Author: hsoi

Open Documents in Texas Government

/ hsoi

I just read via Slashdot about Texas HB 481. It’s a bill that would require pretty much any State agency to preserve their electronic documents in an open document standard format.

I think that’s a good thing.

The main thing is longevity. If these are to be vital documents to last beyond our lifetimes, we need to ensure they can. As a software engineer myself I know how software can come and go, formats can be lost to history, and files can be rendered unreadable.

Now some are saying that this is bad because it’s anti-competitive. I fail to see how that’s true. When you use a proprietary format like an MS Word document, what happens if Microsoft goes away? Yes folks it could happen. What would happen if applications could no longer read MS Word document files? What then? Now, this isn’t to say I’m against proprietary formats, but I understand if I want something to last you need to make it as open and accessible as possible. Microsoft doesn’t make their money from selling document formats, they make it from selling software that reads and writes those formats. So, they are more than welcome to add native support for these open file formats to their products, like anyone else… and that is what competition is all about.

I doubt this bill will see much traction, but it’s a nice effort.

CocoaScriptMenu

/ hsoi

My day job entails working as a software engineer writing Mac software. I just went through an ugly experience dealing with a particular 3rd party API, so it was a welcome experience to deal with a well-written bit of 3rd party code.

Jay Tuley’s CocoaScriptMenu is a terrific piece of reusable software. It does one thing: allows you to add a Scripts menu to your application, and it does it very well. I obtained the code, made a few small modifications to fit it into our build environment, dropped it into my application, and viola… it just works. Furthermore, it has just about every bit of functionality and customization that one could want. I mean, as I was thinking about how to implement this feature on my own I came up with a list of functionality, and CocoaScriptMenu satisfies every single one of them and a little bit more. Plus the licensing terms are reasonable.

Thank you, Jay Tuley, for creating this and releasing it. Good work indeed!

Defensive bottlecaps

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

So there’s this thing…. the Bottle Bezel Self-Defense tool. (h/t to James Rummel).

Self-defense bottle caps. Um… OK. It’s certainly novel.

Now, let’s ignore the whole issue of bottled water, and the fact that a gun or a knife trumps a lump of knobby plastic atop your water or soda bottle (both you being attacked by, and that they’d be better tool choices for yourself).

Could this thing be a reasonable self-defense tool?

Actually, maybe it could. Maybe.

I think about dan bong (short stick) techniques, seen in Korean martial arts such as Kuk Sool, Hapkido, and Hwa Rang Do (and their variants). Not that I think this bottle cap actually could work dan bong style, but it’s something I’m familiar with and as soon as I saw the bottle cap and thought a bit about it, dan bong techniques came to mind. One premise of dan bong techniques is directing hits to sensitive/vital areas, pressure point targets, and so on. This article describes some of the points, but lacks visuals. So instead, here I have a visual taken from Kali, and I have seen a similar illustration from a Modern Arnis book I have by Remy Presas. You can click on the picture for more details (it’s discussing the Presas approach), and you can see the basic striking points and angles of attack. Dan bong is similar. While with this bottle cap you may not take a true Kali/Arnis/Eskrima or Korean dan bong type of strikes, thinking about those weaponologies… take strikes with the butt-end of the stick, apply them to these vital target areas. And so yeah, maybe a knobby lump of plastic might do something. I would think the cap would be more effective applied to bony areas, bare skin (clothing pads and would diminish the effects)… striking, grinding it in.

But on that token, I think that’s where the cap has limited application. Someone attacks you middle of winter, they’ll be rather covered up… where are you going to strike them?  Or even if it’s in the summer and lots of flesh is exposed, the striking/grinding application of the cap is only going to be effective in certain places. I guess go for the head and hope. Which brings up another point… this is a contact weapon. You’re going to have to be close in to use it, and that’s probably too close for comfort. This is where tools that utilize projectiles are useful.

I also wonder about the structural integrity of the bottle. Many bottles now are being made out of very skimpy and flimsy plastic, so bottles collapse and crush pretty easily. Can those bottles withstand such a use? And would you trust your life to that? Maybe these will screw on top of the steel (reusable) water bottles. Most of the steel ones I’ve seen have a female top with a male cap, and this Bottle Bezel is a female cap for the male disposable bottle tops… so unlikely to work unless you can find a steel one set up the right way. But steel would be better than plastic bottles. Then perhaps you could use other striking techniques with the bottle itself, but even that’s a bit unwieldy.

I’ll say this. While I applaud their efforts to create a “less lethal” self-defense tool, one key part of self-defense is to stop the attack so you can escape. Is this bottle cap going to stop an attack? By look alone? I highly doubt it. I mean, flash a gun or a knife and attackers typically stop… flash a bottle cap?  Then by effective application? Well, perhaps, but it seems so limited and difficult to trust. 

I don’t know. Maybe. I haven’t actually seen or played with one so I can’t make a complete assessment. But just looking at the logic of it all, I can’t see it. If they really want to market it as a self-defense tool, they ought to show how it can be used. Give us some honest material and ways to view this as anything other than a gimmick or talisman. Maybe they can create their own martial art and call it “H2-Do” (sorry, the pun was there). At this point, it’s not something I’d put my faith in. I have more effective and proven tools, and I’ll stick with those.

Back to responsibility

/ hsoi

So President Obama was on Jay Leno last night. I didn’t watch, mostly because I rarely watch late night talk shows… heck, I rarely watch late night anything (I tend to go to bed early and get up early). I will say that it’s interesting he went on the show… gotta keep up his hip rock-star image I guess. 

Reading that CNN article, President Obama was quoted as saying:

Obama said earlier this week that he’ll “take responsibility” for AIG executives receiving those controversial bonuses — roughly $165 million — while the company took $173 billion in government bailouts. Congress is looking for ways to recoup all or some of that money.

“The larger problem is we’ve got to get back to an attitude where people know enough is enough, and people have a sense of responsibility and they understand that their actions are going to have an impact on everybody,” he said. “If we can get back to those values that built America, then I think we’re going to be OK.”

First, if he’s willing to accept responsibility, I hope he’s willing to accept what comes with responsibility. Time will tell. Based upon his past actions I’m certainly skeptical, but I’ll give him a chance and would love to proven wrong.

Second, I do think he’s right about the latter part: that we need to get back to a point where people have a sense of responsibility and understand their choices can have greater impacts. Yes, I do agree if we get back to these values we will be OK. But again, I’m skeptical of Mr. Obama. Behaviors and policies enacted so far rob people of the ability to be responsible. You can argue if bailouts rewarded bad behavior, but certainly they did not punish the bad behavior. When you feed at the government teet, when consequences of misbehavior don’t directly affect you, when you aren’t directly invested in the results of performance, then you have far less motivation to be responsible. 

And let’s not forget the growing Nanny State…. that does nothing for taking us back to responsibility.

So President Obama, as always you speak a good game. But talk is cheap, and you’re in a great position to lead by example. Let’s see if you can live those words you spoke last night.

Advanced Kick Routine

/ hsoi

Here’s an advanced kicking routine that we used to do at my martial arts school. I don’t know if this is some greater Kuk Sool kicking drill or was just something local to our school. But it’s a challenge, and fun. Note as well that I’m using what ought to be typical Kuk Sool verbage, both in kicks (e.g. a “spin kick” is what others might call a 360º kick) and and specification (e.g. inside kick implies using the back leg, pop-up implies front leg).

  1. Start in defensive stance
  2. Inside kick (now in offensive stance)
  3. High spin kick
  4. Low spin kick
  5. Jump spin kick (ending in offensive stance)
  6. Switch stance (now in defensive stance)
  7. Pop-up outside kick
  8. Roundhouse kick (now in offensive stance)
  9. Spin kick (ending in offensive stance)
  10. Inside kick
  11. Jump spin inside kick (ending in defensive stance… and no right had soo doh 🙂 )
  12. Pop-up side kick
  13. Pop-up hook kick (still in defensive stance)
  14. Spin back kick (now in offensive stance)
  15. Jump spin back kick (now in defensive stance)
  16. Step through/across spin kick
  17. Double front kick
  18. Split kick
  19. Scissors kick

You want facts? Here’s facts.

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

The Florida State University’s Research in Review magazine Winter 2009 issue has as their cover story an interview with Gary Kleck. (h/t to Sebastian)

Whenever people talk about “gun control” (in a manner other than “use both hands”), far too often what you hear from them is emotional arguments (see here and here and here). If you hear any data or facts, it’s usually vague and incorrect, or just a flat out lie (tho usually well-intended, but that’s what paves the road to Hell). While I can’t fault people for going with their emotions, legislating and regulating a citizenry because of how you feel usually doesn’t make for sound policy. Facts, hard data, and research make for a more solid foundation upon which to build. So if you want such things regarding guns, Gary Kleck is the man to turn to. For those that will offhand dismiss him as being an NRA shill, he’s not. Read the article.

Ah, kids

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

The neighbor kids are over, playing with my kids. The joys of Spring Break and nothing for them to do all day, eh?

They all have their Nerf guns out. In the hallway. Outside my office. Setting up barricades. Plotting strategy. Choosing teams.

I hear them talking about each other’s Nerf blaster.

“How much capacity does yours have?”

“A lot.”

Sounds of “rack, click, pop” as suction cup darts go whizzing about, sticking to the walls and windows.

I’m all tempted to go down and start to show them some tactics, but I know it’ll be instantly uncool for me to do so. 😉

 

BTW, today’s Nerf blasters are pretty awesome.

 

Update: I come downstairs. The kids are now outside playing, but evidence of their past exploits remain. Three guesses whose “compound” this was.

Emergency, by Neil Strauss

/ hsoi

My buddy Ron has his review of the new Neil Strauss book, Emergency, up on his blog.

After reading the review, I’m not sure I’ll buy the book. It seems it’s not what I expected it to be (tho I did suspect it might be the way that it went). It’s the sort of thing where I’m not going to blindly order from Amazon, but instead I’ll try to find it at a local bookstore and flip through before I decide. Still, it’s cool that he wrote the book that he did.

Rangemaster in the news

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

The March 19-25, 2009 issue of The Memphis Flyer has a cover story on a handgun permit class.

Apparently one of the Flyer’s senior editors, Michael Finger, went through the class just a little while ago, without mentioning to the Rangemaster folks who he was or his intent to write a story. The story is factual and accurately depicts the process that beginning students go through at Rangemaster. Apart from the whole “clip vs. magazine” thing (minor nit), it’s a good article. Give it a read.

Ode to Chick-Fil-A

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Chicken is probably my least favorite meat, but I love Chick-Fil-A. Nuggets. Waffle fries, especially when you get one of those “side chunks” loaded with potato skin, dipped in mayo and ketchup. Their lemonade. A fruit cup. All so good.

And of course, you crave it most on Sunday….