Tae Kwon Don't

There is a martial arts food chain, some martial arts are much better than others:

Here's the basic formula to understand:  light contact martial arts < boxing/TKD (any full contact striking sport without knees in the clinch or without kicks to the leg) < kick boxing (any sport with full contact kicks to the leg and knee strikes in the clinch) < grappling < mixed martial arts.

This formula is sound and highly accurate: an MMA guy will typically take out a grappler with no striking, a grappler will typically take kick boxers off their feet quickly, while kick boxers consistently make short work of boxers, who in turn make short work of light contact martial artists.

The problem is it takes time, work, and often money to train in any of these martial arts. Depending on how dangerous an individual's natural instincts are, it's possible light contact martial arts could be worse for self defense purposes than no training at all! However once we get into the realm of full contact martial arts like boxing, training clearly trumps "killer natural instinct."

I categorize Boxing and Tae Kwon Do (as well as "American" kick boxing and Savate) as the least effective full contact martial arts, and suggest they are actually closely related:

• Neither allow significant amounts of fighting in the clinch, depending on the referee to reset the match every time they get too close to each other. 
• Neither allow full contact kicks to the leg with the shin.
• Both are injury prone (TKD practitioners suffer from frequent knee injuries, when boxers fight without glove hand injuries are common.)
• Both are practiced first and foremost for sport and glory, and only secondarily for fitness or self-defense purposes.
• Both tend to use very long stances inappropriate for most kick boxing, MMA sports, and self-defense situations.

Few who practice real kick boxing (with knee strikes and shin-to-leg kicks) ever expect to be famous or bring home trophies, be that sport San Shou, knock-down karate (Kyokushin, Enshin, etc,) Muay Thai or one of several other southeast Asian kick boxing sports:

Kick boxing delivers very efficiently in terms of time, energy, and money on its promise of fitness and self-defense skills. Nothing delivers on the martial arts promise of being able to take on multiple attackers like kick boxing.

More fundamental to any self defense situation however is a fighters grappling abilities:

Not all grappling styles are equal. Judo, once hailed as the only martial art anyone would ever need, becomes so bogged down with new rules every year that some are starting to question its relevance:

However grapplers, unlike previously mentioned martial arts practitioners, are almost always open minded enough to exchange ideas with grapplers from other sports. For example, most Brazillian Jui-Jitsu practitioners have exposure wrestling techniques not normally emphasized in their sport.

Mixed Martial Arts is what happens when grapplers get so open minded that they start adopting kick boxing techniques:

In a nut shell, the more like MMA your martial art is, the better off you will be. This is why when someone says "I have been thinking about doing Tae Kwon Do," I often reply "how about if you just Tae Kwon Don't." See also: http://www.bullshido.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-47730.html

How many push ups can you do?

I hate push ups. However in absence of another strength-training exercize, if you do them right, they are a much better than nothing at all:

Push ups are an indicator of minimum body strength. In general there are certain thresholds for how many push ups a person should be able to do. When I was doing kickboxing in the mid 90's, the standard held by some professional athletes at the time was 1 set of 100 reps or 3 sets of 50 reps. In particularly demanding martial arts such as Judo and Choy Li Fut, 1 set of 50 was considered a standard minimum to work for.

I have seen good arguments for 4 sets of 10 push ups as a minimum workout, and of course there's all sorts of workout routines that use different sets and reps of push ups. However, the least number of push ups I have seen as standard in any full contact martial art is 1 set of 20 reps.

1 set of 10 reps has in fact become a warning sign that the martial arts class is a no-contact "karate for kids" type waste of time. In general I would suggest to you that if you can't do 1 set of 20 push ups, you are not "in shape," (though just because you can do 1 set of 20 push ups does not mean you are in shape.) All people concerned with their health, male and female, should be able to do 1 set of 20 push ups, in my opinion.

The Purge: Meet the Mormons

When Purge 2 came out this summer agitators started suggesting we have a purge in real life. Here's an example that doesn't make me want to break my computer:

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2014/07/sociologist-the-purge-real-life-possibility-interview

Just for the record, this is only a good idea if you want Salt Lake to replace Washington DC as the most important political city in the USA. Here's what happens:

1st Year: Mormons (already 25% prepper in the first place, still remember and study the violence around their own exodus from the United States,) come up with extreme game plans for the night of the purge, gathering around stake centers and building up walls (as per various Book of Mormon battles.) Mormons hunker down DAYS AND WEEKS before the night of the purge even begins. Mormons end up wasting a lot of jerks who thought it would be funny to taunt them in a threatening way. No LDS casualties, but Muslims have massive casualties.

2nd Year: Everyone is trying to figure out how they are LDS. Many convert spiritually, some claim cultural heritage, others become really-hard-core BYU football fans, huge movement of athiests claim transhumanist LDS religious status. They all also show up with resources to the LDS fortifications, which this year are far more extensive than before. LDS reach out to Muslims and pull them into their fortification projects. Few are stupid enough to challenge and taunt LDS fortifications directly, but get sniped from LDS fortifications anyways while causing trouble in near by neighborhoods.

3rd Year: Non-LDS religions have now figured out how to be part of Mormonism or they are losing membership fast. Non-LDS religions emulate the LDS efforts, but not as effectively, but still making the Purge far less effective for what it was intended.

4th Year: Mormons now control vasts purge-free areas, where no one is allowed inside the area unless they are anti-purge. In purge-free areas, religious jihad-type laws call for the death of anyone participating in the purge, long after purges are over. EVERYONE wants to live in these areas, and making Salt Lake happy is a priority for 90% of the voters n the USA. 

At this point it's not just the Purge legislation that's getting scrapped, it's anything else Salt Lake doesn't like.

How to Get a Man

I last blogged on advice for reluctant bachelors looking to settle down, based on some epiphanies I have had around sex roles in society. Before I continue with my advice for the ladies, let me start by saying you do NOT need a man. If you want one, that's great, but you absolutely do not need one. This is the single most important thing for you to remember about finding a man: it is not possible for one person to give another person "complete happiness." That is hyperbole we use in romantic music in our culture, it is not literally true. Never burden a man with the responsibility of your happiness for two reasons:

1. Notice the three year old daughter making demands on her father: with in reasonable limitations he can improve her comfort and give her attention, but taken to an extreme she will wreck his ability to be happy when she is around, no matter how much he cares for her. As a female in a relationship with a male, you are constantly running the risk of crushing who he is, who he wants to be, his ability to care for himself, and thus his ability to care for you.
2. The three year old daughter can not be content until she decides to be content. Yes she certainly needs a certain amount of physical and emotional support from her father to be content, but if that is her only source of contentment she can not ever be content. If you depend on a relationship with a man to be your main source of happiness, you cannot be happy over a long period of time.

To understand why this is important for you getting a man, we now should look at my big epiphany that was the core of my last blog post: 

In order for a man to impregnate a woman under normal circumstances, he MUST be attracted to her. A woman does NOT have to be attracted to a man to be impregnated by him. This means that a man has to initiate the first steps in the relationship, because only he knows who he is and is not attracted to. A woman then has to choose her best option from her list of suitors.

This is absolutely a generalization and very far from universally true. But ultimately if you go looking for a man, to succeed you must get a man you are after to become one of your suitors, or else biologically speaking, things aren't going to work out. There are then three ways to manage your list of suitors: 1) being efficient with your list of suitors, 2) going hunting for new suitors, and 3) attracting more suitors.

By being efficient with your suitor list, I mean taking a good look at the guys who you are already rejecting. Chances are your 'best friend who you just aren't that attracted to' has being hanging out with hotter females than you, and his interest in you is based on being realistic about what kind of life he wants to have. Your are physically attractive enough for him, and a cool enough person for him to spend his life with.

But you just find so many other more bad boy or more mysterious men more attractive. Think about how self-destructive that impulse is. Is it really wise to mate with a 'man of mystery?' What secrets does he hide that could negatively effect your long term happiness and the happiness of those you are responsible for? If you are so messed up that you can only get into 'bad boys,' do yourself and society a favor and get counseling to get cured of your thug love, because that is going to end very badly and have dire consequences for someone. Some men are wise enough to never date a woman who has ever dated thugs in her past - that laps of judgement shows a real disregard for the well being of anyone involved.

When it comes to hunting for suitors, do note that because of the epiphany stated above, this is the most difficult way to go about getting a man, the least efficient and most expensive in terms of your personal social capital and emotional resources. Should you go down this road, my suggestion is to follow three steps:

1. First befriend the guy you are interested in. Make very sure he is no longer 'mysterious' to you, and see if he passes the test of being someone who you enjoy to spending time with.
2. Drop a hint, but don't be subtle. You can't communicate with most men your feelings with body language and vocal tone. Don't give him an ultimatum either: that will warn his subconscious that you disregard his own personal agency and personhood, and kill his ability to be attracted to you. Approach it in casual conversation, something like "We are good friends. Have you ever wondered if we would make a good couple?" Get a conversation going - not necessary a serious-tone conversation - about the pros and cons of you being a couple. The hint you want to drop here is AFTER this conversation, say "Yes, it's a good idea. I think we should be a couple." This lets him have room to disagree, think about it, maybe change his mind, or maybe just agree outright.
3. Mother him. Guys are attracted to their moms. If you are able to do any cooking, cleaning or laundry for him, he will instantly start seeing you in more erotic terms, he can't help it. Get on his case about saving more money, or nag him about getting out to the gym. Demonstrate to his subconscious that you are going to cultivate his well being, not be a drain on it.

When it comes to attracting new suitors, physically speaking, contrary to the vast amount of marketing being directed at you personally, men are not attracted to your clothes, your make up, your perfume, your hair conditioner, your facials, your manicures, or any other products being sold to you. If you want to improve how physically attractive you are to men, exercise. I do not mean take your dog down to the park to relieve himself. Get into something serious that you enjoy, and make it a permanent non-negotiable part of your lifestyle, and make it something just as challenging as you can handle, such as some combination of: running, lifting weights, martial arts, Soccer, yoga etc. It should be something demanding enough that you find yourself doing extra physical conditioning outside of that activity so that you can get better at that activity. On a 1 to 10 scale, this is going to pump up your hotness by 3 points or so, guaranteed, over the course of the first year, and even more as time goes on.

The reason why women think men are attracted to skinny women is because the models used to sell women products are skinny. The reason why models are skinny is so that their bodies do not distract attention from the product. Men aren't physically attracted to the product, they are physically attracted to your body. Men are attracted to physically powerful women, we like curves that indicate health and prowess, almost regardless of weight and height.

But exercise demonstrates to a man something even more sexy: you realize that your happiness depends first and foremost on how YOU take care of yourself. Believe me when I say men are far more attracted to a normal body-mass-index woman going out for a morning jog, than we are to a anorexic girl showing off her new breast implants and fake tan on the beach. 

Work on your personality and your finances. Be the person who you want to be. Think about how you treat others and ask yourself if you are good with the person in the mirror. Act in such a way that you are happy to look at yourself in the eye in the mirror.

Don't try to buy happiness. No man wants a relationship with a delusional uneducated wreck, but no man wants to settle down with crushing student loan debt either: have an education, but make it as affordable as possible. You can only get happiness through doing what you think is the right thing to do, and by appreciating what you already have, even though you could always use more. That secret to happiness is also the secret to getting a man.

Birds & Bees for Reluctant Bachelors

I applaud and sometimes envy the proud bachelors who have decided they don't need to contribute further to humanity's gene pool, and this post is not for them. This post is for you single males who don't want to be single. You are the nice guys who want to settle down. You find Leykis 101 to be both offensive and inappropriate for what you want. You have experienced the reality behind the platitude "nice guys finish last."

But note you have also had some uncomfortable experiences where females expressed interest in you. Most likely they were attractive enough for someone, but not attractive to you personally. Yet you wish the right gal would come along and express interest in you, so this awkward phase of your life could be over.

From a scientific perspective, what you are doing is unsustainable.  In order for a man to impregnate a woman under normal circumstances, he MUST be attracted to her. A woman does NOT have to be attracted to a man to be impregnated by him. This means that a man has to initiate the first steps in the relationship, because only he knows who he is and is not attracted to. A woman then has to choose her best option from her list of suitors. Reread this paragraph slowly and deeply ponder the implications.

You think you are nice because you play your cards close to your chest and don't constantly harass women with what you think of them. In fact you are just leaving them to drown with the Leykis 101 sharks, giving them less options because you are afraid of rejection.

Here's what you should do instead:

1. Be calculated. Yes you must be attracted to a woman, but make sure you are attracted to her for her personality qualities as well as her physical qualities. Is she smart enough for you? Thrifty enough for you? Don't get too picky, but know exactly why you like her, and make sure she will fit with what you want in life.
2. Proximity: Once you have identified a suitable woman, test the waters with casual friendship. Does she hold up to the test of being fun to hang out with? Relationships happen because people spend time with each other. If you hang out with her long enough, a relationship is likely to form.
3. Get aggressive. Tell her you like her, make a move. Make more moves. If she makes it clear she's not interested, check with her later to see she's changed her mind, "follow up." Before you give up, be perfectly straight with her: "I really like you, and I think a long term relationship could really work between us. I like you because [insert reasons from 1 and 2 above here.]" If a romantic relationship doesn't form after a few months, network (see if she has friends you try 1 and 2 above with,) and move on to someone else, starting with 1 above. If she objects to you networking with her friends or otherwise moving on, give her another chance: "I have started to see you as only a friend, because you aren't interested in me. It seems you are uncomfortable with me dating other people, are you sure you don't have feelings for me?"
4. Stay aggressive. You have to keep letting her know you value her in your life, or the relationship will deteriorate and disappear. You can't let your feminine feelings of needing to be wanted ruin your life or hers, and most long term relationships require much more aggression on the part of the man than the woman. Also, part of being aggressive is if it doesn't work out with one female (if a relationship ends, or if you are rejected before a real relationship forms,) you move on to someone else. Take notes of why you were rejected, and if there is anything you want to change about yourself, change as you move on.

If you can't get aggressive, the "why" you can't get aggressive is an important warning sign. For example if you are afraid to make a move because her husband might shoot you, well you shouldn't be going after married women in the first place. If you are scared because her biker son just got out of prison, then you need to be second guessing your math in step number 1 above anyways. Making moves on employees at work is a universally bad idea.

Don't second guess her taste in men. She knows what she wants, you don't. The way she experiences romantic love is different from how you do, largely because of the differences mentioned above. Never assume a woman is "out of your league," let her make that decision for herself.

"Friend" is not a bad word. You could have a virtually unlimited pool of "just friends" females if you wanted to, but that is not what you want. Give absolutely no heed to the notion that you might "ruin a valued friendship" by being aggressive. Do the world a favor and take indecent advantage of that friendship to pursue 1-4 above.

You are not a princess, so do not wish upon a star for a knight in shining armor to come save you. Rejection will hurt, but you will suck it up, because you are a man, and you will go on to the next one. Society, your future children and your future romance depends on this.

Khan Academy + English = Humanity's Birthright

The solution to all the world's problems, with today's technology, is simple:

1. Teach them English.
2. Have them do Khan Academy in English.

This is THE long-term solution to the never ending crisis in the Middle East. This brings permanent peace to Africa. This ends hunger in East Asia. This fixes everything:

http://bfgalbraith.blogspot.com/p/english-as-technology-eat.html

Divided We Fall

You can see from other posts on this blog that racism is very real to me, and that I take it very seriously. We all, especially whites, but everyone, need to keep their own racism in check and strive to be less racist, and stand up for others who are being racially discriminated against. We need to vote for politicians who take racism seriously. I have no doubt of this.

Most of us agree that one of the most serious problems with racism in our culture is stereotypes perpetuated by the media. But who owns the media, and who wants us divided along racial lines? Why would they want us divided?

In my mid 20's in the very late 90's, I went to live in the Pittsburgh area for a few years. I discovered in Alliquippa PA very segregated neighborhoods and a lot of racial tension. It turned out that the steel mill that used to be that town's main source of income had the town divided along racial lines, and that up to that point in 1998 it was still considered "unsafe" or "inappropriate" for whites go into he black neighborhoods (a norm I ignored and violated frequently.)

Later when I was studying the labor movement in college, I found that the captains of industry had divided their worker population along racial lines. At times this prevented white union organizers from visiting fellow black workers in their housing, because the housing was owned by the employers and whites were not allowed into the black housing areas. Race was literally used to keep the workforce from organizing.

Who owns the media, and why would they want us divided? What do they want us to not organize against? What do we all have in common that is so precious?

What they are controlling is our vote. What they are distracting us from is campaign finance reform. Why they are distracting us from campaign finance reform is government regulations have been put into place to literally make fantastically wealthy people richer to the detriment of everyone else (even most of the "1%.") Watch this:



But what can we do? What can just one vote do? It's not that simple, you can be extremely influential, don't believe that your donation or your vote does not matter, that is the lie they need you to believe. Here's an example of what you can contribute to besides simply voting, to make a difference:



We still have freedom of speech in the USA. Be loud about this, make sure every voter knows this is THE issue at hand. We get this taken care of, and solutions to climate change, immigration, public education, insane incarceration rates, cost of college, police brutality, health care, living wages etc. will be forth coming. Otherwise our own democracy will continue to be used against us.