap No Better Than Plain Soap. Now most of the comments seem to sermonize against all antibacterial products. I don't completely disagree, but the article doesn't support extreme opinions. Of course, the story in question only concerned itself with one type of antibacterial soap and with one use of that soap: namely washing hands before eating food. Allison Aiello sums it up:

The soaps containing triclosan used in the community setting are no more effective than plain soap at preventing infectious illness symptoms, as well as reducing bacteria on the hands.

Now for my question. I practice Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu a lot. I used to use a regular soap in the shower, but I caught some severe conjunctivitis three times in the same eye in the past six months despite trying to be clean. The pink eye was very bad, my eyelids swelled up, and the doctor needed a broad-based antibiotic to take care of them. That indicates to me that the infections were caused by bacteria - probably staph.

I am scared to death of MRSA. Now I use antibacterial Dial bar soap as well as some anti-dandruff shampoo to discourage colonies of fungi - with the intention of preventing ringworm (and dandruff I suppose). That seems to have been working better, but this article concerns me. The article didn't research body washes for athletes, but it does raise the question whether or not antibacterial soap is useful for cleaning up after practices. Which type of soap would be best for cleaning up after athletic activities and why - regular or antibacterial soap?

My /. fortune was:

(1) X=Y ; Given
(2) X^2=XY ; Multiply both sides by X
(3) X^2-Y^2=XY-Y^2 ; Subtract Y^2 from both sides
(4) (X+Y)(X-Y)=Y(X-Y) ; Factor
(5) X+Y=Y ; Cancel out (X-Y) term
(6) 2Y=Y ; Substitute X for Y, by equation 1
(7) 2=1 ; Divide both sides by Y
-- "Omni", proof that 2 equals 1

However, you can only cancel out the (X-Y) if X != Y because if they are equal then the expression is zero! Indeed, the rest of the steps can be left, so you end up with:

2(x-y) = (x-y)
0 = 0

Friends don't let friends divide by zero!

I competed in the Pennsylvania Open Judo Championships yesterday. It was a double elimination shiai (tournament) hosted at Master Eugene's school in Cranberry. This was the first time I participated in - and even witnessed - a judo competition.

I won a silver medal, and my record was 3-1. I entered the 175-151 senior men intermediate division. Here are videos of my matches:

1. I submitted J.R. DeFilippo (Kim) with okuri eri jime (sliding collar choke).
2. I pinned Rob Lynn (Joseki) with tate shiho gatame (high mount).
3. Mark deRouville (Brick) threw me with drop seoinage for gold.
4. I submitted Matt Fisher (Penn State) with koshi jime (clock choke) for silver.

Even though I ate a big pasta dinner last night and didn't even try to make weight for the tournament, I still weighed in at 152 pounds and weighed 151 after going to the bathroom before my matches. Therefore the guy who won (152 pounds) and I were the lighest judoka in the bracket.

Everyone had to wear a white or a blue belt - or a white or blue gi - during our matches. Even the black belts generally conformed to this rule; although, a lot of people just ignored it too. The competition ran late by over an hour, and I didn't feel like I had much energy while waiting. Somehow I had more than enough cardio, since I didn't really break much of a sweat or work that hard even during the one match I lost. Everyone else seemed exausted, so I guess I didn't work hard enough. I hope the reason is that I was just very efficient and/or had good cardio. Mentally I was drained by the end of the day, though.

I had fun during the judo shiai. JR trains at Kim's in Brendwood too. Rob Lynn invited me to train with him in Altoona, but that's a long drive unless I can get someone else to come with me. Matt Fisher trains at the Penn State Judo Team. I'm not too concerned about my loss to Mark deRouville, since he is the NJ State Champion and also placed in every skill division in his weight class. But I will learn from my mistakes and beat him next time. Good guys; it was an honor to meet them. I hope next time during the shiai I can relax more, and maybe win by ippon with a throw at least once. :)

I wrote my first Firefox 1.5 extension called "Personal Toolbar Button." Of course, it simply adds a toolbar button that toggles on/off the "Personal Toolbar" toolbar. This is where I keep all my bookmarks, but too many toolbars wastes useful screen real estate. Install it at extension's web site. (Thanks Mozilla.org!)

I was inspired by the web developer extension which uses the same trick to toggle its toolbar. I created a new GUID for the extension using an online UUID generator. This tutorial at Mozillazine provided the template for the extension. Roachfiend's tutorial filled in the gaps on how to package it as an installable XPI. Oh, and I used the DOM Inspector to figure out which CSS declarations/IDs to use.

The entire project took me about two hours because I kept making stupid mistakes. I originally wanted to write an extension for a programmable set of buttons for Firefox's toolbar, but I quickly realized that was too ambitious. Programming the extension was fun and a very practical use of my time - at least for me. All in all, I'm very pleased with the result. I hope someone else finds this project useful as well...

Had surgery on my ear today. I first injured my ear hurt my ear back in March. I was rolling with a judo shodan (black belt) and tapped him with a choke. Then during standing randori, he schooled me with a billion uchi mata throws. The result was a broken toe and cauliflower ear. Pictures provided upon request. :x

This was my first surgical procedure. It was weird. I felt naked under my gown. My weight was 154 lbs, heart rate 55 bpm, and blood pressure 125/65. The nurse inserted the most painless needle ever into a vein my hand. Then she retracted the needle and replaced it with a plastic catheter. That was actually more annoying than the needle.

I recieved a general anesthetic. It was strange... I don't remember being giving the anesthetic nor falling asleep, but I work up in a different room. The doctor removed the fluid and blood clots, then sewed it back up. He stitched it back up along with a tube to hold the skin and cartilage so they heal together. As the anesthetic wears off it gets more and more painful, but I have a prescription for the good stuff. :p

The doctor said he saw a lot of crushed and fractured cartilage in there. He doesn't want me doing any more BJJ or judo for about 2 weeks after I see him on Friday. However, I hope to do some non-contact drilling and rolling as soon as I can.

I competed in the Kumite Classic this past Saturday (May 27, 2006). It is a no-gi submission wrestling and a gi-required Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament. (A gi is the typicially white uniform some martial artists wear.) My record was:

• Men's Gi White-Belt 145 lbs: 1-1 (Second Place)
• Men's No-Gi Intermediate 145 lbs: 1-1 (Second Place)

My record is now 7-6. I had a lot of fun at the tournament, but I am not satisfied. Man, I'm a little pissed for not getting first place. I have a lot to work on.

Gi Division

In my first gi match, I defeated Matt Jubara by scoring 16 points. He was very strong and very tough. You can watch a video of Jubara vs me.

My second gi match was against Mat "Rosco" Rosborough for the championship. He was very tough too. We went into overtime, and I eventually ran out of gas in the tank. It was very long: the match lasted over 8 minutes... I have to work on my cardio so I can roll for 10 minutes or more at a high intensity. Watching it, I don't think my technique was as smooth as I would like. You can view a video of Rosco defeating me.

No-Gi Division

In my first no-gi match, I faced a karate guy (I could tell because he wore black karate gi pants and no shirt); although, he said he did study grappling. Donnie took care of him a few years ago in the advanced division. Now he was back, but in my intermediate bracket. Oh well. I owned him and finished the dude with a RNC. Watch a video of my easy no-gi match.

In my second no-gi match I faced Rosco again. This time I scored a super sweet judo throw. I was actually trying for Harai Goshi, but Randy told me the throw was really Harai Makikomi (on further reflection, it probably was harai goshi). It was mostly instinct: I was setting up a throw and just saw the opening. In judo, that would have been ippon. However, this is grappling so no soup for me! Rosco rolled when we landed and I felt off balance in side control. Somehow I ended up with reverse guard and tried for a toe hold, but I screwed it up. Still, with 45 second to go the score was tied and I was winning with an advantage. However, I was still tired and lost when he passed my guard as I opened it to attack. Randy uploaded a partial clip of Rosco vs Me in no-gi. (I wish he got the whole thing so I could go over my many mistakes.)

Analysis

Ironically if I just stalled from guard a little bit then I would have won. However, that is stupid and not honorable. No excuses: I lost twice to the same guy in both championship matches. I have to work on my control, my cardio, and my leg locks. I have to be able to finish long matches grapple at 110% throughout the fight. This month I shall try to improve these aspects of my game.

There is more about the tournament at the CMU Grappling Club's tournament page or my training log.

"One of the main reasons for caffeine giving you a wake-up call is that it forces the liver to hydrolise glycogen into glucose." (src) Glycogen "is the main form of carbohydrate storage in animals and occurs primarily in the liver and muscle tissue." (src) Granted those two sources are not good references. I need to do additional research. However, if true, would diet caffeinated beverages not work for diabetics (since the caffeine increases their sugar level)? Also, would caffeinated beverages degrade athletic performance by depleting your muscle glycogen supplies? More investigation is called for. Any insight anyone?

CMU Grappling kicking ass, taking names - Highlights from our tournament in December via Google Video. I'm Jimmy. :-) There is another tournament in March, but I haven't decided whether I will compete in it. Many of my friends are going to enter, but I am burnt out from tournaments. I'd really like to skip one - just for once - and catch my breath. Oh, and I've been diverting my whining to a different journal to spare you, my /. friends and other readers. :-)

On Exams. I feel better though still stressed out. In the real world, I refer to documentation all the time even for basic stuff just to confirm things. Why do profs expect you to know everything from memory?

On Championships. Wow. I was afraid this might happen. Many of the people that I roll with during practice really want to prove themselves.

The first person I fought beat himself up for a few days afterward. I tried comforting him and instructing where he went wrong. Now he really wants a rematch even though I just want to have fun!!!

The guy who took third wanted to spar very hard Wednesday, because we didn't get to fight at the tournament. I think he wanted to know whether he could have beat me if he won his match. Instead I gather it clouded his judgement. During randori I tapped him twice. However, I was really sad and just played around for the rest of the session.

I grapple just to have fun and lose weight. That's it. I'm very worried that now I'm expected to do well at every future lesson and tourney, and everyone will be gunning for me! That is very stressful and not fun at all. :-/

On the other hand it was actually a relief yesterday when I went to the advanced BJJ practice, since I got decidedly crushed when rolling with the blue belts. I usually go on beginner BJJ day with most of the other white belts, and I was beginning to get nervous when my luck would run out!

Unexpected Consequences Odd that is felt better losing than winning. On the bright side, a clothing manufacturer wanted to sponsor me.... Methinks the advertiser is a tad too enthusiastic, or that he couldn't get Fedor to do endorce his product, or that he tipped the bottle too much. Still gave me a chuckle! :-D

Ya Drew! Thanks to a buddy of mine who also fought, you can download a quicktime highlight clip set to some funny music. Feel free to download more videos from our club if you wish.

I promise more Geeky stuff later...