Video, police, security and methodical pyramid
A Former Police Officer from Oakland Police was found guilty of manslaughter of a suspect - Oscar Grant Jr. - who was handcuffed during the act. The court ruled the sentence. Since the officer is white and the suspect a black youngster there are concerns of racial riots in the Bay Area. This case reminds the Rodney King case that broke the Los Angeles riots in 1992. The Grant and King events were filmed by viewers. A paper from 2007, in the Journal of AKBAN, warned that the certainty of documenting personal acts must be part of the strategy of fighting, self-defense and security. ERA, Exposed recorded action, is here to stay and planning according to this certainty is as important as preparing for the enemy’s specific weapons. The Gaza flotilla case is another fatal incidence in which not only the intelligence was lacking but the utter certainty of video documentation was not considered. Combat personnel and security forces must do the new data integration: ERA of what we do is a certainty, not an option. AKBAN, The Academy of martial arts, leads the integration of ERA into personal and group techniques. One of the main conclusions we’ve had is that learning and practicing with non-violent and low aggression techniques improves overall target acquisition. In the video the officer shoots detainee's head. This is one of many videos taken by spectators in the event. The picture attached was taken by the deceased, using his cell phone, seconds before he was shot.
The Answer to Gun Stockpiling: Less Restrictions?
It transpires that telling people they can't buy guns is exactly what improves firearms sales. Recent market research shows that the sales growth outlook for the coming years has dropped significantly, supposedly due to the revelation that the Obama administration did not intend to impose any restrictions on firearms ownership.
Similarly to my intentions to stockpile beer prior to the recent increase of alcohol prices in Israel, Texans fearing that democrat driven laws would prevent them from arming themselves for the coming apocalypse rushed to stores to buy ammunition and weapons. Great minds think alike, eh?
Here's the article from BW: link
First round of planning the new Tel Aviv Akban dojo
Students of architecture presented the first drafts of the new Akban Academy in Tel Aviv. Yossi Sheriff, Akban's founder, commented on the interesting and successful plans: "Our martial art is the picture. I love this picture and I think that a good martial arts Centre should be the beautiful frame. It should be approachable to students who wish to apply to our rigorous training regime".
The current Tel Aviv dojo is spacious, has parking nearby but lacks the added benefit of daily practice. A new Academy will give the students the ability to train all week long. The opening date is scheduled for September.
On our way to strengthen our core and our learning assets this is an important mid station. We thank the students and their teacher Michal Dolev Hashimshoni and her colleague Yehiam Kru.
Database of medieval soldier service records
Immense database containing 250,000 service records of medieval soldiers (1369-1453), has been published. This information offers a unique glimpse of military history from the viewpoint of the private soldier. The medeival soldier database.
Wikipedia will add video, Just like the Akban-wiki
Wikipedia will soon provide its editors and users with video editing capabilities. Users will be able to import, edit and review videos inside Wikipedia. This is a true revolution – the ability to use the immense Wikipedia community to tag and append content to video media will contribute new insights and add knowledge. The huge Wikipedia community and its dedicated editor section that are supported directly by contributions and indirectly by Google's algorithm are in a good position to enter this almost virgin field of scholarly tagging of media.
Earlier this month I wrote here about the reasons we had for building an independent wiki here in Akban. I wrote about the problems that still exist for Wikipedia: "Wikipedia has an unsolved problem with the copyright of non textual media types, a hurdle we solved by videoing and editing all the Akban-wiki techniques." Concisely, mediocre content will always be relatively free of copyrights while top content, content that takes time, effort and money to produce, will always be copyrighted for lack of other decent revenue generating models. We met with Kaltura team back in the beginning of 2008 and were happy with the solutions they generated in the Akban wiki. These same great innovators are now implementing the Kaltura video system into Wikipedia.
Is the time ripe then for a merge of Akban-wiki's content into Wikipedia? I don't think it is. The Wikipedia will evolve around documenting existing content while this part of our project, as phrased in the last paragraph of our ethical code, will evolve around creating and disseminating new research material. Link to Technology review article Beginning of Kaltura in Akban wiki cooperation
Why do we need martial arts wiki in addition to wikipedia?
When looking at the academical part of the Akban project there is always the question: Why did we, Akban veterans, invest so much time and effort in building and maintaining a martial art wiki when there is an alternative, namely Wikipedia?
A recent Hebrew article in Akban's journal delves deeper into the reasons. Wikipedia deals with existing fields and articles. You can write a Wikipedia article only when the knowledge and facts about this article are already known. An author wishing to publish original academic work has to publish it in a scientific journal, not in the Wikipedia.
Apart from the Wikipedia focus on publishing existing textual and numerical data, Wikipedia has an unsolved problem with the copyright of non textual media types, a hurdle we solved by videoing and editing all the Akban-wiki techniques.
Martial arts research is either adjacent to physiology , psychology and anthropology or deals with comparative backgrounds in the emerging field of Hoplology. There is almost no Martial arts research that is endogenous and deals with the techniques as an investigated entities.
We are still in the beginning of this comparative research and so far we have little more then 1000 techniques from different disciplines in the Akban-wiki. A growing part of these techniques have textual and semantic data attached and more information is added in English and Hebrew weekly.
After several years of being online we are somewhat disappointed that no one has started a similar effort. That, for us, means the independent scientific investigation of martial arts is a niche subject. It also means that we will have to continue with this effort on the current pace. At this pace we will have 5000 videos of techniques that are articles, not how-to clips, only 6-7 years from now.
We are committed to lifelong training, committed to our community and committed in this endeavour.
Most of the discussion is going on on the Hebrew part of our site, but if you have insights or feedback we would love to hear from you, send us an e-mail.
New martial arts wiki
We have a new Martial Arts wiki today. Gone are the cumbersome wikipedia skins, css and boxes. Gone is the mutual navigation with the akban.org site.
On the helm was Keith Harris from Bifugi who did it with help from Vadim Gilead and me.
Since we are a small crew we overlooked many bugs in the new design. Any remarks, corrections and suggestions mailed to us would be warmly appreciated.
Pakistan Karate Federation train in Turkey, Judokas train in Iran
Four members of the PKF will be dispatched to Turkey to train there in Karate for the First Asian Martial Arts, in Bangkok from April 25 to May 3. The Pakistani Judo team is practicing in Tehran for the same event. Link for article in "International Pakistani news"
Ken Shemrok, an MMA legend banned for a year
After a recent, post competition check, California State Athletic Commission officials found Shemrok positive with three forms of steroids.
Shemrok, who is now 44, will have to pay a fine of 2500 US$.
Aikido beginners course opening on February 5th, 2009
This 8-week course is an introduction to the basics and principles of the Aikido art. You will learn the techniques and principles of centre, balance, non-resistance, and harmony of movement in the Aikido relationship. It is open to men and women adults of all ages and abilities. The course will be taught by Miles Kessler, 5th dan instructor who has been training and teaching in Aikido for 25 years. Miles lived in Japan for 8 years studying full time under the guidance of Master Morihiro Saito Sensei, 9th dan. Miles moved to Tel Aviv in 2005 where lives and teaches full time. He regularly teaches Aikido seminars and workshops in Israel, Europe and the U.S.
- Course Duration : 8 weeks
- Schedule : Thursday, 19.00 ~ 20.15
- Location : Gretz School Gymnasium, 5 Adam Hacohen (near Ben Gurion blv) - Tel-Aviv
- Cost: 450 nis
For information about registration contact: info@integralaikido.org - Tel. 052-652-4004 Miles Kessler Hebrew Biography
