A term used to describe many Chinese criminal organizations. They are the most well-known organized crime group in China, Hong Kong, and Macao. They originated in the anti-Manchu resistance in China. The term "triad" comes from the three dots which form part of the Chinese character for the Ming Emperor Hung Wu. The Triads began as "Men of Hung." They were both part of the political resistance of the Han Chinese to the Manchu dynasty, as well as outlaws who "Ta fu — chih p'in" (Hit the Rich and help the poor).
Both the Chinese Triads and the Italian Mafia and Camorra have existed at least since the early 1800s. The Triads spread all over the world and control much of the illegal and informal economy in overseas Chinese communities.
by Dancing with Fire October 31, 2011
After spending some time traveling throughout Europe, Erik Erikson studied psychoanalysis from Anna Freud and earned a certificate from the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. Erikson moved to the United States in 1933 and was offered a teaching position at Harvard Medical School. In addition to this, he also had a private practice in child psychoanalysis. Later, he held teaching positions at University of California at Berkeley, Yale, San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute, Austen Riggs Center, and Center for Advanced Studies of the Behavioral Sciences. He published a number of books on his theories and research, including Childhood and Society and The Life Cycle Completed. His book Gandhi's Truth was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and a national Book Award.
Erik Erikson was the guy who came up with the Stages of Devlopment:
1) Infancy: Birth to 18 Months - Ego Development Outcome: Trust vs. Mistrust
2) Early Childhood: 18 Months to 3 Years - Ego Development Outcome: Autonomy vs. Shame
3) Play Age: 3 to 5 Years - Ego Development Outcome: Initiative vs. Guilt
4) School Age: 6 to 12 Years - Ego Development Outcome: Industry vs. Inferiority
5) Adolescence: 12 to 18 Years - Ego Development Outcome: Identity vs. Role Confusion
6) Young adulthood: 18 to 35 - Ego Development Outcome: Intimacy and Solidarity vs. Isolation
7) Middle Adulthood: 35 to 55 or 65 - Ego Development Outcome: Generativity vs. Self absorption or Stagnation
8) Late Adulthood: 55 or 65 to Death - Ego Development Outcome: Integrity vs. Despair
1) Infancy: Birth to 18 Months - Ego Development Outcome: Trust vs. Mistrust
2) Early Childhood: 18 Months to 3 Years - Ego Development Outcome: Autonomy vs. Shame
3) Play Age: 3 to 5 Years - Ego Development Outcome: Initiative vs. Guilt
4) School Age: 6 to 12 Years - Ego Development Outcome: Industry vs. Inferiority
5) Adolescence: 12 to 18 Years - Ego Development Outcome: Identity vs. Role Confusion
6) Young adulthood: 18 to 35 - Ego Development Outcome: Intimacy and Solidarity vs. Isolation
7) Middle Adulthood: 35 to 55 or 65 - Ego Development Outcome: Generativity vs. Self absorption or Stagnation
8) Late Adulthood: 55 or 65 to Death - Ego Development Outcome: Integrity vs. Despair
by Dancing with Fire September 05, 2011
"I mean, I've always been a Libertarian. Leave everybody alone. Let everybody else do what they want. Just stay out of everybody else's hair." - Clint Eastwood
by Dancing with Fire January 04, 2013
It means that the person you are is a direct result of how you grew up. The "environment" you were brought up in influenced the decisions you make now. Your environment makes you who you are.
So for example, product of the environment implies that if one grows up in a home full of domestic violence, one of the children in that home may become violent as well when they have a family of their own. If someone grows up in the hood, that person may become a gangster. If somebody grows up in a descent home that is filled with good resources (computer, good books, television, radio, etc.), then they are more likely to become successful. If somebody grows up in a Christian home, they will most likely become a Christian. If somebody grows up in the Middle East or in a home with Muslim parents, they are more likely to be Muslim.
by Dancing with Fire June 18, 2011
A caged animal becomes a product of his environment; mankind however builds his environments to suit his needs. If someone claims that you are a product of your environment, it means the environment you live in, has become your accepted norm, and now it influences you, rather than you influencing it.
Being a product of the environment is no different than saying you are the product of your own thinking.
by Dancing with Fire July 08, 2011
Gatka is the martial art of the Sikhs, and is tied in with the religion Sikhism. It's a weapons-based martial art, which was imparted to the Sikhs in the time of Guru Hargobind Ji (the sixth Guru of the Sikhs) by the Rajputs (Hindu warriors of northern India) in the 16th century, in gratitude for their release from imprisonment by the fledgling Sikh army of that time. The Sikhs at that time opposed the Mughal Empire, which violently oppressed both Sikhs and Hindus in the name of Islam. The Tenth Master of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, was an extremely proficient martial artist.
He continued to encourage the Sikhs to train seriously in the martial arts, and in 1699 founded the Khalsa, a special Order, to which all Sikhs would thereafter aspire to joining. The Khalsa was subject to strict military and personal discipline, and were enjoined to, inter alia, always carry 5 items with them: the Kanga (a small wooden comb), Kachhehra (long drawers instead of a loincloth), Kara (a steel bracer worn on the right wrist), Kesh (uncut hair) and Kirpan (curved sword). The Khalsa was enjoined to train to fight, and to vigorously resist the oppression of any religious community, including Sikhs and Hindus. The wearing of the kirpan represented the martial character of the Khalsa, and all Sikhs, men, women and children, were encouraged to resist their Mughal oppressors, and to train diligently in gatka. Gatka was used succesfully by the Sikhs throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, in numerous battles against the Mughal forces. Eventually, the Sikhs succeeded in deposing the Mughal overlords, and in creating a new, tolerant rulership in the Punjab (the "Land of Five Rivers", a region in modern-day India and Pakistan). Gatka is, and has always been, taught as a spiritual exercise in Sikhism. Sikhism requires its followers to become absorbed in honouring the Name of God, and this is taught through the ecstatic exercise of gatka. Sikhism and gatka are inextricably intertwined, in many ways.
by Dancing with Fire May 14, 2011
Army of the Republic of Vietnam; they are sometimes reffered to as the Southern Vietnamese Army (SVA). They were fighting against the Northern Vietnamese.
Scorned by allies and enemies alike, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) was one of the most maligned fighting forces in modern history. Cobbled together by U.S. advisers from the remnants of the French-inspired Vietnamese National Army, it was effectively pushed aside by the Americans in 1965. When toward the end of the war the army was compelled to reassert itself, it was too little, too late for all concerned.
by Dancing with Fire June 23, 2011