kivikala

I believe karate in public schools is a good thing and will work. Why is that you may ask? Because traditional karate training as I know it, develops self-discipline, self-worth, strong character and leadership qualities. Not to mention some physical exercise thrown in for giggles. I know of several students that have had their lives "saved" via karate practice. Not because they could kick-butt, but because it gave some meaning to their life, some direction. They could concentrate on their studies, developing real friendships, and ignore or cope with alot of the peer-pressure garbage thrown at them. Karate as I know it is more than just a physical activity, it is a life choice. School kids I think need strong guidance, strong and accessible role models. They need stability, a "rock to cling to" in this faster and faster changing world. Karate practice offers this. Happy students who have some direction to their life will do well in their studies. Life is getting way too complicated. I believe Karate training teaches how to deal with the unexpected road-bumps of life. It will work in a public school, if the school has the mind to support it and to utilize the opportunity and tool as presented. Some public schools don't care. Teachers have their tenure and they are coasting. Administration just wants to keep the teacher unions off their backs. I've seen it, I know it's there. On the other hand, some schools do care. Teachers and parents are involved. Here a karate class will succeed and add extra value to "education". Ok I am leaving with my soap-box now...

In every school I've trained at, the rank you earn is yours. No one can "take it away from you". Even if you stop training and them return much much later you are still that rank. If you are not "worthy" of the rank by way of lack of continued training, that is your shame to bear. You just have to buck up and get going again and prove yourself to yourself. As for required continued attendance requirement? That to me is nonsense. That's the way it is here, your world may differ.

Sorry, I never heard of this group either. I looked at the kanji of the name and it translates roughly as "(sei) truthful (ku) empty- (kai) union". Which "seiku" as far as I know, means something like "scriptures"(?). As for this schools roots, Seikukai seems to be fairly well organized in Japan. To what I can read the style seems heavily sports oriented. There are 1/2 dozen associated schools in Japan with its headquarters in Osaka. From what little I can tell they are somehow related to Shukokai.

I wonder what the girl what thinking.... "I gave up a pottery class, all I can think of is my hands wrist deep in clay."

I think in all situations being polite and mannerly wins all the time. It may not win the discussion, but it's the right thing to do. Looking at the question I'd have to ask, why is anyone discussing such matters with anyone but the sensei? As I see it, the junior student is always treated as wrong even if they are right. I believe this to be true in much of the real world as well as in the dojo. So to disagree is for the most part, unfortunately, futile.

Gee-wiz man, I had to give up my right arm and left leg to pay the entry fees at the last tournament I went to! That ought to count. no?

The Kobian Mercury™ CyberPix S-550V Digital Camera you selected is pretty much a case of "you get what you pay for" ($79.00). If you are looking at the Aiptek at Sam Goody it is pretty much the same thing. As I see it, not knowing your photography needs, I can only offer a shot in the dark here. The S-550V camera is 3.2MP, (2048 x 1536 actual) resolution. This is OK, not great, but OK for general snapshots. It will produce reasonably good 4x6 photos and maybe you can get a decent 8x10 out of it as well. (it all depends on the quality of the lens. although the 2.8f lens sounds promising, but the fixed focus is not good at all.) The 4x digital zoom is useless. All that does is reduce your overall resolution. (Optical zoom is what you want). The feature of having SD memory cards is good. However, the 16Mb onboard memory is pretty useless and will more often than not, cause you grief. (i.e. gee why isn't the photo on my SD card? where did it go? or I lost/misplaced the usb cable and I can't down load the pix.) The selectable white balance is a good thing, and the self timer is good too. The TV-out (230x240) feature sounds rather poor. The shutter speeds of 1/2 to 1/6000th are reasonable. And the ISO values of 100-400 aren't bad but, very limiting in dark or dimly lit scenes. It uses 4 AAA batteries which I and unsure of the capacity for # of photos per charge. I suspect it "eats" batteries like I eat potato chips (by the handful). For the specs I read, the camera is a simple "point-n-shoot" not any better than a 35mm film disposable camera. Personally I think you will be very disappointed with this camera. Based on your selection above, I would recommend looking at Canon A410 ($150), Canon A520 ($160), Fujifilm A345 ($150), Olympus Stylus Verve ($140), Olympus Stylus 410 ($150), Olympus Camedia D435 ($130) or D535 ($100). Olympus has a wide range of sub-$150 cameras and a couple of sub-$100. There is plenty to choose from in the sub-$200 price range. However the sub-$100 price range is basically full of junk. So buyer beware. Look here for some ideas: http://imaging-resource.pricegrabber.com/search_attrib.php/page_id=48 happy hunting.

What to do with them? Well, the really good ones are a work of art. During the Tall Ships 2000 in Boston, one of the many I visited was a Japanese ship. I was wandering around on deck when happened to peek in an open door and there across the room on a shelf sat a beautiful array of origami and nearby a sailor busily folding another. One of the origami that immediatly caught my eye was a large exquisite and highly detailed Godzilla. The sailor looked up and noticed what I saw. The next thing I knew he scooped it off the shelf and told me to please take it. I tried to refuse but he would not listen to any argument. The godzilla now sits in it's own sealed glass case in my living room as a fond rememberance of that day.

Age is a wonderful thing, I wish it on all young people. Let us martial artists age the best way we can, but never give up. This is the true strength in budo.

I do not see the lineage thing as a problem. I see it used as an attempt to bring legitimacy to ones art/style. Japanese systems seem to be pretty big on lineage particularly any koryu arts. If one can trace the one or many instructors they have had, it does bring out in interesting picture of the influences in ones "personal" style. For instance you can see where divisions of ideology occur, you can follow basic foundation techniques and see where or when changes (if any) were made by comparing to others in similar lineage. None of it affects your current training as all that stuff is past. But if provides insight as to how you got to where "you" are in your training. And some people just like to know, just 'cuz. Most instructors know their "lineage" and are often happy to talk about it. Verifiable or not, it's usually a good story worth listening to.

For origami lovers out there here are some books to consider... Origami Made Easy - Kunihiko Kasahara - Japan Publications -1973 -I SBN 0-87040-243-6 The Best of Origami - Samuel Randlett - EP Dutton & Co - 1961 - LCC 63-15776 The World of Origami - Isao Honda - Japan Publications Trading - 1965 ISBN 0-87040-383-4 The Origami Handbook - Rick Beech - Hermes House - 2001 - Creative Origami - Kinihiko Kasahara - Japan Publications - 1977 - ISBN 0-87040-411-3 Origami with Dollar Bills - Duy Nguyen - Barnes & Noble - 2004 - ISBN 0-7607-6030-6 Kirigami Fold & Cut-a-Day Calendar - Accord Publishing - 2005 - ISBN 1-57939-181-8 Papers can usually be found at most any larger arts and crafts supplier. I hope that this is of some help.

from Wikipedia... A certain dialect of speech became associated with valley girls which became referred to as "Valspeak," common among teenage females during the 1980s. Words such as "like," "way," "totally" and "duh" were interjected in the middle of phrases and sentences as emphasizers. Narrative sentences were often spoken as if they were questions (high rising terminal). Some of the slang included: "Barf me out!" ("That's disgusting.") "Fer sure." ("Certainly.") "Totally." ("Yes.", "Definitely.", "I agree.", or "Very much.") "Gag me with a spoon!" ("That's disgusting.") "Grody to the max!" (Ditto, although "grody" was already popular in the early 1960s) There ya have it. Totally awesome.... radical!

Ya know, I've often wondered why is it that McDojos don't have a sign out front that says, "25 Billion Black Belts awarded" or, a drive up window, or open until 1 AM, or ask you if you'll have fries with that contract when you sign up, or the sensei wears a cute paper hat, ....

Maybe I should have used two or three smilies at the end of my post.

Wow... for a second there I read that as "violin" encounter and thought... well this ought to be interesting...

Ok folks, in all reality, if you are fighting, and the opponent gets close enough to lay their hands on you, you got a heck of alot more problems than worrying about dimmak or silly pressure points.

If I ever hear the line.. "...my hands are registered...", I'm going to ask, "Aren't you supposed to take off your shoes first?"

I am not much for collecting stuff, here's what I use... 1 katori shinto bokken (wood practice sword) 1 shinogi zukuri daito (katana/shinken) 1 sankaku yari (three edge, 8ft spear) 1 nagamaki naginata (short handle naginata) 1 manriki kusarigama (chain and sickle)

Umm, errr... I forgot.

Per custom, I use the age of 18 as the subjective line. There's no magic to that number. Come to think of it, in my school, no one under 24 has ever made it to black belt. Hmm well whadda know.

You sure? I thought there was "always room for jello".

For some reason I've developed a mental block with the language. Nothing sticks, so I'm going to back-off for awhile and let the dust settle.

Good stats, this agrees with my rule of thumb of a minimum 1200 class hours before you are considered for black belt. Your 20% ratio, I've never thought about but looking at my lists we have never been more than 5% at any given time.

I know you are just kidding, but for those gentle folk who have no idea about kendo, there is little or no risk if a student is properly suited up. However... beginners are very very dangerous.... KOTE! MEN! IPPON!

LOL, no, not all... Asian languages, yes. (I spent many hours listening to North Vietnamese MiG pilots trying to speak in Chinese and catching myself thinking I should correct them on their pronunciations.) Other languages like French from school. 6 years of "Parlez vous francais?" and do I use it? well once or twice. Because Finnish was my native language, Swedish was also used in the house just 'cuz. (I guess ya gotta be a Finn to know why we use both.) Other stuff 'cuz it's fun. For myself, and my teeny tiny pea sized brain, I have a surprizing aptitude for languages, not much else it seems.