Thanks to the Ninja Craze back in the Eighties, most martial artists know all about the ninja method of kuji kiri, or ninja magic. The legend says that the ninja would weave their fingers into various patterns in order to trigger particular "mindsets." Sometimes, if cornered, the ninja would create the kuji symbols with their hands and scare those superstitious samurai, who believed the ninja were a mix of super-warriors and wizards.
Don't you believe it. As with most legends, there is always an element of truth to the hype. But let's start with this little tidbit, kuji were not unique to the ninja. In fact, many traditional martial arts (Yagyu Shinkage Ryu, for example) dating back to the Japanese feudal period contain these hand signs, known throughout Buddhist thought as mudra, but under several different names according to the different martial arts.
Mudra were part of the Buddhist mind-spirit technology that modern, Western science is only recently begun to explore. They are similar in some ways to yoga. Each position is supposed to be part of a meditation. As the person practices the mental part of the meditation and physical position, it becomes easier and easier to fall into the state of suggestion. Eventually, the person should fall into the associated mediation almost as soon as the mudra is formed.
So, for example, if the mediatation is a typical warrior's self-affirmation of "I am invincible; woe to all who face me," it would be accompanied by a particular hand sign, and probably also a guided visualization of the practitioner acting invincible. So, let's say that cornered ninja decides he needs a little confidence boost before he faces those samurai guards. He would form the mudra, or kuji, and fall into the feeling associated with the self-affirmation. That would help. A little. Maybe. But it is better than peeing his pants. Which is why warriors adapted this technique from religious practice to martial application. Hope is a universal human virtue; and we can all use a little more hope in our lives.
This concept is not completely foreign to Westerners. The most common Western mudra is the clasped hands of prayer. Notice too that we have a few variations on this form that have various "meanings" associated with them. The palm/fingers touching flat tends to connote piety. Clasping the hands together with the fingers clenched and curled back connotes a certain desperation to the prayer. See, it's not so weird.
Ok, but a little one dimensional...
Okay, but still not quite right. We're looking for a little more flesh and blood for Tommy.
Now we're talking! She even looks like she knows more than she's letting on about ninja powers.
This one, looks like she knows nothing about ninja, but does it matter?
The US Army announced they would be getting new uniforms late last year. But they only recently started appearing in discernable numbers. You may have even spotted a few on soldiers deployed for Hurricane Katrina Relief and wondered who those guys were that wandered in from the set of a Sci-Fi movie.
The new uniform is actually very different from the BDUs that have been around since 1983. Obviously the camo patter has been changed from earth tone splotches to these grey and khaki tones in a digital pattern. (The US Marines went to an earth tone digital pattern a couple of years ago, and the Army was immediately jealous.)
You may find it hard to see, but the pockets have also been rearranged. There are now large pockets on the upper sleeves that allow storage accessible while wearing an armor vest. The ches pockets are now slanted to make it easier to rummage in, and the thigh cargo pockets have been similarly slanted. There's also a shin pocket on the leg. They are now going to a tan, desert style combat boot. Velcro has been incorporated instead of buttons on the pockets, and also to hold the unit patches and badges.
This is the camo pattern all by itself.
I'm turning into such an old man. I find myself tuning into NCIS every week. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised. I enjoyed Magnum PI when I was a kid (I still shock folks at the breadth of my knowledge of Magnum trivia), and yeah, I liked JAG for more than just Catherine Bell.
I know, you're curious why this move defies logic. Well, part of the Naval Criminal Investigation Service's mission is naval counterintelligence. Bringing a Mossad case officer into close, continuing access to the NCIS investigations is a little like putting the fox in the hen house.
But no matter, Cote de Pablo is kinda hot. Which is what got me in trouble at lunch. So I promised the ladies I was dining with that I would include pics of Mark Harmon when I blogged about this.
Sorry, Mr. Harmon, you're beefcake, but you're no Sasha Alexander or Cote de Pablo.
I have to report that creativity among my neighborhood kids was way down for Halloween costumes this year.
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