Interview with Master Ken at Martial News

Martial News (an online martial arts newspaper) has just published a unique and exclusive interview with the great Master Ken, the founder of Ameri-Do-Te! If you're not familiar with Master Ken and his show 'Enter the Dojo' then view this video clip before clicking through to the interview on Martial News:




You'll find the interview HERE. Enjoy!

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Some awfully nice gals show us how it's done!

I know some of these videos have done the rounds before but I just love them!

Some awfully nice gals show us how it's done.......

Not sure about the outfit this girl's wearing, no wonder she falls so elegantly.......





Such spiffing villains.....

Hope you enjoyed!

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Hot weather and wicked humour!

Britain has been in the middle of a heat wave these last few weeks - well a heatwave by British standards anyway! It has been consistently around 25 degrees C (that's hot for us) and there has been very little rainfall for weeks (that's dry for us). We moan when it's cold and wet and now we are complaining that its too hot and dry - really, there's just no pleasing us!

Anyway, training has been a hot sticky affair recently. I have taken to wearing my old, thin, cheap gi that I started with and others are training in t-shirts instead of gi jackets. We have the fire doors open and are taking more frequent water breaks to prevent dehydration. Heat exhaustion is a potential problem and Chris Littlefair has addressed this issue in his most recent post.

Something about training in the heat seems to bring the class together a bit more - it must be the sense of suffering together. It also seems to bring out the slightly wicked side of us girls - well there's not many of us so we have to stick together! Sensei was demonstrating a 2-man locking drill ( he's pretty keen on drills since we attended the Patrick McCarthy course) and was demonstrating on one of our senior black belts, Bruce. The locks were going on pretty hard - wrist locks, arm locks, head locks, standing up and on the ground. Poor old Bruce was being twisted around, locked up and thrown to the ground like a rag doll!

For some reason this struck us girls as being quite amusing (I'm blaming it on the heat) and so we 'innocently' asked sensei to demonstrate it again...and again...and again....It was about the fourth time before Bruce cottoned on to what we were doing (we're so cruel!). He took it with good humour though .... so, if you're reading this Bruce, we're very sorry - hope you're not too sore today!

On a more serious note though, training in hot weather does have its inherent dangers. Dehydration and heat exhaustion do need to be watched out for. Do you have any tips for training safely in hot weather? Does the heat bring out your wicked side........?

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Combat Trivia!

Here's a bit of combat trivia to cheer you up:

Weird weapons:

So you thought biological warfare was a modern phenomenon? Not so! In 1500 Leonardo da Vinci suggested using bombs containing saliva from mad dogs or pigs, or the venom of toads or snakes. They even catapulted the corpses of rotting horses and other animals into enemy castles to infect the inhabitants! (Meat) pie in the sky, I say!

In 1865 during a war between Uruguay and Brazil a Uruguayan ship ran out of cannon balls. Instead they fired stale Dutch cheeses, one of which dismasted an enemy vessel and killed two sailors! Hard cheese, eh!

In 1870 the US military invented boomerang bullets, designed to fire in a curved line. They had to be withdrawn when they kept travelling in a complete circle and killing the person that fired them!

After inventing gunpowder the Chinese hit on the idea of turning camels into killers! A small cannon was strapped to a camel, then covered with silk, so called 'silk guns'. Obviously Camels of Mass Destruction (CMDs) - that would really give you the hump!

The Chinese and Okinawans weren't the only people to use farm implements as weapons. In 1862, C.M French and W.H Fancher of Waterloo, New York patented a combined gun and plough. It was designed to be used by farmers so they could quickly turn their ploughs into powerful guns if they were attacked while ploughing. 'We'll plough the fields and blast you....'

Weird laws:

It is against the law to wear a suit of armour in the House of Commons.

There is an un-repealed law that states that within the city boundaries of York, a local man can kill a Scotsman on sight with a bow and arrow.

Anyone detonating a nuclear weapon within the city limits of Chico, California, USA, is liable to a $500 fine! Don't do it, it will cost you an arm and a leg!

If you live in Arkansas, USA, then you need to know that it is illegal to extract the teeth of a bear or otherwise surgically alter it.

Beware all those that live in Spades, Indiana, USA - you are not allowed to open a can with a revolver.

And just to end:

Kung Fu Chaos

When the British first witnessed Chinese soldiers using Kung-fu they didn't quite know what to make of it. One observer described it like this:

"It is impossible to imagine anything more whimsical and comic than the evolutions of the Chinese soldiers; they advance, draw back, leap, pirouette, cut capers, crouch behind their shields, as if to watch the enemy, then jump up again, distribute blows right and left, and then run away with all their might,
crying "Victory! Victory!" "

Hope you enjoyed!

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Karate Comedy

I thought this karate comedy video was hilarious: