Goshin Jutsu Kata, popularly known as the weapons kata.

Very true. Another commenter was asking me how to select a martial art, especially if you want to learn something that has some application for self defense. One of the things I told her was that I really recommend choosing a form where you'll get to spar pretty regularly. Given how difficult it can be to just THINK…

I'm biased towards learning some method of hand-to-hand self defense. As I'm sure people are sick of hearing me talk about on here, I do judo, so we focus a lot on how to break grips or use an attacker's momentum or strength against them. Although, I do recognize that that won't help me if I get knocked out or…

THIS. Disclaimer upfront: While I don't like the culture as a whole focusing on making sure women can defend themselves, I do recognize cultural change takes a while and self-defense is not a bad idea in the mean time.

No problem :)

Found the link: http://lifehacker.com/5825528/basic-self+defense-moves-anyone-can-do-and-everyone-should-know

I feel like you're referring to my reply in another thread here... I would like to make it clear that I told that girl you needed to be trained if you're going to use any weapon for self defense, and that knives aren't great if you're concerned about being disarmed. The other girl who had been using a knife for…

True. It just seems like it's a very, very broad way to word that kind of a regulation.

Well, I'm not really a self defense expert, outside of what I've learned. I do judo and we throw in self defense stuff in addition to our competition stuff all the time at practice. The stuff I know about weapons is just what I know from self defense classes and what not. If the stuff I say here isn't helpful,…

Based on what Ergates said about ALL weapons being banned, this would probably still be not okay, unless you could convince the cops it was just a really heavy keychain.

That seems insane to me. Your freaking keys can be a weapon if you need them to be.

I am rather biased towards learning to fight hand-to-hand. Taking up something long-term is, in my opinion, better, but even if you just do a one time self defense class you can learn some decent techniques.

Most places in the US base whether a knife is legal or not based on the side of the blade- basically you can carry most pocket knifes, but I can't carry around my wakuzashi, since more like a very small sword. I think there are some more restrictions here and there, but that's the idea.

I love how the lady dancing with POTUS is grinning like crazy. I'm pretty sure I would do the exact same thing.

I've been known to tell people "Look, just because 'Big Pharma' isn't entirely benign doesn't mean they're the Umbrella Corporation."

They're different, but Laura Ingraham is also completely terrible. She's like if someone put Bill O'Reilly and Megyn Kelly in a blender, but removed Kelly's ability to actually function as a journalist (you know, occasionally) and whatever aspect of O'Reilly's personality that makes him watchable when he's on the…

I'm confused by the "curing" autism thing. Are they seriously advocating for an actual cure? As in "child is now neurotypcial"? Because... neurodevelopmental disorders kinda don't work that way. Especially given that autism might have a large genetic component, it (and other neurodev disorders I know better) are kind…

Indeed. I think it's fairly newish, and when I checked the CDC website it said that it is currently recommended for age 50 and up (no max age). I think under 50 and you may have difficulty getting your insurance to pay for it, but you may be able to work it out. The immunity from the childhood infection seems to wear…

That's rather alarming. I'll admit autism is not my specialty, but my understanding is that, save for more severe cases, they should be able to learn to function if given the time and resources, correct?

I'm so, so sorry. I wish I could shout your story from the rooftops, because this is the exact thing anti-vaxxers HAVE to hear. They don't get to see your story, or those of people like you (or worse- of parents who lost a kid to these completely preventable illness), and just stay in their little self-righteous…