A Bullying Blog Carnival
At some point in our lives, we’ve all fallen under the predatory gaze of a bully.  Maybe you’ve suffered some verbal harassment or minor physical abuse.  Or, if yours was a severe case, you may have been physically and emotionally crippled.  Hopefully, you managed to learn something from the experience.  Will you share it with us?
How […]

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Last weekend, I attended the third annual World of Martial Arts demonstration in Seattle. The event featured local Karate, Hapkido, Iaido, Tai Chi, and other groups.

Karate demonstration
As in previous years, the show had some positive qualities, and a few negative ones. In the spirit of constructive criticism, I would like to offer some suggestions to […]

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Born without the gift of sight, Raymond Thiberge’s disability proved to be one of his greatest strengths. 
During his lessons with expert pianists, Raymond used his refined senses of touch and hearing to compensate for his blindness.  Listening to his teachers’ instructions and following their hands, he made a critical observation that his fellow students missed.
The […]

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In How To Choose a Bad Martial Arts Instructor, I provided a quick and easy guide to finding an inappropriate school. John W. McKenna’s recent call for thoughts on leadership reminded me to follow up on that guide, with more helpful advice.
John asked, does most leadership suck? My answer: none of your business. You don’t […]

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Wetware
(Credit: Patrick J. Lynch)
As a professional software developer, I often ponder the similarities and correspondences between programming and martial arts. A style of martial arts is ultimately just an algorithm—executed in wetware rather than with integrated computer circuits—and there are many interesting correlations to be found between these two outwardly distinct disciplines.
Within both fields, the […]

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Push hands is an accessible abstraction of fighting. Whereas mortal combat follows no pattern and honors no rules, the push hands exercise is relatively limited in scope. Push hands practice alone will not make a top fighter, nor is it intended to do so; it focuses on specific characteristics, such as sticking and […]

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In 1966, the Chinese government began a violent purge of traditional culture. Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong called for the abolishment of all things old, and enlisted a youth militia to perform the destruction. Local police were forbidden to interfere.
Mao’s regime criminalized the practice of traditional wushu. Threatened by harassment, imprisonment or torture at the […]

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Why are the vast majority of Karate instructors below average? George Akerlof’s research on information asymmetry explains this apparent mathematical impossibility.

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Lao Tzu is perhaps the world’s most popular author. In the 2600 years since its initial publishing, Lao Tzu’s masterpiece, Tao Te Ching, has been translated into more than 200 languages, and reprinted more often than nearly any book in human history.
Lao Tzu was a great teacher, and a master of brevity. Though […]

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A contractual relationship with your martial arts school could end miserably; former classmates and I know this from experience.  Despite this experience, I believe that the potential benefits of a contract to the student outweigh the risks. 
Before I explain the benefit, let me tell you the tale of an Aikido dojo gone sour.

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