After almost seven years of blogging, 1,320 posts and 4,381 comments I’ve decided to take a break.  This is partly due to burnout and partly due to the need to free up time for a project that starts in January.

This past fall I had intentionally started to pull back from posting.  I think deep down I knew that I needed a break.  However, I’ve been doing this for so long that I think my mind could not yet fully process the idea.  This week I had time to process things which led me to this decision.  Will I some day return to martial arts blogging?  Perhaps…

For now this blog will remain active on the interwebs–here to forever amuse or annoy.   Also, I plan to continue reading my favorite martial arts blogs and I may occasionally leave comments.  So I’m gone but not completely.

While writing this I had contemplated thanking at least a dozen martial arts bloggers, however, the list is just too long.  So a blanket thanks will have to suffice.  If I regularly leave comments on your blog or exchange e-mails with you, then you’ll most likely continue to hear from me.  I will say that this blog has given me the chance to learn from numerous martial arts bloggers — many of whom are masters or instructors in their own right–and for that I am grateful.

So, without further adieu, one last video.  It’s been one hell of a run!

Lombardy Poplars aka the Spawn of Satan

Back in September I blogged about my misadventures surrounding my attempt to cut down the second of two diseased Lombardy Poplars.  I had planned on an update but never made it that far.

First the update: In October I located a tree removal service and contracted with them.  The four man crew drove up in a huge boom truck that was complete with a wood chipper in tow.  One of the crew members scaled the tree and with a small chainsaw removed most of the branches.  Next they looped a rope over the top of the tree. This was to guide the top part of the tree from falling on my fence, my neighbor’s shed, etc.  Mr. Tree Monkey chainsawed the top off and the remaining three gave a nice tug which landed the top part of the tree in the middle of my yard.  After that they made short work of the tree.  Total time including the wood chipper?  15 minutes!

Man they made my attempts look pathetic.

The bad news is they could not fit their stump grinder through my fence. Ball in Patteron’s court!

Since I took the whole week off I decided to tackle one of the stumps today.  Yesterday I went to the hardware store and purchased a wood splitter.  The good news is the first stump had a whole year to start rotting.  The bad news is we had a lot of rain which caused the wood to swell and toughen.  Anyhow, after about an hour I vanquished the first stump!

I was about 1/4 into the first stump when I decided to take some photos.  Here’s the slideshow:

My morning:

• 30 min. on the stair master
• 20 pushups
• 50 crunches
• Roughly an hour smacking the stump

I am proud to say that despite being a white collar desk jockey I can still do manual labor.  Thank you martial arts training!  In fact, most eggheads in their 40s would have keeled over.  That having been noted, after about 10 minutes of swinging that heavy splitter I had to take a knee.  After that it was chop for 5 minutes, wheeze like an asthmatic, and rest for another 5.

Now I understand why you MMA types rave about sledgehammer training.  The energy depletion I experienced today was similar to that of a continuous sparring match.

For starters, swinging a sledgehammer offers numerous benefits. A condensed list includes:

• Improve work capacity
• Develop core strength
• Enhance grip and forearm strength

This having been noted, don’t expect me to purchase a sledgehammer and tractor tire any time soon!

Saturday I may tackle the fresh stump.  Given that it’s bigger and fresh I first need to sharpen the splitter.  I may also need to say a prayer to the God of Lumberjacks…

-BCP

By now you’ve probably seen footage of the UC Davis police officer, John Pike, spraying passive protesters with pepper spray.  “Spray” is a generous word — more like hose.  Anyhow the story and footage has since went viral.  From CNN:

A campus police officer, in a sweeping motion, sprayed seated protesters at point blank range during a police attempt to clear out an Occupy encampment.

The school said 10 of the arrested protesters were given misdemeanor citations for unlawful assembly and failure to disperse.

Eleven were treated for the effects of pepper spray, which burns the eyes and nose, causing coughing, gagging and shortness of breath.

15 years ago in a different life I was taught two versions of essentially the same use of force continuum — one for the prison system and one for National Guard riot training.  Both looked like this:

• Officer Presence — No force is used. Considered the best way to resolve a situation.
• Verbalization — Force is not physical.
• Empty-Hand Control — Officers use bodily force to gain control of a situation.
• Less-Lethal Methods — Officers use less-lethal technologies to gain control of a situation.
• Lethal Force — Officers use lethal weapons to gain control of a situation. Should only be used if a suspect poses a serious threat to the officer or another individual.

For passive resistance like an inmate sit-down or the UC Davis incident, we were well within our rights to use soft techniques to get the offender to move.  Two officers physically removing the offender would have been acceptable whereas hosing him with pepper spray would have not.  Chemical agents were allowed only if there was threat of physical violence or to regain control.

This particular incident is bad for several reasons:

• It feeds into the stereotype that all law enforcement officers are jack-booted thugs (not true)
• It’s disappointing to see campus police in a state that has a long history of college protest, react in this manner.
• This event probably has become an iconic moment for the Occupy Wall Street movement. (depending on your politics could be good or could be bad)

Not only did Lieutenant Pike unwittingly help the OWS movement but he also has the dubious honor of becoming a meme:

-BCP

When I was studying taekwondo we would occasionally visit the art’s tenets.  Included in that list is indomitable spirit, which is a refusal to be beaten, no matter how tough your opponent may be.  This past Friday I was channel surfing and happened upon a Gangland rerun.  This particular episode featured the Texas Syndicate.

The Texas Syndicate (or Syndicato Tejano) is a mostly Texas-based prison gang that includes Hispanic and at one time, White (non-Hispanic) members.

Texas Syndicate Gang Tattoo

About halfway through the episode they tell of 40-year-old Antonio Riojas.  It seems that Mr. Riojas got fed up with the gang and decided to quit.  From a transcript of the episode:

In darrington prison, 40-year-old antonio riojas had done the unthinkable.

After 15 years as a member, he had quit the texas syndicate, one of the most violent tejano gangs in the state.

He was fed up with its new generation of members who showed no respect for the gang’s codes.

Members, who asked to have their identities concealed, were on riojas’ unit when he left the GANG knew what was coming.

There’s no getting out, period, at all.

They’ll kill you.

That’s the bottom line.

So according to the narrator you have Riojas who is an old-school Texas Syndicate member.  He’s fed up with how the young members are acting, and, as a protest, quits.  The Syndicate responds by sending 10 gang members after him.  The gang members jump him in the prison yard and stab him 52 times with shanks.

Shanks for the memories

Now here’s the amazing part: After having been stabbed 52 times Riojas refused to fall!

Riojas was still standing but barely.

I had a shank stuck in the back of my neck sticking up.

I guess the handle came off, and it just stayed right there.

My left arm was paralyzed.

narrator: MARYANNE DENNER Was the first guard to reach riojas.

He says to me, he says, “miss denner, I gotta walk out of this rec yard.

So with the help of a correctional officer, Riojas walks off the yard and then collapses.  Now I am certainly not trying to glorify prison or gang life.  However, that, my friend, is a textbook example of indomitable spirit.

After watching this I first thought of the above scene from Clint Eastwood’s movie, “The Outlaw Josey Whales.”  Then I thought about something I either read on Rory’s blog or in one of his books.  Paraphrased (poorly) from memory: Miller talks about how children play cops and robbers.  Here there’s this notion that the bad guy keeps coming when shot, whereas the good guy automatically falls.  I believe he’s also seen this phenomenon when teaching in his training seminars, and it’s something he tries to deprogram out of the good guys.  Basically there’s this perception amongst the good guys that the bad guys have this bad guy indomitable spirit.

I do know that some old-school forms of tae kwon do and karate once trained for this level of indomitable spirit.  I also know that certain elite military units still train for this level.

(Note: I’m not showing this video as a statement about the effectiveness of the demonstrated martial art.  I show it because it starts to scratch at the level of “mental programing” required to foster indomitable spirit.)

There’s a lot to digest from this one stabbing example.  In fact, I’m not even sure how to close this post!  This much I know: Most of us white and blue-collar martial artists will never achieve this level of indomitable spirit.

I’m not sure that I even want to.

-BCP

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/

This second photo is related to the below recipe…

Lady Centaur?

Since we are on the topic of sin I thought it was appropriate to close this post with a recipe for Sinner’s Stew.  Head on over to terribleminds if you want to read the complete recipe!

We don’t have time for your mewling pleas and jibbering jabbers. The Devil and his consort will be here soon. For dinner. And they expect to be fed, by golly. What are you going to tell him? Are you going to look jolly ol’ Lucifer in the eye and say, “Hey, sorry, Lucy old chap, I was too busy playing with the genitals god gave me and thus have declined to provide a meal for you and your lovely centaur trollop?”

Yes. That’s right. The Devil has a thing for centaur ladies.

Don’t judge.

So, let’s get on with the stew, then.

This is what I’m calling a Sinner’s Stew because it contains three of my vices:

a) Coffee

b) Beer

c) Whisky.

Enjoy!

-BCP