Jeff Cooper (1920-2006) was an American firearms instructor who systematically studied, refined, and taught self-defense using the mind, the handgun, and the rifle. His books and his commentaries are interesting to read, not only for his practical firearms information, but his well-written expositions on the meaning of masculinity. Cooper maintained a carefully thought-out vision of what it means to be a man that would not be alien to our friends at The Art of Manliness.

In one passage in The Art of the Rifle, Cooper wrote about the instructional duties of a father to his sons:

Before the young man leaves home, there are certain things he should know and certain skills he should acquire, apart from any state-sponsored activity. Certainly the youngster should be taught to swim, strongly and safely, at distance. And young people of either sex should be taught to drive a motor vehicle, and if at all possible, how to fly a light airplane. I believe a youngster should be taught the rudiments of hand-to-hand combat, unarmed, together with basic survival skills. The list is long, but it is a parent's duty to make sure that the child does not go forth into the world helpless in the face of its perils. Shooting, of course, is our business, and shooting should not be left up to the state.

I'm personally leery of any formal concept of masculinity or femininity because it can mean getting yourself trapped in the identity with which other people desire to burden you (e.g. "X is what it means to be manly; why aren't you doing X?).

Nonetheless, I agree with Cooper's general sentiment that a parent should prepare a child to enter a dangerous world. Here are, of the top of my head, some of the skills that I will intentionally teach my daughters:

• How to change a tire, engine oil, a headlight, a battery, and jump-start a car without assistance.


• How to swim (see also)


• How to seek and apply for a job.


• How to ask a reference question.


• When to keep your mouth shut.


• How to save money.

What skills do you think are essential for parents to teach their children?

via The View from North Central Idaho | Photo by Flickr user bterrycompton used under Creative Commons license

Nikola Nikolov turned his first car, a Lada Samara Diva, into a Transformer sculpture. It's 2 meters high and weighs 90 kilograms. You can see more pictures by going to the studio website and clicking on "Transformer" in the sidebar.

Link via DVICE | Studio Website | Photo: Nikola Nikolov

Free RPG Day is like Free Comics Day, except for role-playing games. Various vendors are offering knick-knacks that any gamer can enjoy, such as free dice. At Geekosystem, Susana Polo fills us in:

Most of what will be on offer at your local participating store are modules, a short book that contains everything you need to know to run an hour or so of a game, and see if you like it. If you’re not a game master, there’s still good reason to show up: Chessex and Q-Workshop are offering dice. If you’ve never seen a set of Q-Workshop’s intricately carved dice, you should really check them out. Everybody needs more dice.

At the link, you can view a list of participating stores. There's one in my area, so I think that I'll try to go.

Link via Geekosystem | Photo (unrelated) by Flickr user Benimoto used under Creative Commons license

Cute. The Joe Swanson/Ka D'Argo mix is quite apt. I'm not sure who made this image (it's not popping up on deviantART, which seemed like an obvious place to check), but it carries the endorsement of Rockne O'Bannon, the creator of Farscape.

I never made it past the first ten or so episodes of Farscape. It just didn't seem that interesting, and Crichton was an irritating character. Did you like the show?

via Sci Fi Wire

Ned Gulley created a guide to transliterating English text into Elvish. He suggests that you write your own name as a start, which I did (pictured). Gulley says that it only takes ten minutes, but I did it in about four. Try it!

If you do, email the image to john at neatorama dot com, and I'll post it here.

Link via reddit

UPDATE: Neatoramanaut Mordicai Knode presents his Elvish name:

(YouTube Link)

Japanese beatbox peformer Hikanin, 21, lives in Niigata. He does an outstanding Super Mario Bros. theme. via CrunchGear | Official Website - Google Translator Version

Yes, that's paper. Even the hair. It's unclear to me who's responsible, but it is clear that this gallery of Japanese papercraft is astoundingly good.

http://iamgeeky.us/2010/05/25/anime-japanese-papercraft-figures/ via reddit

Over at Neatorama Spotlight, there's a great infographic filled with factoids about Super Mario Bros. Did you know that the franchise's first damsel in distress was named Pauline? She was named after the wife of one of Nintendo's American employees.

Link

In "Doctor Hoo", deviantART user pu-sama imagined all of the Doctors from Doctor Who as owls. Click on the link for a larger view.

Link via io9

Thomas Mill at Sci Fi Wire has compiled a gallery of ordinary objects -- or shadows from them -- that resemble the Enterprise. His pattern-recognition skills are impressive.

http://scifiwire.com/2010/06/gallery-22-ordinary-thing.php | Image: Totally Looks Like

Yesterday was Captain Picard Day, a Trekkie holy day when fans pay homage to the great Jean-Luc Picard by drawing him. It's in reference to this scene from TNG. Here's a blog that gathers together these sacred icons for your perusal.

I know -- I should have posted this yesterday. But it slipped my mind, so I must do penance.

via Awesomesauce | Image: Jeremia

(YouTube Link)

"Old Gangsters Never Die" is an old Alan Moore and Lloyd Thatcher comic. In this video, it's performed in spoken word. It's quite clever. I've seen narrated video presentations of comics, but not like this. It's almost like you're really in a seedy, smoke-filled bar listening to the gangster.

via The Presurfer