What do you do in your "Free time"? Something to recommend?
 

Well I do lots of crazy things, actually right now I'm looking for some good book to read.

Recently I've joined a web site called GS Poetry, here's the link; http://www.gspoetry.com/ ...it's pretty cool, lots of girls too... :D ... and if you submit a poem people can rate it and so on... some of those people even fell in love.

I'll update here, just wanted to start a thread, from which I believe we all could benefit.

Cheers!

I normally get on LQ, slashdot, packet storm security, hackaday, and telnet over to the telehack server.

Read books, train Taekwondo and Tenshin Shoden Katori Sinto Ryu Kenjutsu ( Fencing ), go to the cinema... and go to the countryside...

That is what i do in my free time...

Surfing the net, walking, reading, listening music and watching movies.

All my time is free (well, more or less). Reading (fiction & non-fiction (wide range of subjects)), going out, watching the 0.01% of TV that's worth watching, messing about on my computers, falling asleep...zzzzzzzzzzz

Chess and LQ mainly. I've also begun to participate in a (scientific) open source project.

I listen to linux podcasts.
I read linux/unix books
I am currently setting up an asterisk box at home
PLay chess online which I never win :doh:
visit LQ
etc...

Being of the same vintage as Brian (here's to us, who's like us, very few, and they're all dead!) I should have plenty of free time. I also have 35 volumes of stamps, 9 volumes of tarot cards, about 2000 toy soldiers, about 2000 books ... Free time? what's that?

Well, in the free time that I have I usually jog at least once a day, and use the computer the rest of the time (surfing the net, games, etc.), I do try to optimize any electronic equipment I own (just messing with the settings till I break it, kinda like I do with computers), sometimes I watch TV (rarely).

I guess I am a geek. I really can't think of anything else to do. I mean, I don't like going out. People are very demanding and they always wanna go to some smoke-filled bar or disco, which I hate.

Lately: SKYRIM!!

I heard it had tons of bugs in it.

I trade drugs, slaves and arms between bouts of money laundering, extortion and contract killing but somehow there's never any time for them :D

Yeah it has quite a few. But it's still a hell of a game.

I go find any place with less crowd to practice free running and kick boxing Or I find myself in remote places on my Yamaha.

Regards.

I'm at stud to approved females. Reasonable fees. Satisfaction guaranteed. ;)

Doesn't it get tiring at that age? :D

I work with imaging data from us spacecraft
Cassini, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, MESSENGER, ....

I don't have much free time anymore. Trying to combine my main job with developing websites is not easy. When I do have some free time I usually spend it on LQ or talking to people (yeah, real people)

I hope next year will be less hectic than this one.

hmmm.... (nsfw?)
http://christwire.org/2011/11/is-sky...sex-maneuvers/

LOL

Wtf???

That was exactly how I reacted. It's a spoof site. Mind you, I 'admire' the author's persistence and dedication;)

Oh man, this is a really lovely thread... :D

Lots of interesting hobbies. Some of you said that you like to play chess, well me too. I play on chess.com and man I'm good :D.

Beside that, I also like to watch a TV (how should I say?) show, here on Croatian television called "On the edge of science" where the author always has interesting guests and is exploring different phenomena, paranormal activities, aliens, space etc. Some good web site about that you can reccomend?

P.S.

@ Alexvader

"Tenshin Shoden Katori Sinto Ryu Kenjutsu ( Fencing )" sounds like a lot of fun... :D

@ John VV

Interesting, what exactly do you do?

One of my hobbies is reading and participating in LQ.

Are you contracted, or under NASA directly?

Yeah, but somebody's gotta do it. :)

LMAO that was hilarious :D

FWIW, NASA have an open data policy, so one doesn't need to be affiliated with them to use their stuff (at least not for research!).

Hi

Shinto Ryu kenjutsu is quite nice and aesthetic, if you want to develop the forms... Kenjutsu is richer in technique than Kendo, for instance

Using a real katana is nice to develop the forms, and to gain better balance than a bokken, because the katana is slightly heavier, and has a different mass distribution, but remember... ONLY to develop the forms, ( Kata ), NO REAL SPARRING WITH THAT, IT IS A WEAPON not a toy...

Sparring is actually done with a bokken, which is a wooden simulation of a katana, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokken

BRGDS

Alex

I would not call that fencing. Fencing is more like a strict form of dancing with a pole in your hand. In real combat, there are no rules, you can kick, bite, punch, etc.

I think it is probably more useful than fencing, right ? I haven't tried it.

Hi,

yes it is, it educates self-coordination, psychomotricity, and it is beautiful when properly executed...

it helps a person to focus... release his mind... think of nothing... be one with the katana, or the bokken, treat it as a material continuation of your body... it is very mental in fact... unlike Kendo, which is very competitive...

www.kingstonkendo.org/FTOKArt.pdf

This link is specifically about Kendo, but Kenjutsu is far more rich, remember that after the Restoration, in the late 19th Century, the Emperor Meiji abolished the Samurai class, and former Samurai resented this.

They were considered superior warriors, and they were angry about this, seing their former previleges removed. So, former schools ( Dojo ) of Kenjutsu were closed by Imperial edict, so as to avoid the mastery of the Katana to be used by disgruntled people. So there was an attempt to maintain these schools, and Kendo was created, as a form that incorporated only the gentle techniques, not the martial ones.

Kenjutsu teaching was reborn during the Taishô period, and has expanded considerably during the Showa period, with the progressive gaining of national conscience of the Empire of Greater Japan, Dai Nippon Teikoku, in the early years of the 20th century.

I spend my free time reading scam biz opportunities on Backape, Craigslist and etc

Hi BrianL :)

This is what i call Kenjutsu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5pEYRGbodA

And this is what i call Kendo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3Cvc...eature=related


Kendo is much more synthetic than Kenjutsu... thechniques in Kenjutsu are more extensive...

Yeah, now that's what I'm talking about. That's real sword fighting ! Fencing is lame compared to that.

EDIT: One possible mistake I do see ... aren't you supposed to block with the back of the katana ... otherwise you ruin the blade.

In a training situation yes... but not in a real fight... we are talking different time scales here... :)

Edit : But then again, in a training situation one uses the Bokken or the Shinai, so, no blades involved... one only does this for the sake of technical perfectionism...
Nowadays, Katana or Wakizashi are only for Kata ( forms demontration )

If I'm not playing with %&%$ computers, which seems to take up most of my time, I've got a few hobbies. Though I have quit a few lately....I figured that collecting CPUs was a stupid hobby for me, I spend to much time with the darn things already.

Aside from the usual stuff that most people list (music, hanging out with friends, etc.) I still ride whenever I can (bicycles, not those filthy internal combustion engine motorbikes). Walking, or better yet hiking/guerilla camping, do some gardening (ye gawds I feel old when I say that) and lots of reading. Plus the occasional bit of cannabis LOL.

I'm hoping that I can afford a new neck for my guitar sooner or later, I miss playing. But my budget is streched as far as it can go now......

But but but....I dont see any wire, barbed or plain, let alone posts, star pickets or tensioners. Its just a couple of guys playing with swords!

This is what I call fencing-

http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/p...um/4288046.jpg

Surely you're not saying that that is more realistic than the sword fight in Rob Roy?

Of course I´m not... :)

You picked a YouTube video giving an example of the technique, i just picke any video of Youtube with a Kenjustu Combat... regrettably this is the contrary to the epitome of Tenshin Shoden
Katori Shinto Ryu...


You see, Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu is not very a very "spectacular" style, because it was fouded on the premises of the conditions of a real battlefield scenario... :

1.) Both warriors would be using armors... so the main thrusting attacks would be against the dead angles of the hinges... not again surfaces protected by steel plate.

2.) since both would be using armor, with an increased weight of say, 20-35 Kg, the "principle of Least action" prevails... no extra expenditure of energy in unnecessary ( nonetheless spectacular techniques ), and absolutely, no jumping during a combat...

3.) since the ground is rather irregular in a battlefield, most techniques are performed at a very low stance ( low center og gravity for the body ), this ensures proper balance, and more stability in contact... in fact this is one of the most distictive features of Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu, when compared to ... say.. Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage Ryu, or Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu...

BRGDS

Alex

http://www.nitenichiryu.jp/niten.htm

Thank you Alex for your explanations!