Old Man

Re: Designing Sword Schools From a purely creative standpoint, virtually all martial art styles started out with a philosophy or inspiration that dictated how the art developed. Wing Chun was based on 'occupying the center', the space squarely in front of the opponent, and deflecting opponent attacks to make room for your own. So lots of blocking and punching, very little dodging. Bruce Lee's philosophy in developing Jeet Kune Do was speed through economy of motion--lots of quick attacks and a more emphasis on dodging. Tae Kwon Do's philosophy is that the legs are much more powerful than the hands and so the legs are the primary weapon in that style. Brazilian Jiujitsu contends that most real fights wind up as wrestiling matches anyway, so it concentrates on takedowns, holds and locks. Aikido's philosophy is one of redirecting your opponent's energy and using it against him and consists almost entirely of block/throws and joint locks. And let me quote Wikipedia on the differences between Northern and Southern Shaolin kung fu: That's all unarmed combat but sword styles are the same way. Ittosai's philosophy was one of simultaneously blocking and attacking with the same sword motion. Musashi's was that people have two hands and should use two swords independently (but by most accounts Musashi was huge and had fewer str min issues). I'm not up on fencing but I know the lunge was designed as a quick, efficient in-out attack from range; Bruce Lee was inspired by that maneuver. So to design sword martial arts out of thin air, just make up philosophies of your own and go from there. An art based on entanglement with sword and main gauche would have disarms, blocks, and holds. A style based on attacking the foundation (feet) might have trips and high-dcv strikes. One based on the scorpion would have one-hand grabs and overhead strikes. YMMV.

Re: The "Nice Happy" Thread

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER There were formations of Zeros flying around for a few months while they filmed Pearl Harbor. Horrifically bad movie, but being able to look up and see these beautiful planes fly past at low level was wondrous. In spite of their history.

Re: "Neat" Pictures !

Re: The "Nice Happy" Thread Paid off the car, got the title in the mail today. Stephanie is mine, all mine. Well, mine and the wife's. Well, the wife's.

Re: The cranky thread A year and a half, and I don't think the kid really has anything to do with it (except for inflicting sleep deprivation on both of us).

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Re: The "Nice Happy" Thread

Re: The "Nice Happy" Thread Finally get to play Fist again tonight after several weeks of illnesses and other scheduling complications. I have developed several new, finely-tuned decks of automatic victory. I can't wait to spring them on my "friends".

Re: The cranky thread What I am slowly figuring out is that my wife (bless her heart ) has her mouth hooked up directly to her brain, almost like Tourette's. So I am constantly (constantly!) treated to a stream-of-consciousness play-by-play of the workings of her head. Which is fine when she's not angry. Really, if I were to emit the screamings of my inner voice, I'd probably offend... everyone.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER And yet one of the big strengths of science fiction is that it allows a fresh look at important social and political issues.

Re: Musings on Random Musings TLS really is the same script as Dances. Still a pretty good flick though.

Re: The cranky thread If it makes you feel any better: yesterday I got up at 5:45am to change and feed the kid, and did everything I could to keep him quiet so he wouldn't wake up the wife. She woke up at 6:30. By 6:40 I had been loudly told that I was lazy, selfish, and a bad father (these are exact words, by the way). And people wonder why I am not a morning person.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings Now why on Earth would I want to click on a thread about rats eating a baby's face?

Re: The "Nice Happy" Thread When he's not sick, teething, or tired, my kid is actually quite a lot of fun.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Everybody point and laugh at Enforcer84, who messed himself!

Re: Musings on Random Musings Not Nintendo cartridges, but probably WoW items and something that rhymes with blow pops would work pretty well, I think.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER You know, I really liked Troy. I thought it was an interesting take on the original story, and the execution was great. Brad was miscast but failed to ruin the movie for me; certainly the rest of the performers did a great job.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings It's like I work with a bunch of fourth-graders.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER All this talk about hack actor Peter O'Toole made me look into Lawrence of Arabia again. Fascinating man. Totally screwed up in the head though.

Re: The cranky thread No, it was three hours after I'd had lunch.

Re: The cranky thread

Re: A Thread for Random Musings You know you're having a bad day when you get pity from tkdguy...

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Peter O'Toole sucks. He must, if he's never won an oscar, right?