In my years of karate, I saw numerous nut shots, and as far as I could determine, the guys' masculinity survived the indignity. Kicks to the groin weren't encouraged, but that was mostly because the instructor thought the knee was a better target in a real-world situation. Novices are dangerous, though. The instructor's theory was that once a guy gets a good nut shot, he realizes it won't kill him and he can respond better the next time.

So this afternoon, I swam, cleaned, got to snuggle a happy baby who dropped by for a visit AND just watched the fireworks at Ft. McHenry from the field at the bottom of my street. I'm calling a win.

THough I just remembered to eat dinner. Tomorrow: sails and planes.

WTF people, how have you been letting this nutshot guy troll you all day. No one would share his POV or let it guide their response to an attack.

The instructor's theory was that once a guy gets a good nut shot, he realizes it won't kill him and he can respond better the next time.

We only had one guy with that attitude. The rest of them learnt to defend against that just as they would any other high-value target.

In class I've never dropped anyone with a shot to the head, but I have dropped more than one with a shot to the groin. Yeah, they're not dead, but a lot of the reflexive reactions were not something they could curtail or just get through without taking a moment.

When someone's amped up on fight juice nothing hurts as much as it would if you were just sparring, but I still believe it's a target that's often presented, sometimes defended, and can end a fight without permanent damage and minimal exertion on your part.

No one would share his POV or let it guide their response to an attack.

No one except for the people that do, though. He's not the first person with this point of view I've met on the internet or in person. Trust me. He is not alone. So I wouldn't call him a troll based on the loneliness of his position, because it's not lonely at all. You know how many guys I gave their first "sanctioned" nut shot?

Trust me. If he's trolling he didn't pick an implausible line of argument to do it with.

I guess elementary school has changed a lot since I went, since just about every girl at our school took a shot at our nuts in 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade and you learned to never stand open stanced to somebody.

OH! And the jewelry artist finished the pin for my mom. Even more awesome? She had such a hard time figuring out the design, but now that she's got it down, it's become one of her most popular items. She thanked me today for asking her if she could possibly make something with dogwood blossoms for my mom a while back. It's set her down a whole new artistic path, that while it is challenging the hell out of her, she's really getting into.

Picture on fb: [link] and flickr (locked down so mom doesn't see it): [link] Sorry I can't make it more public! It's silver, the lighting is weird.

Ooooh! That's pretty. I like how it is not just a blossom, but has more to it. Very pretty.

sarameg, that's just gorgeous!