

Zed Shaw - The Dark Side of the Semantic Web - jraines
http://www.zedshaw.com/essays/semantic_quilombo.html

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bayareaguy
_I study a Brazilian martial art called Capoeira that was practiced by
Brazil's slave population for about 400 years [...] finally the slaves
overthrew their slave masters using Capoeira to forge modern Brazil._

I occasionally get free wireless from a combination Cafe/Capoeira studio in
Berkeley. I shouldn't say much having never tried it, but the people there
always look like they are more in it for the fun and exercise. Somehow I
suspect there has to be more to this historic rebellion than just a bunch of
slaves doing cartwheels to a hip beat.

~~~
manvsmachine
95% of martial arts studios in America are purely commercial: basically a
Bally's with sparring gloves and gi's. Hardcore traditional schools are very
selective in who they allow to train there or will often utilize a "weed out"
strategy on newcomers (I've heard that Gracie BJJ schools are notorious for
this). A Wing Chun school I was interested in made me go through two
interviews before they decided that I would be allowed to train there if I
chose to.

Because of its dance-like movements, Capoeira is often marketed as "yoga meets
breakdancing meets pilates meets tae-bo" in order to attract women, which is
probably what your local studio is doing.

------
jraines
This is from the essays section of his site.

Here's a fun tidbit from his essay on Rails (undated but obviously from right
when Rails came out): "I'd also like to mention that the #rubyonrails IRC
channel on irc.freenode.net is really good for information. The folks there
are very nice, unlike similar channels which want to pound pulpits with their
fat heads."

I know, I know -- a foolish consistency, hobgoblins, etc

