"Trebuchet" Catapult
Ah, Island Kids...
My friends kids built this "Trebuchet" catapult for a local science fair. So far they have launched softballs and similar objects, but think what it would do with a Molotov Cocktail!
And for the extra-large version, watch this piano launch from the TV show "Northern Exposure". I was told a local log home builder and his crew built this one:
If you like what these kids built, please go to their YouTube page and leave a nice comment, I'd like to pump up their views. They really worked hard and did all the welding, bolting and assembly of this cool device.
Here's their YouTube page:
Trebuchet catapult link
Monday, August 29, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Jake Says; "Fear The Wristlock, Bitches!"
Man, oh man.
If BJJ had existed in the U.S. when I was wrestling in the 1970's I would have been all over it. But now I'm just a broken-down old Dojo Rat so I have to enjoy my friends matches.
Here is my Xingyi instructor Jake Burroughs (Black Gi) in a recent Seattle Tournament. I met Jake when he had recently moved to Seattle and began bringing his instructors in for seminars. We trained with the late Mike Martello and Tim Cartmell in Mantis and the Chinese Internal Arts, with a heavy emphasis on throwing. Tim also had a great "MMA for the street" session.
Jake has followed in Tim's footsteps and taken up BJJ to round out his skills, and it's been fun to follow his progress. He is currently training and teaching with Brian Johnson at Seattle's NW Jiu Jitsu Academy.
From what little I know about BJJ, the glamorous techniques tend to involve chokes and armbars. But here in this match, Jake wins with a wristlock which his opponent wasn't expecting. It looked painful enough that the guy tapped immediately.
There's a lesson there: Jake says "Fear The Wristlock, Bitches!"
Here's the links to Jake Burroughs site "The Ground Never Misses" and Brian Johnson's NW Jiu Jitsu Academy.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Economic Depression by Design
Catherine Austin Fitts
Here's one for the deep thinkers, those who explore the "Realpolitik" behind today's world events.
Catherine Austin Fitts is brilliant. In this brief piece she gives voice to something that we suspect has been going on throughout history, repeating itself in a cyclic continuum.
The key points are that there is a planned economic re-engineering occurring, involving targeted intentional collapse. This has been forced against the third world over and over, with tools such as debt for equity swaps. In other words, sources like the IMF or private banking concerns load the third world up with debt. When the bill comes due and is unpaid, the Banksters come in with a big tow truck and sweep up (privatize) natural resources of the target country.
Fitts calls this "The Central Banking Warfare Model".
The bad news for us is that they're screwing the first world now. We are witnessing the biggest transfer of wealth from the public commons to the global bankers, a staggering amount of wealth flowing upward from you and me to people who consider themselves "The Ruling Class".
As Fitts concludes; "Now that they've got your money, they're going to change the deal".
Here's a perfect example from "The Street":
"NEW YORK (RealMoney) -- The largest transfer of wealth from the public to private sector is about to begin. The federal government will be bulk-selling the massive portfolio of foreclosed homes now owned by HUD, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to private investors -- vulture funds.
These homes, which are now the property of the U.S. government, the U.S. taxpayer, U.S. citizens collectively, are going to be sold to private investor conglomerates at extraordinarily large discounts to real value.
You and I will not be allowed to participate. These investors will come from the private-equity and hedge-fund community, Goldman Sachs(GS_) and its derivatives, as well as foreign sovereign wealth funds that can bring a billion dollars or more to each transaction.
In the process, these investors will instantaneously become the largest improved real estate owners and landlords in the world. The U.S. taxpayer will get pennies on the dollar for these homes and then be allowed to rent them back at market rates
(snip)
Assuming taxpayers don't push back, the next step will be to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP). The RFP will be the bid and plan for these homes by investors.
The way to keep taxpayers from pushing back is to structure the RFI so that the real intention, the bulk sales, is masked by feel-good goals, such as stabilizing neighborhoods and increasing the supply of rental properties.
As intended, the mass media are playing their part in classic style. Every major newspaper in the U.S. has run articles discussing the plan as a rental conversion, allowing readers to assume that Fannie, Freddie and HUD will be renting the properties directly to families who need housing. And although there is an allowance for these kinds of rentals, it is a minor political facade to the obvious true goal of bulk-sale privatization of these homes."
Feel free to discuss...
Here's one for the deep thinkers, those who explore the "Realpolitik" behind today's world events.
Catherine Austin Fitts is brilliant. In this brief piece she gives voice to something that we suspect has been going on throughout history, repeating itself in a cyclic continuum.
The key points are that there is a planned economic re-engineering occurring, involving targeted intentional collapse. This has been forced against the third world over and over, with tools such as debt for equity swaps. In other words, sources like the IMF or private banking concerns load the third world up with debt. When the bill comes due and is unpaid, the Banksters come in with a big tow truck and sweep up (privatize) natural resources of the target country.
Fitts calls this "The Central Banking Warfare Model".
The bad news for us is that they're screwing the first world now. We are witnessing the biggest transfer of wealth from the public commons to the global bankers, a staggering amount of wealth flowing upward from you and me to people who consider themselves "The Ruling Class".
As Fitts concludes; "Now that they've got your money, they're going to change the deal".
Here's a perfect example from "The Street":
"NEW YORK (RealMoney) -- The largest transfer of wealth from the public to private sector is about to begin. The federal government will be bulk-selling the massive portfolio of foreclosed homes now owned by HUD, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to private investors -- vulture funds.
These homes, which are now the property of the U.S. government, the U.S. taxpayer, U.S. citizens collectively, are going to be sold to private investor conglomerates at extraordinarily large discounts to real value.
You and I will not be allowed to participate. These investors will come from the private-equity and hedge-fund community, Goldman Sachs(GS_) and its derivatives, as well as foreign sovereign wealth funds that can bring a billion dollars or more to each transaction.
In the process, these investors will instantaneously become the largest improved real estate owners and landlords in the world. The U.S. taxpayer will get pennies on the dollar for these homes and then be allowed to rent them back at market rates
(snip)
Assuming taxpayers don't push back, the next step will be to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP). The RFP will be the bid and plan for these homes by investors.
The way to keep taxpayers from pushing back is to structure the RFI so that the real intention, the bulk sales, is masked by feel-good goals, such as stabilizing neighborhoods and increasing the supply of rental properties.
As intended, the mass media are playing their part in classic style. Every major newspaper in the U.S. has run articles discussing the plan as a rental conversion, allowing readers to assume that Fannie, Freddie and HUD will be renting the properties directly to families who need housing. And although there is an allowance for these kinds of rentals, it is a minor political facade to the obvious true goal of bulk-sale privatization of these homes."
Feel free to discuss...
Monday, August 22, 2011
Bad Kung Fu Series #4: The Principles of Effortless Power
Author and teacher Peter Ralston
I seem to have a "respect/bewilderment" relationship with author, fighter and teacher Peter Ralston.
Ralston has varied experience in several martial arts, but has narrowed his "Cheng Hsin" down to a blend of Tai Chi Chuan, Bagua, Aikido and Western Boxing. He flawlessly borrows from any given art in his playful movement. I have one of Ralston's best DVD's. It begins with clips from a sensational tournament fight he won in China in 1978, where he works a Chinese fighter over pretty good, finishing with a nasty body slam to the ground.
Tai Chi purists deride his unorthodox methods, but he has an uncanny ability to control opponents with his boxing-push hands-Aiki-Bagua throwing style.
Ralston, who teaches as a Guru (often wearing a monks robe) clearly has the ability to "feel an opponents intent".
With that said, I would like to present a review I did on his first book "Cheng Hsin: The Principles of Effortless Power" , from a post I did in December of 2007:
Peter Ralston winning the 1978 full-contact tournament in China
Several months back, Dave from “Formosa Neijia” wrote about Peter Ralston, founder of the “Cheng Hsin” martial art system. Cheng Hsin refers to “The true nature of being”. The description was very interesting and I checked out Ralston’s website. Along with Ralston’s description of his martial philosophy, there were several clips of him performing various internal martial arts techniques. Ralston is no slouch, he has a varied background and has successfully competed internationally.
With that in mind, I ordered two of his books: “The Principles Of Effortless Power” and “Cheng Hsin T’ui Shou; The Art Of Effortless Power”.
“The Principles Of Effortless Power” is Ralston’s first book, so I started there. It begins with his martial history, and his journeys in spiritual awakening. These were steeped in the self-realization and encounter-group sessions of the 1970’s. These sessions branded Ralston’s first book with the stigma of new-age thought and explanation.
Ralston seems to be attempting to explain Internal Art principles without using any of the Chinese or Japanese terms and thought patterns. In some cases, he re-labels them. I am no stranger to alternative views and esoteric thinking, but in my opinion, Ralston is trying to re-invent the wheel. While westerners sometimes have difficulty with vague terms such as “Peng” in Tai Chi Chuan for example, there is no real need to eliminate the term or replace it.
I see where he is going with his philosophy, and understand much of it, but I have to say I find him explaining things in a circular fashion at times. For example, I book-marked this paragraph on page 90:
Ralston writes:
“ Since we already give BEING to the perception of what IS (in other words, we acknowledge it’s “beingness”), and to interpretation itself, it is necessary to move our cognition-attention and life force into a position of Being in which this can be recognized as already and actually the case. We can then give being to what is not at present occurring”.
--Whew!… this passage is not an isolated case, and I have to admit that twenty pages later I simply set the book down and moved on to his next one, which I’ve just started. That book, “Cheng Hsin T’iu Shou” shows a greater degree of maturity in his writing. While his sometimes-frustrating philosophy is present in the first part of the book, the second half is all applications that demonstrate what he has been prattling on about philosophically. While I have been on the search for concept books, Ralston’s first attempt is pretzel logic to me. I feel I will get much more out of his application book, which demonstrates many internal art principles. I came away from these books feeling that Ralston may be better as a Guru demonstrating direct transmission of knowledge to students in a Dojo format. His knowledge is deep and he is a skilled martial artist. I’ll be interested if anyone else has read his material, and any comments they have.
-----------
Well, that was in 2007.
I would skip "The Principles of Effortless Power". But if you're interested, his second book "Cheng Hsin T'ui Shou: The Art of Effortless Power" presents the same material, along with application techniques in a more sensible, readable way.
I seem to have a "respect/bewilderment" relationship with author, fighter and teacher Peter Ralston.
Ralston has varied experience in several martial arts, but has narrowed his "Cheng Hsin" down to a blend of Tai Chi Chuan, Bagua, Aikido and Western Boxing. He flawlessly borrows from any given art in his playful movement. I have one of Ralston's best DVD's. It begins with clips from a sensational tournament fight he won in China in 1978, where he works a Chinese fighter over pretty good, finishing with a nasty body slam to the ground.
Tai Chi purists deride his unorthodox methods, but he has an uncanny ability to control opponents with his boxing-push hands-Aiki-Bagua throwing style.
Ralston, who teaches as a Guru (often wearing a monks robe) clearly has the ability to "feel an opponents intent".
With that said, I would like to present a review I did on his first book "Cheng Hsin: The Principles of Effortless Power" , from a post I did in December of 2007:
Peter Ralston winning the 1978 full-contact tournament in China
Several months back, Dave from “Formosa Neijia” wrote about Peter Ralston, founder of the “Cheng Hsin” martial art system. Cheng Hsin refers to “The true nature of being”. The description was very interesting and I checked out Ralston’s website. Along with Ralston’s description of his martial philosophy, there were several clips of him performing various internal martial arts techniques. Ralston is no slouch, he has a varied background and has successfully competed internationally.
With that in mind, I ordered two of his books: “The Principles Of Effortless Power” and “Cheng Hsin T’ui Shou; The Art Of Effortless Power”.
“The Principles Of Effortless Power” is Ralston’s first book, so I started there. It begins with his martial history, and his journeys in spiritual awakening. These were steeped in the self-realization and encounter-group sessions of the 1970’s. These sessions branded Ralston’s first book with the stigma of new-age thought and explanation.
Ralston seems to be attempting to explain Internal Art principles without using any of the Chinese or Japanese terms and thought patterns. In some cases, he re-labels them. I am no stranger to alternative views and esoteric thinking, but in my opinion, Ralston is trying to re-invent the wheel. While westerners sometimes have difficulty with vague terms such as “Peng” in Tai Chi Chuan for example, there is no real need to eliminate the term or replace it.
I see where he is going with his philosophy, and understand much of it, but I have to say I find him explaining things in a circular fashion at times. For example, I book-marked this paragraph on page 90:
Ralston writes:
“ Since we already give BEING to the perception of what IS (in other words, we acknowledge it’s “beingness”), and to interpretation itself, it is necessary to move our cognition-attention and life force into a position of Being in which this can be recognized as already and actually the case. We can then give being to what is not at present occurring”.
--Whew!… this passage is not an isolated case, and I have to admit that twenty pages later I simply set the book down and moved on to his next one, which I’ve just started. That book, “Cheng Hsin T’iu Shou” shows a greater degree of maturity in his writing. While his sometimes-frustrating philosophy is present in the first part of the book, the second half is all applications that demonstrate what he has been prattling on about philosophically. While I have been on the search for concept books, Ralston’s first attempt is pretzel logic to me. I feel I will get much more out of his application book, which demonstrates many internal art principles. I came away from these books feeling that Ralston may be better as a Guru demonstrating direct transmission of knowledge to students in a Dojo format. His knowledge is deep and he is a skilled martial artist. I’ll be interested if anyone else has read his material, and any comments they have.
-----------
Well, that was in 2007.
I would skip "The Principles of Effortless Power". But if you're interested, his second book "Cheng Hsin T'ui Shou: The Art of Effortless Power" presents the same material, along with application techniques in a more sensible, readable way.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Bachmann-Perry Overdrive
Cornholing Iowa
Hurray-Hurray; step right up and see the show!
Right before your eyes, see Welfare Queen Michelle Bachmann and Brother Perry's Traveling Salvation Show!
Oh, poor Iowa. I'm so sorry you had to be a part of this. Yes, a carnival where candidates Pay each participant $30 to vote for them in the Iowa straw pole.
So far at this point in the National Republican White-Peoples Party it appears that Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry have wiped the pig shit off themselves and risen to the top of the rabid pack.
Bachmann won the fake straw poll. Ron Paul was 9/10 of one point behind Bachmann and nobody wants to admit it. I'm not a Ron Paul fan but he, Romney and Huntsman are the only sane Republifuks in the room.
Romney can't win the south because he's a Mormon. Same with Huntsman, who was an ambassador to China for Obama. Kiss of death.
So you've got the Reich wing veering madly off into Cristo-fascistland with Michelle and Rick.
Bachmann is a self-loathing anti-government recipient of government money. She received government money for raising foster children. She and her husband Marcus received federal money for a religious clinic they ran to "pray the gay away". She received federal money in farm subsidies. She's an anti-tax former tax collector for the IRS.
And then there's Brother Perry's Traveling Salvation Show:
While Bachmann is an unhinged religious dingbat, Perry is even worse.
In the hellhole that is Texas, "pastors told Perry of God’s grand plan for Texas. A chain of powerful prophecies had proclaimed that Texas was “The Prophet State,” anointed by God to lead the United States into revival and Godly government. And the governor would have a special role."
According to this article in "The Texas Observer" Perry is involved in an aggressive Theo-fascist movement:
"If they simply professed unusual beliefs, movement leaders wouldn’t be remarkable. But what makes the New Apostolic Reformation movement so potent is its growing fascination with infiltrating politics and government. The new prophets and apostles believe Christians—certain Christians—are destined to not just take “dominion” over government, but stealthily climb to the commanding heights of what they term the “Seven Mountains” of society, including the media and the arts and entertainment world. They believe they’re intended to lord over it all. As a first step, they’re leading an “army of God” to commandeer civilian government.
In Rick Perry, they may have found their vessel. And the interest appears to be mutual."
(snip)
"other movement leaders occupy the radical fringe of Christian fundamentalism. Their beliefs may seem bizarre even to many conservative evangelicals. Yet Perry has a knack for finding the forefront of conservative grassroots. Prayer warriors, apostles and prophets are filled with righteous energy and an increasing appetite for power in the secular political world. Their zeal and affiliation with charismatic independent churches, the fastest-growing subset of American Christianity, offers obvious benefits for Perry if he runs for president.
There are enormous political risks, too. Mainstream voters may be put off by the movement’s extreme views or discomfited by talk of self-proclaimed prophets “infiltrating” government."
(snip)
“The church’s vocation is to rule history with God,” he has said. “We are called into the very image of the Trinity himself, that we are to be His friends and partners for world dominion.”
Perry claims to be responsible for "The Texas Miracle".
He is the head of the most polluted, uneducated state in the country. Texas ranks 42 in states that have home Internet access. 49th in high school graduates. #1 in minimum wage jobs. Some miracle.
Perry called for Texas to secede from the United States.
Now he wants to run the rest of the free world.
Texans who know Perry, like former state agricultural comissioner Jim Hightower say he is dumber than George W. Bush. Perry's college grades were in the C's and D's.
Despite the horrible mess that two terms of George W. Bush left us, with two wars and The Bush Depression, President Obama looks like the only adult in the room.
The Republifuks are intentionally tanking the economy by blocking job-creating legislation. Their only hope is to make stuff so bad for Obama that people will be desperate for a different type of charismatic leader to sweep them away.
So the Reich will get even crazier to rally the knaves in the hustings.
Bachmann is a nobody. She's Sarah Palin with a law degree from Oral Roberts University. But Perry is a re-packaged George W. Bush with better hair. Believe it or not, there are gullible folks out there that long for the day of vacuous Texan swagger.
Republicans like 'em pretty and dumb.
But Perry has a lot of skeletons in his "closet". Get ready for the exposes' and backlash.
Hurray-Hurray; step right up and see the show!
Right before your eyes, see Welfare Queen Michelle Bachmann and Brother Perry's Traveling Salvation Show!
Oh, poor Iowa. I'm so sorry you had to be a part of this. Yes, a carnival where candidates Pay each participant $30 to vote for them in the Iowa straw pole.
So far at this point in the National Republican White-Peoples Party it appears that Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry have wiped the pig shit off themselves and risen to the top of the rabid pack.
Bachmann won the fake straw poll. Ron Paul was 9/10 of one point behind Bachmann and nobody wants to admit it. I'm not a Ron Paul fan but he, Romney and Huntsman are the only sane Republifuks in the room.
Romney can't win the south because he's a Mormon. Same with Huntsman, who was an ambassador to China for Obama. Kiss of death.
So you've got the Reich wing veering madly off into Cristo-fascistland with Michelle and Rick.
Bachmann is a self-loathing anti-government recipient of government money. She received government money for raising foster children. She and her husband Marcus received federal money for a religious clinic they ran to "pray the gay away". She received federal money in farm subsidies. She's an anti-tax former tax collector for the IRS.
And then there's Brother Perry's Traveling Salvation Show:
While Bachmann is an unhinged religious dingbat, Perry is even worse.
In the hellhole that is Texas, "pastors told Perry of God’s grand plan for Texas. A chain of powerful prophecies had proclaimed that Texas was “The Prophet State,” anointed by God to lead the United States into revival and Godly government. And the governor would have a special role."
According to this article in "The Texas Observer" Perry is involved in an aggressive Theo-fascist movement:
"If they simply professed unusual beliefs, movement leaders wouldn’t be remarkable. But what makes the New Apostolic Reformation movement so potent is its growing fascination with infiltrating politics and government. The new prophets and apostles believe Christians—certain Christians—are destined to not just take “dominion” over government, but stealthily climb to the commanding heights of what they term the “Seven Mountains” of society, including the media and the arts and entertainment world. They believe they’re intended to lord over it all. As a first step, they’re leading an “army of God” to commandeer civilian government.
In Rick Perry, they may have found their vessel. And the interest appears to be mutual."
(snip)
"other movement leaders occupy the radical fringe of Christian fundamentalism. Their beliefs may seem bizarre even to many conservative evangelicals. Yet Perry has a knack for finding the forefront of conservative grassroots. Prayer warriors, apostles and prophets are filled with righteous energy and an increasing appetite for power in the secular political world. Their zeal and affiliation with charismatic independent churches, the fastest-growing subset of American Christianity, offers obvious benefits for Perry if he runs for president.
There are enormous political risks, too. Mainstream voters may be put off by the movement’s extreme views or discomfited by talk of self-proclaimed prophets “infiltrating” government."
(snip)
“The church’s vocation is to rule history with God,” he has said. “We are called into the very image of the Trinity himself, that we are to be His friends and partners for world dominion.”
Perry claims to be responsible for "The Texas Miracle".
He is the head of the most polluted, uneducated state in the country. Texas ranks 42 in states that have home Internet access. 49th in high school graduates. #1 in minimum wage jobs. Some miracle.
Perry called for Texas to secede from the United States.
Now he wants to run the rest of the free world.
Texans who know Perry, like former state agricultural comissioner Jim Hightower say he is dumber than George W. Bush. Perry's college grades were in the C's and D's.
Despite the horrible mess that two terms of George W. Bush left us, with two wars and The Bush Depression, President Obama looks like the only adult in the room.
The Republifuks are intentionally tanking the economy by blocking job-creating legislation. Their only hope is to make stuff so bad for Obama that people will be desperate for a different type of charismatic leader to sweep them away.
So the Reich will get even crazier to rally the knaves in the hustings.
Bachmann is a nobody. She's Sarah Palin with a law degree from Oral Roberts University. But Perry is a re-packaged George W. Bush with better hair. Believe it or not, there are gullible folks out there that long for the day of vacuous Texan swagger.
Republicans like 'em pretty and dumb.
But Perry has a lot of skeletons in his "closet". Get ready for the exposes' and backlash.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Bad Kung Fu Series #3: Mind Over Matter - Higher Martial Arts
Mind Over Matter - Higher Martial Arts by Shi Ming
Well, I have to say I had high hopes for this book.
If you, like me, look for "concept books" over "technical books" this book has the appeal of deep thinking and experimental physiology.
But in the end, it is a continuum of verbose wordiness and partly related ideas. Every page or so there is a clever notion that pops out, but taken as a whole I had to labor through this short book.
Hey, I'm a pretty smart boy. This book wasn't over my head. It's more like a long run-on sentence that seems to present the same concepts in different ways. The translation from Chinese is by Thomas Cleary, who usually provides good text, so I don't necessarily think the re-write went wrong.
Author Shi Ming can be found in YouTube clips demonstrating "empty force" Chi-type techniques on his cadre of willing students, not very convincingly.
Here's a quote from the book to give you an idea where the author is going:
"Martial arts are a total format combining nature, society, and human life, a system with many levels of effective capacity as well as a holistic essence and potential. The purpose of refinement of consciousness through martial arts is to develop the latent abilities of the human body and brain, to cultivate supranormal capacities in the human body and supranormal levels of consciousness."
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