The current Martial Art articles that were already on this site have already been duplicated over to the new site. They will also remain here though, as an archive as well as for linking purposes. All new articles on Martial Arts will only be posted on the new website though. I’ll have some new articles up on that site fairly soon, thanks for being patient.

Bruce Lee was not only exceptionally fast, he was able to read his opponents movements on a whim, with very little effort.

“What’s wrong with speed?”, you might be asking. Well, speed has limitations. No matter how many years you practice, or how many hours you’ve spent on it, there is a limitation to exactly how fast you can get your body to move. Obviously, you can produce a speed so fast that it makes others awe in amazement because it’s purely much faster than the average speed, but either way it has a limitation.

People so often focus on speed and being able to throw a punch twice as fast as their opponent. Most people think that if they are way faster than their opponent then when the opponent throws a punch they can counter with their own punch and because they are faster, then their punch will hit first and they’ll win. In fact, they’re right, if you are that much faster than your opponent, you have a good chance of winning against other Martial Artists who think the same way. The problem is, to get to that speed requires too much effort, almost to the point that it becomes pointless. “What did he just say!? It’s pointless to spend so much time to become super fast and acquire The Flying Fists of Death!?”(Yes, that was made up ) That’s exactly what I’m saying.

Rather than train to become faster than your opponent, spend that time learning how to read your opponent. If you can learn to read your opponent, you’ve already won the battle. There is no possibility of gaining a greater speed than to already know how, when, and where your opponent is going to make his next move. It’s quite simple to understand, yet very hard to get even decent at. Once you’ve been working(sparring, practicing, etc) with someone for long enough, you’ll eventually get better at predicting their movements if you practice reading them, but that’s quite easy to accomplish. The hard part is being able to read anyone, very quickly, because in a real life situation the opponent is not going to practice with you till you are able to read his movements. The skill will have to be able to be used on a whim.

No matter how fast my opponent can move, if I have the ability to read his movements, I’m already at a greater advantage. Don’t get me wrong though, if you have no speed whatsoever, then you’re going to be in big trouble even if you can read his movements. Just understand that speed has it’s limits. Speed is something that if you train hard all the time in sparring, shadow boxing, etc it will increase, even if at a slower pace than if you trained specifically for speed. Instead of spending all that time on speed though, use it to learn to read others. By the time you get to the point that you can read others decently, you’ll have already naturally gained speed from doing your other routines(again, sparring, shadow boxing, etc).

I will remember November 5th of 2008 until my dying day… because for the first time in my life I woke up… and it was O.K to be black. The leader of the Free World is an intelligent, charismatic black man. If that doesn’t give you chills… Well, you’re probably white.

As I passed the ideas about inside my head, of what I normally do, I came up with some “routines” I already happen to do but also some more that I’d like to add to my daily practice. Here is a list of what I’ve already been doing, plus what I plan to do, combined into one list of 5 routines:

1. Maintain eye focus while observing their body movements. The general concept is to never let your eyes leave them so that you can read them, while making sure to pay attention to all of their movements.
2. Pay attention to their center line. I’ve recently posted an article about the center line theory and how important it can be. Try to keep tract of when their center line is open for attack, and closed for defense, which would require you to create an opening.
3. Pay attention to their joints. Joints are a key factor in every Martial Art. If I happen to get the chance to throw a heavy blow with the heel of my foot to the inside joint of your knee, you’ll at least have trouble walking for a while.
4. Pay attention to their intention. You always think that they have no clue about what you’re really doing, but what if they were thinking the same thing? Try to read others around you to simply understand them better, and figure out what’s really beneath the skin, so to speak.
5. Pay attention to your surroundings. This is the final task that can become a bit difficult in busy areas. While you’re focusing on all the other goals and tasks, still make sure to be aware of your surroundings. Try to learn to handle listening to not only your own conversation, but maybe 2 or 3 at once. Make sure you’re able to “sense” where others are around you.

Eventually, all of these tasks will become routine in that you’ll do it everyday without thinking too much about it. In fact, a lot of times it makes me laugh. Why? Because I think it’d be funny to see the expressions of others if they knew exactly what I was thinking and planning in my mind as they spoke to me. Hide your intentions and you’ll be another step ahead of the game.

The United States has been touted for years as the Greatest Country on Earth, and we are. If your a lazy whiner, or a Dead Beat Dad that is. The US has programs in place so that you can survive while doing nothing, and if your a single mother we’ll pay for your kids have as many as you like. In other under developed nations get to die starving, or appear in a Christian Children’s fund raising venture with Sally Struthers or some other has been actor. Or maybe if you were a child you’d get adopted by some famous Hollywood star. That has never even heard of the country your fun. Stars these days are so active…

This was never a great country. We had slavery, public rebellion, and political parties that have manipulated our economy ever since President Jackson. However hopefully one day in the future it can be truly great.

We currently live in a cesspool, and I’m hoping the cleaning comes soon…

Wing Chun highly focuses on the center line theory, and benefits greatly from it. The center line theory is fairly easy to understand, but can be quite troublesome to get the hang of. The idea is that there is a line that runs straight down everyone, from head to toe. That, in essence, is your center line. Everything should revolve around your center line while the opponents center line should be offset or disrupted.

For instance, your center line should always be facing the opponent, and as you move around your opponent, your center line should stay straight and aimed towards the enemy. Your punches should also extend from the center line. This can be hard to understand unless the concept is properly shown, but the reason behind it is quite simple: The shortest distance between any two points is a straight line.

The opponents center line should also be your target, in two ways.

1. You should be attempting to disrupt their center line but maintain the integrity of yours. By this, I mean you basically want to off balance them or get to them at an angle. If your center line is facing them, but theirs is facing in a different direction, you’ve already gained the advantage and should make use of it.
2. Aim for the center line with your attacks. Hitting your opponents center line will maximize the damage you do to him. Think of it this way: If you hit your opponent in the shoulder, his shoulder will simply give and his body will pivot, which will in effect lessen the damage he takes. But, if you instead hit him directly in his center line, your opponent is forced to take close to all(if not ALL) of your force directly as damage rather than being able to deflect it.

I just thought I’d share a little bit of information about the center line, which is used in many Martial Arts, but more highly focused in Martial Arts like Wing Chun. I’ve been practicing on keeping my center line and controlling or distorting my opponents center line. For the end of this article, I’ll leave you with my own personal example. A friend of mine was over at my place on the weekend and we were free light hand sparring with no pads. At one point, we had stopped and were analyzing a position in which our hands were grappled together and we both brought our knee’s up, but because of the angle of my knee to his, I had the advantage because I maintained my center line but just barely off centered his. His argument was that if it was done in a fast motion, and we both put strength behind everything, that one of two things would either happen.

1. Our strength would cancel each other out and we would both remain standing
2. Our strength would be close and so if I was able to get him to fall, we’d both fall.

Since he insisted so much that the center line wouldn’t matter and wouldn’t offset his balance enough, I decided to prove it to him. I told him to do the same exact thing we had just done, but only use strength and keep himself up or take me down with him if he had to. And sure enough, he hit the floor hard and I was left standing with full balance, simply laughing. To make sure he fully understood why what I did worked, I had him repeat the same thing on me, with the situation being the other way and what do you know, it worked on me as well.

Just mess around with the center line theory and see what works for you.

Anyway, as you might have noticed, I decided to change the title. While the core foundation of a lot of what we’re practicing is Muay Thai, we incorporate a lot of other Martial Art techniques into our routines. Thus, I believe “Mixed Martial Arts” is a better term. Even though everyone will immediately think of “UFC”, which I’m not too fond of, that’s really the best phrase for what we’re doing.

On Thursday, my instructor decided to switch things up a bit and let US choose what exercises we were going to do. We did a round robin type of game where one person picked an exercise, chose how many we were going to do of that exercise and then everyone did it together. We’re a lot different than most people, we don’t simply choose low amounts to make it easier on ourselves. We choose a number that we know we can do, but yet is definitely a work out for our body and then everyone has to do it as well. We did a lot of push-ups, as our instructor kept sneaking in sets of push-ups throughout the day in the middle of our training, and a decent amount of sit-ups. One exercise we did that you can really, really feel is jumping squats. When you go up in the squat, you jump up in the air and reach your hands up high into the air and then when you land, you crouch back down into the squat. Try doing a lot of these and see how far you can get.

We did more light sparring and form/technique work than anything else. We worked a lot in partners, having one person sit out, and switching up every little bit since we had an odd number of people(5). One of the sessions, one person would latch his hands up behind the others neck and squeeze his arms into the persons neck to cause pressure. The one in the “head/neck” lock would then have to try to fight their way out while the other person kept the pressure on as tight as he could without inducing injury. Knee kicks were also allowed to be thrown, so I definitely threw a lot of those.

We also worked a bit more on “self-defense”. You’re probably thinking, “Isn’t all of it about self-defense?” And while, in a way it is, the movements we practiced were more towards real life situations such as someone grabbing your shoulder, or starting off at a more aggressive pace where everything is sudden unlike in a spar or ring fight where you are expecting everything. We would have one person put his guard up, and the other partner would unleash punches at his head while the other person tried to only defend. Why practice only defending, sometimes? Well, if it’s sudden and somebody unleashes a fury of punches towards your head, the only thing you might have time to do is get your hands up to block as many as you can.

Anyway, I’ll post more articles soon enough.

Wing Chun uses a special punching bag, known as a wooden dummy.  This dummy is used to mimic the human limbs so that you can learn how to maneuver through an attack.  The wooden dummy usually cost around $700 but can be built from blue prints available online.  I have found a man who can build it for $400 out of oak.  Though I am not sure of the quality I will give him a chance.

Most people do not know that the greatest martial arts actors all knew Wing Chun.  By the greatest I mean Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li.  Though I am not for sure on how skilled they were, they all had some experience in this art.  I do know that Bruce Lee studied under Yip Man from the age of thirteen to eighteen.

Just check out the videos below and see how kick ass Wing Chun really is, for yourself!

Peace

I give this Anime 3/5 for artwork, and 4/5 for the overall experience.

I mentioned that the main characters astral project. To those who do not know what this means. Astral projection is when the soul leaves the body and travels through the spirit world. With that said, there are ways of achieving this state of consciousness naturally and synthetically. The natural way is through meditation, in which one puts themselves in a trance like state. This is usually only achieved by many years of diligent practice. The other synthetic way is through taking a chemical known by some as Special K. This substance causes the user to astral project for about 30 to 80 minuets. This is much more risky than the natural approach.
I have just touched up on the subject of astral projection and will go into further detail in another post. Do not try this if you are not prepared to face the demons of the other side. Some have lost their mind after what they have seen.

Peace

This is a proper mixture if herbs that causes astral projection, named REM Tea. This came about through much trial and error. The effect that it has on the one who drinks it is a state of awareness when in a deep sleep. This deep sleep also known as REM sleep and is when people see dreams.

At first you can move in your dreams by you own free will. Then after about a month of practice you can begin to control the content, and after four to six months one can leave their body and roam the other realm. This is just an approximation based on my experience.

Some might think it is pointless to take something that long just to astral project. This may be right if you just want a quick experience, then you should just take Special Ketamine and do it right away. This in my opinion is foolish, for it is just a quick high and the user has no control. What I am speaking of is more ritualistic and more permanent. For if one does this until they reach the point of astral projection then they should have the ability to project at will, without the tea. This is more of a short cut to what many religious groups spend years and decades trying to achieve.

With all that said DO NOT TRY THIS if you are under 18 or older than 40 years old. There should also be caution taken if you have any heart conditions, or are under any medication. The REM Tea contains some herbs that are dangerous if used improperly.

The main ingredient is four table spoons of Mugwort, this herb is part of the wormwood family. This herb keeps ones consciousness alert without stimulating the body, therefor your body tires but your mind is unable to relax.

Then two teaspoons of kava kava root, this root is originally from an island where the natives use it as a social drink.

The next herb is one teaspoon of Pennyroyal, this is from the mint family of herbs, and is mostly for taste.

Then one table spoon of Guta Kola, this herb is known in Asia for its healing properties. It has a chemical in it that causes the blood veins to expand, which induces a relaxing effect, which allows the other chemicals to travel through the blood stream faster.

With all these herbs mixed place them in two cups of boiled water and let it infuse for four hours. Then reheat and drink about 30 minuets before you go to sleep.

Peace

The basic premise of Wing Chun is that it is a very aggressive close-quarter combat system. The idea is to use your energy efficiently. Many times people over look Wing Chun as a viable Martial Art style simply for the fact that in a good majority of the demonstrations that are done, and can be found on the Internet, Chi Sao is the demonstration presented. Most people don’t understand the concept of Chi Sao and therefore don’t see the whole picture, or what’s really happening behind the scenes as the demonstration takes place.

Chi Sao, also known as “Sticking Hands”, is primarily used to develop sensitivity. As one develops a greater sensitivity, through excessive practice of Chi Sao, one can begin to feel his opponents strengths and weaknesses which allows him to not only predict the attackers movements, as he goes to make them, but also see the openings(flaws) in the attackers structure that gives him the advantage of knowing when to strike. Chi Sao is NOT meant to be used in a real fighting situation the same way it is practiced, which is why so many people end up confused. Chi Sao is a very hard concept to simply describe with words. Videos are the only way to really show or explain how Chi Sao works, without actually being present. To fully grasp the concept, one must actually practice Chi Sao, even if only for a brief period of time, with someone else to understand how effective it truly is.

In Wing Chun there are three Empty Hand forms: Siu Nim Tao, Chum Kiu, and Bil Jee. Along with the three Empty Hand forms, there is also the Wooden Dummy. The Wooden Dummy is a device meant for alone time practice as it can only be used by one person at a time. The Wooden Dummy is NOT meant to be forcefully hit and punched, it’s meant as a means of learning angles, reflection, positions, footwork, and also body power. The Wooden Dummy is a unique device that should accommodate every Wing Chun practitioners home, if they can afford to give up the cash it costs and the room to store it.

Lately, I’ve been getting more and more into Wing Chun and I am considering getting my own personal Wing Chun Dummy. It’s not final in my mind, as to whether or not I will yet(I definitely will someday, if not very soon), but if I decide to get one then I will definitely post pictures of it with descriptions of how I came to get mine.

Here’s the real heart of this story, the videos:

In so many schools today, no matter the style of the school, there are too many places that very lightly focus on application which is a huge part of learning. The schools will promote friendliness(which is always good) but only very light sparring if they allow sparring at all(some schools actually don’t allow sparring!). The problem lies in the fact that no matter how much you practice at something, unless you actually do it, you’re not going to become good at it. Allowing students to go “slow-mo” and apply techniques to other students is a good way to generate confidence and get them into the feel of things, but it shouldn’t be a replacement of real sparring.

A lot of schools consider sparring to be when they put on an enormous amount of pads, such as the head, chest, hand, leg, etc gear and then still simply putting no force behind the moves that are being thrown. Generating a more life-like situation is one of the best ways to get as close to having the same feeling as you would in a fight, yet know you’re not going to get too injured. Pain is simply an indication that something has gone wrong. That’s your bodies way of telling you. Without ever feeling at least a small amount of pain in practice fights, how can you expect to be fully prepared in a real fight?

What is light sparring to me? Light sparring to me is when you simply use fingerless thin gloves for the hands(like MMA style), a mouth piece, and possibly a cup. When you fight with these conditions, you should predetermine exactly how “rough” you wish to go with the other person you are sparring with before beginning. A method that works often is to throw a kick or punch to them, showing them how hard you want to go so they know how much power to put into their hits. For light sparring, the idea is to end up with only bruises and sore spots. A factor of how light your sparring is, depends on your conditioning. Those who are not conditioned will need to go lighter then those who are.

The idea is to feel more like you’re in a fight because you don’t want to be hit. It’s not too painful, but you’re not just tapping each other on the shoulder, so to speak. I find that when my instructor shows me something and then me and another student mimic it back and forth on each other just to learn the movement, it’s usually pretty simple to get the movements down decently. Yet, when I enter into a spar it’s a hell of a lot harder to throw the movements into other combination’s on a whim. That’s part of the reason you can’t just practice it back and forth, because doing something planned is totally different then doing something on the spur of the moment.

It’s not to say that body pads are a bad thing, you just have to realized they have their place. I believe body pads can be good for when you go all out. Wearing all that gear allows you to put a lot of force behind your hits. Yes, you’ll get hurt, but not bad enough for it to ever be serious(most likely). As Bruce Lee once said:

If [a martial art] is a sport, then you are now talking about something else; you have regulations, you have rules. But if you are talking about fighting - as it is; that is to say, with no rules - well, then, baby, you had better train every part of your body!

If you’re not strong enough to take the blows directly to your body, then how would you expect to take them in a real fight? Obviously, no one ever starts out “super conditioned” and is immediately ready to begin taking hard blows, but that’s what you should be aiming for in the long run. Conditioning your body is a very serious part of any Martial Art. If your body has muscle but isn’t “pain conditioned”, you’re going to have issues. That is the reason that many Martial Artists have their bodies trained by other students using things such as rods(really tough sticks) to slap against different areas of the body to build up its tolerance. There are many ways to condition one’s body, but the overall end result should be the same.

Just remember, no matter how long you practice a move/technique/combination, whether it be weeks, months, or even years, if you cannot apply it in a real life situation, then it’s of no real value. That’s not to say that the move/technique/combination is worthless, but that the time you spent merely mimicking a move and never putting it to the real test, has been wasted.

For those of you who don’t know what a Pyramid push-up is, it is when you do sets of push-ups. For instance, you do 1 push-up, then you do a set of 2, then 3, etc all the way up to 12. Once you’ve reached 12, you go back down to 1 again. Overall, it’s roughly 150 push-ups in total. My instructor decided we were going to do Pyramid “Everything” which steps it up just a little. First, you do 1 push-up, then 1 squat, then 1 sit-up, then 10 combination’s on one side, then turn and do 10 the other way. The combination’s varied, such as jabs then a round house kick, or a knee, etc. After that, you’d do 2 push-ups, then 2 squats, then 2 sit-ups, and then 10 combo’s for each side. We did this all the way to 12, then back down to 1 which is equals out to something like roughly 150 push-ups, 150 squats, 150 sit-ups, and somewhere around 230 kicks(we did all different kinds, we didn’t just do the same one’s over and over) on each leg since each combination always had a knee or kick movement at the end of some sort. One of the other “students” happened to lose his lunch(oatmeal, Mmm!) right afterward.

We took a 5 minute water break after all that, then we were back up and doing bag work. My instructor has two bags that we use for just beating on. One of them happens to be a huge bag, that takes a lot of the impact out of the blow, the other, erm, doesn’t so much. It’s lighter and thinner. There was four of us out there so my instructor decided me and him would pair up, and gave me the “lighter” bag. It’s funny, I think he enjoys kicking me almost as much as I enjoy being kicked. I can still feel the area where I took the blows, it’s pretty damn sensitive now. After the bag work, we moved onto light sparring. We sparred for roughly 20-30 minutes before I had to head back off to work.

All in all, it was one hell of work out, at least for me! My instructor says he plans on having us do this each time for now on, so I suppose I better get use to it real fast. If I were in shape, this series of work outs probably wouldn’t be so bad, but that’s not the case. I got a ways to go to be back in what I consider “good shape”. If anyone out there has any experiences of having done these Pyramid sets, or just having had to do a large amount of exercise for whatever shape you were in at the time, let me know how yours turned out, I’d love to here about it.

There are many people who claim that the old Shaolin styles are the greatest, mainly because of the fact that they are the foundation from which all others build off of. I do not dispute that Shaolin is pretty much where so many styles originated from, but you have to acknowledge it for what it is. For instance, a true Shaolin Martial Artist could pretty much trump a good majority of the others out there. There is one reason for this, and it’s probably not the reason you are thinking. It’s because he isn’t limited. You may be thinking “Limited?”, and I assure you, that is exactly what I mean.

How many Martial Art schools exist today? Far too many to want to count. How many of them offer a variety of training? Not very many. The fact is that most people who study Martial Arts are close minded to the fact that the Martial Art they study is in fact not capable of simply defeating all other styles. People tend to believe that when they become a high rank, or rather “experienced”, in the style they are currently studying, that they are going to be unstoppable and able to go up against all kinds of other styles with ease. This just isn’t so. Granted, some styles are more versatile in the fact that they can handle a wider range of attack forms, but even then they are limited.

To get a full understanding, I’d like to present to everyone the word: wu shu. Yes, I know most of you out there have seen it and know the meaning behind it, but have you truly thought about it rather then just know it’s meaning? Here is what www.dictionary.com had to say:

[Chinese (Mandarin) wǔ shù : wǔ, martial + shù, skill, art.]

As you can see, it’s pretty simple to understand. The point I’m trying to get across is that people should aim for acquiring talent in Martial Arts, or wu shu, not in a style.

Okay, to my point from before about those who study Shaolin not being limited. What I mean is that Shaolin is a collective of Martial Art styles, it’s not really just one style. There are different types of Shaolin styles, and within each there are a variety of other styles. For instance, there are the five animal styles in Shaolin: Crane, Tiger, Snake, Leopard(Panther), Dragon. Shaolin is quite huge and every piece that is broken down is to teach a specific trait. For instance, Crane is for balance while Tiger is for fierceness/power. Shaolin was formed through thorough communication between displays of Martial Arts at temples.

Those who limit themselves to one style end up only degrading their own ability. Those who study Shaolin(or any very close variant based off of Shaolin) have an wider range of training, and because of this they can defeat a larger variety of other styles. This rule applies to those who study Shaolin as well though, if they seek only one specific area and limit themselves, they’re going to inhibit themselves from moving further as well.

This isn’t to say that Shaolin is the ultimate style, it’s to say that those who study as many different styles as they can have the greatest ability to adapt to any given situation. Remember, no one style is the best, only when complete knowledge is sought can success be found.

At first, we did some basic routines, working out by doing push-ups, etc to get our bodies “going”. After that, my instructor brought out a decently large training bag that is held in front of someone so they can just “bash” on that person rather than the focus mitts which are more for accuracy. Anyway, he had us practicing combination’s of jabs, knee’s, and side kicks. One thing I noticed that was quite funny though, was that the other guy out there with me(who has just started back in training as well), could throw a hell of a lot harder knee to the stomach with his left leg than his right leg. The funny part about that is, he says that he is more comfortable with his right leg and usually is “right sided”. Funny how things work sometimes. For me, I’m the “norm”, I kick a lot better with my right leg and hit a lot better with my right hand. My left leg definitely needs a lot of work. My left hand is quick on blocking but is shit at throwing jabs.

After the bag work, we went over a few simple take down methods, nothing too serious. The idea behind him getting us into knowing a few take down methods was that we could practice “break falling”. Break falling is essentially breaking your fall so that when, not if, you get thrown to the ground or knocked down, you are able to break your fall. By breaking your fall, you limit the amount of damage your body is going to take from the fall which gives you a faster recovery time to getting back to your feet.

We ended with light sparring like we usually do. For a while we just had the rules of “anything goes” pretty much, obviously meaning kicks, sweeps, jabs, elbows, etc. I got a couple good combination’s in on my teacher, with one in particular allowing me to land my kick to the side of his thigh. The worst mistake I made was when he brought a high kick all the way up to my face(I’m a bit taller then him) and I misjudged his leg length and the end of his foot skimmed my cheek. I’m trying to get back into the “dodging by only the thickness of a piece of rice paper” routine again.

Like I said before, my teacher doesn’t just teach Muay Thai, he teaches “What Works”. He’s learned various styles and takes from them and tries to apply them together. Obviously, no one martial art is superior to all others. So, during the very end of the light sparring we practiced over some of the “Wing Chun” methods of blocking, simply using only our hands(we chose to just use only the hands, in no way is Wing Chun limited to this). With Wing Chun, when two people are practicing it, it’s quite easy to tell who’s in control of the situation because of how much one controls the other movements, so to speak.

I’ve got a lot of work to do to progress further, faster. I’ll report again sometime soon.

Notice the icons on the title bar next to the Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons.

UltraMon takes care of all these problems in a very easy and slick fashion. At the top of every window, two icons have been added next to the others(Minimize, Maximize, and Close), which allows you to Maximize the window across the whole desktop(Minimize it back to normal) or switch the window over to another desktop screen. These options are also available if you right click the window’s title bar. The ability to be able to conveniently move one window back and forth between screens so easily cuts down time significantly. It does so in two ways:

1. It’s simply easier to just click the button rather then grab and drop windows(especially those that are maximized).
2. It’s very annoying to have to drag windows around, and if you’re getting annoyed it probably means you’re gonna have a harder time doing your work(or multitasking while playing games ) effectively.

UltraMon has another feature that’s highly beneficial, which allows you to have a second Windows “Start Bar” on any of the other screens(or all of them at once! That’s how I have it. ). With this capability, when you move a window to a second(or third, etc) monitor, the menu item in the Start Bar, that is normally used to hide or display that window, is moved to the second Start Bar and disappears from the first. This is a bit hard to describe, as the picture will offer a much better representation of what I’m trying to get across.

The last feature that I’m going to mention, simply because there are too many great features to talk about, is the wallpaper manager. UltraMon gives you full control over your wallpaper for all monitors. For instance, you take one large image and have it kind of spread across all the screens, or even better(in my opinion), you can have a different picture for each and every screen! I love this feature, it allows me to maintain many neat pictures along my screens but without forcing me to choose just one.

Check out UltraMon here: UltraMon. It does cost a bit of money, but very little for all the features that you get! There is also a trial version that you can use to experience the joy of being able to manage your multi-monitor environment effectively.

Largest Military re-enlistment in American History July 4th. 2008 Bagdad

Life is seldom what you want it to be. In America we face a crisis of enormous proportions. Our economy is failing mainly due to the lies of the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Enron killed us all, and destroyed most of the stock market though no one was really punished, and those companies that back door traded, and conspired have prospered until now, those that remain are looking for and getting government hand outs like they were a third world impoverished country, and men and women lose their jobs, and homes from defaulting on mortgages, and taxes that are truly outrageous, yet they get a hand out. What about the homeless, and the poor people of New Orleans, and all the soldiers that are still fighting the “Good” fight liberating those poor less fortunate souls in the great war of the moment.

We still have WoW(World of Warcraft) and its doing fine, and all that can be said is live your life as you like, but take your head out of the box and see the world for what it really is…

A place where Amish can be shot in church, and where…

Though some would question as of how I got this belief, considering the home I was raised in, but I am a firm believer that marriage is a life long commitment, not a “part-time job.” I had to have some deep conversations with some friends, co-workers, and family before I wanted to make such a big decision. I got many responses…

“Well it’s like I’ve jumped off a tall building and I’m making my way down, I haven’t hit anything yet, but I know there’ll be something coming,” said a close, recently married friend.

“It’s the greatest thing I ever did, I know a lot of guys are nervous about getting married, but I knew she was the one and I’ve never been happier,” said another close and recently married friend.

“Let’s just say this, marriage has three rings: the Engagement ring, the Wedding ring, and suffeRING,” said a fellow co-worker.

“Do you love her?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“Does she make you happy and treat you well?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“Than I support and put my blessing on this marriage,” said my Mom.

“Can you see your life without her?”
“No, and I don’t want to,” I replied.
“Then marry her,” proclaimed my Dad.

After getting the opinions and views of friends and family, I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t wait to get married. About a year later and we were married, and so far it’s been “Happily Ever After.”

I sit here and wonder what I’m I paying for?  Really, The only thing that this school has taught me is that the only way to learn software is to teach yourself.  No matter how good a teacher (or how bad) they are just to old, and do not keep up with the latest updates.  Luckily I only have five more months of this shit.  Then the easy part, I have to pay $25,000 for a piece of paper and a stupid hat.

The main point is do not under any circumstances go to ITT TECH.

The worst thing is that Half of the students are under probation!! and still pass somehow.  Without showing up or finishing anything.

What The FUCK

Hello again friends, villains, and victims. It is I, Batman. It’s been about a week since my last post, and quite a bit has happened, well… that is until Sunday, but I’ll get to that in a bit. Anyway, I came to a dilemma the other day. I was up early doing my morning jog when I seen a young, and might I say pretty, lady being robbed of her purse. I wasn’t quite sure what to do, now this isn’t because I don’t know how to handle a purse snatcher, cause I do (knee to the groin), but the question was, do I attempt to help her while in common attire in broad daylight? So after secretly blowing a deadly poison dart into his jugular vein, I decided I needed to start jogging differently each day. So now, I jog in my sweats as usually, but I simply where the bat-mask as well. Yeah, it gets some stares, but honestly, I got those without the mask too .

But on to what happened Sunday, Robin introduced me into something new… And no, it’s not what you might be thinking; it was the incredible World of Warcraft. Did you know that there are literally millions of people out there playing this “game”? So I started a character, “Batdude007”, he’s a night elf rogue. I gotta say, it was quite fun. Honestly, this is the first time I’ve been away from the game since then. (Actually, I’m still on, I’m currently flying from Booty Bay to Menethil Harbor, LOL) And in these few days I’ve already made it to level 45, ding baby! And I’ve noticed a few differences from the World of Warcraft “game” and my literal World of Warcraft that I would like to be changed:

1) Why is it that when I defeat Joker and Mr. Freeze in a single raid I don’t get some cool new weaponry or armor? I mean, the baterangs are cool and all but they certainly aren’t epic gear…

2) In the same sense, why is that after I kill hundreds of bad guys I never get a sudden flash of yellow light and a group of buddies showering me with “gratz”?

3) Also, when do I get my mount? Yeah, I have the batmobile, but when can I start chasing down the Penguin with a Striped Nightsaber?

Well, I’ve made it to Menethil Harbor. I should be on later, I just need to finishes these next 17 quests…

I’d been planning this for weeks. She had no clue that it was coming, which was the point. In order to make sure she didn’t know I had to do something that I didn’t enjoy doing, but I had told her earlier on that I would do it. I had to lie to her. I told her that there were things that I wanted to do before I ever got married. I told her that I appreciated her patience and I was lucky to have a girl who would wait for me until I was ready. I said that on the phone, and it was one of those times when though I couldn’t see her I knew I struck a cord. I felt horrible, but it had to be done, I mean this was the way she wanted it.

The day was rainy, very rainy; I was shocked at how rainy it was. The radio said that there was a flash flood warning for all the listening areas. I kind of thought that I should wait off, but I couldn’t, not after what I said to her last week about “being patient.” I had to do it tonight. Through the rain I made my way to pick her up. We met at the same place we always met at the same time we always met. I got there first; I left a little early since I was so nervous.

Then she pulled up behind me. My heart leapt as I whispered one more little prayer before I got out of the car. She was beautiful, she had worn her hair down like I liked, and she had on the pink shirt that I had bought her a few months earlier. She was stunning, as usual. I then walked her to the car and opened her door. We then headed down to Newport on the Levee. I told her earlier that I planned a long evening for us at Newport. We went to one of our favorite restaurants, Dewey’s Pizza. We sat by the window and looked out at the pouring rain. My stomach tightened as I seen how hard it was coming down. But I wasn’t backing out.

I then took her to the restrooms. As she walked in, I walked out. Let the games begin…

So she walked out and was handed box 1. In the box was a letter telling her that I was going to make her go on a little scavenger hunt and to go to her car and put in the CD I gave her, a music CD that she wanted, and another CD telling her to go to the next spot.

After receiving her directions she went to the next spot. It was the place we first heard “our song,” it’s a little look out over Newport from Cincinnati. (So by now you’ve realized that I’m a hopeless romantic, so what, she loves it!) When she got there she received box 2, which contained a candle, and another CD with directions to the next spot.

She arrived quickly at UDF by UC, the place we went after I asked her to be my girlfriend. In the store she was given box 3 by the lady behind the counter who insisted on her opening the box in there. Inside were another music CD that she wanted and another CD with directions.

She soon arrived at the Skyline on Ludlow, the place we sat and had our conversation in which we decided to put God first in our relationship. There she received box 4 which contained a book and another CD with directions.

She then arrived at Camp Washington Chili, one of her favorite restaurants. There she parked her car and was planning to go inside for the next box when a homeless man came asking her for money, thinking he was part of the “hunt,” she conversed with him for a few minutes until my Dad came running with box 5. He gave her a hug and sent her on her way. The box contained yet another music CD and another CD with directions.

I’d been waiting for her here. I was shaking with anticipation. “How will I say it? What will she say?” The questions raced through my mind. Then she showed up. She drove to the designated spot. This was the last stop for a reason; the previous summer I had asked this pretty little girl to be my girlfriend here. She stepped out of her car and made her way to the last box setting on the ground looking over Cincinnati. This spot had a great view, you could see all of Cincinnati and Newport here, it was beautiful and the rain had stopped. The letter in the box told her to look over the city and then finally turn around.

Now here was my spot, I had to slip up behind her there without her knowing it. I got right were I needed to and held the two dozen roses and framed poem that I wrote to her in my hands as she turned around. I could see the tears pouring down her face, and then I knew… she was the one I wanted to marry without a doubt. I read her the poem which finished with “Mary Hollenbach, would you marry me?”

She said, “Yes.”

With that said how many people in America are in debt to credit cards?  (90% of American households owe approximately $9,000, not including car payments and mortgages.)

How many are driving in brand new cars, and living in nice big houses and still complain about not having enough money. This is why I think it is funny that people buy more than they should, be it jewelry, cars, etc. Then they sit and pull their hairs when the economy goes in a recession.

If these people lose what they actually do not own, then why should I feel sorry for them.

How wonderful it will be if they learn a very hard lesson.

Some might think I am sadistic, or foolish for believing such things.  They might be somewhat right.  But, I must now justify my words.

In this world there are thousands of men, women and children living in squealer, starving, despised and dying and who really cares?  NOT Americans, no not us.  Why we have our own problems to take care of, like an obesity epidemic to name one.  So when some one has to give their house back to a bank or get their car repossessed, I do not cry.  Nor should anyone.

Peace to all those that deserve it

One of the guys had been away from working with the teacher for about one month because of work and other things, but now he’s getting back into it. He’s a little bit shorter then me. I’m around 5′11-6′0, but he’s got his body into a lot better shape then mine because of getting back into training 3 months before me. His legs were pretty damn solid compared to mine. At one point, I was bringing up my back right leg, raising the knee for a kick, but he was already bringing his back right leg up towards my left forward foot so I quickly decided to use my kick against his so I didn’t take the blow. Sounds good, right? Only one problem, his legs are condition and mine aren’t…yet. Let’s just say, I felt it.

The other guy is around 6′4 and had been in Martial Arts when he was young, and some boxing, but hasn’t really done training for quite a long while. He’s not in great shape either, but still better than me, because he said he’s been active in other stuff here and there. During some of the light sparing, me and him were practicing grabbing each others leg’s when we went off for a kick and sweep each other down but we brought each other down slow enough so it wasn’t that hard of a slam to the ground. It’s insane though, how big of a difference it is for him to be only that much bigger then me, and when he sweeps me I start off so high and fall so far, that I’d definitely be out of air(if not hurt a lot worse) had he brought me down with real force.

All in all, we worked on nothing but sparing today and it was fun as hell. It’s hard for me to get use to the real close combat with knee’s as part of the combo since I’m not honestly not very use to using my knee’s. A lot of my problems have to deal with not paying enough attention and bringing my hands down too much when I’m going in for a kick or a quick sweep. The problems with my sweeps seem to be that I don’t have the accuracy down of my leg movements and if you’re off just by a little bit, it actually backfires against you and makes YOU have an unstable balance and not them.

I’ll update you next week when we meet again! Everybody seems to be having a lot of fun!

Gripmaster’s tension grips provide you the ability to work out each finger individually instead of just being able to do your whole hand at once, which happens to be the way most normally work. The idea is that the fingers that aren’t stressed as much, such as the ring finger and the pinky finger, don’t get a decent work out when you simply do whole hand grip squeezes. With the Gripmaster you have the ability to work on those fingers separately, which provides for one hell of a work out on those fingers. Gripmaster grips also come in a variety of strength settings: X-Light(3 PPF*), Light(5 PPF*), Medium(7 PPF*), Heavy(9 PPF*), X-Heavy(11 PPF*).

I’ve had my Medium(7 PPF*) Gripsmaster tension grips for a long time, but I’ve recently just started using them again and man they work good. It’s incredible how much stress and tension is put on the ring and pinky fingers. In no time, these grips will allow me to build up my hand strength which is an essential part of my new training regime.

You can usually find these grips at many sporting good stores local to you, that’s how I got a hold of my pair, but in case they don’t happen to have any you can always go here: Gripmaster Grips. Don’t be a pansy, grab a pair today!

For a list of exercises to use with your Gripmaster grips, go here: Exercises.

* Pounds Per Finger

The Zune, Microsoft’s prodigy to be pitted against the now legendary iPod, was first released on November 14, 2006. The miniature versions, available in 4 and 8 GB, as well as the 80 GB were announced on October 2, 2007. Both the 4 and 8 GB Zunes are flash-based and are smaller than the 80 GB in physical size. As a side note, since the release of the 80 GB Zune, the 30 GB Zune is no longer being produced. And now in September of 2008 the 120 GB has been released, as well as the 16 GB.

The Zune can play music, videos, and view pictures; and receive FM radio. The Zune has the capabilities to share files wirelessly with other Zunes and via USB with Xbox 360s, and can sync wireless with Windows PCs.

The Zune Software runs on Windows XP and Vista as well as the Xbox 360, which allows user to manage files on the player, rip audio CDs, and shop on the online Zune Marketplace.

The Zune comes in Brown, black, white, red, pink, hot pink, orange (only 100 were made), dark brown (Halo 3), black (Halo 3), black/red (Wisin and Yandel), pink w/ diamonds (nylon edition), black (adult swim edition – very rare).

The price range is about $129.99 for the 4 GB, $149.99 for the 8 GB, $249.99 for the 16 GB, $229.00 for the 80 GB, and $249.99 for the 120 GB.

3.0 Firmware and Software Update

The Zune software and firmware has been upgraded a version recently, they are running on version 3.0. This version comes with the ability to now buy the songs played from your FM stations, access to wireless hotspots, Zune channels that deliver personalized playlists from various sources, and also it now provides you with a clock and two free games “Texas Hold’em” and “Hexic”.

Review

I would say that I’m a fan of the Microsoft Zune, though it does have a few problems, which could be fixed over time.

Pros:

I like the way the Zune organizes your music information on the device itself. For a novice user, you’ll be able to find the music you want on your Zune quite quickly, though it might not be exactly where you like it. As a more knowledgeable user, you’ll be able to setup your device through the software to look exactly the way you want it too, with time that is.

The Zune actually plays MP3’s as opposed to the iPod which makes you convert your music files into the format they feel needed.

The video is crystal clear, it looks great, and I was very surprised at how well it played. It also plays quite well when hooked up to a monitor.

The device is very easy to use. Any child could pick one up for the first time and be able to play any song without much problem.

The FM tuner works quite well, I like how it picks up the station and song information and displays it for you.

Cons:

The Zune Software was bad. It still isn’t great, but it has definitely taken a step up with the 3.0 update.

The Zune default video software can only play .wmv’s, .m4v’s, and some .mov’s, opposed to Creative’s Zen which can play .avi’s.

As the iPod, music can’t simply be dragged to the Zune; you need to install the Zune Software.

Conclusion

As mentioned, the Zune has a few problems, but nothing that can’t be dealt with in a future software update. The hardware is great, and durable. The video is great, and the sound is wonderful. I’d give the Microsoft Zune a 4 out of 5.

I had been thinking about getting back into Martial Arts but couldn’t decide what I wanted to study or how. I wanted it to be something “foreign” to me. Something I had never really done at all, something brand new. One day while I was in class(college) my teacher(who happens to be an ex-marine) happened to mention all of his past Martial Art experience and that he happened to know Muay Thai because he got stationed different places and had the opportunity to learn it while away from home. He trained under a specific Muay Thai teacher for around 2 years or so. Personal training goes a lot further then most places “group training”.

I later talked to him about what I was planning on doing and he told me that he was training people for free as long as they could fit in with his schedule. He trains only a handful of people per week so that the training can be effective. Big groups of “students” simply cause everyone to not be able to get that “personal” experience. His training is not what you would call “full fledged Muay Thai”. Most of the traditions have been stripped out because the fact is that any Martial Arts has two faces to it, the application and the traditions. The traditions can be neat and fun to learn, as well as required, if you plan on ever fighting in a ring with that particular fighting method, such as is with Muay Thai. The application remains the same either way as long as it’s taught the right way. All too often traditions are taught and application is left behind. He is also teaching other methods from his other Martial Arts experience but generally points out what is from what, just for my own knowledge and understanding.

I decided I’d go for it and so yesterday, I did. We met at a giant ballpark where no one was, since we did this during lunch time, and for roughly an hour or so he worked with me to figure out what level I am currently at so he can adjust the level of intensity of training I need to start at. To be honest, my level of fitness is very low. Anybody who knows me in real life can tell you I’m quite thin, some even think I’m too thin, but the fact remains that I’m just “out of shape”. Just being thin doesn’t mean at all that you’re automatically “in shape”, and thus that’s the situation I’m in.

We worked with focus mitts on jabs, knee strikes, and some kicks. After a bit of practicing, we’d spar lightly to get me used to what I had just went over, before going back to practicing again and repeating the process but with new combo’s. Since we were only sparing lightly, I only ended up with some bruises and scraped up knuckles. The problem is, at the current shape I am in, it’d be stupid to take it too much “harder” so fast. Once I build up my endurance, I’ll be able to go a lot more “hardcore”.

If you want to find out more about Muay Thai, click the link. That will give you a general overview of what Muay Thai is sort of about. For more information, look up Tony Jaa who has made two popular movies Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior and The Protector. The image displayed is of Tony Jaa. If you want to see a more traditional fight though, look up Rob “The Dutchman” Kaman.

Anyways, I’ll be posting more as my training progresses. I’ve got a long way to get back to where I was, but I’m enjoying it so much, the time will fly by faster than I think.

Panda3D is a 3D engine: a library of subroutines for 3D rendering and game development.

The nice thing about Panda3D is that it’s pretty limitless in what you can actually do with it. The underlying core is very generic and is actually pretty much all written in C++ but the interface is developed so that you can access everything from Python.

Unlike Ogre, which is great for what it’s meant for, Panda3D has a lot more built in for writing games rather than just being a 3D engine. Panda3D’s versatility actually allows you the flexibility to use what other engines you may want to include, because you’re not “locked in” to whatever they decide you have to use. Not everything is done for in Panda3D, you have to do a lot of things yourself, like with any real gaming engine but Panda3D just lets you do it the way YOU want to.

Panda3D, from what I know, started with Disney and Carnegie Mellon University and has developed it’s way forward from there. Disney apparently still uses Panda3D often, for games such as Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean Online. Obviously, if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for you.

The graphics are pretty much only limited to what you develop. A lot of it relies on your coding standards as well as the model’s and meshes you create. They have some basic free models for you to develop with, and apparently some people actually create free models to use for games if you’re interested in that.

With Panda3D, you get up and running almost instantly so you can get started coding your game rather than coding the engine to run it. Anyone who has developed any portion of a game knows that using a game engine is a double edged sword sometimes. In one case, you don’t get the flexibility you simply need sometimes. On the other hand, who wants to spend the time to write an entire game engine before writing the actual game itself? Panda3D gives you a great foundation to extend it’s game engine, therefore cutting out a huge amount of developing time.

Panda3D is great for large or small games. Even if you’ve never developed any game code at all, I’d suggest it as a great resource to get started with. But for those of you who are experienced, check it out and see how well it works for what you are attempting to do. Taking time to evaluate a possible beneficial solution has never been a bad thing. Find out more here: Panda3D

I’ll leave you with this picture from a game that is currently being developed with Panda3D. Check the website for in game screen shots: Second Antarean War

1. Newsreader
2. PAR File Utility
3. Extraction Tools

Newsreader

A Newsreader is the application you will be using to view these Usenet servers with. A Newsreader is usually a GUI application which allows you to connect up to a Usenet server and then browse the posts, post something to the server, or download from the “alt.binaries” categories.

Pan: Pan is our first Newsreader we’re going to go over and consequently the best by most people’s standards. Pan has quite a lot of features, allowing you to subscribe to certain groups. The biggest difference between most Newsreaders and Pan is the amount of features. While a lot of the other readers work okay, they usually only do certain features really well, and don’t have any others or they aren’t implemented correctly. If you plan on actually reading content on Usenet and not just download things off of “alt.binaries” groups, then I’d definitely go with Pan. It provides a very intuitive interface that allows you to manage everything neatly so reading or posting is done very easily.