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Martial Arts is one of the contributions of Asia to the world. Who can forget Bruce Lee and the fact that he was first and foremost a martial arts athlete before being a movie star? Even until now martial arts is still a big hit with the increasing popularity of Asian movies like crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and more recently the House of the Flying Daggers.

The Chinese are the first people that come to mind when it comes to these things but the Japanese are just as athletic with a rich heritage of body contact sports that can be found in their history. The modern Japan still gives honor to these things by holding tournaments and promoting such sports abroad,

One of these is Aikido. It is interesting to note that the word comes from three Japanese words from which one can derive the meaning of the one word. Ai means joining, Ki means spirit and Do means way. From this we can understand why Aikido is beyond just the physical skills of it students especially sin its proponent Ueshiba focused more on the spiritual and philosophical development of his students.

In Aikido, one is not taught violence instead one is taught to be in harmony with the opponent to be able to defeat. This might seem odd but it actually works. In approaching an opponent, the aim of the Aikido practitioner is to be one with the opponent to be able to attack him where he is weakest and in doing so diver or immobilize him but never to kill.

This is where Aikido becomes an art. Art is something beautiful to watch and something positive and Aikido is all that. At least one of the people involved in the fighting strives for harmony and harmony can only be achieved if there is grace in the movements. The moves maybe calculated but there is an air of finesse in doing these movements, not a womanly finesse but just a finesse that emanates peace. The art of peace as what they call in Aikido is one of the most positive influences of Aikido to its students and to everyone who choose to know about this Japanese martial art.

Some of the techniques in Aikido include the following. Ikkyo is the first technique. Using this technique you control an opponent by using one hand in holding the elbow and one near the wrist, this action is supposed to make you pin your opponent down in the ground. Nikyo the second technique is when you do an adductive wristlock that enables you to twist the arm of your opponent that will in turn cause enough nerve pressure.

The third technique is Sankyo which is a pronating technique that directs upward-spiraling tension throughout the arm, elbow and shoulder. There are many other techniques but the first three should get you started.

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Parachutes are fairly easy to make, as toy ones that is. However the parachutes that are made to use for real life is not as easy as you think. parachutes have gone through a lot of development but at the costs of several lives.

When you’re free falling thousands of feet up in the air you can fall like pot from a window and literally break when you smash into the ground. No one wants this to happen. parachutes have to made and prepared correctly. Fortunately modern designs have enabled safer and softer landings.

The shape of a parachute is very important. parachutes have come in different shapes through the years. Improvements have led to the creation of more stable ones in square shapes.

Shapes and surface area

The early forms before the modern design was invented were conically shaped. They were usually made up of cloth and wooden struts. The very first one was a conic shaped parachute stiffened by wooden struts in 9th century.

The inventor was able to make a landing from a tower in Cordoba and suffered only minor injuries. Leonardo da Vinci made sketches of them but there were no evidence that showed it was put to use.

It was also used for entertainment because it enabled people to jump and float to the ground which was very fascinating at that time. In China parasols were used for entertaining people. A breakthrough in the development was made when silk was used. This time parachutes were intended to be used for disembarking from a hot air balloon.

In 1783 the modern parachute was invented. The shape was round and was compared to the jellyfish. Its major use was in the military in World War I and II. It was given to artillery spotters and pilots. Unfortunately they were heavy in those times. Further developments lead to the creation of paratroopers. These were soldiers dropped into the enemy lines for attack.

There are variations to the round shape parachute. Additions were made for other purposes. Annular and pull down apex were round parachutes with suspension lines. Ribbon and ring designs on the other hand are made for deployment at super sonic speeds.

It later on developed into a cruciform or square shape which is also used in modern designs today. The design gave the parachute more stability. Further improvements enabled the passenger to steer the parachute to a landing site. Modern designs are called "Ram air" with parafoils that enable the skydiver to control the speed and direction of the parachute.

The shape of the parachute is important because of its relation to surface area.

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