Techie Fight Clubs Springing Up

Browncoat writes "USAToday reports a new phenomenon hitting some of the cubicles of Silicon Valley. It seems that engineers and developers previously confined to sitting in front of their computers are getting their anger out the healthy way: by pummeling each other. From the article 'Inspired by the 1999 film Fight Club, starring Brad Pitt and Ed Norton, underground bare-knuckle brawling clubs have sprung up across the country as a way for desk jockeys and disgruntled youths to vent their frustrations and prove themselves. "This is as close as you can get to a real fight, even though I've never been in one," the soft-spoken Siou said.'"

Comments

Re:No weapons!

[mepex]

Using your fists on someone ... that I can see. The damage level is low (unless you're trained) and you get really tired really quickly.

Being married to a health care professional and hearing the stories of the ER, I know (secondhand) how wrong this is. Broken orbital bones happen all the time. Broken hands can take years to heal, and hurt like hell (just ask Fernando Vargas). The one picture in TFA shows a guy trying to knee another guy in the head. You get lucky and land flush, you're talking brain bleed, easily fatal. Actually, in my limited time of martial arts sparring when I was young, I noticed that it was the novices and not the experts that seemed to hurt and get hurt more often than the experts. But this was sparring for points, not for damage.

Re:No weapons!

[vux984]

Actually, in my limited time of martial arts sparring when I was young, I noticed that it was the novices and not the experts that seemed to hurt and get hurt more often than the experts. But this was sparring for points, not for damage.

The experts know how to both hit and be hit (and are better at avoiding the hits); they take a lot less damage than novices, and unless they INTEND to deal damage, they deal less damage too.

On the flip side an expert INTENDING to deal damage will deal it a lot more effectively than a novice.

The same is generally true in most sports.

Fist to skull ...

[willtsmith]

You are right that fist to skull contact is more likely to result in a broken hand. But orbital bones can certainly break under contact with elbow (as sometimes happens in basketball games).

The skull is NOT impenetrable. A properly swung baseball bat can easily penetrate it. More to the point, a properly swung staff or wooden sword can do the job as well. It can most certainly be accomplished with a hammer, but you'd have to be VERY skilled with a frying pan (though you could certainly kill with blunt force).

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/00 0060.htm

For the record, one punch can CERTAINLY kill if the person is hit in the correct way. The fact that you have not perished yet does not constitute evidence.