Dog Brothers Public Forum

Thank you for the elucidation.  I always admit that my experience in stick fighting, especially full contact, is rather limited.  Most of my experience is with empty hand and firearm.

From the times I have been clocked in the head with various hard objects, I can say that it doesn't take much to elicit a response.  Even a whipping branch from a willow tree coming at the eyes tends to make one duck as much as a boxer's overhand right.  Many years ago, one of my most influential teachers told me to respect every fist as much as a knife. To do otherwise is to teach ourselves bad habits.  If we rely on headgear to protect us, we are like LEO's relying on body armor or the old knights relying on the breastplate.  Headgear should be insurance not a bulwark.

As a warning to go along with the use of heavier headgear (a topic I remember from the past), my experience is that heavier, rigid headgear tends to amplify the brain rattle and the shock felt in the neck and spine.  Punches that would lightly rock me bareheaded would really jar my brain and spine.  So, perhaps those using the heavier head protection are merely trading one type of damage for another.  The force has to go somewhere.

I was speaking somewhat rhetorically when I asked what a jab was, but I again thank you for the clarification, Crafty.  I think what I was trying to say is that perhaps one should jab a little deeper before retracting to compensate for the headgear.  In one of my arts, we call this the difference between a whiphand and forefist.  The same shot, thrown with the same speed. But the forefist takes slightly longer because the additional 2-3 inches of penetration increases contact time..  It may be that one needs to practice a slightly deeper stick jab to offset the change in distance to target caused by the headgear.

This promises to be an exciting class!  I am looking forward to attending it, if life allows.  For those of us needing to make travel arrangements, have training times for each day been set?  The two times that I am specifically interested in are: Start time, Friday 8 March and End Time, Sunday 10 Mar. 

Thank you for setting up this event!

A few weeks ago, I had the fortune to work with a friendly, strong and fat man at a seminar on several occasions.  Aside from  making a new friend, I was able to keep this topic from the forum in mind while working with him.  Of interest to me was the mechanics of punching him in the core of his body.  Topping well over 300 pounds at 5'10' of height,  this is one of the heaviest people I have trained with in a relaxed setting. One thing I noticed was that by the time my fist reached the abdominal muscles and organs beneath the fat, there was a rebounding shockwave already traveling back up my arm that tried to force me back into my heels.

Obviously, we can always punch to the head and throat and 'soft' targets.  But specifically for the mechanics of hitting through all that flab and muscle to get an effect, I found it similar to doing a speed break against a hanging board.  I had to punch very fast, very deep and snap back even faster to leave all the energy in the target without it coming back into my elbow.  In some ways, it also reminded me of proper wooden dummy work.  I was able to get an effect through all the tissue very much like a punch grenade.  I would land the punch.  Nothing. Then, 3 seconds later.. groan. 

Interesting chance to study the practical side of the mechanics.  Much thanks to my friend, Jeff, who let me experiment on him.   

Any other similar experiences?

To some extent, the question is: how fat is fat?  As someone born in The South, there are corn fed country farm boys who look something like competitors to Worlds Strongest Man With Biggest Beer Gut and there are Beached Whales.

 Without question the fat but strong guys are the most dangerous. My experience is that they also generally come with a rock for a skull.  These are the people that you can beat on all day and only hurt your hand.

In the dominance game, don't let them make body contact unless you are sure of mechanical advantage.  If you can push them back or bounce them, fine.  Otherwise, keep sidestepping with a smile and totally unconcerned expression on your face.  The strong, fat aggressor is almost always used to getting his way physically.  It is imperative to take him out of his game, either through timed strength or fancy footwork.

If the fight is underway, it depends on the level of seriousness.  For VERY serious, throat and eyeball don't get much protection from being fat. Neither does the hinge of the jaw.

For Beached Whales, avoid being the pancake.

I have found that for both types of fat people, dropping them with a fast clavicle or clavicular notch fish hook can defuse the situation without causing permanent injury.

In Many vs Few/One, It helps if the Many has a strong, clear leader.  Sort of like a wolf pack.  

With people, there is a lot of psychology to work.  Few people are willing to be the first person to get hit when their is someone else  they can let be the person.  Or, dominant egos come out and start clashing.  People get tunnel vision on the "I need to do X' rather than 'I should do X so my buddy can do Y and then we can get Z done."  Get people used to planning out a scenario, talking it out and the going through a set scenario a few times.  Fail them if they don't talk or communicate.  After they get used to that, then start putting the random curves back in.

We all love neat, intricate dances.  But sometimes it is necessary to take it back down to a simpler level to learn a lesson.

I remember visiting a friend's dojo.  Towards the end of the night, we started doing 2:1 drills.  I was partnered with a black belt against a more senior black belt.  I started towards the senior student and started talking to the female I was working with:  "I'll get his attention. You smack him from behind when I do."  It worked out fairly well.  And it confused the target.  If you're used to working with the same people, it can be worked out with little more than a glance.

Another way to work it:  Give people a 'coach' and have them work with someone else telling them what to do.  And then have the two people switch roles.  This gets people used to listening and talking while their heartbeat is racing.   There are a bazillion teamwork development games out there.

It's a nasty problem that's developing.  Especially as explosives get better and research continues.  Monitoring equipment improvements are starting to show that certain wavelengths

 of blasts can penetrate the walls of concrete bunkers.  Even in cases where the person is completely shielded from the blast, a cumulative effect can still cause injury. 


I agree that TBI and PTSD can probably reinforce itself and cause a feedback loop.  And that can be a nasty problem.  Like doctors trying to figure out which part of a patient's symptom is the flu and which part is the staph.


A lot can be done with self-awareness, diet and lifestyle changes.  I was military but my own stress-induced issues come from trauma inflicted in childhood.  The issues were left undiagnosed and everyone just assumed I was a wild child.  As I aged, I used to self medicate in the classic way:  Drinking, fighting and talking to strangers in bars at 3am.


  As an adult, I can say they were the classic PTSD indicators.  To this day, I still occasionally get anxiety attacks when things are too quiet and going too well.  I've learned to watch myself and recognize the symptoms.  I've learned to apologize early and often.  And to warn people when I'm having an off day or a spell.

I've found that, while not magic, a healthy diet, exercise, regular sleep at a regular schedule and a bunch of little changes in the house mellow out a lot of life's problems.  A lot of tiny things can have major effects on a troubled brain.  Flicking on a bright white bathroom light while staggering to relieve oneself in the middle of the night can cause chemical instability.  Altering the bedroom so their are less vague shadows for the mind to play with.  Adding some sound-dampening to the bedroom to reduce the chances of stray noises triggering the primal reflexes.  A lot of simple things put together quickly adds up.

Having said that, I am always amazed at the coping mechanisms other far more severely affected individuals come up with.  And I have deep sympathy and respect for people suffering under both TBI and PTSD.  I've had both but never at the same time and can only wince.

another large determinating factor was passion, if passionate about a subject the drive to master skill is higher
how many of the folks here have given up social engagement, superfluous hobbies and even relationships to become better at expressing themselves through interpersonal human conflict

having personally spent 6 days a week 1-3 hrs per day trying to develop my skill as a practitioner and instructor of martial arts, sports, and science

this rang true

*laugh*  One of my standing offers to my friends is:  I'll go out partying all night with you if you will get up at 6am to go running with me.

To date, no one has taken me up on the offer.

Thank you, 5Rings.

I have been paying attention to my stretching since this post came up.  I noticed something.  Even my 'static' stretches are not all that static.  Over a decade ago, I started using breathing techniques I picked up from shooting firearms with stretching.  When I started paying closer attention, I spotted that I am almost always tightening and releasing the muscles with my breaths even when I appear stationary.

Part of the problem is that with chemicals and other bits of modern research and science, humans can build muscles that exceed the structural capacity of human bone-especially if there is an undiagnosed stress fracture in the bone used to support the heavy lifts.   World's Strongest Man competitors break bones like that on a not infrequent basis.   

Almost all of us can do the same if adrenaline triggers and we remove our internal safeguards.    Most of us who train in martial arts have also broken our own bones at some point by hitting things too hard-that's a different sort of stress but we are still overloading the structural abilities of the bone.

Our ancestors had thicker bones than modern humans but their own heavy musculature forced their bones into a slightly curved shape.

The discussion of establishing dominance and stories about it being done has made me think of a story and a question for those who own alpha dogs.

I do a good bit of bicycling.  Dogs bark at me all the time while I am riding.  Usually, I ignore them.  Sometimes, they chase.  If they stop at the edge of their 'turf', I ignore them.  If they chase continually and aggressively, I stop and deal with them.  The one time I did not stop it was the one time I have been bitten since I was about 14.  The dog I ignored while it chased and chased for a block was a little old lady's Yipping Rat Purse Chi-annoyah.  Unfortunately, I had to stop for a car at the intersection.  And it left me a couple of nice holes in my calf.  The lady runs up to me to explain her precious is harmless.  And I have to show her the bite marks.  Luckily, it had its shot tags.  I griped at the lady and then went home.  The lesson is one from Musashi:  Pay Attention, even unto trifles.

Now, the question for owners of dogs who like to be dominant and show it?  This one has come up for me from the other side.  I've had dogs come up and try to establish dominance.  I either ignore them as if they did not exist or turn and back them down. if they continue to try to push it.  I've come close but have never been bit while backing a dog down.  On a handful of occasions, I've been a hair's breadth from giving a dog a defensive cuff or leg check. The problems are not with the dogs but their owners.  I've been threatened by more than one owner with violence if I struck their dog.   And then I have to deal with a person as well as a dog.

So, for owners and trainers of those dominant dogs, has anyone considered how to react to their dog attempting to establish dominance one someone who is not willing to be dominated?  Telling the other human to wait for you to get the dog is like telling a lady to wait for the police if threatened or attacked.  It's the exact same logic.  To be clear, we're discussing something moving beyond wooofing phase and is moving into touch and attack. 

I'm just wondering what other's think?  With the exception of that Yipper that was partially my fault because I was arrogantly dismissive and careless of what looked to be a non-threat, I've rarely have any issues with a dog for more than 5 minutes.  Mostly, dogs of all levels will approach and make friends with me after a few minutes.  But I do remember times from my early twenties when that was not the case.  And being threated with violence and firearms from angry owners of dogs that try to control more than their own yard.  You can take the end of the statement about either the owner or the dog.  *grin*

Any thoughts?

At G M:  On my way to work but I'll try to dig up some statistics on relative incarceration and recidivism rates  in the next day or two.  Mind you, statistics are generally worth the money that you pay the person doing the collection and are a good way of messing up by the numbers.  But you've got to start somewhere.

You can look at numbers, if you want and show how things defy logic.  People in Israel are scared about the rocket attacks yet are 50 times more likely to die in a car accident.  8 vs 434, IIRC.  From official Israeli sources, just not put together by the government.   Or from US Gov't sources:  NSAIDs kill far, far more US Citizens every year than all the terrorists and Taliban and other extremists combined.   Those are ones I researched a couple of years ago.

As far as 'sick'  and 'Officer Krumpke'   I look at things like:  Yes, horrible things happened to you.   But each of us are responsible for what we do going forward.  We still make our own choices even if environment makes some choices look easier than others.

And sickness:  Although the difference in degree is quite severe, the same objectification and narcissism that lets us make fun of someone with a cleft pallet or who is ugly, silly or different, is the pattern of thinking that lets someone else rob, rape and kill.  That's a hard thought to deal with but it is also true.  The same pattern of I wants that has us gobbling down a super-duper combo for breakfast, get kicked out of a Chinese buffet for overindulging and then buying up stock in Breyer's ice cream is the same unthinking, unfettered catering to desires  that lets another fellow walk up and demand your wallet.

That's not a justification to do horrible things.  Quite the opposite.  It's a stand against all the little crimes against others and self that encourage the big ones.

It just so happened that my brother and I were discussing the criminal justice last night.

One of the conclusions that we came to is that a major problem with our system is that it is a half-and-half system that does the worst of both worlds.  There's the rehabilitation by hammer system, aka France, where you fit into the mold or you die.  And there's  the complete rehabilitation system that a couple of other European nations use (Finland might be one).  In those, most criminals save the most horrible ones, are essentially sentenced to a prison version of a military college.

Both styles work better than what we do in the US.  I happen to be more for the rehabilitative systems.  My preference is to not be robbed or attacked rather than to punish the guilty after the fact.  It's crazy but when I ask people the question:  Would you rather not be attacked or would you rather punish the guilty, 2/3rds of the people I ask tell me that they'd rather punish the guilty.

Of course another think that our overly sheltered US Citizens really need to accept is that bad things happen.  We can't stop it all. That's a whole different issue.

There is a very small percentage of the population that are essentially broken when compared to the rest of us.  As I understand it, they're a corruption of a necessary hunter-killer subset of our population.  There is a small element of our population that basically exists to deal with threats.  But when an even tinier fraction of that subset is broken, the capacity for violence is turned on the rest of society.  And people like that are basically uncurable.  About all we can do is drug them to the gills, confine them or kill them.   One thing the system needs to be able to do is identify those people and separate them from the other criminals to keep them from warping the potentially redeemable criminals that make up the most of the population.

Most neighbors subconsciously filter out a man with a safety-vest, hard had, clipboard and a work truck who simply walks right up like he belongs.

Best defense is low key stuff.  Sturdy doors, llocks and windows.  Keep things nice but not eye-catching.   Vary your schedule.  Keep curtains closed and try not to let expensive things be visible from the street.  Take that enormous 52" LCD TV box straight to a dumpster instead of leaving it on a curb.  And keep everything possible insured.   If your number is up and you get a professional visit.. well, sometimes, you can do everything right and still get caught out.  It is just stuff.  Life goes on.

Nice work on Alex's part.  If that is his first ring fight in front of a crowd, that makes it three times as nice.  I did not fair anywhere nearly as well in my first ring fight.

I especially liked the fact that he threw more than one or two punches at a time.  I also loved the elbow spike that put the opponent on the ground.

The only two pieces of advice that I would offer, based entirely on my own opinion and so feel free to ignore it, is that I personally would not reach my hand down for a kick that was below my waist unless I was planning on a takedown.  And the other one is that by the end of the barrage that Alex starts at about .05 seconds, it looks like he is starting to let his feet outrun his torso when he is attacking.  That might be an illusion caused by the camera angle.

Other than that, a wonderful first fight.  I like the way he does not just stay and punch in mount but also creeps his right leg up while in middle of punching to pin blue's arm

The color code level of awareness is a good starting point and training tool.  But like any basic set of guidelines and principles, there is a level beyond it. 

I can speak from personal experience that there are some problems of putting the 24/7 code yellow or better awareness into practice.  I often hear officers, trainers and the like talk about it.  Now, it is possible to do it for a limited time frame in the bush or up country in outer Boojalookastan.  But unless you're one of the 2 percent of genetically wired people that never burn out, there is a hard limit that varies from person to person on how long you maintain it.  180 days is the military's accepted average.  After that, people tend to reach states of hypervigilance that start to make them more dangerous to themselves and others.    Look at the experiences of some of the vets returning from the war on terror that can't turn it off.

Another point is that while you might or might not live a longer life by operating in the hypervigilant state, would you have a *better* life on a day to day basis?  The fact of the matter is that most of us are more likely to die from cancer, heart disease or a car accident than violent crime.  Hell, NSAIDs kill 7-8 thousand people a year in the US.

A point to consider is that one of the reasons an LEO or soldier can be more vigilant is that they is being paid to be so.  Most of us have the practical problem of doing our job well enough to keep it which tends to suffer if you are too paranoic.  If nothing else, you scare your boss and they fire you at the first infraction or work slow down.

I do recommend following the color guidelines for a month or two to start the foundation.  But then I advocate learning how to operate in a state of relaxes awareness.  This takes a lot longer to cultivate.  It boils down to working on a zen state without all the frills.    One learns to stop chattering inside one's own head constantly.  Once that internal noise goes away, it allows one to see and hear far more.  And then practice walking around on a daily basis in a state of just watching and listening without judging.  Not in a fearful away, looking for an attack.  And then one starts being able to notice little inconsistancies.  People who don't fit.  A strange bird.  Dogs acting abnormally.  The fact that a trash can is 3 inches from where it was that morning.  One notices beautiful things,too 

And I find that I have a lot more fun than when I walked around in a hypervigilant state.  And, guess what?  People tend to smile at me a lot more.  And fewer people take their anger out on me.  There's a lot more too it and it does take years to develop the state.  But once you figure it out,  it is absurdly easy.

It also helps if you can learn to think like an attacker or us robber and take basic precautions.

I'm more of a BJJ dabbler than a true practitioner.  I spend 90 percent of my time doing other things and do just enough plus the occasional tournament to keep my hand in.  But a good friend of mine loves BJJ and trains it constantly.  He's a former Mr. Tennessee from years ago.  He also spent 6 years practicing Tai Chi along with me.  He finds that the self-analysis and internal feedback he learned in Tai Chi lets him take apart BJJ moves and figure out where he's got problems and work on fixing them.

Reading the biofeedback stuff made me realize that one of the main purposes of the Tai Chi form and also various Yoga routines was to calm the mind and quiet the body so one could listen to ones heart rate, respiration and feel the nervous system response and work to change it.  In effect, it functions as a form of biofeedback without the aid of modern devices.  Modern equipment certainly makes things easier and much more reliable, of course.

A very interesting post.   Amazing how logic can lead one wrong.  Without having done any research, I had assumed that the curve of the blade was a holdover from it being the utility knife of the average nomad.  It reminded me of some of the knives used in gutting deer.  But I can definitely see the hornlike characteristics now that they are mentioned.

I'm gonna have to go find the Burton book and add it to my library.

One possible source, provided someone can get them to talk, are the Berber tribes that still live in the old manner.  Mind you, it could be hard to reach most of them.

I know I am coming at this one late, but I have a question. 

If you can remember, what were your hips and thighs doing at the time of the rupture?  And knees, as well, if you can?

Another advantage of keeping the cloth of one's pants up past the knees, even on a typical US style toilet, is that it reduces the opportunity and effectiveness of the Public Toilet Takedown and the Public Toilet Wallet Grab.

Wallet Grab is where someone simply grabs your wallet while you are sitting on the pot.  The Takedown is where someone grabs your ankles and/or pants and yanks you from the toilet in an attempt to get you to crack your head against the toilet or the floor.

There's a certain angle of hip and torso that opens things up and lets everything relax.  Consider that a diet heavy on rice often has a constipatory effect, I can see why the style would develop.

 As an amusing note, it is also a very common angle for the Chinese internal martial arts.

That's rather nice. *grin*  I don't even use the stuff.  I just feel that it is an outdated set of laws proposed at the end of prohibition by people who realized they were about to be out of a job.  And I think that the DAs, LEOs and the rest of us have far more important things to concern ourselves with.

I don't know, Prentice.  That looks more like follow through and recoil from shoving white shirt than a deliberate warding action.  I could be wrong, of course.

I also agree with Tcrutcher that this has apparently been going on for a lot longer than on the clip.  Problem Child's shirt is torn, yes.  That is something I had noticed, as well.

*laugh*  I would agree on that.  Mind, another helpful hint is to not let people creep into punching range on us-if we have a choice.  As long as someone has to take at least one step to land a hit, it buys an extra fraction of a second to react.

First, a couple of caveats.

Almost none of us perform to our best when the adrenaline gets going, so I make allowances for that.   Second, the fact that the doorman did not get killed or sent to the hospital and neither did the other fellow means that it is not a horrible response.

Limiting myself to the doorman:  Weight shifts WAY back into the heels as he edges back and the man closes in.  His right hip is cocked and his knee is almost locked. I wonder if he either has or is trying to pretend as if he has a pistol.  I do not see one from the clip. 

When he avoids the punch, he wastes a tick bringing his left foot back in front while punching with his right hand.  While some people can hit hard from there, the way he's doing it is turning his hip away from the direction he's trying to project power.   And when he starts on the shove, knee, push sequence, he wastes time again having to get his left knee loaded by reversing his feet yet again.    And then after it is back in yelling stage, after he's already been attacked, he still faces the attacker with both of his hands down almost like he was Richard Gere in Officer And A Gentleman at the bar.  Oh, and while he is using his right to fight,  his other hand keeps a death grip on that loose white shirt the man is wearing.  Notice that the doorman's punch seems to have more of a damaging effect than the knee.  The knee moves the man backwards but does not appear to do any actual damage.

Still, he does manage to avoid the punch, he gets control of the attacker's outside line and drives towards center.  I'd give it a c+  The biggest thing that bugs me is that after the scrap, he's still facing the man and keeping both of his hands way down.

First off, let me say that I respect the majority of LEOs.  I have an application in with the Chattanooga PD.  I've helped teach DT to police officers.  I hold a profound respect for what I would call natural law and a certain amount of respect somewhat less than total for societal law.  I will also say that I was commissioned in the USAR a long time ago.  That caveat is so that people understand that I look at things from the POV of a trained leader.

A couple of classic videos about talking to the police and not doing it.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4097602514885833865#

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6014022229458915912#

One thing that I constantly tell people who get upset at LEOs is that LEOs are human beings, too.   That means they do good things and bad things, smart things and foolish things.  And are just as vulnerable to things like peer pressure, mob mentality and the Group Monkey Dance syndrome as the rest of us.

Repeatedly, I see that many events that end in tragic overreactions are contributed to by the officer who should have been in charge failing to act in that manner.  LEOs act in chaotic situations.  The more variables, ie people, in a situation, the more chaotic it is.  A senior officer's job is to stay as calm as possible and try to navigate the chaos and restore order.  On more than one occasion, officers questioned after an exhange of fire, when asked why they were firing at a vehicle, responded with something along the lines of:  Because the man next to me was shooting.

One of the hardest lessons for  NCOs and Officers in the military to learn is that shooting is for privates.  Supervisors should fire only when they must do so.  As a platoon leader, if I am shooting, I control one weapon.  If I am managing, I control 30 of them.  Plus artillery and air support.  When you have 3 or more officers, someone needs to step back and be in charge.

This is also true of civilians on the workplace, etc.   

This is my view of how to protect yourself from unreasonable search and seizure and no-knock warrants, etc.  Someone earlier in the topic  mentioned blending with the sheep.  I mostly agree.  It's called the passive defense.  Or as Guru Crafty has said:  Avoid doing stupid things in stupid places with stupid people.  It protects you from villains.  But it also keeps you from being mistaken for a villain.   It is a very common human tendency, for good reason, to think that, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck and hangs around with a bunch of other ducks, it is probably a duck.  It is pattern recognition that aids survival.

The first guideline:  Try not to do anything illegal.  This is actually impossible in our society.  Our patchwork of a legal system with the emphasis on lawyers and hair splitting means that almost anyone can be charged with some sort of crime at any time.  Just try to drive the speed limit in a city.  Even if other drivers do not rear-end you in a fit of road rage, the police notice you.  DEA Officers have admitted, in news interviews, that they view anyone driving the speed limit as suspicious.

Second guideline:  Do not do anything to attract attention more than necessary.  Keep your vehicle reasonably clean.  Keep your registration and tag sticker current.  Keep your city and county stickers current if you need to have them.  Keep headlights, tail lights and break lights in proper working order.  All of those are cheap and easy to fix.  If you can afford to buy a handgun or medical marijuana or a bottle of scotch or DVDs or dinner for 2 at a restaurant, you can afford to have them working properly.

Keep your vehicle interior reasonably clean and neat.  If you have locking boxes, keep them shut and locked.  Have a locking box in your trunk and keep it locked with a sturdy lock.  Don't have empty or opened containers of alcohol in your vehicle even if you have not had a drink in 2 or three days.  Dress neatly.  It doesn't have to be expensively.  Just neatly.  If you have a beard or goattee, keep it trimmed.  Even if you have long hair, keep it maintained.  Talk respectfully.  Look respectfully.  Smile.

If stopped by an officer, be calm and polite.  Remember that the officer is probably at least a little scared of you.  If you can calm the officer down, it can only help you.  Pop hazard lights, pull over as soon as it is safe, kill the ignition and leave your hands on the wheel.    If it is at night, turn on the overhead light.  Do not fumble for license, registration or anything else.  Do not even roll down the window if it is up.  Wait for instructions from the officer.      Smile. 

Politely refuse the search if asked.  Don't be confrontational.  If pulled over incorrectly, don't attempt to hold court on the side of the road.  Hold court in the courthouse. 

Personal story  I was pulled over by an LEO for running a red light.  I thought this was improbable because I had been behind the officer at the traffic signal and had not had to drive around or through him.  I told the officer this.  He said, not politely, that I had indeed run the red light.  I immediately smiled and said, thank you.  I took the citation.  I showed up in court.  There was no officer.  I spoke with the judge.  I discovered that the officer had suffered a heart attack later that evening.  In all likely hood, the officer was in pre-cardiac arrest, was not thinking clearly, and genuinely believed I had run the traffic light.  So, when  you are pulled over, remember that you may not be cuffed, but detaining you is an arrest.  Act like it.  And you don't know if the officer is sick with the flu, suffering heat stroke or otherwise impaired.

If an officer attempts comedian of the year award with you or starts harassing  you, swallow your pride, take the verbal and psychological hits with a smile and let your lawyer hit him back later, in court. And remember that verbal judo works both ways.  If the officer attacks you, well, you'll have to make the decision on how to act for yourself.  I'm not going to make it for you because I probably won't be there. 

As far as your residence goes, follow similar guidelines.  A generally neat and weill maintained house or apartment.  Have good windows and doors with sturdy locks.  The heavy duty, insulated doors and windows that lower heating bills can also stop criminals.  And, should the police show up at the wrong address to serve a no-knock warrant at 3am, the delay in gaining entry because of security doors and windows, buys you time to wake up and analyze the situation.

If you have firearms, have a secure storage device.  Gun safes are not THAT expensive.  If the police decide they want to seize your firearms during an arrest, all you have to do is invoke your right to remain silent and to have legal counsel and wait.  They might get your ready shotgun and handgun.  But the rest of the collection is behind a 15 minute determined entry attack lock.  Hopefully, by the time the police get the equipment needed and can break into the safe, your lawyer will have been notified by someone and can check to see if they've followed procedure.

The best line of defense we have is our brain that helps us make wise choices. 

Without advocating illegal activities, look at it this way.  Smoking marijuana, drinking beer, etc, is a choice.  Doing either of those things while driving is also a choice.  A stupid and unsafe choice.  Honestly, eating fast food while driving is stupid and dangerous.  So is talking on our phones, swapping CDs, browsing through the iPod, etc.   

As an aside, I remember a lady I met complaining that bicycles frustrated her when she was driving.  They took up her lane and slowed her down.  She just wanted to run them over.  With a smile, I asked her, "Is your time so valuable that 10 minutes of it is worth killing someone over?"  As soon as I put it to her like that, she backpedaled.

The point of that digression:  Are we that strapped for time that we can't hold off on the phone call from Mom for 2 minutes.  That we can't  wait a bit before eating so we can stop and just eat?  If you are the sort of person who can't wait 10 or 15 minutes to get home to have a drink of beer or smoke marijuana, then you do not need to be doing those things at all.   If our time for any of those things is THAT short, we probably need to re-evaluate how we are spending our time and what our priorities are.

As Terry Pratchett wrote in a novel:  Rules are meant to make your think before you break them.

The important part is that we do think. 

When we deal with police officers, do we really want to die because we got caught up in the barking ego dance?