Well not to burst your bubble but there are many arts that come from the island of robotic and martial art joy. Ninjitsu or Aikido to name a further 2. While not traditionally compeditive sports their styles do still involve grappling as an art.

Though I do expect the geek ninja army to also protest said comment, its suprising how many geeks 'claim' to be masters of the arts

Will this affect acolytes of Hugo Rune - the 12th Dan Master of Dimac?

Can also throw in Aiki-jutsu (cross over beween aikido and ju-jitsu) and I don't claim to be a master, but do have a Ju-jitsu black belt from about 15 yrs ago, probably couldn't get out of my own way now tho :-(

today's youth don't care about exercise, most are only interested in getting a black belt in nintendo, so I would guess martial arts will die out.

That'll be cos the CIA engineered the fungus to attack non Americain DNA.

Aiki-jitsu is not a cross between Aikido and Ju-jitsu. It is a precursor to Aikido (Morehei Ueshiba having studied Daito-Ryu Aiki-jitsu) and this itself came from earlier forms of Ju-jitsu (although tracing back various martial forms can turn into a pedantic bun fight as they sometimes cross-pollinate).

I have not noticed any "baldy fungus" here, but I have seen plenty of Aikidoists on the mat with fungal infections of their feet (usually evidenced by poor nails and flaky skin). It's quite disgusting and these people should know better than to step on the tatami in that state, especially when a quick visit to the docs and a cream would probably sort it.

"nonja"...like it. :o)

Me...I'm an Aikidoist. Or an Aikidoesn't as it often feels like. Hey ho.

Are you worried by martial art related hair loss? Is your judo outfit looking tired and unclean.

What you need is OB-220.

It's dual brightening / fungicide action solves the problem that has beset judo experts since the dawn of time: how to keep those whites clean while remaining hirsute.

Says K. Jigoro of Japan, "Before OB-220 my hair was everywhere: on the couch, on the floor, everywhere. I had to pretend I had a dog. But now I have luxuriant growth sprouting from head. I've even had George Lucas on the phone asking me how I did it. Not only that but with my new found fluorescence I stun them at the local disco".

Excellent RR reference, and completely unexpected!

Basho, good sir!

Read Matsuo Bashō's "The Narrow Road to the Deep North", one of the monuments of Japanese literature (though not a lengthy book). Doing so will make you a better human being, but you may have to read and re-read before Bashō's message sinks in.

There's a Penguin edition.

Anything to polish the divinity of our Divine Moderatrix.

Now all we need is to add a little kung fu, say, for someone to start claiming they have the *real* Wing Chun, and discuss which prominient martial artists could beat Bruce Lee and we'll have a proper nerd arguement! :)

If Karate-do, loosely translated means "Way of the empty hand".

What is Japanese for "Way of the empty hair-follicle"?

Isn't a fungal culture exactly the problem?

Mine's the one with the pot of yoghurt :-)

That I have found after picking up up an X-Files strengh case of athletes foot is to soak my feet in a solution of Copper Sulphate. My liver will probably die but my feet don't smell!

This logo could have been made for this story, interesting though it is.

I guess some IT workers must lack hair, right?

this sounds like a variation Scrumpox which prop forwards Rugby sometimes suffer from, its horrible and infected players are not supposed to continue playing as its highly infectious...

Competitive Ninjitsu would be a brilliant idea. Once Japan got an international team together they could pit them against the Somali pirates to see who would win.

Goatan Posting was close to correct: "That'll be cos the CIA engineered the fungus to attack non Americain DNA".

I think this was to make Fidel's beard fall off.

Ooops - It was sneaking thallium salts into Castro's shoes.

This must be what the security guards are actually looking for at the airports.