Martial Vitality

In late March 2017, Iain Abernethy released another edition of his excellent podcast, titled Reinventing Violence . From 25:35-26:05 he makes the following statements: "We need to understand what criminal violence truly is, and then seek the best solution for that. So, what all arts should do, when it comes to the self defense side of things, is to objectively look at the problem, and from there seek the optimum solution.  Now what this will mean in practice is that the self-defense aspect of all the martial arts will end up being pretty much the same, because the problem will define the solution." Iain's idea of the problem defining the solution , rather than the solution defining the problem , is the key to this podcast. His overall concern is that too many martial artists do not understand the true nature of violence. Because they lack this experience or knowledge, Iain says, they claim that their system is, or at least can be, the solution to the problem of violence....

Would you believe Bruce Lee affected my career in cybersecurity? For several weeks I've been listening to the Bruce Lee Podcast . The "Bruce Lee Moment" is a segment where a listener explains how Bruce Lee's life and/or philosophy affected him or her. In this post I'd like to share my submission to the podcast. Hello Shannon and Sharon, I love your podcast. I want to share how Bruce Lee's philosophy affected my career in cybersecurity. In 2000 I was an officer in an Air Force cybersecurity unit. The previous year my wife and I enjoyed a three-week honeymoon in China, and I was a practicing martial artist. A top-tier book publisher saw me speak at a conference and asked if I would write a book on detecting and stopping hackers. I considered this a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but I declined. I distinctly remember saying that I wasn't ready to write a book yet. I did not feel that I was prepared to authentically express myself in written form. I spent sev...

Podcasts keep me sane. If you're at all familiar with the traffic in the northern Virginia area, you know what I mean. I spend hours every week driving, many times slowly and with the company of thousands of my not-so-closest friends and neighbors. Thanks to podcasts, the experience is much more enjoyable. When I returned to martial arts training in January , I switched from listening to courses-on-iPhone-or-iPod to podcasts-on-iPhone-or-iPod. (Yes, my car is old enough to require me to use a 2007-era iPod as my primary digital music player!) In this post I share my favorite seven currently active podcasts. I finish by listing a few that were recently active, and perhaps will make a return in 2017. I am not listing the podcasts in order of preference. Many times whatever podcast I'm listening to at the moment is my "favorite." Each offers something novel. The order below does not reflect any favoritism. 1. Bruce Lee Podcast. The Bruce Lee Podcast is relatively new; i...