| June 17th, 2010 | The Thumb Jab |
I’m sure a lot of you remember the scene in the movie “The Presidio” were Sean Connery’s character decimates the jackass in the bar with nothing more than his thumb! Some of you may remember Andy Adam’s book on Ninjutsu highlighting Hatsumi. Several photos showed the intense conditioning of natural weapons including the ‘boshiken” or thumb fist. One photo in particular impressed me. That showed a small flat stone being broken by a “thumb” jab. Sykes, it has been reported, had a tremendous amount of grip and hand strength. He was apparently quite fond of the “thumb” jab. Though NOT a basic method, since conditioning over a period of time is mandatory, it still was a favored “personal” weapon of his. Allowing the thumb to jut out along the side of the fist was a “street” tactic shown to me when I was a kid by my father and uncles. Aimed at the eyes it made that left jab a really potent weapon. The thumb as a weapon can be used to strike, gouge and/or apply tremendous concentrated force. It is also used in many Judo/Jujutsu “shimewaza” of the “combat” variety. Many methods employ this type of strike. The problem is CONFIDENCE in its use! Here’s a method of toughening and strengthening the “thumb” that is specific to its use in hand to hand combat: Grab your palm sized “crushing” rock. Keep the flattest side UP. If the rock you use is TOO round, find a flatter one. Get a THICK DENSE piece of foam as used in upholstery. Place the rock in the middle form your “thumb jab” fist, place the pad of the thumb on the rock and PUSH. Try to push/press the rock right THRU the foam. DON’T STRIKE IT YET! Just numerous repetitions of the FORCEFUL push! Repeat it over and over. Over time you will be able to strike the rock and ram it right down fully to the bottom of the thick foam pad. Other good exercises such as the “thumb” hook push up on bricks or cinderblocks can also be added as well as any other personal favorites, BUT the exercise as described above is about as specific to USING the “thumb” jab as you can get. I train the thumb in several uses: Boshiken – Thumb tip jab Boshiken – Thumb knuckle Uechi style In Dr. Ernst Jokl’s excellent treatise on the scientific and medical aspects of boxing blows, he describes the “old” street fighter’s trick of jabbing the extended thumb into the carotid and causing a knockout. He also details some “jiu-jitsu” blows with the edge of hand. All of the foregoing weapons can be trained on the makiwara. Just start EASY. And………………keep a bottle of “New Skin” handy. Here’s another “good” one: Get a cinder block. Place it long ways in front of you. Open hands, and “hook” thumbs in openings on each end of block. Apply OUTWARD pressure with THUMBS ALONE and lift AND HOLD. Repeat several dozen times. Also any king of “pinch” grip work is also great! Copyright 2003 http://www.thetruthaboutselfdefense.com Carl Cestari began his study of the martial arts with judo at the age of 7 under the direction of Yoshisada Yonezuka. During the past forty plus years Carl has dedicated his life to studying the martial arts, hand to hand combat systems, history and religion. What makes Carl unique is his combination of martial arts, law enforcement and military and real world experience. Carl has been exposed to a multitude of people with a wide variety experience. The following is a list of some of Carl’s ranks and honors: Shinan (Founder) Tekkenryu jujutsu http://www.thetruthaboutselfdefense.com Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
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| June 1st, 2010 | In Japan – Do You Know Japanese? |
Japan really seems to be a foreign culture to our Western minds. You may think you don’t know much about Japan, but in the past few decades there has been increased communication with our neighbor in the Far East. Our great grandparents probably didn’t know nearly as much about Japan as we do. Think about it. I’ll bet you know nearly a dozen Japanese words! Sushi, karaoke, anime, kimono, sake, Suzuki, Toyota, teriyaki, origami and bonsai. That’s ten! How did you do? I’ll bet you knew at least 8 of them, if not all 10. I’m sure you know that a kimono is a traditional Japanese dress that women wear with a sash tied around their waists. You’ve probably had Japanese food, too, right? Nearly everyone has had teriyaki chicken or steak. Are you a sushi lover? I am. We may make it into a California roll, but the basic idea is still from Japan. Generally, it’s raw fish served in rolls with rice, soy sauce and wasabe, the green mustard. Did you have a little sake with your meal? Sake is Japanese alcohol, often served warm by the shot. What about karaoke? You may never have been into a karaoke bar, but you’ve at least heard of them or seen parodies of it in comedy routines. People singing to recorded music, mostly amateurs who probably had a little sake before they got up on stage. It’s a lot of fun that came from Japan. Then there are Japanese cars and motorcycles: Suzuki, Toyota, Hyundai, Subaru and more. For the longest time, I have chosen Japanese cars because of their performance and low maintenance requirements. They have historically done better on gas mileage than a lot of other cars, too. The Japanese are definitely known for their attention to detail in the arts. That gives us origami, the Japanese art of paper folding and the art of growing those little bonsai trees, which require such meticulous care and pruning. Last, but not least, what about this computer you’re reading me on? I’ll bet that at least part of it, if not all of it, was made in Japan. The Japanese are masters of detail and computers require very close detail work. See? You know a lot about Japan and you didn’t even know it! I’ll bet you’d even feel at home there to some degree, because even if they do drive on the other side of the road, most of their signs are in both English and Japanese! It’s a sign of the bigger world community that we are becoming. “It’s a small world after all!” About this writer Tisho Mettarod teaches Japanese to American businessmen. He travels to his native Japan to visit his family at least once a year. Sometimes he teaches English to Japanese travelers on cruise ships for his summer vacation. You can read more articles about Japan at 1st Choice Japan Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
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| June 1st, 2010 | Kids Can Learn Spanish |
Spanish for Kids, Spanish for Children, Teach Kids Spanish Kids Can Learn Spanish! Spanish for Children I just got a call from my two year old granddaughter. She wanted to sing “Los Pollitos” to me. You can find this children’s classic in most of the collections of songs that we are recommending. It is perfect for hand gestures. These gestures are ideal for language learning because they imprint the sense of the words as the child recites. The text is: (translation follows) Los pollitos dicen po, po, po (the kids make gesture of shivering) La gallina busca el maz y el trigo; (the kids make the gesture of Mom hugging her kids.) Po, po, po (the kids should ham it up, making a little chick face!) Translation: The little chicks say peep, peep, peep The chicken looks for corn and wheat; There are many reasons for wanting your children to learn Spanish. We want to help you find resources that will help you with Spanish for Kids. Some parents are interested in preparing their children for life in today’s world where it is important to know more than one language. This is even more important in our hemisphere where it becomes increasingly valuable to know Spanish. Other people think of the intellectual stimulation that learning a language provides. They think that they can give their children a an additional intellectual challenge in a painless way. Researcher in London, England have determined that learning a second language boosts brain power which remains throughout life. Learning a language can be a source of pride and self esteem for the child who is fortunate enough to be exposed to learning outside of the classroom. There are some parents who are concerned that their children grow up respecting the different heritages that surround them. Concerned that the nativist tradition of United States history is always present, many parents, not of a Spanish Speaking background, choose to prepare their children to accept and embrace the Hispanic culture they live alongside of. Their reason to encourage their children to speak Spanish is based in part on the history of a previous group of Latin immigrants to the United States, the Italians. “Some social critics were aware of the consequences of sudden assimilation. Mary McDowell, a social worker, wrote en 1904: ‘The contempt for the experiences and languages of their parents which foreign children sometimes exhibit… is doubtless due in part to the overestimation which the school places upon speaking English. This cutting into his family loyalty takes away one of the most conspicuous and valuable traits of the Italian child.’ She attributed the lawlessness of some of the immigrant children to their disrespect for their parents and therefore for all authority.” (La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience, Mangione and Morreale, p. 222) Reflection on this same national history, and often more importantly personal experience, moves many Hispanic parents to keep their language alive in their children. They want to preserve their heritage for their children by giving them its most evocative and powerful manifestation, the language of their forebears. Whatever your reason for wanting your children to learn Spanish, this site will provide resources to help you. You will find suggestions and experiences of others who share your interest; you will find songs and stories in Spanish that will enthuse your children with their learning task. A list of links to related sites will lead you to other resources. And you will find that the books you need for yourself and your children have been located and placed at your disposition. Buena Suerte y adelante con su cometido! Do the Parents Know Spanish? Although most of us agree that it is a good thing for our kids to speak Spanish, most kids in the US whose parents were born in Latin American countries do not speak Spanish well. Even if both parents speak Spanish at home, quite often the kids answer their parents in English. Look around at your Latin friends and relatives and you will see that most give up on teaching their kids to speak Spanish. Chicano and Puerto Rican families seem to have a little better luck than Latinos from other countries with keeping Spanish alive in their barrios but even their younger generation is losing fluency in Spanish. However, parents who want their children to speak Spanish can go against the current and set the stage for their children to grow up speaking Spanish. It is not easy. Most families fail in their resolve but it CAN be done. Take a look at our bilingual study. How to Get Your Children to Speak Your Language/Cmo Lograr que Sus Hijos Hablen Su Idioma? You can find it in http://www.leerespoder.com/comoeng.htm. This report will give some hints on how to improve your chances. But it is most important for you to get your kids reading Spanish BEFORE they learn to read in English. Don’t be afraid that it will hurt their English. Unless they are living in a closed Spanish Speaking Barrio, their English will be perfect. They will absorb it on the playground and in the school. Your job is to keep the Spanish up! Take a look at the fuller argument presented below for the importance of your kids learning to read FIRST in Spanish. Finally, another idea for native speakers of Spanish: You may want to review (or study it for the first time) your Spanish. I found one reference for you. Sorry it is expensive; that’s because it is used as a textbook. But that will make it easy to use and will surely be complete. Take a look at Nuevos Mundos, Spanish for Native Speakers 2nd Edition, Workbook : Curso de espanol para estudiantes bilingues” Whether or not the parents know Spanish will determine their strategy for exposing their children to the language. Obviously, parents who do not know the language well will not have native pronunciation. If their children learn to read Spanish, they may not have the proper pronunciation. This is a tough issue. Some might say that pronunciation is not important for children. However, why not try to expose them to the correct values of the Spanish sounds. Parents should work on their own pronunciation to model as correctly as possible for their kids. Nevertheless, the value of the parents’ involvement in reading and singing in Spanish with their children more than outweighs the disadvantage of the child hearing their poor pronunciation. Much of the damage can be remedied by having the child listen to as much Spanish spoken by native speakers as possible. So, in general terms parents can fall into one of three groups: All of the above boils down to three tactics that are valid for all kinds of parents and all kinds of kids of all ages and level of Spanish……… 1. Passive Listening: Everyone should keep the Spanish radio on as much as possible. Keep the radio or TV on while the childis doing other things. It has to be the sea of sound that they swim in while they are beginning their study of Spanish. The child doesn’t have to concentrate on it; they will not be listening to try to understand. After a while they won’t even hear the radio but it will be affecting them. Little by little they will begin to anticipate the rhythm of the language, even before they understand they words. They will also begin to recognize certain words. 2. Pattern Response Drills: Those parents who know some Spanish can try to run through all the permutations of the new expressions that the child learns. For example, suppose your child just learned to say. “Pedro tiene cuatro aos” rather than translating from the English incorrectly, “Pedro es cuatro”. Now to make this new element of the language stick, you should go on substituting different ages and the names of different people. The child will soon be able to say comfortably, “Mara tiene cuatro aos.” “Juan tiene ocho aos.” “Yo tengo tres aos.” “Cuntos aos tienes t?” There are many examples of these drills in most language courses but the parent can generate them herself. 3. Encouragement: Don’t correct their Spanish when they speak. Don’t interrupt the flow of their conversation. Don’t make their speaking Spanish to be another homework assignment. It should be something special, even something “secret” in your family. Kids like the mystery and intrigue of having something special of their own. Their speaking Spanish should be a joyful, non-threatening experience. If they make mistakes in their grammar, correct their errors by using the same expression correctly a few minutes after. Don’t come right back at them with the correct form or they will begin to feel conscious of their expression and choke off their freedom of expression. also……….. The Alphabet: If your child is coming up on kindergarten age, Spanish is completely regular. They can learn the vowels in one sitting.This is how Spanish Speaking kids learn: from “abecedarios”, the same as English Speaking children used to learn from primers. If your child learns to read (even if only simple words) Spanish first, in effect you are giving them a You can start the child reading the simple words like Mami, comida, mesa, Papi, mueca, carro, etc. Basically you are giving them phonics without having to buy any expensive program. As they progress in English they will still have to deal with the irregularities of this language. However, they will have learned the consonants by applying them to completely foolproof regular vowels. I said I would be brief. I am very convinced of the value of this method. I have no scientific proof, just intuition and my own experience. To work, you have to teach the child to read the alphabet in Spanish BEFORE they begin to learn in English. If they are already learning in English, it will confuse them. But if you get there FIRST, you will do them a great favor! to see a bunch of alphabet resources for you to choose from. Toys and Games: Of lesser importance but still a possible beakthrough for certain children could be the use of toys and games (board games and others) as a way to sneak in some fun and variety into the learning process. See if Spanish Educational Toys would be useful for your child. Computer Programs for kids If you or your child is computer savvy or if you want to combine math or science with Spanish you may want to check out the Educational Software for Children in Spanish: Reader Rabbit, Disney, Jump Start and many more… Some First Recitations A long time, universal, traditional favorite is “Pinpn” Pinpn es un mueco, (the kids smile for “muy guapo”, se lava la carita con agua y con jabn. Pinpn dame la mano, que quiero ser tu amigo Pinpn, Pinpn, Pinpn! Translation: Pinpn is a doll, Pinpn give me your hand, Another favorite of our kids was “La Mar Estaba Serena” The same verse is repeated by using all of the vowels in turn. It begins by the parent singing, “La mar estaba serena; serena estaba la mar”. (The sea was calm; calm was the sea.) Then either the parent or one of several children taking turns shouts out, “con A!”, meaning, “Let’s sing it with all “a” sounds”! And you sing, “La mar astaba sarana; sarana astaba la mar.” “con e”! “Le mer estebe serene; serene estebe le mer”. “con i”! “Li mir istibi sirini; sirini istibi li mir”. “con o”! “Lo mor ostobo sorono; sorono ostobo lo mor”. “con u”! “Lu mur ustubu surunu; surunu estubu lu mur. You’ll find the kids really like this one. English (sic!) As A Second Language It might be interesting to do some “reverse engineering” and look at the world of those Spanish Speakers who want to learn English. Check out http:www.leerespoder.com Reading in Spanish for the Parents If you want to keep up your Spanish. Try to keep reading books in Spanish on a wide range of topics, la familia, la salud, los negocios, el nio, el adolescente, etc. A good source is http://www.bookslibros.com/LibrosEnEspanol.php Good Luck! Your Kids will thank you!
Frank Gerace Ph.D has lived and worked in Latin America on Educational and Communication Projects. He currently teaches English in New York City at La Guardia College/CUNY. He invites parents interested in helping their kids learn Spanish to visit him at: www.bookslibros.com/SpanishForNinos.htm Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
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| June 1st, 2010 | An Overview of the B5 Vitamin |
The B5 vitamin is also known as Pantothenic Acid. The B5 vitamin is the most prolific of all the vitamins and is found in every type of food. In fact, it is impossible for a person to consume less B5 vitamin than they need. That means that there is no little possibility that a person can have a B5 vitamin deficiency. For this reason, there is actually no recommended daily amount that health professionals can state as everyone obtains more than enough from their normal food consumption. However, even though there is no need to calculate a recommended daily allowance it does not mean that the B5 vitamin is not vital for a healthy body and mind. In fact, the B5 vitamin is essential for turning food into energy amongst other functions. The B5 vitamin is responsible for taking the fats and carbohydrates into energy. Some B5 vitamin can be found in almost every food whether it is animal or vegetable. Obviously there are some sources of the B5 vitamin that are better than others but a balanced diet will provide more than enough. The foods with the highest B5 vitamin content are organ meats, salmon, eggs, beans, milk, and whole grains. It is worth noting that the B5 vitamin is lost when grains are milled into flour and tends not to beaded back in. Therefore, processed grain foods such as bread, pasta, rice, breakfast cereal, and baked goods are not good sources of the B5 vitamin. The B5 vitamin is the most effective when it is combined with other B vitamins especially thiamin or B1, riboflavin or B2, niacin or B3, pyridoxine or B6, and biotin. Along with these other B vitamins, the B5 vitamin is an integral part in a number of processes. The most important of these is the production of energy from food that is consumed and this is known as the Kreb’s cycle. The B5 vitamin is also required for releasing energy from fats. Interestingly, the B5 vitamin is also considered to be helpful in reducing stress. This is chiefly due to the fact that during periods of stress, the body produces more of certain hormones such as adrenalin and these require the B5 vitamin. There are many theories as to the benefits of the B5 vitamin but there is no need for the majority of people to actively seek out foods that are high in B5 as they are likely to be consuming far more than is needed already. There are no adverse effects to consuming too much B5 vitamin. Get more information on Vitamin B5 here.
Olivia Harding for www.vitaminsdiary.com Descriptions and information on various vitamins, amino acids, minerals, herbs and nutritional supplements and their possible uses. Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
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