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Dear God, now you've gone and stepped in it. Pick something from the left with which to wipe yourself off.

7/2/06 update:

WMA updates on hold due to life.

Armory is functional, but what time I have is already spoken for.

In fact, everything's just gonna hafta wait.

Contents

Current Events

Current book(s)

I should update this again:

Chiasson, Paul. Island of Seven Cities.

There are boring history books, and then there are not. How do the Ming dynasty, Cape Dauphin (Nova Scotia), the Atlantic current flowing north from the Cape of Good Hope, and some apparently precognitive pre-1492 European maps of North America all tie together? Even though I read the dust jacket, I spent more than 2/3 of this book still in suspense as I followed the author's footsteps through 2 years' worth of independent research.

Menzies, Gavin. 1421.

In these times, it's nonsensical to say that anyone was the first to discover America, in the strict sense of consciously setting out to find an entire New World and achieving that goal before anyone else has (which is what I was taught about Columbus in 5th grade). Different people have stumbled across outlying portions of the Americas throughout the millenia, and had no idea of what they found. Menzies does an entertaining (though apparently debatable) job of explaining how and why the Chinese did not just arbitrarily stop their exploration at the Cape of Good Hope. In fact, this book provided a missing key to Chiasson's fruitless efforts to determine the provenance of some ruins he found on his childhood island.

Diamond, Jared. The Third Chimpanzee.

What's the deal with humanity? Why do we behave in all the foolish ways we do? How did we come to achieve what we have? This book delves into the process of evolutionary biology that led up to modern Homo Sapiens and sheds light on how many of our otherwise seemingly bizarre behavior and astounding feats (like extramarital sex and the digital watch) have roots in animal behavior (from seagulls to vervet monkeys to ants). Written prior to his two big blockbusters, this book presages his later work but has a more informal and frequently first-person style of writing. It's an easy read, especially considering the subject matter, but sometimes I'm frustrated by Diamond's lack of rigorousness in backing up his statements (and lack of detailed footnotes or endnotes). That's alright, b/c his most recent books make up for that in spades.

Blackmore, Susan. The Meme Machine.

So anyone familiar with memepool.com has had contact with memetic theory. What's it all about? How are ideas formed, imitated, and propagated through society? Does the theory have any predictive capability that benefits our daily life or understanding of the world? Again, not an entirely rigorous book, but it whets the initiate's appetite.

Merridale, Catherine. Ivan's War.

The Iron Curtain and then the chaos of political and economic collapse had hitherto prevented us from seeing the humanistic aspect of WW II's Eastern Front. But now Merridale paints for us a poignant picture of Russian men and boys sent to a war they knew nothing of. Through interviews and old records, she describes the innocence and naïveté of a generation of simple folk and farmers sent to die for a cause they couldn't fathom. Personally, I find it inspiring to read about how these people managed to (sometimes) sustain optimism and a child-like delight in life's very meager (for them) joys in the face of colossal incompetence and paranoia.

URL(s) of note

Scary Go Round. Tears, fears, laughs, gaffs. Been following this since it was Bobbins. Tupping liberty. ;)

WMA play for an indeterminate period

With a longsword, approach in the sprechfenster ("speaking window"); in sidesword, do so in coda long stretta (alternating with alta, as you advance and your footwork changes).>.

As you enter misura larga (what Fiore de' Liberi calls giocco largo), use your sword to probe your opponent's intentions. I don't mean actively waving it about, beating the opponent's blade, or somesuch barbarian gesture. Just place your weapon in space relative to his weapon in such a fashion that you can or could easily cover your most accessible line.

As you close farther, an opponent slow on the uptake will give you the chance to take the line and directly attack (with a strike or thrust). A proactive opponent will rather bind against you to protect his same line and perhaps attack.

In the moment that the opponent moves to do so, bind (using an oberhau or mezza spada) his blade and strike in the line (while moving off of it) if you are in a stronger position. If you are not, use durchwechseln or abnehmen (cavatione with a thrust or strike) from the bind as you move offline, to void and cover against his attack and then launch your own counterattack. Fiore calls the bind the incrosada.

Quotes

Is it freedom when you're in a cage bigger than you want to fly across?

-Poul Anderson

Last modified: April 12 2007 02:25

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