Archive for the 'Self-defense' Category

Say you are on  the deck of a star ship, away from your home planet for the first time and you need to blow off some steam with your buddies. Why not stop in at the intergalactic watering hole? But what do you do if you find a creature hankering for a rumble? That is the subject of this post – what you can do to survive the bar fight – anywhere in the universe!

I come to you as a quasi expert in so much as anyone can be an expert because in my youth I was a doorman at a fairly rough bar. I talked my way out of a fight at least every other night in my capacity as a doorman because most people just want to be dealt with respectably. I will relate a few stories about some altercations that I could not avoid and some that I handled poorly (yes I too was sucked into some meaningless tussles). But first watch this excellent video on how to avoid a fight (at least for a little while)!

Full Story »

The world over, people realize that we have the right to defend ourselves in self-defense but the defense of others has always been a murky concept. I mean what is our obligation to our fellow man or woman? One person can only do so much and even in the prosperous USA, homeless and mentally ill people abound in cities and tourist areas. Does an individual have an obligation to one person in need or is that societies problem at large?

As you can see before I really start getting into this topic there are a lot of grey areas. One person only has so much financial resources. A person has to provide for himself, his family, maybe his church, maybe his charities and then save for his retirement. The street bum or hobo’s as we called them in my youth are not our collective problem! Right? I mean they choose to live that lifestyle (one can argue this point either way)?

In this post I will attempt to clarify ones obligation to his fellow man or woman by telling a story that has haunted me ever since I learned about this ethical dilemma in my Organizational Management class for my MBA degree. Some mountain climbers found a monk on the high trail while ascending Mt. Everest. The Monk was near death and in the story it was not mentioned why the monk took the high trail instead of the normally traveled low trail. But before I get into that ethical dilemma, I found a funny short video about ethical dilemmas.

Full Story »

I remember back to when the LA riots occurred after the Rodney King beating caught on film. That was a scary time in Los Angeles because all of societies rules and laws were seemingly suspended. The National Guard had to be deployed on the streets of an American city! This is not without precident starting back to the days of the American Revolution (or American Rebellion if you were educated in Great Britain).

The reason I have been thinking about this is because of the IFC movie “Beyond the Gates” I watched over the weekend. This film is about the Rwanda genocide that occurred in the mid-nineties. In this post I’ll examine what self-defense options people might have to consider if they are unlucky enough to live in a nation undergoing some civil unrest (or civil war as the case might be). If you get a chance – watch Beyond the Gates or Shooting Dogs, as it is known internationally. Here is a video clip.

Full Story »

In something seemingly right out of the movie, “Taken,” my step-daughter’s friend and her girlfriend were the subject of some sort of scam yesterday in Paris!  You might remember my review of the move Taken here.

I found out about this late last night from my wife but before I speak about what happened to the girls, the movie plot and safety when traveling in Europe, I want to say this turned out ok – The girls lost guys in the train station and streets of Paris! Here is a clip of the movie Taken.

Full Story »

As you know we here at MySelfDefenseBlog.com do not shy away from the tough questions. My first experience with the concept of a modern serial killer was when I was basically homeless and living in my instructor’s karate studio. My instructor, Dick Willett, let my broken down car live in his parking lot and allowed me to “watch over the place” in the evenings. Why he even suggested and loaned me a book entitled, “The Michigan Murders.”

My routine was simple, after a day of teaching karate lessons, I walked down to Lavicios Delli and bought my favorite sandwich – a British Submarine! I’d walk back to the school and turn on the desk lamp to save money and start reading. The book was fairly scary because the sociopath, John Collins, was the boy next door – a real clean cut college student. Before long I had all of the lights on in the school and word got back to Dick that his studio was lit up all night!

It was not that I wanted to be an ungracious tenant but rather I was not thinking and was kind of freaked out! Mind you that I was a brown belt at the time and already a fairly good fighter. I quickly apologised and mended my ways.

In this post I will examine serial killers and I will concentrate on how women can try and stay safe. No promises here but I have some ideas that make sense. Also I have a treat as my wife, Sylvia has written a good overview of Ted Bundy and how some women were able to avoid or get away from that monster. Here is a overview video of the Michigan Murders that scared me 33 years ago.

Full Story »

Is has been hot here in Southern California the last week as temperatures have soared to almost 100 degrees! I have not really bought in to this whole global warming debate because the average temperature has actually dropped in this decade but imagine my surprise to learn some coffee shops in Washington state actually let the gals work in bikinis! You can see this all the time at the beach but I usually think of Washington state as cold.

Things warmed up fast for one Washington area pervert when he was scalded while flashing the baristas! In what apparently is an old story from last year, a pervert was repeatably flashing the baristias at a drive though coffee shop! In this post I will examine ways anyone can defend themselves and some not so common weapons that can be used in a pinch. Here is a video I found on youtube.

Full Story »

A real life self-defense situation can be a surreal experience. Many that have experienced this have wondered – it is really happening? How did I get here? And sometimes they start getting mad and put up a fight!

Here are some news stories about the San Diego Serial Rapist that has plagued San Diego since 2008!

NBC SanDiego News: Good Samaritan Helps Catch Serial Attack Suspect

NBC San Diego News: Details Emerge About Sex-Assault Suspect

And the best overview story including earlier assaults:

San Diego 6 CW News: Serial Rape Suspect Dead in Jail; Victim Describes Her Attack 

Self-defense can come in may forms; in this story I am presenting today, the last victim, Christina Hennigan finds herself in a tricky situation and starts to turn the tables on her attacker! In this post I will highlight the self-defense story here, evaluate some of the considerations and give an overview of the serial rapist in San Diego. Here is Christina recounting the attack and chase.

Full Story »

You are the proverbial 98 pound weakling at Jones beach one summer day but rather than responding to that Joe Weider ad at the back of the comic book last fall, you sent away for the KETSUGO book! Yes you launched your pseudo martial arts training but now find yourself in a sandy situation! What do you do?

Before we explore that question – consider the ramifications? To what level of adversity must a confrontation rise before you respond? If you respond, how will you respond? Verbally? In kind? Or very aggressively? Are you concerned with your ego? Morally, Legally, Ethically, or do you just want to get even-steven?

In this post we will examine some of these issues as when to fight is every bit as important as how to fight. While you are framing your response, look at this video basically showing the logic of the comic book ad.

Full Story »