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Guarding the Mongoose

Archie "The Old Mongoose" Moore (1913-1998) in L.A. in 1982 teaching boxing tips to some kids. Part of Moore's longevity was due to his incredible defense, which relied heavily on his cross arm style guard...

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Mitsuyo Maeda vs. Hjalmar Lundin

This account of the January 1910 Mexico City match between Hjalmar Lundin and Mitsuyo Maeda of Brazilian jiu-jitsu fame (Konde Koma here, a common alias he used) comes from On the Mat-and Off by Hjalmar Lundin.

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• Insane Would-be Seattle ninja found impaled on metal fence Arkansas police officer tasers 10 year-old girl Amusing? How To: Survive in a Redneck Bar Useful? Make Your Own Medicine Balls for Classic Home Workouts. If you need some ideas on how to use it once it's made, poke around Crossfit a bit. #
• The other week I posted about the database where you can search muster rolls from the Hundred Years War (1300s-1400s). It looks like wildcard searches are the way to go, because I found soldiers in the database that share the surname of both sides of my family by searching on the first couple of letters and then an asterisk. For example, searching on CO* as the surname gives two archers: (more...) #
• The Punjab Gatka Association is trying to popularize the Sikh martial art of Gatka by arranging for international amateur competitions, although it looks like they will be held in India. The association has been making strides to open the art up to western interest. There are already some schools in the west, including France, Germany, Great Britain, and the US (mainly California, but also Washington D.C.). Here's the contact page for the International Gatka Federation, which lists a few schools. Try googling your local area to see if there is anything nearby because that list is far from comprehensive. The competition gatka is the stick fighting that substitutes for sword work ("gatka" derives from the term for the stick used) . You can download a text for gatka in schools that was re-published by Kirk Lawson here. These modern schools appear to teach the broader range of Sikh martial arts beyond the stick, which are referred to as Shastar Vidiya. I believe there is some debate about whether this broader range is a reconstruction or survival of earlier arts. #
• I stopped by Pete Kautz's website recently; Pete's site and his buddy James Keating's, for that matter, are ones you can forget about because they don't offer news feeds. I saw an article on Traditional Knife Dances Around the World where Pete collected Youtube clips of men performing knife dances from different cultures. There's easily a dissertation in this topic for a student with the right interest. The links Pete gave are a great starting point to Youtube surf related videos for more examples. Check it out--the Turk, the Thai, and the Indian caught my eye, if only the Youtube quality was a little better. #
• Looking at this photo, you can't help but wonder if this police officer injured himself during this photo shoot (more...) #