RECCE ROOM

Last week, Rener and Ryron Gracie posted a  YouTube video  that defines their revolutionary approach to teaching jiu-jitsu for its original intended purpose: self defense. In the video, they make numerous pertinent points, each of which deserving a blog post of its own. Among the points that stood out to me was the fact that by removing sparring for the newest students, they have better prepared their students for real self defense, and at the same time have increased their enrollment and retention. Not coincidentally,  they have also noticed a reduction of injuries. Count this among the upgrades I will install at my studio. Posted via Blogaway

From a reader: Usagi, Why do gammas hate you and other sigmas so much? Is it for the same reason they tend to hate alphas? Short answer - pretty much, but it's not so simple. First, we must remember that the opposite of love is not hate.   Indifference  is the opposite of love. When someone, especially a gamma, hates someone or something, that person or thing occupies their mind. In extreme cases, we say that person is "obsessed with" the object of their hate. Similarly, people in love wirh one another often experience similar levels of "obsession" with their mate. Sigmas, by their very nature,  have mastered their emotions. And therein lies the problem. A gamma sees this, and often envies the sigma... up to and including to the point of hate. The gamma longs to be this way, and frequently conjures up images of Mr. Spock or Data from Star Trek. Remember, the gamma lives on an emotional roller coaster  and covetousness is a big part of that. Way down deep...

In case you haven't heard, the Supreme Court declared gay marriage legal in all 50 states. Naturally, social media was ablaze. One side is all up in arms because they feel this violates the Biblical view of marriage - "1 man, 1 woman." Here's a hint: it doesn't... But maybe or maybe not for the reasons you think I'm gonna list. First off, I do not comprehend the anger. If you aren't gay, then why do you care if a gay couple gets married? How does that harm you? What rights of yours are taken away here? Most importantly, SINCE WHEN IS MARRIAGE IN THE U . S . IN ANY WAY SIMILAR TO MARRIAGE AS DESCRIBED IN THE BIBLE ??? Marriage in the US is a legally binding financial contract whereby one party has claim to half the property and a portion of the income of the other party in the event that either party should want out of the contract. Show me where that's mentioned in the Bible? So the question becomes "why." Why did SCOTUS ...

Recently, my son attended a wrestling camp. My friend,   Lefty , asked if it was pro wrestling or amateur. Good question.   We looked around, and it seemed we found a foreign object under the mat: Sadly, it was only a water bottle. Then we found a chain that could be used as a foreign object.  The chain was at the top of a long rope, so my son decided to climb up and get it. Later, in a match, my boy was able to procure the chain from its hiding place in his pants. He slugged his opponent with it while the ref wasn't looking, and that enabled him to score the pin.  In all seriousness though, he had a blast at Wilson Central High School's wrestling camp. Coach Kramer showed them some good basics and the boys (and one girl) learned a lot! Posted via Blogaway

A few weeks ago (Saturday of its opening weekend), I took my family and my son's friend,   Austin,   to see the movie Jurassic World . The theater was packed and everyone in our party really enjoyed the movie. I'd read somewhere that the movie was kind of preaching against the idea of "bigger and better." And while the film did not come across as preachy, I can see where that idea came from. In fact, I liked how the message kinda leaned toward "tried and true old-fashioned is better than bigger and better." Overall, it was a more entertaining flick than the second and third installments. To be fair, I have enjoyed every movie in the series. Posted via Blogaway

You know, more people have been choked by judogis in the past 100 years than any other instrument. Let's ban the gi ... for the safety of our children of course. The above is sarcasm, and is every bit as silly as any argument for the banning of an inanimate object - guns, flags, paper dolls, etc. Posted via Blogaway

Did you ever notice that the same people who spout the BS " teach boys not to rape ," are all pushing for gun control. Why not just also say " teach boys not to kill ." Oh, yeah... they know that won't work, either.  And the problem is that they know their target audience would actually benefit from carrying guns, as they could easily defend real rape, if rape was as likely as they claim. And that's the other problem: rape is nowhere near as widespread as they would have you believe. Must be difficult living with such mental illness as to be contradicting yourself on all subjects. My heart goes out to them. Posted via Blogaway