Month in review: November, 2011

Well, another month shot to hell.  :)

Anyway, November was an interesting little month. This was the month I discovered Stumbleupon.com.... and I posted links to almost every single blog entry, and tossed in some of Masks as well .... only in that case, I crashed the website for a little bit. Oops.

So, all of that adds up to this month having over 13,255 hits on the blog.  It's been a good month.  Even if I had to rewrite the top ten blog list. I may still yet have to.

Anyway...

I've written characters of mine who take surveys, starting with Egyptian cop Hashim Abasi ... who has a list of enemies on his mouse pad.

And, if you ever missed a video we've done thus far, well, you can't: here are the complete Videos of A Pius Man.  Not to mention that there's also a video going around the net that makes me think I have to seriously up my A-game: a live action recreation of a video game fight from the epic game Arkham city.

Oh yes, and there is a contest going on: I hope someone has noticed.

Our music blogs have had: Dragonforce's Heart of a Dragon, Final Fantasy's One Winged Angel, and Mozart. We also had Tom Smith's Cooking for 93 ... a little something for Thanksgiving.  There was also the classic science fiction summary in song Rocket Ride, by Tom Smith, as well as some Dragonforce's Where Dragons Rule.  We also had some Two steps from Hell, and the greatest beer that any bar has ever had for sale: it's Three-oh-seven Ale.

I've also had the most FAQ that any author has ever had to deal with: "Where do you get your ideas from?"  Here's an answer.

There was also some issues with Google.  Feh.

And, finally, there was a self defense review: with kill shots, Occupiers, and ... something else, I'm sure.

See you Monday.

Self defense review: Zombies, Women's self defense, Barbara Sheehan

October was a really weird month for me, truly. And how is that difference from any other month, you ask?

To start with, most of my self defense review materials turned out to be comedies.

Taking this month in chronological order will probably make the most sense.

To start with, I discovered a new Women's self defense, every Sunday.in Manhattan.  It's Krav Maga for women -- which is actually more advanced than going for straight, plain-old Krav Maga, believe it or not. It has to be for some of the techniques to be effective.

And then, of course, there was the little incident of Barbara Sheehan, battered women: which is always a problem.  In New York, you can't kill anyone and get away with it. That includes if you kill someone in self defense. Even if a jury let's you go, the New York District Attorney's office will find some way to throw you in jail, without remorse.

But, then again, the odds of that happening are more likely when you consider that Barbara Sheehan shot her husband with his own gun while he was shaving, after she just came back from her next door neighbors. Click the link to read more.

After that, things got a little weird. Yesterday, I covered the latest in Catholic Conspiracies, with Occupy Wall Street.  I also did several articles about them kicking around.  I not only did articles about protection from them, and how dangerous they may or may not be (answer: mostly harmless) but how they can protect themselves -- both from each other (ie: how NOT to have your $5K laptop stolen), and their own stupidity (eg: DON'T ATTACK THE POLICE!!!!!).

I also discovered that the same people who brought you last month's self defense seminar has a new one: knife and stick defenses.

And last, but not least .....

Okay, I have to deal with a lot of strange stuff in New York. That's because it's New York.  Nothing here is really "normal" here.

And then there's the CDC creating the Zombie Preparedness kit ... and the comic book for it.

I can't make this stuff up.

Self defense Review: DSK, Oslo, Pens as weapons, and Krav Maga.

You might remember a while ago, I posted a list of articles I have written for Examiner.com, about self defense in New York City.

I'm still writing for them, and it's still around.

Pens as weapons. (EDC Tools) A pen is an Every Day Carry tool.  Do you want to know how it can be used as a weapon?

Top ten "improvised weapons." This article pretty much means what it says.

Are you a target? Situational awareness Some people are natural born targets, mainly because they don't pay attention.  Could this be you?

Meeting people from online in real life, part one and part two  -- the title says it all.  After experiencing one or two dates where women have no problem at all accepting a ride from me, it says two things: on the one hand, I have a nice face, and people think I'm trustworthy. On the other, some people might be a little too trusting.

Self defense in New York. Again. Or: Killing people isn't fun. This covers a real life incident that explores the rules of engagement for defending yourself in New York.

Self defense and Child Obesity -- pretty much what it says.

Can New York City become Oslo? After someone tried to blow up Norway, I decided to focus my attention there for a while.

How to Spot a Suicide Bomber in 12 steps.  If you've been on this site a lot, you know this one already.  If not, enjoy.

DSK and Rape. I analyzed the rape charges against a French bureaucrat in New York, and I came up with a conclusion. And that conclusion is that there should be pain.

Levi Aron, Leiby Kletzky, and "stranger danger."  In New York, a little boy was killed, and dismembered.  The real danger would be bringing back an old practice that did no good the first time around.

Oslo, Abdo, a tale of two terrorists. This was the week that everyone tried to blow stuff up.  And I went nuclear in response.

Dealing with a stalker ex.  After listening to several female friends complain about these incidents, I decided there should be a how-to guide.

How to survive a bar fight in five easy steps Exactly what it says.

Parking lot safety. Hunting in the Urban Wild. You are the prey.

Purse-snatching defenses. They want your bag. You're going to hurt them.

How I spent my 9-11: a self defense review.

I've had two previous self defense reviews. One, when I first started my job at Examiner.com, and another a little more recently, which covered current events all over the place.

This one may be a little more laid back.

In retrospect, I should have mentioned the Krav Maga seminar, on September 11th, 2011. But, to be honest, I didn't know how many people here would have been interested.

However, never fear: I did a four-part review of it for Examiner.com anyway.

There was one part that reviewed how to use The Stop Kick to nail someone charging a third party, even though they may be armed. Trust me, I got kicked in the chest so often, my teeth rattled, and I had a shield.

You do this to an actual attacker, it's gonna suck to be them.

Then there was the choke... in this case, "the choke" is just a simple matter of t-rex arms.... you'll see what I mean.

And, of course, there is the inevitable gun defense.

And learning how to take down a guy holding someone hostage.

And, there's the latest in fashion: Bulletproof clothing.

When Examiner.com suggested I try something to do with 9-11 .... well, I did my best, and called it, simply, New York ten years after 9/11. Original, no?

Some people like to discuss how they can be perfectly safe ... I mention it here: How can I be perfectly safe? Again, another original title.

I briefly talked about How to spot a concealed weapon, a fun little article.

And ... well, there was a little incident lately in NYC's West Indian Parade, which led me to discuss Surviving a shootout, and an encounter with the NYPD

That one's a long story, I think.

And, that is it.

Although it has occurred to me: if anyone has an actual question about self-defense, feel free to ask in the comments below.  I'll be sure to try and answer you.

Be safe, all.

A long overdue rant, Part 1, Economy.

Liberal mob psychology 101 isn't about liberals, it's about mobs. Ann Coulter's latest book Demonic says they're one and the same thing, but let's skip that theory for a moment.

Today, I've had someone whine to me about how he won't get a pay raise for his government job because the eeeeevilllll Republicans want to give tax breaks to the rich.

How about this: since you're employed, friend, how about you don't air your grievances on Facebook -- when you have friends who are unemployed! 

How about you don't complain about getting a pay raise when government employees make more than the private sector!


How about you don't complain about the evil rich republican supports when most of Wall Street votes democrat!

I spend about nine hours a day (9-6), Monday - Thursday, on job searches online, at practically any job search site on the web that I don't have to pay for.  I spend Friday-Sunday working on a professional blog that's as non-political as I can make it, and it's all about getting me published as an author of fiction, and it has ads that I hope to get some revenue from.

I write self defense articles for examiner.com, and hope enough people click on them so I can get money.

And, of course, you have the Occupy Wall Street morons demanding that the government essentially take over the economy, so the poor little darlings can basically get a pension while they look for a job that'll take them and their liberal arts degree in something completely useless.

A lovely mob who demands that everything change just to suit them.  Let's destroy the way the economy works.  Because no one in all 30,000 years of cultural conventions never thought of this! We must be smarter than everyone who came before.

Answer: it's been done before, schmucks.  See: Soviet Union.