My earliest memories that involve religion are from my father taking me to Jewish synagogue’s. I can remember him holding me up as the Torah scroll passes by so I can reach out and touch it. I can remember digging through the boxes of kippah (head coverings) to find the one I wanted to wear…
Shannon Number in Chess
The Shannon number, named after the American mathematician Claude Shannon, is a conservative lower bound of the game-tree complexity of chess of 10120, based on an average of about 103 possibilities for a pair of moves consisting of a move for White followed by a move for Black, and a typical game lasting about 40…
Instructions From Master Funakoshi
The word “bu” of budo (martial arts) is written with the Chinese character for “stop” within a character signifying two crossed halberds meaning to stop conflict. Since karate is a budo, this meaning should be deeply considered, and the fists should not be used heedlessly. Youth is justice and vigor. Vigor is stimulated by bu…
Training Precepts from Master Funakoshi
FIRST, since karate is a martial art, you must practice with the utmost seriousness from the very beginning. This means going beyond being simply diligent or sincere in your training. In every step, in every movement of your hand, you must imagine yourself facing an opponent with a drawn sword. Each and every punch must…
The Twenty Principles of Karate
Master Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of Shotokan karate, laid out the Twenty Precepts of Karate (Niju kun), which are there as a guide for all karateka to follow and adhere to. These principles form the foundations of Shotokan karate. These twenty principles were based heavily on Bushido and Zen. The principles allude to notions of…
Gichin Funakoshi
Founder of Shotokan Karate-Do Gichin Funakoshi was born in Shuri, Okinawa, in 1868. As a boy, he was trained by two famous masters. Each trained him in a different Okinawan martial art. From Yasutsune Azato, he learned Shuri-te. From Yasutsune Itosu, he learned Naha-te. It would be the melding of these two styles that would…
How Understanding the History of Tai Chi Can Help You Learn and Practice Your Tai Chi Chuan Style Better
The only way for you to truly understand Tai Chi Chuan is to understand its history and its development through the generations. Each style, and each variation of that style, was developed in a particular way for a particular reason. A teacher of one generation may emphasize a certain aspect of the curriculum, and if…
Origins and Meaning of the Kung Fu Salute
The Kung Fu salute or bow is known in Chinese as wushu baoquan li 武术抱拳礼 which roughly translates to the “Kungfu courtesy of covering one’s fist”. The Kung Fu salute is generally characterised by an open left hand placed next to a closed right fist. The importance is that the fingers on the left hand…
Q Codes
Q-codes, sometimes also called Q-signals, are a collection of standardized three character codes that all start with the letter Q and were developed to help improve morse code communication in radio telegraphy. Q-codes were first introduced around 1909 by the British government for use in their ships and stations as a means to improve communication…
What is Credit and Why is it Important?
There are a lot of so-called personal finance gurus running around writing books, and getting rich, all while teaching about the evils of credit. Don’t use credit they say. Don’t get the credit cards they say. Don’t take out loans or use other forms of credit. But they are wrong. They are preaching to the…