Technique of the week 2- slapping block

My camera has been acting up , so I've chased down the best youtube video I could for this technique.
Having assumed the basic stance discussed in technique of the week 1, a stundent can then begin to practice the slapping block or pk sau.
This instructor is good, he goes a little further into the offensive use of the pak than I would care to when building a system from the basic stance, but it's the best I can find. Once I've sorted my technical problems out, I'll throw up my own version of the pak, modified through kenpo.
Peace,
David

Prepper's, survial is not just for nuts anymore-

http://www.ready.gov/america/index.html

From the Ready.gov website- FEMA, DHS
You may need to survive on your own after an emergency. This means having your own food, water, and other supplies in sufficient quantity to last for at least three days. Local officials and relief workers will be on the scene after a disaster, but they cannot reach everyone immediately. You could get help in hours, or it might take days. In addition, basic services such as electricity, gas, water, sewage treatment, and telephones may be cut off for days, or even a week or longer. ---

To be fair, this stuff is sort of a no brainer, but in the wake of ever dwindling city , state and federal response resources needed to fill the budget gaps left by keeping the rich well, rich. At least the government is finally admitting that we may be all alone if something bad happens. We're not talking about stocking guns and ammo like some nazi survivalist from a bad 80's movie, but a direct warning from our govt that in the wake of disaster we will be on our own for a time, and an indirect command to be prepared for it or suffer the consequences.

That is what happened to us after the house fire, the red cross put us up for two days, and what was in the safety box was what we had to eat as the credit cards all burned up and we had little cash in hand. It would have been ugly otherwise, with no ID, and as working folks unable to get any assistance from the state in the short term. Money in the bank granted, but no way to get it. It was ugly . Luckily we planned ahead or a truly bad situation could have been much worse.
It is unfortunate that basic planning ahead has come to be linked in the minds of many people with the extreme right and such, but be that as it may the day may come when you need to be prepared for some big or little emergency and if you aren't, it's going to suck to be you.
Peace,
David

Bread and circusses? Do our political parties even matter anymore?

At one point or another pretty much all of us have watched pro wrestling. I haven't since I was a kid, but this is what our elections most remind me of.
Just as gaudy, just as stupid, and more likely than not just as fake ?
When was the last time any of us really believed that we were voting for anything but the lesser of two evils?
Not in my life time, not for me at least. And yet there seems a great deal of collusion between the two.
And despite public animosity a great deal of common interests.
Have our political parties abandoned us?
Did they ever really represent us in the first place?
Or is it all just spectacle and misdirection ?
As most of the nation falls into near third world status, the rich get richer and the middle get poorer, can we really believe that our parties have been or ever will be of any true value?
Is it all just smoke and mirrors?
And if it is can we do anything about it?
Just some thoughts,
David

diversity at work?

So a friend sent me this and by the gods I needed the laugh. My friend of course is a 6'5 WW2 vet who picked up Karate, Judo and Aikido in Japan during the occupation. He's not the guy in this video, but close enough for goverment work.
Peace,
David

Some equality?

So the justice department has announced that they will no longer legally support the defense of marriage act. About time really, but until congress repeals the law, we're still stuck with it. The implications of course are a bit staggering, gay people gasp might actually start getting treated like the rest of us. The right wing is of course all a flutter, other than using it to make us look at anything but where are money keeps going, why exactly do they care about what consenting adults do with each other?
Still, at least it's a step forward.
Peace,
David

I support the unions ;)

So, I support the unions, if you do as well...
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/supporttheunions/
sign the petition.
Peace,
David
BTW, locally I prefer the GOP, but nationally....I'd have to be suicidal.

so what do you do for fun?

To the surprise of some, the martial arts are more exercise or habit for me than fun, though I do love to work with weapons like the sword or spear. I love to shoot, cook, paint, read, research, hike, climb, play with my dogs, play cards (though I don't gamble), throw knives, spears swords, just about anything really. I enjoy building, working with fire, an assortment of things.
So what do we in Easton do for fun?
Just curious,
David

Neighbors of Easton: Bolster or Bust? Should the Taxpaying Public Support Unions?

Neighbors of Easton: Bolster or Bust? Should the Taxpaying Public Support Unions?

Should we kill the union?

Let's be honest, there are huge flaws in the way that many of our unions hobble Areas like Easton by making it hard if not impossible to get rid of employees that fall critically short of the mark. The other side of course is the thousands of lives, millions of dollars and such that have been spent to make the union possible. With the unions come things like child labor laws, 40 hour work weeks, health care, the ever dwindling middle class.
Many states are now considering gutting social services and hobbling collective bargaining in what can only be called a national class war.
Of the many problems to be dealt with are giving those in public service the means to receive decent compensation for basically making the country run on every level, and giving us the citizen some say in disciplining and removing problem aspects.
We as a nation wait and watch and wonder how this will impact us here if this becomes the new national standard?
To make my own stance clear, my answer is no, we absolutely should not kill the Union, but changes must be made.
Peace,
David

Urban Survival ?

It is one of those odd things as more people live in cities that anywhere else, and yet we city folk don't think on urban survival. They have plan to jet off somewhere in the wood, far away from we who stuck in the cities will become little but ravening monsters.
I'm of the opinion that cities can be made to function in the unlikely event that the nation truly collapses. Suburbs as well for that matter, What does anyone else think?
Peace,
David

We'll leave a light on...for safety

Perhaps one of the biggest thing s we've done to improve our block was the installation of a handful of spot light on the exterior of the house. One on the side to kill the dark spot that a couple of would be snatch and grab kids used against us to try to get our cell phone on our second day here in Easton, one in the front yard to illuminate the side walk and a few out back after we found a neighbors teen aged child in our back yard looking through our windows.
These things don't happen to us anymore.
We use, standard walmart outdoor spot light, (about four buck a pop) and CFL flood lights (about nine bucks a pop- but way cheaper to run all day and night than standard ones).
All in all about a hundred dollar out lay and maybe fifteen extra dollars a month on the electric bill and we are far safer than we were and our block is as well. Lighting has been proven to cut down on crime and it is a very cheap solution to a nasty social problem. So if nothing else folks, leave the porch light on, 24/7 if you must.
Thanks,
David Caines

Under priveleged , over privelged and what the hell is privelge anyway

I was talking to a friend before about how much this concept of being "Under" privileged just really chaps my hide.
Like most Americans, I've earned every single thing I own, have a mortgage or car payment on those things I do not yet own, and yet some how there's this concept that I'm privileged.
I've always thought personally that this is just a justification that criminals use to get something for nothing and yet the idea has caught on to such a degree that we find the word in use in everyday life.
And I'm sorry but I just don't get it. I've been poor, still pretty much am or I would not be living in the West Ward (lets call that spade a spade), I've been among the working homeless, I've been abused in pretty much every way a child can be , and yet somehow, I don't deserve what little I've managed to work for and hold onto?
For no greater reason that A) I was born White, or B) someone just wants someone else to blame for their own bad choices...or wants what I have without doing the work, I get the joy of being called privileged.
So I'll ask anyone one out there who cares to do so to explain how this word applies to me or anyone else like me?
I'll add that as a veteran, I've earned my freedoms such as they are as generations did before me, so let's get into this, after millions of dead, trillions of dollars and rivers of blood to make this nation what it is how is it that Americans and myself as one of them are privileged?
Just wondering really.
Peace,
David

Technique of the week 1

So, in an effort to get myself up and about, I've decided to start posting a technique a week from PDK's woman's self defense art "Leben und Totten".
I'm probably going to be staying a bit outside of politics except for where I truly feel the need here on HOE as I feel that NOE does a fine job of keeping up with such things.
Still attacks on women in Easton have been a bit more noticeable lately and this is my area of expertise, so why not?
Thanks,
David

Frame capture test 2

frame capture test

Martial/ fighting arts- home defence

If you are a home owner in Easton, then you have certain concerns, not the least of which are burglary, home invasion, assault, rape...well all of that. For most of us the answer would seem to be the hand gun and it is the wrong answer.
Even with a castle law now in effect in our state, the hand gun is a bit overkill, usually hidden , and likely to kill your children more often than the bad guy. A firearm takes years of training to be a valid defense or otherwise becomes a liability.
Hopefully we can get into this deeply. In an effort to incite discussion I will post my youtube Chanel -
http://www.youtube.com/user/sidiagung?feature=mhsn
Let's see hwere we go from here?
Blessings,
David

The difference?

While I am a big fan of NOE, I find that it is a bit to renter friendly for me. A little too far into the huggy feely left, though to be fair Noel does make a real attempt to be fair. Still, I think that for most of us the issue is "Renters". By the gods, I am surrounded by them and while they are better than they were, we constantly dread the next one. We don't look forward to the summer, we don't look forward to having to chase off the drug dealers again.
SO, what are your thoughts on home ownership in Easton, all of Easton not just the west ward.?
What are your issues? Your solutions?

Blessings,
David