Californian Sojourn

Lesson To Muay Thai Boxers...

Protect the valuables! (Quicktime file)

I laughed my head off at this...

A Unique Memorial Day Perspective

I was going to provide my own humble post in memory of those who have lost their lives in service for this country and those who served and survived but I found someone who said it better.

Drink This has a moving personal story in regards to what this day means to her. Better said than anything I could provide.

Well What Do You Know...

It seems that according to California state law it is alright to carry any bladed weapon (whether it be knife or sword) of any length in public as long it isn't concealed (a sword cane or such). i was always under the impression you couldn't have anything longer than maybe 5 or 6 inches. Seems Texas has harsher laws than Cali does.

Who knew?

I'm Tellin Ya...

Someone better be reading all these posts come tomorrow, my pride needs love!

Samurai Warriors: Not Always Men

This post is dedicated to showing that yes women can kick ass too. Though this woman outdoes anything the Women's Lib movement was able to come up with:

Tomoe Gozen

Tomoe Gozen is one of the few examples of a female samurai warrior in Japanese history. More than simply a defender of the homestead in time of necessity, she is described as a warrior of peerless skill, going into battle like a man. She was either the wife of Minamoto Yoshinaka, or by some sources a female attendant, but in either case is described as one of Yoshinaka's senior captains. Yoshinaka was one of the Minamoto lords who fought against the Taira in the Gempei War, and after the Minomoto victory at Kurikawa in 1084 placed Kyoto in Minamoto hands, Yoshinaka felt that he should become the overall leader of the clan.

Yoshinaka's feeling was contested by Minamoto Yoritomo. Yorimoto's forces attacked Yoshinkaka and Gozen at Awazu, and despite putting up a tremendous fight, their forces were overwhelmed. With only a handful of warriors standing, Yoshinaka ordered his wife to flee the field rather than face capture and death. Accounts vary of what followed. Some say that Gozen stayed and died with her husband, while others state that she fled the battlefield. In the latter instance, there is further uncertainty. Most accounts state that she fled with a severed head, but again sources vary between claiming that she took the head of an enemy soldier named Onda no Hachiro Moroshige, or that of her husband taken to keep him from capture. A final debate surrounds the fate of Gozen after her escape, as some state that she cast herself into the sea with her husband's head, while others assert that she became a nun.

I don't believe women should be in combat but there is always some exception to the rule. Excuse me while I try and regain my female readership after that comment. *grin*

Update: Believe it or not but I actually found a French site regarding the naginata (what was basically the women's weapon of choice in historical Japan). No reason for posting other than I just found that funny...

A Little Something To Remember

You don't hold your own in the world by standing on guard, but by attacking and getting well hammered yourself.

George Bernard Shaw

NASCAR: What The Heck You Thinking?

Um, is it just me or does anyone else think it strange that most NASCAR commercials feature the most "effemminate" driver (if you've seen the commercials you know what I mean)? Is there some secret underground gay cabal for racing I didn't know about?

Talk About Foresight

Reason Online is running an article that was first written back in February of '02 and it still speaks volumes 2 years later into our fight against terrorism. Though the article kind of breaks into two different topics, the inability of journalists to "get" the military and its members and the ever present need to change the way our military approaches the challenges of new forms of warfare, it still manages to cover all the bases. Today our journalists, even after being "embedded," know nothing of war or warfare and our military leadership still needs to recognize that the "conventional" army is no longer so conventional. Both issues are vital to how well America will do in this current war and future wars and cannot be left to a "generational" timeframe that has plagued both institutions of media and military.

I really need to make a change in the world. Hopefully at the end I can say more than "J'ai vecu." That's what the French will try and say though...

One Voice So Strong, Again And Again

Victor Davis Hanson does it yet again with his commentary regarding Man's weakness to go with the winner (or the perceived one at least) and how we fail to stick with it when the times are darkest. I believe I've linked to Hanson's commentary more than anyone else on this blog and there are so many reasons why. This is just another reason. While the pundits at the major newspapers and on the TV tell us doom and gloom, they tell us things are terrible and are not yet at the worst Hanson remains the strong and clear voice of the reality of the situation and how history has shown us the answers to the dark times again and again.

Tom Selleck plays General Eisenhower in a movie that will be shown tomorrow night and during one of the interviews he did for the movie he explains how he doesn't believe a D-Day operation could be launched in today's saturated media coverage world. I believe he's right. The thought of a possible casualty rate of 70% would be unthinkable today and would be rallied against in a fashion we cannot yet fathom. That's how it is today, what must be done cannot be done because of how our media shapes the common man's perspective. Our people, the American people, are in desperate need of a change in how we look at the world and war. Vietnam has scared our country and it is time those scars were healed. Though our enemy has no single flag under which they flock we must still recognize that our enemy is ever present, and we must be a vigilant nation that refuses to do anything but stay the course. No matter how dark it may look.

Read the article and come back and comment. I'd like my comment section to be an area of discussion for those who wish to speak on the issues, who have something to say. That and tell me my praise of Hanson isn't misguided...

You'd Think The Women Would Actually Be Intriqued With The Name

This man has other things than his name to worry about scaring off the women. Though he did get a woman who didn't speak the language it seems.