I heard about these [link] this morning, but seeing them is even better!

From where does this picture come? I can't find it!

ETA: Never mind, found it.

I saw it on the front page of the Times online. It's supposed to be Jimmy Hoffa.

Really? I was thinking the end of Carrie.

Yup:

MILFORD, Mich., May 23 — The most popular items on the menu at the Milford Baking Company these days are the 95-cent "Hoffa cupcakes" featuring a green plastic hand reaching up through chocolate icing and candy sprinkles designed to resemble dirt.

This is the town where the FBI, apparently not having anything better to do, has resumed digging this past week.

So, I thought I paid a lot at the spa yesterday, but I was willing to go with it, until I just looked at the detailed receipt, and they totally overcharged me!! I call bullshit. I did, in fact, call them, and the lady said she'll call back.

how much force are you allowed to use to defend yourself? If someone clearly is trying to kill you, obviously you can do whatever is necessary to defend yourself, including killing them back. But what if, say, someone "just" wants to beat you up, and in the process of defending yourself you happen to pick up a shard of glass and stab them in the neck and they die? I mean (for the sake of this example) you took action that you knew might kill the other person..

How do you know they just want to beat you up, though? If someone comes at me violently, I'd hope that I'd be allowed to do at least the minimum to stop them coming at me violently. Of course, there's an instructor up on charges for doing just that. And I'm assuming that I'm allowed to defend myself from rape as enthusiastically as from being beaten up or killed.

The big line we're told about is about parity. If they intend to kill you and you take their gun from them and shoot and kill them...you might be on shaky ground, having shot an unarmed man. Of course, if he was running away from you at that point, you are in the hot water.

Basically, if I can honestly say "Your honour, I was in fear for my life" as the justification for my actions, I hope to be okay. But that's a hope.

It's a severity issue.

The instructor punched and kicked a guy and left him with one eye swollen shut. He's on misdemeanour battery.

I am now having a flashback to the guy who came up to me in a bar, rushed my legs, and tried to pick me up. WTFF? Needless to say, we both fell over.

Cool! We just taught that (and how to defend against it) yesterday, all stemming from the warmup I told a junior instructor to give.

When I saw those cupcakes I thought of the Buffy, Season 6 premiere.

Oh yes!

We just taught that (and how to defend against it) yesterday, all stemming from the warmup I told a junior instructor to give.

I basically just fell to the ground. Was that krav-approved?

I basically just fell to the ground. Was that krav-approved?

That's pretty much a worst-case scenario, because once you're on the ground he has even more of an advantage, unless you spun it so he was on the bottom.

If someone comes for your legs and they're bent at the waist (so their torso is approaching horizontal) it's pretty easy to stop them by just pressing down on their shoulders, and making them fold. Feel free to knee them in the face before, during, or after. If they shoot in on you "properly" with their torso upright, the safest thing to do is to send your feet and hips out behind you as far as you can and brace against their shoulder(s) with your forearm. If they keep coming in (which they probably will) don't stay in their line of motion--spin off to the side and kick 'em as they go past.

All of this assumes room to move, and time to see it coming. But if you aim for best case, you're doing a good job.