Why yes, Lee...

Tal, it's pretty trendy, or was a few years ago. There are two different schools, and the one I belong to is very large and has schools all over the country.

I'm hopelessly biased, and find it very fun, good exercise, and practical.

Not trendy enough to have spread much outside London over here, sadly.

One of the reasons it's trendy here is that the school where I train is insanely aggressive on the business side too. I've heard other schools disdain the marketing push, but the fact it, it's spread like wildfire -- marketing isn't the evil (even if J-Lo comes up in every third krav google) -- the key is making sure the quality of the franchises is maintained.

But yeah, the KMNTC is an object lesson in how to sell a system. And it got sold to Angelina Jolie and J-Lo. My next hope is Halle Berry.

And it got sold to Angelina Jolie and J-Lo. My next hope is Halle Berry.

You do know it would be bad PR to cripple a celebrity in her introductory training session, right? Right?

You do know it would be bad PR to cripple a celebrity in her introductory training session, right? Right?

Well, maybe she could end up with legit reasons for cosmetic surgery.

Speaking of Halle, I told a potential date yesterday that I was going to enjoy a day of watching crappy movies, and his immediate response was "Catwoman?"

Girl should be told that if a diva loses our crowd's respect when following in the footsteps of Julie Newmar, it's a BAD sign.

But on frontier planets, things tend to fall into more old-fashioned ruts. Women cook, wash, tend the babies, men hunt, build, tend the fields. There would be crossover, sure. But probably, the more primitive the conditions, the more stereotypical the role, and the more difficult it would be to step outside that assigned role. There would be either laws or public opinion against it. Possibly religious rules.

I would think that this would vary pretty dramatically, but if anything, I think it would be the opposite. Granted, there were the worlds in OMR and HoG, which appeared to be as you describe. But then think of Patience. She didn't seem to live in a place bound by gender rules. From the real world, I have family that homesteaded in Alaska. My understanding is that the work was so hard for everyone, that there wasn't time to be too bound by gender issues. This was in the 50's, so yeah, my aunts tended to care for the kids. But they also plowed the mile long homestead road, shot game, commercial fished, and worked with their spouses to build their houses.

And re: Zoe talking more to Wash, I just don't see it. None of Zoe's relationships seem to be based on all that much talking. That whole laconic thing would not be ironic for her, as it was for Wash.

Edited to say: Wow, don't you love how I stay on topic for the Angel thread?! I forgot myself, and assumed I was on Firefly. Sorry folks!

But on frontier planets, things tend to fall into more old-fashioned ruts.

This is both true and untrue, historically. Women got the vote first in western, frontier states like Wyoming long before they got it in the Civilized East. Race-mixing has historically been far more prevalent in frontier areas than in places well-settled. The whole idea of the frontier, as expressed by mythologists like Davy Crockett and James Fenimore Cooper and for that matter The Virginian was that the frontier and the standard social order were opposites. I think that's awfully simplified, but the point remains that populations in flux and transit can sometimes be surprisingly generative and fly in the face of social norms.

Speaking of social norms, it always amused me that when Angel acted anachronistic, he tended to come off like a grumpy 70 year old man, rather than someone closer to 270. Like, if you reach a certain age, even if you look no older, you are automatically granted membership in the crabby golfers' club.

But on frontier planets, things tend to fall into more old-fashioned ruts.

This is both true and untrue, historically.

So, historically speaking, what frontier planets are we talking about?

(Sorry)

I think I need an icon for sticking out my tongue at people.