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Now this is a heritage celebration: the largest fire festival in Europe, Up Helly Aa, takes place each year in Shetland the last Tuesday in January.
"Guizers" form a torch-light procession and proceed to ceremonially burn a full-size replica Viking longship.
I think most folks in the U.S. are too short-sighted to try something like that here.
Tonight I've uploaded Part 1 Chapter 4 of Beowulf.
Richmond regularly tops lists of high-crime cities, and just a few weeks into my new job there, I was "reacquainted" with this unfortunate aspect.
While walking to my car late one night from the office on campus, sick with the flu and carrying a couple bags of books, it seems that I was selected as the target of a gang initiation, whereby the candidate inductee must start a fight with the victim. Luckily I kept my cool during the incident and all ended OK, but it was not a pleasant experience, and it was a good reminder that, when in the real world, all is not milk and honey.
Thinking now of practical self-defense options, here is a movie made in about 2002 by a Western martial arts group who got together at Frogmore Grange, Coventry, England. Participants enjoyed tea and crumpets before the days' activities of walking stick fighting, pugilism, and jiujitsu, followed by a three-course meal in a Victorian dining room:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGiTAtJI_uU
Self-defense laws being what they are, especially on university campuses, certain self-defense options are precluded from consideration. However, the cane or walking stick certainly seems viable. Here is a transcription of a self-defence article from 1901:
Self-defense with a cane is a component of Bartitsu, the martial art made popular in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Other resources for this line of self-defense and training include:
Be safe, and be prepared!
Technorati Tags: culture, defense, fitness, martial arts, security, virginia
Though audible.com has been in business as a public company since 1999 (they incorporated in 1995), I have only recently discovered the pleasure of their acquaintance.
They provide audio versions of books, newspapers, educational materials, radio shows, etc. for a reasonable fee.
Actually, I think their fees are more than reasonable, because they are cheaper than buying audio copies of books in the bookstore, and they also allow you to copy these purchases to your iPod or other digital audio device as well as make CD copies of your purchases if you want to listen to the CDs in your car or to serve as a backup of your purchase.
You can buy digital versions of books, newspapers, or magazines straight away, or you can sign up for a membership plan, with varying price points. They include content for more than 40,000 titles, and the basic membership plan provides for $14.95/book pricing for most books. Some books do cost more than this, but in general, for the $14.95/month membership plan you get 1 credit per month, and most books cost 1 credit. Subscribers also have the option to purchase books without credits for a 30% discount.
When I subscribed, I got a free membership to the Wall Street Journal, and listened to this recording during a morning jog. Audible.com also provides some content for free, such as political speeches, government hearings, and the 9/11 Report Speech.
The current version of iTunes plays their .aa format files directly, and downloading purchased books is effortless and easy.
The first book I downloaded is the popular Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
So far I am very happy with this service.
You might also find these related links of interest:
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