May 2009 bring to each of you happiness, success and be filled with peace and hope for your family and friends. May all your resolutions come true.Happy New Ye...
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
100th Post!
Don't know what to post that may be special to commemorate my 100th post LOLHere's a pedestrian post then, despite it being my 100th.I'm trying to find/write content to add value to your training in the coming year. I hope to have more than 100 posts in 2009. I am not a writer, I am not a historian, I am not a researcher, but I'm doing what I can to be that and more. My journey is still a long one. They say the journey is just as important, if not more, than the arrival at the destination. I will find out and let you all know. Maybe 2009 will see...
2008 Christmas Day spent at Great Wolf Lodge 2 day getaway
Belated entry on how Mr. and Mrs. Stickgrappler took the little stickgrapplers to the Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos (Pennsylvania) on Christmas Day for a 2 day getaway. Advertised as a 2 hour drive from Manhattan, we made it there in about 2 and a half hours. Maybe it's because we stopped at Scenic Overdrive for a few minutes for a brief respite and I snapped this picture. There was still snow/ice on the ground. For those that don't know the Great...
52 HAND BLOCKS: Check out Big K move
I will be buying the Break the Glass dvd, documentary on 52 Hand Blocks shortly. Cannot wait to check it out. Check out my friend's, Daniel Marks, site for more info on this dvd as well as others: http://www.fwape....
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Some of Rory Miller's articles
You can sometimes get a feel for an author's book by reading his articles. Here are 3 of Rory Miller's articles on Budoseek. The first one is in the book, it may or may not be verbatim, but the gist of the message is there. Read it as if it's a preview.The Four Basic Truths of Violent AssaultA Strategy and Tactics Primer for the Martial ArtistJujutsu KataCheck out Rory Miller's site, Chiron Training for some more of his writings.Enj...
Another review on Rory Miller's MEDITATIONS OF VIOLENCE
Check out Mokuren Dojo's review of Rory Miller's MEDITATIONS OF VIOLENCE. Below is an excerpt:A few weeks ago I had the distinct privilege and pleasure of being asked to review Rory Miller's new book, Meditations on Violence. I was really looking forward to this book. It got fabulous hype from every reviewer; one even went so far as to call it "life changing." Let me tell you, there is probably nothing that stands a greater chance of making me skeptical than being told that a martial arts book is life changing. Ok, so maybe if the author's title...
BOOKS: Started to read Rory Miller's MEDITATIONS ON VIOLENCE
Image borrowed from Bobbe Edmonds' Thick As Thieves blog, click to view a larger cover:I first heard of this book via my training partner J. He loaned me his copy recently. I never heard of Rory Miller. You know in the beginning of some books, there are reco's by various luminaries? I saw some of that the blurbs reco'ing the book by the likes of Iain Abernethy, Loren Christiansen and Marc 'Animal' MacYoung and a few others who I didn't recognize,...
Monday, December 29, 2008
LINKS: Check out my friend Jimmy Fatwing's site
Check out my friend's, Jimmy Fatwing, site. He and a few others are at the forefront of researching Western Martial Arts as well as Combatives, Savate, Stickwork/Cane, you name it! If you are into any of the above, Jimmy should be no stranger to you, either his forum posts or yahoogroups posts.Enjoy!NOTE: Logo borrowed from Jimmy Fatwi...
EBOOKS: The Return of the Son of 'And yet more ebooks' entry - FMA Digest
Check out the Filipino Martial Arts Digest aka FMA Digest.If you want info on the FMA, this is one resource to have to check out, that is if you haven't already. There are approximately 5 years of regular issues, then there are special issues as well as mini-issues... adds up to a few gigs (don't hold me to that as I've not actually checked out how much was there). And yes, they are free pdf downloads.Mabuhay ang eskrima!p.s. and yes, I know, technically they are magazines (or ezines) and not a bo...
EBOOKS: The Son of the 'And yet more ebooks' entry - James Marwood's Safeism.com
Check out James Marwood's safeism.com for gigs of free ebooks!! Here's what you will find here on this great site:The Use Of The Broadsword - T. Page - 1746 Self Defence The Art Of Boxing - Ned Donnelly - 1881Physical Culture and Self Defense - Robert Fitzsimmons - 1901 Sabre And Bayonet - AC Cunningham - 1906 The Cane As A Weapon - AC Cunningham - 1912 Ju-Jitsu Self Defence - W Bruce Sutherland - 1913 Practical Self Defence - Jacomb - 1918 Tricks of Self-Defence - WH Collingridge - 1920Jiu Jitsu Wrsetling Defence Against A Violent Attack - The...
EBOOKS: And yet more at Kirk Lawson's Lulu storefront
Speaking of ebooks, here's another link to yet more ebooks -- deepest gratitude to Kirk Lawson for working so hard on making some of these out-of-print books available. If you like the dead tree version, the link will allow you to buy the print version and if you just want to check out the book, Kirk Lawson has graciously provided a free pdf.Kirk Lawson's Lulu storefrontEnj...
EBOOKS: Some more at Jason Couch's site
Speaking about Jason Couch's site, he has some free ebooks here:http://martialhistory.com/category/free-stuff/Enj...
LINKS: check out my friend Jason Couch's site, Martial History Magazine
Check out my friend Jason Couch's site: Martial History Magazine. Met him in person some years ago when he drove 4 hours in the rain to attend a Phil Dunlap Kachin Bando seminar. Good guy! He was one of the moderators on the now-extinct History forum of the Underground. By profession he is a lawyer, but he is a good Martial Arts Historian/Researcher as well as an experienced martial artist. I've lost contact with him... all my fault, what with life, career, and family. Check out his site for his articles. Here's two I found very interesting:Chinese-American...
Sunday, December 28, 2008
UFC 92 - The Ultimate 2008 belated predictions
Was busy with the family during this holiday period, forgot all about posting my predictions for UFC 92 :-( Since it's over already, but I didn't watch it, gonna go ahead and post my predictions. This fight card is one of the best in a long while!-------------------Date Time: Dec-27-2008 7pm PT / 10pm ETEvent Type: PPV LiveLocation: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Nevada Description: It’s the ultimate event of the year with the original Ultimate Fighter®, Forrest Griffin defending his title against “Sugar” Rashad Evans. Then the Ultimate Fighter®...
Friday, December 26, 2008
The Dash poem -- found the author!
The miracle of the internet and google!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------From The Dash Poem author's official site http://www.lindaslyrics.com:Linda Ellis is an author, poet, columnist and inspirational speaker, as well as the creator of the world-famous, "The Dash" poem.Check out this short movie, http://www.thedashmovie.com/linda.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Another...
Thursday, December 25, 2008
How do you live your DASH?
As this is the holiday season, I forgot where I read or heard this but there is some statistic that says that the most suicides are committed around this time of year. I could be wrong on this and hope I am. But I can see that it could be true. It is supposed to be a time of happiness and of getting together with family and friends. Perhaps those driven to suicide are lonely and their only friend is the bottle or worst drugs? As the New Year comes upon them, perhaps they look back and see that the previous year was unfruitful and get morose about...
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
EBOOKS: JudoInfo
If you haven't already, and are into judo, grappling, or World War II-era self-defense books, check out http://www.judoinfo.com/judobooks.htm. All pdf's and free downloads.Check out what's available:NOTE: JudoInfo logo borrowed from their site.Judo BooksAvailable for Download General * Modern Judo Volume 1 by Charles Yerkow (1942) * Modern Judo Volume 2 by Charles Yerkow (1942) * Higher Judo Groundwork by Moshe Feldenkrais (1952) * Standing...
Season's Greetings/Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas/Happy Chanukah/Happy Kwanza 2008
Image borrowed from: www.planetsave.comGesëende Kersfees Een Plesierige Kerfees Rehus-Beal-Ledeats Gezur Krislinjden Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand Tezze Iliniz Yahsi Olsun Selamat Hari Natal Zorionak eta Urte Berri On! Shuvo Naba Barsha Vesele Vanoce Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo Nedeleg laouen na bloavezh mat Tchestita Koleda; Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo Bon Nadal i un Bon Any Nou! Feliz Navidad Gun Tso Sun...
How about this header? Take 2
I'm a simple man, in fact, some may call me a simpleton LOL So for my 2nd header, I went back to my roots of being a simple man. Kept it plain and simple. All these blogs with their fancy headers, that wasn't me. I got razzled dazzled by them lol. Didn't try Martin's suggestions yet on my 1st header. Just went ahead and made a 2nd header. I went with a width of 660 x 500. For the record, no copyright infringement intended. I scanned these images...
Monday, December 22, 2008
VIDCLIP: World’s First Saber Video; France, c. 1880
My friend emailed me this link. Pretty cool "footage". Circa 1880. It is a 12 seconds clip. Enjoy!From J. Christoph Amberger's blog: http://fencingclassics.wordpress.com/2008/12/20/ooooh-aaaahhh-worlds-first-saber-video-france-c-1880/Probably the earliest videographic source for French saber fencing…This clip was filmed off an original French flip-book (Fr.: folioscope or feuilletoscope) by TodaysFinancialNews.com videographer Andy Robinson. It constitutes one of the first short animated documentary sources on the sequence of movements actually...
Finally added an header for this blog - Take 1
This is take 1. I will be working on a few more until I decide on one I like to keep as permanent ... or maybe like clothes, I will change the header periodically. I have to find out what the parameters of blogspot's header images are. I used 800 x 450, which may be a bit bigger than the parameters. Probably have to go to 600 x whatever.Don't know if I like this header or not, but I wanted to mess with some images for the blog header. There is also...
Thursday, December 11, 2008
NEWS: Search and find magazines on Google Book Search
Search and find magazines on Google Book Search12/09/2008 09:47:00 AM from: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/search-and-find-magazines-on-google.html[snip]...Today, we're announcing an initiative to help bring more magazine archives and current magazines online, partnering with publishers to begin digitizing millions of articles from titles as diverse as New York Magazine, Popular Mechanics, and Ebony. Are you a baseball history fanatic? Try a search for [hank aaron pursuing babe ruth's record] on Google Book Search. You'll find a link to...
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Steve Perry's Silat blog entries I
I will post links to Steve Perry's recent Silat blog entries... will post more in the future as time permits:Trust Your Tools (Tuesday, December 09, 2008)Martial Arts Mindfulness, Intent, Thought Thursday, December 04, 2008)On the Benefits of Being a Crippled Martial Artist (Thursday, November 13, 2008)Djuru Three (Thursday, November 06, 2008)Enj...
Steve Perry, Silat and The Man Who Never Missed
I couldn't think of a "S" tie-in to go for my fave alliteration gimmick :-(Steve Perry... I first heard of him because I was deeply into reading science fiction and fantasy books circa high school and early college days. He wrote the Matador series, and no, he is not the former lead singer of Journey. Same name, and no relation IIRC. Digression: the new lead singer of Journey sounds like Steve Perry and had a hard life before he joined Journey to...
NEWS: Thieves Winning Online War, Maybe in Your PC
this really sux excrement!----------------Thieves Winning Online War, Maybe in Your PCBy JOHN MARKOFFPublished: December 5, 2008 The New York TimesSAN FRANCISCO — Internet security is broken, and nobody seems to know quite how to fix it.Despite the efforts of the computer security industry and a half-decade struggle by Microsoft to protect its Windows operating system, malicious software is spreading faster than ever. The so-called malware surreptitiously takes over a PC and then uses that computer to spread more malware to other machines exponentially....
Monday, December 08, 2008
MUSIC: My all-time favorite jazz songs
A few of my all-time favorite jazz songs... My #1 all-time fave is Johnny Hartman & John Coltrane's My One and Only Love... i can listen to this forever... i cannot put into words why i like it the way i do... i just do. this imo is when both were at the height of their careers and the teamup is awesome. although Hartman is underrated by many, he had an awesome voice.Chet Baker was once described by a critic as being an average trumpet player and an average singer, but he was a great trumpet player AND singer, that is one that can do both....
Mental workouts
i work with an equities trader who loves sudokus... i once asked him why he liked it so much... he had 2 answers, one of which may be the secret to trading and the other to long life... will let you guess which of the below is which.he said he always wants to challenge his mind, he believes that if the mind is not used, as one gets older, alzheimer's and the like will set in easily. if you have mental workouts when younger, as you get older, you will still have your wits about you. i've not done any research into this, but intuitively this makes...
Added a section to my blog
for most of the time, i live in a vacuum and just post to my blog when i have time. what is great about the blog format is that after each blog entry, in essence it's its own "forum thread". my site didn't have anything like this... after all, it was just a free tripod site where i archived what i found to be useful martial arts related info. i've received many emails regarding some of the content of my site since i began it.so when i maxed out the free allotment of space on it, i tried a blog as a continuation.. there are some nice features of...
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving 2008
From wiki:Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. It is primarily a North American holiday which has generally become a national secular holiday with religious origins. The date and location of the first Thanksgiving celebration is a topic of modest contention. Though the earliest attested Thanksgiving celebration was on September 8, 1565 in what is now Saint...
Monday, November 24, 2008
Wesley Snipes - 52 Hand Blocks
I've not seen this movie, but in the new issue of Black Belt (January 2009), a columnist reviewed this movie which is out on dvd and mentioned some points of interest:
In Betrayal, Shaw has retired from the spy game and is mourning the death of his martial arts master, a cross-dresser named Mother whose fighting system is never mentioned but resembles a type of silat.
[snip]
...Shaw uses the exact same moves against an assassin that his instructor...
1 TiddlyWiki (TW) project I have in mind
Here is one project I had in mind in addition to the Martial Arts Magazines Index -- MMA events, fighters, records...Not sure if TW can tally up some numbers to come up with a record, but I run into this all the time... which UFC did Matt Hughes get a standing back mount and RNC'd Frank Trigg? Where did UFC 1 take place? When did it take place? Who did Randy Couture fight?Sure I can probably find the answers over the internet via Kirik Jennings' site or sherdog.com even... but the beauty of the TW is that it doesn't need to be online, i pop open...
Turned-on, Titillated and Tingly over TiddlyWiki
There goes my cheesy alliteration again :-)So I have a few hare-brained ideas for projects I want to work on. Some of them are started, some of them never come to fruition. Most of the time, I feel like George Lucas. He didn't make the Star Wars movies fast because he felt the technology of the time would not match his vision. I am like that somewhat. I felt that a website/html would be too much work to cross-reference the stuff on my archive. Then...
Friday, November 21, 2008
Ryan Couture's MMA debut fight
YOUTUBE LINK DELETEDRyan Couture, son of former UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture, wins his MMA amateur debut. Couture was able to submit Ricky Perez (1-1) in the first round by triangle choke at the West Coast Fight Club event in Bellingham, Washington. Ryan Couture is in the black and red trunks in the video. If I have the date right, it was 11/7/08.Congratulations Ryan Coutu...
S.W.O.T. Analysis
Most of us know that Business has used the Military/Martial Arts Classics, Bing Faat (The Art of War) by Sun Tzu and Go Rin No Sho (The Book of Five Rings) by Miyamoto Musashi, to gain an edge on the competition. Well turnabout is fairplay... Martial Artists should be able to use something from Business!I was discussing the pocket stick with my training partner J. In addition to his Shotokan black belt and various experiences in judo, boxing, JKDC, BJJ, Bagua, and Taiji, he has a MBA from a business school. While discussing using various everyday...
Saturday, November 15, 2008
In Memory of Mun Yuen
CAR KILLS CON ED MAN IN BRONX By BRIGITTE WILLIAMS-JAMESNovember 5, 2006 -- A Con Edison employee was killed on the job yesterday when he was hit by a car in The Bronx, officials said. A 62-year-old woman driving a Ford Focus traveling southbound on Boston Road in Crotona swerved to avoid a bicyclist at about 4:30 p.m., according to police. As she made the evasive maneuver, she crashed into Con Ed worker Mun Yuen, smashing him against a restaurant, police said. Yuen, 40, had been working on an underground feeder cable at East 169th Street,...
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
UFC 91: Prediction - Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar
UFC 91 is this Saturday. The main event is Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar.I'm a Couture fan, because he uses Panantukan (Filipino boxing) somewhat mixed in with his Greco-Roman/MMA game LOLRandy's savvy/experience/skills IMO is too much for Brock's brute g&p... sure he was All-American, but that's straight up wrestling and not MMA. Couture by takedown repeatedly and G&P and Lesnar taps... or I think Randy knows basic subs like the armbar, RNC, and leglock/heelhook, and as he takes Lesnar down and starts his G&P, Brock gives Couture...
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
MAMI = Martial Arts Magazine Index
Another crazy project in the back of my mind that I've been wanting to work on for a loooooong time. It is to be an index of martial arts magazines. There's a few ways I can do this and before starting a project of this magnitude, I want to think through the layout/design/indexing process to make it the most useful it can be... to be able to accomodate any conceivable search variations. Better to lay a solid foundation first than jump right in and end up juryrigging it to add in something that was not foreseen.Suppose you wanted to find all published...
Happy Veteran's Day
From Wiki:Veterans Day is an annual American holiday honoring military veterans. Both a federal holiday and a state holiday in all states, it is usually observed on November 11. However, if it occurs on a Sunday then the following Monday is designated for holiday leave, and if it occurs Saturday then either Saturday or Friday may be so designated. It is also celebrated as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world, falling on November...
Thursday, November 06, 2008
LINKS: My friend Ausgepicht's site - Spladdle!
Just found out my friend Ausgepicht started a site and forum.Check out the site here: http://www.spladdle.com/Check out the forum here: http://www.spladdle.com/forum/It's a site/forum to discuss: "News & Training Blog for Physical Culture, MMA and Combat Sports!"Ausgepicht loves MMA, is an instructor and very knowledgeable and sharing/giving of his time on the forums... I've archived some of his posts to my site in the past. Here for your convenience are some of the links:Stickgrappling notes by Ausgepicht Krishnamurti Weekly Thread by Ausgepicht...
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