Virginia Man Hits Armed Robber With Beer Bottle

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Bill Glasheen
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Virginia Man Hits Armed Robber With Beer Bottle

Post by Bill Glasheen »

I waited a bit before posting this. Mostly I wanted to get a good feed that I could post on the Forums.

Before commenting, I'll just post. It is what it is...

Man Hits Armed Robber With Beer Bottle

Trust me, I will comment. But first I'm curious to see the reaction of others.

- Bill
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Van Canna
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Post by Van Canna »

:lol: what brand beer bottle was it :wink:
Van
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Bill Glasheen
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Post by Bill Glasheen »

Van Canna wrote:
:lol: what brand beer bottle was it :wink:
I'm sure he wasn't going to waste anything drinkable on the back of his head. Most probably Bud Light or some other kind of mouse piss. ;)

Did you notice that he approached the armed robber with a bottle in each hand? You can see the second bottle flying off in the confusion after the initial smash.

- Bill
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Post by Bill Glasheen »

OK, folks, so here are the obvious questions.

1) Was it wise to take on this armed robber?

2) Why or why not? And let's assume that the outcome is unknown.

3) Critique his technique

- Bill
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CANDANeh
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Post by CANDANeh »

Not wise but he was a good man to help a lady in distress.
I think he expected a knock out blow. The bottle in other hand was to celebrate! Actually I think the individual may have felt better armed by carrying two bottles. The second bottle in case he got up again. A champagne bottle would have been my choice as designed to withstand pressure and a two handed swing.
A man of honor and I hope he recovers.
Last edited by CANDANeh on Mon May 17, 2010 7:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Léo
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Post by Bill Glasheen »

CANDANeh wrote:
Not wise but he was a good man to help a lady in distress.
Spoken like a great teacher and martial mentor.

Here's the thing. What this guy did is kind of in that odd no-man's land in-between sanity and selfless insanity.

On the one hand...

Consider the scenario.
  • An armed robber asks for cash.
  • For whatever reason, the woman behind the cash register can't open it. She probably needs a transaction to do so, and was too much in condition black to engage in any kind of "out of the box" thought processes.
  • The man shoots towards her feet. Twice!
  • I'm not expecting that woman will figure out how to open the register before wackoman loses his patience.
So what might have happened with no intervention? Well... it's not unreasonable to think that he'd just shoot her. And it's also not unreasonable to think he'd do something even more desperate, like grab a hostage and put gun to head.

There isn't enough time to wind this thing down. The guy has shown he will shoot and he isn't getting what he wants. Something's going to go down very fast. So.... I can tell you with about 80 percent certainty that I (Bill Glasheen) would act in some way - if at all possible. Several things here:

1) I believe in preemption,

2) I've always liked being the one in control of my destiny, and

3) seeing him victimize this woman would bring "that other guy" out of me.

However as a martial artist who has trained in disarms, I'd have had a lot more resources at my disposal once I got as close to the armed robber as this fellow did. I've gotta tell you that - to some extent - he was clever and he had balls. Gotta love him!

Whether or not I would have been any more successful than this fellow is strictly Monday morning quarterbacking, martial masturbation. But I do know that somebody would end up hurt. There would be no going back.

On the other hand...

There's really nothing "wise" about being a hero. We can talk all we want about how something was going to go down. But the smart thing to have done would be to hide and wait for the situation to end. This would be the self-preservation choice.

In every crowd, there's at least one potential hero. They have a combination of characteristics that would make them act certain ways in certain situations. They are who they are. It's just the variability that we see throughout nature. It's the behavioral bell curve. Some folks just happen to be out on the edge in some ways. For what it's worth... genetic variability helps a SPECIES survive. But it doesn't necessarily help any one INDIVIDUAL to survive. If that makes sense...

I think I understand some of the "hero" in me. "That other guy" is why I don't go to night clubs any more. I am not comfortable with him. He does things without my permission. So I'd rather just avoid the whole situation. And this is why I don't have any felony convictions, and I'm alive. To the extent that it can, the upper brain controls my primal brain. With me, the upper brain works hard to "outsmart" the primal brain. ;)

My great grandfather was the war hero. He came over as a starving Irish immigrant, and joined the Union army for 3 meals a day. Long story there, sort of like Dances with wolves. He fought because he had to and it was the right thing to do. But he was smart enough to see himself from the outside, and understand the hell of it all. And he discouraged others down the line from doing the same.

And that, my friends, is a smart man. ;)

More on Leo's post in a bit.

- Bill
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Post by Bill Glasheen »

CANDANeh wrote:
I think he expected a knock out blow.
I swear to God, I did not set Leo up. And yet in his short post, he touched on all the high points I wanted covered. Either this man's a McGill University grad, or he has a great case of street smarts.

Saying a lot with a few simple words is the mark of a true artist. And that gift of parsimony is also the mark of a great martial artist.

More in a bit... 8)

- Bill
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Post by Bill Glasheen »

CANDANeh wrote:

Actually I the individual may have felt better armed by carrying two bottles. The second bottle in case he got up again.
As I noted above, that's exactly what this gentleman did. Watch the video carefully. When he sneaks up on the armed robber, you can clearly see a bottle in each hand (see 0:43). The right one comes swinging around and hits the perp's head. However... in the confusion after the first hit, the second bottle goes flying off (see 0:45).
CANDANeh wrote:
A champagne bottle would have been my choice as designed to withstand pressure and a two handed swing.
Here's where my materials science training comes into play.

ALL glass can withstand a tremendous amount of pressure. However that's EVEN pressure. A glass dome with a vacuum inside will have equal (zero) pressure throughout the entire internal surface. A champaigne bottle with lots of dissolved CO2 will have an even positive pressure throughout the entire internal surface. Glass does just fine like that.

Meanwhile... Glass can (and does) typically shatter when UNEVEN pressure is exerted on it. So that same champaigne bottle will smash to smitherines when you hit the bow of the ship with it.

So... Why didn't the smashing beer bottle take the guy down?

- Bill
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Post by Bill Glasheen »

Ask the martial artist who also happens to be an engineer.

Look... Any of us with some gray in our hairs who have been at this long enough understand one of the basic rules of breaking - Make sure you break what you are hitting!!! When a board breaks, the board absorbs the kinetic energy of the blow. When it doesn't, you will.

The mistake the fellow made was that he watched too many cowboy movies and assumed somebody dropped when smashed over the head with a bottle. But here's the thing. Those (specialized) bottles didn't hurt the stunt men - as long as they broke. When they broke, the bottle absorbed the kinetic energy and the head did not. The actor however would fall down as if knocked out.

It looks good in the movies, doesn't it? It looks impressive when we smash things, doesn't it? But reality is a whole other thing.

And as if to add emphasis to my point... WTVR (Richmond, channel 6) ran a special video clip on this very topic.

Mark on the Beer Bottle Swing

Moral of the story... Don't believe everything you see in the movies. And if you want to hurt someone like that, go to the next aisle and find yourself an old-fashioned can of green beans. That'll do the trick.

A roll of quarters inside a hammerfist might have worked pretty well too!

- Bill
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Post by Bill Glasheen »

So now to prove the point...

In this video you get to see a couple of Neanderthals show what it's like when..

1) the bottle breaks, and

2) the bottle doesn't break.

Do I need to tell you not to repeat anything done here? I hope not.

Smash a beer bottle over your head

The only thing more lame than the bottle smashing is what the chick did after the first hit. That's just ignorant. Obviously we're dealing with the lower end of the bell curve here on the IQ spectrum.

But it makes for some great entertainment! :popcorn:

- Bill

P.S. The physics of the situation in this video is slightly different. Without the mass of the fluid inside the bottle, the hits aren't quite as bad when the bottle doesn't break.
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Post by Bill Glasheen »

And from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Trying to smash beer bottles over head

Darwin's laws at work.

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Now the higher end

Post by CANDANeh »

Obviously we're dealing with the lower end of the bell curve here on the IQ spectrum.

Up the curve a little in more than just IQ. An unusual genius.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/05 ... index.html

"Marco's brain function is quite extraordinary. Professor Elena Achkovska-Leshkovska at the Institute of Psychology in Skopje tested Marco when he was seven years old. She found that his brain operated the same as a child over the age of 12. But just as fascinating was his high level of emotional and social skills. Something not normally found in such gifted children."

Thankfully not raised by the "blood licker" in the video.
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Post by Bill Glasheen »

Indeed. His mom is both a great mother and - if I may - registers off the charts on the "hot" scale. But that's me. I love a smart woman. In any case, it looks like both nature (DNA) and nurture (supportive, loving environment) played a role here.

What a well-adjusted kid too! He was totally immersed in play with his peers. The game they were playing (group rock-paper-scissors) actually looked like a lot of fun. It reminded me a bit of the kinds of games I played with my large family and neighborhood friends - all without high-tech gadgets.

Just this past weekend I got number 2 son back on the piano. Life events threw us all for a loop in the past year, and this part of our lives was rudely interrupted. My second son and I had a wonderful bond where he would want me to sit with him while he played and I prodded him to play well and with creativity.

So I go into this place that seemed from advertisements to be a step up from where I had him before. After being matched with a woman teacher who acted and played jazz on the side, I was looking around the store at the pianos that I knew I couldn't afford and/or wouldn't be able to get through the front door of my home.

Off in the distance I hear this wonderful playing. Treble and bass were playfully at odds with each other in a melody that danced back and forth between the two while the other played supporting chord structure. The playful variation on the theme went on and on. And the style of play - while not perfect - showed a kind of passion that wasn't too bad for a salesman trying to sell a grand piano to a customer.

Or so I thought.

I step into the room, and see this 9-year-old Asian kid with glasses just playing away. *He* was the one producing that beautiful music. His mom sat patiently on the side, watching him do his thing. After he stopped for some unknown reason, I went up to him and told him how much joy his playing brought to me. He sheepishly looked at me and extended a hand.

In retrospect, I don't know why I didn't invite him to my karate class. (Note to self...)

- Bill
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