Happy 4th!

Do you remember being a kid and shooting off all kinds of fireworks? The 4th was always one of my favorite holidays and my parents would get us smoke bombs, firecrackers and other fireworks that we would play with for days. This all kind of stopped abruptly once when my brother blew his finger tips off after putting together some kind of firecracker concoction and it exploded in his hand. So, have fun but be careful. Or do parents let kids play with fireworks anymore?

Pool Mystery

Maggie's Farm: "These people were always finding water all over their pool deck and furniture every time they came home after being away for a few hours. They thought the neighborhood kids were waiting for them to leave, and using the pool. However, they could never catch them doing it. So, they set up their video cam and left. This is what they found out:...."

Bernard Chapin at PJM takes a look at why men need to be saved from the New York Times and how Kathleen Parker's book, Save the Males: Why Men Matter Why Women Should Care can help.

Krav Maga

I have always wanted to learn the Israeli self-defense system Krav Maga and finally got around to taking my first training lesson today. If you are not familiar with this technique, you are not alone--although it is becoming more common in the United States. "Krav Maga" is the Hebrew name for "contact fight." It was originally developed for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and various branches of the security services by its creator, Grandmaster Imi Sde-Or, and was later adapted for civilians.

According to the book I bought after my lesson entitled Krav Maga: How to Defend Yourself Against Armed Assault, all Krav Maga techniques have been thoroughly tested in real-life situations. This sounded good to me. I listened to my instructor as he took me through a number of drills on various jabs, punches, and holds. I took Taekwondo years ago when living in New York and many of the movements came fairly naturally to me--but some did not and I realized that I would need a lot more practice.

What are the guiding principals of Krav Maga? From the book I mentioned above, they are:

Avoid injury! Carefully calculate the risks involved in a specific action, and avoid danger whenever possible; the Krav Maga techniques were developed as an extension of the body's natural reflexes; defend and counterattack in the shortest and most direct way possible, from any starting position, taking into consideration the safety and convenience of your action. Respond correctly, strike accordingly at any vulnerable point, use any tool or object available nearby for your defense and counterattack, there are no rules, technical limitations or sportsmanship restrictions, and finally, the underlying principal in training: advancing from closed skill to open skill (incorporating "mental training"), and from a single , specifically defined technique to improvised action in accordance with the dynamics of the situation.

Uh, okay, I guess once I have all of the above mastered, I will be on my way. It might take a while but I look forward to my next lesson!

Ask Dr. Helen: Men and Rape

My PJM column is up: "Can a Man be Raped by a Woman? Of course he can, and believe it or not, it happens more often than we think."

Go read the column and tell me what you think.