On Knife Fights

The following videos are informative:

Knife vs Bare Hands - A Reality Check

The Awesome Techniques of the Apache Knife

A quick story from Sam Harris I read: he knew a guy who had multiple black belts in different martial arts and had won MMA and kickboxing tournaments. In other words. he was about as good at fighting as anyone ever gets. He decided he needed a new challenge, so he decided to walk through Central Park in NYC at night. He expected to be attacked and was, but not the way he anticipated. Someone jumped out of the bushes and jabbed him with a syringe before escaping into the darkness. The jab injury was minor, but he did have to spend several months wondering if he'd been infected with HIV or some other disease. He broke a very basic rule of self-defense: avoid dangerous people and places; don't fight if you don't have to. 

Penn and Teller were critical of martial arts on their Showtime! TV series. They said that the legal and moral consequences of using a weapon are about the same as hurting someone without being armed. In that case, weapons are cheaper and more effective than martial arts training. I generally agree. Martial arts are fun, build confidence, and are decent exercise, but the classes are expensive, it takes years to get good, and there is a risk of injury, which is contrary to the goal of self-defense. 

Fixed blade knives are not practical for most self-defense situations. Switchblades are worth the money, though easy open folding knives are easier to get and are legal to carry in most places. Either way, to be useful for defense, you need to practice drawing the knife and extending the blade. One of the great things about knives is the intimidation factor. It's rarely necessary to stab someone to get them to leave you alone. Knives are also a great way to the blunt the advantage of multiple attackers. 

I've only been in one knife fight, but I faced three attackers, one of whom bashed me in the head with a club. It's hard to incapacitate an alert person with a punch or a blunt object. Once they saw I had a knife, it was easy to get them to retreat far enough so that I could call 911. 

These quotes from General Patton sum it up well:

"Few men are killed by bayonets, but many are scared by them. Having the bayonet fixed makes our men want to close. Only the threat to close will defeat a determined enemy."

"I beg leave to remind the Cavalry Board that very few people have ever been killed with the bayonet or sabre, but the fear of having their guts explored with Cold Steel in the hands of battle maddened men has won many a fight." 

PTSD in science fiction

Short Story Review: Edmond Hamilton’s “What’s It Like Out There?” (1952) | Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations

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Edmond Hamilton argues that returning spacemen will experience similar trauma to that of war veterans. And just like we glamorize war in media, the dangers of space travel (both physical and mental) are sanitized by gaudy pulp adventures. The story succeeds as a complex analysis of the tales we tell each other to obfuscate traumatic experiences and give comfort to those suffering loss.

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The Second Mars mission, twenty rickety and cramped rockets, sets off to acquire cheap uranium. Suffering the internal organ-crushing terrors of takeoff, a rocket-splitting landing, Martian disease, isolation, and an abortive mutiny,  Sergeant Frank Haddon returns a different man. Like a veteran from a foreign war, Haddon must confront not only his own experiences but also the grieving relatives of his dead companions, who see him as the last connection to their loved ones.

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Short Story Review: Walter M. Miller, Jr.’s “Death of a Spaceman” (variant title: “Memento Homo”) (1954) | Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations

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Retired spacer Old Donegal (“Donny”) lies in his bed dying of cancer: his family “had all known it was coming, and they had watched it come” (7). In his rundown house with his long-suffering wife Martha at his side,  he waits for the inevitable release with his magnasoles on his shriveled feet propped up on his bedframe.

Slice-of-Life Realities and The “Real” World Out There

“‘Did you like horror movies when you were a kid?’ asked the psych. And you’d damn well better answer ‘yes,’ if you want to go to space” (17).

In this future, space travel is a dangerous blue-collar occupation (Note 1). After the terror of blasting off dissipates, you spend your time crawling through “dirty mazes of greasy pipe and cable” with the “omniscient accident statistics” flitting through your head (16). Spacers spend the vast majority of the trip soaring “in ominous silence” drinking smuggled booze (17).  And if you are one of those statistics and die in space, as happens with Donny’s son-in-law Oley, one’s spouse receives a mere pittance of financial remuneration.

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Aliens - Elevator Scene

Gravity scene-Re-entry

Final Words of Soviet Female Cosmonaut Lost in Space

Apollo 10 Earthrise footage set to Thus Spake Zarathustra cue from 2001 A Space Odyssey

underwater warning sign

Cave diving is very dangerous. It amuses me that someone dove down just to post a warning sign.  

I live a few miles from Manatee Springs, Florida. Maybe someday I will go cave diving there. For now, I am content to free dive down 25 feet and touch the bottom near the cave entrance. 

Manatee Springs cave diving

 

The notorious Lobster Girl

Her rise to internet fame began as featured image on Reason.com, where she became a crowd favorite among male libertarians of all ages for obvious reasons. Alas, her real name and whereabouts are unknown.

If you know or know someone who knows her, we'd love to hear more of her story. 

 

marvelous machinery montage

 Mechanical Principles (1930) by Ralph Steiner [4min selection]

20 Mechanical Principles combined in a Useless Lego Machine

Raymond Scott - Powerhouse [mp3]

Trump To Bomb Agrabah

WASHINGTON DC - "After meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and consulting with our allies in the region, I sent a secure message to the Sultan of Agrabah. I warned him that we cannot allow his vizier Jafar to gain the magic lamp and wreak havoc on the world", said Trump in a recent speech. According to recently declassified intelligence reports, Jafar, the sultan's closest and most trusted advisor, covets the lamp now in the possession of Prince Ali. The reports do not shed much light on the basic facts of the presumably Middle Eastern country, leading some conspiracy theorists to suggest that it is not even a real place. Intelligence experts from across the political spectrum have denied these allegations. 

Elsewhere, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu gave a speech at the UN warning of the grave danger posed by Jafar's nefarious intentions. "We cannot afford to wait for a smoking gun, for it may come in the form of magic smoke spewing forth from a lamp like smoke from a smoking gun. A magic lamp the size of this replica I hold now in my hand contains as much destructive wishing power as all the bombs dropped during WW2. The Agrabahnians must make a choice: either you are with us or you are with Jafar. To the civilized nations of the world, I say that it is better seize the lamp and make wishes over there than for Jafar to get the lamp and make wishes over here." Joanna Gambolputty, a CIA officer, praised Netanyahu for his speech, adding that "it is high time we stand up to Agrabahnese recklessness and disregard of international norms."

Various attempts to negotiate with the Agrabahi government have been without result, though a mysterious Nigerian prince known as Ahtayka Yomonay has offered to broker a peace deal in exchange for a "reasonable fee". According to intelligence reports, Agrabahns live in a closed society behind what has been termed "the bead curtain". It is also believed that mentions of a so-called flying magic carpet are coded references to a secret hypersonic missile program. Current assessments suggest the program takes place at a secluded base in the Shangri La valley. According to Gambolputty, "these reports act as clarion call for proper levels of investment in programs like the F-35 and Fs of even larger numbers."

What remains to be seen is what response, if any, ever comes from Agrabanish leadership. While not much is known about the mysterious sultan, he is rumored to be fond of musicals and parades. Anonymous insiders close to Trump have said that he reacted angrily to a dramatization of one of Prince Ali's parades, and this jealously spurred him to organize a spectacle of even greater proportions. Supposedly, Trump wanted and even greater menagerie on display, but was convinced otherwise and eventually accepted a parade tanks and other military vehicles. Representatives from Disney have been making frantic pleas to meet with Trump to discuss the Agrabah issue further, but no meetings have been scheduled.   

A solid sphere is topologically equivalent to a Mobius strip(?)

And a hollow sphere is topologically equivalent to a loop (a Mobius strip without a half turn). This is interesting because a loop has a hole, but a hollow sphere does not. Does the space inside a hollow sphere count as a hole?

Imagine a Mobius strip made out of clay. It could squished and rolled into a ball. And a clay loop could be formed into a hollow sphere.