Bitseach

There is quite a good summary of articles on guns in the US on this site: http://www.guardian.co.uk/usguns/0,2759,182056,00.html I shall try to find some more info on the UK situation, presently...

As some of you will know, I am no fan of "Homer" Bush, but I wouldn't call him a Nazi. I think he's more idiot than evil. Reminds me of the unhappy days when President Alzheimer was threatening the whole world in the 80's along with his hideous love-interest Thatcher. (does everyone know that Thatcher got a lot of her ideas of monetary policy from the fascist dictator, General Pinochet? figures!) In a war against terrorism it is almost impossible to win by legitimate means - the conflict in Ireland was prolonged by the fact that (by and large) the British forces were not allowed to use summary justice (though some lawless renegades undoubtedly did on many occasions). However, if we claim that we are civilised, and better than terrorists then there is really no other choice. This is why many people have shown concern about the status of the Taliban/Al Qa'eda terror suspects in Gitmo at present and why people like Kissinger get people's blood boiling. On the topic of impossible wars, the UK and her colonies started what would have been (and surprisingly wasn't) an impossible war against Nazi Germany in 1939. It's true that we would not have won without the help of the US and other Allies (people often forget the help of Canada, Australia, India, etc!) but had to fight anyway. Historians have suggested that Hitler would have tolerated Britain and may have imposed something like an equivalent to the Vichy government instead of a full-blown invasion. This is an interesting thread! I hope it has a future

s'true - I must admit I had The Art of Strategy as my loo book for a while - just the right time to digest a few strategies until the next visit! LOL

Yes, but I read "US" straight after the stab of fear and adrenaline! Good daughter actually, but, thank you, I am! LOL

LOL - thanks for the tips! I am losing brain cells at a fast rate of knots here! It usually happens (so far) when I have been trying drills like just swinging the chucks from a casual resting position draped over my shoulder (eg L hand holding over L shoulder) and then swinging under the L armpit and back to the beginning, then I started putting in a few extra swingy loops in between these two start and end positions and that's when the trouble started! God help me when I try to play with REAL chucks! LOL

Don't do that to me! I had a momentary stab of fear when I read the title then I realised it was only in the US - Mothering Sunday was a few months ago in the UK and I sent mine something! PHEW!

"send in the clones, there have to be cloooooones. Well, maybe they're heeeeeeeeere!"

Personally not keen as I don't want to end up with big lumpy knuckles. However an excellent training device for those who don't mind that.

impressive indeed - may your remissions last until a cure is found.

My Sensei doesn't really get into "ki" etc (a shame in my view) - what do you mean when you say the horse stance develops this?

...biffing myself on the back of my head with my chucks when I try to trap/swing under my armpit. Even with foam chucks it's starting to HURT!

Ah but then the conspiracy theorists will always prosper - Bob Marley was given cancer by the CIA (yes, I've really heard that) and Princess Diana was killed by MI5 so that she would not disgrace the Royal Family by having a black baby!! There was a VERY interesting "The Sky at Night" programme on TV recently that went through all the conspiracy theorists' objections to the lunar landings and debunked them all with science. Phew! How refreshing! How Patrick Moore!

you call your instructor Sir? (or were you being cheeky!?)

Blimey! Interesting but I'm not convinced! It would be pretty good for a beginners or taster class and I suppose pretty good for Boxercise or something but I am not convinced it would complement shotokan karate in the long term! The music is terminally hokey, too! Like stuff from a bad MA film! I did karate train once to music and found it quite good fun, mind you. The leisure centre where we were training had not bothered to switch off the feed to the training area from the previous class.

I'm sure this has come up before (I never check beyond the first screen! Guilty!) but has anyone ever taken or been tempted to take creatine supplements to improve performance? Did it work? Were there any side effects? Are there any known long-term benefits or problems? I wouldn't even have considered it but was interested to see in a recent UK TV programme that compared the fitness training methods of science versus military training, that the science team were recommending it to their team and that the people seemed to find it very helpful. (more than placebo?!) Cheers!

It's odd - scientifically it shouldn't really work like that, unless there were cancerous cells somewhere else in the body that were in the bloodstream that just decided to lodge there. However that would mean that they had metastasized from somewhere else. They always say, for example, that blows to the breast during, say, women's rugby or the martial arts does not increase the risk of breast cancer. I've had to start reading about cancer myself recently because of the recent death of a relative. Very sad, and I'm sorry about your friend, Yoda.

Ta muchly for the advice, folkies! I actually have a box of this stuff at home but also got out of the habit because it didn't seem to be doing anything. My joints have always popped a bit, even as a youth so I am well used to it, but I would like to ward off any potential problems in the future with MA (esp shotokan karate!) and gym training!

This is a HORRIBLE export. It's amazing how these things start somewhere and end up being exported all around the world just because of the press attention and copycatting. All the school shootings in the USA and now in Germany. A lot of UK papers made the point that Germany has among the most liberal gun laws in Europe, which quite surprised me and the US gun laws are notoriously lax. I'm not trying to be divisive here and am NOT anti-American (before the unenlightened start on another rant) but I'm just glad that the UK's gun laws are so strict. We are not immune to this sort of thing here (eg Dunblane) but thankfully with not quite the frequency as guns are just not as readily available to disaffected youth (criminal gangs are another matter!)

Don't hate America at all, but don't like Bush. A smarter person would have recognised that! Certainly not jealous of the US (which is at the heart of a lot of REAL anti-US feeling) don't ever wish to live there though - not for me. Don't like rednecks and the sort of person who takes personally a political opinion expressed. But then, it goes back to my final para on free speech! It's ironic. (try looking it up at http://www.dictionary.com !)

perhaps you should consider gentler blows to the shins covering a wider area. I knew of someone who used to strike herself with moderate force with a blunt object up and down the shins in order to "train" the bones. Using a wider area she didn't get so many localised lumps and bumps but did increase the bone density (she said).

interesting - I was wondering about this too as my joints have always been a bit clicky!

I find it most helpful to look at the eyes, but not focussing completely on them (I don't mean looking at them blurry!) but looking at the eyes with awareness in your vision of the triangle formed with eyes and both shoulders. In this way, even with more seasoned fighters you are aware of their chest and body positioning. (still get my arse kicked regularly, mind you!)

mmMMMmmm elderberries....

Er, how exactly would political correctness (respect by another name) ruin Star Wars??!

How about this one? Put him up in front of an International court and bring him to justice fairly and openly. Or is that too boring and democratic? Let's remember that WE ARE from civilised societies and he's not (yeah originally he was if you count Saudi as such, but not now!) and so stooping to his level does us no credit. Boring, I know!