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sleepyfox / 2024-07-12-worst-student.md
Created June 8, 2026 11:05
Was Saito Ueshiba's worst student? 
author: @sleepyfox
title: Was Saito Ueshiba's worst student?
date: 12-Jul-2024

Was Saito Ueshiba's worst student?

Morihiro Saito (1928-2002) was often jokingly referred to by O'Sensei as his worst student. O'Sensei, literally 'great teacher' is the name that Aikido practitioners use for Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969), the founder of the modern martial art of Aikido.

I always thought that this was a cunning plan by O'Sensei to keep his best student at home rather than having them running off to some foreign country to run the Aikido organisation for that country and grow the art of Aikido there, like so many of O'Sensei's senior students.

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sleepyfox / 2026-03-09-partner-roles.md
Created March 11, 2026 10:27
The roles of the partners in pair work 
author: @sleepyfox
title: The roles of the partners in pair work
date: 09-Mar-2026

The roles of the partners in pair work

"OK, now partner up and give that a try..."

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sleepyfox / 2025-10-09-chi.md
Created December 31, 2025 19:06
The Chi problem 
author: @sleepyfox
title: The Chi problem
date: 09-Oct-2025

The Chi problem

Much has been said about the word sometimes written as 'Chi' in English (pronounced the same as in the English word 'cheese'), corresponding to the Chinese character 氣. This character, pronounced 'chi' in Chinese, 'ki' in Japanese, 'khi' in Vietnamese, 'gi' in the Philippines etc and corresponding closely with the Indian word 'prana' is variously translated as 'energy' in the sense of vital life-force, or 'élan vitale' from the French.

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sleepyfox / 2025-09-30-yang-vs-yang.md
Created October 9, 2025 14:03
Yang vs. Yang 
author: @sleepyfox
title: Yang vs. Yang
date: 30-Sep-2025

Yang vs. Yang

I was recently asked why I practice violent, aggressive Tai Chi!

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sleepyfox / 2024-10-25-shu-ha-ri.md
Last active October 28, 2025 08:41
Shu Ha Ri 
author: @sleepyfox
title: On Shu-Ha-Ri
date: 25-Oct-2024

On Shu-Ha-Ri

So, fairly regularly something turns up in my inbox relating to Shu-Ha-Ri (守破離) often quoted as a Japanese model of skills acquisition. These articles, blogs etc. are all problematic in some way or other, and inevitably as both an Aikido instructor and a career IT professional with deep experience of Software Development Methodologies, I will get asked what I think. Hmmm...

So, let's start with the Wikipedia article:

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sleepyfox / sustainable-development.md
Last active December 28, 2024 17:29
Notes and links for Sustainable Development presentation
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sleepyfox / 2024-11-08-taiji-tennis.md
Created November 8, 2024 11:03
Taiji Tennis 
author: @sleepyfox
title: Taiji Tennis
date: 08-Nov-2024

Taiji Tennis

So I read a bit about Tennis, and thought 'Hey, that sounds cool, I'd like to learn that', and looked around to see if there is a local Tennis club, and if there is a learners' group. Great news, I find a 'Learn Tennis' session run by a local instructor. They appear legit, are certified and insured by the Tennis Union of Great Britain, so I go down on Tuesday evening to the local sports centre and give it a go.

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sleepyfox / 2014-04-05-the-corruption-of-critical-thinking.md
Last active October 29, 2024 08:50
The corruption of critical thinking 
author: @sleepyfox
title: The corruption of critical thinking
date: 05-Apr-2014
preamble: An open letter to Mr. Binstock and Dr. Dobbs addressing their recent editorial entitled "The Corruption of Agile" and its follow-up article addressing feedback from the community.

EDITED: 2024-10-29 in order to fix broken links and to use the Internet Archive in order to make available material which commercial publishers have egregiously removed - see Fox's 8th Law[^7]. Sadly it appears that my closing hope was not upheld over the intervening decade by the recipients.

Dear Mr. Binstock,

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sleepyfox / 2024-10-15-obfosscation.md
Created October 16, 2024 11:36
ObFOSScation - why FOSS means more than you think it does 
author: @sleepyfox
title: ObFOSScation
date: 15-Oct-2024

ObFOSScation - why FOSS means more than you think it does

The problem with #FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) is that everybody thinks they know what it means. I once spent a couple of years working on and off with Ross Gardler, a VP of the Apache Software Foundation and Manager of OSS-Watch in Oxford.

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sleepyfox / 2024-09-09-why-aikido.md
Created September 11, 2024 08:24
Why Aikido? 
author: @sleepyfox
title: Why Aikido?
date: 09-Sep-2024

Why Aikido?

Aikido is:

  • Fun