Category Archives: Instruction

Apartment Shelving Evolution

I am now living in Siem Reap, Cambodia!  This is the eleventh country I have lived in (countries visited).  This is also the 25th city I have lived in!  One of the first things I do when I get to a new place is get shelving to multiply counter space.  This can be done very cheaply with plastic shelving and makes life a lot more convenient.  I would also say always get a furnished apartment because you never know with a new country.  Even furnished apartments rarely come with much in the way of shelving.  Below is a photographic essay of the mundane subject of apartment shelving evolution!  The four-shelf monstrosity below ended up in the kitchen first, then next to the TV and finally ended up being shelving for my electronics!  I used three kits to make the shelving below because the store next to me (new Angkor Market on highway 6) only had three kits in blue!  The kits were designed to make three, three shelf units.  Blue is your safest color for plastic stuff period.  The most common color for plastic houseware is blue.

Below is my electronics corner minus the four-shelf monstrosity!  The maids can’t clean the area easily.  The table doubles as my dining room table so the area really should be cleaned.  I use two giant brown plastic trays to keep the eating area and laptop area separate and avoid a spillage catastrophe.  Ideally, I should be eating on one table and doing computer stuff on another table but I don’t live in an ideal world.  I am willing to invest in plastic shelving since its cheap and the benefits are immediate.  Plastic shelving can be taken apart and moved from one city to another city in the same country in the trunk of a taxi.  If I leave the country then I give the shelving to the maids and they deserve a present!  Investing in real furniture comes much later.  Buying things like tables means I am more or less committed to staying in the country for a year or more.  So far, I am having fun in Siem Reap but my track record for staying put in one place is not very good!  My family calls me “el piedra rodante“!

The four-shelf monstrosity finds a final home as an organizer for all my electronics. 

Not very aesthetic but the set up does get the cables of the floor. 

I get a blue plastic hook set and I now have a place to put my headphones! 

The kitchen counter has zero extra counter space.  There are only plugs behind the microwave and the cords are not long enough for the cooking equipment to be moved. 

I am using valuable counter space to just store dishes and sundries!  The living room is in good shape.  Now I need to fix up the kitchen. 

This is where the four-shelf monstrosity was born.  The monstrosity was then moved to the TV area and then ended up being my tower of electronics. 

I find some smaller shelving that better fits the space I am working with in the kitchen.   I don’t want the shelving to use up all the counter space which I will use to do cooking.  The four-shelf monstrosity is banished to the TV area and then become the electronics tower.  The dishware bought is based on almost 20 years of living in Asia.  I use the big pot to make all sorts of stews.  Asia sells vegetables in packets!  You do have a choice of more than one packet.  I buy a vegetable packet.  I buy a meat which is generally chicken since chicken is relatively cheap in Asia.  Gizzards are not cheap like in the US but sometimes the fox has to have his gizzards.  First meat, then the veggies and finally I add my curry ramen noodles!  I buy dishware in sets of four which means I can put off doing dishes a day or two.  I guess I could entertain four people but that never happens.  In Asia you eat out when socializing!  Last but not least, I get mostly hard, plastic Chinese style dishware because that stuff is indestructible and cheap!  I don’t mess with the Western dishware in Asia because its more money and not as durable.  The vast majority of Chinese dishware is white.  I stick with white and minimal decoration so the dishware more or less matches. Light blue and white are not the worst color combination.

I can squeeze in one last narrow shelf for my basic food stuff and still have a little countertop for cooking.  Basic food for me is curry ramen noodles, and some cans of black beans and tuna.  With these three ingredients I can make ramen and tuna, ramen and black beans. and if I am really hungry, ramen and tuna and black beans.  I am just about always really hungry.  Cooking your own ramen doesn’t make a lot of sense in Cambodia economically.  Prepared food is actually cheaper than buying food at the supermarket and cooking it yourself in Cambodia.  This is unique to Cambodia.  Why?  I am not sure!  One theory that I have is that AC drives the prices of supermarkets.  Electricity is 1.5 times higher than in neighboring countries such as Thailand despite the fact just about everything else is cheaper than Thailand.  Maybe because the night markets don’t have AC and other overhead, the night markets can charge lower prices for meat and vegetables.  However, the traditional markets are absolutely not barang friendly.  Barang is farang in Khmer.   Farang is Thai for Westerner.  The supermarkets have a disproportionate amount of barang customers and maybe that is the real reasons prices are so high at supermarkets compared to traditional markets.  Barang are just willing to pay more money for convenience.  I know that I am.  Plus, the price of labor is so low in Cambodia that the cost of having the food prepared is minimal compared to other countries.  However, sometimes I don’t feel like eating at a noodle stand with a bunch of Cambodians that generally have zero English so I can’t talk with them.  Sometimes I want to eat my noodles watching TV and/or playing on the computer.  Also, my tuna, black beans and curry ramen is a food I have been eating for decades and something familiar in a strange land.  Two beer mugs and two coffee mugs at the bottom.  Cupware is breakable, small and used more often than any other kitchen utensils.  Therefore, the cupware deserves its own separate place in the narrower shelf area.

I used two kits to make the narrow three-shelf unit above.  The kits were for two-shelf units.  The leftover shelf ended up being a basket of sorts which I did use to store bananas atop of my refrigerator!  The small legs of the leftover shelf are very handy.  If the bananas touch the fridge through the mesh of a basket then the banana can rot and leave a mess.  I can clean the shelf a lot easier than the fridge surface.  Bananas are cheap in Cambodia.  I am trying to make bananas my new snack food.  So far, I have failed miserably in this endeavor!

The dish washing tray has been moved to the top of the microwave.  I am a big fan of a simple BIG dishwashing tray!  I debated putting the hot plate there and the dish washing tray where the hot plate was but grease spatter is more easily cleaned from a marble counter than a microwave surface. 

Once every two or three months, I take all the plastic shelving and even the dishwashing tray and clean the whole mess in the bathroom shower area!  If you have a bath tub then let everything soak for a few hours.  If you have a balcony then get a giant plastic tub and clean everything there.  Bugs are a big problem in tropical places like Thailand, where I lived for 8.5 years and a total clean is needed now and then.  Do move the furniture and get behind the counters and clean that area as well.  Cambodia is identical to Thailand in terms of climate.

Apartment photos

Mundane Subjects Series

Apartment Shelving Evolution

Turn Utility Shelving into a Great Clothes Rack

Ukiyo-e Noren Curtains at Daiso

Am I Kitsune?

WereVerse Universe Baby!

Google Drive Link: WereVerse Universe

50 Advertising Techniques

50 Advertising Techniques Table

 

1) Altruism – The ad presents an altruistic story and hopes the viewer associates the story with the product and/or service.

2) Analogy – A similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based.

3) Arouse Curiosity – The ad catches the curiosity and therefore the attention of the customer.

4) Bandwagon – Trying to convince viewers that a product is good because “everyone” is buying it; encouraging people to “jump on the bandwagon”.

5) Card Stacking – Telling the facts from one side only.

6) Cartoon Character – An animated character that promotes a product.

7) Children – In most houses, children have a say in every big or small purchase made. Most parents just give in to the tantrums, a fact well known to the advertisers. Out of ten commercials one sees through any medium, 8 have children featured in them who are generally a little more perfect than the target audience. These perfect children then go on to become role-models that have to emulated by other children.

8) Comparison Appeal – This brand is better than other brands of the same product.

9) Deal Appeal – This technique involves making the audience a compelling offer, and telling them exactly how to get it. Key words associated with this technique are “free” and “save”.

10) Emotional Appeal – Writers may appeal to fear, anger or joy to sway their readers. They may also add climax or excitement. This technique is strongly connected to the essay’s mood.

11) Establish Credibility – “I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.”

12) Exaggeration – Exaggerating products and their uses is another of the good advertising techniques and examples of the technique can explain how this works in the favor of the advertiser.

13) Exigency – Creating the impression that your action is required immediately or your opportunity will be lost forever.

14) Facts and Figures – Statistics and objective factual information is used to prove the superiority of the product.

15) Fantasy – Super athletes, superheroes, movie stars, the beautiful, the rich, the powerful, or things associated with them are featured with the hope that the consumer will tend to transfer the qualities of these people to the products and themselves and buy the item.

16) Fear – Using fear to sell a service and/or product.

17) Green – If you buy this product then you are helping the environment.

18) Glittering Generalities – An emotionally appealing phrase so closely associated with highly valued concepts and beliefs that it carries conviction without supporting information or reason.

19) Humor – The use of humor may help people remember the ad and want to buy the product because of the positive association with it.

20) Hyperbole – This is one of the more enjoyable persuasive techniques. It involves completely overstating and exaggerating your point for effect. (Like when your mom says, “I must have asked you a million times to clean your room!” Get it?).

21) Image Advertising–  Presenting a desirable situation or lifestyle in order to convince the viewers that if they use a product, they, too can have this lifestyle; beautiful people.

22) Innuendo – Causing the audience to become wary or suspicious of a competing product and/or service by hinting that negative information may be being kept secret.

23) Irony – Irony is present if the writer’s words contain more than one meaning. This may be in the form of sarcasm, gentle irony, or a pun (play on words). It can be used to add humor or to emphasize an implied meaning under the surface. The writer’s “voice” becomes important here.

24) Jingle or Slogan – A “catchy” song or phrase that helps you remember a product.

25) Lifestyle Appeal – In this technique, an advertisement provides a glimpse from a particular lifestyle or way of living.  The hope is that the audience will desire this lifestyle and transfer that longing to the product.

26) Magic Ingredients – The suggestion that some almost miraculous discovery makes the product exceptionally effective.

27) Mascot – Mascot the audience can identify with like Smokey the Bear.

28) Metaphor – A figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance.

29) Name Calling Appeal – In this technique, the advertiser compares its product or service to the competition in a way that is favorable to the advertiser.

30) Nostalgia – This appeal implies that this product takes you back to the “good old days” or back to nature, etc.

31) Parallelism – When an author creates a “balanced” sentence by re-using the same word structure, this is called parallelism. Always strive for parallelism when using compound or complex sentences.  Jingles and/or slogans can be improved using parallelism.

32) Patriotism – The suggestion that purchasing this product shows your love of your country.

33) Personification – This technique gives human characteristics to a product, or service.

34) Plain Folks – The product is not elitist and suitable for ordinary people.

35) Promise a Benefit – The ad promises a benefit to the consumer.

36) Red Herring – Highlighting a minor detail as a way to draw attention away from more important details or issues.

37) Repetition – Repeating an element within one advertisement so that viewers will remember the advertisement and will buy the product.

38) Reverse Psychology –  A persuasion technique involving the false advocacy of a belief or behavior contrary to the belief or behavior which is actually being advocated.

39) Rhetorical Question – Sometimes a writer will ask a question to which no answer is required. The writer implies that the answer is obvious; the reader has no choice but to agree with the writer’s point.

40) Savings or Free – You will save money or get something free if you buy this product.

41) Scale – A product looks bigger or smaller in the ad than the actual product.

42) Sensory Appeal – The product tastes good, looks good, or feels good.  Sounds or pictures appealing to the senses are featured.

43) Shocking the Viewer – An effective method of advertising, shocking viewer gets them more interested in the product, because it is a shift in their comfort zone.

44) Simple Solutions – One product and/or service solves several problems at the same time.

45) Slice of Life Appeal – A problem is presented in a “realistic” manner by “real” people.

46) Snob Appeal – The use of the product makes the customer part of an elite group with a luxurious and glamorous life style.

47) Testimonial Appeal – In this technique, a celebrity or authority figure endorses the product.  This could be a celebrity, sports star, or “professional”.

48) Transfer – Words and ideas with positive connotations are used to suggest that the positive qualities should be associated with the product and the user.

49) Weasel Words – “Weasel words” are used to suggest a positive meaning without actually really making any guarantee.

50) Word Choice – Is a person “slim” or “skinny”? Is an oil spill an “incident” or an “accident”?

Handout at:

Hugh Fox III - April Fool

You can also download my autobiography of my struggle with a bipolar condition on  Am I Kitsune on my Google Drive.

WereVerse Universe Baby!

Google Drive Link: WereVerse Universe

Chinese Dream and American Reality

Hugh Fox Chinese DreamTo achieve the Chinese Dream by copying the US then….

China must!

1) China must add another political party, and say it’s a democracy even though both parties represent the same special interests.

2) China must give everybody guns.

3) China must create lots of lawyers so everybody can sue each other over the most trivial issues.

4) China must go from having the largest currency reserves to having the largest national debt.

5) China must convert train tracks to freeways.

6)  China must abolish free healthcare.

7)  China must abolish national maternity leave.

8)  China must abolish nationally mandated paid vacation.

9) The Chinese must increase their calorie intake and body fat by 50%.

10) The Chinese must see bicycles as toys for children and not vehicles for adults.

11) The Chinese must have two cars per household instead of mass transportation.  The Chinese must give up small cars for trucks and giant cars that have low fuel efficiency.

12) The Chinese must have everyone live in big houses and not apartments.  The houses must have huge lawns that require tons of water even in the middle of a desert!

13) The Chinese must heat or cool the whole house not just the rooms being used!

14) China must incarcerate 2% of the population (34 million people!).

15) China must expand their military to challenge any country that doesn’t align with Chinese corporate interests while ignoring education and infrastructure at home.

16) The Chinese must spend less time in school.

17) The Chinese must increase the cost of their higher education system so their college students graduate with crushing debt.

18) The Chinese must pick one religion over all others and give this religion special protections and privileges at the expense of all other religions.

19) The Chinese must close down their national government from time to time in order to squabble about political issues.

20) The Chinese must make public educational funding more unequal so that education cannot allow smart but poor students to use education to rise economically.

China and the US are both great countries and both have strengths and weakness.  However, the US is not China’s big brother and the US should accept that China has the right and wisdom to handle its own problems its own way.

Hugh Fox III - Bevel Emboss

My Articles About China and/or Chinese Culture

16 Basic Desires: China versus US

35 Accomplishments of Modern China

36 Stratagems

Acronym for Eight Types of Chinese Regional Cuisine

American versus Chinese Culture

American versus Chinese Culture

Astrology Chinese

Chinese Astrological Analysis of Nations

Chinese Astrology 60 Year Cycle

Chinese Do’s and Don’ts

Chinese Dream and American Reality

Chinese vs. Western Astrology

Confucius in Thailand 2012

Extending China’s One Belt One Road Initiative to Latin America

Table of Chinese Astrology 19th – 21st Century

The 36 Stratagems as Portrayed in Comic Books

Virtual Chinese Reunification Palace

You can also download my autobiography of my struggle with a bipolar condition on  Am I Kitsune on my Google Drive.

WereVerse Universe Baby!

WereVerse Universe at Google Drive Link

iPadagogy Wheel Application Hyperlinks

iPadagogy-Wheel_001

This directory should provide educators and easy way to explore the sites mentioned in the iPadagogy Wheel.

Remember/Understand

Diigo

Edmodo

Flashcards +

Good Reader

Google Search

Inspiration Maps

iTunes

Nearpod

Pages

Paperport Notes

Socrative

Study Blue

Twitter

Apply

AutoCAD WS

Autodesk ForceEffect

Corkulous

Geometry Pad

Grammar Express

iMovie

Keynote

Pic Collage

Santa’s Engineer

Showme

Skitch

Analyse

Ask3

Flipboard

GraphCalc

Inspiration Maps

Numbers

Poll Everywhere

Safari

Skitch

Stock Wars

TED Talks

Ubersense

Voice Thread

Evaluate

Ask3

Blogger

DigitWhiz

Edmodo

Evernote

Google Drive

Nearpod

Safari

Skype

Socrative

VoiceThread

Create

123D Sculpt

Educreations

Garageband

iMovie

Keynote

Kidblog

Pages

Podcasts

Scribble Press

Showme

Sketchbook

Toontastic

Videolicious

Hugh Fox III - Bitmask

You can also download my autobiography of my struggle with a bipolar condition on  Am I Kitsune on my Google Drive.

WereVerse Universe Baby!

WereVerse Universe at Google Drive Link

Using Safari Ltd Miniatures in Dungeons and Dragons

Lair of Dragons Tube 1

Safari Ltd makes a wide range of plastic miniatures some of which are well suited to Dungeons and Dragons.  Their line of Fantasy Figures includes Dragons, Days of Old, Fairy Fantasies, Mythical Realms, and Knights and Horses.  This looks like a lot of selection but upon closer examination one quickly realizes the figures of Days of Old, Fairy Fantasies and Knights and Horses are the wrong scale for D&D.  They are far too large for Dungeons and Dragons.  However the “miniature” version of the fairies could work in D&D.

The best line for Dungeons and Dragons is the dragon line.  This line includes a three headed fire dragon (D&D elemental drake), horned Chinese dragon (D&D red dragon), ice dragon (D&D elemental drake), forest dragon (D&D green dragon, arboreal dragon), midnight moon dragon (D&D purple dragon, shadow dragon), krystal blue dragon (D&D crystal dragon ), mountain dragon (D&D brown dragon), purple Chinese dragon (D&D purple dragon), cloud dragon (D&D purple dragon), swamp dragon (D&D green dragon), dragon hatchlings, and a blue Chinese dragon (D&D blue dragon).  These dragons are large or huge in D&D terms.  The best deal by far is the Lair of Dragons Bulk Bin which includes 48 pieces for 90 dollars.  The dragons in this bin are 3” H or 7.5 cm. which translates to small to medium sized in D&D.

Lair of Dragons Bulk Bin

Mythical Realms has several pieces that would add something to a D&D campaign.  The mythical realms line includes a Pegasus, griffin, mermaid (D&D sirene), Poseidon (could be a D&D merman), minotaur, phoenix, chimera, centaur, Cyclops, Medusa, hydra, unicorn, a baby unicorn and an Arion.  The Mythical Realms are medium to huge in D&D.  There is an eight piece miniature version of Mythical realms tube that is a better deal price wise and the size of the figures would be medium which makes more sense for more game scenarios.  Below is a picture of the figures included in this set.

Mythical realms tube

Hugh Fox III - Burning

You can also download my autobiography of my struggle with a bipolar condition on  Am I Kitsune on my Google Drive.

WereVerse Universe Baby!

WereVerse Universe at Google Drive Link

Fox Martial Arts Taxonomy

Martial Arts Taxonomy Table JPEG Resized

This paper will review prior attempts to compare martial arts at the tactical level.  Add a strategic dimension i.e. how are tactics integrated in a fight via larger concepts.  Also, the author will look at the most general dimension of martial arts which is the very goal of the martial art which supersedes any discussion of tactics and strategy.  Finally, the author will create a taxonomy of martial arts which explains the table above.

Bruce Tegner‘s Taxonomy

The earliest attempt to compare both Eastern and Western martial arts systematically was done by Bruce Tegner (1968).  Tegner compared Atemi-Waza, Boxing, Judo, Karate & Kung Fu, Savate and Wrestling in terms of various techniques.  An excellent free guide on the subject is at Wrestling Training. Tegner’s chart on the topic below:

Bruce Tenger’s chart is not exactly a taxonomy since one of the critical aspects of a taxonomy is a hierarchy of elements from specific to general and this is lacking in his system.  Below is an expansion and improvement of Bruce Tegner’s original table taken from the Kuk-Sool website:

The Kul-Sool table is better in three areas than the Tenger chart.  The Kul-Sool table adds many more martial arts, adds many more aspects of martial arts and, via color coding, pointing out the secondary emphasis of the particular martial arts.  This secondary emphasis is very important since this is often ignored in cursory examinations of a martial art.  For example, many would be surprised that Judo does teach some hand striking techniques (atemi) in order to unbalance (kuzushi) the opponent before attempting a throw, at the more advanced level.

Bruce Lee later took the idea of comparing martial arts further and looked at the concept of a synthesis of martial art elements (mixed martial arts).  However, Bruce Lee was more interested in a martial arts synthesis rather than analysis in the form of a taxonomy.  Bruce Lee looked at around twenty martial arts and ‘absorbed what is useful’ rather than doing a point by point analysis of every aspect of the martial art.  Bruce Lee focused on the best techniques of each martial art rather than all techniques of martial arts.  I would argue that a taxonomy can allow for a more systematic synthesis of martial art techniques.  Beyond taxonomy issues, comparison allows us to perhaps mix and match martial arts based on a list of skills.

A common mix is mixing a martial art that is strong in the area of hand strikes with one that is known for kicking techniques.  Taekwondo to some extent is the fusion of Japanese Karate (strong in the area of hand striking techniques) with Korean Taekkyeon (strong in the area of kicking techniques). Another much more common mix and match is to mix a striking system with a wrestling system.  South Korean soldiers learn Taekwondo (striking) and Judo (grappling).  Japanese soldiers combine Karate (striking) with Judo (wrestling).  US soldiers up until recently were taught a system that largely combined boxing (striking) with, once again, Judo (grappling).  This is of course an oversimplification since any military system will add all sorts of combatives from all sorts of sources but maybe 80% of the combatives will come from an indigenous source the soldier is already familiar with rather than start from scratch. The above technique centered approach has limitations since it ignores strategic martial art consideration in favor of only focusing on tactics.

Strategy

The classic division of tactics and strategy can be applied to martial arts.  How are the individual techniques/tactics integrated within a larger plan?  This is the next step in how a fighter looks at his or her martial art.  The focus is at first on techniques but later the fighter must look at how individual techniques within the martial art must be mixed and matched to achieve the goal of victory even in a mock fight and in that case a mock victory.  The big three strategic concepts are type of stalking system, primary range of defense/offense and prioritization of target areas.

Stalking System

As you approach your opponent do you circle and look for an opening or just get right in there and go for the kill?  Circular styles include many styles of kung fu with Baguazhang as an extreme example of a circular style.  Karate would be at another extreme and the emphasis is on strong linear movements in Karate.

There is a general tendency to associate circular systems with “soft” systems.  Yielding to oncoming force is a soft technique and a circular yield makes sense biomechanically.  Circular systems are also associated with yogic, internal systems that put a lot of emphasis on breathing and “qi” (Chinese) or “ki” (Japanese).  However an emphasis on correct breathing is a technique that may have a historical Chinese association with circular systems but not a logical one.  Wing Chun in particular is a soft system with a linear stalking system.  There is no necessary logical connection between the stalking system and internal systems.  Some Karate systems that have linear stalking also put an emphasis on breathing techniques.

Some martial arts do not really deal with the idea of stalking system directly and leave that up to the individual student.  Stalking can also be opportunistic.  The student may be encouraged to apply different stalking approaches to different opponents.

Primary Range of Defense/Offense

Certain techniques are good for defending at certain ranges.  Grappling techniques work best at short range.  Hand strikes work best at medium range.  Kicks work best at long range.  There are exceptions, the Muay Thai kick that uses the shin as a striking area can be devastating at many ranges.  Aikido takes grappling techniques but uses them at a much longer range than let’s say Judo.  Some martial arts attempt to create confusion by varying range dramatically such as Hapkido.  However, most martial arts have a primary range that they defend and attack from.  Boxing defends and attacks from a medium range. Even Hapkido has a primary range, long range (kicks) and a secondary range, short range (grappling).

A fighter cannot attack both from a short range and long range at the same time due to the laws of physics and must make a decision what the primary range will be.  The one exception would be a counter attacker that allows the other person to decide the range and then counter attacks from that range but that person would probably be an eclectic martial artist rather than a student of a particular martial art.  The opportunistic approach to range can also be seen in other subareas of strategy and some martial arts adopt an overall opportunistic strategic approach.  Combat is fluid both at the micro and macro level.  The division between a doctrinaire strategic approach versus a flexible approach to strategy that is seen when looking at generals is also seen at the martial arts level.

Prioritization of Attack Areas

Humans long ago figured out that certain areas of the body were much more vulnerable than other areas. Overall, striking systems target the head and other targets along the centerline.  Wrestling systems attack the joints.  Some martial arts, like some styles of Eskrima, and the trapping hands of Wing Chun, will target the arms.  Muay Thai boxers do target the legs via repeated kicks to the same leg and the same spot on the leg of the opponent even though the legs are pretty tough and this seems counter intuitive.  Trapping hands is a secondary attack target technique in Wing Chun.   Wing Chun primarily defends and targets the centerline.

Traditional target areas can even be turned into striking areas.  Muay Thai turns the shin, a target area, into a striking area via conditioning.  Martial arts are not easily classified by what target areas they focus on since a target of opportunity system seems to work best.  There may be illegal targets but in general any martial art will teach the practitioner how to attack a range of targets based on opportunity.  Some martial arts, target what are generally illegal targets because of the danger involved.

Martial arts often have rules about not attacking certain areas due to safety concerns even if those areas make sense from a combat point of view.  Eye gouging or any type of controlled practice of attacking the eyes is almost universally forbidden.  The exception would be a few martial arts like Krav Maga that focus on the self-defense aspect of the martial art over any other goal.  One cannot even say that all martial arts have the goal of attacking vulnerable areas of the human body.  Martial arts with the goal of entertainment or health may eschew vulnerable target areas all together and this leads to the third major dimension of this taxonomy.

The Goal of the Martial Art

What is the main goal of the martial art?  Tactical and strategic considerations should be logically subsumed under the goal of the martial art.  Most martial arts have more than one purpose but generally there is a predominant goal.

This division of martial arts by goal is especially dominant in Japanese martial art in which the modern “–do” systems are contrasted with the traditional “-jutsu” arts.  Some prominent examples are Judo versus Jiu-Jitsu, and Kendo versus Kendo Jutsu.  “Do” means way.  Generally a “-do” Japanese martial art has been adapted for modern sensibilities by emphasizing sportive elements of a prior “–jutsu” martial art.  The defense aspects of the “-jutsu” version are deemphasized and techniques that would be dangerous to the practitioners during practice are eliminated.  Tournament rules are added to the ‘-do” system as well as a consistent system of belts.  Kanō Jigorō was the forerunner of this modernization of Jiu-Jitsu into Judo and many of his innovations were followed by other Japanese martial arts.  An extreme example of this –jutsu to –do conversion would be the conversion of Kenjutsu to Kendo in which an actual sword, or even a wooden sword, “bokken”, which is still a potential weapon, is substituted by a far lighter “shinai” made up of strips of bamboo and basically too light to be a real striking weapon compared to even a stick found on the road or a tire iron in the trunk much less the original steel samurai sword that could literally cleave men in half.  Targets such as limbs were made illegal in Kendo which probably would have amused the original samurai to no end since attacking limbs, which are hard to armor or defend, commonly led to victory in actual combat in Kenjutsu.  One of the most dangerous martial arts of Japan was tamed and made into a shadow dance with almost no self-defense applications.  Kendo due to the lightness of the shinai actually teaches the practitioner bad, overly aggressive, habits so that your natural skill with a stick will go down if you practice Kendo!  Below is a list of major goals of martial arts with the best example of a martial art that is dominated by that goal as opposed to other goals.

Demonstration

Wushu taolu would be a good example of a martial art that retains more combative elements that perhaps Peking Opera but nevertheless has the goal of demonstration as part of a show rather than combat effectiveness.  A demonstration style tries to balance combat efficacy and showmanship rather than just emphasizing showmanship.

Entertainment

An entertainment style of kung fu is used in professional Peking Opera is what Jackie Chan studied in Hong Kong originally.  This is kung fu designed to be used in traditional Chinese opera but also looks great in a Hong Kong film.  The emphasis is on show.  Movements will be exaggerated to the point that combat efficacy is sacrificed.  Stunt versions of a martial art would also included in this category.  Actual sword fights are not very exciting compared to their stunt version cousins.  Bruce Lee was notoriously hard to film due to his speed.  Combat techniques often rely on deception which makes it difficult for the uninitiated to understand what happened.  The ghost kick of Wing Chun is very effective in combat but what is actually going on cannot be seen by the casual observer.  The punch camouflages the kick but the casual observer will not understand what is going on.  A flashy jump kick designed to knock riders off horses, not street combat, looks great in a movie but is a terrible idea in a real fight.  The one-inch punch of Wing Chun is another technique which is effective precisely because it isn’t showy.  Choreographing your punch is a bad thing in combat but necessary for entertainment.  If the main goal is entertainment then martial art modification that is flashy but sacrifices combat efficacy is desirable!

Health and Fitness

Modern T’ai chi ch’uan is based on prior versions of T’achi but many combat elements were removed and modified so even the elderly could practice T’achi for health not combat.  Sometimes health is actually sacrificed for combat effectiveness.  Hand conditioning is probably not a good idea for someone who plans to be a brain surgeon.  Dementia pugilistica is a condition associated with blows to the head among boxers.

Historical Recreation

The Society for Creative Anachronism has attempted to recreate medieval swordsmanship due more to a historical rather than combative interest. Some schools of medieval swordsmanship might emphasize combative elements but in general the practicality of carrying a giant long sword to a street fight or a battle zone has to be questioned.  However, if zombies ever do attack I am going to look into this martial art for combative rather historical purposes.  Swords never run out of ammo.  Swords are a lot quieter than guns.  I would rather use a long sword and kept my distance from the disease plagued hands of a zombie than the shorter, lighter Japanese katana.

Self Defense

Krav Maga is a good example of a martial art that totally eschews any other goal than self-defense.  Many techniques such as eye gouging and groin kicking that are banned in more sport oriented martial arts are part of the Krav Maga curriculum.  Fighting multiple opponents armed with various weapons is not an add-on in Krav Maga like it is in most Karate, Judo, and Kung Fu classes but a central part of the curriculum.  Using a rifle like a club is one of the forms taught in Krav Maga and epitomizes the practical combat approach of this martial art.  The Marine Corps Martial Arts Program would be another example of a system that has as its primary goal self-defense.

Spiritual

Aikido would be a good example of a martial art that started with spiritual goals and is still practiced this way by many practitioners.  Morihei Ueshiba created Aikido in order to create a martial art that emphasized spiritual goals.  Later Aikido Yoshinkan was created in order to emphasize the combative side of Aikido.

Sport

Boxing does not allow kicks!  Boxing does not allow any sort of hand strikes except those possible with boxing gloves and even what part of the glove you can use is delineated.  The hand strikes are real enough and the conditioning is real enough but all the combative limitations seem to me to have the goal of extending matches.  I live in Thailand and probably watch a Muay Thai match twice a month live and kicks shorten matches dramatically.  The classic Thai kick with the shin is about ten times more likely to deliver a knockout than any sort of boxing punch possible. Boxing looks like a poor cousin of Muay Thai until you realize boxing is a sport with combat origins rather than a combat system per se. Boxers however are notoriously tough street fighters kicks or no kicks since boxing punches are real and it just takes one good punch to win a fight.

Olympic fencing would be a more extreme example of a sport with martial art origins that has totally lost any combative reality whatsoever.   As mentioned, Kendo is another example of a martial art that has sacrificed combative efficacy for tournament purposes but at least Kendo has offensive slashes as well as thrusts.  In Olympic fencing thrusting with the tip is the only technique allowed!

Classifying an art as a tournament art is not a criticism!  Tournaments are fun!  Sport with some combat dimension fits certain people.  In a developed world in which a sedentary life style is the main enemy of health, any sort of sport that works is to be lauded not criticized.  The logical problem happens when practitioners of a sport style think they are learning a system of combat while actually they are learning a sport system with combat roots.

There seems to be a pattern of evolution when it comes to martial arts as well.  There seems to be an historical pattern both in the West and the East in which martial arts begin with a self-defense goal and then move towards a sports goal over time.  I studied Taekwondo in the seventies and again in the nineties and the emphasis had switched within the art as a whole from combat to winning tournaments.  Some training halls don’t even bother to teach forms that use hand strikes such as the spear hand and ridge hand that are not used in tournaments.  If winning tournaments is the goal of the instructor then time spent of none tournament combatives is logically a waste of time.

Looking at the goals of a martial art and matching the goals to the techniques allows us to deal with the issue of the internal logical consistency of a martial art.  If the goal of a martial art is health and this same martial art is poor in the area of self-defense then criticism that the martial art is poor in the area of self-defense is illogical.  Pointing out that scissors aren’t very good for hammering nails is a pointless argument.  Nevertheless martial artists waste a lot of time in discussions that are like the scissors and the hammers debate.  For example, some martial artists state that Modern T’ai chi ch’uan is largely useless in combat since the emphasis on pushing hand lacks the lethality needed to win a fight in the streets.  For the same amount of effort you used to push your opponent, you could have done a double palm strike and taken the opponent out.  This is a baseless argument since the goal of Modern T’ai chi ch’uan is health not self-defense.  However, if you can show the practice of Modern T’ai chi ch’uan actually does not contribute to better health then that argument is worth pursuing.

The addition of a goal section to any taxonomy of martial arts is crucial!  The person picking a martial art should pick the martial art that fits their own goal!  Unless you have some sort of athletic predisposition for certain techniques then the goal should be the most important part of any martial arts taxonomy.  Just as there are primary and secondary techniques in a martial art, there are primary and secondary goals in a martial art.  Judo may emphasize sportive elements at the expense of self-defense but still retains much of its combative origins and could be used in combat unlike for example Olympic fencing which is largely useless for self-defense.

References

Tenger, B. (1968). Self-defense Nerve Centers and Pressure Points for Karate, Jujitusu and Atemi-Waza. Thor Publishing Company, Ventura, CA.

Hugh Fox III - Sushi

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How to use Visual Advance Organizers with Movies in an ESL Classes

Teachers have been using movies in ESL classes for decades.  Generally, ESL teachers show the movies and the do some discussion of events in the movie.  Some teachers do the 5W’s (who, what, where and when).  Some teachers discuss some vocabulary in the movie or TV show.  I have found that a visual advance organizer of the characters can be very useful when using movies in an ESL class.

Unless you have advanced students, the student are often far too confused with who’s who to figure out plot or theme.  Make a table with the faces of all the characters and go over the names of the characters before showing the movie.  Don’t give away the plot but just attach a name to the face.  You are using a visual graphic organizer as an advance organizer or a visual advance organizer.  Now students can focus on plot and theme issues and not be confused by who is who.  I used visual advance organizers in a psychology class in English for students for whom English is a second language. The movies I used were One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,  Girl, Interrupted and Pirates of the Caribbean. I also used an advanced organizer in my Spanish class before showing Pan’s Labyrinth.  Below are the visual advance organizers I have created for my classes and used with great success:

Susanna Kaysen, Lisa Rowe, Daisy Randone, Georgina Tuskin, Polly "Torch" Clark, Janet Webber, Dr. Sonia Wick, Valerie Owens

Billy Bibbit, Candy, Charlie Cheswick, Chief Bromden, Dr. John Spivey, Fredrickson, Harding, Martini, Nurse Mildred Ratched, R.P. McMurphy, Rose, Taber, Turkle, Washington

Captain Vidal, Carmen, Doctor Ferreiro, fairies, Faun, King of the Underworld, Mercedes, Ofelia, Pale Man, Princess Moanna

Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain Hector Barbossa, Joshamee Gibbs, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, Pirates of the Caribbean

Links to the lesson discussion questions are below:

http://foxhugh.com/tv-series-esl-discussion-questions/girl-interrupted-film-psychology-lesson/

http://foxhugh.com/tv-series-esl-discussion-questions/one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest-film-psychology-lesson/

http://foxhugh.com/tv-series-esl-discussion-questions/pans-labyrinth-discussion-questions/

http://foxhugh.com/tv-series-esl-discussion-questions/pirates-of-the-caribbean/

Related Word worksheets are at:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/107517040/Girl-Interrupted-Film-Psychology-Lesson

http://www.scribd.com/doc/106811611/One-Flew-Over-the-Cuckoos-Nest-Film-Psychology-Lesson

http://www.scribd.com/doc/107152192/Pan-s-Labyrinth-Discussion-Questions

http://www.scribd.com/doc/109687852/Pirates-of-the-Caribbean-Worksheet

Hugh Fox III - Cherry

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Make Your Own Clip Copyholder

For some strange reason clip copy holders are hard to find in Thailand where I live so I made my own for less than five dollars.  The clip copyholder below is cheap in the US but hard to find and expensive in many Asian countries.

I bought everything I needed at a Daiso shop in which everything is 65 baht or around two bucks.  Daiso has stores all over the world.  Buy a plastic clipboard

Buy a plastic plate holder

Glue the plate holder to the back of the clipboard

I used plastic acrylic adhesive as opposed to super glue since it’s less forgiving if you make a mistake since the bonding is slower but super glue would work as well.  Plastic on plastic tends to create a stronger bond than plastic and wood so use a plastic rather than wood clipboard.

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Hugh Fox III - Chinese New Year

Turn Utility Shelving into a Great Clothes Rack

The rod is shower rod.  The baskets below hold extra clothing.  I used the “S” hooks to attach the rod to the utility shelving.  I also use “S” hooks to attach clothing and bags that’s in usage on the outside.  This setup is really good for tropical climates.  If you put stuff in cheap plywood closet in a tropical climate then the clothes get mildewy.  You really need to use a good closet made up of a hardwood if you go that route.  Even a good hardwood closet can be murder on leather belts.  A leather belt can turn into a moldy mess in any sort of enclosed structure.  All in all, clothes and accessories are better off if they are aired out while being stored.  I am have lived in nine countries over a period of twenty years and don’t like to invest a ton of money on furniture and have found this set up works!

Later I figured out a way to make a sort of tie rack!

Mundane Subjects Series

Apartment Shelving Evolution

Turn Utility Shelving into a Great Clothes Rack

Ukiyo-e Noren Curtains at Daiso

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Collages Can Be a Good Instructional Tool

The next time you are looking for a good way to start your lesson then consider using a collage!  Collages are good for visual learners.  A collage can be a graphic organizer.  Collages can be an advance organizer.  Collages get the attention of your students!  Collages are now easy to make with online collage makers:

Best Free Online Photo Collage Maker

Hugh Fox III - Halloween

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