Oct 27 2008

Results on UFC 90: Silva vs Cote

Anderson Silva beats Patrick Cote

A brutal main event fight. Silva looked silly dodging and weaving trying to pinpoint Cote’s weaknesses. Then Cote injures his knee to stop the bout suddenly at the start of the third. I’m sure more than a few people wanted their money back.

Josh Koscheck loses to Thiago Alves

A good battle. Thiago earned the win, Josh needed more than two weeks notice to prepare for this one. Really Thiago looked like the better stronger opponent for the full three rounds. If Josh wasn’t so tough he would have been knocked out a couple times.

Sean Sherk beats Tyson Griffin

A close fight, but Sean looked better in most areas. Other than maybe slowing down too much in the third round. Tyson should win the next one if these two are ever set to fight again.

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Overall the show was pretty good, just that an injury in the main event is brutal. If, instead of that injury, Silva would have attacked sooner and won the fight in round 2, then the show would have been great.

 

Oct 23 2008

Predictions on UFC 90: Silva vs Cote

Anderson Silva Vs. Patrick Cote

Anderson Silva has to be the dominant favorite.  The fight is OK to see, but Cote seems a bit low in the rankings for a title shot. Another sign that Silva should fight at 205 again for more fan-favorite fights. Silva could maybe take on Keith Jardine or Chuck Liddell.

Josh Koscheck Vs. Thiago Alves

I think Alves should have the next GSP title shot, Josh Koscheck’s chance was only a couple fights back.

Plus how can a Koscheck prep for Alves with only two weeks notice? Josh will be in decent fitness shape, but not at his maximum 10 week intense training potential.

Sean Sherk Vs. Tyson Griffin

I am a fan of Sherk’s back to his drug testing ordeal. He should be able to beat everyone other than B.J. Penn. 

 

No favorites for myself in the other fights, just hoping for epic battles, and no ‘Elusive’ style strikers.

Oct 22 2008

Intelligence in Nature by Jeremy Narby

Full Title: Intelligence in nature : an inquiry into knowledge by Jeremy Narby

Rating: 4/5

Style: A fun page-turner, but not a brilliant writing style. 

Summary: Narby travels around interviewing scientists regarding their studies into nature; birds, butterflies, slime, plants, etc…  

Comments: I enjoyed reading the book, but I’m not sure sure Narby added enough of his own writing or work into the book. Feels like he google searched cool science research, did personal interviews of the lead researchers, then published a book compiling their effort with a small commentary added. That might have been perfect pre-internet, but you can find that cutting edge science interviews on free podcasts.

Still, the book was a fun read. Narby even included book notes at the end that included other’s critisms of Narby’s work perspective. Neat.

I haven’t read his main work yet, ‘Shamans Through Time: 500 Years on the Path to Knowledge’, but plan to soon.

Oct 20 2008

Results on UFC 89: BISPING vs LEBEN

Michael Bisping Vs. Chris Leben

Leben put on a great fight, but overall it was lame to watch Bisping be ‘Elusive’ for three rounds. (Most people know that the UFC calls star fighters ‘Elusive’ , and non-star fighters ‘Running-Away’.) If the UFC can come down hard on wrestlers just laying on people and doing kidney shots, the UFC should do the same for strikers running away for three rounds, barely throwing in counter straight jabs to win judging points. At least Rashad’s elusive running-away got him a knock-out. 

Bisping is the celebrity star so gets the win when it goes to a decision like this one. Bisping should look at what happened to Andrei Arlovski’s career when he was too concerned with winning fights by the judges point system and not by actually winning the fight. 

Not to sound too ranty, Chris Leben put on a great fight. He rocks. 

Keith Jardine Vs. Brandon Vera

Jardine and Vera both did pretty good. It might have been the case where they are too evenly matched so the fight gets a bit stale-mated. Maybe it was more like a title fight event and they needed two more rounds to really display a clear advantage. I am looking forward to both of their next fights.

Rameau Sokoudjou Vs. Luiz Cane

Sokoudjou was great to watch, even though he ended up losing. His jumping mid-air kick attack was right out of a video game. Bam! No wonder the UFC wants him winning, me too.

 

The other fights were pretty good for free tv. This show might have turned out better than a couple pay-per-view fight cards earlier on this year. After this event I am more of a Sokoudjou fan (even though he TKO lost) and less of a Bisping fan (even though he judges-decision won).

Oct 16 2008

Predictions on UFC 89: BISPING vs LEBEN

Michael Bisping Vs. Chris Leben

It seems like the UFC uses Leben as the marker into the top ranks. If you can’t beat him, you’re probably out of luck unless you have a big fan base. Which is too bad for Leben, I cheer for him, and i still hope he wins two/three in a row for his own title shot.

Bisping is the celebrity star to keep building the UFC brand in the uk. Maybe they should create a uk title belt just for Bisping to have on display. He has looked way better his last couple of fights though.

Keith Jardine Vs. Brandon Vera

I think Keith should’ve had a title shot before Forrest Griffin, but was bumped for business-popularity reasons. Maybe he should try for a guest star role on American Gladiators to get a title shot.

Brandon hopefully fights way better in this one than his last tired decision win. Fight wise it’s ok to lose to Keith as long as you put on a big fight show. 

Rameau Sokoudjou Vs. Luiz Cane

The UFC would like Sokoudjou to win, but I don’t care too much. He is still a ways off from a title shot.

 

No favorites for myself in the other fights, just hoping for some epic battles.

Oct 15 2008

Wider Than the Sky by Gerald M. Edelman

Full Title: wider than the sky - the phenomenal gift of consciousness by Gerald M. Edelman - winner of the Nobel Prize

Rating: 3/5

Writing Style: Academic, but very well done.

Summary: ‘… he explains neuroscience and describes how consciousness arises in complex brains.’

Comments: I learned many points from this book and it is very will presented, so I should have given it the 5/5 rating it deserves, but I just don’t agree with some of his theory ideas and I was hoping for more thoughts on ‘why’ not just’ how’ the brain does what it does. 

The book mentions the mind’s tendency to avoid a fractured reality; anosognosia, blind spot, somatoparaphrenia, alien hand syndrome, etc… So could this make it possible, but not likely, that we all have a few more reality fractures in place that our mind auto-adjusts to form a unitary remembered present reality?

Here are the books notes for memory -> ‘… looked on as a property of degenerate nonlinear interactions in a multidimensional network of neuronal groups.’

But overall this was a great book to read for basic entry to the nuerosciences. I’ll search for his other brain books, as I can only hope he has looked into brain scans and neurons to explain NDE’s, lucid dreams, psychedelics, and more of the fringe consciousness topics.

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