Archive for Miscellaneous
There’s fast and then there’s fast…
Posted by: | CommentsAnd then there’s this guy, who’s really fast.
At least, in his own mind…
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Drumm roll please…
After teasing you all for a long time, I’m extremely happy to finally reveal my secret project. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you…
Secugo: The Global Security Network for Law enforcement, Military and Private Security professionals.
Well over a year ago, one of my oldest friends and one hell of an operator told me about this project he was working on. At first, I was skeptical but the more he explained, the more intrigued I got. At the end of the explanation, he gave me the business plan and it was extremely impressive. Then he asked me to come on board and work alongside him and the others to build what he envisioned in his mind:
A one stop-shop for the warrior community. An online home for those who provide safety and security to society all over the world. A place built for them especially, one that caters to all their needs both personal and professional.
How could I say no?
After a tremendous amount of work, blood, sweat (and almost a few tears), setbacks, victories, disappointments, pleasant surprises and even more work, fast forward to today when we officially open our doors at Secugo.com. I’m extremely proud of the result and am convinced this platform will have a huge positive impact on the Security sector.
Let me explain what it’s all about.
Who is Secugo for?
The warrior community. We define this as everybody working in Law Enforcement, the Military and Private Security. But also Medics, Firefighters, Security Consultants and basically every professional who’s job it is to make society a safer place.This also includes the spouses, families and friends of those who serve and protect us.
Another target group is all the companies who offer products and services to these warriors. Secugo gives them a place to let the professionals know about what they offer.
Secugo is in essence a facilitator. A facilitator between it’s members but also between the members and the companies that cater to them. The goal is very simple: uniting everybody in the security sector online.
What can you do on Secugo?
Lots of stuff: Read More→
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What do Jhoon Rhee and Joan Collins have in common?
Posted by: | CommentsWhat do Jhoon Rhee and Joan Collins have in common?
- They are both about the same age, 80 years old.
- They can both still do splits.
Here’s Jhoon Rhee first doing push ups and then going into splits at 1min25.
Here’s Joan Collins during her one-woman show. No push ups for her though. Read More→
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People need to get punched in the face more often.
Posted by: | CommentsThis article has been going the rounds lately. Before you read the rest of my post, check it out.
Frankly, the author has a point, a pretty damn good one.
In many modern societies, violence is not only frowned upon, it’s is considered inherently wrong. And as a result anybody involved with anything that comes close to violence is regarded with suspicion and incomprehension at best. More often than not, they’re seen as a brute or a barbarian. Given that martial arts are a big part of my life, I’ve run into this mindset now and then, to put it mildly…
The funny part is how this post captures the essence of several conversations I’ve had this last week. Here goes.
The one with a former teacher.
We talked about how before, you wrote the student a note when he misbehaved in class and that was the end of it. Now she has to write four different notes: for the parents, for the principal, for the administration and for a monitoring committee. Then the parent writes a note back or calls her up to complain and the whole process starts over. Writing two notes during a given hour in school means she has more work than it’s worth. So teachers don’t do it unless absolutely necessary and little Johnny learns squat because he gets away with everything in class.
Later on, the parents complain because their kid gets bad grades or fails every class. And then they blame the teacher…
They fail to see the problem, which is: it’s not the teacher’s job to raise your kid, it’s yours. If he acts like a total prat and you refuse to have him punished, regardless of whatever crap he pulls, then you have no right complaining when he doesn’t pass. None.
My mother was a school teacher so I know a wee bit of what I speak: it didn’t use to be like this. Kids were supposed to go to school and if they got bad grades, they got punished by their parents. People didn’t shift responsibility for the upbringing of their children to the school system and its teachers instead of doing it themselves. The took care of their own, they handled the responsibility. Today, this is less and less the case.
The insane gunman.
Last week, an insane gunman went to a Christmas Market here in Belgium and killed five people. He threw grenades into the crowd and opened up with automatic gunfire before killing himself. Read More→
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Ryan Leonard, wrestler without arms
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s an inspirational story for you:
Ryan Leonard was born without arms. But that doesn’t stop him from being a good student and an athlete. He plays football, soccer and wrestling. Yep, wrestling without arms. Ryan says he just assumes the position, shoots in and then tries to wrap his legs around his opponent to take him down. Check out the video here.
I have nothing but respect for his drive and positive attitude. My godmother was in a wheelchair, so I know some of what disabled people go through in life. Ryan is not in for a comfortable ride. But that doesn’t stop him from doing anything the other kids are doing. So a tip of the hat to him and a reminder for all of us when we feel like whining about small aches and pains:
It could be a whole lot worse. So go out, train hard and be grateful you can.
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Police use of force and occupy wall street, Part 2: The UC Davis Pepper Spray Incident
Posted by: | CommentsTurns out a lot of people got upset after my Police use of force and Occupy Wall Street post; a lot of them sent me an email and weren’t particularly nice in the way they voiced their disagreement with what I wrote. Disagreeing with me is perfectly fine, of course. But being rude isn’t. So, all of you who want to give me a piece of your mind after reading this post, don’t bother. I won’t read, nor reply to any mail starting with “You asshole!”… :-)
Anyway, I’ve been involved in a discussion on this topic in another forum and some good points were made there. I won’t rehash them here but would like to mention one of them. Because I think it’s relevant to what I said in my previous post on this subject:
The Occupy Wall Street protesters are not ignorant on how to manipulate the media.
There is a lot to be said about this but I’m not going to. Do your research on how protesters train for and plan their actions and you might be amazed at how it places some things in another perspective. Case in point, the infamous UC Davis Pepper Spray incident.
By now, everybody has already seen this:
Looking at this clip only, the police look like total dipshits for pepper spraying the hell out of protesters who are innocently sitting there…
Turns out, that’s not really what happened… There’s a lot more to it than that. Check out this video of everything that happened before the pepper spraying started. Make sure to watch the whole thing before reading on: Read More→
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Police use of force and occupy wall street
Posted by: | CommentsThe Occupy Wall Street movement has proven once again that the public at large understands close to nothing about police use of force, policies and basic constitutional rights. I wrote about this a few weeks ago right here, so you might want to read my thoughts there first.
Also, head on over to Marc MacYoung’s blog (and I’m ecstatic that he’s taken up blogging after I’ve nagged him about it repeatedly) to read a very good explanation of some of the key components people flat out don’t (want to?) understand about this issue.
There is a lot I could say about Occupy Wall Street, but I’m not going to. There doesn’t seem to be much of a point to me. I’m also not going to talk about police use of force again because I did that in that previous blog post already. There are however a few things I’d like to point out but before I do that, some more info:
- I’m not a US citizen, I’m Belgian. So in a lot of ways, the Occupy Wall Street movement isn’t relevant to me. I have no say in US politics, can’t vote there, etc. Though the really sarcastic thing about it is that many of the decisions made by the US government have a huge impact upon my country and my daily life. But we’re not going to go there today either…
- I’m not claiming to be an expert on police procedures. I have studied the topic quite a bit and have numerous friends and students who are both active and retired police officers. So I think I’m not talking out of the wrong orifice on this subject…
- Though I do have some sympathy for the movement, I also think there’s a lot of bullshit going on. As much as the idea behind it might be sound, the way they’re going about it seems counterproductive to me. There’s also the danger of it spiraling out of control and leading to a very dark path indeed. But I’m not going to go all doom and gloom on you right before the weekend.
- Re-read the previous bullet and remember it by the time you get to the end of this post… I am not saying the Occupy Wall Street is inherently wrong. I am saying I disagree with certain parts of how they are trying to achieve their goals. In other words, I dislike their methods, not their message.
That said, here’s something that is total bullshit to me: Read More→
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