tommarker

why is it weird? he's a pretty athletic looking guy, so it wouldn't surprise me.

Are you looking to use the bo in a traditional manner, or to do the fancy stuff? I'm not asking to be mean, just wondering... Traditional bo is hard to learn by yourself... Fancy bo is probably best taught by your high school's flag corps

"Get Tough!"

it was very chain whip/rope dart-esque...

It's like some kind of super robot using nunchaku!!!

I've been involved with a college club for awhile, and I have to say that 40 people in a semester is an almost unreasonable number. For me, the magic number is about 20 in a class. Anymore than that, and you really start have to delegating teaching responsibility, or people get lost in the ranks, get bored and leave. Our club's goal is to recruit three people per (9 week long) quarter. This is just enough to keep a constant flow of people and to keep the senior ranks well distributed. Bretty, what school are/were you at? Here at Ohio State (50,000 undergrad students), there is no martial arts club (20 total) that is even close to 100 active members. In fact, with the average class size of 25-30, we're probably one of the bigger clubs on campus.

Is Lawrence, NY upstate? http://www.warrior-scholar.com

G Money, In retrospect, isn't the term idiot a little strong to describe a situation you didn't witness and a person you don't know? And if you admit it was a mistake... do we get to call you an idiot?

I had stepped out of sparring drills until my eyes healed completely from the laser surgery. More because I'd feel bad for anyone who accidently kicked or hit me in the eye during a clash. Why invite the trouble upon yourself and others?

Great job, you're well on your way now!

if your club already has insurance, it should be an easy thing to tack on.

Beka, It's called class.

I liked the 2nd one more. The dialogue was pretty good, and there were some extremely unsettling scenes, such as the graveyard scene, the shotgun blast, and the fight between Uma and Darryl Hannah. And even David Carradine was surprisingly good!

RANGERS LEAD THE WAY!!!

Before this degenerates into something ugly, let me just say that regardless of your opinion on the war on terror, iraq, etc... Pat, and THOUSANDS died to protect freedom, including the freedom of speech. That Beka can post her opinion publically and without fear of persecution (and I mean REAL persecution, like being dragged into the street and shot, not just people yelling at her) shows just how great this country is. I think it's unfair to portray troops as blood-thirsty kill-happy propaganda-brainwashed savages, just as it would be to portray all people in Berkeley as treehugging, pacifist, pinko, commie scum. It lends to absolutely no productive discussion. Troops don't do their job for the fancy parade and guys like me who buy them drinks when they get home. They do it because protecting the Republic and its freedoms (even the unpopular ones) is their job. George Orwell said (more or less) that "people sleep easy at nights because rough men stand ready to violence on their behalf." "To have peace, you must prepare for war." I would humbly request that we leave our opinions on this war for another thread (preferably on another board) and instead remember a humble man who lead the way.

Cool thread. Languages fascinate me... For me, languages are a key to another culture, like being able to see a world that you may have overlooked before. It is also a great history lesson in many ways. Arabic influence on Spanish, for example... I started learning French in high school, and used it for my foreign language requirement at University. It was great for literature, and I absorbed as much as possible at the time. I had no real motive for learning it aside from having an excellent teacher (who i hated at the time) that encouraged learning. People in my high school took French for the challenge. And French opened up other Romance languages to me... I started learning Spanish for completely practical reasons. Lots of people speak Spanish in the US (more than francophones at least!) and I've been applying for law enforcement jobs. It started out being one more bullet point on a resume. Now, I'm working on my BA in Spanish. Thinking in English. This is OK for the basics, but as things get more advanced, it becomes a major hinderance. I'm slowly becoming able to Think Spanish. I don't have to "translate" in my head as much anymore, and I can look at an apple and think "manzana" instead of going "ok... that's an apple, pomme in french, manzana in spanish." etc... Everything comes with practice, but this is THE big hurdle for me, the difference between understanding a language, and having control of it. French, Spanish, Italian as needed, Portuguese as needed. Enough Korean to get through TSD teminology. Some Chinese as I started seeing certain symbols over and over again. I would like to learn Lithuanian. With Spanish, I have used the internet to my advantage to "immerse" myself in the language even in Ohio. Reading Spanish newspapers (I try to read cnnenespanol.com before i read the regular news so I can't cheat.) I have a couple spanish channels on cable, and I use the SAP feature regularly. I listen to tapes while I'm walking to get used to hearing and speaking the language. I need to practice SPEAKING more often. The people who retain it, are those who participate regularly in class, and don't care if they mess up. That fear of failure keeps a lot of people from learning more... but remember when you were 5 or 6 and trying to use complicated structures and words? You experimented and learned. You weren't embarassed when you said "I going" etc. I learned French, and was able to read fluently. I spoke and wrote with the ability of a 6 year old. To this day, I can understand basic conversational french and could probably put a few phrases together, but that's more from studying spanish than anything else. The two are so similar it's hard for me NOT to remember French equivalents.

Before anyone chimes in with it, let me just say: I don't want to get into a debate about differing degrees of heroics, as it doing so would insult those who have given their lives. Pat wanted nothing more than to be treated normally. Who can say that one man gave up more than another when both lose their life? Pat is our connection for a lot of us. For those us who have no family or friends abroad, Pat is our lost son. I remember when he left everything behind to enlist, and refused any publicity. It was something out of a legend. It's more than money. Yes, he walked away from $3,000,000 to take an $18,000/year paycheck. How many of us would "do the right thing" in his shoes? How many of us would convince ourselves that Afghanistan or Iraq was not our place, and hold onto the money, fame and adulation? These are questions that should make us all think. We all know the "right thing" but it takes a special person to remind us that the "right thing" is worthy of sacrifice. We should remember Pat Tillman, and in accordance with his probable wishes, remember all those who served before, with, and after him. Like the others, he is a hero beyond reproach. Hopefully, the extraordinary circumstances of his life can be used to help future generations define a "Man." I challenge you to read of his life and not be inspired.

Take some time tonight and reflect on a man who set aside what, for many is a childhood dream, and did what he thought was right. http://www.chicagosportsreview.com/chicago/chicagoview.asp?c=105357 http://wackett.enc.org/~tmarker/images/tillman1.jpg RIP Pat Tillman

I've read the Kanku Dai is the king of Shotokan forms. In TSD, we say that Bassai Dai is the "eccential" hyung.

Here's one more idea that I got from Yang jwing-ming. All you need are two bricks (the smallish red kind) For reference, I believe his book the Essence of Shaolin White Crane has photos of this exercise. Start out by measuring your horse stance at about 1.5 shoulder width. Place the bricks on these spots laying sideways from how one would normally lay a brick on the ground. You now have something about 10" long, 3" wide, and 4" high to stand on. Build up your horse stance on these bricks. When they fall over, you're doing it wrong Once you can hold it for about 5 minutes, have someone give you a constant steady push from the side. If you fall off, you're doing it wrong. Dr. Yang does this with the bricks standing vertically (10" high" 4" long 3"wide) easily, and on one leg, etc. If you can do this, you will be the envy of your karate club

http://www.americanchentaichi.com/pages/rooting.html

--Chen Zhaopi

This is also referred to as "rooting." and I'm not sure I can explain it well, but here goes. As has been pointed out already, it has to do with the lowering of your center of gravity. Have you ever tried to pick up a kids didn't want to be picked up and they turn into dead weight? Kids are a master of this. You want to emulate this to some extent. You should really feel it in your thighs and at first, you won't be able to hold it long. A lot of people when standing, carry their weight high, and when you're doing hand techniques, it's very easy to emphasize the movement from the shoulders instead of the hips. You can usually walk by these people when in kibadachi and knock them over with a feather Sinking your weight is a good chunk of the process, but you also have to watch your alignment, stance, posture, etc. There's nothing magical, just good physics. Here's a start. http://www.uswushuacademy.com/articles/rooting.htm

Does your girlfriend outrank your instructor?

I thought your title said KGB... and then I saw Red... Commie!