7 insane martial arts you have never heard off

7 insane martial arts you have never heard off 

7Lerdrit

Lerdrit is a modern derivation of the traditional Thai fighting techniques currently practiced by the elite commandos of the Thai Royal Army. The basic principles of Lerdrit are similar to those of its predecessors (Muay Thai, Muay Boran). However, there are a few key differences that kick it up by a whole new factor of awesomeness.

Fighters are taught to attack without warning, immediately take their opponents to the ground, and finish the fight quickly with one of the many devastating kill strikes, such as a boot to the throat or elbows to the temple, all while minimizing risk of injury by using the “hard” parts of the body, such as knees, palms, shins, and (the aforementioned classic) the elbow. As with all military fighting systems, Lerdrit’s goal is radical and specifically designed for life or death situations. It’s not just about kicking ass; it’s about taking lives.

6Dambe

Based on the ancient boxing traditions of Egypt, Dambe is a deadly striking art developed by the Hausa people of West Africa, many of whom traveled the land as butchers, moving from village to village performing combat ceremonies and taking on any challengers.

The primary weapon in Dambe is the strong-side fist, also known as the spear, which is wrapped in a piece of cloth covered by tightly knotted cord, while the fighter’s favored leg is wrapped in a thick chain. It’s as if kicking people in the face just wasn’t quite hardcore enough for the butchers of West Africa. They had to start wrapping their legs in jagged metal to really get their blood going.

Interesting side-note: Many of the modern-day Dambe fighting companies who travel the land performing for villages engage in the ritualistic smoking of marijuana before bouts.

5Systema

Let’s face it—just to survive in Russia, one must be at least a little bit crazy. It’s no surprise, then, that Systema (the official martial art of the infamous Russian Spetsnaz) is such a cold and efficient way of opening a proverbial can on any capitalist pigs that refuse to get with the program.

Systema focuses on controlling the important parts of the body—the elbows, neck, knees, waist, ankles, and shoulders, through pressure points and critical hits. The root philosophies of the system are based on the laws of biomechanics and anatomy, with much of the training focusing on studying the natural weaknesses of the human form so that one may manipulate them at will.

Another unique characteristic of Systema is that it doesn’t just focus on unarmed, one-on-one combat, as do many other martial arts. Instead, it teaches the practitioner how to deal with multiple opponents coming from all angles with a variety of weapons. Because hey, what’s more badass than knocking out an overly muscled thug? Well, knocking out five or six overly muscled thugs.

4Jailhouse Rock

Jailhouse Rock (JHR) is one of only two martial arts that are indigenous to the United States. Created within the cutthroat world of (you guessed it) America’s prison system, JHR is a prime example of no-frills brawling developed by men who literally have nothing better to do than work out and fight.

JHR’s is notable for its brutal training methods, one of which is known as 52 pick-up. A deck of cards are scattered about the floor and trainees are made to pick them all up in order while being beaten mercilessly by three or more others.

3Kalari Payat

Indigenous to the southern Indian state of Kerala, Kalari Payat is commonly recognized as the oldest fighting system in existence and predecessor to some of the most popular martial arts in the world. Oral tradition claims that it was created by an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, who is also described as the “Preserver of The Universe” and who was said to have a “universal form that was beyond the ordinary limits of human perception”.

Kalari Payat has many variations and sub-types, each specializing in different facets of both armed and unarmed combat. One of the most notable is Marma Arti (hitting the vital spots), which, in the hands of a master, can instantly paralyze or kill with a single, well-placed strike to any one of the 108 nerve points that are considered to be lethally vulnerable. And, as if they’re so deadly that it makes them feel guilty, the masters of this powerful art also study the Siddha medical system, which stems from the same ancient teachings.

2Silat

Developed by the ruthless headhunting tribes of Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, Silat is a collective word for hundreds of different styles of combat, including grappling, striking, joint manipulation, throws, and the use of bladed weaponry.

The earliest evidence of Silat being taught in its present form is found in Sumatra. There, according to legend, a woman created the combat system based on observing wild animals, much like many other Asian martial arts. Today, Silat is employed by several military groups throughout the Malay Archipelago and surrounding lands, and by the notorious pirate clans of the South China Sea.

1Okichitaw

One of the few remaining examples of Native American martial arts, Okichitaw is based on the fighting techniques of the Plains Cree First Nations. Founded by George J. Lepine, a student of judo, tae kwan do, and hapkido who also mastered the gunstock war club and tomahawk-throwing techniques, Okichitaw is a hybrid art that combines the ravenous fury of the Native American fighting spirit with the tried-and-true methods of popular Asian styles.

The techniques taught in Okichitaw often assume the possession of a weapon. Much like aikido, even if the practitioner is empty-handed, his/her strikes are performed as if a weapon is being used. For instance, the hands are used like tomahawks, while kicks jab at a distance like spears. Knife techniques are also very prevalent within the codified systems of Okichitaw. After all, what’s the use of learning a badass Native American combat art if it doesn’t teach you how best to scalp a white man?

7 classic games which are older than you are

7 classic games which are older than you are

7Remote-Control Toys

It’s generally assumed the first remote-control toys were produced in the 1960s, after the Italian toy company Elettronica Giocattoli produced the first remote-control car (a 1:12 scale model of a Ferrari 250LM) in 1966.

However, the first remote-control toy was actually invented in the late 1890s by—and this might not come as a huge shock to some people—famed inventor and Edison punchbag Nikola Tesla. At the 1898 Electrical Exhibition in Madison Square Garden, Tesla unveiled a remote-control boat outfitted with functioning lights, rudders, and a propeller.

6The Sims

The Sims (2000) is the classic video game where your only task is guiding your personalized character through a life fraught with love, career changes, infinite amounts of decorating, inexplicable house fires, and mysteriouslydisappearing pool ladders.

With the exception of the latter two, those were also the objectives of the1985 video game Little Computer People. Like The Sims, players had the ability to customize their houses and command their characters to perform actions (like watching TV, reading, playing poker, etc). You also had the ability to communicate with your character directly; for instance, you could order them to play a specific song on the piano, play a board game with you (because they heard you like games), or send you messages.

5Paintball

The game of paintball that we know and love was invented in the 1970s by two friends, Charles Gaines and Bill Gurnsey, who found an alternative (and painful) use for the paint-pellet guns that until then had only been used by farm workers to mark livestock.

But, if you’d lived in the early 1900s, you might have played an earlier form of paintball known as wax dueling: a sport where men would partake in duels using pistols that fired wax bullets. Competitors were required to wear specialist armor to (ideally) protect them from any serious injury. Indeed, an issue of the Pittsburgh Press (dated August 1908) describes how one player had “the soft piece of flesh connecting the thumb and forefinger” of his right hand shot out, and also warned that spectators risked being blinded byricocheting rounds. Nevertheless, this sport soon became so popular that it even made an appearance at the 1908 Olympic Games in London.

4Snakes And Ladders

The only way someone wouldn’t know about Snakes and Ladders would be because they’re more familiar with it as Chutes and Ladders.

But we’re betting that you didn’t know that the game has existed in some form since the 16th century. Originating in India, the objective for players back then was still the same—reach the end of the board by climbing ladders and avoiding snakes—but in this version, the ladders symbolized the virtues of faith, reliability, generosity, knowledge, and asceticism. Meanwhile, the snakes symbolized vices such as vanity, theft, rage, greed, pride, murder, and lust. The game aimed to teach players that in order to reach salvation (the end of the board), they must perform virtuous acts throughout their lives, as opposed to indulging in the aforementioned vices. For this reason, there are more snakes/sins on the board than ladders/virtues. The makers wanted to reinforce the idea that a virtuous life was harder to attain—and therefore more worthwhile—than a life of vice.

3Cap Guns

You might think that cap guns are a relic of the 1940-50s. After all, that was the great age of the cowboy movie, when children clamored to relive the adventures of onscreen cowboys such as Roy Rogers, The Lone Ranger, and Hopalong Cassidy.

Actually, cap guns have a history that predates the American Civil War. In 1859, the J & E Stevens Company—a toy manufacturer that specialized in the production of cast-iron toys—released a firecracker pistol similar in design to the modern-day cap gun. Several years later, and after achieving great success with this product, Stevens began producing novelty cap guns in the 1890s, including a model shaped like a sea serpent (which, on pulling the trigger, detonated a cap placed on its jaw) and another shaped like a monkey, which would trigger the cap by slamming a coconut-shaped hammer into it.

2Monopoly

Monopoly, for those of you who have actively avoided all forms of popular culture, is the fun, hyper-capitalistic game that’s been tearing families apartsince 1934.

However, Monopoly was itself inspired by a 1904 board game called The Landlord’s Game. Created by Elizabeth Magie, The Landlord’s Game was intended to teach people about how property owners at the time made vast fortunes at the expense of tenants like themselves, many of whom were already a hairs-breadth away from poverty. Magie hoped that any children who played the game would recognize the inherent unfairness of this system and be able to protect themselves against it in later life.

Magie later sold the patent to the company Parkers Brothers in 1934, who obviously abandoned her initial goals. The major company had recently acquired the rights to produce Monopoly and wished to gain ownership of any patents which could prove problematic in the future.

1Duck Hunt

Duck Hunt is regarded by many as being one of the greatest games ever. Released in 1984, it pits players against an army of (admittedly harmless) ducks to shoot—as well as a dog that will taunt you into your grave. Luckily, players were armed with a lightgun: a gun-shaped controller that mimics any real-life movements onscreen and allows wannabe hunters to blast any wayward ducks.

Incredibly, this wasn’t the first time that people had the opportunity to shoot fictional ducks with imitation firearms for the purposes of entertainment; that honor instead goes to 1936’s Ray-O-Lite Rifle. Created as an arcade game, punters were handed a lightbeam-firing rifle and tasked with shooting as many wooden ducks as they could within a given time. To add an extra element of difficulty to the proceedings, the ducks were also able to move around the shooting gallery courtesy of a hidden conveyor belt. The makers, Seeburg, also created several other varieties of this game, where targets included bears, chickens, and—in an edition made in 1942—even Adolf Hitler himself.

7 interesting attempts done to communicate with aliens

7 interesting attempts done to communicate with aliens

7

Arecibo Message

Around the same time as the Pioneer launches, astronomers were also toying with the idea of using focused, amplified radio waves to connect with unearthly beings. They knew that radio waves were less affected by cosmic dust than light, and they also figured out how to direct radio waves at targeted points many light years into space. For these reasons, it seemed that radio was the best way to reach out into the depths of the universe and deliver a message.

Once again, Frank Drake and Carl Sagan teamed up to concoct another human-to-alien communication. This time their message consisted of seven parts, including an image of a human, the structure of DNA, atomic numbers of common elements, and the numbers one to ten. They transmitted the communication in binary digits, with all the zeroes and ones represented by two different frequencies. Incidentally, the images ended up looking like something out of an Atari game, so if the aliens ever decode the signal they may simply think we’re big fans of 80s video games, and decide to avoid us.

In 1974, astronomers used the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico to direct the message towards star cluster M13, which is home to an abundance of stars and therefore has a better chance of containing intelligent life. The only downside to M13’s location is that it’s 21,000 light years away—so if an alien ever does send a radio reply, it will take us more than forty thousand years to get it.

6

Voyager Golden Records

Apparently, scientists in the 1970s were heck-bent on chatting with extraterrestrials, or at least future humans. In 1977, for example, NASA released a third major cosmic-bound message using the Voyager 1 and 2 space probes. Yet again, Carl Sagan and team came up with what they thought aliens would most need to know, and encoded the information onto two, twelve-inch gold-plated gramophone records (one for each space probe). The records contain sounds of nature, various languages, a variety of images, music, and other things meant to sum up life on Earth.

The cover of the records are engraved with many of the same images found on the Pioneer Plaque, except that NASA omitted the nude man and woman since so many people complained about it the first time around. Directions on how to use the record are also included, as well as a needle and cartridge for playback.

Currently Voyager 1 and 2 are at the edge of our solar system, or possibly even beyond it. They’re the farthest man-made objects from Earth. Surprisingly, they are still sending communications back to our planet—sadly, none of these so far have been from aliens.

5

Poetica Vaginal

While some considered the nude couple on the Pioneer Plaque nearly pornographic, others—such as artist Joe Davis—decided that the images weren’t nearly explicit enough. He felt that a hairless man and a woman with no external genitalia were too sanitized, and would give aliens an inaccurate picture of our bodies while telling them absolutely nothing about human reproduction. In 1986, he therefore decided to do his part to remedy the “problem” by creating a space message that was undeniably sexual and uniquely human: it would contain the sounds of vaginal contractions.

Somehow Davis convinced a group of ballet dancers to let him record their vaginal contractions with a special devise he had designed, which included a sensitive pressure transducer. Using MIT’s Millstone Hill Radar, Davis was able to send about twenty minutes of his transmission into space before the US Air Force caught wind of the project and put a stop to it. Nevertheless, the transmission was still longer than Carl Sagan’s Aricebo message, and it has already reached two star systems, Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti.

4

The Cosmic Calls and Teen Age Messages

Aleksandr Leonidovich Zaitsev, a Russian radio engineer and astronomer, sent at least five radio-based communications into space, including twoCosmic Calls and the Teen Age Message.

The first Cosmic Call was sent in 1999 as part of the publicly funded Team Encounter program. It contains what those involved in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) call the Rosetta Stone of interstellar communication. This “Rosetta Stone” is a bitmap, which uses symbols to explain everything from basic mathematics to chemical and physical processes on Earth. Let’s just hope that aliens are better at figuring out puzzles than humans, since the pages of seemingly random dots and lines make absolutely no sense to the average person.

Also included in the Call is a bilingual glossary, another copy of the Aricebo message, and—to honor those who helped pay for the project—a collection of images and videos sent in from everyday people. The second Cosmic Call, sent out in 2003, is nearly identical to the first and contains more content from ordinary citizens. Both messages were transmitted from the Evpatoria Planetary Radar in the Ukraine.

In 2001, Zaitsev and his team put out another radio communication with the assistance of teenagers from Moscow, Kaluga, Voronezh, and Zheleznogorsk. For this broadcast, Zaitsev felt it was especially important to relay the uniqueness of the human culture (as opposed to mathematics, which advanced aliens would probably already know), so he enlisted the teens’ helpin selecting artwork, music, and even the message’s target destination. The group chose to send the collection to Ursae Majoris, as well as five other stars with solar systems similar to our own. If there are any beings near Ursae Majoris, then in 2047 they’ll be able to listen to Beethoven, Vivaldi, and Gershwin.

3

Doritos Commercial

In 2008, the research institute EISCAT broadcast a Doritos advertisement into space for six straight hours—amazingly, the planet wasn’t instantly vaporized by upset aliens. Of course, we can’t fault EISCAT too much for blasting the universe with junk-food ads, since it was all part of a clever promotion to secure donations after the space center experienced a major loss in funding.

The radar message was sent as an MPEG coded in 1s and 0s, and directed at a potentially habitable solar system in Ursa Major, a mere forty-two light-years away. The astronomers involved explained that while normal television advertisements also drift into the universe, their signals dissipate to the point that they become drowned out by other space “noise.” The Doritos broadcast, however, was sent with a 500MHz ultra-high frequency radar, and, thankfully, will reach its destination intact.

2

The Last Pictures

Since the world didn’t actually end in December 2012, the title of this cosmic time capsule, “The Last Pictures,” is something of a misnomer. Nevertheless, it’s currently traveling through space on a communications satellite, patiently waiting to explain our existence to future earthly inhabitants or anyone else who happens to stumble upon it after the planet meets its demise.

The project was designed by artist and author Trevor Paglen, who undoubtedly figured that he’d take advantage of the end-of-the-world paranoia to garner some publicity for his work. Whatever his motivation, the one hundred photos included on the ultra-archival disc are truly amazing—depicting everything from cave paintings to nuclear explosions. In an effort to accurately convey what life was like on the planet, Paglen spent five years consulting with scientists, anthropologists, artists, and philosophers to get their take on mankind’s most important cultural landmarks.

The Last Pictures are nano-etched on the disc, surrounded by a gold casing, and expected to last billions of years.

1

Telepathy

While the most publicized attempts at communicating with aliens involve using advanced technology, there are those who say that the only equipment we need is something we all possess—a brain.

Arguably the most famous self-proclaimed E.T. conversationalist is Dr. Steven Greer of the recently released alien documentary “Sirius.” Several times a year, Greer takes groups of people out to remote locations for communal meditation sessions. During these events, participants are said to enter a higher level of consciousness which, in addition to connecting them with aliens, allows them to remember past lives. Greer claims that his “contact expeditions” are always successful, and that his participants are ambassadors for the universe.

Who knows what Greer’s followers are saying on our behalf; let’s just hope they’re only chatting with friendly, peace-loving aliens.

7 great leader you wouldn't want to lead in

7 great leader you wouldn't want to lead in

7Infant Mortality In Developed World
World Leader: United States

It might seem surprising, but the US has by far the worst first-day infant mortality rate in the developed world. Every year in the US, about 11,000 babies die on the first day of their lives. The number is 50 percent more than all other developed countries combined, and while one doesn’t typically think of the States as a dangerous, unsafe place to give birth, there are some pretty common-sense factors that come into play.

For one thing, the US also has easily the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the world, and half of all pregnancies in the US are unplanned. Teen mothers are less likely to receive proper prenatal care, resulting in more premature, low birth weight pregnancies. And while neonatal (premature infant) care has come a long way in recent decades, the US preterm birth rate is one in eight, second in the industrialized world.

6Illiteracy
World Leader: Burkina Faso

Due to civil strife, political unrest, and centuries of outright exploitation, the countries of the African continent are unfortunately likely to show up on lists like this. The tiny, landlocked African country of Burkina Faso, despite boasting a university and free public education system, leads the world in illiteracy, with only 26 percent of the adult population able to read.

As bad as that may seem, it actually represents a significant improvement over the very recent past. In the last decade there has been a concerted effort by volunteer organizations to raise the literacy rate in Burkina Faso. Asrecently as 2008, the adult rate was half of what it is today. School enrollment rose from about 35 percent to almost 60 percent between 1997 and 2008. The results are beginning to show, and with a rapidly increasing rate of literacy among children, it’s hoped that Burkina Faso won’t hold this distinction for long.

5Unemployment
World Leader: Macedonia

The Republic of Macedonia is a fairly young nation, having gained its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Since then it has struggled to develop its economy. In 2012, Macedonia was the only nation in the world with an unemployment rate of more than 30 percent.

That staggering 32 percent unemployment rate dwarfs developed nations like the US and UK (both slightly over eight percent), and even exceeds war-torn regions like the the Gaza Strip (around 25 percent). Macedonia’s rough transition from socialism to the free market was a particularly painful one, and despite over a decade of economic reforms (and a relatively high average income) Macedonia’s unemployment rate is rivaled only by its poverty rate, which is about 25 percent.

4Political Corruption
World Leader: Somalia

According to global anti-corruption think tank Transparency International, the world is an extremely corrupt place. On a 10-point index, 132 out of 180 countries were found to have a score of less than five. Of those, 56 were rated at less than three. And then there are the nations of Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Somalia, locked in a race to the bottom. The two tied several years in a row at an abysmal 1.4 until Somalia pulled ahead in 2010 with a 1.1 rating.

Many people immediately think “piracy” when hearing of Somalia, and of course it’s a huge factor. Without a government for the better part of a dozen years, the current UN-installed regime has struggled to assert any real control since its 2004 formation. Without little real authority (but a healthily raging network of warlords and pirates), Somalia may very well be the first country to bottom out at a perfect zero on the Transparency International index one of these years. Meanwhile, Myanmar is a divided country of business and military elite on one side, and a desperately impoverished populace on the other.

3Natural Disasters
World Leader: Philippines

Technically, the tiny South Pacific island nations of Vanuatu and Tonga are the most prone to natural disasters in the world, but their populations total less than a half-million people combined. In practice, the UN consider the most disaster-prone nation in the world to be the Philippines, with its population of almost 100 million.

After 2012′s Typhoon Bopha, which left one million people homeless, humanitarian organizations began appealing for disaster relief funds and also for better preparedness training. According to one study, over half the country’s area, comprising over 85 percent of its economy, is at risk from multiple natural hazards. A 2012 International Organization for Migration report concluded that the Philippines could spare one-fifth of its population from the effects of natural disasters by shoring up the protection of its coral reefs, which provide a natural barrier against tsunamis and tropical storms. Tropical and coastal nations, of course, made up the bulk of the top 10 disaster-prone areas.

2Incarceration Rate
World Leader: United States

Not only does the US have the highest rate of incarceration in the developed world, it has held that record since 2002. An incredible 500 out of every 100,000 people in the United States is in prison. That’s right, you’re about six times more likely to be imprisoned in the United States than you are to be killed in Honduras.

Between 1972 and 2010, the rate of incarceration grew steadily in the US,even as violent crime rates dropped. If you’re wondering how that’s even possible, the answer is simple: drugs. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, drug offenders constitute fully 47 percent of those incarcerated in the US, far more than all murderers, robbers, rapists, arsonists, and kidnappers combined. More, in fact, than all other types of crime combined except one—immigration offenses, which account for about 12 percent.

1Homophobia
World Leader: Nigeria

Unfortunately, there are still very few places in the world where it’s not pretty difficult to be gay. We’re just now at a point where most civilized nations are statistically barely more accepting of homosexuality than not. There may not be any great, friendly places to be gay, but there’s one place above all others to not be gay—Nigeria. There, fewer than one percent of the population finds homosexuality acceptable. In 2013, their government passed the harshest anti-gay law in world history, providing for up to 14 years in prison for simply displaying affection toward someone of the same sex. This was followed by another, separate bill, outlawing gay marriage. Apparently in Nigeria, rampant corruption, terrorism, and religious violence can be tolerated, so long as one isn’t forced to look upon two people of the same sex smooching.