Patrick

You never know, we might have some dog owners in these forums, and some of those dog owners might have had a dog that picked up heartworms. Best of luck to your friend, Archangel. Patrick

Hi Nidan Melbourne, Thanks for the question. Absolutely. Depending on the size of the file, it can sometimes be less than ideal to attach a large file (and some email systems reject large attachments), but if that works for you, it works for me. I appreciate it. Patrick

Hey all, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. On May 21, 2016, our community will turn 15 years old. We are making plans to celebrate this (your ideas are welcome!), and Devin (Lupin1) had a wonderful idea for a group video project. We would love for you to participate. We are hoping to produce a compilation of clips from members showing off your unique martial arts life. For example, a demonstration of your art, a tour of your school, etc. For a bit of local flavor, you could also include a video shot of a local landmark or a "welcome to [your city/town]" sign, to show people where you are from Please keep the following in mind: Shoot it however you can. A camcorder, digital camera, your cell phone. If you use your cell phone, please hold your phone sideways, so that the video will be widescreen.Please keep the video to one minute or less. Focus on the stuff you want to share the most. Don't worry about editing. We'll clean it up for you. To send me the video, one easy option is WeTransfer, which is free. Enter my email (patrick@ifroggy.com) as the friend's email, and be sure to include your KarateForums.com username in the message. You can upload it via other services, but the file must be downloadable. For this reason, YouTube will not work. No matter how you upload it, please be sure that the file is sent to patrick@ifroggy.comI am really excited to see what you share! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me here or in private. Please reply here if you plan to contribute! Thanks, Patrick

Hey Archangel. Welcome to KF! Patrick

Hey liger, Sorry. That said, it is still on your profile here: http://www.karateforums.com/member19071.html Thanks, Patrick

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. We recognize one member every month as the KarateForums.com Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. Our honoree for April is... Oshishinobu. Congratulations! Thank you for the wonderful contributions that you have made to our community. Sincerely, Patrick

Hey all, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. In honor of April Fools' Day, we flipped all of the usernames on the site backwards. For example, Patrick displayed as kcirtaP. Brian (bushido_man96) had the idea for it, and we used some code that is supposed to be compatible with all popular web browsers. But, from talking with the staff, it is possible that it may not have displayed for all members. For those who haven't seen the backwards usernames, I am going to leave them on the profile pages for a little while, so you can view your own profile and see the username backwards, like my profile here: http://www.karateforums.com/member1.html Thank you for your patience. We hope you had a fun day. Thanks, Patrick

This is wonderful, skullsplitter. Congrats to Alec and your family. Thank you for sharing this! Patrick

I understood that, MAfreak. No worries. Thanks.

No problem, The Pred. You just made it before the end of the month, haha. Patrick

That's funny, Iceman and Danielle. I would just say that there isn't much to understand, as far as people watching sports, other than the fact that people enjoy different things. We all have things that we like better and know more about. And then other stuff makes less sense to us. For example, baseball, if that's your thing. It's actually quite popular in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Panama, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Nicaragua, Colombia, etc.

Thank you for the submission, Bob. Patrick

I enjoy playing sports in general. Used to play baseball when I was younger. These days, I mostly play golf. Patrick

I happened to find myself watching this movie, which is available on Amazon Prime right now: http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Money-Stranger-Gunfighter-Cleef/dp/B00YH8SIGE/ It has one of the oddest plots for a movie that I've ever come across. It starred Lee Van Cleef (gunfighter) and Lo Lieh (stranger; let's go with martial artist), who was known for all sorts of martial arts movies. The poster describes it as "the fastest gun in the West joins with the most brutal hands in the East." I don't know if I can recommend it, but it's definitely a quirky film... Patrick

Thank you for the elaboration, Mr. Armstrong. Patrick

Welcome to KF, Anthony. Patrick

I don't know if anyone is reducing yoga to just stretching, as much as following the context of the discussion we're having, which is about the physical aspects of yoga: balance, stretching, breathing. If I took what you said out of context, I apologize. When I read your second to last post, this is what I gather: if you take karate, you are wrong to take yoga to increase your flexibility, as all that you need for increasing flexibility should be contained within your karate. But if you take yoga to broaden yourself in other ways that are not flexibility, then that is another matter and may not be wrong. Is that accurate? Thanks, Patrick

Hey all, I thought I would mention that Noah (Wastelander) is organizing an event in Scottsdale, Arizona from March 17 through 19, 2017, the Ryukyu Martial Arts Friendship Gasshuku. As if that wasn't cool enough, Bob (sensei8) will be one of the teachers at the event. They have a dedicated Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/475530265988784/ If anyone else plans to attend, please let us know here! It would be cool if several KF members met up. I'm sure it will be an amazing event. Thanks, Patrick

I appreciate the discussion here. Good to have differences to explore. One thing I would mention is that the physical aspects of yoga (which is what we're really talking about here, I think) are really just a series of movements, much like any martial art. If you are fine with "stretching," then it seems rather inflexible (I made a pun! ) to say that using "yoga" is wrong. People who do yoga might not do karate to improve their yoga (or they might...), but people who do yoga might do karate to learn how to defend themselves or to improve themselves physically in a different way from yoga. The fact is, people who do yoga probably do other physical things, too. The same for people who do karate. For my workouts, I follow the routines from Fitness Blender, which is a wonderful resource. They combine strength training, cardio, yoga, pilates, stretching, etc. to build out routines that allow you to properly warm-up, exercise, cool down and hit the right muscles and parts of your body. This is why it's called Fitness Blender, I think. But they don't feel like they have to label it each time they do it. Like when we're doing the cool down, they don't announce "THIS IS YOGA!" when we do the pigeon pose, child's pose, downward dog, etc. It's just a movement, related to my focus for that workout, that allows me to gradually lower my heart rate and hopefully reduce some soreness. Similarly, while I could be wrong, I don't think karate or, at least, all forms of karate, have a full group of stretches and warmups built in to the art, as created by the founder, that target every portion of the body. You are doing something to warm up, to stretch, to increase your flexibility and, if you want to call it yoga, stretching or simply your art, I'm not really sure that it matters. Thoughts? Patrick

My pleasure, IcemanSK. You are deserving! Patrick

A lot of fun stories here, all. Thanks for sharing. Nice. It's cool that he replied. I'm trying to think if I've net any... Nice. I have met a bunch of athletes, but I'm trying to think if I've met any fighters or well-known martial artists. Hmm. I can't really think of any.

a.k.a. "all of them."

Hey all, Wow, two members joining the 1,000 posts club at once (the 97th and 98th members of it, respectively)! IcemanSK first and now Spartacus Maximus. There are all sorts of reasons why this is great, but the first one that jumps out to me is that with IcemanSK registered on October 12, 2005, while Spartacus Maximus joined us on June 1, 2014. Both members are respected because of their quality contributions. What this showcases, to me, is that our community is a wonderful mix of veteran members and newer ones, with the door always opening to additional members. That's vital for us. We need to have that mix, where we are welcoming of new people, and grateful for those who have made this community a part of their lives over a longer period of time. Speaking of Spartacus Maximus, specifically, I will tell you what I have seen. Certainly, a member that has been recognized by the community (5 KarateForums.com Awards nominations, with a win), which I think speaks to the fact that a lot of people have been touched and found value in the posts that Spartacus Maximus has made. Spartacus Maximus has been one of the most consistent people within our community, since joining it. It really doesn't take long to make a name for yourself here and Spartacus Maximus made an immediate positive impression and has built upon that, creating an impressive legacy of contributions and helping many people in the process. Thank you, Spartacus Maximus, for the outstanding contributions that you have made to our community! Sincerely, Patrick

Hey all, I would like to congratulate IcemanSK on reaching 1,000 posts here at KarateForums.com! Ever year when we hold the KarateForums.com Awards, I make a point of saying that we only have a few categories, and we can't hope to honor all deserving members. It is 100% true, though it may not always be easy to point to examples. I hope this doesn't sound like backhanded praise, but IcemanSK is a great one. I just looked at the awards page and was really surprised to learn that IcemanSK has never even been nominated for an award. This is despite being a member for 10 and a half years and making 1,002 posts. The reason it's surprising is because IcemanSK has a wonderful track record in our community. Whether you are a member, staff member or me (I can speak for me, haha), it's almost certain that your opinion of IcemanSK is a good one. Thank you, IcemanSK, for your amazing contributions and for being such a long term presence in our community. We appreciate you. Sincerely, Patrick

Welcome back, Sentoka. Just for anyone reading this, we generally don't allow multiple accounts, but Sentoka's account was old and hardly used, and Sentoka will be sticking with this one. Thanks, Patrick