"The writing of history is largely a process of diversion. Most historical accounts distract attention from the secret influences behind great events."
      I'm not sure whether I could lay claim to any truth in this quote or not, but it does call up memories of me falling asleep in what I thought would be interesting European history in high school, and makes me wonder whether it might have been more interesting...

Submission Grappling vs Classical Jujitsu - this article gets two thumbs up from me; finally, old-school jujitsu gets some non-dippy recognition. I'll note that for whoever's in Tucson, we have an interestingly wide range of options for jujitsu; the Kodenkan schools have something approximating the traditional variant in the article (though I hear that they're also starting an MMA program). The Ko Sho schools (plug!) forgo the preset kata, but maintain most of the traditional techniques through ties to aikido/aikijutsu while mixing in some new. And for Brazilian jiujitsu and MMA there are the Ultima schools and the training group at Rincoln.
      Also, the Ko Sho schools are working on developing the new-school jujitsu competition in Tucson (as opposed to the cage fights in Phoenix and the Kodenkan and Brazilian competitions) . There are two sides to it; the 'dual competition,' which can involve whatever combination of the sexes one wishes, are choreographed ahead of time. The judge chooses an attack, and one partner tries for it, while the other responds with a combination of strikes/throw/pin. Interestingly, from what I've seen excessive flashiness in technique (ie, doing a sacrifice throw by dropping into the splits right after a head-high kick) can actually be a hindrance in gaining points, with functionality taking priority. The other side of the competition starts out at striking range (something like one point for hand strikes, two for kicks I think) but once one person manages a grab of any kind, any strike thereafter is a point-deduction. From that point it becomes like judo, except with throws netting three points and submission equaling a win. Further updates to come...

Two Layers of Stretch - interestingly, I think the first line ("When working a joint, you must decide on whether to work muscle or bone") could very easily apply to martial arts as well

word of the day: versilibrist - a writer of free verse

phrase of the day: lèse-majesté - any slight or insult that wounds someone’s dignity