Now I love Barbados... but its a lot like Communism... a great theory but when you actually have it running in a practical sense it SUCKS... today's case-in-point... setting up a Bridal Registry...
In order to set up our Bridal Registry, I called Cave Shepherd to schedule a date we could come in and do all the picking out of stuff. Would that it were so easy! This apparently is not how it works... First you have to go in to Register to Register... yeah... you have to physically go into the office to make an appointment to COME BACK and select all of the goodies that you want people to buy for you. Does this make sense to ANYONE? I couldn't simply do this over the phone??? In a NORMAL country you CALL them to make an appointment to come in to select stuff...
Just another example of the rediculousness of Barbados... I also hate going into town specifically for other reasons, predominantly the rampant scent of urine, and the constant barrage of offers for a taxi... Now don't get me wrong, were I to want a taxi the ability to draw taxi-men like flies would be GREAT, but it gets annoying when they are standing in a group and you have to tell each one individually that you do not require a taxi. The faux british accents just add to the effect really...
Today's specific town annoyance? Assholes that park IN FRONT OF the entrance to the fenced off parking area, instead of just going inside and paying the measely $1 per hour. It's not just the sheer cheapness that bugs me, it is the whole fact that they parked in such a way as to actually partially BLOCK the entrance. WTF???????
- Matt
Monday, May 26, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Karate food for thought...
Found this on the Karate Underground forum, thought I would share it... I have copied the original post here without the references as they are very long. The post is somewhat a summary of the findings of the studies referenced. Thought you would find it interesting, the link to the original forum topic is: http://www.karatethejapaneseway.com/karate_underground/viewtopic.php?t=8407
Enjoy!
"The following is a brief summary from the referenced research.
Research has shown that child and adolescent problem behavior can be a precursor of adult criminality but that the peer tutoring and coaching of Karate have a significant effect on positive social behaviors.
One survey examined the aggressive tendencies of participants at seven different martial art schools of Karate, Taekwondo and Jujitsu. The survey evaluated the importance of meditation, the amount of respect the students showed towards the sensei, the dojo, and each other, the level of contact allowed to vital areas of the body, and the relative importance of Kata. Based on this, they classified four of the schools as "Traditional" (more meditation, respect and Kata, less contact to vital areas) and three of them as "Modern". Beginning students in both traditional and modern schools had similar scores. More advanced students in the traditional schools showed lower scores for aggression than beginning students.
There was no change in the scores of the students at the schools with the "Modern" emphasis. Other surveys have shown similar results. Traditional martial arts students increase their self-acceptance which does not occur for students with a Modern emphasis in training.
Most research supports the idea that it is the training environment and style of instruction which influences these differences. One study has shown the possibility that it is the sensei or coach who acts as a role-model and "leads by example". It has been shown that there is a positive correlation between an instructor's aggressiveness and his/her student's aggressiveness. Conversely there is a negative correlation between an instructor's Traditional characteristics and his/her student's aggressiveness. One interpretation of this is that the student models the behavior of the instructor.
Karate is a complex psychomotor activity that enhances perceptual and motor skills. Karate encourages self-regulation and executive skills through self-discipline, self-control, self-respect, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-knowledge and self-improvement. It has been shown, when properly taught using a strong role model, peer group and value system, to be a effective method for problem behavior reduction. A significant improvement in temperament scale scores of intensity, adaptability and mood regulation is shown throughout the many studies carried out since the 50's. Some of the psychosocial benefits seen in martial arts studies probably originate from the physical activity itself. Exercise in many forms can promote psychological well-being amongst the practitioners. However, research which directly compares martial arts with other forms of physical exercise shows that a martial art produces positive psychosocial changes that are greater and more far-reaching than those produced by many other physical activities. These changes may have different cause and are probably due to other non-exercise-related aspects of Karate."
Enjoy!
"The following is a brief summary from the referenced research.
Research has shown that child and adolescent problem behavior can be a precursor of adult criminality but that the peer tutoring and coaching of Karate have a significant effect on positive social behaviors.
One survey examined the aggressive tendencies of participants at seven different martial art schools of Karate, Taekwondo and Jujitsu. The survey evaluated the importance of meditation, the amount of respect the students showed towards the sensei, the dojo, and each other, the level of contact allowed to vital areas of the body, and the relative importance of Kata. Based on this, they classified four of the schools as "Traditional" (more meditation, respect and Kata, less contact to vital areas) and three of them as "Modern". Beginning students in both traditional and modern schools had similar scores. More advanced students in the traditional schools showed lower scores for aggression than beginning students.
There was no change in the scores of the students at the schools with the "Modern" emphasis. Other surveys have shown similar results. Traditional martial arts students increase their self-acceptance which does not occur for students with a Modern emphasis in training.
Most research supports the idea that it is the training environment and style of instruction which influences these differences. One study has shown the possibility that it is the sensei or coach who acts as a role-model and "leads by example". It has been shown that there is a positive correlation between an instructor's aggressiveness and his/her student's aggressiveness. Conversely there is a negative correlation between an instructor's Traditional characteristics and his/her student's aggressiveness. One interpretation of this is that the student models the behavior of the instructor.
Karate is a complex psychomotor activity that enhances perceptual and motor skills. Karate encourages self-regulation and executive skills through self-discipline, self-control, self-respect, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-knowledge and self-improvement. It has been shown, when properly taught using a strong role model, peer group and value system, to be a effective method for problem behavior reduction. A significant improvement in temperament scale scores of intensity, adaptability and mood regulation is shown throughout the many studies carried out since the 50's. Some of the psychosocial benefits seen in martial arts studies probably originate from the physical activity itself. Exercise in many forms can promote psychological well-being amongst the practitioners. However, research which directly compares martial arts with other forms of physical exercise shows that a martial art produces positive psychosocial changes that are greater and more far-reaching than those produced by many other physical activities. These changes may have different cause and are probably due to other non-exercise-related aspects of Karate."
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