Month: July 2009

How much do you know?

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

As I was writing this post over at martialartsplanet.com, I was quoting an interview with the Grandmaster of the art which I used to study, Kuk Sool Won. In that quote SUH In Hyuk said:

When I asked how many techniques he possessed, he said that there are 57 joint lock techniques. At the same time in the neighborhood, there was another “Yawara” master who had learned the traditional Japanese martial arts, who claimed to know more than Grandmaster Choi.

When I was typing up that post, it really struck me how quantity-centered Suh was. He cares how many techniques Choi Yong-Sool (considered the founder of Hapkido) knew, then seems to scoff because if this guy was such a great grandmaster how could he be if this other guy in town knew more? I guess that’s why Suh makes such a big deal out of touting Kuk Sool hosts 3608 techniques. Of course, most of those are super secret techniques that us common folk will never be privvy to, but hey… keep dangling that carrot.

Another art with similar quantity issues is Hwa Rang Do. Hwa Rang Do is an art contemporary with Hapkido and Kuk Sool (much twisted and interweaved history), and there they claim over 4000 techniques! Wow, they must be t3h d3adly!  There’s a group that’s at odds with Hwa Rang Do called Society of the Hwarang (more joyful bickering). While working on my MAP posting I revisited the Society page to get a link, but then spent some time on the page to refresh myself of the silliness. On the Society’s page there is an Open Letter that works to refute a lot about Hwa Rang Do. I thought this summed things up nicely.

There is one more serious flaw regarding joint locks in the Hwa Rang Do syllabus.  They don’t work against resistance!  I am not talking about someone grappling, or taking the fight to the ground.  I have an article on this point elsewhere in two pages called Joint Locks and Capturing, so, I am not going into detail here.  I can testify, however, that I have repeatedly given my wrist to Hwa Rang Do Black Belts and others as well, and I offered no more resistance than to relax or extend, and they can not execute any variation on the technique.  I learned this problem when I began teaching Defensive Tactics at ESI in 1980.  We get a very large number of accomplished martial artists, body builders and other individuals who have very strong joints.  Some ESI students can bench press 450 or 500 pounds, and they must be convinced that a technique will work on them before they will try it.  I actually learned a different concept in the execution of  joint locks long before starting ESI from an old Aspen Academy friend and associate, John Clodig, a disciple of Daito Ryu Jujitsu.  Clodig taught me the difference between a joint lock executed with a straight line and one executed with a spiral.  One must wonder  what happen in the transition to Joo Bang Lee via Yong Su Choi.  Unfortunately, students of Hwa Rang Do take pride in the number of techniques they remember rather than the ability to apply them in spontaneous settings.

Emphasis added.

The above just echos my past Kuk Sool training. All about memorization; lack of alive and resisting training, little application of the techniques.

Bill “Superfoot” Wallace was a dominant and undefeated tournament fighter, but he didn’t have a gazillion techniques in the ring. Wallace just had a few techniques but knew them very well and knew how to apply them very well. In the end, it isn’t always about what and how much you know, but what you can do with what you know.

(Don’t let ’em) Grind Ya Down

/ hsoi

This morning I’ve been listening to Iron Fist, one of my favorite Motörhead albums. There’s a track on there that serves as a good reminder.

People gonna make ya wonder if you’re right,
Keep ya wide awake and worried late at night.
Why don’t ya tell ’em to beat it?
Why don’t ya tell ’em to eat it!
They’re just a bunch of clowns,
Don’t let ’em grind ya down.

Sons of bitches, crocodile tears in their eyes.
We scare ’em shitless just by showin’ up alive!
Why don’t you tell ’em to shove it?
You know they might as well love it.
Give you runaround,
Don’t let ’em grind you down.

Evil bastards ain’t got nothin’ else to do;
Make your life a misery and put you off your food.
Don’t you dare to go under!
Don’t let ’em steal your thunder!
Listen to the sound,
We’ll let ’em grind that down.

Don’t let them bastards grind ya down!

Sporting purposes

/ hsoi

Eugene Volokh discusses the notion of “sporting purposes” when it comes to firearms.

He discusses how the San Francisco, California Police Code explicitly delimits firearms based upon “sporting purposes” and denies hollow-point ammo, mentioning many established brands by name. His main point:

Rather, my point is how the ordinance seems to deliberately marginalize defensive purposes for gun ownership. Sporting purposes are labeled legitimate, and other purposes, including defensive ones, are labeled illegitimate.

This is quite true, and even from within the ranks of gun owners you can find a split along these lines.

Why isn’t self-defense a legitimate purpose? I’m not asking this rhetorically, nor am I asking this to those that consider it to be legitimate. I’m asking this specifically to those that think firearms are only legitimate for sporting purposes, or that think firearms are not legitimate under any circumstances. I honestly want to know what and why you think defensive uses of guns are not legitimate.

Furthermore, working to ban hollow point bullets demonstrates ignorance of the topic. Yes I know, they love to refer to them as “cop-killer” bullets, anything to get an emotional rise. Are hollow point bullets more effective at stopping? Yes they are, when compared to “ball” ammunition. Furthermore, hollow point bullets are safer because they are designed to stop within and not continue through. Look at these numbers. If you must defend yourself against a bad guy, you want to ensure to stop the bad guy, not that the bullet might pass through the bad guy and hit an innocent on the other side. When it comes to stopping an attacker, hollow points bullets are more effective in stopping power and safety; there’s no reason not to use them. Can a bad guy use a hollow point to kill a cop? Sure. But hollow points work quite well in the hands of us good guys against bad guys too. They don’t discriminate. 🙂

While I may enjoy sporting activities with my firearms, my primary purpose for having firearms is defensive. I may study all sorts of empty hand martial arts, even weapon-based martial arts (sticks, swords, etc.). But because I know those things, I also understand their limitations. A gun isn’t a be-all-end-all, but it serves a good purpose towards keeping me and my family safe. It goes back to the Boy Scout motto of “Be Prepared”; better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

But hey, if you don’t think defensive purposes are legitimate, then I’ve got a yard sign for you. Are you willing to post that sign?

After class…

/ hsoi

Just got back from another class. Tonight was Muay Thai/JKD technique work, and western boxing.

I am pooped. 😎 I am pumped.

Lots of people in class tonight, including at least 3 new folks. That was cool. It’s nice to get to know other people that start at about the same time as you as you become a “class” (like a graduating class) together, going through the same things, learning, getting hit, bruised, banged up together.

During the Muay Thai/JKD class, I realized how much I need to unlearn from what I did in the past. Changes in mechanics, how to approach things. Working to break the old paradigm, leave it behind. Don’t discard the knowledge, but allow myself to accept the new motions without the old stuff tripping me up.

I also found it interesting that for all I know, how much of it I don’t really know. That is, I know it in terms of having it memorized in my head, but not memorized in my muscles, if you will. So much of the Kuk Sool work was memorization and very little on practical application of what you had memorized. This was one of my problems with my practice. So while I’m here in class working, my brain recognizes a lot of angles, joint locks, throws, sweeps, but my body doesn’t know how to put them into play smoothly and dynamically. This is one reason why I left, and one reason why I started at this new school. Theory is good, but you need application of that theory to make it truly useful.

I shouldn’t paint the picture that I’m totally inept. Rather, the difference between my previous martial arts study and my current martial arts study is one of actual application and practice. So far every class I’ve taken at this new school, I’m coming home exhausted, sweaty, smelly, muscles are tired and sore the next day, I took a few shots, I have some bruises. There’s no cooperative dancing. Sure we’re learning, sure we’re doing drills, but it’s work. I like this.

Another thing I’m finding I like is the limited focus. In Kuk Sool, there’s such a broad curriculum that you dabble in little things all the time. Plus each class was a grand unknown as to what was to be worked. Here at Warrior’s Edge, the classes are well-defined as to what you will be doing. If you go Monday at 7:30 PM you will be doing western boxing, period. But note, that’s the only western boxing class all week. But so far, I’m liking that. It allows me to go to class to learn, then I go home and spend the week practicing the few things that I was taught. Come back next week, show what I learned, learn a little more. It seems to be a better fit for actual learning: the class is a class, meant for teaching, not to just come and “get a workout” (tho certainly you get that). At my old Kuk Sool school, I don’t think a lot of people there practiced outside of class (apart from ensuring stuff was memorized); thus, class time was practice time too. I think that detracted. Go to school to learn, then leave and do your homework.

Speaking of all that tho, after tonight’s MT/JKD class, I thought to myself that I might want to review some Kuk Sool techniques, such as Ki Bohn Soo. Keep the locks, angles, sweeps, and throws in my head.

Well, this post has been rather rambling. Just a lot of disjointed thoughts after tonight’s classes. I’m happy I made the switch.

TSRA Scholarships

/ hsoi

The Texas State Rifle Association just sent the following letter regarding scholarships:

The NRA Foundation has provided TSRA with funds to support five $2,000 scholarships for Texas students to attend universities, colleges and schools this fall. Please help TSRA get the information and the application form distributed to interested students prior to the due date, August 1, 2009.  Please pass this information on in club newsletters, post on your shooting interest websites, and help us find students that support our right to possess, own, and use firearms responsibly. TSRA and NRA will be proud to support five of these students in their educational efforts. Click the underlined link for details.

TUBB’S MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIPS –  The Texas State Rifle Association is pleased to announce, we have 3, $1000. Scholarships available for the coming semester. If you can use the help please follow the directions below. Texas A&M Tubbs Scholarships.

Snub Training

/ hsoi

In my digging around about snubs, I found this website: SnubTraining.

It’s a website authored by Michael de Bethencourt, and contains exerpts from an upcoming book on using snub nose revolvers. I haven’t had a chance yet to read all of the back articles, but working on it.

Lock failure

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Michael Bane notes that he not only experience but got a failure of a revolver’s internal lock mechanism on film. I’d love to see the footage.

Internal locks are the creation of good intentions that don’t truly serve a good end. It’s integrating a locking system into the internal mechanics of a gun so that, if locked, the gun cannot fire. No one in their right might would use such a thing. If you need the gun for defensive purposes, you will not want it to be locked because there’s no way you’ll unlock it in time to use the gun. If you would use the lock, say for storage, there are other means one can use to render a gun inoperable, such as using cable locks or storing the gun in a proper locked safe.

What does an internal lock do? It adds complexity to the mechanics of the gun. More parts, more things going on, thus more points of failure and things going wrong. And Lord, if your life was on the line and the gun decides to fail — because obviously they can and do — you’re going to be most unhappy.

A gun is designed to be a simple thing. Really, the simpler a tool is, generally the better it is. The more you screw with it, the more you can risk things breaking or going wrong. If this post is correct, I look forward to S&W removing the locks. Helps in my search for a snub. I will admit, I was a bit indifferent about the lock situation in my snub search, but no longer. There will not be no lock on my snub; even if the chances of failure are slim, if this piece is something I’m trusting my life to I want to ensure it’s as reliable and failsafe as I can get it. I don’t need that 1 in a million chance of being attacked to coincide with the 1 in a million chance of the gun failing when I need it most.

Updated: I did some Googling on S&W removing the internal locks and it seems to not be true. There are some limited edition runs without locks, but on the whole no it’s not happening. At least, that’s what I can find right now.

Finally!

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

How serendipitous!

A bunch of things finally came together and today I introduced (at least my older 2) children to Magic: The Gathering.

I started playing M:TG in grad school. When I first arrived, I met a couple guys in the department and was immediately invited to an evening at their apartment where they introduced me to the game. This would have been when The Dark expansion pack was out. I remember that because I thought that expansion was really cool and I only wish I knew the game better at that point as I would have bought a lot more expansions of that set. 🙂  I played while I was in grad school through Revised Edition, Fourth Edition, The Dark, Fallen Empires, Homelands, Ice Age, Chronicles, and into Alliances. After leaving grad school however, I had no one to play with (Wife tried, just not her thing) and the cards ended up in the closet… hoping that one day I’d get to play them again. Or sell them and make a lot of money. 😉 And while most people kept wanting me to sell them, it was always my hope that I could actually play again because I did enjoy the game so much.

Just a few weeks ago, Linoge had a posting about the game, which brought back so many memories. As well, since M:TG’s explosion in popularity years ago, collectible card games became quite the thing. I’d say the most successful other has been Pokémon. While I tried to dodge that bullet for years, eventually my kids got into it (I think due to one Christmas with my nephews some years back). I never was that upset about it, as I always figured if they liked one collectible card game they might like another! Often our kids would get together with other kids and out would come the binders of Pokémon cards… sometimes tho I felt like they cared more about collecting than playing, but I eventually did see the kids play the game. Then one day, at the birthday part of one of Oldest’s friends and I see a lot of the other boys there with cards… and not just any, but M:TG cards! Certainly recent editions, but it was M:TG and it was cool to see kids were still into it. I think that sowed a seed back in Oldest’s head.

Then the serendipitous thing was last night. My good friend W is about to move out of Texas 😦 and in the midst of packing he and his wife are trying to get rid of things they don’t want to pack and/or move. One thing was a couple big boxes of W’s old Magic cards! He sold off all the cards worth money, but that’s OK as this is about playing, not money. He gave me a lot of cards, and his cards were heavy from Alliances and Ice Age, some Chronicles and other sets from around that time. My oldest 2 kids immediately were curious about “the cards” I was taking home, so last night when I got home I pulled out a rulebook, refreshed myself on it, and introduced older 2 kids to it today. Gave them a quick overview of the rules, then we played a game.

When I was introduced to the game, the way we played was the experienced players made some decks and let the newbies play with the new decks. We would play the games open-handed, so every player’s hand was face-up on the table. This allowed no surprises and many chances for instruction. We’d play games this way until the newbies felt comfortable, then we’d move to close-hand games and normal gameplay would commence. So this is what I did with my kiddos today, playing an open-hand game with some decks I had made… decks that I made probably 13-14 years ago, still in their boxes, waiting for the day when someone would play with them again.

I’m so happy that day finally came. 🙂

The kids enjoyed it, especially Daughter. I did my best to keep things moving and keep the action high, despite the slower nature of an instructional game (lots of pausing to explain things). I also did what I could to sow the seed in Oldest’s head that he’d want to check this out… before he went to bed last night I was flipping through the cards and came across Orcish Conscripts (click the link, see the card). I knew Oldest would enjoy the humor of the artwork, and even now he’s still asking me to see more Orc cards because well… Orc cards have a lot of humor in them. Whatever works, if it keeps them interested and wanting to play.

Of course, I’ve got tons of cards between mine and the ones W gave me, so I don’t expect we’ll be buying any time soon. Besides, after reading Linoge’s post all the new rules, other things to keep up with, bleah. I’ll worry about that later. I’m sure once the kids are well-versed I’ll want to do some sealed decks, and that will mean new cards, but that’s fine. I look forward to it.

Happy day for me.