Contributors: November 2002 Archives

Those of you like me who've been doing this internet stuff since well before Tim Berners-Lee had a couple of CERN underlings cobble together the rudimentary underpinnings of the Web will likely have heard of Perry Metzger, an old friend of mine who, at least at one time, was considered one of the most prolific writers on Usenet.

Perry is now Strategic Advisor for Wasabi Systems, "The NetBSD Company". He has agreed to contribute to Survival Arts from time to time, and has provided the following very brief bio. Welcome, my old friend. - Editor

Perry E. Metzger is a known troublemaker. A socialist by education, he accidently discovered libertarianism in spite of the best efforts of his elders. Although his opposition to both death and taxes is by now an uninteresting cliche, he still remembers when it was radical and new.

Patri Friedman is your everyday purple-haired anarcho-capitalist computer nerd. He is interested in the usual mish-mash of cyberlibertarian topics - economics, politics, crypto, biology, math psychology, life extension and so forth. He passionately desires to live someplace with both freedom and community, and since there doesn't seem to be one yet, has a great deal of interest in the nation founding movement.

Patri's professional activities include tech consulting and high-stakes poker. He has a BS in math from Harvey Mudd College, and most of an MS in CS from Stanford. He is a California/National certified EMT Basic, and a Wilderness First Responder, thanks to WMI at NOLS, which he highly recommends.

Patri keeps a more extensive online journal on his website. He plans to run screaming from the USA in approximately 2-4 years, and is slowly planning his departure.

Contributor Ron Blackwood is very shortly heading off for training at Warrior School in Tucson, but sent me this bio for our readers. Ron's first piece was posted yesterday. I look forward to hearing more from him. - Ed.

Ron Blackwood is a semi-retired Vice President of Finance and Administration. His martial arts career began in his pre-teens with wrestling and some boxing at the YMCA. He later boxed in high school and in his early college years. After graduation from college with a Bachelors Degree in Business, he continued with graduate studies working towards his MBA.

Ron started back in the martial arts after 8 years as a semi-professional motocross racer. He spent 3 years studying Filipino Kali and 4 years studying Jeet Kune Do. During that period, he was a active competitor and won numerous tournaments. During that period, he first learned of the art of Ninjutsu and began searching for the art. He now studies under Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi, the 34th Grandmaster of the Togakure Ryu and founder of the Bujinkan system. He currently holds a 10th Degree Black Belt in the Bujinkan

He is something of an eclectic. Ron is a musician; an avid backpacker; a firearms expert, holding a coveted California Concealed Weapons Permit; an experienced SCUBA diver; an experienced rock climber; an experienced archer; and knowledgeable knife fighter. A prolific writer, Ron has published numerous articles on backpacking and backpacking equipment.

He now teaches the Bujinkan system of Ninjutsu at the Bujinkan Ohoko Dojo in Orange, CA. He also teaches basic survival techniques for executives. His curriculum is well-rounded and teaches the 18 basic weapons of the Ninja as well as hand-to-hand combative skills necessary for survival in the world today.