Indigenous Ability

A thoughtful question from Affiliate Rough ‘n’ Tumble Coach Mitch Mitchell prompted me to offer the following advice regarding these two common items of frontier weaponry. First, the part of Coach Mitchell’s Question/Observation that prompted what follows. “ Am I on the right track or holding my danged knife wrong?  Bowie designs are manifold. My personal preference falls toward a flat spine knife with a half-guard because a spine-side guard or broken spine jams up my thumb on a sincere stab in sabre grip.  For me anyway, a nice, straight, full-power stab with a hammer grip on the high line is impossible and anyway it's is a wrist killer.” His observation/complaint is common and one that leads to wisdom. I will also point out that to discover that certain tactics and grips are wrist killers can only be garnered via experience, that is, hard post training. If we stick with mirror play, shadow play, or tit for tat [ zumbrada] flow drills with a partner u...

A preview of what follows to see if this is your cup of pragmatic tea. ·         The difference between course, heading, and bearing. ·         The vital importance of course corrections in physical life and cognitive life. ·         How to test non-fiction for utility. ·         I emphasize, how to test ANY non-fiction book from physical geography, to the latest super-duper diet to philosophy. It is a vital time-saving hack to know when to keep a book always on your desk, in your mind, or when to toss it on the garbage heap. ·         And we end with a mini book-review. First, let’s give the stage to author and amateur pilot Rolf Dobelli. This is from his volume The Art of the Good Life. “You’re sitting on a plane from London to New York. How much of the time is it sticking to the fli...

How’s this for a full life? ·         Hugh Glass, if you saw the film The Revenant , or read the book by Michael Punke or were already familiar with this mountain man who survived a tussle with a bear to crawl an injured 300 miles through hostile territory and still put more years in front of him. ·         Pre-Legendary Bear Attack he… ·         Was a sailor who was captured by Jean the “Gentleman Pirate of Barataria” Lafitte and forced to become a pirate for a spell. ·         He and a shipmate eventually jumped ship off the coast of Texas and swam to shore. ·         End of the adventure? Not quite. ·         The two ex-pirates were then captured by the Pawnee. They endured well enough to be adopted by the tribe where Glass accrued much of his survival...