"Ninjas"...

[hacksecrets]

DR Inbox: “Mind Kontrol,” “Magic” Ninjas
April 11, 2007

It seems that the whole "holy" land of South Tyrol
(northern region of Italy) – especially the city of Brunico – is afflicted by the phenomena of "MW [microwave] -hearing" and "MW-viewing" due to the local television- and radio-stations which exercise a little too much "Mind Kontrol"
over the population. A problem which should be resolved as soon as possible!

N.B.: Other but faked messages by third persons in lieu of me should be ignored!
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My name is XXXXXXXXXX. I was fascinated by the article in Wired (Mar 2007), especially the behind-the-scenes lessons in history and politics… While I applaud the research that will eventually help pave the way for true direct neural interfaces between organic minds and inorganic limbs/organs/etc., there are still avenues to explore with the ’stock’ human…

There is considerable evidence that the ‘fantastic’ tales of martial arts ‘magic’ may be true, if a little more complex and not quite so cinematic than most believe. The good news is that the late Dr. Glenn J. Morris (and please don’t hold the titles of his two most popular books against him)… has managed to sneak into the ‘weird’ realms of martial arts and brought back scientifically-verifiable evidence of the truth behind an awful lot of the legends. [FWIW, those book titles include Martial Arts Madness, Shadow Strategies of An
American Ninja Master, and Quantum Crawfish Bisque for the Clueless Soul -- ed.]

The bad news is that, the serious pursuit of these ‘magic powers’ may result in super-soldiers who can take out dozens of ordinary opponents… but who wield even more effective methods of eliminating the causes of conflict before they explode into violence on any scale. No ‘dog-soldiers’, they.

Still, the folks holding the purse-strings can’t ignore the value of what soldiers can be trained to do with nothing more than what they were issued at birth, so perhaps it’s worth investigating, as well. After all, science still hasn’t managed to build a computer that can out-perform the human brain in every respect, and the human body as a whole is still the most amazing piece of engineering known to man. Is it any wonder that it has functions that aren’t commonly known?
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Rollicking, irreverent, but serious traps of narcissism which ensnare practitioners, Glenn Morris introduces us to "martial arts madness", a set of syndromes that lie in wait for aspiring practitioners. While spinning a few outrageous yarns of his own, he brings common sense to the "wild tales" martial artists often weave around their chi experiences. For this third volume of the "field notes of an American Ninja", Dr. Morris includes material from fellow teachers: Louisiana healers Ken Morgan and Becca Robertson on chi gung exercises; Robin Martin on meditation visualizations; John Porter on developing psi abilities. We also peek at Dr. Morris’ email about others’ tales of grace in perilous moments. Dr. Morris combines the wisdom of a tribal elder with the salty humor of a retired sea captain. Pride, Morris reminds us, is invariably the stumbling block that keeps a skilled fighter from developing subtle energy awareness. Whether you’re twelve or sixty-five, just beginning serious study or a long-time habitue of dojos around the world, the path of budo with Sensei Morris is not to be missed. (emphasis mine)

[hacksecrets]

Female Ninjas Attack
September 25, 2007

No, it’s not a joke. Police in Pennsylvania are looking for two women who — dressed in ninja outfits and brandishing a sword and dagger — robbed a gas station.

[hacksecrets]

Real Life Superheroes Gear Up With Ninja Throwing Stars, Ax Handles, ‘Stun Knuckles’
July 16, 2010

Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. asked a simple question in their 2008 comic book (and 2010 movie) Kick-Ass: Why don’t fanboys actually suit up and try their hand at being superheroes? As it turns out, a bunch of fanboys are in fact suiting up. Hundreds of them. Face front, true believer.

Cosplay is nothing new. Its variant, Real Life Superheroes, are somewhat next-level. Check out TheRLSH.net, a message board where aspiring supes — costumed adventurers who describe themselves as doing “humanitarian work” or otherwise generically helping those in distress — can discuss tradecraft, assemble into makeshift Avengers and escalate misunderstandings into internet brawls ahead of the inevitable team-up.

Seriously. On this thread, for instance, a crimefighter called the Dark Ghost rallied his fellow champions of the innocent to find a seven-month old baby kidnapped in Tennessee. Amazonia, the Minuteman, Gadgetastic and the Sparrow pledged support. (As it turned out, the vigilante community didn’t need to get involved, as law enforcement found young Drake Boyd’s abductor in Florida.)

Now, obviously these dudes don’t have superpowers. But come on — neither does Batman. So like Batman, what they lack in meta-human ability, they make up for in weaponry.

Take, for instance, a Brooklyn team called the New York Initiative, profiled this week in New York Press. The four members of the Initiative –a reference to Tony Stark’s post-Civil War, pre-Secret Invasion efforts to put a superhero squad in each of the 50 states? — act like bodybuilders with a purpose. And then they pack (non-lethal) heat.

Initiative member Z brandishes “giant ax handles bound with duck tape” and a cane that doubles as a club. He’s also got — in reserve — a legally dubious arsenal that includes ninja throwing stars and what author Tea Krulos describes as “stun knuckles (that make a loud zapping sound), throwing knives and spiky hand guards that look like something Genghis Khan would brawl in.” A battle ax appears to be merely for display.

The team’s gadget whiz, who goes by the unfortunate name Victim, is testing out some polycarbonate squares for durability against knives. Because being a hero means you’re going to get stabbed.

Factoring out the body armor, it appears to be a fairly cost-effective approach to adventuring. Take Z’s stun knuckles. Zapping someone with 950,000 volts in the course of a single punch should run you around $50.

Plus, that is, whatever legal costs you incur after your supervillain sues you. Chances are your local municipality doesn’t look kindly on vigilantism, and less so on vigilantism armed with zappers. What’s more, courts haven’t been so keen on police use of non-lethal weapons like Tasers, and you’re sure not an officer of the law.

Speaking of the cops: According to Krulos’s piece, when the New York Initiative asks the police if they can set up a patrol by downtown Brooklyn’s Fulton Mall, a member of New York’s finest tells them, “Naw, fuhgetabout that. You’ll get shot. The guys in this neighborhood, they’ll shoot you and no one will tell us who did it. There’s a strong ‘no snitching’ rule out here.” We know that in the comics as honor among thieves.

So, be careful out there, champions of right: Come strapped and stay on the right side of the law.

[hacksecrets]

Book Reveals Ninja Way of War, From Throwing Stars to ‘Hearts and Minds’
November 19, 2010



Were Japan’s legendary ninjas the world’s first Special Forces? Seems so, based on the vignettes in the snappy new nonfiction book Ninja Attack!, written by husband-and-wife team Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt, with illustrations by Yutaka Kondo. Like today’s commandos, Japan’s ninjas were skilled warriors, clever tacticians and, most importantly, subtle when they needed to be and culturally savvy all the time.

Forget the black masks, throwing stars and obscure martial arts of Hollywood ninjas, the authors stress. The real deal — a class of stealthy fighters that dominated Japanese warfare for a thousand years starting in the 7th century — would do “whatever it takes to get the job done.” If ninjas were still around today, “it’s hard to imagine them sticking with a vintage sword and chainmail instead of, say, an assault rifle and a bulletproof vest.”

Ninjas, Yoda and Alt write, “were, in fact, at the forefront of the military technology of their day.” Their weapons of choice ranged from wearable “claws” called Teko-kagi to the blade-on-a-chain Kusari-gama and, yes, sometimes Shuriken throwing stars that “likely served … as fairly close-range nuisance weapons” rather than the “weapons of silent death” you see in movies.

More to the point, ninjas were on the cutting edge of science and the military arts.


“They were keen observers of the world around them,” the authors explain. “Their techniques span a wide variety of disciplines, from natural sciences such as biology, chemistry and meteorology to psychology.” Ninjas devised smoke bombs for concealment, climbing tactics for scaling fortress walls and methods of improving their vision by alternating their focus between dark and bright patches.

And they studied the people around them in order to find pressure points in human systems, just like today’s culturally adept Special Force do. Take Hasegawa Heizo, who in the mid-18th century took charge of a government anti-crime organization that Yoda and Alt describe as a mix of “the FBI, a SWAT team, and a paramilitary special-forces crew.” The group’s task: to clean out the crime-ridden Edo Shogunate.

Heizo won the hearts and minds of locals by handing out free rice: Their tips let him get the drop on the bad guys. Heizo kicked ass, when required, with his signature Jutte sword. But he preferred to rehabilitate captured criminals in correctional facilities of his own design. After nine years and more than 200 arrests, Heizo succeeded in “restoring the streets to something resembling order.” He then promptly fell dead from “overwork.”

Successes like Heizo’s ironically contributed to the ninjas’ decline. They proved “so good at their work that they grew into a direct threat to the warlords” that sponsored them. In the 16th century, a powerful warlord swept through ninja territory, wiping out everything in his path and shattering the ninja clans forever.

If the ninjas were precursors to today’s Special Forces, they reached peaks of power and influence that our 21st-century commandos can only dream of. In Ninja Attack!, Yoda, Alt and Kondo depict these brilliant, fearsome fighters with brevity, wit and style.

Art: Yutaka Kondo