Sometimes, I carry a clipboard. Sometimes, I dress like a lawn guy and carry a rake. I do my best to never, ever look like a crook.
self defense
Things your burglar won’t tell you – #12
A loud TV or radio can be a better deterrent than the best alarm system. If you’re reluctant to leave your TV on while you’re out of town, you can buy a device that works on a timer and simulates the flickering glow of a real television.
Things your burglar won’t tell you – #11
You’re right: I won’t have enough time to break into that safe where you keep your valuables. But if it’s not bolted down, I’ll take it with me.
Things your burglar won’t tell you – #10
Here’s a helpful hint: I almost never go into kids’ rooms.
Things your burglar won’t tell you – #9
Do you really think I won’t look in your sock drawer? I always check dresser drawers, the bedside table, and the medicine cabinet.
13 Self-Defense Myths Busted… well, sorta
Adam at Low Tech Combat wrote an article busting 13 self-defense myths. As with everything LTC produces, it’s good stuff.
But I do disagree with a few of his points.
1. Never walk around with your hands in your pockets
I do agree this is one to bust, because there can be times when having your hands in your pocket is a good thing. For example, if I’m carrying a snub revolver in my front pants pocket, putting my hands in my pocket allows me to get a proper grip on the snub to facilitate drawing… else pocket draw is really slow. So, there’s one to bust “never” walking with your hands in your pockets. 🙂
But how likely is it really that you will be attacked suddenly when out shopping at the local mall in the middle of the day?
I don’t know how likely it will be. If you have the ability to make such predictions, and do so accurately, then perhaps armed with that knowledge you should do your best to be elsewhere!
Saying that you should never have your hands in your pockets at any time is being extremely paranoid. That is being hyper alert. You simply cannot maintain such a level of alertness for too long without visiting the local psychologist.
So being prepared is paranoid? This could be a fun “where do you draw the line” debate. 🙂 He’s right tho… it’s hard to be in “code yellow” all the time; it’s impractical. But we have to accept, hands in the pocket could put you at a disadvantage.
Can we do something about it?
Well, just learn to live life without your hands in your pocket. Eventually it will be normal to be out of pocket. As well, you could have pockets that aren’t restrictive or permit a greater freedom of movement.
So… I’ll bust this, but I’ll also say it’s “plausible” yet something you can work around, if you’re willing to work.
2. Never walk around with your earphones in
I’ll disagree with this, because life isn’t always about being attacked.
What about cars zooming by?
What about just being able to hear people around you, like someone maybe just saying “Excuse me” because they wish to move around you.
There’s no question that having earphones on and music blaring will shut out the sounds of everything else around you. Yes it has self-defense implications, but it also just has greater implications about life and that tuning out what’s going on around you could have all sorts of other negative repercussions.
Same goes for things like texting…. and you’ve seen the YouTube videos of people walking while texting and falling into fountains or knocking themselves out as they walk into a lamp post. You get too engrossed in something, and it tunes out the world around you. And then, you open yourself up to bad things happening to you.
And the Rest
Everything else I’m in pretty strong agreement with. And even on the above two points, I don’t fully disagree with Adam, but I just don’t see it quite the same way he does. Still, good article, well worth your time to read.
Things your burglar won’t tell you – #7
It’s raining, you’re fumbling with your umbrella, and you forget to lock your door — understandable. But understand this: I don’t take a day off because of bad weather.
Things your burglar won’t tell you – #6
A good security company alarms the window over the sink. And the windows on the second floor, which often access the master bedroom — and your jewelry. It’s not a bad idea to put motion detectors up there, too.
Things your burglar won’t tell you – #5
If decorative glass is part of your front entrance, don’t let your alarm company install the control pad where I can see if it’s set. That makes it too easy.
A proper training mentality
I was pointed to this article, “On Being a Beast“. If you come to my blog for gun and self-defense stuff, you should read this. If you come to my blog for weightlifting stuff, you should read this. If you come to my blog period, you should read this.
The article may come primarily from the realm of strength training, but the message applies to any sort of training. The writer, Johnny Pain, talks about a conversation he was having with a friend about why they train. A question:
What if you were being sentenced in six weeks for a crime that you did not commit? (Or fuck it, what if you did commit it, I’m not one to judge).
How would you spend the next forty-five days? Think about it.
And all you gun folks reading this, oh yes, it could happen to you even if the situation was totally righteous. How would you spend the next 45 days?
Well, if it were me, I’d want to be the meanest, toughest, nastiest, most beast-like human being that I could be.
The concerns over training minutia would go out the window. Arguments over percentages or head and eye position on the squat would seem rightfully retarded. All that would matter is building a body that was strong and capable. Times to completion of various arbitrary tasks would be of little importance, as would one-rep maxes performed for other people’s benefit.
Things like biceps peak, body composition, quad sweep, or whether or not you could do a particular parlor trick on the rings would be unthinkable notions pushed aside by ever-present knowledge that your mind would be tested the most, but that your body could be called on to do very serious things. These tasks could be life or death, not win or lose. The stakes could be rectal integrity or death, not bragging rights on an internet forum.
You’d have to be strong, you’d have to be quick, and you’d have to have a decent set of lungs on you.
Quite the sound point. You get put into such a high pressure situation, and suddenly you gain great focus. You gain a greater insight into what really matters, and how most of the stuff we deal with in life doesn’t matter.
I know I get caught up in the details. I know I start to worry about all these sorts of minutia all the time. It’s just how I am. But one good lesson I’m learning right now is to just shut up and squat. The Wendler program I’m on right now? I’ve been analyzing too much, thinking about too much. I realized I was thinking way too much about it, and going back to the BBB template works better. Sure I still think about some details, like I am worrying about my knee angle because I’m concerned about the stresses it’s feeling since I don’t care to blow out my knee, but that’s different from just worrying about how good I look in the mirror.
There are situations in life where being an absolute beast could be very beneficial. Whether or not you plan on getting jammed up in the next few months, give some thought to the idea that you have one life and one shot at doing it right. We make decisions in finance and other realms based on long term payoff and relevancy, why not in why we train?
Don’t be the fat, beer bellied guy at the gun show who carries three cocked and locked 1911 .45’s and shit talks the 9mm round who loses his teenage daughter from choking because he didn’t possess basic first aid skills which would be much more likely needed in life than his 24 rounds of 230 grain hardball, or who can’t run to save his four year-old son from the drunk driver barreling down his street.
Get your basics down. Build your body up into that of a beast, a predator’s body, not a butter soft, tasty piece of food chain. It may very well all be in vain, and I hope to God that it is for your sake.
This is why I’m training to be strong. Oh sure I’m working to shed some body fat, but that’s because the fat is mostly useless. It doesn’t add anything useful, it doesn’t help me. I am not working my “chest” today because what’s the point of big pecs and big arms if I can’t do anything useful with them? I want to be strong(er) because that’s useful.
Preparing for the worst is never a bad thing. Be ready for anything. Prepare in the manner that gives you the most bang for your buck.
Oddly, some people think it is a bad thing… or at least, that you’re paranoid or have something to be afraid of. No, it’s just about being prepared because life can and does throw you curve balls, and you’ll never see them coming. It’s why we have insurance. It’s why we have smoke detectors. It’s why we wear seat belts. It’s why some of us choose to prepare ourselves physical and mentally for a confrontation we hope never comes, but we’ll be ready to meet it when it comes.
So when you train, train like you mean it. Focus on what’s really important. Yes, you’ll get caught up in minutia, but always be aware that you can, aware when you do, and willing to step back and refocus when it happens. Reading this article gave me a kick in the pants. Maybe it did for you as well.
Stuff From Hsoi 