Secular Blasphemy

13. januar 2008

Everybody was viking fighting
The martial arts world is full of what can charitably be described as bullshido, typically some mid-level karate dude with an inflated list of fake accomplishments always ready to teach you the secrets of the ancient Ninja/Shaolin monks/martian little green men, and make you the Baddest Dude on the Planet after a weekend seminar setting you back only $999.

Obviously Scandinavians, and people of the same descent in North America, have some pride in their viking heritage and think: Hey, the vikings were proven badasses. Surely we should learn Viking Fighing instead of the tricks of some Japanese or Chinese dude in a pyjamas.

So prepare for a web bloodbath as you enter Berzerker(tm) Viking Fighting. You absolutely can't miss this interview with BERZERKER� Viking Fighting Supreme Grandmaster and Inheritor of the Horned Helmet, Grandmaster Sven S. Svensson.

SS: No problem! BERZERKER� Viking Fighting is the best combat system in the world! I don't think there's any other martial art or combat system more violent and brutally effective than Viking Fighting. The system comes directly from the ancient Scandinavian Viking Berzerkers and it covers both armed and unarmed fighting. It's a complete system � and it teaches you to win in ANY situation and against ANY opponent!

LS: That sounds great! What are the basic ideas and principles behind the system?

SS: Viking Fighting is basically a very, very violent and very, very dirty style of fighting. The core principles are violence, ruthlessness, surprise, anger, cheating, deception, brutality and pre-emptive action. Everything we do is based on the old Viking saying that "it's better to stand and fight because if you run, you'll only die tired".

LS: OK. What exactly does that mean?

SS: That we don't run... And that we stand and fight. Viking Fighting is 70% attack, 25% counter-attack, and maybe 15% defense.

And 0% math.

Seriously, though, no detailed information exists about the actual fighting style of the vikings, except the pretty gory outcome. You'll get a pretty good clue what they were up to in this old description of Egil Skalla-Grimsson, but hardly enough to reconstruct a martial art.

And, yes, I know the site is a parody. But there are similar sites out there, and dojos across the world teaching lots of bullshido.

11:28:28 PM comment [] trackback []

Israel's economy outperforms Europe, US
Israel's economic growth outperforms not only its neighbours (frankly not an accomplishment) but also Europe, Japan and the US:

The country's economy grew more than five percent last year -- faster than the U.S., Europe, UK and Japan.

While the Bank of Israel expects the country's fortunes to dip next year, along with the world economy, growth is still expected to exceed four percent. Not bad, given that the U.S., one of its biggest trading partners, is staring down the barrel of potential recession.

"The Israeli economy has managed to develop a kind of isolation from the political instability," says Yossi Mekelberg, Associate Fellow of the Middle East Program at Chatham House.

"It's almost isolated, mainly because it's based on hi-tech, pharmaceutical industries, and chemicals, and I think these are the things that are less conditioned by the political situation."

It would probably be asking for too much to expect our local socialist government, predictably Israel-hating as it is, to take some lessons from this and actually give some priority to education and technology.

There is a superstition in countries that rely on some sort of natural resource, which in Norway is oil, to believe that this is the most important one. It never is. A country's greatest natural resource by far is its people.

6:40:04 PM comment [] trackback []