The Carrotty Kid

If you were a fan of the Cosgrove Hall production Danger Mouse, you might want to take a look at The Carrotty Kid. He's a crime fighting carrot who is mentored by a cherry called Che-ri. And they both worked to defend their town, Legume City (a play on Bean Town, perhaps) from the evil Count Cornelius Cobb...a cob of corn.

Here's the pilot of the "home grown hero" and "vigilante vegetable":



Here's the Official Homepage:

The Carrotty Kid

Shameless Self Promotion

These promo cards are going to find new homes at my favorite diner, independent coffee shop, book purveyor, and of course martial art supply store.

Biz Card Caddies!

Biz Card Caddies

Future Budo Lab Experiments

Here's a look at some future lab experiments I have planned:

1. Force/Impact analysis of breaking four stacked pine boards with a downward punch.

2. Testing durability and safety with different types of makiwara construction.

3. Slow motion analysis of a "double block" followed by a counter-attack.

4. 5-part tutorial on octagonal nunchaku construction.

5. Demonstrate Newton's Three Laws of Motion as they apply to karate and kobudo.

Not like this...

SF Bay Area Parking Problems

We shouldn't have to fight over parking spaces anymore. Rack 'em & Stack 'em, that's what I say...

This is how it's done in New York:



Here's another system in Japan:



...sure could use something like this where I work...the "Bat-turn" alone is worth it!

Tuesday - Kayoubi - Fire Day

Today is Tuesday. In Japanese, it’s called Kayoubi ( ). The first kan’ji character of this word is the symbol for “fire.” It’s unfortunate that so many people involved with the Southern California fires must suffer, especially on this ironic day. The latest number of evacuees has reached almost one half million people. Please take the time to consider your own good fortunes and wish a speedy end to this crisis and a rapid recovery. There are many ways to contribute after the fires are quenched. Seek out what feels best for you and beware of scam artists (on-line and face-to-face) posing as emergency donation collectors. Even at our most vulnerable moments, everyone should maintain a smart self-defense. Ask for IDs, permits, and tax exemption credentials before contributing money to any organization.

Photo: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

Things Not to be Forgotten

This beautiful singer's name is Rimi Natsukawa. I'm simply touched by her voice. She's from Okinawa, so she sings in Uchinaguchi (the Okinawan dialect) and not in Japanese, though the two languages have several commonalities.

The song is called "Wasurete wa ikenai mono" which means "Things not to be forgotten." It's a lament about lost love and missing the things taken for granted (I think). I studied the Tokyo dialect for a couple of years at SFSU, so translating this song might take me a long while because I don't have a Uchinaguchi-Nihongo dictionary in Romaji, yet. Luckily, it's subtitled so I'll be spending the next seven years figuring it out...Enjoy:




Other songs performed by Rimi-san:

Tinsagu nu Hana Traditional Folk Song
Irayoi Tsukiyohama This one makes me cry, but I don't know why.

Don't Regret the Sweat

Okinawa, the birthplace of karate, is very hot and humid. Those of us from cooler and drier regions of the globe need a couple of days to acclimate to the tropical zone where Okinawa is located. Obvious advice ranges from keep well hydrated; don't over-exert yourself while training; and don't forget to bring plenty of teri cloth hand towels. Believe me...you'll need more than one.

One under-discussed topic that karate training groups visiting Okinawa forget to bring up in committee is laundry. Cotton is notorious for absorbing water and not letting it wick away and dry. We've learned this fact from survival/adventure TV shows. In cold weather, wet clothing can lead to hypothermia. In humid climes, wet clothing can promote fungus...fungus of the kind that will make you itch in publicly inappropriate areas of the body. So, we are blessed with a number of manufacturers that now make high tech fabrics that breath like skin. Tropical grade underwear can either come in a loose mesh or fine weave. Some t-shirts, shorts, and trousers are also made from this same material. The benefit: After washing, hang them up and they'll dry overnight.

This is great for the clothes we'll wear to and from the dojo, or out-and-about the town sightseeing and gift shopping. Unfortunately, our traditional keikogi (practice uniform, aka "gi") is made from 100% cotton. Within ten minutes of even a light warm-up drill, us non-tropical Westerners are usually soaking wet. How does one deal with this situation? If you're visiting Okinawa for martial arts training, the obvious rule is bring more than one gi. As a general rule, two sets of gi is the minimum; three sets of gi is advisable. Why? Access to laundry facilities is very limited. Some hotels only have two sets of washers and dryers for the whole building. One can easily find himself being up at 1 AM to 2 AM feeding coins into laundry machines because serveral families or other group(s) of martial artists have monopolized the facilities since 9 PM.


Here, in my cramped hotel room in Naha, I've strung parachute cord from the door hinge to the HDTV (nice!) to air dry my keikogi overnight. One jacket hangs from the bathroom door. The other is already dry on the bed. I had to do this even though all my gi spent one hour in the hotel's electric dryer after being washed and spun.

Despite the disturbance to my sleep cycle, doing laundry, staying dry, and feeling fresh(?) wasn't that much trouble during my most recent visit to Okinawa. I had gone for training there two years ago and had learned some valuable survival lessons that I applied this year.

Beware the Flapper (Gross Factor 21%)

No, I don't mean a talkative young girl from the Art Deco period. I'm referring to that eternal training-sport-adventure injury known as a "blister." If you feel a warm or burning sensation inside your shoe (and you know it isn't Athelte's Foot) due to excessive friction OR if you're training barefoot on an unfamiliar surface, say karate training at someone else's dojo, take measures to prevent this:


I should have buffed the callous on my little toe with a pumice stone so that it wouldn't "grab" the wooden floor of the dojo I visited. I normally train on a waxed maple floor which has less grip than the floor where this injury occurred. Luckily, I had packed moleskin and extra sport tape in my handy first aid kit. Callouses on your knuckles might be a "seasoned" look for an old fighter, but having to baby an injury like this on the dojo floor can make anyone, including me, look like a freshman. Do yourself a favor: Get a pumice stone...or a pedicure at the day spa!

Take Your Education Seriously!

I just had to share this! This is a TV show where the object for the players is not to laugh. Watch the "punishers." Am I imagining, or did this TV show hire skilled swordsmen to handle the shinai? Or, were they golfers? I'm undecided. They're not just swatting, they're cutting.

"Triple String" Nunchaku

Please, please, please...for safety sake: Triple string your nunchaku. Actually, there is only ONE LONG CORD on this nunchaku. It passes through each bore three times. There are no knots tied, but rather, the ends of the cord are braided along the sides and rely on centrifugal force and friction to keep the cord tight. The standard single pass and double pass methods of tying nunchaku allow knots to slip and if a worn cord fails both will allow the swinging end to fly free, leaving you with half a nunchaku in your hand while friends and family go diving for cover. A tournament judge would definitely be annoyed. If one center strand fails on a triple stringed nunchaku, the other two WILL NOT slip...everyone's happy.



Here, the cord can be seen braided in between the side bores. It appears the same way on the other sides.

This is the top view of the nunchaku where three strands clearly can be seen passing through the top bores.

True Survivor - San Jose Girl

Despite more than 25 years of karate training, I've never had to use my skills to defend my life. I've had to immobilize a mental patient that shouldn't have been released from the county hospital who went berzerker on a co-worker at a mall job I had while I was a college student. And, there've been less than a handful of scuffles I'm proud to claim I talked and walked my way out. All the sparring in the dojo and at taikai don't count at all. The truth is: Most of us will never be tested. Yet, today I'm relieved that a suspect has been arrested for the kidnap-assault-attempted sexual molestation of a 12 year old girl from San Jose, California.

This brave young girl, ignored the pain of being struck by the suspect's car which was stolen. Suffering from a fractured skull and multiple pelvic fractures, she was dragged into the car by the suspect and driven some distance away where she successfully fought off what would probably have been her rape and murder. Eventually, she made her way to a house where she was helped by a friendly samaritan.

Thank goodness she possessed the will to live and the spirit to fight back. More than likely, she had seen and heard several stories on TV about abducted children who never come home alive. She made the mental connection that if she didn't fight, that if she didn't escape, she wouldn't see her family again. She wouldn't see tomorrow.

It's a sad time when we have to start teaching children to not just "stay away from strangers." But also: Beware adults. How can they ever learn to trust any of us?

I wish her a speedy recovery and return to her soccer team.

Below is a link to a local report by KPIX:
San Jose Girl

Things That Happened on October 5, 1973

• Bobby kisses Millicent and later thinks he might have caught the mumps on Episode 100, "Never Too Young" on The Brady Bunch


• The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee conducted the 12th Annual Midwest Medieval History Conference


• Jules Leger was chosen to succeed Roland Michener as Governor General of Canada


• Shuguang-1 (Project 714) was supposed to be China's first manned space craft


• Doctors Dove, Shah, and Schreiner submit the article "Effects of Nitroglycerin on Left Ventricular Wall Motion in Coronary Artery Disease" to the medical periodical Circulation

and then there's...

Doesn't that just make you want to go wreck the neighbor's patio furniture? Actually...don't.

Budo Lab Pre-Launch!

Thanks for dropping by and checking out my blog. The point of this exercise is to not waste all the modern technology I've acquired in the last couple of years. Perhaps some explanation of the name of my blog is due.

The Budo Lab's mission is to analyze basic martial art techniques and de-mystify the power and effectiveness of punches, strikes, kicks, and blocks using the human body and ancient weapons. Whenever possible, scientific measurements using chronometers and force gauges will be used. For purposes of fair reporting, this blog will remain ryu (style) and sensei (teacher) neutral.

Interspersed here and there, WE will have some fun and laughs along the way with news, factoids, rumors, cultural essays, and whatever comes OUR way.

I'll be spending the rest of 2007 honing and testing my HTML skills, setting up and rigging experiments, and researching Japanese/Okinawan languages and cultures. Everyone can expect the official launch of "The Lab" in early 2008. Until then, enjoy the postings I've already blogged.

Please stay tuned in.

Ernie - Chief Lab Rat