Thanks, Glasheen Sensei! Of course, things got VERY busy, right after that post, then I got pneumonia... But I'm back now, at least occasionally.

Lee Darrow, C.H.

Lanmark Education, or "the Forum" is back. They are one of these "New Age" training programs, designed to supposedly help a person "find themself" or somesuch. This post is sort of a consumer warning and my tale of my experience with them from many moons ago...

Back in the mid-70's, I ran into an ...

Back from a long hiatus, it's nice to see the discussions are still as interesting as ever!

With regard to the topic at hand, one small reminder to all - the idea of being able to disagree with the government was one of THE big reasons we split from Europe in the first place. Prior to that split ...

Remember What Winston Said

The cowards attack from hiding,
the civilized and innocent to hurt.
Their faces hidden, shadowed smirks
while we view the results, so grim.

But they shall not triumph over good people
brave and true as Churchil said,
"We Shall Never Surrender Unto the Likes of you."

Lee ...

Kata simply is.

Many often forget the second word of what we practice - Art.

"Art is creative, dynamic, growing, living, breathing and vibrant. Sometimes, it is a conscious exercise - what brushstroke goes here? What bit of clay goes there?

"Sometimes, it flows out of us like an improvisational ...

Michael, you mentioned, in passing, a very important part of successful bouncong - teamwork.

Going to a "zone defense" method, where each member of the bouncer team has overwatch of his buddies - and there'a an actual PLAN in effect for dealing with a problem - or specific TYPES of problems - shows ...

Halford pointed out that a book can be used for defense and I'm living proof of that. In the incident where I was almost mugged on my way to a final exam in college, my Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences text took a stiletto through the cover and served as a good disarm for it when I was ...

Being a major devotee of opportunity weapons, I have to agree with Halford as to the problems with the icreasing levels of "security" around the country - anything that one carries is going to get scrutinized, especially if entering a public building.

On the street, one of my favorite carries is ...

Mr, Halford,

As a Pharmacist, I ask you explain your apparently negative commentary on today's necessity that regular folk need a panel of experts to participate in the activities of daily living. And that "fee" that we've apparently resigned ourselves to, in many cases, to the educated consumer ...

What would you do?

1. If someone insulted you and wouldnt stop
2. If someone wouldnt stop insulted your loved one (that wasnt present)
3. If someone wouldnt stop insulted someone you loved (that was present)
4. If you were waiting for your bus and saw someone insulting a homeless person and ...

In the traditional styles of Savate, two sticks were used - one a traditional man's walking stick, the other, a much shorter stick, similar to the truncheon, nightstick or shelleigh (which traditionally was often a much shorter stick than a cane and used for s-d).

The sticks were used to parry ...

Geeks - from the carnival geeks (the bearded woman, human pincishion, fire eater, sword swallower, etc.) to the techno-geek (eyeglasses held together with tape, slide rule on one hip, BIG calculator on the other) to the hacker geek (mp3 player plugged in and set so loud they can hear it three ...

Jackie Sensei, Dana-Sensei and all,

One of the most difficult issues in communicating clearly is what actors and psychologists call "congruency."

Congruency is when your body and your mouth say the same thing - in the same tone.

How many times have you seen someone say "no" while nodding their ...

Akil Todd Harvey,

Thanks for the kind words. I "closed my hands" over a decade ago (two BAD knees, a bone spur on the left hip socket will do that to you along with a couple of other issues) and have been an armchair MA since then.

It's nice to know that my memory still works and what I have read ...

Dana-Sensei,

Many moons ago, my first wife was sitting on a bus, minding her own business, on her way to class at Michigan State. A man sat down next to her and put his hand on her knee.

She calmly removed it, manually.

The hand returned some minutes later.

She turned to face him. He grinned ...