Karl's Upcoming Seminar

It looks like Karl Koch's seminar in Purdue will be Feb 6th. That means driving down on Friday the 5th after work, training all day Saturday, eating out with the group Saturday night, and then leaving Sunday morning for Wisconsin. I hope to be able to lead the caravan; however, there is a chance that a late addition to my family unit could hold me back in Wisconsin that weekend. Only time will tell.

About a month out we'll get a head count, and then sempai can make arrangements.

Snow Day

Over a foot of snow -yikes. They closed pretty much every government building in Madison today, so it was a "snow day" for me. I can't really remember the last one of these I had - maybe 12th grade. What a nightmare though clearing the driveway.

Politics

In 2010 I will TRY to send out less "political" emails.

For those which I have offended, it was not my intent.

I feel strongly about my country, for that I will never say "sorry."

If you do not, well then don't complain when things 'happen.'

Ninja Assassin Movie

Thoughts?

Class Requirements

Should the dojo have class requirements?

In a past post I mentioned "physical fitness" - and the response surprised me a little.

Should I require anything of my students? To make it to class twice a week? To make it at least six times a month? Anything else? Nothing?

If it were a business and I wanted to make money, then I would require nothing. In fact, I wouldn't even ask. By even asking the question I might be eliminating future students, or even current students? Is that a good/bad thing? Hmmm. Thoughts?

Modern Ninja

Who are the modern Ninja?

Who were the historical Ninja? Perhaps this is a better place to start. The question then becomes which era in history, and what exact location. There we go again - time and space - need to be accounted for before the explanation goes forward.

Lets talk in generalities, the ninja were spies. The got in, and got out, and no one was supposed to know they had been there. The movies do a terrible job of portraying the true ninja. They were spies about 90% of the time, and less then 10% of the time did they act like assassins. They were like the "James Bond" characters of their day.

So who are the modern Ninja? Spies, the CIA, NSA, etc...? Green Berets, Navy Seals, other high speed special force groups? What about the average student in the Bujinkan? Are they the modern Ninja? What is our legacy?

Japan Trip

Back from Japan. Once again, Everything Changes, yet everything remains the same. Anyone attending class this past week has seen their set of "basics" radically altered, and yet - they look nearly the same to the outside eye. Enjoy.

Email by 6 PM Please

If you are not going to make class on a given night, please email by 6 PM if possible. That's about as close to class that I will check my email. If you email after 6 PM, then I probably will not see it until after class. That would still be better than not emailing at all. I ask for the emails as a courtesy, so I know who to expect. Now if you are a person who only comes one night a week, then I don't expect emails on those nights that you would not normally show up. Perhaps the opposite, if you are going to show up a night that you usually don't then an email would be in order. Thank you all for your help with this matter.

Black Belt

What does it mean to get your Black Belt? What does it mean to earn your first dan rank? In the "old" days it meant you were a serious student, so what would that look like? Did it look different 20 years ago then it does today, and if so, why? What's it mean in context of class? Any other thoughts on the topic? Just trying to get people's current point of view's on the topic.

CQC

Close Quarters Combat - CQC - good course? If you have been through it before, what did you learn? Would you go through it again? Why/why not? I am considering running one, and wanted to generate some discussion. Feel free to start anywhere, or with any particular part of the course.

Physical Fitness During Class

Thoughts on Physical Fitness training during class? I know many martial arts that spend time on physical conditioning, flexibility, etc... during their class time? I have always said that I feel physical conditioning should, as a rule, be something left up to the student to do on their own away from class. I've been playing with the idea of some 'non-traditional' fitness activities. Thoughts?

Movies

After seeing the new GI Joe Movie this past weekend it got me thinking - your votes for Best & Worst action movies.

MMA and the Reality of Combat

Does MMA (mixed martial arts) fighting in the ring represent real fighting? Perhaps to a point. Is it useful to the person that is interested in real fighting? Again, perhaps to a point. What can MMA do for me? Get you in great shape, good strength, endurance, flexibility, etc... and most importantly it can start introduce you to taking a punch and the will to win. What's the down side to MMA? You are training for a fight in a ring, and life doesn't happen in a ring. No weapons in the ring? Some rules in the ring. On the streets there are always weapons, and never rules. Thoughts? Agree or disagree? Want to expand this line of thinking further?

The Good, The Bad, & the Ugly

The Good - Brett Farve in a Green Bay uniform

The Bad - Brett Farve in a New York uniform

The Ugly - Brett Farve in a Minnesota uniform

So sad, so very sad . . .

You can do whatever you want

You can do whatever you want, as long as you can make it right. That quote is actually very profound. It is the whole "as long as you can make it right" part that makes it a tough one to follow. Thoughts?

Population Control

Good idea or not? If it is a good idea, how should we begin? Who would be with us, and who would be against us? Should we deal with those that are against us? How do we deal with those that would stand against us? Why - to all of the above questions...

July 4th Weekend

Enjoy the July 4th Weekend. All you internet hunters should "google" it once, and see what it stands for - if you don't know. Why is it a National Holiday. I know, I know - history 101, but you might be surprised to find out the number of people "on the street" that have no idea. Sad, sad state of affairs. So have a beer, and give a silent thank you to all those that have given us our freedoms, and never forget what it costs to be free.

Ishmael

I just finished reading the book: Ishmael. An adventure of mind and spirit. Good book. Basically the human race is killing itself. Look at the world - hunger, starvation, famine, war, and the list goes on and on. Without a major adjustment to how we live we are unlikely to live as a species for more then another few hundred years. The world simply will not support us. If you have the time I would recommend it. I don't agree with everything it suggests, but over all - a good message.

Hunting Next Week

If you happen to be a fugitive in the state of Wisconsin, I suggest that you leave at once. Next week could be kind of rough on you - I mean, seven teams with nothing to do but hunt bad guys all week long - how cool is that?! With luck we'll get an additional 70+ bad guys off the street in one week. That's two arrests per team, per day -- not unattainable, and not push-over arrests - all felonies, all people on the run. So I may be busy next week, and not post here until the following week - we'll see. Last year for this thing we started at like 5 am and were done by 2 pm. Be safe, and be ready to teach in case I'm passed out sleeping or something.

Class Control

No - not the government controlling the middle class - and while that could be fun to talk about, it's not the point of the post. I mean control of the martial arts class. Is it too lax? Has the instructor let the students take over? Are the inmates running the institution? Thoughts? More importantly - how to reestablish control. How to reign in the crazyness. Thoughts?

Money Talks

Money, Religion, & Politics - all discussions that could be fun. I like a spirited debate sometimes. Lets start with money.

As we all know the governement is so far in the hole we may never get out, and it would be a shame to let spending be the thing that destroys a country after 200+ years. Of course - like the Roman Empire - most countries dissolve from within.

How did we get so far in debt? Well lets think about this from a "presidential" point of view. Since the 60's we have been going in the hole, but it was not until the huge military build up under Regan & Bush I, that it went crazy. Now the left blames the right, and says the problem really started there. The right says, but it took the build up to defeat Russia. Points scored on both sides.

Next we have Clinton who enjoyed good economic times. On the left - it was his economic policies that did it, and on the right - it was Reganomics that lead to it. Who cares it's all in the past. All I'll say is that Clinton benefited from the Dot.Com company explosion - the booming 90's. Under Clinton we finally managed a balanced budget, with extra to spare. But instead of taking the extra and paying off the debt (don't think we were out of debt under Clinton - far from it) - but no, both sides guilty... lets spend the extra. How does a government keep operating in the red?

Next comes Bush II, or GWB - and does anyone think he would have ran if he could have known about 911? Really? The terrorist attacks on 911 changed everything, and have lead to another huge military build up. Afganistan & Iraq - two wars - two huge drains of money. The economy has gone way south, gas hit $4.00 a gallon, the housing market crashed (thanks Nancy & Congress), and bankruptcy became routine for America, along with the closing of buisnesses.

Now - Obama, who is winding down the Iraq situation, while ramping up the Afganistan one. Hey dude - the entire Russian Army had no lasting success there and pulled out - it was their Vietnam. Please don't give us another taste of Vietnam - the first one kind of sucked.

So in my view - that's our money problems - blame on both sides. Let's not even bring Congress and Nancy (I'm a dictator) Pelosi into it. Or...lets...and point out that it was congress that forced the banks to give unsound loans. Want to know why we 'bailed them out' with out any oversite, but now we own Government Motors, err I mean General Motors? The government is really at fault for the housing crunch, and everything that stems from it. Crazy. Just crazy.

Questions

Questions about the Teisatsu blog...

Why? As some of you know I am not the most tech guy on the face of the globe, so I thought I would work on it by creating a blog.

What to discuss? Money, Religion, & Politics... wait, culture says we shouldn't talk about those things, so lets talk.

Rights & Responsibilities... With great power comes great responsibility. I reserve the right to add/subtract/modify pretty much anything that gets out of hand. That goes without saying on a blog, so I'm just making the implicit, explicit. Also - I can't spell to save my life, so if not for a word processing program I would never have graduated college.

It's your move.

Teisatsu

Welcome to the Teisatsu Blog.
Miracles will never cease to amaze me.
There is always Amazing Grace.
When all else fades away, these three things will remain: Hope, Faith, & Love.
To those that much is given, much will be required.
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