Violence Dynamics 2014

Do not miss the greatest clinic of the year. This is the only place in the world those three amazing teachers converge!!!!  Attendance is limited so register soon

Violence Dynamics 2014

Violence Dynamics Clinic

DO NOT MISS!!!!  Best clinic you will attend ..... EVER!!!!

Two way mirrors

This is true but not reliable. If you want to make sure you are not dealing with a two way mirror (which can be very creepy) instead press your eyes up against the mirror and cupping your hands around them (to block out the light from the room you're in): if you're truly dealing with a transparent mirror, you should be able to see at least a little something of the open area behind it. Also, rapping on the mirror should provide an aural clue: ordinary mirrors have backings and are usually placed against walls, so rapping on them will generally produce dull thuds; transparent mirrors are set into walls with open areas behind them, so rapping on them should produce much more open, hollow sounds. These methods of detection are more reliable than the fingernail test and should be preferred to taking a chance on getting arrested for property damage after tossing a chair through a perfectly normal mirror misjudged via less accurate means.

A Multi-Function Clip That Hides a Toolbox In Your Hair

A Leatherman multi-tool hanging off your belt is a great way to stay prepared for emergencies, but it means you look like someone with a Leatherman hanging off their belt—and that part's not so great. This innocuous hair clip is a better alternative. It manages to replicate the functionality of quite a few tools, but will all but disappear when used to keep your bangs at bay.

It can serve as a flat-head screwdriver, even for fixing those tiny screws on your glasses. It's got a 5/16 wrench for tackling the occasional bolt, and there's a serrated edge for hacking through rope, but hopefully not hacking through your hair when worn. It could very well be the smallest multi-tool you can buy for just $10, trumped only by the Q-Tip when it comes to cost versus functionality.

Keep your kids safe

Never forget to talk to your kids about safety. Do not get them paranoid but make understand what "normal behavior" looks like. Getting in a car with a total stranger is not "normal" or a good thing. A stranger offering you a free puppy or candy is NOT normal. If you need to send someone to pick up your kids make sure they know them or call the school to let them know what is going on. This is YOUR responsibility

Teach them to not be afraid to run away or scream for help if something is not "right". If someone grabs them, they need to give themselves permission to kick, punch, bite, scream and do what needs to be done to get away.

As much as we want our kids to learn to obey and behave, do not do so at the risk of crippling their instinct. They do NOT have to obey ALL grown ups. If something is not right, teach them to trust their instinct and run!!!!

Teach them to be assertive. Now that's real bully prevention
Remember there is a difference between being mean, aggressive and assertive. Draw the line!!!

Be smart,stay safe

Taxi safety

People who travel or use taxis, here is a tip. Check the door lock before you sit in and claim the cab for yours. I am not saying that this particular driver will kidnap you or is a "bad guy" (not saying he isn't either), but with a defective door lock getting in a car accident could prove to be a very bad thing. And there is another reason I always travel with knives, one that has a glass breaker.
Food for thought

Be smart, stay safe!

Paranoia will destroy ya

I love to run in the wooded trails during the weekends. It’s peaceful. By the nature of the trail, it is an  interval training, which I love so much. The convoluted paths, the rocks, the holes, the stumps, the fallen branches, the mud, the water puddles, the sand….. always unexpected, always different.

I have a full cataract in one eye so it makes paying attention to the obstacles in the path a bit more challenging as my depth perception is very limited, and my downward vision with glasses is fuzzy at best. But I love a challenge!!!

In previous posts I talked about paying attention to the surroundings instead of just staring at the path. This is now my biggest challenge. I normally direct my gaze left, front, right, down…. and I keep rotating so I have a good view of everything going around. This has now become difficult to perform. I need my eyes on the trail to avoid stumbling.

So Lise…. you genius… how about you use your training. How about you use what you preach. When you are in a public area, amongst a crowd, what do you do. Do you just stare everywhere? No… you pay attention to disturbances, to things that “do not belong there”. So how about you do the same thing in the woods brainiac!!!

Perfect!!  So what belongs in the woods? Trees, small and big, rocks, dirt, fallen branches, squirrels, birds,  undergrowth. Got it. You first have to understand what “good” is before you are able to see “bad”. Now I have a clear mental image of what belongs there. It is programmed in my brain I can now focus on the trail and keep my peripheral vision on things that might stick out. The first few times I did this, I found nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that stuck out.  Last weekend, as I was running along the trail my spidey sense went off. Something was wrong. I did not know right away what it was. My eyes got pulled toward the right. Something did not belong in the picture. Turned out that it was a man standing about 15-20 feet away in the thicket, blending in quite well may I add. That’s not normal. I looked at him pointing a finger in his direction, acknowledging the fact that I had seen him. No aggressive behavior on my part as I did not really know what he was doing or why he was there. (Reflecting on it after the fact, if I was a betting woman, I’d say he was probably looking for a place to void his bladder). But I kept him in check, looking for an abnormal or aggressive  behavior on his part. I knew he was deep enough in the thicket that I would have had time to get away if I needed to or at least time to get prepared. But nothing happened, so my guess was probably right on. Either that or he chose to wait for an easier, more unaware prey.

The fact is that if I would have spent my time looking for something that could hurt me, I would have been running paranoid, I would have been starring in every directions to know what was going on, risking falling flat on my face. By programming my brain to the things that were supposed to be there, my subconscious was able to pick up anomalies without having to turn me into a paranoiac. This makes a run fun and safe.

Be smart, stay safe.