omnifinite

Oh I see. Can't help you there, we bow standing.

I don't care if my belt touches the floor... it touches it plenty when I'm on the floor . I don't wear my belt outside of training, which would be in adherence to tradition I guess, but mainly I don't do it because I think it's tacky. I'm not sure what the last question means?

I've seen a ton of posts in support of boxing.

Tai Chi, Ba Gua, or some elements of Aikido (which are inspired in part by the previous arts anyway). Unfortunately those are also some of the arts that take the longest to get really good with. I don't know what the person's goals are, but even if they're never able to reach real proficiency there will be a ton of other benefits.

Now Kensai's post makes sense. Well, I definitely see your point. That's why I don't post as much as I used to. Best of luck in finding a place that'll bring you what you're looking for.

Hmm... well... good luck with whatever you're doing next. (I'll have to dig up this Tobias post now) Thanks for bringing your perspective to the table... and keeping the Aikido-bashers at bay .

This year I discovered the joy of TurboTax. I was basically finished with my taxes on the 4th I think.

Cars would be a little easier because cars actually exist. A martial art is an abstract concept... a rough estimation at best. Every Viper of the same model is essentially identical. How many Karate instructors could be found who teach techniques precisely the same way? Or even the same techniques? And how closely do these resemble the mechanics/techniques used by the person/people the art originated from? I'd venture to say that most if not all of the instructors in the lineage of a martial art add a spin on it. They can't help but do anything else... they only have their interpretation of what's being presented to them to go by. And then techniques from other arts get incorporated to make it more effective, or people keep secrets from each other for whatever reason, or the ego/money-monster shows up, etc. Truthfully, I believe every single instructor out there is teaching a different martial art. They just often resemble a certain conventional estimation enough to be labeled under it. Plus we don't really know how good a martial artist can get. Cars start out at their best and degrade from there. With a martial artist's knowledge, it's usually the other way around. So you have to factor in how much a person really knows and how well they've really trained... which opens up a whole other realm of subjectivity. And there's one other thing that makes cars much easier... roads. Roads are designed to be pretty much universal, aren't they? Take away the roads and which car is best? You'd have to start specifying terrain. And weather. And who knows what else. And then different types of tires and oils and fluids make cars function better in different environments. Eventually you end up with thousands and thousands of variables. Such is life. I don't think you're completely without answers here, but like the rest of us I think you're going to be stuck with rough estimations at best.

I wonder how belt quality factors into it? I have a few belts I know I wore for a while (and worked and sweated in), and they look dirty and don't smell the greatest up close, but the color hasn't faded at all, and there's no fraying except maybe some things coming loose on the ends. Maybe some belts fall apart faster than others? I don't know. Repeated trips through a washing machine would do a number on a belt too I would think (for those who wash them).

When I see people with tribal tattoos, I'm always tempted to ask, "So what tribe are you from?" I think that would get me in a lot of trouble though . Just seems strange to me to compare those tattoos with tribal symbolism because tribal symbolism tends to have complex and deeply-rooted cultural messages behind it. If I designed my own "tribal" tattoo it could have a lot of meaning to me, but otherwise I'm not sure why people select them beyond them looking cool (not that I know all that much about the "tattoo culture"... there's probably a lot I'm not seeing).

I actually don't really listen to music very often. And when I tell people that they look at me like I've committed some kind of crime against nature. I don't even know what the catagories would be for the rare things I do listen to. It's just very hard to find anything that hasn't been done a thousand times before. It all becomes a bunch of noise. I actually prefer music without words... it can be what it is and mean whatever it feels like meaning without anyone telling me what the message is supposed to be (usually a trite message at that). Reading that again it sounds a little snobbish, but really I wish music moved me more often... I could use all the inspiration I can get. *shrug* Glad to hear I'm not the only Enya fan though .

The Last Dragon had a wee Ernie in it too I think. I usually try to avoid the "young masters" movies... like kids don't have a warped enough view of martial arts already. Besides 3 Ninjas I can't really think of any. Maybe Cody Banks will be the latest.

Wow, Van Damme has been in two movies containing two of him? The guy really likes his camera time I guess .

I think secrets were even more of a problem in the past. It wasn't just a matter of ego then... it was also refraining from teaching someone enough to kill you later if they were so inclined.

That would be the essense of combative martial arts as a whole, wouldn't it? I'm having a brainfart trying to think of where to start even... thousands of the posts here address that .

We learn enough to not overload us. Probably better to learn the techniques well before having to pick them out of the kata too. I'm not sure which poll response that would be . Somewhere between "some" and "all" I guess.

Oh... no longer scattered... cool.

Well, neither is still an option too .

Do the Capoeira and BJJ guys ever go at it in Brazil? Competitions of some sort? Or possibly even the type of feud with Luta Livre mentioned here: http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=71926 ? What sorts of results are common? Or uncommon? Or is Capoeira seen more as a part of the culture and something to be revered whether used specifically for combat or not (like a traditional art might be seen in another country)? It just occured to me that I never hear anything about their involvement with each other, so I'm curious.

Yeah I've been wondering how the news tells it outside of America. The event with the statue was an uplifting, meaningful moment... but at the same time when I saw it it left this aftertaste of media-manufactured-ness... like they were saying, "Look! This is an important symbolic moment! This is your cue to be emotionally moved!" I'm not sure how else to explain it. Maybe I'm a cynic, but I guess I just got the feeling that it was being capitalized on more because they finally got a good video clip to use in some "America Remembers" special a few years down the line over any other reason. Maybe I was just watching the wrong channel. *shrug* I just woke up... I'm not wording things well . Does anyone have a story somewhere of an Iraqi take on the event? Maybe even someone who was there already? Iraq may not have any real form of media at the moment considering, but I would think there would be something out there.

Heh... I've had that bookmarked forever. Don't know why I didn't think to post it here. There are sequels too if you can track them down (they're scattered).

In that case you might be hard-pressed to find any area of life it doesn't improve in some way.

Life is so much easier when we just look at people as people.

Ick... http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=7187

It's a secret? It's standard practice in my instruction, luckily.