The Khukuri as a Field Knife

My barber sent me the link to the following video:

I found it interesting and informative, but with one caveat. I wrote back to him my assessment:

Interesting. In Nepal, they use the khukuri for everything. I think as you become more familiar and comfortable using it, You learn the proper way to use the khukuri for different jobs. My experience has also been that I expend a lot of energy chopping with it, but I am aware that I'm not really letting the tool do the work, as I should. I need practice and experience, just as I first did when I started using an axe to split wood or a hammer to drive in nails.

Hmm. Maybe this should be a blog post.

He concurred in his reply, as follows:

Agreed.  Over the years I have had the bad habit of not letting the tool do the work.  It's the same with hair clippers, or a 16-ounce framing hammer.  Or a Cessna 150 airplane.  Gentle pressure inputs control the plane.  You don't need to man-handle it.  Same with knives and guns.  We tend to force things always.  We need to rethink that.  I often think that physical force is needed to accomplish the task.  They are called tools for a reason....  Ya' know, you and I never discuss or examine anything without extracting some edifying training value from it!!

Joint Injuries and Range of Motion

Which takes a greater toll on joints, aging or traumatic injury? My answer is, "Yes!" 

In point of fact, your range of motion (ROM) loss as you age generally stems from two causes: 1) cumulative injury and 2) disuse. From this the question arises, "Can you do anything to regain your ROM?"

As a matter of fact, I know that you can. You can find various ROM exercises on the internet. As for myself, I have found Scott Sonnon's Intu-Flow exercises quite helpful.

But you need to know a couple of secrets in expanding your ROM. First, if it's too painful to do an exercise in one quadrant, practice it in the opposite quadrant. For example, at present I cannot lift my hand above my head to make circles, so I let my arm hang and do low circles.

Second, do not push through a motion if the pain is above a 3 or 4 on a scale of 1-10. Simply, make the motion until you reach that point, then over time, shave off the a little more of the lost range.

Took a Spill

If you can wade through the account of my boo-boos, there's a lesson at the end.

Yesterday, I carried a hay bale for my wife, then I went back to close the hatch on our van. As I went to put away my gloves, I tripped on a branch that was lying on the ground (a whole 'nother story).

In complete free fall, I put out my right hand against an outbuilding to catch myself. This wrenched my shoulder without stopping me. Then my head hit the building, and finally I landed on my left knee.

The knee hurt the most, at first. I had trouble getting up, because of the pain in both knee and shoulder. Much later, I noticed a little problem with my right hip, and a small laceration at the cuticle of my left thumb.

This morning, everything felt better (perhaps I should write a post on essential oils), but my right shoulder still hurts except in a limited range of motion, and if I try to lift anything heavier than a few ounces.

So, I had to ask myself WWMBD? What Would My Barber Do?

The obvious answer: Do a lot of left-handed dry fire practice.

Excuse me as I go get my airsoft Gov't Model replica and do some weak-hand practice.

Two Shillelagh O'Sullivan

Whether you're Irish or just a fan of Westerns, I hope you'll enjoy this old song by Bing Crosby.

Will He Shoot?

Back in 2009, I received an email from my barber with this link:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/06/06/lear_jet_repo_man/

The text read as follows:

Bro',

    Please tell me what you think about his statements after the encounter with the hillbilly with the shotgun.  Agree or disagree?

Immediately below, you will find the quote from the article that he referred to, and after that, my reply.

Popovich's first rule of firearms is pretty simple: The man who tells you he's going to shoot you will not shoot you.

Bro,

Something about it rings true, but are there exceptions to the rule?

Not directly on topic, but when I was at Magee's, there was a veteran who had worked in Rhodesia as a merc. One time he was talking about how on TV & in the movies, the guy with the gun starts a monologue before he shoots his prisoners, giving them a chance to turn the tables or get away. He said, "Craig, if that was you & me, it would be, 
'What should we do with him?' 
'Shoot him.' Bang! 
'Okay, let's get out of here.'"

Popovich's principle seems to accord with what Col. Grossman says about the hesitancy most folks have of taking another human life. Talking about the deed could be
1) an attempt to stall & avoid going through with it (until it turns into bluffing?);
2) an attempt to talk oneself into pulling the trigger.

The second possibility is more worrisome, especially if the guy is not alone & has comrades to encourage him to pull the trigger (peer support mentioned by Grossman). If the orc can dehumanize you, receives peer support and gets the order to pull the trigger from someone he sees as a legitimate authority figure, then I think he just might go ahead and shoot.

So, the repo scenario might have worked out differently if the redneck had said, "Stop or I'll blow your head off," and then his buddies offered a chorus of encouragement AND someone high in neo-nazi circles was present and followed up with a direct order to fire.

Final conclusion: I think Popovich's principle is probably mostly true, most of the time, but there are exceptional circumstances where it would be dangerous to depend on it alone.

This is the sling I think I'd like to make. I have the leather and the paracord.

It's just a matter of sitting down and doing it. 

Give Me That Old-Time Religion

One of the verses of the song "Old Time Religion" says.
It was good for King David,
It was good for King David,
It was good for King David,
And it's good enough for me.

In the spirit of that song, I am thinking that a sling may be a good alternative weapon where firearms are unavailable.