The Elite Master
Cassiel C. MacAvity
The Fifteen
The title of this paper might seem a bit pretentious until one considers what is laughingly referred to as education in the early 21st century. In the early 1970s, one could pick up some near random comic book or two, and one would soon find an ad proclaiming that one could indeed get one's very own High School diploma, and thus achieve social success, peace of mind, and lots of money.
In 2011, a very real assessment of exactly the same educational network can be made by observing that there is just one primary difference between any random print shop and a masters degree program---particularly one of the uber-mega-executive-deluxe-hyper-masters-in-business-administration varieties of program---The very clear and ascertainable difference is that the print shop doesn't charge five to seven figures and take one to three years to print out the exact same piece of paper.
To back this up, I've had two different friends of mine comment on their experiences in "education" in the early 21st century. One is going for a doctorate and states that in Hawaii, just getting into college requires very involved courses in mathematics and English writing comprehension---specifically, the variety of English and math that one is to have been taught in Jr. High through High School, and already have mastered by the beginning of college. The other has had his doctorate for several years, he has taught quite a few of the classes in his department at the college he works at, and states that he keeps having to fight demands to water down the curriculum because letting people merely get through rather than genuinely get educated is stated to be required. In his case, he teaches math, so there is nothing that can be watered down. Either the concept is mastered, or it isn't, there are no variations or loopholes, and there never will be any.
And after a period of time, I had a collection of ideas come together.
This proposal of the elite master will not solve the problems noted above. What is noted above will only be solved through genuine, long term, large scale, extremely dedicated effort. This proposal will not grant some glorified award or be any sort of a graduation system, and that is part of the reason for making this proposal. This proposal will not provide any sort of certainty at any time, except the certainty that something has been done, or it has not been done, and that is why this proposal should work, and work very well.
On one hand, being a declared master in this sense will not mean that one is the complete greatest expert of all time. In fact, rather a lot of people who do this will indeed be rather mediocre examples of what can be done. More to a point, and quite particularly, there will be no certifying program of The Elite Master(TM), no fancy piece of paper, whatever---there will be no organizational based crutch which a recipient hopes will impress. Instead, for the elite master, a beginning will have been established, where what will have been done has been done, and that alone will be immensely more than any non master has ever achieved.
The procedure is fairly simple. At first writing, where there have been and will be more revisions to follow, some of the details are a little uncertain, but the framework is solid. Outlined below is a set of fifteen tasks, ways, paths, procedures, practices, whatever concept works best for whomever. Pass or complete one of these and one is a master of that one. Pass or complete all fifteen of these, and one is an elite master. Each has a general name, and what to do is listed right after the name. A basic description, introductory information is listed below each name. Pass or complete the ultimate form listed at the end of each part, and one is an ultimate master.
On one hand, if absolutely everyone did the following, then absolutely everyone would be an elite master, just like everyone else. On the other hand, that will be wonderful; everyone will have done the following, done the work, done the practice, will have all the skills that are listed below, and there would be no one who would not have all those skills.
Of the following, there is no order, no rank, no structure, other than one should go do what is described, and when it is completed, it is done. The uncertainty in many of these will always come from changes over time that will have to be dealt with, probably over and over and over again---but once the first time has been done, there is no way back. There never being one overall piece of paper to point at will mean that anyone can challenge whether or not one is a master, but the answer will always be to demonstrate such mastery right there on the spot---or at some convenient time. Some of the following are their own certification programs, but all of these rely on being able to demonstrate, and continue to demonstrate, that one is a master. None of these rely on being able to merely wave a worthless piece of paper.
From there, as noted, there is no hierarchy where one elite master can outdo another elite master---but any two elite masters will share the knowledge that they have indeed done the work.
One is a master or one is not and no mere piece of paper with printing will change anything.
Now, with that in mind, consider all the high school districts in the United States, and in fact the equivalent of the same anywhere else. Of those districts, consider the aggregate of the students of each such district individually, looking at the total of each district with each other district, instead of just all the students of all districts merely clustered together.
What would the world be like if every year at least half to two thirds of the students of every one of those districts graduated from high school as an elite master?
Enjoy.
The Fifteen:
Writing by hand and writing a book
Public Speaking and Improvisational Acting
A+ Certification and Basic Electrical skills
Three languages
BSD Certification
Majors Poker/Tarot Poker and Go
Basic Chemistry
Sewing and Knitting
Mathematics
Basic Woodworking
Juggling while tightrope balancing
Making Food
Accounting
The Bujinkan and Kettlebells
Two different musical instruments
Writing by hand and writing a book---Do and remain proficient
Writing by hand
Write out a full page of text in a form of calligraphy---and that is multiple paragraphs of text, six characters scrawled across an entire page aren't enough.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calligraphy
Calligraphy (from Greek ?????? kallos "beautiful" + ????? graph? "writing") is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering (Mediavilla 1996: 17). A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner" (Mediavilla 1996: 18). The story of writing is one of aesthetic evolution framed within the technical skills, transmission speed(s) and material limitations of a person, time and place (Diringer 1968: 441). A style of writing is described as a script, hand or alphabet (Fraser and Kwiatkowski 2006; Johnston 1909: Plate 6).
Of course in an environment of ubiquitous keyboards to type upon, that also can extend to just writing a few pages of text by hand.
The Ultimate Master: Write out five pages
Writing a book
Very simply, write a book of at least 50,000 words, be it fiction, non fiction, short stories, whatever it takes. For length, the selection is from National Novel Writing Month at http://www.nanowrimo.org/
The Ultimate Master: Write five books
Public Speaking and Improvisational Acting---Become and remain proficient.
Public Speaking
Give a 15 to 30 minute speech to a audience of at least 50 people.
The Ultimate Master: Give a 15 to 30 minute speech to 5 audiences, each of at least 50 people, or to a single audience of at least 250 people.
Improvisational Acting
Perform a totally improvised scene of at least 5 minutes with at least 2 others doing the same.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improvisational_theatre
Improvisational theatre takes many forms. It is best known as improv. It is typically comedic, and sometimes poignant or dramatic. In this popular, often topical art form improvisational actors/improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously. Improvisers typically use audience suggestions to contribute to the content and direction of the performance as they create dialogue, setting, and plot extemporaneously.
Modern improvisational comedy, as it is practiced in the West, falls generally into two categories: shortform and longform.
Other forms of improvisational theatre training and performance techniques are experimental and Avant-garde in nature and not necessarily intended to be comedic. These include Playback Theatre and Theatre of the Oppressed, the Poor Theatre, the Open Theatre, to name only a few.
The Ultimate Master: Perform a totally improvised scene of at least 15 minutes with at least 4 others doing the same.
A+ Certification and Basic Electrical skills---Become and remain proficient
A+ Certification
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompTIA#A.2B_certification
The A+ certification demonstrates competency as a computer technician. Officially, CompTIA A+ certification is a vendor neutral certification, that covers numerous technologies and operating systems from such vendors as Microsoft, Apple Inc., Novell and some of the Linux variations.
The Ultimate Master: Build a networked cluster of at least five computers.
Electrical skills
---study and remain proficient in the details of the Boy Scout USA merit badge for electricity, or, the Boy Scout USA merit badge for Electronics, or get and work through all the parts and experiments of a home electrical study kit with at least 300 experiments or projects.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical power supply. It now covers a range of subtopics including power, electronics, control systems, signal processing and telecommunications.
The Ultimate Master: Study and remain proficient in the details of the Boy Scout USA merit badge for electricity, and instead of or, the Boy Scout USA merit badge for Electronics, and instead of or, get and work through all the parts and experiments of a home electrical study kit with at least 300 experiments or projects.
Three languages---Become and remain proficient in both additional languages
You will have grown up speaking at least one language. Have someone select some random 30 pages of text, and genuine text, not some paragraphs repeated a lot. Take the 30 pages and fluently translate from a second language with at least 10,000 speakers to a third language with at least 10,000 speakers---or Latin as well, just to add it in. Such a selection of languages thus includes a lot of the North American Indian languages, and Yiddish. At the same time, the easiest combination for someone in North America will be the North American trilogy of English, Spanish, and French, and then Portuguese as well for the entirety of the Americas.
The Ultimate Master: Become and remain proficient in five languages.
BSD Certification:---Become and remain proficient
From BSD Certification.org http://www.bsdcertification.org/
The BSD Certification Group Inc. is a non-profit organization committed to creating and maintaining a global certification standard for system administration on BSD based operating systems.
Operating systems built on the Berkeley Software Distribution software releases (from the University of California Berkeley) have been around since the mid-1970s. Originally used on expensive hardware the software proved flexible and robust enough to port to smaller and smaller systems. Universities and research organizations around the world were already using the software when the first Intel 386 port appeared in March, 1992.
Today, thousands of companies use BSD based systems and software. BSD systems run some of the busiest sites on the Internet, including Yahoo, New York Internet, Pair Networks, and others. BSD systems have proven remarkably stable, some recording 'uptimes' (time since last reboot) in years, rather than weeks or months. Use of this freely available software has skyrocketed since its beginning and has continued to grow steadily.
The Ultimate Master: Build a networked cluster computer---that is indeed one computer made of several separate units---built from at least five individual computers, with firewall and secure local and remote printer output, internal and external email, and ASCII and web based monitoring.
Tarot Poker/Majors Poker and Go---Become and remain proficient in both
Go
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_%28game%29
Go, known as weiqi in Chinese and baduk in Korean, is an ancient board game for two players that originated in China more than 2,000 years ago. The game is noted for being rich in strategy despite its relatively simple rules.
The game is played by two players who alternately place black and white stones on the vacant intersections of a grid of 19×19 lines. Once placed on the board, stones cannot be moved elsewhere, unless they are surrounded and captured by the opponent's stones. The object of the game is to secure (surround) a larger portion of the board than the opponent. When a game concludes, the controlled spaces (territory) are counted along with komi, captures or your own stones (depending on the rule-set) to determine who has more points. Games may also be won by resignation, if for example one side has suffered a severe tactical loss (too many stones captured, etc.).
The Ultimate Master: Achieve first dan rank in the game of Go
Dan and kyu ranking:
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_%28rank%29
The dan ranking system is used by many Japanese organizations to indicate the level of one's ability (expertise) within a certain subject matter. As a ranking system, it was originally used at a go school during the Edo period. It is now also used in modern fine arts and martial arts.
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%AB
In 1883, Kano Jigoro, the founder of Judo, established the system of Dan ranking to measure the Judo practitioners' ability. This system was referred to the Dan ranking system of Go, the ancient board game. Some organizations of academic tests started using the Kyu ranking system to measure candidates' ability.
. . .
In modern Japanese martial arts, kyu-level practitioners hold the ranks below dan or black belt.
Major Poker
Tarot: From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot
The tarot; first known as trionfi and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards (most commonly numbering 78), used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot. From the late 18th century until the present time the tarot has also found use by mystics and occultists in efforts at divination or as a map of mental and spiritual pathways.
The tarot has four suits (which vary by region, being the familiar French suits in Northern Europe, the Spanish suits in Southern Europe, and the German suits in Central Europe). Each of these suits has pip cards numbering from ace to ten and four face cards for a total of 14 cards. In addition, the tarot is distinguished by a separate 21-card trump suit and a single card known as the Fool. Depending on the game, the Fool may act as the top trump or may be played to avoid following suit.
Poker: From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually (but not always) hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown (in some games, the pot is split between the high and low hands), limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.
For major poker, use a standard tarot deck to play poker, using the completely standard poker rules, with three additions:
1) Count the 22 major cards as three additional equal suits. The first major suit consists of major cards 0 and 21. The second major suit, major cards 1 through 10. The third major suit, major cards 11 through 20. Except for the cards numbered 10 and 20, which have a value of 10, the value of each major card is the final or only digit, so that The Fool (#0) has a value of 10, The Chariot (#7) has a value of 7, The Tower (#16) has a value of 6, and The World (#21), has a value of 1 and counts as an Ace. Do note that with seven suits in play at all times, this can result in a hand of five of a kind, such as five aces or five 10s.
2) Any hand that has any major card beats any hand that has no major card.
3) With a games based tarot deck, the cards have no particular vertical orientation, just like a 52 card playing deck. However, with a divination oriented tarot deck, the cards are one way upright, and thus reversible. In the use of a divination oriented tarot deck, reversed cards have different and often more imperative meanings from upright cards, which thus makes possible reversing of cards an obvious requirement. In major poker, a reversed card takes precedence over the same upright card, so that a pair of 3s reversed beats a pair of 3s upright.
The Ultimate Master: Win a major poker tournament
Basic Chemistry---Study and remain proficient in the details of the Boy Scout USA merit badge for chemistry, or, get and work through all the parts and experiments of a home chemistry study kit with at least 300 experiments or projects.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds.
Chemistry is sometimes called "the central science" because it connects physics with other natural sciences such as geology and biology. Chemistry is a branch of physical science but distinct from physics.
The etymology of the word chemistry has been much disputed. The genesis of chemistry can be traced to certain practices, known as alchemy, which had been practiced for several millennia in various parts of the world, particularly the Middle East.
The Ultimate Master: Study and remain proficient in the details of the Boy Scout USA merit badge for chemistry, and instead of or, get and work through all the parts and experiments of a home chemistry study kit with at least 300 experiments or projects.
Sewing and Knitting
--Create two full and separate sets of sewn clothing from the ankles to the neck where the pieces of at least one set of the sewn clothing go only from the neck to the waist and from the waist to the ankles, and knit at least one pair of socks and a sweater, and remain proficient at both sets of skills.
Sewing
From Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewing
Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era. Before the discovery of spinning yarn or weaving fabric, archaeologists believe Stone Age people across Europe and Asia sewed fur and skin clothing using bone, antler or ivory needles and "thread" made of various animal body parts including sinew, catgut, and veins.
Although usually associated with clothing and household linens, sewing is used in a variety of crafts and industries, including shoemaking, upholstery, sailmaking, bookbinding and the manufacturing of some kinds of sporting goods. Sewing is the fundamental process underlying a variety of textile arts and crafts, including embroidery, tapestry, quilting, appliqué and patchwork.
The Ultimate Master: Create at least five full and separate sets of sewn clothing from the ankles to the neck where the pieces of at least four sets of the sewn clothing go only from the neck to the waist and from the waist to the ankles.
Knitting
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knitting
Knitting is a method by which thread or yarn may be turned into cloth or other fine crafts. Knitted fabric consists of consecutive rows of loops, called stitches. As each row progresses, a new loop is pulled through an existing loop. The active stitches are held on a needle until another loop can be passed through them. This process eventually results in a final product, often a garment.
Knitting may be done by hand or by machine. There exist numerous styles and methods of hand knitting.
Different yarns and knitting needles may be used to achieve different end products by giving the final piece a different colour, texture, weight, and/or integrity. Using needles of varying sharpness and thickness as well as different varieties of yarn can also change the effect.
The Ultimate Master: Knit at least five large pieces of clothing, which can include at least but no more than one blanket or blanket variety object.
Mathematics---Pass the Math GRE at 90% or better and achieve the first dan rank in
Anzan and remain proficient.
The Math GRE:
From http://www.ets.org/gre/subject/about/content/mathematics/
Overview
The test consists of approximately 66 multiple-choice questions drawn from courses commonly offered at the undergraduate level.
Approximately 50 percent of the questions involve calculus and its applications - subject matter that is assumed to be common to the backgrounds of almost all mathematics majors.
About 25 percent of the questions in the test are in elementary algebra, linear algebra, abstract algebra, and number theory. The remaining questions deal with other areas of mathematics currently studied by undergraduates in many institutions.
The Ultimate Master: Pass the math GRE with a score of 100%.
Anzan:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soroban
People who become proficient in use of soroban almost automatically become adept at mental calculation, known as anzan, "blind calculation") in Japanese. As a part of soroban instruction, intermediate students are asked to do calculation mentally by visualizing the soroban (or any other abacus) and working out the problem without trying to figure out the answer beforehand.
And
The soroban (counting tray) is an abacus developed in Japan. It is derived from the Chinese suanpan, imported to Japan in the 14th century. Like the suanpan, the soroban is still used today, despite the proliferation of practical and affordable pocket electronic calculators.
From http://www.tofugu.com/2015/02/25/superior-power-japanese-mathematics/
The greatest soroban users don't even need a soroban in front of them. This is called anzan soroban or mental soroban. People who have mastered anzan soroban have internalised the abacus. They can see it in their mind's eye. If you watch someone calculating with anzan soroban sometimes you'll see their fingers flicking as if they were moving beads on their abacus, even with no abacus there. Students retain the mechanised aspect of soroban, so they don't have to consciously do the calculations to get the right answer.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_abacus
The abacus system of mental calculation is a system where users mentally visualize an abacus to do calculations. No physical abacus is used; only the answers are written down. Calculations can be made at great speed in this way. For example, in the Flash Anzan event at the All Japan Soroban Championship, champion Takeo Sasano was able to add fifteen three-digit numbers in just 1.7 seconds.
Dan rank in Anzan: From http://hatta-takeshi.com/thesis/filedir/e89400096.pdf Digit Memory Of Soroban Experts: Evidence Of Utilization Of Mental Imagery
Rating of Soroban skill begins at 10th kyu and rises to 1st kyu, and then 1st dan to 10th dan. Generally, 1st dan to 3rd dan can be regarded as experts, and 9th dan to 10th dan as grand masters.
Dan and kyu ranking:
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_%28rank%29
The dan ranking system is used by many Japanese organizations to indicate the level of one's ability (expertise) within a certain subject matter. As a ranking system, it was originally used at a go school during the Edo period. It is now also used in modern fine arts and martial arts.
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%AB
In 1883, Kano Jigoro, the founder of Judo, established the system of Dan ranking to measure the Judo practitioners' ability. This system was referred to the Dan ranking system of Go, the ancient board game. Some organizations of academic tests started using the Kyu ranking system to measure candidates' ability.
. . .
In modern Japanese martial arts, kyu-level practitioners hold the ranks below dan or black belt.
The Ultimate Master: Achieve the fifth Dan rank in Anzan.
Basic Woodworking---Make five different objects using woodworking skills.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodworking
Along with stone, mud and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood. The development of civilization was closely tied to the development of increasingly greater degrees of skill in working these materials. . . .
. . . . Two ancient civilizations that used woodworking were the Egyptians and the Chinese. Woodworking is depicted in many ancient Egyptian drawings, and a considerable amount of ancient Egyptian furniture (such as stools, chairs, tables, beds, chests) has been preserved in tombs. As well, the inner coffins found in the tombs were also made of wood. . . .
The Ultimate Master: Build five sets of objects using woodworking, sets of shelves, chairs, tables, Etc.
Juggling while tightrope balancing---For at least five minutes juggle four objects while actively balancing on a tightrope or equally long narrow surface and remain proficient
From Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juggling
Juggling is a skill involving moving objects for entertainment or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling, in which the juggler throws objects up to catch and toss up again. Jugglers often refer to the objects they juggle as props. The most common props are balls or beanbags, rings, clubs, and special bounce balls. Some performers use more dramatic objects such as knives, fire torches, and even chainsaws. The term juggling can also refer to other prop-based skills such as diabolo, devil sticks, poi, cigar boxes, fire-dancing, contact juggling, hooping, foot bag and hat manipulation.
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tightrope_walking
Tightrope walking (or funambulism) is the art of walking along a thin wire or rope, usually at a great height. One or more artists performs in front of an audience (a common act in circuses) or as a publicity stunt (often attempting to set location-specific distance or height records). Tightrope walkers sometimes use balancing poles and may perform the feat without a safety net for effect.
In this instance, while tightrope does imply a rope, the clear issue is balance---consider by contrast, the balance beam in gymnastics. A very easy to assemble tool for this can be a six foot long, foot wide plank locked into a supporting frame, so that the narrow edge of the beam provides the narrow edge to balance on, and is only about a foot off the ground.
The Ultimate Master: Five objects and five minutes, or, four objects and twenty five minutes
Making Food---Become and remain proficient
Create at least five different instances of something to eat and drink---Five different sandwiches will count as one item, the sandwich. Three different varieties of tea, or some such infusion, are all Tea . . . or coffee, where yes, tea is indeed different than coffee, and yes, such differentiations are recognized. Also note that the active word is create, not necessarily invent. Keeping that in mind, simply getting and serving five different kinds of pre-created drink is fine---because just pouring out water, for one, is so much easier then assembling quantities of oxygen and hydrogen.
The Ultimate Master: Create at least twenty-five different instances of something to eat and drink.
Accounting---Become and remain proficient
This is a test area which will change over time. On another hand, with what's laughingly referred to as early 21st century legislative budget making and the claim that multiple mortgages with no cash or credit are reasonable, yes, a genuine master will have a mastery of accounting. So, two possibilities and either one will work;
One, Pass the Uniform CPA Exam with a score of 90
Two: Outline in detail a year's worth of accounting for an entire company of 150 staff.
The Ultimate Master: Pass the Uniform CPA Exam with a score of 100 and also outline in detail a year's worth of accounting for an entire interlinked conglomerate of five companies, each with at least 150 staff.
The Bujinkan and Kettlebells---
The Bujinkan---To hold a basic black belt in the combat art known as The Bujinkan.
First off, there is a very basic observation regarding anything done in The Bujinkan: if what you're doing takes effort or makes you hurt, stop, because you're doing it wrong. One of the recurring labels in The Bujinkan is natural movement, so if what you're doing hurts or requires masses of effort, that is not natural movement . . .
From Wikipedia; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bujinkan
Training is done in a manner that entails little risk of permanent injury.
The Bujinkan is an international martial arts organization based in Japan and headed by Masaaki Hatsumi. The combat system taught by this organization comprises nine separate ryuha, or schools, which are collectively referred to as Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu. The Bujinkan is most commonly associated with ninjutsu. However, Masaaki Hatsumi uses the term Budo (meaning martial way) as he says the the ryuha are descended from historical samurai schools that teach samurai martial tactics and ninjutsu schools that teach ninja tactics.
Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu training does not include participation in competitions or contests, as the school's training aims to develop the ability to protect oneself and others using techniques that focus on disabling an attacker (and/or removing their desire/ability to continue) as quickly and efficiently as possible.
The Ultimate Master: To hold a fifth degree black belt in The Bujinkan.
Kettlebells---To perform the "Secret Service Snatch test" and remain proficient at it
From Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettlebell
The kettlebell or girya (Russian: ????) is a cast iron weight (resembling a cannonball with a handle) used to perform ballistic exercises that combine cardiovascular, strength and flexibility training.
Sizes may range from 4 pounds (1.8 kg) to 175 pounds (79 kg). The term Pood is often used to refer to measurements of weight; it is defined as roughly 16 kilograms (35 lb).
Unlike traditional dumbbells, the kettlebell's center of mass is extended beyond the hand, similar to a clubbell. This necessitates ballistic and swinging movements. By their nature, typical kettlebell exercises build strength and endurance, particularly in the lower back, legs, and shoulders, and increase grip strength. The basic movements, such as the swing, snatch, and the clean and jerk, engage the entire body at once, and in a way that mimics real world activities such as shoveling or farm work.
Do see Google for This and then there is also http://www.dragondoor.com/articles/so-you-want-to-try-the-secret-service-snatch-test-eh/default.aspx in particular.
With its origins in the prestigious U.S. Secret Service selection process, the rules are simple. You must do as many repetitions of the kettlebell snatch as possible in ten minutes. Using the 24kg kettlebell (ladies, use the 12kg), you may switch hands whenever you'd like and you may even set the bell down (so you can toss your cookies). Final count is total sum of snatches, period. The only unspoken rule is that you will not quit. Got a blister, tough, use the other hand for the remaining time. Tear a callous, tough it out. Don't even think about stopping when the phone rings. You can rest the kb on the deck to keep a lung down, but it'd better be moving when the timer sounds.
The Ultimate Master: Perform the SSST for thirty minutes without stopping.
Two different musical instruments---Become and remain proficient in both
Play the same melody of at least two minutes in length on two different types of musical instruments.
Choice of instruments will be up to the player, and to the one challenging, but there is one easy assistance; Playing on a flute and a guitar will get far more respect and less statement of total failure than trying to claim that a piano and a harpsichord are different kinds of instruments.
The Ultimate Master: Play five different melodies of at least two minutes in length on two instruments.
© Cassiel C. MacAvity
---This is the bit to let the menuing links have enough space to work . . . .