Open Thread

Open Thread #370

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45 thoughts on “Open Thread #370

  1. At this point Trump’s enemies are just writing his campaign ads for him. He should just run a montage of Kamala’s word salads and cackling, men punching out women and drag queen opening ceremonies at the Olympics, unhinged uniformed thugs in the UK threatening to kidnap and jail Americans (!) for posting “inaccurate information” on the Internet, Walz setting up a Stasi hotline for Minnesotans to inform on each other for leaving their houses during Covid, etc etc etc.

    1. Hat tip to Vox Day:
      https://socialmatter.substack.com/p/calvin-vs-susie

      “Girls like Susie can be wonderful additions to a society, and can also create the most repressive longhouse known to man when surrounded with like-minded people, where it becomes a battle to who can conform to authority the most for a pat on the head.

      Susie has more of the qualities modern culture desires. She is an obsessive rule-follower, academic, follows all the social mores, and has aspirations to enter a respectable profession. Her only wish is to fit into the current mold of wider society. In the future, she will be a useful, though unimaginative cog in the wider culture.

      Susie Derkins, on the other hand, has the world catered to her sensibilities. She loves school because she loves the accolades she receives from authority figures. Her aspirations, whether they are having kids or being a girl-boss, are catered to and considered mature. Whenever she gets harassed by Calvin, authority figures immediately swoop in to defend her. It’s not her fault the world she was born into gave her more advantages and comfort, and there’s nothing wrong with her taking advantage of it. She’s just in a protective bubble, and has no understanding of what is required to keep her small world turning.

      Putting the Susies in charge, tragically, contrary to giving them fulfillment, have made them miserable along with everyone else. Deep down, the Susies of the world don’t want to live in their own strict, conformist world, but the exciting wonderland of Calvin.”

      That first paragraph reminded me of this quote:

      “Low status people would love a social credit score because obedience is one of the few metrics they can compete on.” – Michael Malice

      When I searched for that quote, one of the first results was Reddit, r/quotes. Clicking through, I saw:

      “Your post has been removed for incitement.”

  2. I finally got the chance to visit that BJJ gym that I was talking about! Left with a pretty good impression, although I got very lucky this night because only I and one other student came to class. There were 2 instructors, so this resulted in the two of us getting one-on-one instruction for the price of a regular class.

    I’ll have to take in more sessions to make a thorough value judgement, see how instruction is like when more attendants are there, but just the fact that they have an actually reasonable warmup routine (I brought my own however, which they let me do instead.) is already quite the green flag. This is unfortunately a common issue in the BJJ/Combat Sports world.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/martialarts/comments/epo6am/inefficient_and_ineffective_training_methods/

    ______
    But don’t think I’m just shitting on “TMA”s. What about modern arts that love to make you warm up with 100x pushups 100x crunches, 100x burpees, 10 minutes of planks and a full strongman routine before you even wrap your hands? Fatigue reduces coordination. Technical training is meant to be done while fresh, and specifically inducing fatigue before drilling is like poking a hole in your own tire before leaving for work. It’s self-sabotage. A good technical workout is not the same as a good workout.
    ______

    This was definitely one of the major issues of the gym I used to go to when I was living with my grandfather. Hopefully my good experience today will be consistent here. If this keeps up, this will be a nice placeholder until I can move.

    After the BJJ class,I made use of their weightroom (Its more cramped/limited than the previous gym, but its a con I can live with if it means I get better instruction on the MA side) and, although I have definitely become much weaker from the 3 months of de-training/inactivity, I am pleased to see that I am still much stronger than I was before I ever started going to the gym. Did 7 reps of 135 lbs on the Bench Press. (My PR on Bench has been 160 lbs for 8 reps, 200 lbs for 1 rep max. Hope I get back to that sooner rather than later.)

    Come to think of it,while my shoulder definition reduced, it never disappeared. My forearm size reduced as well, but they are still bigger and stronger than before I ever started training.

    What’s even more surprising however is my cardio. Its definitely not good now, but its still better than my cardio before I ever got into consistent training. I still had enough gas in me to do some lifting at the end of BJJ drilling after all. (I did make sure to eat a hearty meal before training though, which probably contributed greatly to that)

    I guess my year and a half of consistent training over at the gym near my grandfather’s really has transformed me into a different species like I’ve said before, lol. If any of you ever get/afford the opportunity to dedicate a whole year or so of your life to pure physical training (assuming you lived most of your life as a couch potato like me. If you’ve been athletic since childhood, this probably won’t benefit you nearly as much.), I’d earnestly recommend it. It is transformative, and will probably bring you permanent long term benefit.

    1. Well done 👍 I’d love to do this one year of solid training thing. Have considered a stay in Thailand to train at the Muay Thai camps there over the years as it’s a close destination. After seeing/meeting some Thai KBs whilst backpacking there. Those guys are made of steel ! 😯 🥊 🦶 (Thai guys in general are pretty hard bastards – all smiles but heard many stories of drunken backpackers being too cheeky or goading them and getting their ass kicked severely )
      A friend of mine trained there and set up his own gym in UK. He gets a lot of troubled and addicted teens joining and tells me ‘hitting the pads’ changes lives. 👍 Have tried KB classes here .. those ‘Russian-ball twists’ at the end of class near killed me haha. Great workout. Being a lethal weapon is on my Bucket list for sure. I’m mid 40s now tho…

    2. I have another Italian mate that studied’ Krav Maga.’ Didn’t help him much when we got jumped one night and had a street fight with a bunch of Aussie ‘bogans’ tho.
      Going off topic but IRL the best self defence technique is most often ‘ swift kick or knee in the testes’ (incapacitate briefly) and then“The sprint” method 🏃‍♂️ GTFO asap.
      Big punch to the solar plexus / gut to wind your opponent or punch to the voice box area maybe. Never to the skull (which is the instinct) as it’s too hard.
      A bouncer friend advised throwing a phone into the neck/voicebox also and then also the sprint.

      Would you reckon BJJ would be useful in a real life situation?

    3. Pardon for the late response, only saw this now.

      “Would you reckon BJJ would be useful in a real life situation?”
      – Grappling skill is important. If you have great striking skills, but are tackled to the ground (even if its by some untrained hoodlum. It happens. Fighting is chaotic), you’re in serious trouble if you can’t get out of that position.

      I think the greatest argument that can be made for BJJ/Grappling is “Force Continuum” though, this blog post explains it very well (among other things):

      http://www.joshjitsu.info/2011/01/bjj-and-self-defense.html

      _______
      BJJ is an EXCELLENT art for self defense. It teaches you to control your opponent, maintain a dominant position, and apply an appropriate level of force ranging from passive restraint all the way up to a fatal choke.

      If your drunken cousin starts a scene with his girlfriend at your sisters wedding is it REALLY appropriate to kick him in the nuts and gouge out his eyes? If your 6 year old is throwing a tantrum is the best solution an elbow to the spine?

      The answer is NO. Those are not appropriate reactions. But many arts would have you believe that they have no tools beyond those deadly strikes. They have no ability to restrain an opponent that doesn’t result in crippling or fatal injury.
      ________

      Sadly, you don’t have that level of Force Continuum with Striking. You’re either throwing an effective punch/kick (and risk causing concussions, breaking a nose, shattering teeth, etc.) or you’re not. There is no in-between.

      http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/ineffective_violence.htm

      “Don’t hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.” – Theodore Roosevelt

      Trust me, I know. The one time I lost a fight, is for having violated this rule. That’s a mistake I’ll make sure never to make again. If I ever find myself in a situation where I have (am legally justified) to throw a punch at someone in an altercation, I’m damn well throwing it with the intent of sending the bastard’s nose to the back of his brain. or I guess throwing them and making a run for it works too…

      And yeah, I did mostly Muay Thai training when I was at my grandpa and got more hard sparring sessions than I’ve ever had in the past. It was definitely not long-term sustainable. But I’ve had some very valuable learning experiences there. (we were having those hard sparring sessions WAY too often. encountered a few douchebags in training too who WILL still go hard on you even if you ask to go light. I was fortunately in the position where I was strong/good enough to use them as an opportunity for pressure testing. Maybe I’ll tell some stories some other time. I am glad I had hit the weightroom hard for awhile before I started training Boxing/Muay Thai there.)

      In fact, I think my experience there solidified to me that authentic MA training can be something I can be into for the long term, as long as I’m training under a more reasonable instructor with a more intelligent training approach. Hard Sparring is often the litmus test to eventually (not done/thrown to the wolves on the first day) see if you can really hack it at this stuff, or if you’re probably better off doing something else.

    4. @Maou,
      Can you combine both boxing and BJJ? Why choose one over another when you can try both?

    5. @ Maou- great stuff 👍
      the grappling – I hadn’t considered that yes very important and your points on restraint. Sounds like a great style to learn.

      A friend of mine was learning Jujitsu (I think) recently ,was telling me about it. he got very annoyed w it as the more experienced guys were hammering him in training! Using him as a newbie to flex their muscles so to speak.
      He also said the closest thing to compare it to was “fucking” haha. I guess with all the grappling and wrestling a man on the ground lol. He’s a tall very lean and wiry but strong guy. I can only imagine at 5’10” I’d get pummelled and be very sore after it if I tried😳 😫I wondering was it jujitsu now can’t fully recall . Maybe BJJ as he talked about the grappling etc a lot (?) 🤷🏻‍♂️ I’ll ask him again today.
      I’d like to learn Hapkaido (?name) as it’s is more about incapacitating and another friend student of it showed me some cool moves.
      A handshake into a wrist break move (wow!) now THATS some stealth shit that’d be handy in a IRL fight situation. “ hey no worries buddy – let’s just shake hands on it … “ CRACK!! 😫

      Re the street fighting IRL – BJJ would help but remember most street fights is Vs, multiple assailants so … imo another style may be better? (not sure -must research BJJ more I’ll be honest)
      Krav Maga , or some of that French self defence stuff with the elbows and arm breaks . Quick incapacitating moves up close I would think would be the most effective, or longer range hard kicks like Muy Thai.
      I’d want to get the other guys down quick and stay down to frighten the others.

      The best IRL demo I ever saw was a Māori bouncer who cold knocked out 4 guys in a row outside this bar I hung out in.. one punch each all 4 went down to the kerb, amazing!!

      Māori / New Zealand , Tongans , Fijians etc those islander guys are seriously hard bastards. With incredible strength,
      ‘Once Were Warriors’ and all of that ( the name of famous movie to check out if you don’t know if). They all bouncers here in Aus because of that reason. Only a fool would mess with them,

      I mean just look at the All Blacks Rugby team and a guy like Joe Rokocoko for example.

    6. @CQV

      If one is serious about self-defense, knowing how to handle yourself on your feet and on the ground are important. Arguing that one is more important than the other is like arguing whether a screwdriver is more important than a hammer or vice-versa. Both have their time and place. A grappler that doesn’t know how to handle getting punched in the face is just as worse off as the striker that is lost on what to do when he ends up laying on his back with someone on top of him.

      https://www.azquotes.com/picture-quotes/quote-punch-a-black-belt-in-the-face-he-becomes-a-brown-belt-punch-him-again-purple-carlson-gracie-75-72-20.jpg

      Weapons and Scenario-Based Training is also important though, if one is truly serious about training for self-defense. Lets face it, if a burglar with a knife invaded your home, do you think your fists are the best tools to handle the job? The experience of fighting in a ring and fighting for your life in an altercation are VERY different experiences.

      @Cheeky

      “Re the street fighting IRL – BJJ would help but remember most street fights is Vs, multiple assailants so … imo another style may be better?”

      Every Martial art has its holes/weaknesses. That’s how the evolution of MMA came about. You don’t necessarily have to go as far as those guys though in the study/training of martial arts though, even just the basic Boxing + Wrestling/BJJ/whatever grappling art can go a long way in covering your bases.

      Anyway, MMA/Combat Sports are a lot easier to check for quality control, which is why they are more widely recommended. This doesn’t necessarily mean they are better than Traditional Martial Arts. You’ll just have to be more diligent about source checking if you’re pursuing the latter. I myself am interested in the latter from some very specific people. Hopefully someday. Right now, at least I’m having a good time with the BJJ in the local area.

    7. @ Maou

      Just cos my iPhone is always listening and watching .. this popped up in my YT feed .

      Not even sure what the point of this video is wether it’s pro BJJ or not at the end of it 🤷🏻‍♂️
      Are u learning verbal conflict defusing stuff as part of the BJJ training?

      https://youtu.be/gZztPMkV9pQ?si=Vz09SMFhbC6U__cj

      I like this kinda stuff below- knowing and hitting the weak spots of the body etc these hardy French guys looks impressive ! Looks legit 🤷🏻‍♂️

      https://www.facebook.com/spiritbodyarts/videos/286739039157375/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v

      https://youtu.be/KRHgey305iY?si=Uo6sV8eHcok9IquA

      Especially these hand twisting moves.
      When my friend did that Hapkaido move on me I was pretty much paralysed like the guys in the videos above. Very impressive and just a few small moves required with the hand 😯

      ‘Dirty stuff ‘ like that is cool.
      Another dude gave me a “winder” punch when I was a teenager, after the exhale he punched me right up in the gut I’ll never forget that move, that dirty bugger. That one punch could knock a guy down gasping for air if timed right as it did me.

    8. Jesse Enkamp is a good guy. The title is obviously clickbait, but the message near the beginning of the video is correct. Just because you are learning BJJ (Sport Jiu Jitsu) or any other Martial art for that matter, doesn’t mean you are automatically learning Self-Defense.

      http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/bestMA.htm

      Its one of my dreams to one day train at a Gracie Academy and maybe even get to meet the Gracies myself, but I honestly didn’t expect to see that the Gracies address Verbal Deescalation in their training. Man, I am jealous! But I’ll have to make do with what’s available to me right now. I can tell that what I am learning definitely has relevance to real life application, but like Ryron Gracie described in the video, Sport Jiu-Jitsu probably has about 40% of relevant techniques to a real life confrontation. Hopefully I can extract a good chunk of those relevant lessons from where I am now until a better opportunity presents itself.

      “Are u learning verbal conflict defusing stuff as part of the BJJ training?”

      – No, what we saw right there isn’t typically taught in a regular BJJ or Martial arts class. To get those types of lessons, you usually have to go to specialized self-defense classes. Self-Defense and Violence is far too complex a subject for one stop shopping, so I wouldn’t hold this against such organizations as long as they acknowledge that reality AND provide quality training/instruction in their subject of their expertise. I wouldn’t expect amazing grappling training from a Scenario-Based training class, just like I wouldn’t expect Scenario-Based training from a Boxing gym. but I DO expect good Boxing instruction in that boxing gym. I think that’s a reasonable standard to expect of anywhere you train at.

      Just like with Traditional Martial Arts though, you’ll have to be diligent sifting for quality sources. I’m gonna be honest. the krav maga knife defense video you shared doesn’t strike me as a good one. Mainstream Krav Maga has a LOT of quality control problems. Sadly, anytime a practice becomes mainstream is when it often starts getting watered down.

      Here’s a more realistic training drill of knife defense:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB-A9D0EpPk

      And here is a great example of a good self-defense oriented school. I believe it was started by someone who was originally a Krav Maga instructor, but got disillusioned with the state of the system nowadays:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFLznkkZ5ak

      Hope this was an eye opener for you. “Dirty Moves” definitely have their time and place, but be aware that just because something works/hurts in the training hall doesn’t guarantee the technique is good for a real life altercation. We tend to be far more pain resilient during a fight. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug.

    9. Maou – awesome videos mate 👏
      Thanks I have subscribed to both channels now.

      These 2 vids definitely look legit and useful.
      I’ve been in a fair few street fights IRL ( for real no BS) Im from a very tough city in the UK originally. These videos are truthful as this is how it goes down IRL – very quick and very messy and chaotic.

      I think Alain Cohens videos are also legit but ..The obvious thing is he is a very tall, big framed and powerful guy ( a beast tbh) and all his demos are with smaller less powerful guys so.. big advantage and he makes it look too easy.

      IRL it can often be vice- versa with a more powerful assailant (s). Usually or worse multiple assailants a big guy and his friends standing by waiting to help him.

      Hence why I like the idea of Hapkaido. Very expensive that one here tho and a hierarchy of dickheads training it here also I have heard from my student friend 😒

      If a guy could learn some Hapkaido he could immobilise the main assailant and demo to his waiting friends and make them think twice.

      Or maybe this is just movie-hero stuff.

      The adrenaline rush is great help. Takes away some of the pain of an assault and most importantly for me fired me up to Run GTFO and fast!

      I’m defs gonna join a class now . These are essential IRL Man Skills every guy should know tbh.

      2 friends of mine got jumped years ago and beaten badly. One of them was a tall skinny lanky country boy that had moved to the big city ( the incident location) .that guy joined a kickboxing class afterward and stuck to it training hard for a year or so (maybe longer) he became a total ‘Weapon’ ( UK slang for hard bastard) as a result . 👍

      I wanna become a ‘Weapon’ also 👊 🦶

    10. The handshake move I still wanna learn.
      The last big street fight I was in .. my Krav Maga itialian friend was facing a much taller bigger dude.. itialian friend was getting ready in his Krav Maga stance I could see .. then assailant put his hand out saying “ don’t worry about it bro” .. I saw this and immediately thought “ don’t take the bait – don’t shake his hand” but I was facing another 2nd dickhead at the time.

      Sure enough my buddy went for the handshake thinking it was all defused . As soon as he gripped the hand his assailant smashed him hard in the face with his free right hand.
      And then on and on.

      After a bit I screamed at my buddy “ just fucking RUN bro!” We pegged it up the road a stretch with a gang chasing us. Luckily a passing driver in a Ute saw us running and the situation and let us jump in the trailer of his 4×4 Ute ( flatbed ) and took us back to our backpacker hostel.

      A lucky escape that one.
      My friends face blew up something massive the next day black and blue. He’s taken a few bit hits around the eyes and mouth . Lucky he didn’t get his jaw/ eye socket broken tbh, He was plotting revenge for months afterward.

    11. I wouldn’t recommend the “Fake Surrender” maneuver. Be alert/aware of it of course, but I wouldn’t use it. At least not for Social Violence. 2 big issues I see with it:

      – If you end up in court (and you should always seriously consider the likelihood of LEO involvement whenever you’ve been in an altercation), you have made it much harder to argue self-defense for your case. Why did you attack the guy after the handshake instead of letting the situation fully defuse?

      – If you earn a reputation in your local neighborhood for pulling that shit during beefs, people may no longer let you have the option to surrender when you genuinely DO want/need to because they don’t trust you.

      I’m talking about social violence here. If you have to back down from a fight, just take the L and walk away.

      The “Fake Surrender” does have its time and place though, but generally for asocial/criminal violence. Like a woman pretending to have submitted/agreeing to have sex with a rapist who has them cornered, and then pulling something violent and unexpected once the rapist lets their guard down a little.

      Or a criminal making an unacceptable demand. Such as allowing yourself to be tied up (and thus rendered completely helpless) and taken to a secondary location.

      http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/secondarylocation.htm

      There’s definitely times when Compliance/Submission isn’t the answer. A Fake Surrender here could probably buy you an opportunity to make a sudden unexpected move that lets you get away or smash the criminal if need be.

    12. Hi Maou

      I’m a bit confused re ur reply and this fake surrender.

      I think you misunderstood my story above,
      Or else I didn’t write clearly ( probably)

      The dickhead assailant of my friend did the “fake surrender” / fake peace offering offering his hand out “ no worries bro let’s just shake hands and forget about it” (or some such)

      I could sense it was a trap but couldn’t warn my Italian friend,

      My Italian ‘Krav Maga’ student friend got taken by surprise by the fake surrended of the assailant and got face battered as a result.

      I wouldn’t ever try the fake surrender/ fake peace offering,

      In a tense situation where a fight is likely I’ve been advised many times to get the first punch in . That was always my mistake … if the confrontation conversation with a guy has escalated to a point of no-return , or Im cornered or the other guy is not relenting at my verbal conflict deescalarion attempts and a punch-on seems imminent …

      I would go for the first punch to at least have surprise on my side.

      If a guy thinks I’m intimidated itll at least shock him. And if I get battered at least I’ll have comfort and a little bit of glee afterwards of the look on his face after I landed the first punch!

    13. IME of real fighting situations..
      It can be hard to gauge how good a fighter the other guy may be,

      Mainly one on one type situations re the below ;

      Sometimes guys I thought I could “take” in a fight can be the guys that surprised me with ‘stamina’ , they can get that big turbo-boost of adrenaline as u say , and I may think “ oh fuck bad call”.

      Other guys can be all “ front” and after a short scuffle can back off and want to make peace.

      I guess that intuition comes with experience I’m no big street fighter by any stretch.
      School days teenage years and in my dumb 20s. A handful or more.

      My older brother is a very experienced street fighter. He is a real Alpha male, and was a leader of a street gang in his youth.

    14. “I would go for the first punch to at least have surprise on my side.”

      https://wimsblog.com/2013/07/how-to-use-a-preemptive-strike-for-self-defense/

      We, more or less, agree. One of the many big differences between The Ring and “The Str33t” is that in the latter, the guy who lands the first hard blow (or gets put in a really disadvantageous position. Like being assaulted while sitting in a movie theatre, etc.) often wins the fight. This concept was talked about in one of the videos I linked.

      Anyway, I think its been 13 years now since my last scuffle. The schooling experience here was absolutely awful, but funny enough, I consider the fights I got into standing up for myself against bullies to be of the few good lessons/experiences I’ve had there.

      https://chirontraining.blogspot.com/2016/01/knowledgable-is-not-smart.html

      The experiences taught me a few things I never would have been able to realize otherwise. There’s just some things you have to experience for yourself to truly appreciate. At the very least, its a hell of a lot better than living with regret of never having found the courage to stand up to your bullies, which unfortunately a lot of others have to live with and haunts them.

      That said, hopefully I never get into another altercation ever again. Fortunately, I got my “Leergeld” without paying too steep of a price.

      https://wimsblog.com/2012/01/why-the-untrained-fighter-kicks-your-highly-trained-butt-part-two/

    15. It is “Lehrgeld”, i.e. money you paid to learn something, be it voluntarily or otherwise. “Leer”, on the other hand, means empty.

    16. I like this guy Wim Demeere thansk for the link.

      His breakdown of the preemptive strike is very good. The keys being “imminent threat” and “ no escape” . The imminent threat thing would be an intuition based on prior experience I would say.
      I’d always attempt to use verbal de-escalation first of course that being a given.

      A very good verbal de-escalation tactic is “feigned confusion / misunderstanding “ as it buys a person time to think of exit strategies.

      A mistake is to jump into the other guys “hoop “ or accusation. Best to say “ huh? What do you mean I don’t understand “ and put it back on the potential assailant.

      That can then be kept going – it’ll frustrate the guy but buy more time. As “ I don’t understand “ is assertive and cannot really be argued with . He’ll go next to “ you’re an idiot / dumbass “ type stuff but still the clock will be ticking on buying more time.
      Then next could just agree and amplify.
      “ you could be right , but I still don’t understand, what do you mean “ etc etc

      I love this video on Wims site – a real knife fight in Beijing !! (Wow)
      And excellent breakdown from him also. Very Smart guy, I’m gonna follow and maybe buy his products if he has any.

      https://wimsblog.com/2011/11/knife-fight-in-beijing/

      I saw an amazing IRL verbal deescalation viral video years ago ..a road rage situation fromUK,
      it’s a real edge-of-the- seat watch I’ll try dig it up.

    17. Can’t find the one I remembered.

      But this another – very common this stuff here in Aus. The majority of aussies are buff gym rats and a lot are on ‘the juice’. Scary stuff IRL

      How would you handle this situation
      https://www.facebook.com/DailyMail/videos/860999631847005/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v

      I thought the driver did well here . He stayed in his car and waiting for the guy to run out of steam. And mention Assault and legal consequences. That was smart

    18. Wim is definitely one of my top choices of whom I’d want to train with one day. Not only does he know the subject matter of self-defense/violence incredibly well, but he is great instructor of MMA/Combat Sports AND Traditional Martial Arts as well. (Tai Chi/Taijiquan is what he teaches regarding the latter.) I’ve spoken before of how its hard to find good teachers of a genuine TMA, but he’s one of the best guys I know to get that training from if that’s what you’re looking for.

      “I’m gonna follow and maybe buy his products if he has any.”

      – Wim has a Patreon. I’m more than happy to recommend it:

      https://www.patreon.com/wimdemeere

      He also has a youtube channel if you want to peruse more free content (Wimsblog already has a ton) before making a decision:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ1su4drmlE (one of my favorite breakdown videos of his)

      Though you do get a free 1 week subscription starting out if you take the green belt tier and check for yourself if continued membership is worth your while after.

      I definitely plan to sign up at some point myself later on. I just can’t justify getting on any online membership right now, I’m kind of a mess at the moment. haha. But I’m happy to direct people to him, he deserves it.

      Its such a shame that the Martial arts (especially Traditional Martial Arts) is full of charlatans and bullshit practices. and they’re the ones making money off promising unrealistic shit to naive normies. “Learn these 3 moves and you can win any street fight!!!” 🤣

      You can see its not that different with PUA’s of yore promising you can attract ANY woman with copy-paste canned routines.

    19. @ Maou

      Awesome man thanks for all the info and links.
      I’m stoked. I love that he uses real Life Video footage for commentary and break things down 👌 💪

      Is he based in Sweden this Wim DeMeere?

      Perhaps he can teach me this “handshake into a paralysis hold “ Hapkaido move 😃 😀 😎

      I must google this and post a link to the move . it’s too cool .

      Just chatting to a friend here who’s bought a boxing bag to set up in his garage. We were messing an demoing our best kicks on it,

      He mentioned something to me re using the base of the palms through the wrist instead of making the fist /knuckles when punching… he reckons it’s a style in the martial arts of Korean or Japanese MA styles(?) 🤷🏻‍♂️

      Would you have an opinion or knowledge re this.. I’m sure I’ve heard this before also. Seems logical.

      I’ve busted a finger punching a guy in the head ( skull) .. punching can be damaging if the fist formation is not correct, seems logical re hitting w the palms.

      Often a very hard face” slap” is more affective with striking the face anyway. As it’s bone, 🤷🏻‍♂️

      Fist to skull can cause damage and fracturing for sure.

      Re the scammers.
      Yes unfortunately this is the biggest problem out there as there are countless charlatans in the 3 core fields of Mens Health, Wealth & Relationships .

      And There are as many (if not more) working in the female H&W&R spheres. Someone like Jay Shetty is a notable one working atm targeting women and relationships.

      And of course all those old PUA and newer gurus/companies who are still active and peddling their “secrets the Chads don’t want you to know” , how to attract Models & 10s using Game 🙄

    1. Did you misspell “Ukrainian hookers”? For probably at least twenty years, there has been an industry behind Ukrainian whores and mail-order brides. Due to the special military operation, though, the government is cutting out the middle men and directly brings them in.

    2. Both phenomena occur. Of course, Ukrainian prostitutes already existed before 2022, but now there are also Ukrainian widows who want to be taken care of financially.

  3. Don’t go on Amazon while Drunk, I ended up ordering Uranium Ore by mistake instead of Ukrainian ladies of ill repute

  4. The new version of Grok, the generative AI made by Twitter/X, allows users to create images of white people, which is in stark contrast to similar products by Google and others. There are probably some terms that are banned, but creating an image of, for instance, Trump and Kamala flying a plane into the twin towers is fine:
    https://x.com/EuroWynner/status/1823723555806388389

  5. Earlier this week the WHO declared another pandemic:
    https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1823775361941090620
    Make sure to roll up your sleeves for the incoming monkey-pox vaxx. It has not been tested and is not proven to work, but speak up and you will lose your job, bank account, apartment, and driver’s license, bigot! Also, this time you get to wear a mask and also some protective outerwear that protects your genitals as well as your anus.

    If you do not get the vaxx, you unfortunately will have to get daily anal pap smears. I am sure this is just a minor inconvenience, but if you refuse, why not take the vaxx and five boosters! According to withheld studies, only about 1/5 of the vaxxed are expected to die within half a year. The others only will have a reduced life expectancy, but dying sooner is good for the climate, so it is all positive, no matter how you look at it.

    1. Imagine how much could have been avoided with simple routine PSAs that said something like … gee … I don’t know … maybe something like “the anus is prone to tearing and is a breeding ground for bacteria, therefore, if you keep having butt sex, you’re eventually going to get sick”

  6. The woke Borderlands move only took in $18.9m at the box office and had a budget of over $110m, excluding marketing:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderlands_(film)
    It surely did not help that this movie came out five years after Borderlands 3, the last major release of this vidya franchise, and 12 years after the biggest release of that series, which was Borderlands 2. If you want to look at women in their 40s and 50s, and tell yourself that they are sexually attractive, the Borderlands movie is probably exactly what you need. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of people suffering from gerontophilia.

  7. Elon Musk sued a WEF front that organized the ad boycott against Twitter/X into bankruptcy:
    https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/09/tech/elon-musk-garm-advertisers-lawsuit/index.html
    The WEF took down the page praising their “global alliance for responsible media” already:
    https://www.weforum.org/projects/global-alliance-for-responsible-media-garm/
    For now, you can still access a snapshot of it on archive.org:
    http://web.archive.org/web/20240809231959/https://www.weforum.org/projects/global-alliance-for-responsible-media-garm/
    Remember, this is all just one big coincidence. There is no proof that the Western world is being run by a hostile elite.

  8. Nintendo is going to release a new Legend of Zelda game, but this time you get to play as the princess Zelda instead of that stale, pale, male boy Link:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHJFr5EW5bA
    On one hand, I am glad that Nintendo did not turn the princess into a face-swap, making her brandish a sword and fight huge monsters but on the other, it is quite obvious that this is pandering to a very particular audience. Nintendo gave princess Peach her own games, and they did not call them “Super Mario Bros.”, so why would this not work in the case of princess Zelda? I wonder if we get to see some implied romances with brown NPCs.

  9. Gaming was more fun in the past. I just learned that the 1990s classic NBA Jam TE included hidden characters from Mortal Kombat:

    1. The graphics is really good for its age.

      I used to play Gods of Amiga. Very kool game

    2. Awesome. NBA Jam was another classic that went off in the arcades. Never played it myself tho couldn’t get it working properly on MAME. Looks like heaps of fun. “ From Down-Town!” 😎

      Aaron – just an idea.
      Your blog moves fast. Would it be useful to have Sticky Open Threads by Topic? Ie Open Thread – Retro Gaming, Open thread – dating etc ?
      Or is there a limit on comments per page or something…

      Also – is there any pickup / dating forums still going that are MG style / SCG /useful

    3. Thanks for the suggestion. As far as I know, there is no limit with regards to the number of comments per page. However, after a certain number it is more difficult to follow along. Having separate Open Threads (Gaming, Clown World, Women) could work. I will think about it.

      I am not aware of any active forums on pickup.

    4. I’ve done very little proper gaming in my life. Mostly FIFA (or should rather say, Pro Evolution Soccer) on PS 1, 2 and 3 and Super Smash on Game Cube and Wii. But I happened to play a bit of NBA Jam along with Sonic, some NFL game and I don’t remember what else when some relative who lives in Canada gifted us his old Sega Genesis. This was mid 2000’s, so that console must have been at least 10 years old, but this is Latin America, hah.

      Anyway, this was a fun game, no doubt.

    5. Damn that brings back memories. I used to play that game with my friends at the convenience store (remember when they all had them!?) Good times. There was a certain something about 1990s video games.

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