Okay, I really try not to blog about my profession, but sometimes — after you’ve heard the same screwed up idea for the 999,999th time, someone just is one more than you can stomach. There is a lot of bad information being passed off as ‘self-defense’ because it panders to the fears, insecurities and … [Read more…]
The D-Spiral of Defeat represents the internal decision making process that occurs when a person is confronted by an unexpected stressful situation. The duration of this spiral may be either short or long term depending upon the individual. The longer the spiral lasts, the more likely that the outcome will be defeat. Denial is the … [Read more…]
A bit of mental rambling from a project we’re working on. And yes the topic was developing tools for a women’s self-defense program **** Something else was triggered by this question. Permission. Subset of that, being right instead of righteous. And most of all why THAT is so important for teaching women. There is an … [Read more…]
More funny than serious. I was at a convention talking to an acquaintance in a busy hallway next to the hotel coffee shop. Suddenly, her eyes shifted to look over my shoulder and they went wide. Without thinking, I drop-stepped backwards at an angle and spun towards the threat with my elbow. My normal counter-assault … [Read more…]
The physical skills of self-defense are simple. A gun is a nifty machine that throws rocks in a straight line. The physical skills of aiming and pressing a trigger are neither complicated nor demanding. Knives are made to cut, and with a well-honed blade a child can cut material, flesh and tendon. People have killed … [Read more…]
Referenced Article Caption: A life-like statue of a guy sleepwalking in his underwear awakens a protest by campus feminists. My problem with people who squeal about ‘triggers’ is two fold. One. I don’t like the term passive aggressive, because way more often it’s aggressive-passive. I call it ‘carpet mold aggression’ because of a common … [Read more…]
It’s in your nature to fight. It is in your nature to be strong. It is in your nature not to be a victim. We are the products of 4 billion years of bloody evolution, where the victims were eaten. Everyone dies, we aren’t immortal, but we don’t die easily. Not naturally. Fighting, self-defense, whatever … [Read more…]
The myth of Pandora’s box always confused me. It made no sense. After all, Hope was in the box filled with all of the evils and ailments of men– famine, disease, death, jealousy, anger– and in order to get the benefit of Hope, it was kept in the box, not let out to infect the … [Read more…]
Fevers can come from a lot of different things. I was taught that sometimes it is simply the way your body kills viruses, or at least keeps them from reproducing. The fever is part of the process of healing. The virus is the problem, not the fever. The fever is not just a symptom, it … [Read more…]
I separate knowledge and belief. There are things you don’t know. There are things you can’t know. There is a vanishingly small number of things that any person truly knows. And there are a large number of things that we ‘know’ with varying levels of confidence. Most of the universe is composed of things I don’t know. … [Read more…]