Ask My Neighbor about being a Ninja.

[Cablelessray]

ask:

1. at his prime, how many people in the world would he estimate could kill him one-on-one.

2. right now, how many people in the world would he estimate could kil him one-on-one.

3. how many people chosen at random from OOT could he take on without weapons. (how many would die before he lost)

[KungFuManchu]

[ QUOTE ]
Has anyone ever read Shibumi? This ninja IS the main character, with the Go stuff and everything.

[/ QUOTE ]

Probably what OP was influenced by. Even fake its still an entertaining read, so in the end it doesnt really matter.

[React1oN]

[ QUOTE ]
stay in the distance when you see him out being an ninja, and take a picture pleaseeeeeeeeeeee

[/ QUOTE ]

[OMGJuliet]

Ask him about the ninja diet!

[JackWilson]

[ QUOTE ]
blarg have you ever played chess with any sort of seriousness?

[/ QUOTE ]

Having played both some sort of seriousness, I can testify that Go is much more strategically complex than chess, and it's not close. Both have some incredibly sharp tactical continuations (tsumego etc vs combinations I suppose) and I wouldn't be able to say with any degree of certainty which is more complex. The only piece of evidence I can think of for my claim is that Chess has been mapped out pretty decently by modern computers and the best computer opponent is at no disadvantage against any current chess player. Contrast this with Go, where computers are unable to present a challenge to masters, and it's not due to lack of trying. The key difference is that computers cannot plan long-term with any real strategy, that requires intelligent thought. In chess it is simulated. In Go, that doesn't cut it.

EDIT: And Eddie is awesome.

[adsman]

Eddie hasn’t been around for the past week, or if he has I wasn’t able to catch him. That is until this afternoon. I did a few rafting trips today, and finished in the late afternoon. Had a few beers and then came home. I looked up and noticed that smoke was rising from behind the trees that shield his house from the view of us peasants down below. I was a bit knackered but I figured that I had to go up for OOT. What a guy, huh?

Eddie was inside making a salad of fresh tomato, basil, and mozzarella.

“You want some?” he asked me.
“Sure. Is that fresh mozzarella?”
“You bet. Made a couple of hours ago.”

We ate the salad and we spoke a bit about starting hands in hold em. I was a bit nervous about what I wanted to bring up but eventually he figured that something was wrong.

“So what are you fidgeting about? You got something on your mind?”
“Yeah. Shibumi.”
He leaned back in his chair and smiled. He didn’t answer right away. First he reached into his pocket and pulled out a mini Cuban, a Cohiba. He offered me one and I accepted it with a nod.

“Trevanian,” he said. “Didn’t take you long to figure that out. Or was it OOT?”
“OOT. Fast Food Knight to be precise.”
“He’s a poster?”
“She’s a poster.”
“A girl? A girl got the Trevanian reference? I’m impressed. She must be one impressive lady.”
“Half the forum’s in love with her.”
“I bet they are. A girl, eh? That’s just great. I love it when life throws up surprises like this. OK, so what do you want to know?”
“Well, I read the book. Sum of your story fits. The timeline is out a bit, but there’s quite a few common points.”
“Of course there are. Rod based the book on me.”
“Rod?”
“Trevanian’s real name. Trevanian was just a pen name.”
“Are you serious?”
“Of course. I mean most of the stuff he made up himself. The Japanese garden, the level four sex stuff, the story itself. It was all a bit tongue in cheek. But the basis was fact. He took that off what he knew about me.”
“So, how did you meet him?”
“I knew his wife. We became friends. We were both living in the same part of France. I didn’t mind him using my life as a basis for a book. The only stipulation I had was that it couldn’t be sold for a movie. He was fine with that. I quite like the book actually. I like the name Nicholas. Much better than Eddie.”
“This is pretty far out there. I mean, who is going to believe this?”
“What the hell do I care who believes it or not? I know the truth, I know my life. I’m not out to prove anything here. I like talking to you, and you write up our conversations in an unbiased manner. That’s all there is to it. Whether you believe me or other people believe me, it makes no difference to me personally. I find it all amusing.”
“It’s still pretty insane.”
“What’s insane about it? The Kennedy family crap, now that’s insane. I told you that and you didn’t even bat an eyelid. You didn’t even ask me about it.”
“OK, so tell me about the Kennedy family.”
“No way. Even I know when to keep my mouth shut.”
“Very amusing. I’ve got a stack of questions from OOT for you.”
“Ask me a few, then we’ll play some Go.”
“OK. What was your worst ninja related injury?”
“Hmmm. There’ve been a few. I copped a bullet once that’s still sitting on my spine. That hurt a lot.”
“Nasty.”
“Yeah. The bastard wasn’t even supposed to be there. And he was good. Well, fairly good. If he’d been really good we wouldn’t be talking now, Rod wouldn’t have written his book, and that motherfecker wouldn’t be missing from his loved ones. Ah ha ha ha.”
“Right. What was the longest time it took you to complete a mission?”
“Nice question. Close to two years.”
“Two years? Are you serious?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Do you fear being tracked down by old rivals, enemies, that sort of thing?”
“Not at all.”
“Do you have any advice for us on dealing with our own enemies or rivals?”
“Your only true enemy is yourself. Once you manage to defeat yourself, no other person will trouble you.”
“Can you make that any clearer?”
“No.”
“Due to the fcat that you might go senile in your old age and spill some beans, are you worried about a clean-up crew coming to take care of you?”
“When the time comes, the time comes. I have seen a lot of death, it harbors no feeling for me. I have seen many people die, in many different ways, with many different reactions and behaviour. I know how I will conduct myself when it is my turn. That’s enough questions, now I will teach you the basics of Go.”
“One more question. What do you have to say about Gutei’s finger?”
“Who?”
“Gutei. I thought you were a buddhist?”
“What did I tell you about thinking? Pass me those two round containers. It’s time for a real strategy game.”

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
blarg have you ever played chess with any sort of seriousness?

[/ QUOTE ]

Having played both some sort of seriousness, I can testify that Go is much more strategically complex than chess, and it's not close. Both have some incredibly sharp tactical continuations (tsumego etc vs combinations I suppose) and I wouldn't be able to say with any degree of certainty which is more complex. The only piece of evidence I can think of for my claim is that Chess has been mapped out pretty decently by modern computers and the best computer opponent is at no disadvantage against any current chess player. Contrast this with Go, where computers are unable to present a challenge to masters, and it's not due to lack of trying. The key difference is that computers cannot plan long-term with any real strategy, that requires intelligent thought. In chess it is simulated. In Go, that doesn't cut it.

EDIT: And Eddie is awesome.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's one of the things that I like best about Go and find most characteristic of the game. Every small scale problem can have very long-term consequences that effect what's happening far away on the other side of the board. When playing, I constantly get a feeling of the game being really sweeping as the focus on the very same move changes from the small to the large, or a move that seems to be mostly about long term overall board control also has to be carefully calculated to play well in the smaller scale and more immediately. The contrast in scale and simultaneous levels of planning can be truly vertiginous.

[chiachu]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
blarg have you ever played chess with any sort of seriousness?

[/ QUOTE ]

Having played both some sort of seriousness, I can testify that Go is much more strategically complex than chess, and it's not close. Both have some incredibly sharp tactical continuations (tsumego etc vs combinations I suppose) and I wouldn't be able to say with any degree of certainty which is more complex. The only piece of evidence I can think of for my claim is that Chess has been mapped out pretty decently by modern computers and the best computer opponent is at no disadvantage against any current chess player. Contrast this with Go, where computers are unable to present a challenge to masters, and it's not due to lack of trying. The key difference is that computers cannot plan long-term with any real strategy, that requires intelligent thought. In chess it is simulated. In Go, that doesn't cut it.

EDIT: And Eddie is awesome.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's one of the things that I like best about Go and find most characteristic of the game. Every small scale problem can have very long-term consequences that effect what's happening far away on the other side of the board. When playing, I constantly get a feeling of the game being really sweeping as the focus on the very same move changes from the small to the large, or a move that seems to be mostly about long term overall board control also has to be carefully calculated to play well in the smaller scale and more immediately. The contrast in scale and simultaneous levels of planning can be truly vertiginous.

[/ QUOTE ]

Damn i wish i had a private go teacher. I tried to learn how to play a while back, but found it really difficult to learn. Read a couple of beginner books and learned some basics, but couldnt really get anywhere from there. I should really give it another shot.

[Blarg]

Did you get any Go software? There are a number of different ones out there, and I've seen free versions before too, though they are a bit harder to find. You can practice that way anytime, and there are huge online leagues and everything too.

I agree that it can be hard to learn, though. They have whole multi-volume encyclopedias of just opening moves alone, and you have to memorize how to close up various sized openings, etc. It's a fun game to play right away, but it can get very technical very fast.

It's a good enough game, though, that it seems to me it's worth going back to many times, as long as it takes to get reasonably okay at it and be able to have a decent game. Even if that's spread out over 50 years. It's just a wonderful feeling to play a game that challenging and and good.

[chiachu]

[ QUOTE ]
Did you get any Go software? There are a number of different ones out there, and I've seen free versions before too, though they are a bit harder to find. You can practice that way anytime, and there are huge online leagues and everything too.

I agree that it can be hard to learn, though. They have whole multi-volume encyclopedias of just opening moves alone, and you have to memorize how to close up various sized openings, etc. It's a fun game to play right away, but it can get very technical very fast.

It's a good enough game, though, that it seems to me it's worth going back to many times, as long as it takes to get reasonably okay at it and be able to have a decent game. Even if that's spread out over 50 years. It's just a wonderful feeling to play a game that challenging and and good.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yea i had a unix version i played a while back. The AI usually beat me though. Also played a little it on yahoo. My issue with learning was that id finish a game, wonder where i went wrong, and have no answers. I could read some books, but they wouldnt tell me what went wrong during that particular game. Maybe i just need to sit down and play a whole bunch of games and go from there.