tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35106007771649221912024-03-14T01:18:19.909-04:00The Swordmaster's GrimoireLinda Wyatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12844008084531395568noreply@blogger.comBlogger178125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-13182822983639630922018-10-07T11:40:00.001-04:002018-10-07T11:40:24.634-04:00Sine Qua Non<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JO7xHQn6tTA/W7olc3kw00I/AAAAAAAAAv4/39f3POjUXyoH3SG-Nb6velZ7p83EZsyjQCLcBGAs/s1600/Duel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="654" height="377" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JO7xHQn6tTA/W7olc3kw00I/AAAAAAAAAv4/39f3POjUXyoH3SG-Nb6velZ7p83EZsyjQCLcBGAs/s640/Duel.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span>Sine qua non</span></b></span></h2>
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<br /></div>
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All human activities
have a goal, or organizing principle, or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sina
qua non</i> related to that activity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
call it the foundational imperative of the activity.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The goal of
equitation is to ride a horse from point a to point b. The sine qua non of
equitation, the foundational imperative is: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stay on the horse!</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I submit
that any approach to equitation that results in your being thrown, trampled or
dragged by the stirrup is invalid. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The goal of
swimming is to cross the water in the water from point a to point b. The sine
qua non of swimming, the foundational imperative is: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Don’t drown!</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I submit that
any approach to swimming that results in you drowning is invalid. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The goal of
a swordfight, or duel, if you prefer, is not to get killed. To survive the
fight. The foundational imperative of “fencing” then is: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Don’t get stabbed!</b> </div>
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<br /></div>
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Indeed, the
word “fencing” comes from Old French meaning to fend off or to ward away a
blow. The primary and definitive skill of the fencer is defense. Not <i>offense.</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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Swimming in a
pool resulted from and was intended to address the real world need to <b><i>NOT</i></b>
drown. Riding around an arena resulted from and was intended to address the
real world need <b><i>NOT </i></b>to get thrown, or trampled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Fencing in the salle d’arms resulted from and was intended to address
the real world need <b><i>NOT</i></b> to get stabbed. </div>
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<br /></div>
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None of
these activities were created by the whimsy of idle minds, who fabricated, ex recto, rules, conventions, procedures or
recommended practices that were arbitrary or capricious. The rules for the thing were created by
people who had experienced the <b><i>reality </i></b>of the thing. The real world reality. </div>
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The
only reality that counts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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People who
had experienced and understood the real world requirements of swimming,
developed swimming, based on and consistent with that reality. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People who had experienced and understood the
real world requirements of horse-riding developed equitation based on and
consistent with that reality. And people who had experienced and understood the
real world requirements of surviving a sword-fight developed fencing, based on
and consistent with the reality of the duel. They were people who had fought
duels, whose friends an family members had fought duels. They lived at a time
when reports of duels appeared in the newspaper like baseball scores.</div>
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Indeed, the fencing rules that govern fencing contests specifically state that the goal of
fencing is to simulate as closely as possible a “courteous and frank
encounter.” What’s a “courteous and frank encounter?” That’s 19th Century-speak
for “duel.” </div>
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<br /></div>
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The purpose
of a fencing contest is to determine who is more skillful at surviving a duel. It’s
not a contest to see who’s stronger or who’s faster because being strong does
not, per se, optimize your chances of surviving a duel. Fencing is not a
contest to see who’s faster because speed does not, per se, optimize your
chances of surviving a duel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even
strength and speed combined won’t do the trick. The only thing that optimizes
your survival in a duel is your sword-handling skill, </div>
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Luck, too, I
suppose. But you should always remember the first rule of luck: it runs out.</div>
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The person
best able to survive a duel is the one who never receives a “touch” (a wound).
Touching the opponent is a secondary consideration because it isn’t required
for your own survival.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In summary, fencing
is specifically and explicitly intended to simulate a duel, and fencers are bound
to conduct themselves <b><i>as if</i></b> those blades were sharp. If you just got here from
Mars and read those rules in a vacuum, they don’t make any sense. The contest
rules are<i> not</i> an <i>instruction manual</i> for people who don’t know how to fence. The
rules exist to clarify and codify standard operating procedure for people who
already know how to fence. The rules provide standard definitions, a common
language, and describe established principles. They serve to ensure a <b><i>safe</i></b>
contest, a <i><b>fair</b></i> contest, and a <i><b>true </b></i>contest, that is a contest with the highest
degree of verisimilitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All fencers
and officials agree, by their participation, to follow those rules.</div>
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But <b><i>do</i></b> they?</div>
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<br /></div>
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WE do.</div>
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When you
boil it all down, the definitive difference between “classical” fencing and
“modern sport fencing,” which is the so-called “fencing” you see in the
Olympics, is this: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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In classical fencing, we follow the
rules the way they were written and for the purpose for which they were
intended. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t cheat. We don’t
creatively “interpret.” We’re not interested in gaming the rules, or bending
the rules, let alone breaking the rules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The rules are “sacred” not because they are rules, but because they are
logical, rational and realistic, not arbitrary or capricious. The rules specify <i>exactly</i> how you should fight a duel IF you want to maximize your chances of survival.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And that,
you might say, is the point.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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-aac</div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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</style>Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-49126796383046176122018-10-05T18:05:00.001-04:002018-10-05T18:11:19.213-04:00All That Jazz<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sqlR-k8zIgQ/W7fe-gzbkEI/AAAAAAAAAvw/KpbKriOMu8MIvR9N1hHFifKRgYczPTJfACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/large.2095478376_jazzguitaristcartoon.jpg.93245b9101a66c4da8d1aeb770cf22ad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sqlR-k8zIgQ/W7fe-gzbkEI/AAAAAAAAAvw/KpbKriOMu8MIvR9N1hHFifKRgYczPTJfACK4BGAYYCw/s400/large.2095478376_jazzguitaristcartoon.jpg.93245b9101a66c4da8d1aeb770cf22ad.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I play guitar a little.<br />
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For some years, I made a (meager) living as a wondering troubadour,
a singer-songwriter on the folky circuit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Guitar was my comp instrument, because you can’t find many <i>a cappella</i>
gigs, and you can’t hitchhike very well carrying a piano. I’ve played some classical
stuff on a classical guitar, I’ve played some blues on an electric guitar. I’ve
rocked and rolled. Dabbled in flamenco.<br />
<br /></div>
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I like all kinds of guitar music. Every style has something
to offer, some unique thing about it that you really only find in that
particular genre of music. They all have something to offer. But no matter what
kind of music you play, you still have to keep time and hit the right
notes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Playing it well is key. A
terrible classical guitarist isn’t inherently a better musician than an
excellent bluegrass picker, just be cause he’s doing classical music.<br />
<br /></div>
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In recent conversations, some folks have asserted that
“modern sport fencing” has something to offer, that, by implication, “classical
fencing” does not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d really like to
know exactly what they think that is.<br />
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Because “classical fencing” is simply <b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">correct </i></b>fencing, fencing in strict accordance with the rules, which
are based on the realities of the duel. “Modern sport fencing,” aka “olympic
fencing,” is -- to put it bluntly -- <b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">incorrect</i></b>
fencing, a kind of pseudo-fencing in which they violate the rules and “fence”
in a manner that is completely contrary to surviving a duel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
In classical fencing, you have to keep time
and hit the right notes.<br />
In Olympic “fencing” you don’t even have to tune your
guitar.<br />
You just have to play real loud.<br />
<br /></div>
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I’ve never found that playing the guitar incorrectly had
“something to offer.”<br />
Playing out of time, hitting the wrong notes, playing out
of tune -- that’s not a “style” of playing guitar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t see any benefit to making a practice
of it.<br />
<br /></div>
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So I wonder, what is it that the “sport fencing” advocates
think that fencing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">incorrectly </i>has to
offer that fencing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">correctly</i> does
NOT?<br />
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I guess that’s rhetorical.<br />
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-aac<br />
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</style>Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-55476666380675865882018-06-12T15:53:00.002-04:002018-06-12T15:59:13.641-04:00FENCING MASTER or MASTER FENCER?<br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I was a kid, I taught myself to play
the guitar. </div>
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I had a fool for a teacher and an idiot for a student. I taught
myself lots of things that seemed fine in the context of 3-chord rock-and roll,
but turned out to be real handicaps when I tried to play Bach. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <i> (Not my band; but I was in one just like it. Just add black leather jackets)</i></span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I later found a wonderful guitar teacher, and he
taught me a hundred little tricks and secrets that I would never have figured
out intuitively, all by myself. For example, are you aware that you don’t have
to blow into it?</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s very common in martial arts to have
some kind of a skill-ranking system. That makes perfect sense. In many eastern
martial arts, such as karate, ranks are often designated by different colored
belts<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(a system devised by Jigoro Kano,
the founder of judo, in the late 19th century).<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DoCKkDkHU9s/WyAjjpoEiSI/AAAAAAAAAvU/Fk73rkn-3PYq52mkWCPwbG7Lh_dik5wagCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/jigoro-kano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DoCKkDkHU9s/WyAjjpoEiSI/AAAAAAAAAvU/Fk73rkn-3PYq52mkWCPwbG7Lh_dik5wagCK4BGAYYCw/s320/jigoro-kano.jpg" width="202" /></a> </div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Quite often, there are many more students
in a school than there are teachers, and the more “advanced” students are put
in charge of the less advanced students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Typically, The Sensei works with the
highest ranking students, while a lower-ranked student is put in charge of the
rank beginners. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When a student works his way up through
all the ranks, he/she is anointed a “teacher.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now, these “teachers” may be very good at DOING the thing they do, because
they had a great deal of instruction and practice in how to do the thing they
do. But few -- if any -- have any training in TEACHING.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For good or for ill -- and usually for ill --
they simply mimic their Sensei (sometimes right down to his/her accent!)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DOING the thing and TEACHING the thing are
two SEPARATE -- though closely related -- skill sets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having one of them does NOT mean you have the
other. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s a little pop quiz for you. It helps
if you’re a boxing fan, but you’ll recognize some of these names even if you’re
not. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>QUESTION: What do Willie Pastrano, Luis
Manual Rodriguez, Carmen Basilio, Jimmy Ellis, George Scott, Jose Napoles,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ralph Dupas, Pinklon Thomas,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trevor Berbick, Sugar Ramos, Wilfredo Gomez,
Michael Nunn, Sugar Ray Leonard, George Foreman and Muhammad Ali <i>all </i>have in
common?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1mz3c_cPp6I/WyAbmFFa_SI/AAAAAAAAAr4/gy6I8bKCKm0-HM7F14v_NK7IKLi-or26wCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/350px-Willie-pastrano_a378864.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1mz3c_cPp6I/WyAbmFFa_SI/AAAAAAAAAr4/gy6I8bKCKm0-HM7F14v_NK7IKLi-or26wCK4BGAYYCw/s320/350px-Willie-pastrano_a378864.jpg" width="284" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MqWK--X5pqQ/WyAbohH_4cI/AAAAAAAAAsA/lKLTqsx-7qEgmaX96if1Ki2PYXUNNz66QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/300px-Luis_RodriguezBE058802.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MqWK--X5pqQ/WyAbohH_4cI/AAAAAAAAAsA/lKLTqsx-7qEgmaX96if1Ki2PYXUNNz66QCK4BGAYYCw/s320/300px-Luis_RodriguezBE058802.jpg" width="253" /></a> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-34CuCFh3nWY/WyAbtF8wHII/AAAAAAAAAsI/Qjg1Xtt7UFMjKqvMzLqLK4xxBhDH5ENggCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Basilio.Carmen.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-34CuCFh3nWY/WyAbtF8wHII/AAAAAAAAAsI/Qjg1Xtt7UFMjKqvMzLqLK4xxBhDH5ENggCK4BGAYYCw/s320/Basilio.Carmen.jpg" width="156" /></a> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R_eEi-fK_qE/WyAb2vIw7dI/AAAAAAAAAsc/s4-S1iVGqMI5omt_OP3iBIUualDr5yTDwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/250px-JoseNapoles06.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lXlCRIqwFtw/WyAbwL8165I/AAAAAAAAAsQ/BVNji-b0aMoKiN9FwjqQ_CR_FP26HZsOwCK4BGAYYCw/s400/250px-Jimmy_Ellis_1231417.jpg" /><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R_eEi-fK_qE/WyAb2vIw7dI/AAAAAAAAAsc/s4-S1iVGqMI5omt_OP3iBIUualDr5yTDwCK4BGAYYCw/s320/250px-JoseNapoles06.jpg" width="201" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8IiIAGyYn0E/WyAb-q_O1WI/AAAAAAAAAss/uByNi9MVHf8c9R67ficq57Mf4Tx84CwjACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/300px-DupasRalph.jpeg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8IiIAGyYn0E/WyAb-q_O1WI/AAAAAAAAAss/uByNi9MVHf8c9R67ficq57Mf4Tx84CwjACK4BGAYYCw/s320/300px-DupasRalph.jpeg" width="255" /></a> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SXORlMncMhU/WyAcg4pIQII/AAAAAAAAAtI/Hna3ZXPTn6Agp6DSAR-aqWJmNh9mXNbhwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/TrevorBerbick19810131.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y_TFcnkAi4o/WyAcHhOSCLI/AAAAAAAAAs4/DZTzieyBgGQsqtl7IVcdHAHOjoosNOA4ACK4BGAYYCw/s320/Pinklon_Thomas.jpg" width="199" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9BOa9FRM9kw/WyAcnAM13GI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/-AHiFMgy7K8dCLQe9t8CgvxIda9iuNgswCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/325px-Ultiminio-Sugar-Ramos.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SXORlMncMhU/WyAcg4pIQII/AAAAAAAAAtI/Hna3ZXPTn6Agp6DSAR-aqWJmNh9mXNbhwCK4BGAYYCw/s320/TrevorBerbick19810131.jpg" width="197" /><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9BOa9FRM9kw/WyAcnAM13GI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/-AHiFMgy7K8dCLQe9t8CgvxIda9iuNgswCK4BGAYYCw/s320/325px-Ultiminio-Sugar-Ramos.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wGYfLo5BUWI/WyAcwY1DfwI/AAAAAAAAAtY/fxV9ZghdkLo91qwjcruK3nkLkom7WpHOwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/325px-Wilfredo-Gomez.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wGYfLo5BUWI/WyAcwY1DfwI/AAAAAAAAAtY/fxV9ZghdkLo91qwjcruK3nkLkom7WpHOwCK4BGAYYCw/s320/325px-Wilfredo-Gomez.jpg" width="284" /></a> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vFtPZCl-RT8/WyAc4RZAv3I/AAAAAAAAAtk/hal8LSW0keYiqOcpgkenxjXXH2XzpW5bgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/300px-Nunn161748740.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vFtPZCl-RT8/WyAc4RZAv3I/AAAAAAAAAtk/hal8LSW0keYiqOcpgkenxjXXH2XzpW5bgCK4BGAYYCw/s320/300px-Nunn161748740.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r3oCOnfiZKo/WyAdBsmcTSI/AAAAAAAAAtw/BnpafWHUD1oVp-ImyYgDrbFQXCphOtq_QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/300px-SRL105222258.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r3oCOnfiZKo/WyAdBsmcTSI/AAAAAAAAAtw/BnpafWHUD1oVp-ImyYgDrbFQXCphOtq_QCK4BGAYYCw/s320/300px-SRL105222258.jpg" width="256" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fRmH8joS7mE/WyAdhFdcaRI/AAAAAAAAAuU/rDuY0At0Go8ZkGj2AgSdH8mfFuDNIQ0NACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/350px-Foreman150584795.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fRmH8joS7mE/WyAdhFdcaRI/AAAAAAAAAuU/rDuY0At0Go8ZkGj2AgSdH8mfFuDNIQ0NACK4BGAYYCw/s320/350px-Foreman150584795.jpg" width="256" /></a> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ug4U4VrwvHc/WyAdk25zoTI/AAAAAAAAAuc/D6mfqZDoBAQul9ms-e0enikXHgNNtnh-gCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/300px-Ali_480938006.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ug4U4VrwvHc/WyAdk25zoTI/AAAAAAAAAuc/D6mfqZDoBAQul9ms-e0enikXHgNNtnh-gCK4BGAYYCw/s640/300px-Ali_480938006.jpg" width="512" /></a> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
If you guessed that they’re all boxing
champions, good for you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s the<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> other</i> important thing they all have in common?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
THIS guy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Angelo Dundee. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YGvq9m7Adv0/WyAdypfL1WI/AAAAAAAAAus/X7q-V5HYjTMny-Frme6DiXhtNBUCLyv4wCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Angelo_Dundee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YGvq9m7Adv0/WyAdypfL1WI/AAAAAAAAAus/X7q-V5HYjTMny-Frme6DiXhtNBUCLyv4wCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Angelo_Dundee.jpg" width="532" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He's the guy who trained them.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Know how many professional boxing titles
Angelo Dundee held, himself?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Know how many times he was a top contender
for a title?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Never.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Know how many professional fights he had?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Zero.<br />
Know how many amateur titles he won?<br />
Nada. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Angelo Dundee did not become a great
boxing trainer by being a great boxer. He became a great trainer by watching
great trainers at Stillman’s Gym, and devoting himself to the art and science of
training boxers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dundee was not a "master boxer," or even a "boxer."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
You could say that Dundee was a “Boxing
Master.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KJi7rbMG6dk/WyAkX6QUvJI/AAAAAAAAAvg/uRNhDew-LngchsrfacZEpP8P9PdNzVW2ACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/maitregillet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KJi7rbMG6dk/WyAkX6QUvJI/AAAAAAAAAvg/uRNhDew-LngchsrfacZEpP8P9PdNzVW2ACK4BGAYYCw/s400/maitregillet.jpg" width="286" /></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I was studying under Maitre d’Armes
Jean-Jacques Gillet at his American Fencing Academy, we weren’t there to become
great fencers, we were there to become great teachers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our definition of a fencing master was
someone who could teach any person (young, old, male, female, athlete,
non-athlete) how to use any sword (foil, epee, sabre, longsword, rapier and
dagger, smallsword) for any purpose (recreation, sport, theatre, or earnest
combat).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We used to say that a true fencing master
was someone whom you could lock in an empty room with some strange kind of
weapon he/she had never seen before, and by the end of the day, they could
train you to wield it effectively.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been self-taught and I’ve been trained
by a pro. I’ve been a student many, many times, and a teacher for quite a
while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can offer you this
recommendation from my direct experience: If you want to learn something, don’t
look for someone who knows how to DO it; look for someone who knows how to
TEACH it, and do whatever they tell you to do. Get the best teacher you can
right at the beginning so you don’t have to try to “un-learn” bad habits later.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wish someone had given me that advice
early in my ill-spent youth.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would have saved my pucker.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
-aac</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
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</style>Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-89282972503952311202018-05-23T16:52:00.003-04:002018-05-23T16:52:59.726-04:00A Rosoidae by Any Other Name...
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A Rosoideae by Any Other Name, or </span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate…”</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uFmYs9uYfZQ/WwW-tNQUrlI/AAAAAAAAAo8/tJEs61pSWesqwyHwnzPC57tFIChXDfwHQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/humpty-dumpty.gif" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uFmYs9uYfZQ/WwW-tNQUrlI/AAAAAAAAAo8/tJEs61pSWesqwyHwnzPC57tFIChXDfwHQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/humpty-dumpty.gif" width="522" /></a> </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>- Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass (1872)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Item: The Chinese teacher and philosopher, K’ung Fu-Tse
(Confucious) noted “the beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right
names.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Item: I once went to my doctor and old him I had pain in my
kneecap. He examined it and told me I had “chondromalacia patellae.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What does that mean?” I asked. “That means,”
he replied confidently, “that you have pain in your kneecap.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Item: I had a friend who was incredibly proud of his infant
son saying the word “ball.” Sure enough, when I visited, the tyke was playing
with a big red one, happily giggling to us “ball… ball…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What a prodigy! Of course, he also used the
word “ball” to describe a shoe, a hat, a cookie, and the cat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps you can imagine how pleased the cat
was to be included.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Item: "Tell us...in your own words." Do you have
your own words? Personally, I'm using the ones everybody else has been using.
Next time they tell you to say something in your own words, say, "Nigflot
blorny quando floon." <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-George
Carlin</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
*****</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I propose that the fundamental purpose of language is to
communicate. By communicate, I mean that what the message receiver hears is
what the message sender meant. It doesn’t always go down that way. Maybe you’ve
noticed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Part of this failure to communicate is because about 90%
(your mileage may vary) of communication has nothing to do with the text, that
is, communication isn’t limited to the actual words you say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The largest part of the meaning in the
message is non-verbal: posture, gesture, facial expression. Another chunk is
para-verbal: volume, pitch, tone, pace, inflection. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actors
do an exercise in which they play a scene, say, a couple breaking up, but
instead of dialogue, they just say the alphabet. They focus on the non-verbal
and para-verbal elements, stemming from what actors like to call the
“sub-text.” As in, “What’s my motivation in this scene?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s why you can understand what’s going
on in an opera sung in Italian, even when you have no idea of what words
they’re singing. It’s also why email is such a lousy method of communication.
But to be fair, ANY print medium deprives the message senders and receivers of
the para-verbal and non-verbal dimensions of communication, emoticons,
notwithstanding.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another part of the communication problem is that not
everyone uses language to clarify, elucidate, and illuminate. Some people use
language to confuse, obfuscate, complicate and confound. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, Virginia, some
people are liars. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Language can serve to identify who’s in with the
in-crowd, who’s hip and who’s a drip. That’s why teenage slang is always
changing; once adults get hip to it, it’s not cool anymore, i.e, it’s no longer
a reliable identifier of US as distinguished from THEM.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Criminal slang changes when the cops get hip
to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the enemy knows the
password, you change it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some people use language as a power trip, to denigrate, ridicule
or disenfranchise others who don’t know the right secret words -- thereby aggrandizing themselves. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, in a recent online (there’s two
strikes against communication, right there) discussion of the longsword, I
mentioned that I had had the opportunity to learn something of this weapon from
a mentor many years ago, about a decade prior to the other party’s involvement
in it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other party –who for some
reason believes that the longsword had been dead and forgotten until he and his
little pals discovered it--- then, rather rudely demanded to know what “sources”
(arcane and sacred texts) I had used. He further demanded to know if I knew this or that medieval
German longsword term.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This gentleman’s
position was 1) that I could not possibly learn long sword from an actual
teacher, without meticulously scrutinizing some ancient book and 2) that I
could not possibly know anything about the longsword if I did not use the same
arcane pet-names for it that he did himself. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>The
gentleman’s underlying error here is learning domain confusion. He’s likely
very good at the cognitive domain, but it leads him to believe that the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, can be found exclusively in and
through his sacred text. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He doesn’t appear to realize that a book no more contains truth than a
clock contains time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well. I don’t speak German, that’s a fact. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And neither does
a longsword. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It has no idea whether you are speaking German, French or Klingon, and it doesn’t care. Whichever language you choose to describe it is
irrelevant to how the weapon is used. In fighting, form follows function. When,
in fighting, form follows fashion, you’re foolishly and formidably fucked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A third part of the problem is that context often defines
the meaning of a word, for example when used in a court of law. Many words that
are commonly used with a broad latitude of meaning <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>have more specific, narrow and particular
meanings as terms of art, the jargon of a particular field.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therein lies the hub of the rub.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For example, the word “attack” is used by most people to
indicate any forceful aggressive action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As in: “He attacked her in the alley.” “The bombers
attacked the city.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“They attacked his
character.” “He attacked that steak with gusto.” “She attacked the assignment
with enthusiasm.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It can also mean a sudden incident of something such as: a heart attack, an attack
of hunger, an attack of loneliness or anxiety – or an attack of silliness.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As a term of art in music, “attack” has a particular meaning
and refers to the manner in which a tone is begun.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In hoplology, “attack” refers to the initial
offensive action in a phrase comprising more than one offensive action.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Good science requires that you define your terms as narrowly
as possible, and use them in accordance with those definitions. Avoid using two
different terms to describe the same thing, and avoid using the same term to
describe two unlike things.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I believe the lexicon of a particular discipline should
facilitate understanding and communication. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It should be as precisely definitive as
possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The use of foreign language terms,
for any other reason, is merely an affectation and an obstacle.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-857vc-C9TK0/WwXI89e39pI/AAAAAAAAAqE/6PflIFwGqFwJ-4OZ7D2HD8x5KnJugKmRQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/27118_600.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-857vc-C9TK0/WwXI89e39pI/AAAAAAAAAqE/6PflIFwGqFwJ-4OZ7D2HD8x5KnJugKmRQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/27118_600.jpg" width="640" /></a> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many languages have a word that means, “cut.” If your
language is German, then it makes perfect sense for you to use the German
term. If your language is French, what’s the point of adopting the German
term? Is it somehow more precisely descriptive of a “cut” than the equivalent
French word?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Probably not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>possible.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Take for example the English fencing term “deceive,” as in
“to deceive the blade.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To deceive the
blade means that your opponent intends to make some blade contact, to touch your
blade with his own. When you avoid that blade contact, that is to “deceive” his
blade.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fair enough.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But suppose there are, tactically, two very different
situations.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the first, the opponent’s attempt at blade contact has an
offensive character, that is, it’s an attempt at preparation (engagement, beat,
press, etc) to facilitate a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>subsequent
attack.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the second situation, you are making an attack, and the
opponent’s attempt at blade contact is defensive in character, That is, your
opponent is attempting to parry your attack.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In English, the word “deceive” is used to describe both
situations.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But in French, there are two words “tromper” and
derober.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Derober can mean to slip away
or shy away from or to hide from.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tromper can mean to cheat, swindle, tease, trick, fool,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>falsify or hoax.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y_rsy28Hsyw/WwXBX7wjTNI/AAAAAAAAApI/aKpQvW0N9Q8UimnxRGiY82M1Ji2JnCiggCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/GTR2H3AZSBCIDH3BLA6LLYD2UA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y_rsy28Hsyw/WwXBX7wjTNI/AAAAAAAAApI/aKpQvW0N9Q8UimnxRGiY82M1Ji2JnCiggCK4BGAYYCw/s320/GTR2H3AZSBCIDH3BLA6LLYD2UA.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i> (President Tromper?) </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If the opponent’s attempt at blade contact has an offensive
character, then when you avoid or “deceive” his blade contact, you are slipping
away, shying away, or hiding from it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If the opponent’s attempt at blade contact is defensive, in
response to your particular attack (or feint of attack) then when you avoid or
“deceive” his blade contact and continue your attack in some other line, to
some other target, you have tricked, fooled, teased, cheated or swindled him –
having appeared to be doing one thing, but actually doing quite another thing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I submit that using the French term "derober" to describe your
“deception” in the first situation, and "tromper" to describe your “deception” in
the second situation, is more accurate and precise than using “deceive” for
both situations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, in the
interest of clarity, I would favor using the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>French terms "derober" and "tromper" over the single English term “deceive.”</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lmI64XUFimA/WwXCJ4TglxI/AAAAAAAAApU/6oCiq6A38Qkowk0biCbSpSMJWkjrbfYngCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/o-WOMAN-UNDRESSING-facebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lmI64XUFimA/WwXCJ4TglxI/AAAAAAAAApU/6oCiq6A38Qkowk0biCbSpSMJWkjrbfYngCK4BGAYYCw/s320/o-WOMAN-UNDRESSING-facebook.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i> (Don't confuse "derober" and "disrobe," either.)</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s consider another example.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fencing, there are various trajectories (called “lines”) that
a blow, whether cut or thrust, can take to reach the target. The trajectory can
be above or below the opponent’s swordhand. In English we refer to that above
the hand as being in the “high” line. That below the swordhand we call the
“low” line.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y1l34s8wG10/WwXMZBk8QiI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/YTMgWmLVazcu573_CJn735tWCVCmAuGPgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/fencing_2_lg.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y1l34s8wG10/WwXMZBk8QiI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/YTMgWmLVazcu573_CJn735tWCVCmAuGPgCK4BGAYYCw/s320/fencing_2_lg.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>(WRONG. The lines are NOT areas of the target; they are the spaces through which the blade travels to REACH the target, and are infinitely mobile, defined by the position of the opponent's weapon.)</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In French, the two words are dessus (on top of) for the high
line, and dessous (under, beneath or below) for the low line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite their similar spellings, and, to the
untrained ear, similar pronunciation, these words mean opposite things.
Further, these words have no special meaning that the English words do not
have. That is, they do not define the high and low lines any more precisely or
accurately than the English words do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
would submit that, for an English-speaker, the lack of any greater clarity with
the French terms, combined with the high likelihood of confusion and error in
using the French terms, suggests that the best choice would be to use the
English terms “high and “low, and not the French terms “dessus and dessous.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HnRsGiJ6AXM/WwXUkQGH-6I/AAAAAAAAAq0/QHIxXxIgSOM5qmwL01Oblt6iIj9MAY75QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/951px-Lignes_Escrime.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HnRsGiJ6AXM/WwXUkQGH-6I/AAAAAAAAAq0/QHIxXxIgSOM5qmwL01Oblt6iIj9MAY75QCK4BGAYYCw/s320/951px-Lignes_Escrime.jpg" width="296" /></a> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The reason that selecting appropriate terms is important is
that the way you<i> talk</i> about a thing <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>strongly influences the way you <i>think</i> about
that thing. And how you<i> think</i> about the thing strongly influences how you <i>act</i> in regard to that thing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It's important to understand this because, as already noted,
terms are not always used to improve understanding and facilitate accurate
communication.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For example, let’s consider the word “terrorism.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back when I was first learning about such things,
“terrorism” had a very narrow, specific and precise meaning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It described a very particular type of
coercion. In the law, “coercion” means the use of force or the threat of force
to compel a person to do something that they have a legal right NOT to do, or
to prevent someone from doing something that they have a legal right TO do.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lRqbQFZ7Hck/WwXSAFTKKiI/AAAAAAAAAqc/d-O7GLOjpDoUzv4l9G5JTGQ0uF3MEH0GQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/cops-terrorism-460x257.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lRqbQFZ7Hck/WwXSAFTKKiI/AAAAAAAAAqc/d-O7GLOjpDoUzv4l9G5JTGQ0uF3MEH0GQCK4BGAYYCw/s400/cops-terrorism-460x257.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Terrorism is the use of force or the threat of force to
coerce a given civilian population to do or not do something in order for the
coercing party to achieve some political end. The political component is a sine
qua non. Using coercion so you can rob a bank is not “terrorism.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further, not only must the end be political,
but<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with “terrorism” the coercion must
target the innocent, non-combatants – especially children -- and be characterized
by extreme depravity, brutality or cruelty (the intentional infliction of
unnecessary pain for it’s own sake) that one could say “shocks the conscience.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Given this history of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>word “terrorism,” it is no wonder that in the
popular consciousness a “terrorist” is considered to be a vicious and sadistic
person, lacking compassion, common decency, fairness, courage – indeed lacking
ANY respectable human qualities at all. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A “terrorist” is nothing but a bully, and,
like all bullies, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fundamentally a
coward. Such a person is typically regarded with an immediate negative
emotional response,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>disdain,
contempt,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>outrage, and/or hatred.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Knowing this, savvy political propagandists, employ the term
to deceive rather than to inform. They have no interest in maintaining the
once-narrow definition of terrorism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On
the contrary, their interest is in expanding the term to include anyone and
everyone who opposes them or might oppose them. Indeed, they have spent the
last couple of decades broadening the definition of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>terrorism to include --- well, practically
everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People who have the gall to
resist a foreign army invading their country and killing their friends and
families, are all most certainly “terrorists.” People trying to protect the
environment from wholesale pollution and destruction by parasitic
mega-corporations are now “eco-terrorists.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>People who want to save animals from living lives of unimaginable horror
on factory farms are now “agri-terrorists.” Peaceful protestors, people who
esteem the bill of rights, Muslims, Christians, Gays and Feminists have all
been described as some form of “ domestic terrorist.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once there were jaywalkers; now they're
pedestrian terrorists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h7AIh8pEF-E/WwXTksAaAJI/AAAAAAAAAqo/IbrO-_ORTLItL3lWNW-L24SaRrZ5OnpAACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/domestic-terrorists.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h7AIh8pEF-E/WwXTksAaAJI/AAAAAAAAAqo/IbrO-_ORTLItL3lWNW-L24SaRrZ5OnpAACK4BGAYYCw/s400/domestic-terrorists.jpg" width="400" /></a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bEvpQrx92lA/WwXGPxZ-boI/AAAAAAAAApo/MasXS4vp4b4_XplKkvl5marEdYi0e4nqQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/potential_terrorist_297435.jpg" imageanchor="1"></a> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is the hope of the political propagandist that by dubbing someone a “terrorist”
other people will automatically respond emotionally to the long-established
connotation, immediately condemning the “terrorist” based on those
characteristics that they associate with someone who is, in fact, a true
terrorist, according to the narrow, accurate and precise definition of that
word.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ld8EYdbBE8U/WwXGgaOOieI/AAAAAAAAAp4/P8aazlRrANcyLaghXvQyMTakjdzPk8AmQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/potential_terrorist_297435.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="450" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ld8EYdbBE8U/WwXGgaOOieI/AAAAAAAAAp4/P8aazlRrANcyLaghXvQyMTakjdzPk8AmQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/potential_terrorist_297435.jpg" width="640" /></a> </span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To the propagandist,
eliciting that emotional response is important because they know that their
audience cannot respond emotionally and rationally at the same time. And
“rationally” would give the lie to their use of the word. But to the extent
that they can keep you emotionally aroused with some combination of fear, anger
and hatred, they can be sure that you will remain incapable of the critical
thinking that would almost certainly conclude that the propagandists,
themselves, are liars, thieves and murderers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Truth-seeking is contingent upon rational analysis and
critical thinking. It can be greatly facilitated --- or substantially
obstructed --- by the use of language.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s a good lesson. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Courtesy of the Sword.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-aac</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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</style>Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-75388555663839805912018-03-19T17:12:00.000-04:002018-03-19T17:12:13.529-04:00WWPD
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uWhsJnWCpaA/WrAl-vTgMiI/AAAAAAAAAos/8YtIas0o40MPw3t4oNAc1gGGa-ta71UFQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/rat-and-mole2.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uWhsJnWCpaA/WrAl-vTgMiI/AAAAAAAAAos/8YtIas0o40MPw3t4oNAc1gGGa-ta71UFQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/rat-and-mole2.png" width="545" /></a>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somebody just put a .38 slug into the back
of Mr. Toad’s brain, and I’m investigating the murder.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have half a dozen suspects, all of whom
had plenty of motive and the opportunity to deal Mr. Toad permanently out of
the game. But only ONE of them had the means -- in this case, the .38 calibre
firearm. But the weapon is not at the scene, and subsequent searches, properly
conducted with a warrant based on probable cause, supported by oath or
affirmation and describing the particular places to be searched and items to be
seized, turn up zilch.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then along comes a source who says he has
in his possession the murder weapon, and bestows upon me a handgun in a plastic
bag.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Ratty killed Mr. Toad,” he tells me.
“Here’s the murder weapon.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wonderful.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Case closed, right?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But suppose this informant is a junkie, a
career criminal with a long history of perjury. Should I tell him to stick that
gun into the orifice of his choice and get out of my office?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if he’s a pimp or a child pornographer,
or worse yet, a politician?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Suppose the
informant is a “known” communist, or fascist, or a member of the local PTA.
Would his belonging to such a despised group be a good reason for me to give
him and his alleged evidence the boot?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suppose the informant wants a hundred bucks
for the evidence. Or what if the informant is one of the suspects who clearly
has a vested interest in casting suspicion on someone other than himself? Is
that conflict of interest reason enough for me to shit-can the baggie?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t be a sap.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No matter who brings me the evidence, no
matter why they bring me the evidence, I’m going to take it, and I’m going to
run a ballistics test and dust it for fingerprints, maybe look for DNA.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Either the ballistics will match the
murder weapon or the ballistics won’t match the murder weapon.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Either we get fingerprints or we don’t,
and those prints will either match one of the suspects or not.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the gun in the bag is the murder
weapon, and it has Ratty’s prints all over it, I don’t care if Adolf Htler
brought me that evidence; I’m going to have a little chat with the old
rodent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the gun in the bag isn’t the
murder weapon and/or doesn’t have Ratty’s prints on it, I don’t care if Mother
Teresa brought me the evidence; it doesn’t support an arrest of Ratty for the
crime. In short, I’m going to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">assess the
evidence on its own merits and nothing else. </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you summarily reject evidence because
you don’t like the person who brought it to you, or if you automatically accept
evidence because you like the person who brought it to you, you’re not a
detective. You're a mark.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
your theory of the crime is “Ratty Murdered Mr. Toad” then all the evidence
must support that theory. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the gun in the baggie has Ratty’s
prints all over it -- but it’s a .45 and not a .38, the evidence doesn’t
support busting the old Rat. It isn’t the murder weapon. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“If he owns a .45 he probably ALSO owns a
.38,” says my informant. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yeah? Prove it. Bring me the .38.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the pistol in plastic is a .38 and the
ballistics all match up <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>so we’re sure
it’s the murder weapon, but the prints on the gun <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-- all nice and clear -- don’t match Ratty’s,
then the evidence <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>doesn’t support an
arrest.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You have to account for all the evidence.</b> You can’t just cherry-pick
the evidence that supports your theory while ignoring evidence that refutes
your theory. Cherry-picking is what puts innocent people on death row.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, what about that ballistics report?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fingerprints?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How “expert” is the expert running the
tests? Did he/she get his training in a one-hour on-line course from Joe’s
Investigative Academy and Taxidermy School?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Or does he have hundreds of hours of advanced training and a couple
decades of experience? Regardless of his bona fides, what’s his batting average?
Have 50% of his analyses later been proven to have been incorrect? What if he’s
positively matched fingerprints to ALL suspects who were Black but NEVER to a
suspect who was White?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you’re relying on an expert to
determine the truth of a particular fact, NOW it’s perfectly acceptable -- in
fact NECESSARY -- to be sure that your expert is really an expert and
conducting his part of the investigation objectively, impartially and in
accordance with the best scientific methods and procedures, and not tainted by
other influence.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once you examine all the evidence, you can
then piece it all together to formulate a theory of the crime. Your theory MUST
be based on the evidence and nothing else, and you must include all the
evidence without leaving anything out just because it doesn’t fit your
theory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it isn’t Rat’s prints aren’t
on the murder weapon, and a dozen eyewitness say that Rat was in custody for
drunk driving a hundred miles away at the time of the murder, you don’t get to
say, “I STILL think it was him. He’s a RAT.”<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You let the evidence lead you
to formulate a theory of the crime -- not the other way around.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The world is full of people who want you
believe all kinds of things. Some are definitely true. Some are probably true. Some
might be true. Some are pure bullshit.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
If you’re
not going to be an easy mark for every grifter, hustler and political hack who
has a nice smile and a good suit, “common sense” ain’t gonna cut it.” You’d
better learn how to act rationally and not emotionally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> "</span>Rationally" means you believe what is
supported by good evidence and ONLY what is supported by good evidence.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Emotonally" -- or "Irrationally" -- means you believe what is not
supported by evidence, or even what is contradicted
by good evidence.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rubs lies in the fact that human
beings (except for psychopaths) are hard-wired with emotions, installed at the
factory. Emotions are universal, instinctive, automatic and effortless.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Critical thinking is not. It’s an acquired
skill, like playing the cello. It is rare, counter-intuitive, and requires
conscious effort and regular practice.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it’s worth your time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Consider it intellectual self-defense.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
--aac </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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</style>Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-71703252955580076422018-03-15T17:07:00.000-04:002018-03-15T17:10:26.066-04:00A Government of Laws, Not of Men<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t uphold the law, or enforce the
law, or even abide by the law if you don’t know the law. While I am the first
to declare that foolish rules, like unjust laws, demand to be broken, there are
some rules that exist for a very good reason and make very good sense. For
example, the rules against assault, murder, robbery, rape and kidnapping seem
like very reasonable rules to me. The rule against parking on the left-hand
side of the street on Tuesdays, not so much.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Likewise the rules of fencing. They exist
for good reason, whether or not you have the nimbleness of wit to understand
the reason.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither fencers nor officials are permitted
by the rules to violate the rules. Violations stem from one or both of two
things: 1) ignorance of the rule or 2) An intent to cheat. There is no third
option.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Personally, I never ascribe to mere
ignorance that which can be adequately explained by malevolence. In my
experience ignorance is the fall-back defense of those who get caught in acts
of malevolence.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus let it be with Caesar.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The following excerpts from the fencing
rules, are essential for every fencer and, of course, every fencing official to
know and understand, both in what they say and in what they do NOT say, also
WHY they say what they say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The Devil
will win the Heisman Trophy before I ever advocate mindless obedience to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">any</i> rule!) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, one cannot possibly fence properly and
well without knowing, understanding and complying with the rules. All added
emphases are my own.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">(*Excerpts from the Fencing Rules 2011 translated from French) </span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rps5PWbBIBo/Wqrfkm2peyI/AAAAAAAAAoY/j9hfsZ0Y8fsj7BfjP-arOrtxQMgqwSsbwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="279" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rps5PWbBIBo/Wqrfkm2peyI/AAAAAAAAAoY/j9hfsZ0Y8fsj7BfjP-arOrtxQMgqwSsbwCK4BGAYYCw/s400/images.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div class="Default" style="margin-top: 20.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;">t.87-1<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The competitors must fence faithfully and
strictly according to the rules laid down in these Rules. </b>All breaches of
these rules will incur the penalties laid down hereinafter (cf. t.114-t.120).</span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2) <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">All
bouts must preserve the character of a courteous and frank encounter</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;">. All irregular actions</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> (fleche attack which finishes
with a collision jostling the opponent, disorderly fencing, irregular movements
on the strip, touches achieved with violence, touches made during or after a
fal</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;">l)</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> are strictly forbidden</span></b><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> (cf. t.114-t.120). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">t.7-1<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The offensive actions are the attack, the riposte and
the counter-riposte.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">attack</i></b> is the initial
offensive action made by </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">extending the arm </span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">and continuously threatening the opponent’s target, preceding the
launching of the lunge or fleche (cf. t.56ss, t.75ss).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt;">t.10<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-size: 16.0pt;">The
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">point in line</i> position is a specific
position in which the fencer’s sword arm is kept straight and the point of his
weapon continually threatens his opponent’s valid target</span></b><span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 14.0pt;">(cf. t.56.3.a/b/c, t.60.4.e, t.60.5.a, t.76,
t.80.3.e, t.80.4.a/b).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">t16-1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With all three weapons, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">defense</i></b> must be effected
exclusively with the guard and the blade used either separately or together.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">T16-2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
weapon must not be – either permanently or temporarily, in an open or disguised
manner – transformed into a throwing weapon</b>; it must be used without the
hand leaving the grip and without the hand slipping along the grip from front
to back during an offensive action.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">T18-5<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The order “Halt” is also given if the
fencing of the competitors is dangerous, confused, or contrary to the Rules, if
one of the competitors is disarmed or leaves the strip, or if, while
retreating, he approaches too near the spectators or the Referee (cf. t.26,
t.54.5 and t.73.4.j).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">t.19<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fencing at close quarters is allowed <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">so long as the competitors can wield their
weapons correctly </b>and the Referee can, in foil and sabre, follow the
phrase.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">t.34-1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By accepting a position as Referee or judge,
the person so designated pledges his honor <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">to
respect the Rules and to cause them to be respected, and to carry out his
duties with the strictest impartiality and absolute concentration.</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">t.46-1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The foil is a </b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">thrusting</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> weapon
only.</span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> Offensive actions with this
weapon are made therefore with the point and with the point only.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">t.61 <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Epee is a thrusting weapon</b> only. Attacks with this weapon are
therefore made with the point and with the point only.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 24.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -1.6in;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: "book antiqua"; font-size: 11.5pt;">t.611</span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">t.52<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When using the apparatus it should be noted
that: b) <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">the apparatus does not indicate
whether there is any priority in time</b> between two or more touches which it
registers simultaneously.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">t.55<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Referee
alone decides as to the validity or the priority of the touch by applying the
following basic rules</b> which are the conventions applicable to foil fencing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Respect of the fencing phrase</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">t56-</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every attack, that is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">every initial offensive action, which is correctly executed must be
parried or completely avoided</b> and the phrase must be followed through –
that is to say, coordinated (cf. t.7.1).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In order to judge the correctness of an
attack the following points must be considered:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a) The simple attack, direct or indirect (cf. t.8.1), is
correctly executed when the </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">extending of the arm, the point threatening the valid
target, precedes the initiation of the lunge </span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">or the fléche.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>b) The compound attack (cf. t.8.1) is correctly executed
when the arm is extending in the presentation of the first feint, with the
point threatening the valid target, and </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">the arm is not</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">bent</span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">between the
successive actions of the attack and the initiation of the lunge or the fléche.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>c) The attack with an advance-lunge or an advance-fléche
is correctly executed when </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">the extending of the arm precedes the end of the
advance and the initiation of the lunge </span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">or
the fléche.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>d)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actions, simple or compound, steps or
feints which are executed with a bent arm, are not considered as attacks but as
preparations, laying themselves open to the initiation of the offensive or
defensive/offensive action of the opponent </span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">(cf.t.8.1/3).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">3. To judge the priority of
an attack when analyzing the fencing phrase, it should be noted that:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a) If the attack is initiated <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">when the opponent is </b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">not</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> in the point in line position</span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> (cf. t.10), it may be executed either with a direct
thrust, or by disengage, or by a cut-over, or may even be preceded by a beat or
successful feints obliging the opponent to parry.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>b) If the attack is initiated <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">when the opponent </b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">is </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">in the point in line position</span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> (cf. t.10), the attacker must, first, deflect the
opponent’s blade. Referees must ensure that a mere grazing of the blades is not
considered as sufficient to deflect the opponent’s blade (cf. t.60.5a).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>c) If the attacker, when attempting to deflect the
opponent’s blade, fails to find it (dérobement), the right of attack passes to
the opponent.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>d) Continuous steps forward, with the legs crossing one
another, constitute a preparation and on this preparation any simple attack has
priority.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">t.57<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The parry gives the right to riposte: the
simple riposte may be direct or indirect, but to annul any subsequent action by
the attacker, it must be executed immediately, without indecision or delay.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">t.58<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When a compound attack is made, if the opponent finds the blade
during one of the feints, he has the right to riposte.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">t.59<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When compound attacks are made, the opponent has the right to
stop hit; but to be valid, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">the stop hit
must precede the conclusion of the attack by an interval of fencing time; that
is to say that the stop hit must arrive before the attacker has begun the final
movement of the attack. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dd2XcNQAKsQ/WqrcfvW7yiI/AAAAAAAAAns/RvRYu4ByWpoAYf4RsSQirO9BqviIftG6QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/calvinball1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dd2XcNQAKsQ/WqrcfvW7yiI/AAAAAAAAAns/RvRYu4ByWpoAYf4RsSQirO9BqviIftG6QCK4BGAYYCw/s640/calvinball1.jpg" width="640" /></a> </span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Judging of touches</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">t.60 The Referee should apply
the following basic conventions of foil fencing:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">1) When during a phrase, both
fencers touch at the same time, there is either a simultaneous action or a
double touch.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">2) The simultaneous action is
due to simultaneous conception and execution of an attack by both fencers; in
this case the touches exchanged are annulled for both fencers even if one of
them has been touched off the target.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">3)<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The double touch, on the other hand, is the result of a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">faulty action on the part of one of the
fencers</b>. Therefore, when there is not a period of fencing time between the
touches:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">4) <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Only the fencer who is attacked is counted as touched:</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if he makes a
stop hit on his opponent’s simple attack;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>b)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if, instead of
parrying, he attempts to avoid the touch and does not succeed in so doing;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>c)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if, after
making a successful parry, he makes a momentary pause which gives his opponent
the right to renew the attack (redoublement, remise or reprise);</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>d)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if, during a
compound attack, he makes a stop hit without being in time;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>e)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">having his point in line </b>(cf.t.10) and
being subjected to a beat or a taking of the blade (prise defer) which deflects
his blade, he attacks or places his point in line again instead of parrying a
direct attack made by his opponent.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">5. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Only the fencer who attacks is counted as touched:</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if he initiates his attack when his opponent
has his point in line</b> (cf.t.10) without deflecting the opponent’s weapon.
Referees must ensure that a mere grazing of the blades is not considered as
sufficient to deflect the opponent’s blade;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>b)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if he attempts
to find the blade, does not succeed (is the object of a dérobement) and
continues the attack;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>c)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if, during a
compound attack, his opponent finds the blade, but he continues the attack and
his opponent ripostes immediately;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>d)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if, during a
compound attack, he makes a momentary pause, during which time the opponent
makes a stop hit, after which the attacker continues his attack;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>e)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>if, during a
compound attack, he is stop hit in time before his final movement;</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>f) if he makes a touch by a remise, redoublement or
reprise when his original attack has been parried and his opponent has made a
riposte which is immediate, simple, and executed in one period of fencing time <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">without withdrawing the arm</b>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">6. The Referee must replace
the competitors on guard each time that there is a double touch and he is
unable to judge clearly on which side the fault lies.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">t.75 (sabre)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">3. An attack with a lunge is
correctly carried out:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a) in a simple attack (cf.t.8.1) <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">when the beginning of the extending of the arm precedes the launching
of the lunge and the touch arrives at the latest when the front foot touches
the strip;</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">t.79 (sabre)<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>b)<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
a parry is properly executed, the attack by the opponent must be declared
parried and judged as such by the Referee, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">even
if, as a result of its flexibility, the tip of the opponent’s weapon makes
contact with the target.</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">t.82<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">Fencers
must observe strictly and faithfully the Rules</span> <span style="color: red;">and</span>
the Statutes of the FIE, the particular rules for the competition in which they
are engage<span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;">d,</span><span style="color: red;"> the traditional customs of courtesy and integrity</span> and
the instructions of the officials.</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>2. In particular they will subscribe, in an orderly,
disciplined and sporting <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>manner, to the
following provisions; all breaches of these rules may entail punishments by the
competent disciplinary authorities after, or even without, prior warning,
according to the facts and circumstances (cf. t.113-t.120).<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: -1.6in;">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">t.821<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Fencing etiquette</span></b><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="Default" style="margin-top: 20.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;">t87-3)<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Before
the beginning of each bout, the two fencers must perform a fencer’s salute to
their opponent, to the Referee and to the spectators. Equally, when the final
touch has been scored, the bout has not ended until the two fencers have
saluted each other, the Referee and the spectators; to this end, they must
remain still while the Referee is making his decision; when he has given his
decision, they must return to their on guard line, perform a fencer’s salute
and shake hands with their opponent. If either or both of the two fencers
refuse to comply with these rules, the Referee will penalize him/them as
specific for offenses of the 4 group (cf. t.114, t.119, t.120).</span><b><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"></span></b></div>
<div class="Default" style="margin-top: 20.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">Protests
and appeals</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;"></span></b></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<b><i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Against a decision of the
Referee</span></i></b></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">t.122<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">1. <b>No appeal can be made against the decision of
the Referee regarding a point of fact (cf. t.95.1/2/4, t.96.2).</b></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">2. If a fencer infringes this principle, casting
doubt on the decision of the Referee on a point of fact during the bout, he
will be penalized according to the Rules (cf. t.114, t.116, t.120). <b>But</b> <b>if
the Referee is ignorant of or misunderstands a definite rule, or applies it in
a manner contrary to the Rules, an appeal on this matter may be entertained.</b></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">3. This appeal must be made:</span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>a) in
individual events, by the fencer;</span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>b) in
team events, by the fencer or the team captain.</span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This appeal should be made <b>courteously </b>but
without formality, and should be made <b>verbally to the referee immediately
and before and decision is made regarding a subsequent action</b></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">4. If the Referee maintains his opinion, the Head
Referee has authority to settle an appeal (cf. t.97). If such an appeal is
deemed to be unjustified, the fencer will be penalized in accordance with
Articles t.114, t.116, t.120).</span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> <b><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></b> </span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prior to around 1980, these rules were
universally accepted. Those who fenced in any other manner were simply consider
very poor fencers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there was much
wailing and gnashing of teeth that fencing was not as popular (read that
“profitable”), not a “spectator sport” as, say, football. Apparently, no one
pointed out that the best fencing is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>sly
and subtle, and such nuances are difficult to observe and appreciate from 50
yards away, while drinking beer, eating a hot dog or performing a wave. </span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the gauntlet was cast: how can we make
fencing more like football?</span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along came lights and whistles, and
colored uniforms, and video re-play, and big, wild, loud “fencing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Farewell, Bach, hello Death metal.</span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, as more an more people were
recruited into fencing (in the vain hope of finding a champion in the rough who
would produce a gold medal for the good old USA), more and more very poor
fencers were produced, accumulating at the bottom of the pyramid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only unskillful, but with no particular
affective loyalty to the long-established “code” of gentlemanly (or ladylike)
conduct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, as they say in football, “Winning
isn’t everything; it’s the ONLY thing.” HOW you win isn’t part of the equation.
If you can cheat and get away with it, well, then it isn’t really cheating. And
especially not if everyone else does it, too.</span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ty7MHWTlNo0/WqrfIBjvKVI/AAAAAAAAAoQ/2G03yLLpN1ktuvT4DFhvFNlcHljYIrSugCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/karikatura.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ty7MHWTlNo0/WqrfIBjvKVI/AAAAAAAAAoQ/2G03yLLpN1ktuvT4DFhvFNlcHljYIrSugCK4BGAYYCw/s400/karikatura.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In time, those very poor fencers became
very poor officials, who redefined fencing by a deadly combination of
incompetence, negligence and arrogance.</span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The inevitable result was the savage
dumbing-down of fencing, until it bore utterly no resemblance to either a frank
encounter or a courteous one.</span></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> And that is where we are
today.</span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5bRSjWUE8IY/WqrdNTrYy-I/AAAAAAAAAn8/cZhFa5FglQEKF793kXswUJTW_4zcbP6PQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Eb-Piston-Trombone-Brass-Body-with-Wood-case-and-Mouthpiece-Slide-trombones-online-shop-Musical-instruments.jpg_640x640.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5bRSjWUE8IY/WqrdNTrYy-I/AAAAAAAAAn8/cZhFa5FglQEKF793kXswUJTW_4zcbP6PQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Eb-Piston-Trombone-Brass-Body-with-Wood-case-and-Mouthpiece-Slide-trombones-online-shop-Musical-instruments.jpg_640x640.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-size: small;">Sometimes, when you
change a thing enough from it's original conception and form, it ceases
to be the thing. The above photo is a picture of my new guitar. I've
customized it a little.</span></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<br /></div>
<div class="Default">
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 14.0pt;">-- aac </span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-20824879692677466842017-12-28T09:14:00.000-05:002017-12-28T09:14:53.679-05:00...swordswordswordswordswordswordswords...
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lu9Y-_i_azg/WkT65VNkUqI/AAAAAAAAAm4/bthbIEUBhzAnqcOW3bmSl6ESHOo8_pTfgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Unconditional-Love-495x400.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="516" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lu9Y-_i_azg/WkT65VNkUqI/AAAAAAAAAm4/bthbIEUBhzAnqcOW3bmSl6ESHOo8_pTfgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Unconditional-Love-495x400.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In art, I use words as I please, to mean whatever I like,
and I’ll invent a word if I feel it necessary. But in science I prefer to be
precise, clear and consistent. I strive never to use one word to describe two
different things, or two different words to describe the same thing. When using
a common word in a specific way as a “term of art,” it never hurts to define
your terms. So I shall.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The use of the word “man,” as in swordsman and horseman, is
currently unfashionable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the interest
of inclusiveness and equality in diversity, various alternatives have been
proposed. I thought I should explain why I would employ such a “politically
incorrect” term as “swordsman,” so as not to give offense when I do.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The word “man” has it’s origin in the root of the
Sanskrit<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“manas,” the Indian word for
“mind” or the “eternal thinker. “Man” is not synonymous<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with “male,” but rather with “human being.”
When writers mention “man’s inhumanity to man” they don’t mean “Males’
inhumanity to males,” implying that the females of the species are neither
guilty of inhumanity nor targets of it, , but rather<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“human beings’ inhumanity toward human
beings.” If a plague wipes out all “mankind,” both males and females of the
species will vanish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the Oracle at
Delphi admonished, “Man, know thyself” the admonition was not only to those
human beings who happened to have a penis. Really, it seems to me either quite
“dumbed down” or smarmily disingenuous to equate “man” with “male.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think it’s much more about grinding a
political axe than it is about semantic clarity, but then, I’m suspicious by
nature. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let me be clear on this point: I am aware of the ill effects of patriarchy on both men and woman, and I abhor them. I have always believed in the complete social, economic and political equality of the sexes. I taught sabre to women long before the Powers That Shouldn't Be finally "allowed" women to fence with the sabre.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I use “sword” + “manas”/man, meaning “mind,” to say that the
swordsman is a human being whose consciousness is integrated with the use of
the sword and is thereby altered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Horse
+ “manas”/man, or “horseman,” denotes a human being whose consciousness is
integrated with that of the horse and is thereby altered. You could say that
the “horseman” is one who is so intimately connected to the horse, that they
are now part horse and part human. Likewise, the swordsman may never again be
“whole” without the sword.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some people have suggested using “person” instead of “man,”
as in chairperson, or waitperson. “Person” comes from the Latin word “persona,”
which was the mask an actor wore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the
“chairperson” is someone who puts on the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“chair” mask to run a meeting; a waitperson is someone who puts on the
mask of waiting, usually between auditions. “Person” seems to me superficial
and, temporary, and not at all the sense I want to give you in describing the
martial artist having a peak experience via the practice of the sword. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Instead of bowman we could say “archer,” instead of swordsman
we could say “fencer,” instead of horseman we could say “rider,” but these
things all merely describe what someone does, not what someone is. That is,
they describe physical activities, not altered states of consciousness. Fencing is external to the individual; swordsmanship is internal. Riding is external; horsemanship is internal.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Maybe we need a new word. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If someone invents a better one,
one that makes sense, one that has the right denotation and connotation, and
rolls trippingly off the tongue, I’ll happily adopt it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meanwhile, I will use “man” as term of art
with the specific denotation and connotation herein described.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No offense intended.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-aac</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-48494629057897533622017-11-18T16:11:00.002-05:002017-11-18T16:11:36.513-05:00What a Drag
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v4NNOMy8CcI/WhCdz8NLizI/AAAAAAAAAmM/54imoxESWIU3c9AoBmCYfnTFBoC0BoNzACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Johann_Sebastian_Bach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v4NNOMy8CcI/WhCdz8NLizI/AAAAAAAAAmM/54imoxESWIU3c9AoBmCYfnTFBoC0BoNzACK4BGAYYCw/s400/Johann_Sebastian_Bach.jpg" width="325" /></a> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I play
guitar a little bit.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
There’s a
piece by Bach I’m working on. I play some blues. I love flamenco. I
play most every day, practicing one thing or another. Depending on my mood, it
may be classical stuff, or jazz or a bunch of different things.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
When I work
on that Bach piece, I don’t wear a white-powdered wig and a long frock coat. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
When I play the blues, I don’t break out my black-face make-up, shades and
stingy-brim fedora. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
When I play flamenco, I don’t change into a flat-brimmed
sombrero, and high-heeled botas.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
You know why
not?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Because
playing music is about playing music and playing it well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I’m not
practicing the guitar as an exercise in fantasy role-playing, wearing just the
right cliché costume for the part. That’s what “air guitar” is about. I don’t
want to <i>pretend </i>to play the guitar, I want to <i>actually </i>play the guitar.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
When I play JSB's Chaconne in d minor, I’m not trying to “re-enact” history. I’m playing a
piece of music that is just as beautiful and poignant today as when it was
written back around 1720. I’m not expressing Bach’s feelings. I can’t. I’m not
Bach. I’m expressing my own feelings through Bach’s music.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
If I were to
don a white powdered wig to play my Bach piece, would that make my performance
any better? Would it render my interpretation any more accurate or “authentic?”
Would the piece be any more poignant?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I think not.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7XgioyedvlY/WhCezHWbqxI/AAAAAAAAAmc/bWh_HPhCNS8fTpnuEBEREV_mkdWGGYl8gCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/GTY_the_blues_brothers_02jef_150625_16x9_992.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7XgioyedvlY/WhCezHWbqxI/AAAAAAAAAmc/bWh_HPhCNS8fTpnuEBEREV_mkdWGGYl8gCK4BGAYYCw/s320/GTY_the_blues_brothers_02jef_150625_16x9_992.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
When I play
Born Under a Bad Sign, or T’Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do, should I dress up like
Dan Akroyd’s stunt double in a Blues Brothers re-make? Should I put on some
Al Jolson black-face make-up? Will that give me a better, more “authentic” sound? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I think not.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> I’m not Black. But I’ve sure
enough had the blues. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Unless I’m getting paid to be an actor, I
don’t want to pretend to be something I’m not. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
"Okay," you
might inquire, "where are you going with all this?"</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Funny you
should ask.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Why is it
that just about everyone who claims to be a “serious” student of the sword,
finds it impossible to resist playing dress-up? I’m not talking about fantasy
role-playing outfits like the SCA. I’m talking about people who claim to be
<i>serious</i> students of the sword. They get into their pseudo-medieval attire for
long sword, break out the facsimile doublet and trunk hose for rapier, and don their
stiffest 1890’s drag to do “classical” fencing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J-s6McYdWnc/WhCf5bf-vII/AAAAAAAAAmo/vqKis1PFMjMnZpZf6u6kB8pEpsQhLruwQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Aldhelm-Rapier-Combat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J-s6McYdWnc/WhCf5bf-vII/AAAAAAAAAmo/vqKis1PFMjMnZpZf6u6kB8pEpsQhLruwQCK4BGAYYCw/s320/Aldhelm-Rapier-Combat.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
Why?
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Does it make
their fencing any better, more accurate, more authentic?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
You know
what we wear in my salle when we practice long sword?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Baggy grey
sweats.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Guess what
the uniform is for rapier and dagger?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Baggy grey
sweats.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Classical
fencing?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Baggy grey
sweats.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
We wear
what’s comfortable and functional, and yes, we wear what’s protective, too -- a
mask and padded jacket. But we don’t do the costume party thing. We don't play dress-up. Period.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
You know why
not?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Because
practicing the sword is about practicing the sword and doing it well. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
We’re not learning how to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pretend</i> to fight using the sword, we
are learning how to <i>actually </i>fight using the sword.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The sword is
every bit as demanding and deadly today as it was in 1660, and the principles
of technique, tactics and strategy that the sword can teach are just as vital
and relevant today as they ever were.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
We practice
the sword to make ourselves better human beings, to change the way we live in
the world, and thereby to change the world.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
We’re not
“re-enacting” history. We’re making it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The sword
isn’t about the past.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It’s about
the future.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i> </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>In Ferro Veritas. </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>-- aac </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-77014927880011649662017-11-10T10:56:00.000-05:002017-11-10T10:56:16.619-05:00The Guitar Contest
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JajvZJC8BFE/WgXLaW5rI4I/AAAAAAAAAl8/m45uck1O190Ed0ERLL9LrR2wPP0LaVhZQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JajvZJC8BFE/WgXLaW5rI4I/AAAAAAAAAl8/m45uck1O190Ed0ERLL9LrR2wPP0LaVhZQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/1.jpg" width="640" /></a> </span>The guitar is a very popular instrument,
lots of people play it and it’s been a valuable part of our life and culture
for a long time. Guitar-playing skill is something we’ve come to value, because
we appreciate the talent and effort it takes to be excellent at it, and also
for the richness the music adds to our lives. We love the quality of a
memorable melody, the subtle shades of emotion created by astute and articulate
harmonies, the primal, enchanting use of rhythm.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So to recognize excellence in
guitar-playing, and to encourage its continuation, we decide to have a
guitar-playing contest.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someone suggests that we should just let
the audience vote. But that would only determine which music is the most
popular, not necessarily the best musically. So we decide that the best judges
would be the contestants themselves. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They listen to each others’ playing,
evaluate it, discuss it together and arrive a general consensus on who the best
player -- or at least, the best player of the moment -- is. While they are
candid about the flaws in a contestant’s playing, they are also effusive with
praise for others’ talents and modest about their own. The friendly, collegial
nature of the contests becomes legendary.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Guitar fans of all stripes flock to the
contests. Even those who don’t personally know any of the contestants. One
thing they can be sure of: no matter who eventually wins, they will hear some
wonderful guitar music during the course of event.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then to make it less of a “burden” on the
contestants, and also to add to the stature of the event, we decide to have
non-contestants judge the event. We recruit as judges renown guitar teachers, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>famous composers of guitar music, and perhaps
even some past winners of the contest. Each of them has a slightly different
preference: one is a classical guitarist, one is a jazz guitarist, one plays
flamenco. But they all still agree on foundational elements like melodic
quality, harmonic quality, and rhythmic quality.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite the subjectivity of the process
and the lack of absolute and universal agreement, the whole contest thing works
out pretty well overall. Excellent guitarists get a little bit of fame and
fortune, and fledgling guitarists have a little added incentive to practice ---
hoping to playing well enough to enter the contest one day.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The system certainly isn’t perfect. There
aren’t always enough good judges available, it’s hard to get them all together
in one place at one time, and it’s pricey to cover their expenses for the job.
And there’s that subjective factor that leaves fans of certain players or
certain regions or certain styles of music disgruntled when their favorite
fails to win the first place prize. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mind
you, a lot of these fans aren’t really fans of the guitar, or guitarists, or
even music, but they are most definitely fans of winning; they derive vicarious
egotistical satisfaction from having “their” guitarist or “their” town or “their”
musical style win the prize.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someone -gets the bright idea to eliminate
the “subjectivity” from the judging by inventing a machine to take over the job.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The machine they create does not have the
capacity to evaluate melodic quality, or harmonic quality or rhythmic quality.
The machine can only measure decibels and count the number of notes played per
measure.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So that becomes the criteria for winning
the contest.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not melody.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not harmony.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not rhythm.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just how loud you can play and how fast
you can play.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The loudest, fastest guitarist wins the
prize.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Young, up-and-coming guitarists begin to
abandon melody, harmony and rhythm because these elements are no longer
relevant to winning the contest -- and the fame and fortune that comes with it.
They focus on what’s important: play loud and play fast.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Guitarists who retain an attachment to
melody, harmony and rhythm lose interest in the contest now, not just because
they can’t play loud enough and fast enough to win it (which is what the
louder-faster players claim) but because it simply isn’t pleasant to either
play or to listen to. Indeed, they don’t consider it music at all, but noise.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Playing with articulate melody, adroit
harmony, and captivating rhythm requires a much longer time, and particular
precision of effort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only a relative few
can dedicate themselves to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the
ability to play loud and fast can be accomplished in very short period of time
and almost anyone can learn to do it. So it becomes very popular and guitar
playing gets “democratized.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
louder-faster group points this out as a great progress. “More people are
playing the guitar today than ever before,” they cheer.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because the loud-fast guitarists don’t
have to invest that same time and effort as the “traditional” guitarists, they
have no idea what that process entails. They therefore tend to grossly
under-estimate what’s involved and grossly under-value it. The result is that
the loud-fast guitarist has no particular admiration, regard or respect for
traditional guitar players -- or for their own ilk, either for that matter.
Their behavior toward each other deteriorates to an infantile level of brooding
tantrum when they lose, and displays of narcissistic self-adulation when they
win.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Audiences begin to stay away in droves. A
few spectators still attend to “support” a friend (or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">their </i>guitarist from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">their </i>town…)
but no one comes to listen to the music anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There isn’t any.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually, all the “traditional”
guitarists either retire, or die off. A whole new generation of loud-fast
guitarists is born who have never heard any other kind of guitar-playing, can’t
even imagine that another kind of guitar-playing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>could ever have existed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every once in a while, someone may refer
to the “old-fashioned” way of guitar-playing,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>a quaint and silly practice based on some odd notions of obsolete things
called melody, harmony and rhythm, beyond which we have now thankfully evolved.
And all the “modern” guitarists can do is shake their heads in wonder that their
foolish forbears could have been so caught up in irrelevancies.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
-aac</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-10564889987507885612017-10-14T15:10:00.000-04:002017-10-14T15:10:45.285-04:00IN RE: BOUTING
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KmCl6AoOnLs/WeJclmhGQ8I/AAAAAAAAAls/F5IXxywvIrApGzH1lzok8TsD9Z2DrQw9QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/tumblr_oez9ity5lG1sr4p87o1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KmCl6AoOnLs/WeJclmhGQ8I/AAAAAAAAAls/F5IXxywvIrApGzH1lzok8TsD9Z2DrQw9QCK4BGAYYCw/s640/tumblr_oez9ity5lG1sr4p87o1_1280.jpg" width="536" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of our essential training elements is
the “bout,” a contest between two fencers, each of whom attempts to touch the
opponent without being touched by the opponent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bouting is “flashy” and exciting and can
be a lot of “fun,” too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It puts your
skills and spirit to the test. In some part of us it represents the obligatory
show-down between the hero and the villain, the “moment of truth,” the climax
of our favorite swashbuckling novels, films and TV shows. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is, in this sense, the pinnacle of our
practice, like a musician stepping up to play a solo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here are the things you must do in order
to participate in bouting.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
1) You must demonstrate that you will <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">be a courteous opponent</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your conduct must be impeccable at all time,
under all circumstances. You must be composed and gallant, allowing no
expressions of emotion to sully the bout, whether positive or negative, neither
elation or disappointment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
2) You must demonstrate that you will <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">be a safe opponent</b>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Injuries are not an inherent part of fencing.
They are always a result of fencer error. You must be able to avoid such
errors. You must control yourself, executing actions in a safe manner, at the
correct distance without excessive force.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
3) You must demonstrate that you will <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">be a competent opponent</b>. You must have
some hope of being able to defend yourself, so that you will be a worthy
opponent for your adversary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You don’t
get to play in the band if you don’t know how to play your instrument!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You MUST master these techniques, at an
absolute MINIMUM:</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Straight attack, disengage attack executed on a
perfect lunge</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Parries of 6te, 4te, 7me and 8ve</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Direct ripostes and disengage ripostes from each
of the 4 parries</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Parries of 6te and 4te in the lunge</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Direct counter-ripostes and indirect
counter-ripostes from 6te and 4te, while in the lunge.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s more, of course.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>MUCH more: compound attacks,
counter-attacks, contre-temps, parry combinations, preparations of the attack,
prises du fer, yielding parries, the remise, reprise, redoublement…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But these 5 kinds of actions are enough to
enable you to BEGIN bouting. You won’t be terribly interesting. You won’t be
dashing or brilliant. But at least you won’t be completely lost, standing there
with that deer-in-the-headlights look, hopelessly unable to get out of your own
way.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We typically don’t keep score in bouting,
because it inhibits the student. But periodically we do hold a “recital” in
which, for more advanced students, we do keep score, and we present awards for
the best performance.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are significant irreconcilable
difference between classical fencing and the sport called “fencing,” of which
technique is only the least important.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sport is simply about winning a
contest. And apparently, it doesn’t matter <i>how </i>you win. You can fence poorly, you can
behave obnoxiously. You can score by accident or you can score by cheating.
They don’t care. It’s only the final tally that matters. We disdain this approach
because we believe that it rewards the worst in people: mediocrity dishonesty,
and narcissism. In the sport venue, it doesn’t matter at all what kind of person you
are, only whether you “win.” Winning is the “be all” and “end all” of what they
do.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Classical fencing is the exact opposite.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You must fence properly and you must
conduct yourself courteously. If you fail to do either of these things, you
will be disqualified.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You cannot score by accident or by
cheating because we enforce the rules strictly, impartially and without
exception. But, more than that, the classical fencer has no desire to "win" by fluke or by cheating, would renounce any doubtful touch, refusing any unfair advantage. A victory, to be celebrated, must be unblemished. It's not enough for your performance to be better than you opponent's; it must be the best performance of which you are capable.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We reward only the best in people:
excellence, honesty and gallantry.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In classical fencing, it doesn’t matter at
all whether you win or lose, only what kind of person you are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a contest between two people, one of them
is going to win and one of them is going to lose, but BOTH of them can display
excellence, honesty and gallantry, win OR lose, and we accept nothing less.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
classical fencing, winning is not the end, itself. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s only the means to an end.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That end, our goal, is to cultivate in
every individual a strong healthy body, an acute and agile mind, a gallant and
gracious manner, and a joyful and dauntless spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The classical fencer must be gracious and
dignified in defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We hope that by populating our planet with
more such individuals, we will create a little bit better world.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
- aac</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br /><span class="_mh6 _wsc" id="cch_f62104cd058788"><span class="_3oh- _58nk"></span></span>Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-87933535858161895332017-06-27T20:10:00.001-04:002017-06-27T20:10:44.655-04:00Fair Trade Policy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LXwF9WAK_No/WVLzRsiUxLI/AAAAAAAAAlI/2etE9REh2BUp1JzDRHwYtq20SdrvBwNagCLcBGAs/s1600/Capo%2BFerro%2BFair%2BTrade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="564" height="476" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LXwF9WAK_No/WVLzRsiUxLI/AAAAAAAAAlI/2etE9REh2BUp1JzDRHwYtq20SdrvBwNagCLcBGAs/s640/Capo%2BFerro%2BFair%2BTrade.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today, so-called “sport fencers” think that these two hits
are of equal value. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They also believe that if<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>C’s hit to D’s foot arrives a quarter of a second before D’s hit
arrives, then D’s hit doesn’t matter.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What do you suppose C would have to say about that?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh, right.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nothing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He's dead.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
aac </div>
Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-32764285348502080062016-06-20T13:44:00.000-04:002016-06-20T13:47:01.152-04:00Allow Me to Illustrate the Difference<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S2E8vkE0K6A/V2gpT_WiF4I/AAAAAAAAAjg/D5GMGHJ6Op44YkSRe81qKaHIm-alTbOiQCLcB/s1600/lion9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S2E8vkE0K6A/V2gpT_WiF4I/AAAAAAAAAjg/D5GMGHJ6Op44YkSRe81qKaHIm-alTbOiQCLcB/s640/lion9.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">The True Art, Science and Spirit of the Sword</span></h3>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w1GLuaOEHHw/V2gqEn3dWYI/AAAAAAAAAjo/TAP8B2ccPkkTs3kJDJ_rKa1-S5jXnGQ4wCLcB/s1600/20131111151652556.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w1GLuaOEHHw/V2gqEn3dWYI/AAAAAAAAAjo/TAP8B2ccPkkTs3kJDJ_rKa1-S5jXnGQ4wCLcB/s1600/20131111151652556.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"Olympic" or "sport fencing"</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BDSjqxJ5cuc/V2gqfDGLXCI/AAAAAAAAAj0/2clRbYrB_1AZNPutjmSe_hhq4z961tsDwCLcB/s1600/The-Wizard-Of-Oz-Cowardly-Lion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="462" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BDSjqxJ5cuc/V2gqfDGLXCI/AAAAAAAAAj0/2clRbYrB_1AZNPutjmSe_hhq4z961tsDwCLcB/s640/The-Wizard-Of-Oz-Cowardly-Lion.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> "HEMA" or "Historical" Fencing</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8a_NTsELrag/V2gqw0HSg7I/AAAAAAAAAkE/YYkLAzq9M3QRB4TSuWRKzF4-8jNCnwbDACLcB/s1600/6913087931_5040e94ce0_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="552" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8a_NTsELrag/V2gqw0HSg7I/AAAAAAAAAkE/YYkLAzq9M3QRB4TSuWRKzF4-8jNCnwbDACLcB/s640/6913087931_5040e94ce0_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">SCA/Jedi/Fantasy Role-playing "Fencing" </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-76423517476889985322016-06-20T13:22:00.000-04:002016-06-20T13:22:20.412-04:00Iceberg, Let Us<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0Cz9DKqSjMo/V2glm_-nPXI/AAAAAAAAAjM/8hphjgOFdQwUE9xyFBBwpCwnKIlE1J7lwCLcB/s1600/iceberg5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="440" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0Cz9DKqSjMo/V2glm_-nPXI/AAAAAAAAAjM/8hphjgOFdQwUE9xyFBBwpCwnKIlE1J7lwCLcB/s640/iceberg5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The “sport fencer” sees only the superficial: the domination
of others. They live in the transient, short-term world of the purely physical,
relying on size, strength and speed. There is little need for tactical
sophistication, and strategic finesse is an alien concept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two fencers may be playing at the same time,
but it’s not a duet. There’s no harmony. It’s just two people each trying to
play louder and faster than the other.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the classical swordsman, the martial artist, that is
inadequate and unsatisfying. We know there is more – much more – below the
surface, and that what is unseen may profoundly influence that which is seen. We
want to know where the iceberg came from and how it came to be, and where it’s
going.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We want to understand the currents, the effect of the winds,
the life in the surrounding sea. We want to know about the clouds, about the
rain and the snow and the sun and the moon, and about every relationship between
the iceberg and everything else that exists in creation – including ourselves. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And yet, we understand that it’s just a bunch of water.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
aac </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-73274049493959461572016-05-26T13:16:00.000-04:002016-05-26T13:16:02.577-04:00I KID YOU NOT<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qMQe1EGmsAM/V0cuTHrAmOI/AAAAAAAAAi0/2ZR3exEmTWc9nTeJPw5i_forbtSeG-VMACLcB/s1600/Billy%2Bthe%2BKid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qMQe1EGmsAM/V0cuTHrAmOI/AAAAAAAAAi0/2ZR3exEmTWc9nTeJPw5i_forbtSeG-VMACLcB/s640/Billy%2Bthe%2BKid.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Here’s a famous photograph of the notorious “outlaw,”
William Bonney, known as “Billy the Kid.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He carries a rifle in his right hand, and his colt revolver on his left
hip, indicating that he was left-handed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span> </div>
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Pretty much “everybody knows" this. It’s a cherished part of sacred wild west lore. In
1958, Paul Newman was (mis)cast to portray Bonney in the bio-pic “The
Left-Handed Gun.” </div>
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The thing is, it ain’t so.</div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The image is from a
tintype, one of two almost identical images taken of The Kid in 1880. The
original of one was lost. The other was discovered in 1986.</div>
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A tintype is a reverse image.</div>
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William Bonney was NOT left-handed.</div>
<br />
Just a reminder that sometimes what "everybody knows" is dead wrong, and a cautionary word to those who religiously strive to
emulate bizarre, awkward and unlikely poses found in some centuries-old fencing
books.
<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
aac</div>
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Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-256696214745786052016-04-04T08:18:00.004-04:002016-06-21T14:45:44.856-04:00Dueling for Dummies<style>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oCatMq3U9Aw/VwJbRqybTvI/AAAAAAAAAic/BOoD7HDuRR4d5LpvMPJ_60GG-6Qd6Vj5w/s1600/Duel%252520after%252520the%252520Ball-s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="450" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oCatMq3U9Aw/VwJbRqybTvI/AAAAAAAAAic/BOoD7HDuRR4d5LpvMPJ_60GG-6Qd6Vj5w/s640/Duel%252520after%252520the%252520Ball-s.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3mWOFHvVBeA/VwJXpJg8C3I/AAAAAAAAAh0/8smL4GUiyJkeKrbtfy8j_B_u95eCrIIvg/s1600/duel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<h2 align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Dueling for Dummies</b></span></h2>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">or</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Surviving
Your First Rapier Duel</b></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In any given encounter, there are three possibilities:</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>If your opponent is your superior, he lives, you
die.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>If you are your opponent’s superior, you live,
he dies</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>If you are both equal, you both die.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
Therefore,
you have, at best, a 33% chance of survival. As Shakespeare advised, “beware of
entrance to a quarrel.” Speak gently. Treat others with respect. And grow a
thick skin. Become one who neither gives offense, nor takes offense
easily, if at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i>If
that should fail:</i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vpoqqnEb8vo/VwJZ_FO8IqI/AAAAAAAAAiA/irSK2YHapscqfD5MTqyQXUs-LP1q3aK3w/s1600/sword_duel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vpoqqnEb8vo/VwJZ_FO8IqI/AAAAAAAAAiA/irSK2YHapscqfD5MTqyQXUs-LP1q3aK3w/s400/sword_duel.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Plan
A</b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Select as your seconds, from your closest
friends, those with the most experience as seconds, or lacking that, the
coolest heads. It is best to select gentlemen to whom you owe money, as they
will be the more keenly interested in your survival. Do not choose someone whose
wife, fiancée, daughter, sister, mother<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>or other object of affection you have slept with.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Be certain that your seconds understand your
preferences.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Arrange for the most distant date possible. Hot
blood tends to cool over time. By affording yourself and your adversary an
opportunity to contemplate your mortality, you may maximize your
inclinations toward reconciliation.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Whatever the insult or offense you gave,
apologize.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>If you gave no insult or offense, apologize,
anyway.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>If your opponent insulted or offended you,
forgive him.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>If all earnest efforts at the above should fail:</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I2kMm1BRuhE/VwJaN493PAI/AAAAAAAAAiE/ydhgyocOp1UTlTk0JTL3xNBLfcc4tU64w/s1600/vlcsnap_duel3_2010-01-07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I2kMm1BRuhE/VwJaN493PAI/AAAAAAAAAiE/ydhgyocOp1UTlTk0JTL3xNBLfcc4tU64w/s400/vlcsnap_duel3_2010-01-07.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Plan B</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Bring your own surgeon. Be sure it’s one whom
you trust with your life. That’s what you’re doing. Make sure he’s sober.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Do not eat or drink much within 12 hours of the
event.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Be sure to completely empty bladder and bowel
before you arrive on the ground, or you will likely do so afterward.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Suck on a hard candy or slice of lemon or lime.
You mouth will be dry.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>A shot of brandy may help steady your nerves.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Make a last attempt at reconciliation. “I’m
satisfied if you are, Sir.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>If that should fail:</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wiLI5TeEtlw/VwJa6aehxiI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/vEqskndfWNYPv4cPmMeXEKBEnp22QcXmg/s1600/1457081436766.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wiLI5TeEtlw/VwJa6aehxiI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/vEqskndfWNYPv4cPmMeXEKBEnp22QcXmg/s400/1457081436766.jpg" width="400" /></a></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Plan C</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Disregard everything you’ve seen on stage or in
the cinema.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Disregard everything you’ve ever seen (or done)
in the “sport” of fencing,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>historical
“re-enacting,” and/or fantasy role-playing.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Powder your hand. It will be sweaty.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Bind your weapon to your hand. Your manual
dexterity will be severely compromised.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Take 2-3 deep, full, slow breaths. (Repeat this whenever
there is a “break” in the event.)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Take your ground as far from your adversary as
possible.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Assume a relatively tall stance, knees slightly
bent, so that you can move backwards quickly and with ease.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Keep your arm well extended, not quite fully extended,
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and behind the guard as much as
possible.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Train your point on your opponent’s centerline
at the level of his throat. </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>No
matter what your opponent does, smartly extend your arm to its fullest extent,
putting your point in line, aiming at his centerline, and step back -- as many
steps as needed to regain your distance. Don’t attack. Don’t parry. Don’t
feint. Don’t twiddle with your opponent’s blade. Stick your arm out and step back.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">11.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>This
disposition will not only discourage your opponent from attacking, it will encourage
him to attack, if he does, your forward-most target, the wrist and forearm, where a wound is
least likely to be fatal, but sufficient to end the encounter.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">12.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>If
you should wound your opponent, even the merest scratch, immediately withdraw,
handing your weapon to your seconds (who should by now have come between you,) and
declare to the President du Combat that you are satisfied.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">13.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>If
you should be wounded, even the merest scratch, withdraw to your surgeon, handing
your weapon to your seconds, and declare to the President du Combat, “Thank
you, I’ve had enough.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is no guarantee that this plan will succeed. It is,
however, better than any other plan, and much better than no plan at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>If you should survive:</i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3mWOFHvVBeA/VwJXpJg8C3I/AAAAAAAAAh4/TfO2d2bD1L42XNLpsEah95pFYKrJP5BLw/s1600/duel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="404" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3mWOFHvVBeA/VwJXpJg8C3I/AAAAAAAAAh4/TfO2d2bD1L42XNLpsEah95pFYKrJP5BLw/s640/duel.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Have your seconds immediately approach your
adversary’s party with several bottles of the best brandy you can afford as a
gesture of reconciliation. Any intelligent gentleman, given a choice, would
rather imbibe than fight.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Go for a short, casual walk by yourself. This
will allow you to vomit discreetly.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>You can expect to be extremely thirsty, soon
ravenously hungry, and afterward incredibly libidinous.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>When you finally succumb to sleep, you can
expect to sleep through the next 12-24 hours, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>possibly longer. You will have nightmares.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>The next day or so, you may experience an
adrenaline flash-back: you heart will race, you will perspire, feel
off-balance, mouth suddenly dry, stomach queasy. Breathe deeply. It will pass. </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Have your closest friend over for coffee and
implore him/her give you a good, swift kick in the ass for having been such a
fool, and firmly resolve never to do anything that stupid ever again.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-- aac</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<br /></div>
Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-73147416957423778092016-02-22T12:01:00.001-05:002016-02-22T12:01:52.398-05:00The Concrete-and-Jello Tango<style>
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<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ExnV0FWe79E/Vss8qRnF39I/AAAAAAAAAho/jJCO9sSul7Q/s1600/6a00d83451ce9f69e20133ef3453e1970b-320wi.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="506" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ExnV0FWe79E/Vss8qRnF39I/AAAAAAAAAho/jJCO9sSul7Q/s640/6a00d83451ce9f69e20133ef3453e1970b-320wi.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Scientia potens est, quoth the sage: "Knowledge is power."</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
It’s a good thing for me that it is.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
If size were power, or strength were power,
I’d be long since sunk.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
I wasn’t big.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
And I wasn’t strong.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
I was a fat, wheezy child.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
But I wasn’t stupid.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
“Martial arts” attracted me because it
wasn’t all about brute force. </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Rather it was about the judicious application of
science: leverage, geometry, physics. The universal mathematical rules that
glue the whole world together were evident in every strike, every lock, every
throw.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
This is the science that every fighter
knows, whether he knows he knows it or not. But <i>knowing</i> that you know it makes
it easier to apply what you’ve learned in the <i>salle</i>, and in the <i>dojo </i>to events
outside of those confines.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
For every action, there is an equal an
opposite re-action. </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
If A strikes B at X mph, the force acting
against A will be the same as the force acting against B. It really doesn’t
matter if A hits B or B hits A – the forces created will be the same and will go
in both directions.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
While the forces created are the same, the <i>resistance</i> to that force, i.e., the ability to withstand that force, depends on
the nature (hardness or softness) of the body acted upon, relative to the body
acting upon it.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
I learned about this principle the hard way
– by punching someone in the head with my fist.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Imagine a tub of solidified jello.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Imagine a 35 lb block of concrete.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
You drop the concrete block onto the jello
from a height of 10 feet.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
What happens to the jello?</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
What happens to the concrete?</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Now take a tub of solidified concrete.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Drop a 35 pound ball of solidified jello
onto the concrete from a height of 10 feet.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
What happens to the jello?</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
What happens to the concrete?</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Throw a bottle at a concrete wall, and the
bottle shatters, not the wall, because glass is less able to withstand the equal
and opposite forces created than the wall is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(We could call that the Molotov Cocktail Principle.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But throw a same-size chunk of concrete at a
window, and the window shatters, not the chunk of concrete, because glass is
less able to withstand those forces than the chunk of concrete is. Throw the
same bottle against a featherbed and the result is quite different.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
When a cartoon character, like Wile E.
Coyote runs through a brick wall leaving behind a perfect cookie-cutter shape
of himself, that’s funny only because we know it’s impossible. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We know the wall is actually better able to
withstand the equal and opposite forces created than the cartoon character’s
body would be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Qeg5SfkY4iY/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qeg5SfkY4iY?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
When bullets bounce off Superman’s chest,
we are impressed because we know it’s impossible. Flesh is less able to resist
the equal and opposite forces created than bullets are.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
The practical application is simple:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Always direct a relatively harder weapon at a
relatively softer target. Never use a softer weapon against a harder
target.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You don’t strike your opponent’s
forehead with your nose; you strike the opponent’s nose with your forehead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
You can strike your opponent’s throat with
that web between your thumb and forefinger to great effect because his throat
is less able to withstand the equal and opposite forces created than your
“fishbelly” is. By the same token, you don’t use that strike against your
opponent’s shin because his shinbone is better able to withstand the equal and
opposite forces created than your hand is.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
You can effectively apply a kick to your
opponent’s groin, because your foot is better able to withstand the equal and
opposite forces created than your opponent’s testicles are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you don’t try to block his kick with your
scrotum.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Some guy in a bar comes at you with the
jagged end of a broken beer bottle, that’s cause for concern. If he’s coming at
you with the jagged end of a broken milk carton, not so much.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
See how easy this is, once you get the hang
of it?</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
I’ll bet you can come up with a dozen
examples of your own without even breaking a sweat.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
I love science.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
It’s how I know that you don’t block your
opponent’s elbow strike with your nose.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
It’s also how I know that aluminum
airplanes do NOT fly through buildings made of concrete and steel.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
Unless maybe the pilot was Wile E. Coyote.<br />
<br />
<br />
--aac<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>
Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-77634539332326431782015-08-16T14:27:00.000-04:002015-08-16T14:31:09.512-04:00Travelin' Jack's Magic Show<style>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vKFWxe08Sho/VdDHPVdVu6I/AAAAAAAAAgI/uJtTNZUyPmE/s1600/Jack_playing_cards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vKFWxe08Sho/VdDHPVdVu6I/AAAAAAAAAgI/uJtTNZUyPmE/s640/Jack_playing_cards.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yesterday, I showed some of my students a little card magic
I learned in the waybackwhen, the summer I worked in a carnival. I’ll tell you
that story sometime.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One reason I did this is simple: magic is exactly like
combat. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Allow me to elucidate.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rzGI6hW4hAs/VdDHihJcwII/AAAAAAAAAgU/epVfObWNUTA/s1600/maj01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rzGI6hW4hAs/VdDHihJcwII/AAAAAAAAAgU/epVfObWNUTA/s320/maj01.jpg" width="186" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Magic relies on capturing your audience’s mind. You lead it
where you want it to go, by using a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>combination of suggestion, distraction,
diversion, subterfuge, subtle deception, and outrageous lies. You baffle and bewilder them by making them
think that they “see” things that they are not really seeing. And because they
“see with their own eyes,” you make them believe – even if just for a moment --
things that are not true, cannot be true, things they know are impossible </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CGBnBlB-He0/VdDSde1K2QI/AAAAAAAAAgk/FhmxWEAF_-w/s1600/rider-Waite_king_swords_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CGBnBlB-He0/VdDSde1K2QI/AAAAAAAAAgk/FhmxWEAF_-w/s320/rider-Waite_king_swords_large.jpg" width="184" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Combat relies on capturing your opponent’s mind, too. You
trap your opponent’s mind using a combination of suggestion, distraction,
diversion, subterfuge, subtle deception, and outrageous lies. You baffle and
bewilder them by making them think that they “see” things that they are not
really seeing. And because they “see with their own eyes,” you make them
believe – even if just for a moment -- things that are not true. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And a moment is all you need. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A lot can happen in a moment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FPZdSJpXUmc/VdDS7BiWmgI/AAAAAAAAAgs/eSKnVs8wWKo/s1600/sherlock-holmes1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FPZdSJpXUmc/VdDS7BiWmgI/AAAAAAAAAgs/eSKnVs8wWKo/s320/sherlock-holmes1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Eliminate the impossible and whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.</span></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another reason that the study of magic is valuable to the
student of the sword is that it stimulates your critical thinking juices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Sherlock Holmes
once said, “Eliminate the impossible, and whatever remains, however improbable,
must be the truth.”</div>
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The importance of this principle cannot possibly be
over-stated. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We know that playing cards do not change, do not move around
on their own. It’s IMPOSSIBLE. Therefore, you can trace the illusion back, step
by step. When did it APPEAR that the cards changed? When and where did you last
actually see the card? What happened after that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clearly, what you thought you saw was really
something else. Step by step. Question each one. Verify what you think you know
and HOW you know it. Verify what you think you saw – did you actually SEE<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“X”, or did you conclude that you saw “X”
because of some assumption, or suggestion?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In both magic and combat, you use your opponent’s
assumptions, beliefs, habits, and responses against him. Because you know that
your mark responds to “A” with “B,” you can anticipate “B” and be ready to do
“C.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>See?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This brings me to the second master principle I want to
mention, one that you should probably get tattooed on your forehead: “If you
don’t have a Plan B, then you don’t have a plan at all</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s put it in fencing terms.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s say “A” is the attack, the initial offensive
action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you understand the nature of
your opponent’s attack, you can counter-attack, make an offensive action DURING
the attack. An opponent who is committed to an attack is in a very poor
position to defend and so a properly chosen and executed counter-attack has a
very high probability of success. Counter-attacks are good. I love them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s foolish to put all your eggs in the attack basket. It’s
a habit of beginners and very poor “fencers.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They try to attack harder, faster, and deeper so that their opponent
doesn’t have a chance to do the counterattack, or that the counter-attack will
miss, or be a hair too late, and in the artificial context of a fencing
contest, the “rules” will save the attacker’s life. But there are no such rules
in a fight. The attacker must save himself.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
People are good at what they like and like what they’re good
at, and tend to do it whenever they can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If I can determine that my opponent is so inclined to counter-attack, I
won’t try to keep him from doing it. I’ll let him do what he wants to do. Hell,
I’ll ENCOURAGE him to do what he wants to do. I’ll create the appearance of an
opportunity to do it that he can’t resist, because he thinks I’m making a
mistake. And then I’ll use it against him.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For example, I “attack” with my swordarm bent and my high
outside line slightly open. This invites my opponent to counterattack with
opposition to that line. I telegraph my intention, and contrive the speed of my
attack to enable him to “pick me off” with a fast thrust. As he makes that
thrust, I parry, and then continue my forward movement with a riposte with
opposition to guard against a remise of his counterattack (getting inside his
point if I can).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We use the term contre-temps or “counter-time” is used to
describe every action made by the attacker against the defender’s counterattack.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If my opponent is skillful, he will not walk into the same
ambush again. If he is skillful, he will understand the nature of my contre-temps
and will either deceive my parry, or parry my riposte and make a
counter-riposte.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We use the term fenta di tempo, or feint in time, to
describe every action made by the defender against the attacker’s contre-temp.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let me break it down for you another way.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Suppose we’re having a fencing contest.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My plan A is to hit you with my attack</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you try to parry my attack, one of two things will
happen: either you will find my blade, or you will not find my blade. If you do
not find my blade, it’s because I have deceived your parry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Deceiving your parry is my Plan B.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But suppose I try to deceive your parry, and I fail. You
find my blade. One of two things will happen: either you will make a riposte,
or you will not make a riposte. If you do not make a riposte, I will make a
remise and hit you. That remise is my Plan C.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you DO make a riposte, I will parry and
counter-riposte.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of two things will
happen: either I find you blade with my parry, or I don’t. If I find the blade,
I will execute my counter-riposte. That simple parry and counter-riposte is my
Plan D.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If I do NOT find your blade with my parry, it’s because you
have deceived my parry. If I do not find your blade with my parry, I will give
a little ground (if necessary) and execute a second parry and find your blade
with that one, and counter-riposte.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
compound parry and counter-riposte is my Plan E.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Are you beginning to see a pattern?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anytime you make a plan, you have to ask yourself, “What
could go wrong?” at each step of the plan, and have a back-up plan for each
eventuality.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t even put my pants on without a Plan B.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
--aac</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Resources for Further Study</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just for fun, here are some films I strongly recommend.
They’re good films and I think you’ll enjoy them. But they aren’t “just
entertainment.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each of these films is
about illusions, distractions, ambushes, understanding the nature of the
opponent’s probable response, plans and back-up plans.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>The Sting. Dir. George Roy Hill (1973)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>The Spanish Prisoner. Dir. David Mamet (1997)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>House of Games. Dir. David Mamet1987</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Heist. Dir. David Mamet (2001)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Harry in Your Pocket. Dir. Bruce Geller (1973)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Inside Man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Dir. Spike Lee (2006)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>The Thomas Crown Affair. Dir. Norman Jewison
(1968)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>The Great Raid. Dir. John Dahl (2005)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Deceptive Practice. Dir. Molly Bernstein (2012)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>The
Illusionist. Dir. Neil Burger (2006)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
Sing it, Brother Ray: </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-30789690672818410662015-08-11T15:12:00.000-04:002015-08-11T15:14:13.133-04:00Left-Handed Compliments<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
The sword, used alone, as Capo Ferro said, is the queen of
weapons. There’s not much point in trying to use TWO weapons, if you’re not
capable of using ONE.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That said, I have two hands. Would I use only ONE of them in
a fight?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When it’s a fight, and not an “athletic contest,” there are
no rules, and you use whatever you have available. That includes both hands and
both feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it doesn’t hurt to use
your head a little, either.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in the day, most everyone carried a dagger as an
all-purpose tool, and of course, some were made en suite with rapiers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether it’s a dagger, a cloak, your
scabbard, a wine bottle, or chair leg in your left hand, or just your empty
hand,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it pays to think past the solo
sword.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As our exemplar of the left hand, let’s use the dagger as
our left-hand weapon because so many fancy themselves “rapier and dagger”
fighters, and so few are correct.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-27E6lF760oY/VcpHQD12DKI/AAAAAAAAAfU/HLrL5NOaeiE/s1600/agrippa-rapier-dagger.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-27E6lF760oY/VcpHQD12DKI/AAAAAAAAAfU/HLrL5NOaeiE/s400/agrippa-rapier-dagger.png" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The dagger has several functions.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><b>Preparations</b>. The dagger can be used to engage,
beat, press or trap your opponent’s blade in order to facilitate your attack
with the sword.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><b>Parries</b>. The dagger can be used to deflect,
divert or obstruct the opponent’s attack</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> <b>
</b></span></span></span><b>Opposition.</b> The dagger can be used to apply
opposition to your opponent’s blade.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><b>Offensive actions.</b> The dagger can be used to cut
or to thrust</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Opposition </b></span>may be the most critical of all these uses.
Having parried your opponent’s attack, you oppose his weapon with your dagger
while you make your riposte. I’m a great believer in controlling the opponent’s
weapon at all times, keeping it where I want it, not where my opponent wants
it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<b>Parries </b>are the second best use of the dagger. This allows
you to execute your parry and riposte simultaneously rather than consecutively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, you could say that you’re now executing
a counter-attack with opposition rather than a riposte. Because the
counter-attack happens during the opponent’s attack, and because it’s very
difficult for your opponent to go forward and backward at the same time, your
counter-attack is extremely difficult to defend against – unless, of course the
attack itself was a ruse to draw your counter-attack, in the hope of a
contre-temps.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
While the dagger can be used alone to parry, it can also be
combined with the rapier to effect a “double” parry or “crossed” parry. In this
use, you surrender the simultaneity of the parry and the riposte, but you gain
opposition with the dagger, freeing the rapier to do its work.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<b>Preparations.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Never make a frontal assault against a fortified position unless you
have already neutralized your opponent’s offensive capability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s the job of the preparation. The dagger
occupies your opponent’s sword so that you may attack. Often, the preparation
is combined with opposition. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<b>Offensive actions.</b> While seizing your opponent’s sword
with your own sword, you can close the distance and strike with the dagger.
Against a same-handed opponent, you close and move to your dagger side, that
is, to his (now) unprotected rapier side. This use doesn’t work as well against
an opposite-handed fighter.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
The dagger is only useful for offense when at close
quarters, as we’ve seen so many celluloid villains try to prove. Another good
reason to control distance, and keep your opponent on the end of your point.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
It’s <i>possible </i>to throw your dagger, but unless you’ve
developed that skill in particular, forget about it. It might as well be a
crescent wrench.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even folks who throw a
knife pretty well, generally don’t throw it well with their non-dominant hand. Then
too, if your opponent didn’t have a dagger of his own, you may just have provided
him with one.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
You can use your empty left hand in much the same way, even for
offensive actions – though personally, I’d use my elbow to strike with and not
my hand. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some people balk at using the
naked hand for fear of getting it cut, to which I reply with the very first
rule of fighting which states: You’re going to get hurt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A cut to the hand, or a thrust to your
heart?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I leave the choice to you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
A bottle, preferably broken, or any blunt instrument can be
similarly employed.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7rfw1zWLXLQ/VcpIIFzJFKI/AAAAAAAAAfg/J56ZvZPQgLY/s1600/f1bd8c54f1e3832b7df4133961b3ae62.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="449" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7rfw1zWLXLQ/VcpIIFzJFKI/AAAAAAAAAfg/J56ZvZPQgLY/s640/f1bd8c54f1e3832b7df4133961b3ae62.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
A cloak, coat, or blanket is good, too. Wrap it around your
left hand and forearm to provide some protection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some people have said that you should hold it
loosely, and flail it around like a matador, but I personally find that more
awkward than helpful, though, lord knows, there’s nothing like a good
veronica.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-opX3V45ShxU/VcpGCyooumI/AAAAAAAAAfA/uIL6npotnUc/s1600/photo_verybig_3961.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-opX3V45ShxU/VcpGCyooumI/AAAAAAAAAfA/uIL6npotnUc/s320/photo_verybig_3961.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9xo0SkD1XCc/VcpGMhsSJhI/AAAAAAAAAfI/IzMrp-W8mzg/s1600/veronica1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9xo0SkD1XCc/VcpGMhsSJhI/AAAAAAAAAfI/IzMrp-W8mzg/s320/veronica1.jpg" width="316" /></a><i><span style="font-size: small;">A good veronica. </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"> A bad Veronica</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Of course it’s <i>possible</i> that
you could throw it over your opponent’s head, but unless you’re starring in a
Tom & Jerry cartoon, I consider that one of those things to be “imagined,
rather than practiced.”<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As always, it’s important to know the difference between a
“fencing match” (an athletic contest with specific rules) and a fight, and to
know which one it is that you’re doing at the moment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
When you’re in a contest with a weapon, you use the weapon.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
When you’re in a fight, you ARE the weapon.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
--aac </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph">
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Grh3lQIJsd0/VcpI5LmqayI/AAAAAAAAAfo/M4tCaC1wQd8/s1600/Tom-Jerry-Musketeers-tom-and-jerry-8965100-1024-7682.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Grh3lQIJsd0/VcpI5LmqayI/AAAAAAAAAfo/M4tCaC1wQd8/s640/Tom-Jerry-Musketeers-tom-and-jerry-8965100-1024-7682.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-10797705391284304872015-08-06T15:55:00.002-04:002015-08-06T15:55:53.477-04:00Swimmingly<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-38Lm3ehvn_k/VcOy4uLX9YI/AAAAAAAAAeM/caBDlBe3KO0/s1600/London_Olympics_Synchronized_Swimming._07254.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-38Lm3ehvn_k/VcOy4uLX9YI/AAAAAAAAAeM/caBDlBe3KO0/s640/London_Olympics_Synchronized_Swimming._07254.jpg" width="561" /></a></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Imagine this.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Imagine if swimming suddenly started to
be practiced on dry land. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After all, it’s certainly SAFER than
practicing in the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can still do
the arm movements, do the head movements, coordinate your breathing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t really kick very well, but you can
walk-in-place to simulate doing something with your legs. It’s particularly
good for people who are afraid of the water. You could even have contests and
give prizes to the best dry-land “swimmers.” Medals. Trophies. Glitz and
glamour. Hell, let’s make it an Olympic sport.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At first, dry-land “swimming” might
simulate swimming in water insofar as possible, but with time -- and without
water -- some people start <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“gaming” the
rules. Since they have no commitment to swimming in water --- because they
never intend to actually do so – they start looking for short cuts, trimming
corners, doing things in such an incorrect manner, that, if done in the water, they
would most certainly drown. But on land, with no risk of drowning -- with no
real world "feedback" --- people could indulge in all sorts of such
suicidal antics and call it "swimming." </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Somewhere along the line, some bright
mind might point out that the swimming done on dry land seems to have lost a certain
je ne sais quoit, but I don’t know what. To rediscover the lost art of true
swimming, this innovator pours over the dusty texts of the “great swimming
masters” and as a result of this exhaustive research, has his swimmers not only
copy as closely as possible the postures depicted in these books, but also has
his “swimmers” stand in a shallow trough of water, and, to polish it off, gives
them a good hosing. Certain that he has captured the “essence” of swimming, he
has no idea that it’s --- shall we say a “watered-down” version – that still
bears little resemblance to the swimming done in water.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Of course, there are one or two people
who don’t “go along to get along” with the popular trend. They look at dry-land
swimming and immediately recognize that the emperor has no speedos. These folks
continue to swim in water as they’ve always done --- not just in pools, but
also in lakes and rivers and even the ocean! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And these miscreants pass the practice on to
others – young people who then waste their time swimming in water when they
could be swimming on dry land like everyone else and win fame and fortune,
scholarships, “Olympic gold,” and a chance to write a memoir about how dry-land
swimming changed their lives, gave them self-esteem, took them out of poverty, introduced
them to the Meaning of Life. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When that happens, those who actually
swim in water will be ridiculed as "old-fashioned," or "out of
touch," <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“dinosaurs” or
"poseurs who couldn't make it with the big boys" of the "modern
sport" of dry-land "swimming." <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They only swim in water, you see, because
it’s easier, slower, and less athletic. They didn’t have the "talent” to swim
on dry land, weren’t willing to put in the “hard work” required.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The most charitable critics will say, “it’s
an old, obsolete style of swimming that once had some practical value, but has
now evolved into a modern sport.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It seems quite unreasonable to the
modern-sport dry-land swimmers, that the last practitioners of the old style of
swimming in water, refuse to accept dry-land swimming as a “valid” swimming
style. After all, both are just variations of the same “art” and with no
“objective” way to measure that one is any more “valid” than the other. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Does this little swimming scenario seem
absurdly impossible? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Oh, how I wish it were.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Insert a long, weary sigh here.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">*********** </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sadly, over the last 25 years or so, fencing has devolved
into something that is quite the opposite of what it once was. It is no longer
based on the intelligent use of the sword in a real “encounter,” indeed has lost
all verisimilitude to sword fighting. The rules, once based on the realities of
combat, have been “interpreted” until they mean precisely the opposite of what
they once meant, in quite Orwellian fashion. “Fencing” is now nothing more than
a contrived game, like baseball, with rules that are arbitrary and capricious.
There is no longer any sense, any logic, or truth to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even worse, while fencers were once famous
for their refined, composed and courteous conduct, they now make a grand show of
pique, displaying narcissistic fits of temper, screaming, crying, celebration
and so on. Had they any character at all, they’d be embarrassed by these infantile
outbursts. Apparently, they do not.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The very term “fencing” like the activity itself, has been
misused, debased and degraded until it retains none of its former connotations.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In around 1980, when the “sport” called “fencing” began to
divert radically from what fencing had hitherto been, and veered off on to an antithetical path, I began
using the term “classical fencing” to distinguish between the traditional, real-world use of the
sword, the essential purpose of which was to survive a fight, and what I
dubbed “Olympic fencing,” the only purpose of which was to win a medal in the
Olympics.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sincerely regret having
coined these terms for two reasons.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First, I regret it because subsequently the term “classical fencing”
was gradually adopted by a lot of folks who had no idea what I meant by the
term, and didn’t much care.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some defined
it as simply fencing without the electrical scoring apparatus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(In truth it’s perfectly possible to fence
classically WITH the electrical scoring apparatus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I, and many, many others, did it for
decades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">) </span>Others made it a form of
“historical re-enactment” by claiming it was a “style” of fencing popular in
the 19<sup>th</sup> century, rendering it, thereby, nothing more than a
snapshot of arbitrary and frivolous fashion. These folks even copied the attire
of that past time, thinking that made them more “classical,” in the same way
that playing 3-chord rock and roll might become “classical” music if only you
wore a white powdered wig while playing it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Classical fencing" became a term that meant whatever the user wanted it to mean. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like "love." </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And "terrorist."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In truth, I took the term “classical” from music. The
Harvard Music Dictionary gives this description:<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> (classical music)
strives toward a particular ideal of "poise, balance, proportion,
simplicity, formal discipline, craftsmanship, and universal and objective
(rather than idiosyncratic and subjective) expression," affording us a
"standard or model of excellence that has enduring value."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span>It seemed like a good idea at the time.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b><span style="font-size: small;">-Steve McQueen as "Vin" in "The Magnificent Seven" </span></b></span></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The other reason I regret using “Olympic” and “classical”
fencing, is that these terms suggest that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“classical fencing” and “Olympic fencing” simply distinguish two
variations on a theme, two equally legitimate “styles” of fencing, like two
different flavors of ice cream.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They are not.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The distinction is, rather, between ice cream and manure.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the time, most good fencers simply referred to that which
would become acceptable as “Olympic fencing,” as<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“poor” or “incorrect” fencing, as “blade
bashing,” and “poke and hope.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I should
have stuck with that, and I wish I had.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But, at the time, I had many acquaintances, some of whom I rather liked,
personally, who were involved in the increasingly flawed fashion taking over
the sport. These were folks who wanted to make a living “coaching” fencing at
the high school or college level, and who were in no position to buck the system.
They weren’t the ones who changed the rules; most of them didn’t even like the
rule changes. But it was “out of their hands.” They had to “go along to get
along,” to get and keep a coaching job with employers who knew and cared about
nothing but the won/lost tally at the end of the season. Because of my emotional
connection to some of these people, I made a very bad mistake: I decided to sugarcoat
the truth, to avoid hurting their feelings and to avoid estranging myself from
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a very poor choice on my
part. It was a very cowardly choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
I was young, and if nothing else, it taught me a very valuable, if very painful, lesson:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a bitter truth is better than a sweet
lie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> As a result, </span>I resolved never to make that kind
of error again. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To be fair, at the time, I did not foresee how far from the Truth
of the sword the sport of fencing would veer. I did not understand how
ridiculously contradictory to reality and combat logic “Olympic” fencing would
become. I did not anticipate such a complete abandonment and then reversal of
every principle that had ever been a part of the sword, either as practical
self-defense, or as healthy exercise for the bodies, minds and character of
ladies and gentlemen.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"…a <span>decent respect to the
opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel
them to the separation.” <span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span><b><span style="font-size: small;">- U.S. Declaration of Independence, 1775</span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We have therefore decided to discontinue using the term “fencing”
as much as possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even “classical
fencing” is inappropriate and inadequate because of those numerous self-styled
“classical” fencers who have misappropriated and co-opted the term for their own
misuses. Unfortunately, it’s probably too late to trademark “classical fencing”
and redeem it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We may yet try.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, in the general, we will preferentially use the
following terms.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Behavioral Hoplology</b> is the study of human behavior in combat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This broad term encompasses all manner of
fighting, real and ritual, serious and symbolic.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Swordfighting.</b> That’s what “fencing” is and it’s about as simple
and clear a term as I can imagine for fighting using a sword. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Swordmastery.</b> Refers to the discipline of the sword, the martial
art of swordfighting and all that it entails and requires of body, mind and
spirit. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Swordman</b>./<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Swordmanship</b> This
is a word that indicates the indivisible unity of the sword and the human
being. In this usage it is gender neutral.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It means “one whose consciousness is manifested with, in and through the
sword. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While a fencer is one who merely
uses a sword to “do fencing,” the swordman IS the sword. I consider this
similar to the difference between “riding” and “horsemanship.” Riding only
requires that you stay in the saddle. Horsemanship requires an intimate knowledge
of, relationship with, and respect for the horse – and has practically NOTHING
to do with riding, per se.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I suppose we’d better hurry and trademark these new
terms before some idiot steals them, too, and claims that they refer to something involving
aged cheese, fishnet stockings, and some kind of ball.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
aac</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JhV71hzOkXM/VcO4MJXnUAI/AAAAAAAAAeg/jTIoDj8-KYg/s1600/the_swim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JhV71hzOkXM/VcO4MJXnUAI/AAAAAAAAAeg/jTIoDj8-KYg/s640/the_swim.jpg" width="483" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-51200233843038501362015-07-14T11:21:00.001-04:002015-07-14T15:20:16.603-04:00The Blade Doesn't Bleed<style>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1IzmK9ijF_0/VaUkJcftzqI/AAAAAAAAAd0/6cVlSL1pb_w/s1600/10001079.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="372" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1IzmK9ijF_0/VaUkJcftzqI/AAAAAAAAAd0/6cVlSL1pb_w/s640/10001079.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> Always make opposition in the final line</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is axiomatic that you must never make a frontal assault against a fortified position unless you have already neutralized your opponent’s
offensive capabilities.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is also axiomatic that a fighter who is centered cannot
be hit. “Centered” means he is in a state of mental, physical, emotional and
spiritual equilibrium.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Assuming your opponent’s sword is situated between you and
his body and in a manner that precludes your safely moving forward, that means
you don’t make an attack unless you first take control of your opponent’s sword so it can’t hurt you. You may control his sword physically,
mentally emotionally or spiritually.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the moment, we’ll just discuss physically.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A preparation is an action intended to facilitate a
subsequent initial offensive action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Theoretically, anything could be described as a “preparation,” from the
stomp of a foot to the wink of an eye.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But in order to distinguish sword-fighting from flirtatious flamenco, we
will limit the field somewhat.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We consider these <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>specific actions on the blade to be
preparations (also sometimes called <i>attaque au fer</i>, or “attack on the
blade”):</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Engagement</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Change of engagement</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Beat </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Change-beat</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Press</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Change-press</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Froissement </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Any combination of the above</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A preparation is simple when it occurs during a single unit
of fencing time. It is compound when it occupies two or more units of fencing
time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Quite often the preparation is combined with some manner of
footwork to move onto attacking distance. It is also possible, but rarely
advisable, to prepare by merely advancing. We’ll discuss that more when we
consider the contre-temps.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A preparation may open a line to direct attack, or it may
open a line to indirect attack. The best preparations give your opponent an
option of two possible actions, either of which will result in his being hit.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Example:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
a. You advance and engage in 6te. Your opponent yields the
line to your engagement. You execute a straight attack with opposition in the
same line.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
b. You advance and engage 6te. Your opponent closes the
line. While he is closing the line, you execute a disengage attack with
opposition in the opposite line.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s the classic “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t”
scenario.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You can create the same sort of situation using a change of
engagement, a beat, change-beat, press or change-press.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Take note that I say “with opposition” in each case.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is axiomatic that you must always make opposition in the
final line in order to protect yourself from your opponent’s reflexive,
hail-Mary counter-attack. Opposition includes both the placement of your hilt
and the angle of your blade.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the elementary stages of training, we exclude the head as
target, both for safety reasons and to avoid making a student “head-shy.” However,
in fact, the head and face are prime target,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>for the same reasons we exclude it with beginners. A hit to the head can
be immediately incapacitating, and even if it isn’t, it does tremendous
physical and emotional damage. Attacking the face makes opposition in the high
lines much easier for you because the angle of your blade obstructs your
opponent’s blade</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You can find your opponent’s blade in either
the horizontal or vertical plane. That is ,you may attack your opponent’s blade
from the left, the right, from above or below.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Virtuosity with the sword requires that you be able to
apply any type of preparation against your opponent’s blade in any line. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
NOTA BENE: that a preparation is not an offensive action. It precedes an offensive action. Offensive actions, by definition, have the capacity of inflicting a wound. No matter how hard you beat your opponent's blade, you will not inflict a wound on him thereby. The blade doesn't bleed. Some people seem to be quite confused about this, thinking of the preparation as part of the attack. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It isn't. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No matter how fast or how hard you do it, no matter how "immediately" you follow the preparation with the attack, the preparation is a separate thing. Perhaps an analogy will help clarify. Loading a gun is preparation for shooting someone with a gun. But the loading of the gun, in itself, cannot hurt anyone. No matter how fast you can load and fire, loading is a preparation. Only<i> firing </i>the gun can be an offensive action. Everything prior to that is a preparation. (It's a very good idea to attack your opponent on his preparation, but that's another story.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Always remember that your objective is to hit <b><i>without being
hit.</i></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>Ever. </i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You must render your opponent unable, in the moment, to EITHER attack or
defend. At the moment he is hit, he is effectively unarmed. But don't say that in court.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, never<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> rely on, or </span>make it a contest of size,
strength or speed. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rely, instead, on physics, geometry, and science.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
aac </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-10206429198137397472015-06-23T10:22:00.000-04:002015-06-23T10:22:59.516-04:00A Propos d'Un Accident<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3kD7rsMUWzQ/VYljkZqNwuI/AAAAAAAAAb8/wtCKbb2UF6I/s1600/Blood-Spatter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3kD7rsMUWzQ/VYljkZqNwuI/AAAAAAAAAb8/wtCKbb2UF6I/s640/Blood-Spatter.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">A Propos d'un Accident</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">by</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Raoul
Clery, Maitre d'Armes</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">(translated by Mary Anne Stevens)</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">(with additional commentary by Adam A. Crown, Maitre d’Armes)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">This article, written by one of
France's leading Fencing Masters, first appeared in the Feb-March 1983 issue of
Escrime magazine and was later published in American Fencing magazine with
whose gracious permission we re-print it here.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: red;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">During the time I studied with Maitre Jean-Jacques Gillet,
1977-1980, he was the head of the National Coaching staff. He fought fiercely
for correct fencing technique and strict application of the rules. He believed
that the proper role of the scoring apparatus was to assist the President du
Combat, not to replace him/her. Some “coaches” would argue that “it turns on
the light.” M. Gillet would simply respond “But it’s wrong and it’s stupid.”
Battles against corruption and stupidity, you may notice, are seldom won.</span></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Everyone still remembers how the
Soviet champion Vladimir Smirnov met his death last July [1982], during the world
championships in Rome. [Memory of this death has since long faded in much of
the fencing world, if the incident is remembered at all.] Everything, or almost
everything, has been written about that dramatic episode in fencing history.
Curiously, however, the fencing masters were the most discreet in their
appraisals. Raoul Clery has just filled in this blank by writing us a text with
the double merit of offering new considerations and of emphasizing that a
thorough reform of fencing is mandatory at all levels and in all categories:
officials, masters, fencers, and directors.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">At the October 2, 1982 meeting of the
governing committee, F.F.E. President Roland Boitelle opened the session by
paying tribute to the Soviet fencer Smirnov, mortally wounded during a bout in
the world's team foil championship. It was a highly merited tribute, as much by
the champion who will leave the memory of an exceptional foilist: Olympic
champion, winner of the World Cup, as by the man, whose dignity and conduct on
and off the strip were exemplary.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">This tragic loss plunged the little
world of fencing into consternation and fed the news reports on the sport for
some time. People tried to understand what had happened, where the
responsibilities lay, and how to avoid the recurrence of such happenings.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">People feared (though it is not
established at this writing) that the horrible nature of the accident might
have repercussions in our recruitment, especially among children. Some parents
have, indeed, said that they had not thought such an accident possible. Let us
reassure them at once. No such accident -- or even a less serious one -- has
ever been recorded in the young children's categories. The reason for this [is]
that the children have neither the body weight, nor the strength, nor the
aggressive violence that we see more and more among adults.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">In this regrettable affair, one would
have liked the French Academy of Arms to take a stand. There was nothing.
However, in France, 500 fencing masters teach several thousand pupils each day.
Above a certain level of competition, we fear the responsibility of the former
and the safety of the latter are not fully assured.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">A journalist wrote, "it would
not be realistic always to blame fate" in fencing accidents. We share this
opinion to the fullest when we notice that in a modest regional league, within
just a few years, the following accidents have occurred:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>•
The calf of the leg pierced through. It is really a joke to allow the
protection of legs by... a pair of stockings!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>•
A deep wound from a broken blade, just above the knee.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>•
A wound in the armpit, as far as the pleura, by a broken blade which penetrated
jacket and underarm protector.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>•
Finally, during an inter-regional foil championship: in the course of
infighting, the weapon of one fencer broke; the broken piece penetrated the
jacket collar of the opponent and went through the protective undergarment,
grazing lightly -- fortunately -- the upper left portion of the thorax.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">It seems urgent then to consider all
the problems which contribute more and more toward endangering the safety of
fencers. Among those that come up most frequently are:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>•
The Blade, of steel the same strength as five centuries ago, sometimes breaking
at an angle and transforming the weapon into a dagger.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>•
The Mask, of metal lattice-work, whose mesh can spread apart or break from a
violent blow.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>•
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The orthopedic Grip, which will not let
the hand release it in case of strong resistance.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>•
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Directing</b>, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">more and more lax in conventional weapons, letting fencers do anything,
in any way.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>•
And, in consequence, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">the very nature of
modern fencing, oriented more and more toward physical contact and brutality
than toward technical perfection.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Let us review these various elements.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TP_hmWIUpZ4/VYlluQrjBhI/AAAAAAAAAcY/8CdCOzcI6Os/s1600/3th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TP_hmWIUpZ4/VYlluQrjBhI/AAAAAAAAAcY/8CdCOzcI6Os/s400/3th.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Technically incompetent and suicidally aggressive. Double funeral.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">THE BLADE</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Its responsibility in accidents is
undeniable. Above all, this is what makes fencing dangerous. Of breakable
steel, fragile because of the too-weak portion of the tip, unpredictable either
in its resistance or in the shape it will take at the instant of fracture. When
it breaks at an angle, depending on the force of the thrust, it can penetrate
all fabrics currently in use, as well as the mask -- as the accident of the
unfortunate Smirnov demonstrated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">The first idea that comes to mind is
to find out whether the time has come to make modern blades heavier or to give
them more "body" in order to increase their resistance. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The power and speed of the contemporary
champions, the evolution of their game toward greater and greater violence, are
clearly superior to the strength of the equipment they use. </b>This explains
on one hand why accidents hardly ever happen among children and at the same
time explains why they are becoming more and more frequent and serious among
adults: the former are using equipment whose strength exceeds their own
physical force; with the latter, their physical force dominates the equipment. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Heavier blades would not break or would
break less; the speed of the actions would be reduced; directing would be
facilitated; it is even possible that fencing so practised [sic] would be
cleaner, better technically. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Obviously, such a reform would upset
many preconceived ideas and taboos, from which modern fencing seems quite
incapable of freeing itself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">The second solution one thinks of is
to find out whether some process could eliminate or at least reduce the power
of a steel blade to penetrate at the instant of breaking. Since the accident,
some have imagined that it might be possible to have at the base of the blade,
near the guard, a sort of "pre-break" capable of releasing the entire
blade when its flexibility exceeds a pre-determined threshhold [sic]. That is
one solution, though we may still fear that the weak part of the blade near the
point, might break at a lesser pressure than that set at the base. Thus, we must
suppose that a blade would sometimes break into several pieces. Besides, we can
wonder where the commercialization of such an item might lead, and what
reactions -- justified or not -- it might provoke among the clientele.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Another solution might consist in
inventing a device allowing both parts of the blade not to separate at the
moment of breaking, but to remain joined together and thus form a
"plug" -- a little like the way fiber-glass blades break. This plug
would considerably lessen the power of penetration; blows received under these
conditions could no longer go through a mask, and they would be more like
bruises than dagger thrusts. How to get this result? Perhaps by means of an
"unbreakable" wire, soldered to the back of the blade in a groove
like the one used for the electric wire. Not being a technician, I do not know
whether this can be produced, nor what the cost might be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">All the suggestions elicited have,
above all, the object of trying to retain the use of the metal blade while
eliminating the danger that it presents in itself, all while satisfying the
taste of certain fencers who insist that only the "contact of steel"
stirs within them "tactile," "visual" and, indeed,
"auditory" sensations. That is a reflection that leaves us skeptical:
on the one hand, because modern foil fencing -- with only a few exceptions
(French) -- seems to us to rely more on articulation of the shoulder than upon
that of the fingers; the role of sight has not much to do with the
consciousness of steel; that of the ear can be considered as entirely
negligible; and on the other hand, because everything is a matter of habit and
adaptation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Fifty years ago, for example, all the
tennis players in the world uniformly used racquets [sic] of wood, strung with
cat-gut. Today, without wood being completely abandoned, nor cats on the road
to extinction, they manufacture tennis racquets [sic] (as well as fishing
poles, skies, ski-poles, etc.) of metal, of carbon fibre, or of glass/resin
fibre, and the strings are sometimes nylon or sometimes altogether different.
This evolution in equipment does not seem to have harmed the quality of the
modern tennis champions, who have preserved all their "sensations"
and their "touch."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Then wouldn't it be possible, simply,
to support a development of this sort, researching the manufacture of a blade
of synthetic material, presenting the same qualities (weight, stiffness,
suppleness) as the steel blade, without its drawbacks? Even if the production
of such a blade were expensive, which is not certain, this expense should
quickly be amortized it could last (as has been said) several years. Knowing
that at present a competitive fencer breaks, year in, year out, an average
(very approximate) of a dozen blades, this should not be, in average terms, too
costly for the fencer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Everyone knows, too, in our
profession, that, depending on the individuals and their personal styles,
certain fencers break twice as many blades as other. Which corresponds exactly
to the indication of danger they constitute on the fencing strip.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">In our salle, we prefer the use of the so-called “double-wide” epee
blade, also known as the “musketeer” blade. Just as M. Clery notes, these
blades slow down the pace, resulting in a greater degree of verisimilitude,
clarifiy the phrase, AND are far less like to break under any circumstances.
But they are stiff and receiving a touch is unpleasant. We make the
accommodation by using more protective jackets and/or plastrons.</span></i></b></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9IlBWri6vbU/VYloNsxJoTI/AAAAAAAAAc8/bRvnQT-VrVc/s1600/5th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9IlBWri6vbU/VYloNsxJoTI/AAAAAAAAAc8/bRvnQT-VrVc/s1600/5th.jpg" /></a></div>
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Wrestling distance, not fencing distance</div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">THE MASK</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">It was the mask that let the broken
blade reach the unfortunate Soviet fencer. Could it have stopped it? That is
the question.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">A
violent blow, after the breaking of the blade, can push apart or divide the
mesh</span></b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">
of the present-day mask, especially if it has already been weakened from
sweating and wear. When one fences a lot and sweats abundantly, the mask can
deteriorate quickly. In the big competitions, an equipment check is expected.
We have no reason to doubt that this indeed took place under the conditions
stated in the Rules (Art. 5 -- par. 27) with the aid of the spring punch. If
this is the case, then we must agree that the thrust which went through
Smirnov's mask exceeded in violence the norms and the pressure stated in the
Rule.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">A daily paper published a photo of
Smirnov's mask, clearly showing <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">a round
fresh hole about the level of the mouth, the mesh appearing neither pushed in
or dented. To produce such a clean break would require (if photo is authentic)
that the continuing thrust be executed with prodigious force, or else that the
speed of the forward movement of the one who received it (Smirnov) must have
been very great, or that the two fencers must have been right in front of each
other.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">These various observations lead us to
think that the solidity of the mask today is insufficient to insure the safety
of high-level fencers. And this is in the very element of its structure: the
mesh. This is so true that before <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">1914
Maison Souzy</b> had made a so-called rational mask, constructed of two
perforated sheet-iron plates (one for the face, the other for the head and
sides). Much stronger than the woven mask, the "rational" one perhaps
had the inconvenience of being a bit heavier (and we know that fencers have
always preferred lightness to safety), which increased sweating. Perhaps too,
its price was too high? I was too young at the time to know. Anyway, I used a
mask of that type for several years. I can certify that I tolerated it without
any discomfort, and I was not the only one! I retain the private conviction
that, with a mask of that kind, Smirnov would still be among us today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">As for the plexiglass mask, made of
"lexan" (motorcycle type) of American origin, we must try it before
rejecting it. Why can cyclists endure it for several hours sometimes without
discomfort, yet fencers would be traumatized after a few minutes? Annoyance
provoked by lack of ventilation, by the steam of sweat? This problem must be
studied more seriously than has yet been done. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Besides, it is evident that if such a
mask were ever adopted, the glances (visible) which the fencers might exchange
would open up new sensations to them, not in progression of the opposing blade
which is approaching but in the direction it is going to take and which the
glance might betray.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">It is however possible that the
plexiglass might more or less distort the image seen by the fencer and
interfere with the exact judgement of distance, an absolutely indispensable
notion for the fencer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">One might not forget, in constructing
a fencing mask, that it must, imperatively, protect the nape of the neck much more
than present masks generally do.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Most masks now are made of stronger, tighter mesh. We prefer the
stainless steel versions because the are the strongest. Prior to 1980, I never
saw anyone’s mask fly off in the middle of a phrase. I never even heard of it
happening. A properly-fitted mask ought not to do that. I’m told, however, that
during the irregular antics of current fencers, it has happened. For this
reason, they now require an elastic strap to hold the mask on the fencer’s
head. We prefer to see that the mask is properly fitted, and that the fencers
fence correctly.</span></i></b></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xCyFejCuRy8/VYloedlb5SI/AAAAAAAAAdE/iMMBbJ4m4IE/s1600/How-to-Counter-Attacks-to-the-Feet-Fencing-Epee-400x332.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xCyFejCuRy8/VYloedlb5SI/AAAAAAAAAdE/iMMBbJ4m4IE/s320/How-to-Counter-Attacks-to-the-Feet-Fencing-Epee-400x332.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Ugly, off-balance, and out of control,"poke and hope."<br /><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">THE ORTHOPEDIC GRIP</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">The first measure we heard discussed
following the Russian champion's accident was the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">banning of the orthopedic grip. This measure was demanded by the F.I.E.
medical commission the very night of the accident</b>. By returning to the
straight (French) grip, they think the pressure of the hand (and of the arm) on
the blade would be weaker at the moment of the touch, and that the said hand
would be released more easily in case of a frontal shock and breaking of the
blade. This is True! But the truth compels one to say that certain grave -- and
even fatal -- accidents have happened (in three weapons) between fencers who
did not use the orthopedic grip.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">More than 20 years ago, when the
orthopedic grip began to florish [sic] in all the salles d'armes in France
under the pretext that the electric blade did not have the same balance as the
old blade, F.I.E. President Commandant Bontemps -- no man for half measure --
decided to prohibit its use by fencers under 20 years of age "except when
medical certificate prescribes its necessity." He had to renounce this
project quickly before the avalanche of medical certificates that piled up on
his desk. Then freedom was left to everyone to use the grip of his choice, and
we observe today that a very clear majority of fencers, in France and in the
world, uses the orthopedic grip.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">To ban the grip, of whatever sort,
seems excessive. It is not at all proven that the grip was at fault in Smirnov's
accident.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">The
grip makes the weapon, the weapon influences the style, and often determines
the method or school.</span></b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"> Formerly, the two fundamental schools of foil, Italian and French,
founded their principles on the use of weapons of different structure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">The Italian foil with crossbar, with
a very short grip, requires holding the pommel against the wrist by means of a
strap. There still exists caricatures of the illustrious knight Pini, at the
end of the last century (at encounters with his French rivals Merignac and
Prevost) carefully wrapping his wrist with a sort of ribbon of impressive
length. To my knowledge, neither Eugenio Pini nor the great Italian fencers of
the period preceding the last war, who used the Italian foil, ever killed
anyone when they broke a blade. If I'm wrong, people will certainly let me
know. And if that had happened, would they have banned the crossbar grip and
destroyed the Italian school with the same stroke? <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">It is not so much in the grip that we must intervene, but rather in the
manner of execution, which has considerably evolved since electric scoring came
into use.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">On this subject, it is with much
interest that I read the declaration of Carlo Brusati, President F.I.E.,
regretting <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">the nature of today's
fencing: "heavy, without style, without standards (mesure), and the
masters and teachers, contrary to what was done in (his) time, no longer
require the primordal [sic] quality, that is, bringing the blade (toward the
target) with suppleness."</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">All this to say that it does not seem
necessary -- even with an electric weapon -- to put considerable force into
"carrying" a touch. One should be able to find among the great
fencers of this end of the 20th century what one admires among their
counterparts in tennis or among great pianists, an exceptional
"touch". We are far from this! <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Fencing
is neither boxing, nor wrestling, nor weight-lifting; one can be effective in
it without being brutal. In case of mediocrity, it's not the grip -- whatever
it may be -- that must be blamed, but the one who holds it and animates it. For
that, perhaps we must rehabilitate the working of the fingers and the wrist,
and the suppleness and relaxation of the arm, notions which passed into the
background a quarter-century ago.</b></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">The
combativeness of a fencer should rest on science and technique, not on
violence. Do not confuse, either, the "physical condition" necessary
to any competitor and the "physical force" which is not indispensable
in fencing.</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Sometimes
in the past they characterized the talent of the great masters by the
expression, "hand of iron, arm of rubber." Perhaps later, to classify
the fencing of our period, they will need to use the term "hand of steel,
arm of concrete."</span></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">We do
not permit the use of the “orthopaedic” or “pistol” grip in our salle.</span></span></i></b></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1flSRNg_GU0/VYloziFhucI/AAAAAAAAAdM/Mr2FGNZBRLU/s1600/th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1flSRNg_GU0/VYloziFhucI/AAAAAAAAAdM/Mr2FGNZBRLU/s1600/th.jpg" /></a></div>
Dangerous and just plain stupid.<br /><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">DIRECTING</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">There is the habit, in sports, in the
case of an incident, or alas! an accident, to blame the officiating. The
accident of Smirnov was no exception to this rule. There were even harsh words
with the directors after the world championships, but certain qualifications
used were excessive.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">If a case is to be made on the
matter, it must be about directing in general, rather than about particular
directors. Let me explain. In whatever sport it may be, the rules of the game
are set by an international governing body which defines them and explains them
in order to make them known to all, and charges the officials to watch over
their application. If something is wrong in the application, the international
body has the imperative duty to convene the officials and to explain its
thoughts on the disputed points, in order to arrive at a unity of doctrine.
This is absolutely indispensable to trainers and instructors so that training
and instruction may support each other and conform well to the texts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">At present, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">in the absence of any reaction of the international organization
against excesses (corps-a-corps, running, violence, dangerous play, attacks
with bent arm, lack of discipline, etc.) which trainers and masters complain of
more and more, one has the right to think that the F.I.E. is satisfied with
"conventional" fencing as it is practiced, and with the way it is
directed.</b> Why then should the officials judge otherwise than they do?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">However, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">it is evident that a certain laxness has set in, led by electric
scoring</b>. Though the rules have absolutely not changed, and on certain
points they have even been stated precisely, one cannot deny that today's
fencing differs more and more from yesterday's. It is possible that there may
be a sort of tacit agreement among officials to leave the apparatus alone, in
order not to seem to be nitpicking. If today an international official had the
fantasy of strictly applying the rules, he would probably be rejected by the
community (directors, colleagues) and pointed at as interfering with good
directing; and, probably, stuck with the label they lately have hung on a
candidate for national director at his examination: "too severe".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">In the first analysis (or in the
last, as you like), it is up to the F.I.E. to set things straight. For the
following reason, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">the observance of the
rules which should bring about an improvement in the game, making it more
attractive, more spectacular, more comprehensible to the public, can only be
achieved by starting at the highest level.</b> It must set an example. The
observance of rules can then proceed toward the lowest levels (where learning
takes place), passing through instructors whose teaching must follow the rules.
It is an illusion or, rather, a mistake to hope to reach a solution from the
other direction. Everyone knows (at least among those who are familiar with the
problem) that the young fencer copies the champion (often more than he listens
to his master!) in what he does well, but also in his mistakes. These can run
counter to or even destroy all that has been taught him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">On another plane, that of morale for
example, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">the non-application of the
rules governing conventional weapons -- or an only partial application --
brings a considerable prejudice against correct fencers</b> or against those
who have been wronged. The essential reason is that in fencing every penalty is
preceded by a warning, which has been subtly modified -- rendering it a little
ridiculous, but certainly not more rigorous. In effect, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">our sport is the only one that tolerates errors without penalizing them
immediately; errors that put one fencer at a disadvantage without any
reparation. It is even possible physically to assault an opponent, in the
course of a violent action which might send him to the hospital without being
otherwise penalized than by a SPECIAL warning!</b> In other sports, warning
accompanies a penalty and precedes a more severe penalty in case of repetition;
in fencing, the warning always precedes the penalty.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">One could write a volume on the
anomaly and the derision of fencing penalties, for they exist only in the
books! The responsible people in the F.I.E. think they are doing their whole
duty by adding one article to another, without supervising its application. For
a good quarter-century, they have been playing this little game which is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">causing the spirit and the quality of
conventional weapons to disappear</b>. To take just one example, several years
ago they added to the rules precise directives about <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">the correct execution of attacks, in</b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">which the extension of the arm must precede the advancement of the
foot. </b>However, people continue to give right of way to an action forward,
with the arm pulled back during its entire development, while along the way the
opponent attacks "on preparation". We have been able to see this
recently in the gala women's tournament at the famous "centenary" of
the Federation. With such errors in directing, how are instructors supposed to
teach? It is true that they are practically never consulted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Finally, to finish this chapter, it
is perhaps not useless to dwell on one other aspect of directing which D.T.N
Oprendek raises in his report on the 1982 world championships. This is the
matter of certain high-level fencers conducting themselves toward international
directors likely to be active in the course of competition with a sort of
conciliatory behavior based on flattery, on admiring praise, to dispose them in
their favor in case of need. Oprendek has used as reference in this type of
seduction operation the former Olympic champion Drimba.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><i><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">In our
salle ALL fencers are expected to be competent judges and director’s, and are
trained to apply the rules strictly. Since we are not interested in “winning”
by accident, all touches must be made clearly and distinctly enough to be recognized
by the judges, and must occur in a clear phrase d’armes. No other hits are
counted as touches. We also continue to count touches AGAINST the fencer who
receives them, not in favor of the one who delivers them. We believe this helps
to emphasize the importance of defense, and de-emphasize the importance of
offence, leading to a more conservative, less aggressive and more realistic
bout.</span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><i><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Further,
we IMMEDIATELY DISQUALIFY a fencer for ANY emotional displays whatsoever, while
in the salle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rude narcissistic
conduct that seem to be in fashion among “sport” fencers would result in their
expulsion from the salle and the annulment of any victories, prizes, etc that
had won in that event.</span></i></b></span></div>
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Rude, boorish and narcissistic.<br /><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">THE GAME</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">It is evident that in the past
quarter of a century the nature of the game, the very character of conventional
fencing, has changed. The fencer in general no longer presents entirely the
same silhouette; his game no longer has the same clarity or evenness as before.
Very recently, during a retrospective on Italian sport, rebroadcast on
television, two fencers of thirty years ago were contending in a world
championship final. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Elegant bearing and
position, displacements in measure with the strict minimum required by
distance, practically perfect mastery and ease of movement, left arm in the
air, rounded not to "look pretty" but for the role it has to play in
balance, and respect for the rule which prescribes implicitly that the valid
surface of the trunk must be unconcealed.</b> It was hard not to compare this
immediately with the picture presented by today's fencer, whose back arm -- its
action denied and denigrated -- hangs down, most often between the legs like
the trunk of an elephant, whose armed hand is everywhere and nowhere, and whose
leg movements are wide and crazy leaps. The announcer gives the names of the
antagonists: d'Oriola, Mangiarotti. Evidently it is another time, another
fencing, even if combat still remains combat if the "rules of the
game" are still exactly the same.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Is this view of things personal, or
is it shared by other personalities? To find out, let's let several fencers of
different generations express themselves.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Didier
Flament</span></b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">,
an active fencer toward the end of his career, declared "I think that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">referees must show themselves more vigilant
and exacting toward fencers who tend to profit from their physical qualities,
to the detriment of technicians respecting the true spirit (of foil)...</b>This
is no longer classic fencing, but sabre for boarding ships!" Thus, Flament
regrets the disappearance (or the impossibility of doing) classical fencing,
that is fencing "which does not depart from the established rules".</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Christian
d'Oriola,</span></b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"> Olympic champion thirty years ago, does not formulate a precise
criticism, but he recognizes that "physical engagement is pushed more and
more, especially among high-level performers." He estimates that one does
not actually violate the rules, though one follows them a little
"energetically", and thinks that by "armoring" the fencers
a little more, one might protect them against accidents.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">J.Leal,</span></b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"> in Figaro, is
practically the only one, with Flament, to consider that it "<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">is urgent to review the rules of directing,
so that fencing does not become still more dangerous."</b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Finally, I recall the already-cited
opinion of Carlo Brusati, President of the F.I.E., international fencer before
the last war: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">"Today's fencing is
heavy, without style and without standards." I</b>t is well said. It is
also an observation that coincides with our own. But M. Brusati has added an
explanation to this state of things which will be appreciated in varying
degrees by the instructors: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">"the
masters and the instructors no longer require of their pupils the primordial
quality of bearing the blade with suppleness,</b> contrary to what was done in
my day."</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I do not share Carolo Brusati's
opinion on this point at all. As I have already said, the influence of the
top-level fencers on the style of young fencers is considerable, and probably
stronger than the lessons given by their own masters. This is human, and this
is not peculiar to fencing: in sport, style is often a fashion. For example, a
whole generation of tennis players has forced itself to play using top-spin
like Borg and Vilas, because they were at that moment the best. And, in a
little while (retreat of Borg, success of MacEnroe), we are present at an
evolution in another direction, the effects of which we already see among the
constellation of talented young players that France possesses at this moment.
But as <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">for fencing, there is added to
that the existence of an important gap between the spirit (that is, the rules
of conventional fencing) and the letter (the manner in which they are
interpreted on the strip.)</b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">People can, evidently, disagree; that
is, furthermore, that people do won't stop us from continuing to fence. But
what kind of fencing? Do we think to attract a vast public by showing it an
often <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">incomprehensible clashing of
blades</b>? People are too quickly satisfied by this excuse, which is beginning
to lack originality: "The uninitiated don't understand anything because it
goes too fast." That is not correct. Anyone can follow the play -- even
very fast -- if the exchanges alternate. This is the very essence of foil. But
no one can take any interest in it if the exchanges are simultaneous. Scientific
deficiency in a spectacle has never unleashed enthusiasm<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">. A beautiful attack, a lightning parry-riposte, a prolonged exchange,
are understood by everyone.</b> We are scarcely spoiled in this respect today!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Electric
scoring</span></b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">
has meant a two-edged sword for fencing. It has brought a certain indisputable
progress in the realm of materiality of the touch. It has also, unhappily, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">allowed foilists to risk unknown actions
or, rather, actions impossible to accomplish in real combat (whence the rules
and conventions stemmed):</b> attack into the attack, double touches,
simultaneous actions, or actions rarely attempted before: remises against
direct ripostes, which partakes of poker.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">The electric scoring has allowed the
sport of foil to break away from its rules and to put into use <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">actions "not seen" or "not
accepted" previously by a human jury</b>.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">It is more precisely the excessive
use of the counter-attack in all its forms which evolution has influenced.
These actions have progressively gained on classic defense. At the same time
there has arisen a new state of mind: a sharp watch for the moment to act --
before the opponent.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Simultaneously -- alas! the mortal
accident of Smirnov has shown it -- the intensity of training of modern
champions, their physical strength, their speed, introduced into actions where
the opponents are advancing toward each other, are added; sometimes these
clearly exceed the norms of safety for fabrics and masks.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">The thrust into a thrust (long ago,
they used to call it <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">"the thrust of
two widows")</b> is, I believe, the most harmful, unfortunate, and also
the most dangerous action in contemporary foil fencing. An unusual action
formerly, it is now ancient in the minds of more and more fencers; it quickly
reaches the minds of the young as soon as they enter competition...and God
knows they start early these days! Can one remedy this, and how?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">In sabre infighting, the state of
affairs is somewhat comparable, but less dangerous because the cuts (the most
often employed) slide along the target, whereas frontal thrusts with the point
break blades. The sabre has invented a procedure to reduce the number of
simultaneous actions which were literally destroying the game. At a given
moment, this system obliges one of the fencers "to forbid himself to provoke
a simultaneous action." This method has been in use for several years, and
it must be agreed that since then the technical quality of the actions has been
improving. Perhaps one could get for foil a similar dissuading effect on
simultaneous actions if, in an analogous case, one simply counted a touch
against both fencers, as in epee: first, because the fencer on his mark would
have an interest in avoiding these: then, because in case of tie at 5 in a
pool, it could be decided as either a "nul" or a "double defeat",
which is not advantageous to the two fencers. Finally, these new conditions of
attack, which every fencer would confront, might perhaps provoke in the course
of training at the salle a more careful study of hand technique: parries,
ripostes, counter-time.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><i><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">This is
where we believe the cause of Smirnov’s death lies. The insanely aggressive
manner of fencing – which can only exist due to incompetent directing – would
be suicidal in the real world, but is homicidal on the fencing strip. When one
fences defensively, as if the blades were sharp DISTANCE is extremely
important. One does not remain in distance to be hit simple because one has
first hit the opponent. Instead one must “strike and get out,” instantly
breaking distance and parrying if necessary, a thrust coming from an opponent
who may be mortally wounded, but way well live long enough to make it a double
funeral.</span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><i><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Only the
most extraordinary mutual error should ever bring the fencers close enough to
engage in a wrestling match.</span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><b><i><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Today, a
fencer charges in like a football player, hoping, not “to touch without being
touched,” but merely to “touch before being touched,” because only the first
touch will “turn on the light.” That is, the scoring machine artificially
protects the stupid fencer from receiving his opponent’s answering thrust. We
require that the fencer do it himself/herself.</span></i></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;"><b><i><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">In our salle, one is expelled for any conduct that is dishonest, discourteous or dangerous. </span></i></b></span></div>
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<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NqTGxrY6jfI/VYlqaRETxVI/AAAAAAAAAdg/ynLj5IUthA0/s1600/6th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NqTGxrY6jfI/VYlqaRETxVI/AAAAAAAAAdg/ynLj5IUthA0/s1600/6th.jpg" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
Off-balance and out of control. <br />
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">CONCLUSION</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">As is seen, the accident that cost
Vladimir Smirnov his life can have useful consequences if it leads us to
reconsider all the problems that concern the classic weapon. This would
constitute a homage to him.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Without wishing in any way to force
the hand of the responsible international people, it would seem that the
principal points to examine might be, for example:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>•
The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">study, manufacture, and utilization
of a newly-conceived material assuring maximum safety to the fencers. </b>A
simplification of the code of penalties. Suppression of prior warning for
faults in combat. Strict application.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>•
Creation of a body of directors, competent, independent, supported, oriented
toward strict respect for the rules, subject to yearly reappointment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">• Attentive research and elimination of
dangerous actions, harmful to safety and to the technical and spectacular
quality of fencing.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>•
Periodic consultation between the directing body and a teaching commission, to
reach a unity of fencing doctrine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>•
Establishment <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">of a code for organization
and discipline at fencing meets.</b> Research and elimination of "lost
time" which makes competitions long and wearying for all. The
"next" bout must go on the strip within as brief a lapse of time as
possible. Today, we must call the fencers, sometimes hunt for them, wait for
them to get dressed, to get hooked up, and for them to consent to say they are
ready. Tennis, for example, records all dead time in order to prevent abuses.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>• Simplification and reduction of
the composition of the directoire technique, at present too important, too
slow, and too hesitant</span></b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">. Very inferior to that of tennis, which is run by a single man, a
supervisor, who settles all disputes on demand, in the minimum of time, with an
indisputable and undisputed authority.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">It
is certain that a profound reform of fencing is needed at all levels, and in
all categories: officials, masters, fencers, directors</span></b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">. It is not normal
that in half-century of two sports about equal in public favor, one -- tennis
-- should have made the development that we see, and that the other -- fencing
-- continues to mark time. Perhaps we might also make comparisons with
equitation. There are reasons for that. It would be necessary to collect and
discuss them to understand them.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">But let's end on an agreeable note,
for we still have our defenders and friends. In a book dedicated to the
memories of his youth (La Mansarde, Editions France-Loisirs), the great explorer
and scholar, Paule-Emile Victor, has given two pages to fencing and to his
maitre d'armes: "It is in a big windowless room, cluttered with cardboard
cartons, boxes, empty sacks, it's there that my sister and I, once a week, took
our fencing lessons. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">My parents thought
-- with reason -- that this sport would develop precision and speed of
reflexes, suppleness and firmness of muscles, and fair play...</b>The maitre
d'armes was called Andre Krestovozdvijenski, adjutant with the 44th Infantry
(Lons-le-Saunier). He was an excellent instructor and very much the
psychologist..."</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">It is comforting to read that!</span><br />
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">We concur that to make fencing as safe as possible while
still retaining the highest degree of verisimilitude compatible with safety,
several things must be done:</span></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<b><i><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">The equipment (blades, uniforms and
masks) must be sufficient to the task</span></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<b><i><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">The President must enforce the rules
strictly and without exception, with “zero tolerance” for wild, brutal,
unorthodox play.</span></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<b><i><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Fencers must be trained correctly,
both technically and spiritually. Every fencer must have a commitment
to maintaining the integrity of the sword. Anyone who does NOT clearly exhibit
that commitment does not belong in the salle d’armes and must never be
permitted to take the strip, let alone remain on it.</span></span></i></b><br />
<br />
<b><i><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">aac </span></span></i></b></div>
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<br /></div>
Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-25330639179074765262015-06-06T10:18:00.001-04:002015-06-06T10:18:31.965-04:00Sword Truth vs Sword Fiction: Why I don't teach "stage combat"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LWJwqqV6UCc/VXL7qGf5ZLI/AAAAAAAAAbs/kLDVogSV8-8/s1600/th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="379" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LWJwqqV6UCc/VXL7qGf5ZLI/AAAAAAAAAbs/kLDVogSV8-8/s640/th.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I've done a little acting, some on stage, some on camera, and I know enough about the actors' craft to have great respect for those who practice it well. I may occasionally help out an actor or a director, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>just to enhance the safety of the performance.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I don’t teach "stage combat," and
certainly not to children.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of our core values is truthfulness. “The truth shall set
you free,” quoth the sage. With that in mind, let’s look at the difference between
“stage combat” and real fighting, or martial art-type training.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first difference is that “stage combat” isn’t really
combat at all. It’s not a fight, it’s a dance that only <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">looks</i> like a fight, especially to those who don’t know much about
fighting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The actors aren’t really
trying to hurt each other. They’re performing a carefully choreographed set of
moves to ensure that they <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">won’t </i>hurt
each other. The key to a good stunt is that it only<i> looks </i>dangerous. A
professional stuntman takes every possible precaution to ensure the safety of
the stunt. They rig the gear, do huge amounts of rehearsal, and so on.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The purpose of “stage combat” is to tell a story: to reveal
character, to move the story forward, and to satisfy the dramatic purpose, be
that comedy or tragedy, or something in between. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Above all, “stage combat” must entertain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be entertaining, the heroes and villains must
be larger than life, and so too must be the “fight” between them. To accomplish
the dramatic purpose, stage combat employs various kinds of exaggeration. It
may be exaggeration of the amplitude of various movements, making them bigger
than their real-life counterpart, the better to be visible from the cheap
seats. It may be exaggeration in the length, duration or complexity of the
“fight,” or the speed of movement in order to give the combatants super-human stature. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Quite often -- <i>too</i> often --the hero (star) prevails against overwhelming
odds with nary a scratch, or dances away after the fight despite grievous
wounds, which he shakes off as if they <i>were</i> nothing more than a scratch. And,
of course, in the end, the hero gets the girl.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These kinds of portrayals not only present unrealistic expectations about what the experience of fighting is like, but they also glorify it as a masculine sine qua non.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In short, they lie.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Very few plays or films depict fighting realistically, and
for good reason. Real fights are not entertaining. They are, to borrow a
phrase, “nasty brutish and short.” Real fights are not highly stylized ballets
punctuated with witty dialogue. Real fights are confused and confusing, ugly in
every dimension imaginable, and no sane person would anticipate a real fight
with anything but dread.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But they don’t tell you that in the movies.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The movies tell you something quite different, and none of
it is true.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stage combat (with very rare exceptions) perpetuates the lies about fighting, and the
believing of those lies has been the ruin of more poor boys than the House of the
Rising Sun. Oh, Lord, I know, I was almost one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, you might well ask, if I don’t like fighting, why do I
teach people <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">any </i>kind of combat at
all?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s a fair
question.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Roman historian Vegetius once wrote, “They are most
enthusiastic about war who are the least familiar with it.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first reason I teach real fighting is that
I believe the more you know about it, the less inclined you will be to do any. More
importantly, the less likely you will be to want anyone <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">else</i> to do any, at least not anyone you care about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With luck, I’ll whittle down that cheerleading
squad clamoring for more war. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I do my
job well, my students will see fighting as an ugly last resort, and never as a
dashing first choice.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, it is a regrettable fact of life that there may
come a time when a fight is unavoidable, because the consequences of NOT
fighting are even more horrible than the consequences of fighting. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would like to help you to be ready, willing
and able to fight intelligently and effectively when the circumstances demand
it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I suppose I should amend my purpose. What I really want to
teach you is to avoid a fight whenever possible, but to survive the fight when
a fight is unavoidable.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Violence vs Force</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If the Eskimo can have dozens or even hundreds of words (depending
on whom you believe) to describe subtly differing kinds of snow, then I think
we can manage more than one word – “violence” -- to describe every possible
kind of forceful action. All forceful actions are not created equal.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In his book, <u>The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness</u>,
Eric Fromm distinguishes two kinds of aggression: malignant aggression and
benign aggression. Malignant aggression is violence. Benign aggression is only
force.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Violence” violates. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That is, there is about “violence” a sense of wrongness, injustice,
unfairness, impropriety, the breaking of a covenant, dishonesty and general malevolence.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the law, there’s a thing called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">coercion.</i> When you use force or the threat of force to make someone
do something that they have a legal/moral right <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> to do, or to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">prevent</i>
someone from doing something that they have a legal/moral right <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to</i> do, that’s coercion. And that’s what
violence does<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. Violence is the illegitimate use of force to coerce or to harm an
innocent person or persons.</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not all forceful actions constitute “violence.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The intent of the person using force
determines whether an act is violent or merely forceful.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For example: suppose a man breaks into a stranger’s home at
3am and takes their dog away. Breaking and entering? Burglary? Dog-napping?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But suppose that man is a firefighter who is first on scene,
and the reason he breaks into the stranger’s home and takes their dog is to
save it from dying in the fire.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Same exact set of actions, but intent makes all the
difference. One guy’s a felon, the other guy’s a hero.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another example:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A man attempts to forcibly rape a woman. The woman uses a
firearm to defend herself and kills the rapist. Did these two people commit
morally equivalent acts? The rapist was using force to coerce the woman into
sexual submission, which she had a legal and moral right to refuse. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore the rapist was using violence
(malignant aggression). The woman employing a gun to protect herself from that
violent assault was using force, but not violence. She was neither initiating a
confrontation nor depriving the assailant of any of his natural, moral or legal
rights. She was exhibiting benign aggression.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another example:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bogalusa, Louisiana, 1965. Ku Klux Klan members arrive to
terrorize civil rights<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>organizers. They
are met by the Deacons for Defense and Justice, who are veterans of WWII or the
Korean War, and who are armed with rifles and shotguns. The Klan withdraws
without a shot fired.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In this case, the violence (malignant aggression) of the
Klan was prevented by the mere threat of force (benign aggression) by the
Deacons.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The Non-Aggression Principle and The Fighter’s
Mind-Set</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I strongly believe in the non-aggression principle which
states that no one has a right to initiate the use of force against another
person. One may only use force in self-defense, to protect oneself from
violence, or to likewise protect an innocent third person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I refer to the “aggressor” I mean “the
initiator of illegitimate force against an innocent person.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With that understanding, I believe that the value of
learning and practicing real fighting is to cultivate the capacity to sustain a
focused commitment to taking adequate and appropriate action, even under the
most adverse conditions, that is, to do what must be done, regardless of the circumstances
or the consequences.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You are there, you are alone, and you are all that stands
between violence and the innocent intended victim. If the predator gets by you,
innocents will suffer.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The fighter’s mindset is: “You’re not getting by me. I’m
going to stop you, whatever that takes, even if I have to kill you, and even if
killing you costs me my own life.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I sometimes refer to this mindset as “lethal intent.” It
doesn’t mean that you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">want</i> to kill
the aggressor, but it does mean that you’re ready, willing and able to do so if
the aggressor insists. The aggressor is free to withdraw.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Harkening back to the Deacons’ confrontation with the Klan,
it’s significant that no shots actually had to be fired. Faced with the
opposition of righteous, courageous and committed men, the resolve of the
cowardly Klansmen wilted like a flower in the desert heat.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think we need people with the sense to know what justice
is and the wherewithal to see that justice is done, people whose very presence
dissuades malefactors from their depredations, quells violence, and sets things
right.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Imagine becoming the kind of person who makes things better,
just by being there.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That seems like a worthy ambition, to me. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My belief is that the sword is an effective vehicle for
helping people cultivate the habits and traits that will enable them to thwart
violence and establish justice.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When there is justice, there is peace.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-- aac </div>
<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-1366551065226448712015-02-23T15:02:00.000-05:002015-02-23T15:03:34.024-05:00La Botta Secreta<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tAtHHnwSG8w/VOt3UJyW-xI/AAAAAAAAAag/OSLVJk1475g/s1600/Top-Secret.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tAtHHnwSG8w/VOt3UJyW-xI/AAAAAAAAAag/OSLVJk1475g/s1600/Top-Secret.jpg" height="205" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once upon a time, an elderly fencing master, after a long
and distinguished career, was asked, “How is it so many champions came out of
your salle d’armes?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Very simple,” he replied. “Only champions came in.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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******* </div>
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I’ll tell you a secret.</div>
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It’s the secret to being a good fencing master, good
teacher, good boss, good leader.</div>
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It’s a simple thing, and it doesn’t require you to go on a
diet, stand outside during inclement weather, or do any heavy lifting. It won’t
muss your hair or scuff up your blue suede shoes.</div>
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Here’s the secret in a nutshell:</div>
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Believe in your students, in your
workers, in your followers. </div>
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And show them that you believe in
them.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I offer the following four items of evidence for your
consideration.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Item #1: The X Files v The Y-Philes</b></span></div>
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Very few people, under very few circumstances, labor for
extrinsic rewards alone. They will, however, bust the proverbial hump in order
to feel competent and self-determining in dealing with the world as it exists
for them.<br />
<br /></div>
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Douglas McGregor postulated two different theories on
peoples’ work behavior, dubbing them Theory X and Theory Y. There is a fair
amount of social science research to back him up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each of the theories encompasses certain
specific assumptions.<br />
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Theory X assumes:</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The
average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if he
can.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Because of their dislike for work, most people must
be controlled and threatened before they will work hard enough. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The average human prefers to be directed, dislikes
responsibility, is unambiguous, and desires security above everything. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Theory X management is characterized by tight
controls, “micro-management,” and harsh, often disproportionate
punishment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Theory X thinkers view
people as expendable, easily replaceable. I think of it as the “Plantation”
model, the “Work ‘em ‘til they drop; slaves are cheap,” philosophy.</span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Theory Y assumes:</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The expenditure of physical and mental effort in
work is as natural as play or rest. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, work can BE play.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Control and punishment are not the only ways to
make people work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Man will direct
himself if he is committed to the aims of the organization. (Note, as example,
the great numbers of volunteer firefighters).</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">If a job is satisfying, then the result will be
commitment to the organization. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The average person, under proper conditions, will not
only accept responsibility, but seek responsibility. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">People will use their imagination, creativity, and
ingenuity to solve work problems.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Item #2: The
Mood Pyramid? </b></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Abraham Maslow postulated that there were a variety
of human needs that provided the motivation for human behavior. He arranged
these needs in his famous – and frequently misunderstood – “hierarchy of
needs.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d be willing to wager he
almost immediately regretted that he hadn’t called it a circle of needs, a
garden or a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>pantheon of needs,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>or even “Abe’s Big Box of Human Needs.”</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zBT65C0B_g0/VOuHHCCmtYI/AAAAAAAAAa8/d-9B1qugeYc/s1600/hierarchy-of-needs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zBT65C0B_g0/VOuHHCCmtYI/AAAAAAAAAa8/d-9B1qugeYc/s1600/hierarchy-of-needs.jpg" height="568" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Maslow’s five types of needs are:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">1. Biological or Physiological
needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2. Safety needs - protection from
elements, security, order, law, stability, freedom from fear.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">3. Social Needs (Love and
belongingness) - friendship, intimacy, affection and love, - from work group,
family, friends, romantic relationships.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">4. Esteem needs - achievement,
mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, self-respect, respect from
others.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">5. Self-Actualization needs -
realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and
peak experiences.</span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">According to Hoyle, 1) when one has a deficit in
one of these needs, one is motivated to fulfill that need and) 2) one must
fulfill the lower needs before one can address the higher needs.</span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The trouble with Hoyle’s interpretation is that it
is demonstrably false. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> IF, as typically asserted, the lower biological needs
and safety needs MUST be met before one can be motivated by the higher social,
esteem and self-actualization needs, just how exactly does one explain the
phenomenon of the volunteer firefighter?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A volunteer firefighter is a person who knowingly and willingly assumes
great personal risk in order to rescue another person (or sometimes even a dog
or a cat or other animal), who may be a complete stranger, a person to whom
he/she has no prior specific duty, thereby putting his/her own “biological and
safety needs” on hold for the sake of social, esteem or self-actualization
needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AND the volunteer firefighter does
this for NO material reward. If the “hierarchy” model were correct, then
volunteer firefighters would be impossible, at least without the influence of
incredible amounts of alcohol or demon possession.</span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is not the single lonely exception. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae" target="_blank">Spartans at Thermopylae</a>, to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Carton" target="_blank">Sidney Carton</a>, to <a href="http://www.rachelcorrie.org/" target="_blank">Rachel Corrie</a>, human history is replete with exceptions. And there are countless
exceptions today, every day, as ordinary people do extraordinary things,
apparently oblivious to their own biological and safety needs. I should hasten
to add that not all these things are good and noble. </span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I would submit that, in fact, those human needs, so
astutely observed by Mr. Maslow, aren’t arranged in a rigid, permanent
hierarchy at all. At any given moment, a person may be motivated by a
particular need, depending on a complex web of circumstances. One must ask,
like a good actor, not just “What is this person’s motivation?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but also “What is this person’s motivation AT THIS
MOMENT.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That notwithstanding, it’s also
true that a person may seem to have a particular core need that tends to drive
his/her behavior. Often, this driving need is the result of some significant
experience of deficit, in that person’s past, for which their current behavior
is an attempt to either compensate, or prevent a recurrence of the experience. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Find out what it means to me. – Aretha Franklin</span></div>
</blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Item #3:
Don’t it Make My Brown Eyes Blue</b></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The day after civil rights leader and anti-war
spokesman Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was murdered, Jane Elliot, a third grade
teacher decided to try an experiment to help her all-white class understand the
meaning of racial discrimination. </span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">On
that first day of the exercise, she designated the blue-eyed children as the
superior group. Elliott provided brown fabric collars and asked the blue-eyed
students to wrap them around the necks of their brown-eyed peers as a method to
easily identify the minority group. She gave the blue-eyed children extra
privileges, such as second helpings at lunch, access to the new jungle gym, and
five extra minutes at recess. The blue-eyed children sat in the front of the
classroom, and the brown-eyed children were sent to sit in the back rows. The
blue-eyed children were encouraged to play only with other blue-eyed children
and to ignore those with brown eyes. Elliott would not allow brown-eyed and
blue-eyed children to drink from the same water fountain and often chastised
the brown-eyed students when they did not follow the exercise's rules or made
mistakes. She often exemplified the differences between the two groups by
singling out students and would use negative aspects of brown-eyed children to
emphasize a point.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At
first, there was resistance among the students in the minority group to the
idea that blue-eyed children were better than brown-eyed children. To counter
this, Elliott lied to the children by stating that melanin is responsible for
making children blue-eyed and was also linked to their higher intelligence and
learning ability. Shortly thereafter, this initial resistance fell away. Those
who were deemed "superior" became arrogant, bossy, and otherwise
unpleasant to their "inferior" classmates. Their grades on simple
tests were better, and they completed mathematical and reading tasks that had
seemed outside their ability before. The "inferior" classmates also
transformed – into timid and subservient children who scored poorer on tests,
and even during recess isolated themselves, including those who had previously
been dominant in the class. These children's academic performance suffered,
even with tasks that had been simple before.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The
next Monday, Elliott reversed the exercise, making the brown-eyed children
superior. While the brown-eyed children did taunt the blue-eyed children in
ways similar to what had occurred the previous day, Elliott reports it was much
less intense. At 2:30 on that Wednesday, Elliott told the blue-eyed children to
take off their collars. To reflect on the experience, she asked the children to
write down what they had learned. Later she was quoted as saying "I think
these children walked in a colored child's moccasins for a day."
(<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Elliott">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Elliott</a>)</span></i><br />
<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In addition to providing a direct,
emotionally-connected learning experience for her students, Ms. Elliot brought
to light a vital psychological principle, often know as the Pygmalian Effect.
Simply stated: “people tend to perform in accordance with the expectations
placed upon them.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Treat people like winners, and they will tend to behave like winners; treat them like losers, and they will
tend to behave like losers – and lose.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is because everyone acts in accordance with
what he/she believes to be true.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Item #4 Goldilocks
and the Three Learning Domains</b></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">We recognize three types or “domains” of learning:
the cognitive, the psycho-motor and the affective.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In short, the cognitive domain is about
knowing,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the psycho-motor domain is
about doing, and the affective domain is about feeling.</span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The cognitive domain deals with acquisition and
processing of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>information.. If you can
explain how an internal combustion engine works, you’re operating in the
cognitive. If you can recite a history of 16<sup>th</sup> century fencing
masters, the books they wrote and what they said in those books, that’s the
cognitive domain. If you know all the rules, tactics, and strategies of the
game of basketball and who played for what team over the last decade and what
all their “stats” are, that’s the cognitive domain.</span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The psychomotor domain deals with the acquisition
and performance of a physical skill. Now, if you can disassemble and reassemble
an internal combustion engine, that’s the psychomotor domain. If you can PLAY
basketball, even if you can’t remember who started for the Boston Celtics at
the GARDEN in 1961, that’s the psychomotor domain. If you can wield a sword
effectively, even if you’ve never even heard of Capo Ferro’s “Gran
Simulacro…”that’s the psychomotor domain.</span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">As teachers, as coaches, as bosses, we tend to
concentrate on these two domains. Do our people have the knowledge to do the
thing? Do our people have the skill to do the thing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If they do, then all should be well, right?</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Not so fast, m’darlin.’</span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Enter the affective domain, the realm of the
emotions. The affective domain is how you feel about the thing, about your work. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the Cognitive
domain explains WHAT to do and the Psychomotor domain teaches you HOW to do it,
the Affective domain tells you WHY you do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It provides the emotional connection that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>motivates (back to you, Abe…) your behavior. You can have all the
knowledge and skill in the world, but without motivation…</span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Allow me to cite my favorite example. 1990. Japan.
“Iron” Mike Tyson versus James “Buster” Douglas for the heavyweight boxing
championship of the world. </span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Tyson was in the view of most aficionados of the
sweet science, a practically invincible champion. He had summarily destroyed
the previous 9 challengers in less time than it generally takes me to make
coffee. Buster Douglas was a good but uneven fighter, sometimes excellent,
sometimes mediocre. Though the challenger was ranked #3 in the world, the fight
was seen as such a mismatch, that the odds against Douglas were about 50 to 1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If there were bets made, they were bets on
whether or not Douglas would survive the first few rounds. It was inconceivable
that Douglas might actually win the fight, right up to the moment Douglas
knocked Tyson out in the X round.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Upon
winning the fight, the first thing Douglas said to the microphone-proffering
sports press was this: “for my mom, god bless her heart.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You see, Buster’s mother, to whom he was very
close, had died just 23 days earlier. He fought the most perfect fight of his life,
not for the belt, not for the money, not for himself at all. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">He did it for his mom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Because she had believed in him.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">La Belle</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I strongly encourage to cultivate your capacity to
believe in your people. REALLY, believe in them. In your gut. This isn’t
something you can fake. If you’re faking it, anyone with two brain cells to rub
together will see through your posturing in short order. It has to be real,
honest and sincere. If you’re a teacher and you can’t or won’t believe in your
students, if you’re a boss who can’t or won’t believe in your crew, then I
strongly encourage you to find another line of work.</span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Take Home Points</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">All people
act in accordance with what they believe to be true.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">People tend
to act in accordance with expectations placed upon them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">People are
not primarily motivated by survival or safety needs.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">People need
to feel competent and self-determining.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Teaching in
the affective domain is the key to enabling a person’s best possible
performance.</span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Recommended reading/viewing</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Religions-Values-Peak-Experiences-Compass-Abraham/dp/0140194878" target="_blank">Religion, Values and Peak Experiences</a> by Abraham Maslow</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Psycho-Cybernetics-Maxwell-Maltz/dp/0671221507/" target="_blank">Psycho-cybernetics</a>
by Maxwell Maltz</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/view.html" target="_blank">A Class Divided</a> (1985 Frontline Episode re: Jane Elliot)</span><style><!--
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<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> aac</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-1878221857075900322015-02-19T15:57:00.001-05:002015-02-19T15:57:31.728-05:00Don Pedro Sangre<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QCUIr7PHiY0/VOZL6JZAwEI/AAAAAAAAAaE/hG6zhG-h8e8/s1600/captain2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LlrHeFevBeA/VOZNl0YuJZI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/7IGr72tE_BA/s1600/cb0021%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LlrHeFevBeA/VOZNl0YuJZI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/7IGr72tE_BA/s1600/cb0021%2B2.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was soon over. The brute strength, upon which Levasseur
so confidently counted, could avail nothing against the Irishman’s practiced
skill. When, with both lungs transfixed, he lay prone on the white sand
coughing out his rascally life, Captain Blood looked calmly at Cahusac across
the body.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">“I think that cancels the articles between us,” he said. <span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">-- Raphael Sabatini, <i>Captain
Blood</i></span></div>
Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3510600777164922191.post-53683221311625102532015-02-13T14:29:00.000-05:002015-02-13T14:31:10.721-05:00Hero Homework #12<style>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YC2ej3bI4R4/VN5Q8Phf37I/AAAAAAAAAZ0/LbTCyDqw26s/s1600/magic-trick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YC2ej3bI4R4/VN5Q8Phf37I/AAAAAAAAAZ0/LbTCyDqw26s/s1600/magic-trick.jpg" height="358" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Movie Magic</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Film and television are extremely powerful communication
mediums, extremely powerful <i>persuasion </i>mediums. The viewing experience can have
a profound affect on the viewer, sub-consciously as well as consciously. It can
shape your beliefs, attitudes, assumptions, expectations, and values. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And without you even knowing it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But once you know how the trick works, you can never be
fooled by it again – unless, of course, you want to be.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m going to recommend three films to you. Two of them are
classics. The other, well, isn’t. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I want you to watch these three films, and I want you to be
a good audience. That means, with the two classics, both of which were shot in
black and white, I want you to let yourself watch them as if you were seeing
them at the time they were made. I know you’re much more cinematically
sophisticated than those earlier audiences, what with computer-generation now,
and so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But some pretty fine music
can be played on a very old guitar. So focus on the music, not the guitar. Let yourself be the audience of that time and that place.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The other thing it takes to be a good audience, is to
willingly “suspend disbelief” and let the movie take you on the ride it’s
trying to take you on. Experience the feelings the movie elicits. Don’t fight
it or force it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What we want to discover from this experience is what you
feel during the film. There are no right or wrong feelings. You feel what you
feel. Then, afterward, you can go back and examine HOW the film-maker elicited
those feelings from you. The idea is to identify the “tricks of the trade” so you won't be quite so easy to trick.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Years back, I attended a workshop with Michael Hauge
(Writing Screenplays that Sell) and, among the many things I learned over that
week-end, I remember two in particular.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>The screenwriter’s job is to elicit an emotional
response in the viewer.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>The audience must identify with your “hero”
within the first 10 minutes of the film. Within the first 5 minutes would be
better. The first minute, would be excellent.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To identify with the hero means that you will experience
emotion through that character. There are specific ways in which the
writer/film-maker gets you to immediately identify with the hero:</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Sympathy - Create sympathy for the hero by
showing that he/she is the victim of undeserved misfortune</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Jeopardy – show that the hero is in danger of
losing something of great value to him/her</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Likability – </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Show that he hero is kind or good natured</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">b.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Show that the hero is well-liked by other
characters</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">c.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Show that the hero is funny</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
Then
you can give your hero qualities for strengthening that empathy and
identification. Such as:</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>A high level of skill in something</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Living or working in a familiar setting</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Having familiar flaws and foibles</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Being in touch with his/her own power</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Power over other people</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>The Power to do what needs to be done, without
hesitation</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>The Power to express feelings regardless of others’
opinions</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Superpowers</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Serving as the eyes of the audience</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The three films I want you to watch are:</div>
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</span></span></span>Birth of a Nation, Dir. DW Griffith, 1915 - 190
min</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qYC6uNZ4k94/VN5MzSWJ5iI/AAAAAAAAAZU/46rFknHH8d8/s1600/Birth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qYC6uNZ4k94/VN5MzSWJ5iI/AAAAAAAAAZU/46rFknHH8d8/s1600/Birth.jpg" height="400" width="267" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Triumph of the Will,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dir. Leni Riefenstahl, 1935<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- 110 min</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kmdFfI3hGjA/VN5N_PFe_-I/AAAAAAAAAZg/Z6f2aE4xsAc/s1600/TofWill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kmdFfI3hGjA/VN5N_PFe_-I/AAAAAAAAAZg/Z6f2aE4xsAc/s1600/TofWill.jpg" height="400" width="268" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>The Blood of Heroes, Dir. David Peoples/Guy
Norris, 1990<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- 102 min</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A2KkSLimCy0/VN5OMHOgUEI/AAAAAAAAAZo/8KpV2d_Ssg8/s1600/BlooHeroes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A2KkSLimCy0/VN5OMHOgUEI/AAAAAAAAAZo/8KpV2d_Ssg8/s1600/BlooHeroes.jpg" height="400" width="268" /></a></div>
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After you feel whatever you find yourself feeling during each of these
film, go back to my list of tricks and see if you can find when and how the film-maker started to manipulate your
emotions. </div>
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Don’t feel bad about it. Your emotions are hard-wired in.
They come "naturally," without any effort on your part. It’s <i>thinking </i>--- critical thinking, that is -- that's an acquired taste, and has to be learned, requiring both time and effort. </div>
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By becoming aware of your
feelings and how those feelings are elicited, you will, to some degree,
inoculate yourself against being manipulated. </div>
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You may never be "trick-proof."</div>
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But at least you won't be such an easy mark.</div>
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aac </div>
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Adam Crown, M.d'A.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04935893700819063828noreply@blogger.com0