Quick Update

March was very frustrating, beginning with a month-long fight with my webhost (Startlogic) over abysmal loading speeds and then following with being rear-ended in an auto collision mid-month. Not much fun considering it all followed a separated rib after eating a knee during some stickfighting.
April is looking up: my son was born April 1st and […]

Reach Out and Zap Someone

Reach Out and Zap Someone: The Patent History of Electric Stun Weapons
 
Zaap…zaaap-clack-clack-clack…zaaap. Just the sound and spark of an electric weapon triggers something from childhood that makes you step back when you see and hear the electricity arc through the air between the leads. The two most common forms of today’s electric "stun" technology, […]

W. C. Heinz

"Your boxing education is lacking," I was told. This came after the recent death of W.C. Heinz, an apparently legendary sportswriter of whom I had never heard. Heinz’s best known work, "Death of a Racehorse," can be found on Google Books and elsewhere on the web, and is one of the best

Myth: Canes Required Carry Permits

You may have never happened across this particular myth, and I just saw it for the first time myself, but a number of sites that discuss the history of the cane perpetuate a myth that around the early 18th century, licenses were required to carry canes in England.
There are variations on the theme, but the […]

MMA in MD moving forward

Looks like the decision getting the MD MMA bill out of senate committee will be made by Friday and it is likely to go to the full Senate for voting. Talking to inside sources, the legislation is expected to be passed at House and Senate, but the first real stumbling block will come with the […]

Fourth Fatality for Modern MMA

Modern mixed martial arts received another inevitable-but-unwelcome addition to the list of fatalities associated with the sport. Canadian Rene Ayangma, 20, was training for his second professional fight when he went into cardiac arrest after finishing a sparring session. Stories here and here. I’ll do a full post after Wednesday’s autopsy results are released.

The Cane as a Weapon (1912)

In 1912, A.C. Cunningham published The Cane as a Weapon, which even today remains the best book I have ever seen on fighting with a cane. It is amazingly succinct and conveys what is as nearly a complete system of cane fighting as a reader could desire, all within 25 pages.

Carnival of Martial Arts #6: Great Books

Black Belt Mama was kind enough to host this month’s carnival and the theme she chose was Great Martial Arts Books.  While she says she chose this theme because she’s out of training with a busted knee, I say anytime is a good time for a good book thread, so here goes. (By the way, […]

A Woman’s Self-Defence for Women

Health & Vim, May 1912.

A highly interesting and vivid account by PERRY PEAKE, of a young girl whose jujutsu methods of self-defence are arousing widespread comment.

In common with most men, I suppose, I had always held the opinion that the athletic feat-performing woman was of the Amazon type—a heavy, fleshy person of powerful build and unattractive appearance […]

Reprints are online!

There is a new "LIBRARY" menu option at top right. Our reprints will be available there in the future. Fall Guys is there now and available for reading online, so let me know what you think, especially if you have any readability issues.

Mixed Martial Arts Proposed in Maryland

It is the opinion of the State Athletic Commission that Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) competitions are not legal in Maryland, but a bill before the Maryland General Assembly may soon change that […]

“Physical Culture and Self Defense” by Fitzsimmons (1901)

Our indefatigable friend Kirk Lawson recently finished transcribing another martial classic. This one was on my list, but he saved me the trouble with this faithful reproduction. Here’s his description:

As with all other retranscribed antique manuals that I republish, the text is available for free. You can download it at no charge. The treeware version […]

Carnival of Martial Arts #5 is on the March!

Go check it out at Mokuren Dojo where Pat was kind enough to host it this month. He did a special theme issue on “Warriors of Peace and Justice” and received a nice response.
There are many quality posts, but here are a few that caught my eye:
Patrick Parker included an older Nonviolent self defense […]

Len Lanius: American JJ Pioneer

Longtime Cincinnati resident Leonard (”Len”) Lanius, born around 1865, claims he was the lightweight champion wrestler of the world at one point.
That would have been around 1890 and I have verified that he did at least referee a match in 1894. In fact, the loser of the bout gave Lanius some lip, whereupon Lanius promptly […]

Jujutsu Suffragettes

On November 18, 1910…300 suffragettes marched on the House of Commons. In a public relations disaster, police were caught on film assaulting unarmed women attempting to march past.

Militant suffragettes eventually upped the physical level of their own campaigns and smashed shop windows, burned and even bombed on occasion…