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2011年3月18日 星期五

Volleyball Strength! - Strength and Conditioning the Right Way

A Volleyball strength program designed by a volleyball player that specializes in volleyball strength and conditioning. Develop the strength needed to jump higher and hit harder along with the speed and quickness to make outstanding defensive plays.


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Football: Arsenal in FA Cup draw

Leyton Orient players and their mascot celebrate Jonathan Telhoue 's late equalizer against Arsenal in the FA Cup.Leyton Orient players and their mascot celebrate Jonathan Telhoue late Equalizer against Arsenal in the League Cup. one hand Leyton Orient hold Barcelona invaders, Arsenal 1-1 draw in FA Cup
Manchester City beat Notts County 5-0 in the fourth round replay of the the Cup at the stadium
Bolton book place in FA Cup quarterfinals after win over Fulham 1-0
West Brom and wolves to draw 1-1 in the Premier League

(CNN)-the Arsenal were held 1-1 draw by Premier League side Leyton Orient in the FA Cup fifth round on Sunday.

Arsenal, who recorded the famous 2-1 victory over Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League in midweek, fielded in reducing side for Sunday's fixture and looked to have enough to win when Toma? Rosicky started in the 19th minute 53.

But Leyton Orient beats and were rewarded when substitute striker, Jonathan Tehoue beat two defenders before striking a low device by Manuel Almunia legs in the 88th minute.

Winners of the replay of the Emirates Stadium to face Manchester United at Old Trafford quarterfinals.

In the other FA Cup links play Sunday Manchester City thrashed the Nott County 5-0 in the fourth round replay their FA Cup match at the stadium.

Paul Ince League one side managed to Keep making its more illustrious opponents 1-1 in the Meadow Lane in January and for a time, hold their own against Roberto Mancini men.

It took the town nearly 40 minutes from zad〃nenata Patrick Vieira opened the scoring when he headed in the near post from David Silva corner.

Vieira adds second just before the hour for all but kill off any hopes for a revival of the district.

But city have not been completed and additional objectives are added by Carlos Tevez-rounded Nelson in Notts County goal before sliding the 90th minute ball. Edin Dzeko another added in Protocol, 89th and mother Richards made five in injury time.

Win a fifth round draw with Aston Villa.

Bolton Wanderers have shown their place in the quarterfinals after registration 1-0 victory Fulham at.

Croatian forward Ivan Krasnic got a crucial objective after 19 minutes with shell past Mark Schwarzer.

Bolton will face Birmingham in St Andrews for the semifinals.

Sunday only English Premier League match saw Midlands region Derby between West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers ended with a draw 1-1.

Wolves were heading for all three points after Jamie O'Hara had them ahead after 39 minutes.

But Carlos Vela pounced on the loose ball for tuck away-time injuries Equalizer Roy Hodgson's team.

Goal denied the chance to move beyond the wolves, the bottom of the table, while point lifts West Brom one point over Wigan 17.

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2011年3月17日 星期四

Urban Cowboy

Urban CowboyJohn Travolta traded in disco duds for a cowboy hat in this corny love story about a working man who breaks up with his girlfriend (Debra Winger), then plays out their relationship's turmoil inside a huge honky-tonk called Gilley's. The story essentially parallels Travolta's prior hit film, Saturday Night Fever, in its blend of ordinary life, incomplete relationships, and personal pride channeled into niche stardom at a neighborhood club. But for all its regional flavor, Urban Cowboy never enjoys the immediacy and urgency of Fever, and after awhile you can't help but feel bemused by the macho silliness of ongoing "mechanical bull" competitions (basically a faux rodeo device only brave men can master at great chiropractic risk). The Travolta-Winger relationship is pure soap, as well. But this film really is a kind of time-capsule piece on a lot of levels--notably Travolta's career and late '70s Western kitsch--and while it's silly, it's certainly not disagreeable. --Tom Keogh

Price: $9.98


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2011年3月16日 星期三

Young Man's Fancy: Gender Roles & Electricity Consumption (1952) [DVD]

Young Man's Fancy: Gender Roles & Electricity Consumption (1952) [DVD]Using sex to sell is nothing new, but Young Mans Fancy finds a new use of the timeless strategy. When a schoolgirls crush ignores her for electric appliances she learns the hard way that boys think electricity is sexy too. The bizarre plot makes this otherwise standard energy use propaganda film a special treat.

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LGMedSupply LG-3000 Basic Tens Unit With 3 Treatment Modes

LGMedSupply LG-3000 Basic Tens Unit With 3 Treatment ModesThe TENS-3000 Analog TENS Unit Pain Relief System includes TENS-3000 Dual Channel Analog TENS Unit Hard Carrying Case 4 2 x 2 Inch Square Electrode Pads 9 Volt Battery Lead Wires Instruction Manual Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) is a non-invasive, drugfree method of controlling pain. TENS Units use tiny electrical impulses sent through the skin to nerves to modify your pain perception. In most patients it is effective in reducing or eliminating the pain, allowing for a return to normal activity. In many patients, the reduction or elimination of pain lasts longer than the actual period of stimulation (sometimes as much as three to four times longer). In others, pain is modified while stimulation actually occurs. The TENS-3000 TENS Unit are used to control chronic and acute pain including Rheumatoid and Osteo-arthritis, Back pain, Menstrual Pain, Labour Pain, Peripheral Nerve Injuries, Shingles, Headache and Migraine, Cancer Pain, Trigeminal Neuralgia, Phantom Limb Pain, Sports Injuries, Sciatica, Aching Joints, Post Operative Pain, Muscular Pain, Whiplash and Neck Injury and many other painful conditions. It is simple and easy to use. Four Electrode Pads are placed near or around the areas in pain. Because it is Dual Channel, you can use 2 or all 4 Electrode Pads at the same time. You control the pulse width, pulse rate, and intensity and in just 20 minutes per day you will experience dramatic pain relief.

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DBTech 175 Watt Portable Micro Power Inverter With USB Port --- 12v AC to 110v DC Car Plug Converter For Your Ipod DVD Players Laptops Netbooks And cellphones

DBTech 175 Watt Portable Micro Power Inverter With USB Port --- 12v AC to 110v DC Car Plug Converter For Your Ipod DVD Players Laptops Netbooks And cellphonesThe Xantrex Technologies XPower Micro 175-watt inverter transforms your vehicle's electricity so you can power your electronic devices while on the road. Compact and lightweight, it simply plugs into the 12-volt DC outlet in your vehicle to power cell phones, camcorders, small portable stereos, laptop computers, 13-inch TVs, portable work lights, and more. It includes an automatic shutdown feature to protect against overload, over-heating, and high/low battery condition. This durable plastic unit is just 1.9-by-2.9-by-4.8 inches in size and weighs 0.38 pounds. It is covered by a 1-year warranty.

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2011年3月15日 星期二

Self-defense claimed in the case of the murder of Chesterfield

Jurors in the murder of Chesterfield County will have to decide, Peter Simpson killed his 19-year-old stepson in self-defence or maliciously gunned down adolescents as a result of late night internal confrontations that was years in the making.

Prosecutor Julia Sichol outlined a scenario that had a pistol from his capture Simpson nightstand and shooting unarmed Mason Devon four times after teenagers came to his mother's help during an argument between Simpson and his wife.

But during an interview with investigators immediately after shooting, Simpson said, he's just protecting yourself when the 250-pound Manchester high school graduate came to it that night and cornered him in the bedroom.

Simpson, 56, was prosecuted count of first-degree murder in 2 Feb 2010 the fatal shootings of his stepson by Simpson were the contentious relations since Mason's life around 13.

Fatal confrontation began late on February 1 after Simpson's wife, Francelia Archie, her husband, 911 calls overheard Texas on behalf of the woman with whom he had an affair several years ago. Simpson told Archie that woman's boyfriend beat her up.

Simpson and his wife were sleeping in separate bedrooms that night from previously dispute, but Archie faces Simpson on a phone call, the argument then. Simpson began pushing his wife from his bedroom when she refused to leave, and Mason heard the commotion and intervened, according to testimony.

When Archie and Mason pushed their way through the door Simpson, Simpson retreated to his bedside table, pulled a .45 pistol and shot Mason four times.

Just how close the teens was and whether he was physically threatened Simpson in dispute.

Mason collapsed in private bedrooms and was unable to move after one shot tore his spinal cord. Simpson, registered nurse at VCU Medical Center, resigned for his stepson on the road outside the family home on disk flag tail and called 911.

Archie, a nurse administered first aid, but Mason died after being taken to hospital.

Simpson told police in several recorded interview played Monday jury how and why he shot his stepson, demonstrated how events unfolded and opened a locked gun safe in his garage, so they could get a gun, he used.

Simpson said he had gone through years of alarmingly from Mason, and he shot him as Teen came to him. "I'm not going to produce a pistol if I fear for their lives," says Simpson, who owns about 20 guns has concealed weapons permit and enjoys recreational shooting.

But Archie testified that Mason never touched Simpson in the evening, or on any other day, though she acknowledged that her son threatened Simpson when provoked.

With the prosecution rest its case late Monday, defense attorney, Greg Sheldon will cause its only witness — Simpson — to testify on the morning of his or her own defence.

mbowes@timesdispatch.com

(804) 649-6450


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Greece-Polis

All beginnings are lost in obscurity, including those of a race or people. Still, the social foundations of Greek life, namely, marriage and the family and property rights, appear to have been present already in pre-Hellenic times; they were certainly present among the Hellenes and Greco-Italic people before they differentiated into sub-groups. They must have been shaped by a primal religion which bestowed a central role on the ancestral cult as well as on the hearth. Ancestor worship also imposed monogamy, found in Greece at the very beginning, as evidenced by elaborate marriage rites and the severe punishment adultery entailed. And, likewise, the right to own land was causally related to veneration of the hearth and graves.


According to Diodorus, the hearth taught man the art of building houses. Originally, Greek houses were separated from each other; there were no rows of houses with partition walls between them. The family burial site was located on one's own land; therefore, this property could not be alienated. The duties deriving from ancestor worship also imposed the right of inheritance. The son inherited the land, the daughters being left out. But, to guarantee the continuation of sacrifices to the dead, daughters as inheritors were married to the next of kin, and adoption was permitted. Paternal power must have been very comprehensive.


In historical times the genos, i.e., the racial community in the old sense, was present only as a vestigial remnant, surviving nowhere in its original form. The genos appeared as a recollection, as an awareness of a common ancestry, and in a communal worship of the dead, the grave site being the only property held in common. The relation of the later lines of descent to the ancestral lineage remains in question; the accession of slaves and hired hands also had a complicating effect on the racial groupings. The interrelation of the racial stocks and tribes baffles conception and is purely hypothetical. We simply cannot tell whether families formed phratries, phratries phylae, and phylae tribes, or whether, on the contrary, the tribe was first and it broke up into phylae, phratries, and sub-groups. Whether it was a process of subdivision or of amalgamation cannot be ascertained.


In any event, a remnant of gray antiquity towers like an ancient mountain peak above alluvial plains-the phylae. The marked changes in the social structure and in the usage of words have here, as elsewhere, greatly encumbered our grasp of the original affairs.


The population of the Doric states tended to be composed of three phylae -Pamphylians, Dymaneans, and Hyllosians. Pamphylus and Dyman were sons of King Aegimius and grandsons of Dorus, while Hyllus was the son of Heracles, who once helped Aegimius in combat against the Lapithae. This third branch must somehow have been the favored one, for it provided the leaders, the Heraclidae, under whom the Dorians set out on their renowned migrations and laid the foundation of states.


In Attica, and likely also in other Ionic states, there were four phylae: Geleontes, Argadeis, Aegicoreis, and Hopletes, heroes who were ostensibly the sons of Ion. Antiquity supposed that these names stood for various modes of life-roughly, landowners, tradesmen, shepherds, and a knightly nobility. Not until subsequent historical times did each of the phylae comprise eupatrids and ordinary citizens of every sort. The phylae became elective bodies and, after Solon's constitution, each one contributed one hundred members to the council. It can not be determined whether the phylae in their early stages lived each in a separate place or not. Later, to be sure, they all lived together; it sufficed to know to which phyle one belonged. The names of the Athenians who fell at Marathon were recorded on the gravestones set on the large burial mound, according to phylae and, indeed, according to the new ones with which Cleisthenes replaced the old ones.


Are we to say that originally the Dorians were divided into three phylae and the Ionians into four? Or rather that the Dorians took their rise from the combining of three phylae, the Athenians from the combining of four? A fiery smelting process inconceivable to us gives rise to a race of people, whose individual states quite consistently reflect their common origins.


Originally, phylae were based on descent rather than occupation, as suggested by the examples adduced, for later phylae were artificially created in new settlements. When misfortune befell Cyrene, Demonax was called from Arcadia to restore order; he created three phylae out of the main components of the population: the first of emigrants from Thera and their neighbors, the second of men from the Peloponnese and Crete, and the third of men from the islands.


In its three original tribes Rome perhaps possessed a far older arrangement than it realized, namely, proto-Greeks and Italians living together, as may well be supposed they did in that area. It is commonly agreed that, although tradition makes Ramnes, Tatian, and Luceres centuries [subdivisions of tribes] instituted by Romulus, they were originally names of tribes. In Rome, indeed, there flourished a counter legend, according to which three population groups came together in the city only many years after it had been founded-Latins, Sabines, and some Etruscans. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, born a Greek, was the only one to detect that all three tribes were native there and that those who came later, Sabines and whoever else, were subsequently incorporated among the tribes already existing.


Cleisthenes may have divided the four phylae of Attica into ten in order to equalize matters. The four old phylae which Solon used as a basis may well have become lopsided in power during the agitated century between Solon and Cleisthenes. Such arrangements are veritable Janus heads; one face turned toward ancient processes and foundations from which the whole complex descended, the other turned toward the basis of representative government in states and hence often altered and deliberately reshaped.


Before the Greeks, the Phoenicians had already founded poleis, i.e., city communities, city states, with bodies of laws. The power of the kings was limited by a council whose membership apparently was made up of the chiefs of privileged families. These city states were able to settle colonies that copied the organization of their mother cities. These poleis differed from the ancient royal strongholds of the Orient, which in each nation represented the central point of the whole; they differed from the gigantic army encampment of the Assyrian dynasties on the Tigris, differed from Babylon founded as a common stronghold for property and the gods, differed from the three alternating residences of the Achaemenids, differed from the great mercantile centers associated with oriental trade, and from the temple cities of Egypt: essentially, they were civil strongholds.


Would the honor of the Greeks suffer if one assumed that the Phoenician poleis influenced them? In many other respects the early impact of Phoenician culture on Greek life is recognized; we may assume that Thebes was originally a Phoenician city on what later became Boeotian territory. At all events, the Greeks must have had early knowledge of the cities along the Phoenician coast and of the colonies they planted.


For a long time they lived in the form of a multitude of smaller and larger tribes under chieftains called kings. Single tribes or their royal members must have taken over or built cities and citadels here and there. Thucydides supposed that the ancient cities, both on the islands and on the mainland, were built at some distance from the sea because of piracy. For only later, with the rise of Greek shipping, there were built strongly walled cities on the coasts and on the headlands, for commerce and defense against neighboring powers. Mycene and Tiryns are much older than any polis.


But, in that ancient period, people making up a tribe lived mostly in hamlets. It is not known whether these settlements were politically organized and how they were officially represented in the tribal government, nor to what extent common shrines and customs and mutual self-defense tended to unite neighboring settlements. If the people had access to strongholds in their communities or territories, they must have used them as common citadels, as refuges against pirates from land and sea. The ancient Sikanians in Sicily lived exclusively in fortified places on elevations, because of pirates. Still, it is said they lived in hamlets, although the term poleis is already in the offing for these settlements.


The ancient Greek tribes must have somehow been possessed of stronger impulses than the other Indo-Europeans. Their subsequent vitality and energy was, as it were, prefigured in the migrations, settlements, and intermingling of the old individual groups, which must often have been on the move for long periods. Accounts of these events are quite numerous but so tangled and confused that they only occasionally serve for a precise historical reconstruction. Every little clan has its own migration legends, whereas among the Germanic tribes only broad outlines were known. The Greeks are keenly aware of their origins and their settlements, even though they express this awareness in myths. They personify their past by means of tribal heroes who flee and later achieve new dominion; they weave these legends into the general body of myths. The legends, graves, and cults centered about these heroes are an earnest of the strong vitality later expressed in the poleis. Bards recited heroic lays; in addition, a more general body of poetry, at once genealogical and ethnographical, might arise, like that of the Eoiae, Homer's catalogue of ships, and similar epic material. These migration legends set no limits on the exploits the tribes perform, and children and children's children recount these exploits with defiant exultation.


The polis is the definitive form of the Greek state, a small independent state comprising a central city and surrounding territory; it tolerated no competing stronghold and no independent citizenry. The Greeks never thought of the polis as having developed gradually, but only as the product of a single creative act. Greek fantasy teems with notions of cities being founded full-fledged and, as whim had no part in shaping these cities, so the life in them is wholly under the aegis of necessity.


The Greeks had, above all, a city-state outlook. When the Achaeans, driven out of the southern Peloponnesus, settled in their new locality in Achaea on the bay of Corinth, they could certainly have established a unified state; indeed federation was at hand, but they had no penchant for it. Instead, they established twelve poleis where the Ionians had hitherto lived in hamlets scattered over twelve little districts, and actually their communal activities rarely went beyond periodic sacrifices and festivals, as those in the sacred grove of Zeus at Hamarion not far from Aegae. And the Ionians, who had fled from the Achaeans, went under Athenian leadership to the west coast of Asia Minor. There, they naturally founded a series of twelve poleis.


To maintain rule over larger territories and not expose individual settlements to perpetual struggle against invasion, either a Spartan militarism or an exceptionally favorable location was necessary, like that of the people of Attica. Attempts to federate into larger groups succeeded only temporarily, in wartime; they were never lucky or powerful enough to achieve permanence. In the long run the hegemonies of Sparta and Athens aroused terrible hostilities, and whoever has learned to know the polis will know how uninclined it was to treat fairly its weaker allies, however expedient it might have been to do so. The clue to the whole unhappy history of Boeotia lies in the perpetually repeated attempts to embrace that territory in a federal union.


In creating the polis, the vital elan takes the form of the so-called synoikismos, the joining together of hitherto separate settlements in a fortified city-on the sea wherever possible. The motives of commerce, material prosperity, and the like would only have created a polisma, a ptoliethron; but the polis is something more than that.


Without question, the Dorian migration was largely the external motive force that gave rise to the polis. Both, those who migrated and those who were able to ward off the invaders, were ripe for an organization that promised increased permanent power in defense as well as attack, constituting the real purpose of their existence.


When people lived in hamlets, say seven or eight to a district, they were exposed to tribal hardships, but their way of life was more innocent than later. They had to defend themselves against pirates and land robbers, but still they carried on as peasants. Now, polis began to compete with polis for existence and political power. And without doubt more land was cultivated originally, for when people concentrated in a city they began to neglect the outlying acres within their bounds. Synoikism may well have been the beginning of the laying waste of Greece.


Political thought of a later age has depicted the synoikism of the people of Attica as having been brought about in mystical times by Theseus. He first dissolved the prytanies (presidencies) and archonships in the twelve settlements into which Cecrops had gathered the people of Attica for the sake of safety, and then permitted only one bulefterion (council half and one prytany in Athens. The people might live in the country on their holdings, but henceforth they had only one polis which Theseus was able to hand down to descendants as great and powerful, since everybody paid tribute into a common treasury. This was the ideal desired everywhere, and the whole of Greek life pressed toward this, its final form-the polis-without which the higher Greek culture is inconceivable.


To be removed from his ancestral graves must have spelled a misfortune for the Greek. For then he either had to neglect his ancestral rites or perform them only with difficulty; at any rate he no longer had the ancestral burial site daily before his eyes. Being forcibly removed to a new place of residence was an act that caused more sorrow and grief than any other, even in the entire later history of the polis.


Accounts of the founding of cities are numerous. In the Peloponnesus, Mantinea, already mentioned in Homer, became a polis through the uniting of five communities. Only after the Persian Wars was Elis made into a city out of several communities. During the Peloponnesian War, the Mytileneans wanted to transplant all the inhabitants of Lesbos into their own city; whereupon the people of Methymna appealed to Athens and so prevented the whole venture. In 408 B.C. Lindus, Ialysus, and Cameirus voluntarily united to establish the magnificent city of Rhodes destined for a truly splendid future; it is not difficult to imagine, however, with what feelings the people abandoned their age-old cities.


During the Peloponnesian War, Perdikkas II of Macedonia persuaded the inhabitants of the peninsula of Chalcidice to forsake their coastal towns and settle in Olynthus, a migration that likewise entailed withdrawal from Athenian hegemony. The state of Argos was especially notorious for having carried out synoikism by use of force, even though it was done for the sake of strengthening its position against Sparta. In the face of an enemy like Sparta, Epaminondas himself knew of no better stratagem except to persuade a goodly number of weak little Arcadian settlements to move together into a large center, Megalopolis. The inhabitants of Trapezus, refusing to join in the colonization of Megalopolis, were attacked, and they fled to the city of Trapezus on the Euxine. After the battle at Mantinea, many wished to leave the Megalopolis but were forced to return and remain in the large city by the rest of the Megalopolitans with Athenian help. Part of the abandoned settlements later lay fully deserted while some of them became villages occupied by Megalopolitans who cultivated the adjacent land.


Why were smaller places not left to carry on as country towns represented by elected officials in the council of the polis? Simply because in the long run they would not have been content to remain towns but would have exerted all the power they possibly could to remain independent and so become poleis themselves.


Perhaps only the entirely new city of Messene was founded with great cooperative enthusiasm. Here Epaminondas did not have to coerce surrounding communities; he merely had to appeal to descendants of Messene (who had scattered throughout the Greek world but had recently returned) in order to get them to build a new capital. Those who had been without a country for several generations and even for centuries, now had a homeland. On the other hand, very many poleis were founded by high-handed tyrants and overlords. The Sicilian tyrants, even the best of them, ruthlessly mingled peoples in poleis already established. They supposed that they could be sure of the loyalty of poleis only when they had removed half or more of their populations and brought in outsiders, even mercenaries, as replacements.


Gelo, meritorious in other respects, razed Camarina and brought its inhabitants, along with over half the population of Gela, the people of Megara Hyblaea, and of other Sicilian cities, to Syracuse, where he gave the upper classes citizenship but sold many of the commoners into slavery abroad, for he distrusted the masses. He appointed his brother Hiero tyrant of Gela. Hiero transferred the inhabitants of Catana to Leontini and peopled the empty walls of Catana with five thousand Syracusans and as many Peloponnesians. He wanted ready troops to defend the strategic city and also looked forward to being honored some day as the heroic founder of an eminent polis. Later Dionysii and Agathocles caused some of the most frightful exterminations and new racial mingling in Sicily.


A tyrant like Mausolus forcibly gathered the inhabitants of six cities into his Halicarnassus. This amounted to three-fourths of the eight cities of the Leleges, and we are not told to what extent the people might have regarded the transference as a benefaction. In the history of the diadochi, the newly founded cities in the Orient and in Egypt above all claim attention; and not to be overlooked are the violent deportations, the racial commingling, and the renaming of famous old cities these diadochi carried out in the ancient Hellenized territory of western Asia Minor.


The establishment of a polis was the great, the decisive experience in the whole existence of a tribe. Even in cases where people continued to cultivate the fields, in time their rural way of life became predominantly urban nevertheless. And men who had been farmers became politically minded when living together. But the significance of the experience was reflected in legends about the founding of the city and its delivery from great dangers in the past. When Heracles was driving his cattle through Italy, he met Croton, who wanted to help him. But Heracles in the dark of night mistook him for an enemy and killed him; later he recognized his mistake and honored him greatly by building a city named Crotona around his grave site.


Where there was no monument honoring the past, veneration went to some shrine such as a spring. At Haliartus in Boeotia the stream Lophis took its rise from the blood of a boy cut to pieces by his father at the behest of the Pythian priestess, who during an unrelieved drouth commanded him to kill the first living being he met. At Celaenae in Phrygia, a chasm opened which swallowed many houses and people. Pursuant to an oracle that the most precious offering should be hurled into the chasm, gold and silver were tried but did not help; then the heir to the Phrygian throne mounted his horse and spurred it into the chasm, whereupon it closed. At times, the acquisition and deposition of relics, such as bones of a person long dead would suffice for the founding of a city. For instance, when the Athenians under Hagnon definitely founded Amphipolis, he secretly sent some people to the country of Troy to fetch the remains of Rhesus from his burial mound. Possibly, also, human sacrifice was later replaced by a more innocuous rite, the telesm, consisting of the burial of secret objects.


The real center of a polis was the agora, the public square. The little ancient towns consisted only of an agora, on which were situated the prytaneum, the council chamber, the courthouse, and one or more temples. The agora also served for sports and popular assemblies. But even when facilities for one or more of these functions were richly provided for elsewhere, the agora still remained the heart of the city. "Market place" is a very inadequate translation, for wherever people built towns they included market places. But agora is the noun form of the verb agorein, to assemble; very often it also signifies an assemblage, regardless of the place.


On this Aristotle helpfully provides us a very clear distinction. He demands an agora for the free men, where nothing may be bought and where no farmer or laborer may enter except on command of the authorities, and another agora for the purpose of buying and selling. In coastal towns people tended to locate the public square near the harbor; at least that is what the Phaeacians did whose whole life was arranged with a view to comfort. Here, in the presence of ships, surrounded by temples, offices, monuments, shops and exchanges as thick as they could stand, the Greek was exposed to agorazein, an activity not to be translated by one word of any other language. Dictionaries give to traffic in the market place, to buy, to talk, to deliberate, etc., but cannot reproduce the combination of business and conversation mingled with delightful loafing and standing around together. It is enough to say that forenoon got the well-known designation -the time when the agora is full of people.


When a crowd of idlers arose in a city, it routinely developed as the public square crowd. In the sixth century B.C., Cyrus the Great is already said to have told the Spartan envoys: "I have never yet been afraid of men who have a special meeting place in the center of their city where they gather and cheat one another on oath."


If any man has ever been greater than his place of residence, surely that man was the Greek. The living polis with its pride of citizenship was a much grander product than all its walls, harbors, and magnificent structures. Aristotle classified man as being by nature a political creature. In an eloquent passage of his Politics, he contrasts the Greeks with two kinds of barbarians-the natural man of the north and the man of culture in Asia and accords them the advantages of both: the courage of the one and the intelligence of the other, so that they are not only free and in possession of the finest polity, but also able to rule over all others as soon as they establish a state.


Monuments of a not unpleasing kind decorated agoras; in the agora of Thuriae, the eminent man Herodotus was buried. Indeed, in later times a forest of altars and statues of famous men almost cramped the public square of Greek cities. A monument to the grisly recollection of a human sacrifice was nearly always present. Among people other than Hellenes, a similar saga may now and then echo about the walls of a stronghold. The touching song the Serbians sing about the founding of Skadar may well reflect Greek influence.


A characteristic narrative branch of poetry and prose was devoted to the history or to the myth of the founding of cities. Illustrious names like Mimnermus of Smyrna, Cadmus of Miletus, Xenophanes of Colophon are numbered among those who recounted such native legends. In addition, Xenophanes deserves our gratitude for recording the bold wanderings of the Phocaean fugitives until their founding of Elea. These early stories laid the foundation of later Greek historiography.


Rights of man were not recognized in antiquity, not even by Aristotle. He regarded the polis as a community of free men; metics (residents of foreign birth) and especially the masses of slaves enjoyed no political rights; whether, beyond that fact, metics and slaves were human beings was not spelled out. Indeed, as time will show, the duties imposed on citizens were not commonplace, and not just anybody would do.


Here it was above all a matter of quality; accordingly limits were imposed on the quantity. Infants born crippled and ill formed were not, according to Aristotle, to be brought up; and his view becomes intelligible when one reflects on the wretched lot a cripple had among the Greeks. But, as we know, many infants were abandoned because their parents could not or would not care for them, and Thebes, which forbade this practice, was cited as an exception.


The mode of life a polis was obliged to maintain was characterized by the word autarkeia, self-sufficiency; a very obscure word to us, it was fully comprehensible to the Greeks. This self-sufficiency required arable land to grow the necessary foodstuff, trade and industry to provide modestly for the remaining necessities, and an army of hoplites comparable in strength to that of the neighboring, usually hostile, polis.


Aristotle speaks on this subject as plainly as we could wish. As soon as a polis became overpopulated, it could not maintain itself. The greatness of a city was dependent on the number of its citizens. It could not be upheld by its horde of workers (banausics) if there was a paucity of hoplites. To administer justice and to perform their official duties with merit, citizens had to know each other and the character of the people.


As to optimum size, a city should be large enough to provide for the necessities of life yet small enough to be within eyeshot. And it appears that ten thousand was regarded as the proper number of mature citizens for a city to have. Heraclea and Trachinia and Catana (renamed Aetna after a new colony was established there)-all had this number; by way of illustration, we may also mention the popular assembly of ten thousand in Arcadia. In recent times, apart from philosophical and social thought, it is essentially the individual who demands a state advantageous for his own purposes.
For the most part, all that he demands really is security, so that he may freely develop his potentialities. To this end he gladly makes well-defined sacrifices, though the less the state bothers him otherwise, the more content he is. The Greek polis, on the other hand, starts with the whole, which precedes its parts. From an inner logic we may add this: It is not only a matter of giving preference to the general over the particular but also of preferring the permanent over the momentary and transitory. The polis demanded that the individual not only take part in campaigns, but be ready to sacrifice his individual existence for it is to the whole that he owes everything, including the security of his very existence, then enjoyed by a citizen only within his own city's limits, or at most within the range of its influence.


Whoever governs or is governed here is the citizen of the polis. To govern means, more precisely, to serve on the tribunal or to hold an office. As a rule, the citizen realizes all his capacities and virtues within the state or in its service. The entire Greek spirit and its culture are most intimately related to the polis, and of the poetry and art created during the flowering of Greek genius the loftiest by far was not created for the enjoyment of individuals but for the public, i.e., the community.


The magnificently moving knowledge of these views comes to us in part from the greatest Greek poets and in part from the philosophers and orators of the fourth century, who no longer were able to capture prevailing sentiments and rather dwelt on those that should have obtained.


The native city is not only home, where one is happiest and whither one is drawn, but also a mighty being, lofty and divine. Above all, one owes it one's life in battle, thereby merely repaying the polis for one's keep. Now and then Homer grants the Trojans, and especially Hector, the most ecstatic patriotic sentiments, and the elegiac poets, in the few works that have survived, dwell often enough on patriotic subjects. But Aeschylus is the most powerful witness. In his Seven Against Thebes the speeches of Eteocles combine the belief in the citizen's highest duty to sacrifice himself for the homeland with the noble emotional tone befitting the king and defender. In his own epitaph, Aeschylus mentions only his courage, saying nothing about his poetry.


Of his prowess the grove of Marathon can tell And the long-haired Persian who learned to know it well.


But in the end it is the polis, not the individual, who gets credit for the mighty deeds of valor, and this polis was the victor at Marathon and Salamis, not Miltiades and Themistocles. And, to Demosthenes it was a symptom of decline when people said that Timotheus had captured Corcyra and that Chabrias had defeated the enemy in the naval battle at Naxos. At all events, the most deserving hero owes more gratitude to his country than his country owes him.


In the Suppliants, the splendid choral ode of the Danaids overflows with blessings gratefully bestowed on hospitable Argos. But Aeschylus reserved his finest tribute for his native Athens in the last great choral ode of the Eumenides. In the dialogue with Athena the goddess assuages the wrath of the Furies by recounting the honors they would receive if they dwelt in Attica. Only one writer in antiquity was able to produce mightier notes of this kind.


Among the best hotels of Athens are Royal Olympic Hotel, Baby Grand Hotel and Athens Ledra Mariott [http://www.athens-greece.us/ledra-mariott.htm].

2011年3月14日 星期一

Realistic answers about martial arts


Since the dawn of time, have physical struggle played a role in almost every culture and civilization throughout the world. Differences in cultures and societies bring many different combat disciplines, commonly referred to as the martial arts, in the front row.

Martial arts has been commonly popularized by action movies featuring martial artists as heroes or villains. Bruce Lee, leading the wave of his films in the West and created a fascination with discipline is perhaps the most popular.

Although there are many practitioners and places to learn it, there is a lot of misinformation on the martial arts. The following questions deals with many of the common misapprehensions regarding it, their purpose, types and how it applies in the real world the fighting situations.

Hopefully, these questions and answers help beginners and people interested in it a more realistic view of what martial arts is about and how they fit into the modern world.

What is the martial arts?

In the loosest sense of the term "martial arts" mainly "military art," so any educational system that prepares the individual to the combat or self-defense is technically martial arts. Typical perception is that such arts fighting styles--like karate or kung fu--, originate from the far East, which can transform the smallest person to a deadly fighting machine.

Although these examples are martial arts, modern them also include: courage, fighting techniques, such as Brazilian jujitsu and even training, police officers receive, on how to use a gun. Many traditional form of this nature are not necessarily prepares a student street fights, as much as the teaching discipline and maintain physical condition.

What is meant by "soft" and "hard" martial arts?

Soft and hard to refer to the style striking and blocking utilized by such an art. A soft redirect style focuses on energy, particularly your opponent's energy to throw or bring them out of balance strike or move in a better position. Soft styles teach students moves that require little energy and is easy to recover or regain balance if they blocked. Examples include aikido and ninjitsu.

Hard fighting styles, on the other hand is centered more on offensive move rather than redirect an opponent energy or weight. The striking techniques in hard styles provide a lot of power and some painful blocks. Hard striking means that a person can be knocked out of balance much easier in comparison with soft styles. A couple of hard fighting styles is karate, tae kwon and muay Thai.

What martial arts styles is best for self-defence in real settings?

Just about any training of this nature will be beneficial in a street fight or confrontation compared to not having it, but some disciplines are designed for actual battle.

Both hard and soft styles can work well for self-defence, but many people feel that hard styles are more efficient, because they teach you strike first and strike hard, while soft styles are more technical and teach you to redirect your opponent's energy. Some styles of it that has Street credit is: juijutsu, karate, muay thai, tae kwon and ninjutsu.

Ground fighting disciplines can also be very effective, especially if you want to neutralize a person without leaving marks or long-term damage. Ground fighting, however, is not a good option if you have to fight more than one person.

The main advantage of learning such an art, if you are in a street fight is that you practice the fighting on a regular basis, and for most people, a street battle is their practice.

If martial arts instructors so experienced why they want to avoid a fight?

Logically, there are several reasons to leave quietly than fight, even if you think you have the upper hand. Unless you work in a controlled situation, never know who you are up against, and how far they are willing to go to win the battle.

People pick a mass Brawl typically attracted to extremes. They believe in General, they're really tough that they have a lot of the battle experience, or that they have picked up some dirty tricks, will always turn the battle in their favour.

This may include the cheap shots, but arms is never out of the question--not to mention their friends could intervene at any time. Even if you "win" a fight, you can end up in court over attack charges, especially if it is known that you practice it.

What is dodeligste martial art?

Realistically, in a real fight, can a person with no fight experience or training kill a person. The human body is fragile and things can easily get out of hand. Many people believe that there is pressure points that can kill or disable a person with a light blow.

While there may be some truth to this, most deaths from the fighting from someone's head hard-hitting concrete or to get stuck. As far as martial arts, suitable for incapacity for work people, fall many of the harsh styles in this category, as do Brazilian jujitsu.

Brazilian jujitsu is a ground fighting technique and will teach you how to lock people into submission holds or choke them out. Muay thai is regarded as one of the most dangerous martial arts because it was designed to be used to fight.

However, several muay thai moves taught not normally and is expelled from use in competitions, because they are moved, if performed correctly, will kill any immediately.








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Historical references to W E Fairbairn, E A Sykes and Dermot "Pat" O'Neill

FROM THE BOOK: "PIERCING THE REICH"


AUTHOR: JOSEPH E. PERSICO


They learned the art of silent killing, perfected by W.E. Fairbairn, the legendary British Major, sometimes known as "Delicate Dan." Knife strokes taught, should be upward, from the testicles to the chin. The hand in a "tiger claw" position was most effective for gouging out eyes. A single sheet of newspaper, they learned, could become a crude dagger. Fold the paper to approximately six inches by two inches. Then fold it diagonally to form a sharp point at one end. Drive the pointed end hard into the stomach or under the jaw, just behind the chin.


FROM THE BOOK: "BEHIND JAPANESE LINES"


AUTHOR: RICHARD DUNLOP


British Major Dan Fairbairn, who had been chief of police in Shanghai before the Japanese capture of the city, taught the Fairbairn method of assault and murder. His course was not restricted to Camp X but later given at OSS camps in the United States. All of us who were taught by Major Fairbairn soon realized that he had an honest dislike for anything that smacked of decency in fighting.


"To him, there were no rules in staying alive. He taught us to enter a fight with one idea; to kill an opponent quickly and efficiently," said Ray Peers.


Fairbairn had invented a stiletto as precise as a surgeon's scalpel. He wielded it with a flashing, slashing vigor that invariably proved fatal to an opponent.


"Why is it so long and thin?" I asked him one day in a question period during my own course of instruction. "It doesn't have a cutting edge."
"It doesn't leave any marks on the body," he replied. "Scarcely more than a tiny drop of blood."


Fairbairn taught his trainees to fire anything from a pistol to a BAR at close quarters, by aiming with the body. In unarmed combat he overcame one hulking trainee after another. With a wry smile the wiry major would admonish his bruised and bleeding students, "Don't let anybody lead you down the garden path."


FROM THE BOOK: "THE FIRST COMMANDO KNIVES"


AUTHOR: PROF. KELLY YEATON, LT. COL. SAMUEL S. YEATON (USMC)


AND COL. REX APPLEGATE


On January 24th, 1933, he wrote me:


"This man Fairbairn is beyond the shadow of a doubt the greatest of "the greatest of them all." I've had about 12 hours of conferences with him and done a couple of hour's work on the mats. His stuff is not jiu-jitsu or judo - he gave us an exhibition of judo using five men, two third-degree black belts, two second, and one first, to prove it. He uses some of their falls and a few holds, but not more than about 20% of it and most with variations. It's not Chinese boxing, of which 80% is mere ritual. It's a collection of all the known methods of dirty fighting and it will beat them all. He knows it will, he's done it. Judo is to clean on every hold a judo man's eyes and testicles are vulnerable. But it is awful fast; still, it's not as fast as boxing. We proved that, and to the Japanese, at that. Given men of equal speed, it's the man who is not surprised by the others method of attack who will win. We put Sam Taxis [the third Sam] who boxes featherweight now against a third degree judo man [the punches not to be delivered and the throws not to be carried out] and it was a draw. But we had a man hold up his hand as a target and Sammy Taxis put a one-two on it while a man stood beside the hand and tried to grab his hands. All they got was his necktie. The remarkable thing about Fairbairn is that although he damn near does know it all, he doesn't seem to think he does. If you've got an idea, he'll not only listen to you and point out what's wrong, if anything, but he'll admit if it's new to him and as good as or better than his own current methods."


One of the motivating causes for the interest in the fighting knife was the discovery that even Fairbairn ("The Greatest of Them all") had no real defense against a knife in the hands of trained fighters. We knew a number of ways of disarming men with pistols, some of them relatively safe. Even trying to disarm a person with a knife is dangerous, unless the person attacks with the dramatic "assassin's stab" holding the knife like an ice-pick overhead. For that kind of stupidity there is a clear and positive response, fortunately. But even for the Paris "Apache's" style coming in low, with the knife edge upward and aiming at the guts, Fairbairn had only two suggestions


A. RUN


B. "With a lighting-like kick of either foot, kick him in the testicles or stomach."


But when my brother asked him to demonstrate this move, "Willie never even got up from his desk he just said, 'You missed the phrase lighting-like I don't do lighting-like any more.'"


FROM THE BOOK: "SOE ASSIGNMENT"


AUTHOR: DONALD HAMILTON HILL


"Another or our distinguished instructors was a tall spare man - who looked like a bishop - with steel-rimmed spectacles, a soft voice and wrists of iron. He was Captain Bill Sykes - formerly of the Shanghai Police - and he taught unarmed combat and quick shooting reactions such as how to kill four people in a room whilst falling down on the ground near the door lintel to make oneself a difficult target. His methods of unarmed combat and silent killing were such that many were able in the years to come to save themselves entirely owing to his instructions. The Germans in 1942 published a pamphlet, which portrayed his methods, and used it in neutral countries to enlist sympathy against the diabolical British. 'Our man' in Lisbon picked up one or two and sent them to me for comment with a request for a UK posting, and training with Bill Sykes."


CAPTAIN PETER MASON, A RETIRED BRITISH INTELLIGENCE OFFICER, NOW LIVING IN CANADA WRITES:


"So, E.A. Sykes had far more of an interesting career in the Far East, than just being a volunteer special sergeant attached to the sniper squad of the Shanghai Municipal Police! "As to any 'yarns,' I only recall two stunts that he performed, and both involved the Government .45 auto. The first was demonstrated with a proved empty Colt's auto. To illustrate how pushing a prisoner along with a .45 will push back the slide and perhaps disconnect the firing mechanism, should the prisoner know his pistols (!) allowing him to wipe the handgun aside, etc., etc.
"And the other example, which I saw demonstrated, was after we did the combat pistol course, and all were felling rather over-confident with the knock-down power of the issued Colt cartridge, Bill called a greatcoat-clad sergeant over to stand at the fifty-yard target backstop. The 'target' stood with feet about thirty inches apart, hands in overcoat pockets, and holding the garment away from his body. A loaded 'Thompson' was set at repetition fire mode, and Bill tapped-off single shots that struck the center of the man's coat. At each shot I saw his coat 'flick' and I, like everybody present, assumed that the bullets just hit the multi-layers of cloth and dropped to the earth. Our greatcoats were double breasted heavy woolen material, with a same cloth lining, plus a heavy-weave horse hair-like spacer, so that's six layers. But to this day I wouldn't want to try it!


NANCY FORWARD (SOE) (CODE NAME "WHITE MOUSE") WHO WAS FAMOUS FOR HER WORK WITH THE FRENCH MARQUIS, IS ONE OFTHE FEW SOE AGENTS STILL LIVING. SHE WRITES:


"I have already told you that Sykes was the instructor who taught me 'silent killing,' amongst other things. Poor Sykes was forgotten like many other people in Great Britain, and elsewhere. My impression of Sykes was very favorable and I would have liked to have known him better. I was the only female in our class and I remember that whenever he addressed me, or gave me an order, his tone of voice was not so 'crisp' - to coin a common old phrase - 'a thorough gent!' I have always regretted that I was unable to thank him for all the things he taught me."


BILL PILKINGTON, WHO WAS ONE OF THE FIRST CLOSE COMBAT INSTRUCTORS TRAINED BY FAIRBAIRN AND SYKES FOR DUTY WITH THE HOME GUARD, STILL LIVING IN ENGLAND, WRITES:


"Of course, we must remember that in 1939-45 there were still some 'deadheads' in our forces, officers who had not advanced professionally in civil life, and when called to service life, they were reluctant to acknowledge they were 'behind' in knowledge. "This was one of the aspects with both Fairbairn and Sykes; they both openly criticized the Top Brass, for 'Dog in the Bloody Manger' attitude. These comments were, in my hearing, openly said to Staff Officers, by both Fairbairn and Sykes. And they were quite right, the 'Old Guard' of Whitehall Wafflers who had slept soundly from 1918 to 1939, failed to appreciate how advanced other nations were, compared to Britain, but the worst part was the Old Guard were reluctant to allow others who had kept abreast of the times to circulate their knowledge. Obviously, this was to protect their image. This may well have some bearing on the lack of written work available today, much has been deliberately destroyed out of jealousy."


ANOTHER LETTER BY PILKINGTON DATED OCTOBER 10, 1995. HE WRITES:


"Following the disaster of the Norwegian campaign, and then Dunkirk in 1940, Britain anticipated that Hitler would invade. Desperate measures were called for, because there was little left in the way of arms or ammunition, also the nation had suffered a blow to its spirit. "The Local Defense volunteer Force became, officially, the Home Guard, a body of willing but untrained men, mostly ex-servicemen from the 1914-18 war. In desperation the Government of the day called in two officers from the Shanghai Municipal Police. These were Captain W.E. Fairbairn and Captain E.A. Sykes. "I was introduced to these officers because I had already qualified in Jujutsu to a Brown Belt. Also I was about the only man who had been taught Kendo and Indian Lathi. Captain Fairbairn explained he intended to train a dozen men to become instructors in killing tactics, who would then go out to teach other men to become instructors in the Police, Home Guard, and Civil Defense Corps. These would become the defense of Britain in the event of the invasion. "I found that Captain Fairbairn was very much in charge. Captain Sykes had equal authority, and great ability. He was the finest rifle shot I have ever seen, as well as being very good with the .45 Colt 1911 Automatic pistol. Both officers were very skilled in unarmed combat also, Fairbairn was obviously the master of various disciplines and the first team of 12 potential instructors, including me, soon learned to respect both our tutors. "Captain Fairbairn was very strict, he insisted that the training he gave aimed at perfection. In retrospect, I feel both officers gave us all very good ability to impart knowledge to others. "Captain Fairbairn was a hard man, so was Sykes [now called Bill Sykes, but most certainly NOT to his face] but he had a lot more patience. They were two different men, of course. 'Bill Sykes looked like a village person, round faced, he had a mild look, unlike Fairbairn who looked hard, despite white hair, horned rimmed glasses giving him the look of a schoolmaster. Bill Sykes was friendly, but never familiar, he would be a bad man to cross. Once or twice he did show temper, but then only for a few moments. "We all learned Fairbairn was married, but we never learned if Sykes was. Apart from his disclosing that before joining the police, he had been a representative for Remington Arms and Ammunition organization, we learned little about him. He did have medal ribbons on his tunic, as did Fairbairn, but I never tried to remember what these were for. "Sykes had a very good knowledge of Martial Arts, and like Fairbairn, he was physically very powerful, and a good boxer. In knife fighting, both Fairbairn and Sykes were excellent. I thought Fairbairn was the better of the two, he was a Master of the blade. Sykes was always relaxed, his moon face was pleasant but you never knew what was on his mind. He was full of surprises in training. "I did teach a few hundred people the killing arts, and I am grateful for the training I experienced with Fairbairn and Sykes, they were really masters of their craft.


FROM THE BOOK: "MAQUIS - THE ACCOUNT OF A FRENCH-AMERICAN OPERTIVE"
AUTHOR: GEORGE MILLER


Such training in these schools had saved his radio operator, he told me. When his circuit got "blown" the Gestapo had captured his operator, a young Frenchman. They searched him, but failed to find the small automatic hidden in a special holster. [Note: a Colt .380 in a crotch holster] The pistol following the rule of his master was ready cocked and at "safe." When they had handcuffed him they took him away in a car. There were three Germans in the car. One beside him in the back seat. The radio operator had never fired a pistol except in England at the school where he had been taught like us to snap shoot at cardboard targets. He was afraid that he would miss. But he was more afraid of what would happen when he arrived where they were taking him. Despite his manacles he opened his buttons, pushed down the "safe" lever on his [gun] and brought it to the point where it would draw freely. A glance around, he held his breath, drew, and fired as he had been taught. "Bang-bang." Two holes sprang red in the back of the driver's neck. The car overturned. He shot the other two.


ELSEWHERE MILLER RECORDS:


We were taught to use the forward-crouching stance and the quick, snap shooting method. Some of us got so accurate with the pistols that we were like King George V knocking down driven grouse. The French-American danced. His legs were tense and springy, but above the waist, except for his straight right arm, his body was loosely balanced. As the targets popped up, or darted from one screened side of the range to the other, his stiff arm leaped to the horizontal and the automatic, a blue, shining continuation of his arm, spoke "crack-crack," and again "crack-crack."


FROM THE BOOK: "AMATEUR AGENT"


AUTHOR: EWAN BUTLER.


EWAN BUTLER, AN SOE AGENT, RECALLES HIS TRAINING AT THE HANDS OF E.A. SYKES. BULTER GIVES A PARTICULARLY GOOD ACCOUNT OF THE SOE ASSAULT COURSE AT ARISAIG, JUST WEST OF LOCHAILORT:


This system involved what was called the "battle crouch position." The gunman crouched slightly, held the pistol in line with the center of his body. Soon is became a second forefinger to him. After several periods on a more or less orthodox range, the students were shown quite an elaborate little village, which lay at the foot of a steep bluff. At the top of the cliff a soldier stood beside a set of levers, which looked somewhat like those in a railway signal-box. The village, we were informed, was full of Germans. It was our business to kill them all. We were given two Colt .45 automatics, already loaded and two spare clips of ammunition apiece. Then, one by one, we were to attack each house in turn. The door of the first house sprang open in response to a brisk kick, and the signalman on the top of the bluff went into action. The houses were fully furnished and fully occupied. No sooner had a dummy, impelled by wires, leaped out of bed to tackle the intruder and been shot for his pains, than a trapdoor opened, "men" emerged from beneath tables, bottles and chairs came hurtling disconcertingly at the gunman's head. Pistols blazing, one dispatched, as one hoped, all the occupants of the first house, and dashed to the second, where a fresh set of hazards presented itself. By the time I had gone through five houses in a matter of forty-five seconds or so, and had been told that I had scored a creditable number of hits, I was inclined to feel quite pleased with myself. Then came the chilling thought that the dummies, however lifelike their movements, had not been armed.


Copyright 2003 thetruthaboutselfdefense.com c


Carl Cestari began his study of the martial arts with judo at the age of 7 under the direction of Yoshisada Yonezuka. During the past forty plus years Carl has dedicated his life to studying the martial arts, hand to hand combat systems, history and religion. What makes Carl unique is his combination of martial arts, law enforcement and military and real world experience. Carl has been exposed to a multitude of people with a wide variety experience. The following is a list of some of Carl's ranks and honors.


Shinan (Founder) Tekkenryu jujutsu
Ryokudan (6th degree) Koshinkai Karate under John Burrelle
Godan (5th degree) Jujutsu under Clarke of the World Jujutsu Fedaration (now defunct)
Sandan (3rd degree) Nippon Kempo under Narabu Sada
Nidan (2nd degree) Judo under Masafumi Suzuki
Shodan (1st degree) Judo under Yoshisada Yonezuka
Shodan (1st degree) Shukokai Karate under Kimura, Kadachi and Yonezuka
Shodan (1st degree) Daitoryu Aikijujutsu


Instructors Certificate- Charles Nelson System of Self Defense under Charlie Nelson Martial Arts | Martial Arts Training | Martial Arts Videos

2011年3月13日 星期日

Self-defense in the martial arts training requires a real perspective

This story is being offered in response to a request made by my teacher, Soke (Grand Master) Masaaki Hatsumi, during a recent training visit to Japan. During one of the training sessions, Soke was suggesting that everyone, regardless of rank, should make it a point to talk to those with actual combat experience and to learn from these people. The point was, if you do not know what a real fight is like, you will not be able to train properly for an authentic situation.


I was asked to share some of my experience in dealing with an attack and the following story came to mind. Though I have much experience with dealing with danger and dangerous people, this particular situation stands out as both a successful outcome where I was able to use some of my ninpo-taijutsu martial arts training, and a learning experience where I was actually able to control both my awareness and response, instead of mentally shutting down and "hoping" for the best.


***


The incident occurred many years ago while I was stationed in, what was then, West Germany. I was serving with the United States Army Military Police Corps. My partner and I were called to respond to a unit where a serviceman was assaulting others, including the officer-in-charge.


When we arrived at, what we thought was, the location of the incident, there was no one but the Charge of Quarters present. He had no idea about the incident. What none of us knew was that the 'problem' was occurring next door and moving in our direction.


While my partner and I were confirming the call with our superiors, the attacker entered the building where we were. He was obviously intoxicated and shouting racial insults and demanding satisfaction before he started a 'real war.' By the smell of him, he had been drinking heavily and primarily whiskey. His clothes showed signs of a struggle and at this point I wasn't sure if I was facing an attacker or the victim of an assault.


I immediately tried to calm the individual and find out what the problem was. As I was doing this, several other soldiers, including the command duty officer entered the building and became involved. The belligerent soldier was going on with his racial attacks and how he was attacked by what he thought were his friends. It was then that he turned his attention to me and began implying that he had martial arts experience and "didn't have to prove himself to anyone."


During this, and later after interviewing witnesses, we found that the individual had tested for his black belt in another martial art earlier that day and was out 'celebrating' with his friends. Witnesses testified that the more intoxicated he became, the more he started "showing off" to his friends which involved hitting and kicking. Eventually, his friends had had enough and then attempted to stop his obnoxious behavior by pushing him away and leaving him behind. This only made him more "playful" at which time he jumped on his friends resulting in them throwing him down on the ground. It was this that finally enraged him enough to chase them to the barracks and begin attacking others.


As he was telling me that he didn't have to prove himself, he also made statements that I only thought that I was tougher than him because I carried a gun, a nightstick and wore an MP helmet. I responded by removing my helmet and handing my night stick to my partner in an attempt to neutralize any perceived threat that I might be projecting and bring the soldier's anxiety level down. I informed him that the gun stayed where it was but that we needed to talk like civilized men so we could solve whatever problem was going on.


The soldier continued on with the "I'm a black belt and don't need to prove how tough I am" speech when he closed the distance and, from about an inch from my face, stated that, "I'm going to show you how tough you're not."


I ordered the soldier back and before I knew what was happening, I sensed his fist coming up between our bodies toward my jaw. I rode off the strike which landed before I could evade and then backed out as he began to flail widely with both arms at my head and body. I remember taking up a hoko-like position (a guarding posture in ninjutsu designed to create a protective 'bubble' that is difficult for the attacker to get through) to cover against the incoming attacks and having to simultaneously deal with an officer who thought that I was the one doing the attacking!


At one point, I realized that his right arm had wrapped around my left forearm and that a 'musha-dori-like thing' (uplifting elbow - shoulder dislocating technique) was happening. I remember moving to capture his balance and laid him down when suddenly his feet went out from under him. Later I found out that, in an attempt to help, my partner chose that moment to sweep my assailant's legs out from under him. I felt the soldier's shoulder give way as I applied the lock and took him down. This didn't help with the anxiety and emotional pressure I was dealing with as I was now worried about a possible 'police brutality' charge for excessive force.


This injury didn't deter his aggression though as he continued to fight against our restraint. We were finally able to subdue him and get him onto his stomach to be handcuffed when his wife and young child entered the building. I don't know how they found out about the situation but there they were. I felt sad for them and was only able to give a look of apology for having to do this. Again, more stress was added in that I didn't want to have to physically hurt this man in front of his family.


Unfortunately, their presence only served to escalate the problem. When the soldier became aware of his wife and child, he blamed my partner and I for his "embarrassment" and began to fight against his restraint again. I am not a big man and this soldier's build was easily 150% of my own size and weight, so holding him was a serious problem. Having to improvise and immobilize the man, I placed my night stick between the handcuff chain and his back and applied leverage against his spine which created a situation where he would only hurt himself with his continued resistance. This was only necessary for a moment or two, as he passes out from his exertion.


*************


As I related during my initial telling of the story at the Hombu Dojo ('main training hall'0 in Noda-city, Japan, my legs begin to shake and I can feel my breathing change as I recall this situation and many others like it. It does not control me or the way I go through my life in the ordinary sense that I am not afraid to associate with people or the like. What it has done is imprinted on me much more than just a step-by-step memory of the events, and I'm sure that my recollection of these is less than accurate because the experience was much more emotional and from what Soke has called "budo-nerves" orientation or perspective than from any sort of memorized technique string.


I will simply end this by saying that, this situation is one that has forever changed my perspective on how I should train, and as a teacher, how I should train my students. It has taught me that kata-like, step-by-step training is only a piece of the training puzzle but, anyone who believes that they will fight this way is deluding themselves. Conversely, it has also taught me that training that is just henka-based, where the basics like cover, distance and the like are not drilled until they become second-nature and the student just "does whatever" in an attempt to imitate (his or her teacher) is also deluded. This type of practice is necessary but, again, only a piece.


I am in complete agreement with Soke when he points out that it is the ability to go between the animal instinct response required for surviving an attack and returning to the civilized state to live a happy life, unstained by fear, defensiveness or antisocial behavior because of the attack that should be the goal.


Let me also say that, I respect Soke and the Shihan master instructors that I train with. But, not simply because they are Soke and the Shihan. I respect these people and continue to train in this art precisely because my own experience with having to handle danger tells me that what they have to offer is authentic and "on the mark" with that experience. Because I know that should I ever be attacked again, it will be the lessons that I have learned from them and not my admiration of them or their abilities that will help to insure that my family gets to have me around a little while longer. In a world filled with martial artists and instructors who want trophies, admiration and to 'look good,' it is comforting to know that there are still those who have what the true warrior needs to create a life worth living and the power to protect that life from whatever might harm it.


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Jeffrey M. Miller is the founder and master instructor of Warrior Concepts International. A senior teacher in the Japanese warrior art of Ninjutsu, he specializes in teaching the ancient ways of self-protection and personal development lessons in a way that is easily understood and put to use by modern Western students and corporate clients. Through their martial arts training, his students and clients learn proven, time-tested lessons designed to help them create the life they've always dreamed of living, and the skills necessary for protecting that life from anything that might threaten it. He is also the author of the "Foundations of Self Defense Mastery" eCourse. To learn more about this and other subjects related to the martial arts, self-defense, personal development & self-improvement, visit his website at http://www.warrior-concepts-online.com

Women Close Combat fighters of America's Civil War


During the American civil war (1861-1865) saying the war is hell was first spoken, and with good reason. All battles was a meat Grinder and even the winner would take large losses. Each battle boiled close fight, despite technological advances, and only well-educated and incredibly courageous survived. Not all those who fought was, however, men. There were women, who were motivated by patriotism and a sense of adventure, who dressed as men and joined the fight. These women would fight bravely, and serve.

The war was a mixture of new weapons, old strategies and fanatical patriotism and the results were devastating. Almost all generals on both sides were trained the exactly the same and used the strategies and tactics created by General Napoleon Bonaparte. The problem was his ideas were difficult to understand, and it was easy to make mistakes. To make things worse was the set up for a second time. Soldiers fought in closely packed groups and was devastated by new and deadlier weapons. If you managed to get past all the various weapons had you still take the enemy in close combat.

Policy set aside, it took an awesome amount of courage to enlist and fight. While a number of women are helped by nurses and spying on, other train frontline positions. There is at least 400 cases in the Union's Army of women dressing as men to battle. There were also a number of Southern women joined the fight for the Confederacy. Some were caught right away and sent home, but more than a few experienced their share of struggle. The men they served with often times kept their secret, and treated them as comrades.

Pennsylvania native Mrs. Francis l. Clayton merged with her husband in 1861 and fought together in 18 battle. She was wounded three times, captured once and so her husband die by Stone River. After that she told her chief officer who she was, and she was sent home with full honnor and went home to bury her husband. Another married couples served at Antietam where the wife was recognized for bravery and promoted in its two years of service. An officer reported that a corporal under his command, which had been promoted to Sergeant and had served the goodly in Fredericksburg returned home after the birth.

Those who survived the shot and shell of a civil war battlefield had still to be included in the handout hand fight with the enemy the worst conditions. It took everything a soldier had to survive on the battlefield, and both women and men gave it all they had. Today women serve in many positions in the United States's military and police officers and instructors is martial arts. Women come a long way, but many still do not think they belong in battle. Some seem to believe women can not aggressive enough, or worse-that a life of a woman is worth more then the life of a man. Perhaps not all women are fit to serve, but not all men are either, and we must never forget those who served valiantly before.








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World Cup triumphs put us on the map, said O'Brien

World Cup success has released cricket sports map in Ireland and now more and more young people are looking at the sport as a future profession according to wicketkeeper Niall O'Brien.

Memorable Ireland reached the second round of the last World Cup in 2007 after defeating Pakistan by repeating the feat in Twenty20 in England World Cup two years later.

"Has raised the profile of sport in Ireland,"o"Brien told Reuters in an interview in Dhaka on Monday.

"We have gone from a small minority of people in Ireland to play cricket and follow cricket to become a sport widely recognized in our country."

"Among the 15 players here (World Cup), 13 live day to day cricket game." Therefore young more boys in Ireland now want to play professional cricket.

"It is possible for the livelihood of cricket, which is great."

"As I said, this group of players is quite professional now." We know cricket, we love cricket, play and day, and that is why we are here to play for the cup of the world ", he said."

KEY OF ARTISTS PERFORMERS OR PERFORMERS

O'Brien was one of the key for Ireland at the Caribbean by 72 compared to 107 balls against Pakistan that helped them reach the second round at the expense of former champions.

He also played a vital role in the Twenty20 World Cup, making 40 off 25 balls against Bangladesh and Ireland he helped win the game, which was enough for them once again to move to the second stage.

O'Brien, who plays cricket County of Northamptonshire, also recognizes residents and rivals in Group B England have played a key role in the development of sport in their country.

"It is very important that six or seven players now play cricket full-time County," he said.

"Access conditions and facilities in United Kingdom know all machines, all the technologies we United Kingdom, is very important to grow as an individual and when you return to play for Ireland are best players of cricket," said O'Brien.

O'Brien, who also played cricket County Kent moved to Northamptonshire, has not given much thought of the International Cricket Council (ICC) recently announced its intention to restrict the World Cup 10 teams instead of the current 14 in the next edition in the year 2015.

For Ireland could be one of those affected, or ' Brien, who is now playing his second World Cup at age 29, not to give too much at the moment.

"The International Criminal Court, make their own decisions", said.

"We're here to play cricket." We only focus on Friday playing against Bangladesh. If I can play well over the next five or six weeks and then I hope that things will take care of themselves.

"We believe that we are good enough play in a World Cup". Obviously we want to play in 2015 in Australia and New Zealand, which is far away, so you never know where we are going to be as an individual or as a cricket team.

"It is important first of all that things here in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the India forward and make a statement," he said.

(Edited by Jon Bramley)

(A query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com) updated Monday, February 21, 2011 5: 59 PM, EST Email to a friend | View Popular























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2011年3月12日 星期六

Johnny Mathis: A 50th Anniversary Celebration

Johnny Mathis: A 50th Anniversary CelebrationJohnny Mathis's 2006 return to the spotlight was richly deserved, not because his career needed resurrecting--he's continued touring and recording for breathless fans well into his seventh decade--but because post-boomer generations shouldn't be allowed to roam the world asking "Johnny Who?" when his name gets mentioned. Mathis is that important an artist, and this compendium of his work, best thought of as a winking glance, does an able job of demonstrating why: "Chances Are," a slice of pop brilliance set to a piano with a broken heart, has always sounded as though it's been pulled off a silver platter. The Mathis voice--rich and deep at some turns, high and fragile at others, poured gold either way--seals it in timelessness; it's a pop scholar's very definition of a classic. "Wonderful! Wonderful!" throws off the same sparks to a lesser degree--delivery-wise, it's nearly impossible not to attach the word delightful, and overall it reeks of cultural importance. The rest of these songs add up to a case study in why Mathis matters: "Misty" may be dusty, but it still melts the heart. And "When Sunny Gets Blue," with its slow, sad strings, stings with Roy Orbison-caliber potency. Two previously unreleased tracks, "So Many Stars," produced by Sergio Mendes, and "The Shadow of Your Smile," with Dave Koz and Chris Botti, shine a light on Mathis's more recent work. It holds up brilliantly (not easy, considering Mathis's clean, distinctive voice). It also accounts, probably, for this disc's closing track--Ray Charles wouldn't have recorded his late-career rendition of "Over the Rainbow" with just anybody. If you didn't hear it on Genius Loves Company, hear it here. --Tammy La Gorce

Price: $8.99


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2011年3月11日 星期五

Presto 08702 ShineOn Electric Shoe Polisher

Presto 08702 ShineOn Electric Shoe PolisherThere hasn't been a shoeshine stand at the Chattanooga Choo Choo for nearly 30 years. In most areas the shoeshine business has virtually become extinct. The Presto Shine-on Electric Shoe Polisher lets you get a professional quality shoeshine service when you want. It's the must-have (but often overlooked) accessory for the aspiring individual. You can wear a spiffy Armani outfit but if your shoes don't shine, it's a give-away sign that something is wrong.
At a job interview or on a big date, your shoes are sure to make an impression. The ShineOn motorized shoe polisher easily shines all types of shoes just like the pros, letting you polish and buff for a perfect shine every time.
Shoes do attract and make considerable impact on style and fashion. As the group Cherish once sang:

i'm a shoe fanatic / i just gotta have it / you know what i mean / when i step up on the scene walk up in the club and i hit the floor, / you know i'ma do what i do / you can push upon me / you can grind it slowly / just don't step on my shoes [i'm a shoe fanatic]

Whether you're a shoe fanatic or not, shoes hust weren't made for walking. Sometimes they're designed to impress. Presto Shine-On Electric Shoe Polisher keeps those shoes and boots looking impressive.

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Belgrade man with fatal shoots man in self-defence

Belgrade-Belgrade resident fatally shot a man in self-defense Minnesota early Monday morning, Jack nance county authorities.

Robert Dodds, 30, rural Belgrade shot Joseph William Cameron, 30, Stacy, Minn., with the advent of Minnesota man allegedly after him with a knife.

At 1: 08 am Monday Jack nance county authorities telephoned 911 emergency Dodds shooting at his residence, West of Belgrade.

Jack nance County Sheriff's deputies, the Nebraska State Patrol investigation team and Fullerton and Belgrade rescue squads answered 17802 n. 185th St.

Jack nance County Prosecutor Rodney Wetovick said he contacted pronounced Cameron dead about 2: 15 a.m. Monday.

According to a press release from the authorities of the Jack nance County:

Cameron was seen leaving the new frontier in Belgrade with Beth Metz, 29, Belgrade and Dodds. Three were going to test in a farm near livestock and then went to Dodds residence.

Clashes between Dodds and Cameron, and Dodds blocked Metz and Cameron from her home.

Cameron gained entry into the House kicks in the door Dodds.

Authorities found the body of Cameron inside the residence with a knife. Sheath for the blade was belt Cameron.

Dodds apparently injured Cameron once rifle 7 mm in area mid left torso under ribs. Autopsy scheduled in Omaha at 8 am today.

Wetovick said that, although the matter is still under investigation, the State Patrol, Jack nance County Sheriff's Department, incident seemed initially to be self-defense, and therefore no arrests have been made.

"Collaboration method it does not exist but Dodds said he warned him off twice as (Cameron) waved his knife," said Wetovick

Jack nance County Sheriff told Cameron was the rather extensive criminal history ", but I don't know any details.



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2011年3月10日 星期四

Comparison between books of two sisters-Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre


Nietzsche in the "The Birth of Tragedy" specified two kinds of art: Apollo-style and Dionysus-style.

With the dignified face, that graceful figure of Apollo's life is the default for a noble life-a balanced, non-violent, successful life; a sober, rational, perfect lifestyle. Apollo-style art is the standard of classical art, an atmosphere of the Palace, as well as the ancient Greek sculpture, have simple greatness and purity.

Dionysus is very different. He is half-human half-beasts, ugly and enthusiastic about wandering the forest, often spirits or sleep in the wilderness, believe or simply enjoy the place between the physical and spiritual contemplation. Dionysus-style art is just as old Graskes tragedy, is the standard for modern art, a wild atmosphere, an art bages by spiritual flame inside, an art removed barrier between rational and irrational.

Jane Eyre is undoubtedly an Apollo-style novel, a "a person born as a civil and longing to be a noble"-just as rational, sunny, idealistic, classical roman. Yes, it is a standard guide for life and growth of knowledgeable females. Even for today's female, against their pursuit of a decent and fulfilled life, it still has exceptional importance.

Wuthering Heights is a Dionysus-roman style. The book never showed one traces of longing for the nobility; never have the desire to raise the mental level. It is the true roman for the civilian population, even more than AIDS the novels. Because it's like AIDS the roman, do not have a cent of for the military and fight for inequality. It is really focusing on his love against itself-it is the breath of the desert! It is non-stop the wind! It is the spiritual realm of the devil! It really has mysterious powers to take the soul. As you read this book, you have no time to be touched, you are its catch, this is your master is the Palace of the God of the wilderness, only worshiped by bond vaga s.

Talk about art, not can you distinguish how many percent of talents will be given to the skill, how many to passion.

They are things is a in two and two in one. You cannot determine what is higher, either the author's EQ or IQ. More spiritual experiences she has more capacity, she can perform this experience. People like us, always say that a person said she did not say. This is deception and self-deception-you can not say anything, so you don't have to; If you have it, then you can say it ... the biggest thing never comes alone, it comes with a total of Tagore was right., the Holy and poor in the language is all of this.

The difference between the two novels in the technique is much more obvious. Girls in the Department of English would have Jane Eyre as a template easy as their training at the beginning. It has a simple structure, narration, the story along the timeline. It tells a story of a woman's romance, make appropriate criticism in the dark side of society; everything fits so well! How many ' Ugly Duckling ' cry to the story, its ideal is on one level of the hard work and fight, anyone can achieve their dream. For those who want to enjoy the results of the hard work has this ideal a tremendous temptation.

On the other hand, Wuthering Heights structure to align its characteristic, even time itself was torn in pieces by the wind. It has a well-spliced memories and flashbacks, time unconditionally obedient the enormous space. The ideal is the ideal of despair, the ideal, in addition to the life and death borders-how do you explain one word ' Love '? This is the ideal, that require unlimited payments. She is ever still like something in everyday life, stop please before this palace. This palace is Bonde's Hell, bond vaga paradise. It crushes the dream of civilization and home; It leads people to sacrifice themselves against unknown and dark.

Emily Browning, gaze into the wilderness, said to Charlotte on the page or more like to itself, you love forever, I love one day, and it is enough ... ...








Steven Jose
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2011年3月9日 星期三

Fiddler on the Roof [30th Anniversary Edition] [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

Fiddler on the Roof [30th Anniversary Edition] [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]This new version of the Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack coincides with the movie's 30th anniversary (which is also celebrated by a special edition DVD). The CD is notable for several instrumental tracks by John Williams, as well as for "Any Day Now," a previously unreleased song performed by Perchik/Paul Michael Glaser (better known for his starring role in TV's Starsky and Hutch). The soundtrack is often compared unfavorably with the original 1964 cast album, in which Zero Mostel played the part of Tevye (here performed by Topol, who had been in the 1967 London production). But this CD has a lot going for it, including glossy remastering and, of course, Isaac Stern as the fiddler. In the end, whatever version you decide to pick up, Fiddler remains one of the most enduring musicals of all time. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Price: $8.94


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Football: Leverkusen sink Stuttgart

Bayer Leverkusen are now second behind Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga, after their 4-2 win over Stuttgart.Bayer Leverkusen are now second behind Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga after their 4-2 victory over Stuttgart. Bayer Leverkusen are second in the Bundesliga champions after win over Stuttgart2007, Stuttgart, now the bottom of the table after 4-2 defeat LeverkusenChampions League side FC Schalke suffer shock 2-1 defeat away to Monchengladbach

(CNN)--Bayer Leverkusen administration of second place in the Bundesliga on Sunday with a 4-2 victory in the House of Stuttgart struggling.

Stuttgart twice fought back from behind, but goals in the last ten minutes of play from Stefan Reinartz and Stefan Kiessling ensured victory for coach Jupp Heynckes party.

2007 Champion Stuttgart now find themselves together at the bottom of the table--with Monchengladbach, which is causing a surprise 2-1 defeat at home in the UEFA Champions League party FC Schalke.

Goal of the peer Kluge mid-table Schalke second minute lead but Gladbach stabilised in Marco Reus Mohamadou Idrissou before to give his team scored their first victory of the start of the season.

Only five points now separate five teams at the bottom of the Bundesliga, Stuttgart and Monchengladbach level at the foot of the table with just 19 points.

Although the secondly Leverkusen still lie 10 points adrift League leaders Borussia Dortmund--which extend their lead with a home win over St. Pauli on Saturday--but there are three point cushion above placed on third party Bayern Munich.

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2011年3月8日 星期二

Practice of Kenjutsu


History of Kenjutsu is a military type of art, which was created in Japan in the 15th century. It was primarily designed to prepare the fight on the battlefield samurai, as well as General soldiers.

The emphasis of kenjutsu centers around the practice of swordsmanship. But in some styles practice with other battlefield-related weapons are also an integral part of their curricula. At the simplest level, it can be seen as a collection of combat techniques for different weapons, most notably the sword.More complex level, it may be treated study of strategy both large-scale and small, offensive as defensive.? In learning to fight with a sword, have kenjutsu a more complete curriculum. Kendo of necessity restricts row techniques and targets. Kendoka usually uses shinai, which allows for techniques that do not work with real swords. Kenjutsu practitioners use normally not shinai in education, preferred to use the bokken (wooden sword) or katana (steel swords) in order to preserve the cutting technique real sword fights. Kenjutsu education consists largely of practicing cutting technique and performing partner Kata. For safety reasons, focuses on free-sparring rarely with Bokken or katana.

It was natural that samurais practice everyday with their swords. The sword was their front arms and privilege-the samurai was forbidden to other groups in society carries the sword.

Practice with the sword was also much more than preparing for battle.?Grew an entire philosophy around the Japanese sword. It has many names, as ken, katana, tachi and to.

Kenjutsu history dating back to the late Kamakura period (1192-1333) when the country was embroiled in a series of civil wars without parallel in Japanese history, influence and authority of reigning Ashikaga shogunate moderated and various provincial warlords all fought each other for supremacy and control of Earth. It was in this disorderly environment, growth of military arts blossomed, as developed, the need for well-organized martial disciplines to train and prepare for battle on the battlefields: legions warriors and clan members. Kenjutsu was one of the six ancient martial arts warriors study; the other was archery, jujutsu, artilleriobservation, horsemanship and spearman ship. But in popularity and practicality, kenjutsu (swordsmanship) practitioners out numbered all others, especially with the advent of the Warriors code of ethics, Bushid?. Commercial with examination of swordsmanship continued until late in the century, when unarmed martial arts then became popular.

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Master Fouad Atoun
http://www.ustacademy.com/

USTA is a martial arts school located in Richardson Texas lead by two 5th degree black belt master instructors who teach adults and children Tae kwon, self defence, Kenjutsu and Arnis Jujitsu