AKS Quarterly Newsletter

"The Punchline"
Editorial – March 2010

I hope everyone’s New Year has been going well. The AKS annual dues renewal period has been moving along well. For those who've already renewed their membership black belt IDs are now available, as well as instructor and club certificates. Add to these items the student handbook is at the printers for publishing and we are making great progress. The handbooks should be available for purchase within a short time.

Last quarter's news letter provided a couple of great articles by Dave Thomas and Rand Palmer. Their articles have stimulated others you'll read in this issue. Each of the authors invites discussion. How do you see this issue? What do you think is the key point we should be teaching our students and espousing to the public? If you have any article ideas please share them with us. If you don't feel comfortable writing, there are several of us who would happily assist.

The next regional training seminar is fast approaching. Rand Palmer will be publishing the dates soon, along with the schedule of events. As I've already mentioned previously, I want our membership to begin focusing more on excellence of execution of our kata. When we begin to perform our katas with better power and concentration, our overall abilities also improve. I know everyone will make it a point to begin working on improving in this area.

Membership enrollment continues slowly for 2010 with about half of the black belts current. Just a reminder to those who've not yet updated their dues for this year, the membership directory will be purged of all those who are not current by the 1st of April, 2010. Please don't delay any longer.

I want to also remind many of you to update your photos, or add them if there isn't one for you on the member directory. In addition to the picture by your name, I would like you to also begin working on a bio. If you're not sure what information should be placed there look at those who already have bio links and see what is covered about them. Pictures accompanying the bios are also good as they help give others more of an understanding about your background and involvement in the martial arts and the AKS.

To each of you I send my thanks and appreciation for your support and efforts in keeping the AKS a strong and vibrant organization. Without each of its members the AKS wouldn't be as strong and energetic as it is. This resonates with our students and fellow martial artists in a very positive way.

ZEN

The concept of Zen is one not easily understood, in fact, it is impossible. The idea behind the Zen beliefs is one that problems can be solved through meditation, self-contemplation, and intuition. There are a few graspable facets explainable about Zen, in the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eight-Fold Path. A man known as Buddha discovered and explains, what is explainable, in the history and beliefs of Zen.

Buddha, as he became known, was born in the sixth century BC and died at the age of eighty after eating spoiled food. He was not the first or last of his kind, there were six before him and thirteen that followed. In Buddha's lifetime, he vowed to find a cure for suffering, and in his enlightenment, he discovered the Four Noble Truths; The Truth of Suffering, The Truth of the Cause of Suffering, The Truth of the End of Suffering, and The Truth of the Path to the End of Suffering.

The first of the Four Noble Truths is The Truth of Suffering. The Truth of Suffering begins with realizing that all life is brought through suffering. Everything in life is or causes suffering, mentally, physically or socially. Of the main causes of mental suffering, sadness and depression are the ones that cause most of the damage. When a loved one is lost, one feels irritated, or one cannot satisfy their wants or needs, they can feel this suffering. A physical form of suffering is greatly dependent on age. When one is very young or very old, the body may not have the energy or the resources to heal properly, or to do the things that a healthy person may be able to do. If one suffers socially, it is from the lack of happiness in ones life. If one is not happy with their life or surroundings, this can cause great suffering.

The second truth is The Truth of the Cause of Suffering. For the Truth of Suffering to be explained, one must understand the Cause of Suffering. Two of the greatest causes of suffering are desire and ignorance. For example, people always desire the best in foods and entertainment. If one never experiences the worst of these things, then they will never enjoy the best when they are lucky enough to experience it. Having ignorance is not being able to see the truth in things. When one cannot see things how they really are, then one limits their understanding of the topic. The meditation in the Zen philosophy helps one realize that none of these things are important, and the only purpose of them is to cause suffering. This was the exact thing that Buddha was trying to eliminate.

The third truth is The Truth to the End of Suffering, the final goal in Buddha’s teaching. In order for one to end suffering, one must end all greed and unhappiness and remove all desire and ignorance from their mindset. Through this, one will experience true Nirvana (the state of being free from suffering) and have total happiness and enlightenment in all that one does. The way to this truth is to avoid these extremes and attempt to keep your life on the ‘Middle Path.’

The fourth, and final of the Four Noble Truths is, The Truth to the Path of the End of Suffering. The ‘Middle Path’ is the road in which one avoids the extreme of treating ones desires and the other extreme of torturing ones mind and body. In order to accomplish this feat, one must abide by the rights of The Noble Eight-Fold Path.

1. Right understanding:  The Four Noble Truths
2. Right to thoughts:  Renunciation, kind thought, and thoughts of harmlessness
3. Right speech   Refraining from falsehood, stealing, and frivolous talks
4. Right actions:   Refrain from killing, and the lack of chastity
5. Right livelihood:   No trade with deadly weapons, animal slaughter, slavery, intoxicants, or poisons
6. Right effort:   The endeavor to discard evil, prevent the raising of evil, develop good, and to promote good
7. Right mindfulness:   Mindful with regard to body, feeling, mind, and mental objects
8. Right meditation:   The correct use of the art to meditate and to train ones mind to focus on a certain object of thought.

Karma is the intentional action that is done deliberately through ones mind, speech or actions. Karma is the natural law that states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction; therefore, producing the idea of cause and effect, which, in turn, determines which realm you will be reborn into. There are six realms in which one may be reborn after death. They are the realms of gods, the demigods, human beings, animals, hungry ghosts, and the hells.

Livelihood; not to do anything that would harm other beings – no trade with deadly weapons, no animal slaughter, no slavery, no intoxicants, and no poisons.

The last three refer to continuous mental development: 6 – Right Effort; the venture to discard and prevent the raising of evil and to develop and promote good; 7 – Right Mindfulness; mindful with regard to body, feeling, and experiences; 8 – Right Meditation; the correct use of the art to meditate and train one's mind to focus on a certain object of thought. All of these incite the presence of one’s good karma and through these practices, one can then begin to reach a higher existence and come closer to reaching Nirvana.

The purpose of the Zen philosophy revolves around the act of suffering. When one meditates, hold self-contemplation and intuition, rather than having faith and devotion, the enlightenment of the Buddha is experienced. Enlightenment is defined as the direct seeing of one's ‘original mind,’ a mind without corruption or suffering. Like an infant, one does not experience the thought of desire or ignorance, reaching enlightenment and attaining the true goal and understanding of ones being.

Thank you American Karate System Family

The Roy family started training with Mr. Lieb at the Omni Health and Fitness Club in January 1988.  We had a family membership at the Fitness Club at the time.  Deb and I would hit the gym three to four times a week; dragging our three kids with us.  Lisa, Robert and Kevin would always end up watching the karate class.   They started asking if they could take karate.  After having a family meeting, we decided that we would all take karate class as a family.  When we first started, Kevin, our youngest, was 7 years old, Robert was 10, and Lisa 11.  When Mr. Thomas started his class at Ross Park Elementary, we continued our training with Mr. Thomas.

As we look back on all the pictures taken over the years, we know we made a great decision that year to join the karate class with Mr. Lieb and his black belts.  We all learned self discipline, gained self confidence, and the kids learned respect for others.  These values have helped us in our daily lives and in the work place as well.  Karate helped us keep our kids off the streets, and gave us piece of mind knowing that they were looking out for each other and could take care of themselves if they needed to.  Karate kept them focused on good times and made them all-around great kids.  The black belts became family to us and supported our kid’s growth, not only in karate, but our daily lives too.  They even attended family functions like graduations.

For a little while we had to step away from karate due to job related issues.  We returned in 2006, and are happy we made the choice to come back.  We will always miss Mr. Lieb, though, as he was such a pillar of strength.

For us, the American Karate System seems to be even more unified.  We enjoy learning new things at summer camp and the trips to West Virginia have been such a highlight in our lives.  We had the opportunity to celebrate our anniversary exploring the water falls around their beautiful countryside.  We plan to make the Ohio trip this year, and it’s just amazing to know so many great people who give of themselves unconditionally.

As time moves on, our family is growing, and we are pleased to have grandchildren that are excited about Karate.  They have asked to see the old tournament tapes and could not believe what they saw.  They enjoy watching their (young) moms and dads, uncles and aunt (depending on which child it is) and a (young) grandma and grandpa too.  It didn’t take much, and they too were hooked.

There are now four yellow belt grandchildren making three generations of Roy’s in the American Karate System, with more grandchildren to follow as there are currently nine.  We hope they all enjoy it as much as we do and get just as much out of it as we have.

With a special thank you to Mr. Thomas.  If it wasn’t for his dedication, time, and family oriented class structure, our family may never have been able to progress as far as we have.

Jim Roy 3rd Dan
Deb Roy 3rd Dan

Choosing Your Words

As part of self-defense, we teach our students how to use their voice and words to defuse a hostile situation. This only works if the potential assailant gets verbal before he gets physical. You know stands in front of you and starts to tell you all the nasty things he plans to do.

The tone in your voice sets the tempo for tempering an aggressive situation, calm and steady is better than loud and challenging. You also want to select words that will pacify when you explain the wisdom of not fighting. Note – at no time are you compelled to inform the would be in-patient that you have martial arts training. I always say, let it be a surprise. I even recommend to my students that they rehearse their pre-altercation oration before possible physical engagement. The quality of presentation is much better if it is practiced, then delivered with conviction rather than impromptu, if they have their hormones committed to fighting you don’t want to fumble your speech.

• To pacify the street cretin you could use the following:



“You know, nobody really wins a fight.”

“My minister is very much against me fighting”

“I am sure you are very tough, we’ll just say you won.”

"Sun Tzu says ‘Do not fight unless you are in danger’. Would you think I’m in danger?”

“Fighting is against my personal beliefs, it is only as a last resort.”

“I am sure we can both find better things to do than get bruises and contusions.”


• To make them pause and consider their options you could say:



“You’re probably not wearing a cup?”

“I can make sure you always have good parking”

“Women think guys with a limp are attractive”

“We can fight, but my uncle, the District Attorney, won’t like it.”

“What is your hospital of choice?”

“Did you see me in my last MMA match?”

“Have you been to prison? It’s not that bad.”

“My karate instructor doesn’t want me to fight unless I have no choice. Could you write down that this was your idea?”

“Do you have a group dental, or pay your own?”


• Aphorisms you should probably avoid:



“One of us is going to the hospital and the other to jail. Want to guess which one you are?”

“Alright, time to take 20 years of karate lessons for a test drive”

“What is your funeral home of choice?”

“Chuck Liddell told me I would use this stuff!”

“Is your organ donor card current?”

“Wait until the guys in Cell Block D hear about this one.”

“If you have a death wish, there is medication available.”

“My doctor told me that ear reattachment is an ugly surgery.”

“I am sure the prospect of never having children is okay with you”

These are just a few; let me know if you have some you would like to add.

Dave Thomas
AKS 8th Dan

Do You Have a Question?

We invite you to send in your questions regarding karate and the A.K.S. so that we may respond here in our newsletter. If you have a concern, question or suggestion, please let us know and we will address it here in the Punchline.

If you don't want your name published, please let us know and we will be happy to withhold that information from print. However, please be respectful when submitting your queries or suggestions to us by including your name so that we may understand your questions and/or circumstances.

Please send your questions to Laura Werner, and I will forward them to the person who can provide the appropriate response.

We look forward to hearing from you!

PROMOTIONS!!

Congratulations to all students who have been promoted this past quarter.  Best wishes in your continued training.

The Challenge;
Do we address the affront, or walk away?

by Chief Instructor Mike Sullenger

This question has haunted many of us. When confronted by an insult, do I defend my impugned honor or walk away. Though we have the right to stand our ground in many of our States today, we teach our students it's better to walk away, since nothing is gained by fighting. This topic was covered in the recent American Karate System (AKS) quarterly newsletter “The Punchline” by two of the organization's senior black belts.

Assistant Chief Instructor Dave Thomas addressed this issue by bringing in a little history. Dave used the example of Prussian leader Fredrick II in the following way:

During the 1700s, the country of Prussia (now Germany) was losing many of its young nobles. They were being killed when they would duel to the death to save their besmirched honor. At times their honor had been tarnished by the most trivial of circumstances. It had gotten so bad that Frederick II, King of Prussia (1712 - 1786 aka Frederick the Great) outlawed dueling. Any young nobles that felt they could only salvage their honor with a duel had to personally petition the King.

Your honor is best demonstrated by how you live and conduct yourself. By living up to what you teach your students, not always easy but it is always honorable.

The examples Dave uses illustrate how we all too often allow our hurt feelings to push us into actions or conduct we realize in the light of a new day weren't the most appropriate. The term “thin skinned” comes to mind when I think of many young police officers who are pulled into a verbal argument or physical reprisal with a subject during a street interview, merely because the individual challenged their manhood or insulted their lineage.

The other article by AKS Regional Director Rand Palmer addressed this same topic by asking the question, “Is It Just a Bark . . . Or Could a Bite be Soon to follow?” Rand's point is being able to distinguish between just verbal assaults, as opposed to the ones that become physical. He explains it in this way:

No one likes being teased or ridiculed, but when we consider that the common alternative, to reply with equal or greater vigor, is what causes war between nations, we realize that we should seek another solution. That solution is found in training; the kind of constant, intensive training that will allow us to defend ourselves physically should that be necessary, but more practically, the kind of training that strips away false pretensions and fears and egos and leaves us with a feeling of quiet pride and invulnerable self-worth.

The ability to perceive the difference between a shot at our self-image and a dangerous attack on one's self, family, or society and respond accordingly is an unmistakable sign of disciplined martial arts training.

Both gentlemen make the point most martial arts instructors endeavor to teach their students. Yet the difficulty lies more in the mind of the person insulted at the time, and where they are in their respective training. As a veteran instructor of both martial arts students and law enforcement personnel I've seen both groups struggle with this concept.

During the 1992 time frame, while stationed in Illinois at Chanute Air Force Base, I attended a two-day training seminar given by Dr. George Thompson. Dr. Thompson had developed an approach he coined “Verbal Judo,” to describe how officers should deal with insults. His concept came based on a combination of his Doctoral studies in English, and his training in Judo and the Korean art of Tae Kwon Do. The doc's approach was teaching officers how to redirect verbal assaults and hostile attitudes through the skillful use of words. He also emphasized the importance of the officer remaining professional and not allowing his personal feelings and attitude to become involved.

In my efforts to teach students how to deal with insults, I try to get them to realize their antagonist merely wants to goad them into a response that will allow for a physical reprisal. By lowering themselves to the level of their antagonist, whether responding verbally or physically, they have allowed the opponent to win. The challenge is in holding the higher ground. Staying above the verbal assault and redirecting the other's abuse away from you. In the case of police personnel the insults are directed more at why the person was stopped (as in a traffic stop), or why the officer has injected himself in their business. In many cases their level of anger or frustration has already been elevated by stimulus that resulted in the officer's involvement.

I remember lessons taught me by my father regarding the old cliché, “sticks and stones may break your bones, but names will never harm you.” When coupled with Doctor Thompson's Verbal Judo concept it makes one's reactions to another's challenging verbal assault easier to deal with. Yet we must never forget the feelings we experience at the moment this is happening. The adrenaline rush, the “pucker factor” sensation we feel at either the need to fight or flee.

So at what point does a person become able to merely walk away? What thoughts go through their mind regarding this potential assailant? Are we afraid? Are we really doing this guy a favor be walking away? What rationalizations are going through our mind as this situation unwinds? The answer lies in the knowledge of our abilities and the confidence we've achieved through long hard months of arduous training and studies in karate tactics and strategies. In remembering the conditioned responses we’'e developed to a variety of attacks by opponents with and without weapons. This is not something that happens over night. It’s not something easily taught or learned. Only by hard work, dedication and perseverance in honing our skills do we arrive at the point where we can walk away with a clear conscience that we have truly done the other guy a huge favor.

This brings us to the point where we need to discuss the mental aspects of training. We know our martial arts training develops our reactions to physical attacks. What we spend very little time on is the psychological. How do we get to the point mentally where we use our intellect? This can also be accomplished in the same manner in which we develop the physical abilities. Instead of immediately responding with blocks and punches, we engage the potential foe verbally. By putting our students in different situations that require them to use common sense and intellect we help them to begin the process of evolving their skills to a higher level. Some may refer to this as self-actualization, a concept put forth in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theory. For those not familiar with Maslow's theroy I suggest a little internet research to improve your understanding and knowledge. The point is to begin to understand people, what motivates them, and how to deal with them. The top of the pyramid is where we arrive at not needing to prove anything to anyone.

In the preface of his autobiography, Gichin Funakoshi talks about Japanese who actively seek self-enlightenment and how they will say, “Hara Wo Neru,” which translates to “training his stomach.” Though the meaning deals with training and conditioning one's abdomen to a state of perfection, it also has the philosophical meaning of striving for the elusive state of self-enlightenment. In this state a person is comfortable with who they are, their positive aspects and their short comings. If we as martial artists are able to arrive at this state we have no need to prove anything to anyone. Therefore walking away from a potential attacker, or engaging him verbally in order to understand his need for physically assaulting us, we are in a better intellectual position to talk them out of it. Clearly if this fails and we are unable to walk away, we revert to our training and skills.

Lastly, regardless of the choice we make, walking away or dealing with the individual's insults, we need to be ever vigilant. If you choose to walk away you must still be ready to respond in the event the other person tries to catch you with a surprise attack. If we are in a public place we need to repeatedly say in a loud voice, “I don’t want any problems!” Or we may say, “I don’t want to fight, I'm going to leave,” or some such statement that more people hear than really see what's taking place. Why is this necessary? In the event you are pulled into a physical defense of yourself or loved ones that ends up in court, more witnesses will be able to tell the jury what they heard, than will be able to state what happened. The jury will be left with the distinct understanding this was something you tried earnestly to avoid, but was not allowed to by the other party.

Be on your toes. Don't assume a place or situation is safe. Use your experience to help you decide if entering or staying somewhere is wise. If it doesn't feel right – leave.

Self-Defense: Integrating a Management Concept and a Code of Ethics

by Dr. Rob Debelak, AKS 6th Dan - March 2010

This month's series of articles achieve an excellent goal: they make us think. Commensurate with that goal, and at the risk of revisiting information covered in years past, I'd like to offer more food for thought!

No one denies plenty of “what if” scenarios exist, and equally true, the various responses to any given situation take into account an innumerable host of factors. I propose sticking our heads in the sand and pretending situations don't happen or are just too unpredictable is naïve and inconsistent with our training philosophy. If the maxim is true that ‘the way we practice is the way we perform,’ thinking now about potential reactions to various situations is incumbent in a quality training regimen.

Consider your martial art curriculum:  Why do you train? What do you spend time training on? Why? With one-steps alone, the AKS requires a minimum number of responses to a basic punch for each belt grade. As one advances in rank and skill, the quality and quantity of potential responses increases. In some arts the scenarios vary with each level of rank, and students broaden their horizons with the types of responses to the ever increasing complexity of potential attack scenarios. This concept practically looks different in diverse schools of training, but each essentially shares a common denominator:  whether free-thinking or structured, in how many unique ways can one physically respond to the same kind of attack? The central thrust of this month's articles though, take the question further: when does one respond and what does an appropriate response look like?

Analysis of any situation quickly presents the obvious:  Not every attacker punches (attacks) with the same velocity of force, at the same height, and at the same angle and speed every time (interested readers are referred to Paul Maslak's excellent book on this approach to self defense, Strategy in Unarmed Combat). Given the fact scenarios are in a constant state of change, students practice with creative but critical-thought opportunity to explore application of techniques by:  avoiding or dodging, deflecting, blocking, and soft, medium, or hard responses (with a foot, head or hand to numerous nerve, joint, and body mass targets). With these elements of training (referred to by Major Sullenger as: move the target, do something about the attack, counter attack), students either intentionally or unintentionally learn responses. Cookie-cutter approaches to attacks are less than optimal when unaccompanied by rationale for the response. As such, instructors are encouraged to be proactive in the training process to communicate clearly what responses are appropriate in respective situations.

An incremental method of training takes the known slow, deliberate, and controlled movements of one-steps, kata, or self-defense responses and seeks to learn if there are similar applications to the verbal altercation. Thought now is focused on “training” for the “if, when, and how” of an altercation by going from what a student knows about physical response and carries toward the generally unknown topic of training:  dealing with the verbal assault. Just as it does not take long before one realizes there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to fighting; there is no blanket answer on how best to address each and every kind of non-physical confrontation. There are, though, a few prompts that get us thinking about the question:  How can we train for what we hope will never happen? A few factors in the mix:

• Walking away (avoiding) is the best scenario. The humble approach says we do not need to demonstrate our abilities. But what do you do when avoidance is no longer possible?
• Humility (in my humble opinion), does not require us to become door mats to the next thug who comes our way. Roy's question aptly requires us to consider the rehabilitative elements of standing up and saying no to those who would accost the innocent. Further, Roy's disclaimer is most needful:  none of us espouses vigilantism, nor does our training teach us to violate the law. If anything, the ideas are more along the lines of how we become better citizens by looking out for others

Thus, in an effort to compliment and help further this discussion along, I offer two examples for thought and feedback. These example are by no means cure-alls for every situation; but in the same tenor as those who have written this month, it is noted that if we can begin thinking and talking about ideas, we are together greatly enriched by pooling our thoughts and working through them now in the safe counsel of those experienced leaders who guide us in our training. Thus, the examples below intend to help us revisit our commitment to what our training stands for. This kind of personal examination involves reflection on our morals and ethics; elements which undergird who we are as people and who we are as students of these great arts.

#1 – A Possibility from the World of Management Theory

One line of thinking says:  establish a standard, determine if the standard has been changed, measure the deviation, implement appropriate corrective action, and follow-up to determine no further deviation has occurred. Applied to a self-defense situation:

• A standard is set:  don’t bother me; I’m not bothering you
• Deviation suspected:   verbal altercation/assault is made toward you
• Measure the deviation:  how serious is the altercation?
• ‘green light, yellow light, red light’ might be a start to assess how severe the situation is:
• if of little importance, overlooking or forgiving the infraction is the high road to travel
• if tensions escalate, what greater sense of vigilance is needed? Can the situation still be avoided or diffused? Can the authorities be called?
• or is the situation immediate and critical?
• In your assessment, don't get sucked in to play on the aggressor's terms
• being chided into a situation may be little more than a set up; be on guard.
• An anecdote to illustrate:  with a line drawn on the ground you are not permitted to touch or divide the line, but your task is to make it smaller. How do you do it?  Distance, or drawing a bigger line are answers to think about. Simply put, walk away (distance and perception) or be the bigger man/woman – don't come down to the bully's level
• Corrective action:  depending on the assessment . . .
  • walk away (first desired response)
  • stand up to the challenge (this also sets a standard – and is itself hopefully enough to end the altercation without it going physical
  • if escalation occurs:  defensive action implemented as correction; potential soft, medium, hard responses.
  • A few further thoughts:
  ~ Using your head:  Illustrated in the classic film, Enter the Dragon, martial art sensation Bruce Lee uses his greatest asset, (his mind) to outthink the would-be aggressor on the boat. He proved himself superior by not physically engaging the antagonist, but by out-smarting him. This is the ‘art of fighting without fighting.’
  
  ~ Using words:  I am influenced by the Scriptures, where Proverbs 15:1 states: “A soft answer turns away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger.” A word (conversation or humor) can diffuse or redirect the focus of a potential attacker. Words though, can also inflame a situation. As with all things, use wisdom - there are plenty of possibilities to think about here.
  • It is suggested you consult your local laws and inquire about any ‘minimum force’ concept; this is the general idea where only enough response is employed to stop an attacker from physically harming you
• Follow up:  quick, final assessment that the danger is past, authorities are called if need be, etc. Determine the immediate threat is no longer an issue

Disclaimer:  the above is only one idea to think about and is not intended to be a comprehensive list. It is a discussion starter. Thinking now about the ‘if, when, and how’ of an attack prepares a student of the martial arts with basics for appropriate action should the need arise. Avoiding and diffusing the situation is the desired goal; if unavoidable, a point of reference in martial art training helps a student more intelligently consider what, if any, an appropriate response might look like in any given situation.

#2 – Student’s Code of Honor

Example number two comes from an adage I was exposed to nearly four decades ago. Little commentary is needed, so none will be offered at this time.

Various renditions of this circulate, but I trust readers will gain a sense of the integrity and non-violent response that are a foundation to this student code. There is no wish to do battle, but if push comes to shove, the martial artist will act appropriately in the proper defense of life and what is right:

I come to you in peace and honor and do not desire to fight.

But in defense of my God,
my country,
my loved ones,
or my life,

Here are my weapons: my empty hands and feet.

A.K.S. Web Address(es)

You can now visit the A.K.S. Website using any of these addresses:

The shorter addresses basically act as pointers to our regular 'americankaratesystem.org' address.  The shorter address is much easier to key in and, much easier to remember.

We purchased the   " .com    .org   .net    and  .info "  addresses so that the A.K.S. would own all the major internet web address extensions for the domain name " aks-usa. "    This will prevent other organizations from purchasing them and thus causing confusion as to the identity of the website (very much like the difference between americankaratesystem.org    and    americankaratesystem.com )

Please feel free to use these new addresses the next time you visit our site.  And please let us know if you experience any difficulties with the new addresses.