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Human Stun Gun

ahoneycutt

Thinker
Joined
Feb 24, 2005
Messages
160
Browsing a website i tend to check out every day, I came across this (possibly not safe for work) link:

http://media.mensix.com/Death-Touch.php

The martial arts instructor in the video, Tom Cameron, claims to be able to knock people out using pressure points, and on top of that, be able to knock them out without even touching them. All yellow bamboo style. He doesn't say whether or not the victim has to be angry, however.

Anyway, this video is a really great example of the media actually being skeptical about something. Go Chicago :)

If anyone can find out more info on this guy, please post here...

-Andy

ETA: The video is safe for work by the way.
 
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Now that was surprising. A person claiming to have supernatural powers, "proves" to have them by knocking out his own students... and then fails horribly in his attempts to knock other people out. And then... He makes up excuses and swears it really works. I guess Mr Randi never heard of anything like this before...
 
When Mr. (or is it Master...) Dillman was making the same claims (at least, he said he had to touch 'em) some years ago, it was a matter of some speculation in what passes for the martial arts press.

I sent in a proposal for a testing protocol for the fellow to use, involving taking a test group of non-MA athletes and telling them that a new massage therapy was going to be tried on them; they should report any effects. The volunteers would be screened to eliminate those with knowledge of martial arts, pressure points, etc.

Then Dillman (or anyone else making such claims) would, disguised as a therapist, be allowed to "manipulate" the pressure points. All under videotape and similar protocols.

The magazine in question printed about half my letter, and so far as I know, no one ever tried to run it.
 
Proud to say I saw the video at Bullshido before I saw it in this thread. ;)

The most pathetic part of this whole video (and that's saying a lot) is one of the students at the end saying something like "If you don't believe it works, then come on down here and we'll be happy to knock you out." Well...that's what the reporters did. And your instructor failed. Go away and get a new hobby.

Of course, it could have been editing. Maybe the student said that before the instructor failed so spectacularly, and it was just edited into the end of the vid. But regardless, I hope he is very embarassed now. But I doubt it.
 
One of these days we're going to buy a huge tour bus for Bullshido, load it up with real Martial Artists, and go around the country with a camera Michael Moore style.
 
So let me get this right. According to this guy the technique only "works" on about 40% of the general population, unless you are already trained in another martial art, then it doesn't work.
However if you pay for training in this technique, it will be effective against you 100% of the time.
Can anyone explain to me how this improves your defenses? :boggled:
And people pay for this?
 
The most pathetic part of this whole video (and that's saying a lot) is one of the students at the end saying something like "If you don't believe it works, then come on down here and we'll be happy to knock you out." Well...that's what the reporters did. And your instructor failed. Go away and get a new hobby.

...

I agree. And it's always amazing to me that even after it becomes clear that a person has no supernatural power, some people believe reglardless of the proof, or in this case, lack thereof.
 
One of these days we're going to buy a huge tour bus for Bullshido, load it up with real Martial Artists, and go around the country with a camera Michael Moore style.

For that I would buy the T-Shirt and DVD. I actually found randi.org by way of Bullshido. I love that website.
 
Yeah, we were going to send that woman a T-shirt for her efforts. Still might.
 
One of these days we're going to buy a huge tour bus for Bullshido, load it up with real Martial Artists, and go around the country with a camera Michael Moore style.

Except much easier, since unlike Moore, you don't have to distort everything and edit the hell out of it until it's socialist propaganda.
 
I just watched the video. Stunning people without touching them? That's usually called "bad breath"
 
Pressure points would contradict what is known about the human nervous system...
 
I know from my Ninjutsu and Kung-Fu classes that poking someone in just the right place can hurt like hell and provoke all sorts of responses, but if you're looking for a Vulcan nerve pinch then you're going to have to stick to sci-fi for now. Shame really, it would be a fun power to have and abuse.
 
I know from my Ninjutsu and Kung-Fu classes that poking someone in just the right place can hurt like hell and provoke all sorts of responses, but if you're looking for a Vulcan nerve pinch then you're going to have to stick to sci-fi for now. Shame really, it would be a fun power to have and abuse.

You can poke someone in the eye for example. Hurts...

Or of course the classic spot below the Adam's apple.
 
I know from my Ninjutsu and Kung-Fu classes that poking someone in just the right place can hurt like hell and provoke all sorts of responses, but if you're looking for a Vulcan nerve pinch then you're going to have to stick to sci-fi for now. Shame really, it would be a fun power to have and abuse.

The temple is a "pressure point" in that if you hit it with sufficient force, you cause a knockout (ala Boxing). The testicles are a pressure point because they cause pain.

However, the context "Pressure Point" is usually used in generally means little known points along the body that when struck cause varying ill affects including instant death.

It's BS. Some parts of your body are more sensitive and vulnerable than others. But claiming some extra-medical system of meridians/chakra/points/etc that cause effects when struck is wishful thinking by people who want to become good fighters without ever actually having to really fight (or "spar").
 
I'm going on memory here as I can not find the literature I was given during this class, but I did attend a seminar called something like "Pressure Point Control". A cop from LA taught it. This was nothing like "instant death" or the Vulcan nerve pinch........ it covered specific pressure points that the police use to control someone, or in some cases stop someone. It mainly targeted a certain blood vessel that carried a lot of blood to the brain, and involved pressure along various points in the body where it was more or less accesible. The instructor warned us that not all people were sensitive on all the points and to be prepared to switch quickly...... And I will also say, that when I was involved with the martial arts, the instructors usually told us not to mess around trying to "conrol" someone if we were attacked, but to escape at the very first opportunity. So these techniques would have limited use.

However, maybe I don't understand, and perhaps Phrost means another type of thing. The type of things I learned in martial arts were very clear and scientific, with plain explanations of how the technique worked, none of this mystical cr@pola. It's not magic, it's a lot of hard work.
 
Did anyone notice that his "death touch" look a lot like Ryu's fireball from Street Fighter II? Maybe it would work better if he screamed "haduken"!
 

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