Good Stuff! Lindybeige Rocks!

ByJohn Brown

I’ve been watching Lindybeige videos for a few years now. Lindybeige is the online name for Nikolas Lloyd, a smart, funny geek of the re-enactement, fencing, and RPG line. He’s got a youtube channel that is chock full of videos in which he makes witty and insightful points about ancient and medieval warfare, archaeology, dance, and anything else that takes his fancy.

For example, have you ever seen folks pushing each other about with swords? Is that realistic?

Interesting, what about pushing in a shieldwall?

Food for thought, isn’t it? It makes me want to go read up on shieldwalls. Were they really as he concludes they were? But enough about history and conjecture. What about the truth? What about science? For example, if you believe in science, must you also believe in a certain approved list of theories?

But surely that doesn’t apply to Global Warming Theory, which is now called Man-made Climate Change because the warming bit never panned out. No?

Wow, and he even accepts the data on the warming. Okay, enough about the truth. Back to fantasy geekiness and weapons in fantasy worlds that make sense.

I love this guy. If you’re a fantasy geek and haven’t yet begun to watch Lindybeige, you’ve got a lot of enjoyment ahead of you.

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  • A Wowser Mouse & Financial Peace

    ByJohn Brown

    Dis Eez A Mouse

    I’m a Luddite, which means that even though I work in the software industry, I do not rush out to purchase the latest and greatest gadget.  Our family computer, for example, is running Windows 98, primarily because we purchased the computer itself in 1999.  In human years that computer is like 432 years old.  Maybe we’ll retire the old boy this year.  The point is that I don’t like to churn through tons of gadgets.  I want something to work.  I want it to work well.  And then I want to use it for a long time. 

    Recently, my mouse started acting up.  So I went out and found a new one.  I settled on a Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000.  It comes with three parts: the mouse, an AA battery, which is supposed to last for up to ten months, and a tiny transceiver you insert into one of your computer’s USB ports.  The mouse has a great hand-feel.  The clicks are smooth.  If you want to take your mouse with you somewhere, there’s an easy storage slot inside the mouse for the transceiver.

    But the best thing of all is its BlueTrack technology.  This is not an ancient mouse with a track ball that you have to clean every so often.  It’s an optical mouse.  But unlike earlier versions of optical mice (why do I have a terrible urge to use “mouses” or “meece”?) that didn’t work very well on a number of surfaces, this BlueTrack technology works like a charm on everything I’ve tried it on, including glass. 

    You need a new mouse?  This is a good one.

    Dave Ramsey’s Complete Guide to Money

    If you’re like 70% of America, you are living paycheck to paycheck, which means that if you or your spouse (assuming you have one) were laid off, you would probably have difficulties meeting your mortgage the next month.  If you didn’t go into default on the house, you certainly would on other payments and bills. 

    You also have very little retirement. 

    You probably have around $7,000 in credit card debt.  Maybe a lot more.

    You also have a car payment or two.  Or, heaven forbid, a lease. 

    You might be house poor—the house payment is so large you can’t seem to do anything else. 

    You might have creditors hounding you. 

    You might be one of those folks throwing their money away on the lotto instead of investing it. 

    Did you know that if you invested $50 a month, an average of what many lotto players spend, in the stock market for 40 years, you’d very likely end up with $316,000 in the bank  (over the last 40 years of ups and downs, the annualized return of the market was almost 10%). You would have put in only $24,000 over that time period, which means you would have made $292,203!  But instead, if you’re a lotto player, you just throw all that out the window.  (No, you’re not going to win; not even maybe in your dreams.)

    You probably think your kids will have to take out loans to go to college. And you think that’s a good idea.  In fact, you probably think it’s a good idea to have a credit card just in case there’s an emergency because you don’t have any savings to cover any emergencies.

    The list goes on.  The sad part of this is that our finances cause us average Americans a lot of stress in our lives and marriages and families (even if we’re in denial) and very often heartbreak. 

    I know that a lot of us look at our financial chains and throw our hands up in despair—what can I do?  The mountain of debt and bills are just too high.  Besides, this is how everybody lives.

    But it’s not.

    There is a way out.  And it doesn’t matter how old you are, it’s not too late.

    Dave Ramsey has written his hands-down best book ever, which will take you step-by-step through the process of turning a financial mess into financial peace.  He’ll do it in a down-to-earth easy-to-read style. No confusing ten dollar words that make your head spin.

    Ramsey himself went through financial hell.  He was the guy that made all the mistakes with his money.  Lost everything.  Had collection agencies coming after him.  Didn’t know how he was going to feed the family.  He turned that all around.  Yes, he’s a millionaire, but more importantly, he has been working for the last twenty years to teach regular people with regular jobs the simple principles that lead to financial peace.  They’re becoming debt free and working their way towards huge net-worth.  

    You want a step-by-step plan?  You want to educate yourself about money and family finances from one of the nation’s leading experts?  Then go and purchase Dave Ramsey’s Complete Guide to Money today and start reading it.  You will not regret it.  If you already have his Total Money Makeover and don’t think this will be worth it, think again.  This goes into all sorts of things the Total Money Makeover doesn’t.

    Be free, people.  Be free.

     

    Related Stuff

    Look at the links and the video.

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    Iron Man, Military Insect Spies

    ByJohn Brown

    Iron Man was wonderful, every bit of what the trailers promised–adventure, humor, and a huge dose of gosh-wow. Of course, the idea of military exoskeletons are not new. It’s been in science fiction for a long time. More recently, Dan Brown used the idea in his thriller Act of War. In fact, if you think about it, it becomes clear that airplanes, ships, and tanks are all exoskeletons. So this is all old hat. But when did we ever need a brand-spanking new idea to have a wonderful and new story? What’s important is what the do with the idea–the characters, problem, plot, and setting. And Iron Man does a wonderful job of imagining new twists on all these parts of story.

    *

    In other news, it appears the future is not so far away. The military is going to be using robot bugs for recon.

    British defence giant BAE Systems is creating a series of tiny electronic spiders, insects and snakes that could become the eyes and ears of soldiers on the battlefield, helping to save thousands of lives.

    Prototypes could be on the front line by the end of the year, scuttling into potential danger areas such as booby-trapped buildings or enemy hideouts to relay images back to troops safely positioned nearby.

    Soldiers will carry the robots into combat and use a small tracked vehicle to transport them closer to their targets.

    Then they would swarm into the building and relay images back to the soldiers’ hand-held or wrist-mounted computers, warning them of any threats inside.

    I’m all for saving lives and projecting power while we’re doing it. And robo spies are just cool. Except, of course, when they’re used against you…

    Humm, zing!

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  • The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

    ByJohn Brown

    Have you ever gotten into the car to go to destination A and a few turns later realized you’re going to destination B and have to turn around?

    If so, you’ve experienced the power of habit.

    Have you ever told yourself you will NOT eat the cookies sitting out on the counter and two minutes later pick one up and eat it?  Or perhaps it was the cigarette.  Or the drink.

    Habit.

    Did you know that the genius behind the methods of Tony Dungy–the only coach in the NFL history to reach the play-offs ten years in a row and the one who turned a troubled Colts team around and three years later took them to win the Super Bowl in 2007–was to teach his players to be faster than everyone else.  But they wouldn’t be faster because they would focus on increasing their physical speed. They would be faster because they would learn habits that would make their moves instinct.  When his strategy worked, Dungy’s players could move with a speed that was impossible to overcome.

    According to some research, more than 40% of the actions we perform each day are not actual decisions, but habits.  And habits that we didn’t always consciously choose to start.  We have sleeping habits, shopping habits, exercise habits, eating habits.  Habits at work, at home, at school.  Habits of the mind.

    Companies have a huge interest in changing our shopping habits.  Coaches have an interest in changing the habits we use when we play. Teachers have an interest in the habits of their classroom. Families and communities have habitual ways of interacting. We all have personal habits we’d like to adopt and others we’d like to give away.  But unless you know what you’re doing, habits can be extremely intransigent and slippery things.

    The good news is that a lot of research has been done in the last few decades, and we now know how habits work. When we arm ourselves with this knowledge, we’ll have a much better chance of changing. Luckily for us, we don’t have to track all that information down.  In The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business, Charles Duhigg draws on hundreds of academic studies, interviews with more than three hundred scientists and executives, and research conducted at dozens of companies in his book and distills all this knowledge to its essence.

    The title might sound boring, but Duhigg follows the style of Malcom Gladwell (Outliers, Blink, The Tipping Point), and the Heath brothers (Made to Stick), and has written a book that I couldn’t put down.  For example, I couldn’t stop reading about coach Tony Dungy, or Target as it predicts who is pregnant and how far along they are, or the scientists who couldn’t figure out why Alcoholics Anonymous works, or how bad organizational habits led to thirty-one people being burned alive in London’s King’s Cross subway stop.  I couldn’t stop reading about why Rosa Parks, not the first African American to refuse to give up her bus seat, could pivot the civil rights movement.  I couldn’t stop reading the stories of individuals losing bad habits, others picking up good ones, and others who lost their minds but not their habits. Duhigg uses these and many other examples and studies to illustrate the key principles underlying how habits work.  In the appendix, he gives us a guide for examining and forming our own habits.

    I personally know the power of changing habits of the mind (which I’ve already written about). And teeth. A few years ago, I flossed once a week. It was such a pain. Now it’s a habit that I almost crave each night. I look back at how I made those changes and see it all laid out in Duhigg’s book. Can I actually change my habit of going to bed late? Stay tuned.

    If you’re interested in forming the habits of a class, team, company, or family; if you want to change some of your own habits; if you’re interested in knowing why we do what we do and enjoy the style of Malcom Gladwell and Dan and Chip Heath, then I think you’ll love this book. Let me suggest you watch the video below.  Then go to http://charlesduhigg.com/the-power-of-habit/ and click on the “Additional Resources” to watch and read more. Then just get the dang book.

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  • Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover & Brown Cow Yogurt

    ByJohn Brown

    Wear some financial underpants

    I graduated from BYU with a Master’s degree in accounting. BYU’s accounting program is regularly ranked as one of the top three schools in the nation.

    Whoa. Go, John. I ought to be some kind of financial superstar, right? You’d think I would have come out of that program with all my crap put together, living within my means, investing wisely, making a bundle of moo-lah. I’d have a tidy stash.

    Yeah, nope.

    That program taught me how to account for money, but not how to use it. Or maybe I was just too dumb to get it. We came rolling out of school with thousands of dollars of debt. So instead of graduating and building our wealth, we worked to pay off the man.

    Dumb, dumb, dumb.

    I can tell you right now my daughters aren’t going to do the same. They will pay as they go. I’m not co-signing any loans. They’re not going to use credit cards. If it takes them a few years longer to graduate, then it takes them a few years longer.

    But they’ll be free when they finish. No shackles for my girls.

    I always thought it was a good idea not to send them out into the world without underpants. Or knowing how to brush their teeth. It’s equally important I don’t send them out there not knowing how to build wealth and reap all the security and peace that comes with it.

    This is why every child of mine is going to get a copy of Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover. It’s a goofy title, but the principles in it are sound. I can’t tell you how much I wished I’d known and followed the steps he outlines there on how to build wealth when I was just starting out.

    1. Save $1,000 in an emergency fund
    2. Pay off all your debt except the mortgage using the debt snowball (and don’t go into debt)
    3. Complete your emergency fund by saving three to six months’ expenses
    4. Maximize retirement investing
    5. Save for your kids’ college
    6. Pay off the home mortgage early
    7. Build wealth and give like crazy
    8. Live like no one else

    The book starts out by talking about the debt myth, i.e. debt is a great tool and should be used to create prosperity. Sometimes a little debt can be helpful. But in the vast majority of cases “debt adds considerable risk, most often doesn’t bring prosperity, and isn’t used by wealthy people nearly as much as we are led to believe.” Ramsey goes on to say, “Your largest wealth-building asset is your income. When you tie up your income, you lose. When you invest your income, you become wealthy and can do anything you want.  How much could you give every month, save every month, and spend every month if you had no payments? Your income is your greatest wealth-building tool, not debt. Your Total Money Makeover begins with a permanently changed view of the Debt Myths.”

    After tackling debt, Ramsey outlines other money myths and wealth-destroying attitudes and then explains each of the principles of the steps outlined above.

    I love this book so much it’s part of my gift package to every couple that invites me to their wedding reception. I hope those new couples follow his recommendations. It will bring them peace. If you want to give your children the gift of financial peace, if you want that peace yourself, I recommend you buy this book today and start following those baby steps. You can get the book for a mere $10 bucks at his website http://www.daveramsey.com.

    While you’re waiting for it to come, you might want to go over to Larry Correia’s site (another accountant and fiction author), and read his hilarious comments on some real folks who actually were sent out without any financial underwear: http://tinyurl.com/3zx9tbo.

    Thick and Creamy

    I love thick, creamy yogurt.

    Mix it with some raisins or fresh fruit, and I’m in heaven.

    The problem is that most of the yogurt on the shelves today is weird Splenda- or NutraSweet-filled crap. Or it’s full of sugar. And none of it has that thick mouth feel.

    I had some great yogurt up in Oregon a few years ago, but could never find anything like it here. Then a little while ago I hit the jackpot.

    Hello, Brown Cow Greek Yogurt.

    Thick. Oh, baby is it thick. Creamy. And full of goodness: 23 grams of protein, 9 grams of sugar, 0 grams of fat, and active cultures of more of our belly friends than any other yogurt I’ve found—give a big welcome to S. Thermophilus, L. Bulgaricus, L. Acidophilus, Bifidus, and L. Casei.

    I get the plain style. This allows me to mix it to my taste with fruit, granola, or a little bit of sugar or honey.

    If you’ve been looking for some good yogurt, let me recommend Brown Cow.

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  • “Clockwork Chickadee” by Mary Robinette Kowal

    ByJohn Brown

    Mary Robinette Kowal is a professional puppeteer and a dang good story teller. I ran across her “Clockwork Chickadee” this last summer and forgot to blog about it. Then she won the Campbell Award. And I thought to blog it again. Now it’s November and you see what it means to run on “Brown time.” But however belated my review, this story is marvelous. The images have stuck in my mind since that first reading. And the chickadee, well, let me share the beginning with you.

    The clockwork chickadee was not as pretty as the nightingale. But she did not mind. She pecked the floor when she was wound, looking for invisible bugs. And when she was not wound, she cocked her head and glared at the sparrow, whom she loathed with every tooth on every gear in her pressed-tin body.

    The sparrow could fly.

    He took no pains to conceal his contempt for those who could not. 

    I am an impatient reader: if the story doesn’t grab me within the first few lines, I usually pass. I’m trying very hard not to be so demanding and extend this to two pages (no, I do not have the fortitude some readers do to extend this to twenty, forty, or sixty pages). But sometimes I slip back into my old ways. However, with Clockwork Chickadee I didn’t need to remember to be patient. I just read and read and read some more.  

    For those who care about story, you’ll notice it doesn’t run on the normal fuel of sympathy and suspense. This is a curiosity story. And Kowal does it so well.

    Here’s the text version. But if you have no time to read, that’s no problem. Listen to the audio version right now or download it to your iPod or MP3 player and listen while you’re out and about.

    Enjoy!

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  • Tales From Earthsea

    ByJohn Brown

    Tales from Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 5) 

    When I was in 7th grade I read Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Of course, I wasn’t the sharpest literary tack back then, and so great sections of The Two Towers and The Return of the King went over my head and, therefore, bored me. But, with the help of the Hildenbrant calendars, enough came through to thrill. I wept at the events in the mines of Moria with Gandalf, geeked out over the elves, orcs, and Nazgul, was fascinated with the Ents and wizards, and generally wanted to stay in that world forever.

    When I finished the trilogy, I mourned–the dream was over. I read Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham. Both were delightful, but neither was the same as LOTR. Then I saw The Silmarillion. It had a cool cover, a map.

    Oh, joy! I bought it and took it home.

    Alas, that book was about as much fun as reading a ten-pounder on the history of baroque cornices. I tried mightily to push through, but I don’t think I was able to finish more than 15 pages total from all the sections. So I mourned again, and then, still feeling the loss, went looking for something else that might whisk me away.

    One of those whisking stories was Ursula LeGuin’s A Wizard of Earthsea. Of course, the fact that there was a wizard in it was important, but as equally delightful to my then puny literary prowess, was that the story was a slim thing. As were its two companions The Tombs of Atuan and The Farthest Shore.

    Here’s the cover the drew me in so long ago.

    I relished all three and moved on to other stories.

    Time passed and I forgot about LeGuin. Almost 10 years later I was newly married. My wonderful new wife started reading to me as we’d drive. And on one of the three-hour drives to her parents, she pulled out this little book and began to read.

    It was A Wizard of Earthsea! And it was just as marvelous the second time with a bigger brain as it was the first time with a smaller one. In fact, Nellie’s reading to me was so enjoyable I slowed down to 40 mph so I could extend the 3-hour drive. Of course, she quickly caught on to my scheme, shut the book, and told me she wouldn’t read another word unless I drove 65 mph, at the very least.

    What can a guy do? I kept it at 65 (well, 60) and joyed in the wonderfulness of a new wife who would read aloud to me (you mean this model reads, too?!), the night and the stars spread above those lonely Utah and Wyoming roads, and the amazing story unfolding before me.

    And this is the cover of the one my wife read to me.

    We read all three to each other and moved onto other stories.

    More than 15 years passed and I’d mostly forgotten LeGuin (I really never could get into her Hainish stuff). I was in the library looking for some good audio. And there on the shelf stood Tales from Earthsea by Ursual LeGuin.

    Just a little slim container of cassettes. Why not? I thought.

    Holy heroes, Batman—it was gold. LeGuin’s a master of building that feel: the wonder of fantasy, the mystery of things long forgotten or rumored to exist, the pull of learning arcane powers. I loved every minute of it (well, except for the slogging first four pages of backstory, but get through that, which isn’t too bad with Karr’s reading, and you’re into the kingdom). The first story, “The Finder,” read by Amanda Karr was incredible. It takes us back to how Roke became was it was in the first trilogy. But the delights do not end there. Four more stories follow.

    I liked them all so much, I just checked the audiobook out again so I could listen a second time. And, it appears, LeGuin was busy in my absence because she has more Earthsea than this.

    • A Wizard of Earthsea, 1968
    • The Tombs of Atuan, 1971
    • The Farthest Shore, 1972 (Winner of the National Book Award)
    • Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea, 1990 (Winner of the Nebula Award)
    • Tales From Eathersea, 2001 (a collection of short stories)
    • The Other Wind, 2001

    I just got the last two from Amazon. I can’t wait to enter into LeGuin’s magic spell yet again.

    More cool Earthsea stuff.

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8 Comments

  1. The sword pushing is really bad. Most sword arts I know are based on wrestling or some other “hand” martial art. As close as they are, if it was “realistic”, one party or the other would have grabbed the other’s sword arm or sword, then gutted him.

    One other thing is that close makes your face real vulnerable to the other’s guard. Doesn’t take much to adjust, getting the guard in line for a strike.

    Modern perceptions on swordsmanship make me shake my head.

  3. Hi Mr. Brown

    I was.

    Today, at 63 and having survived a stroke seven years ago, I’m an ex-martial artist and ex-swordmaker.

    I think there’s a short post on Wikipedia. Another swordmaker, one Michael Tinker Pearce and I used to spend some time teaching some of the local sword martial artists how to cut with a sword.

    In this area, the Seattle area if you will, in the early oughts, there were several “swordsmanship groups”. In the early part of the century most of the western stuff was based on rapier. There are a lot of surviving documents of the arts on rapier………

    Over the last few years, there’s been a transition. Now most of the western work is longsword.

    Back to the “oughts”, there used to be several Japanese Sword Arts groups here too. I’m not sure what there is today. The thing is that instructors have a “shelf life”, depending on age, condition and what’s going on in one’s life.

    Anyway, yeah. I’ve practiced Tai Chi Sword and Italian Rapier. Have had more than a small introduction to Italian and German longsword and Italian Sidesword. My introduction to JSA was fairly small.

    Now saying what I did a couple of days ago about sword pushing, Tai Chi has or had an exercise with practice swords that you could consider sword push hands. But the point of the exercise is to gain sensitivity and feel for what the other is doing with his sword. You’re certainly not pushing.

  4. Angus,

    That is awesome. Hats off to you. And a sword maker to boot. From what you experienced with the rapier and long sword, did you feel that as a personal arm (as opposed to battlefield arm), the rapier simply had so many pluses over the long sword, that it was inevitable that it eventually dominated? It seems to me the rapier would be fairly useless in a line of battle against armor and shields. And as swords in battle waned, so did the long sword. What do you think?

  5. Hello John

    What looks like a simple question but which would require a really long and complex answer if done right. {grin}

    Since we’re discussing them as personal arms, I’d say the cultural changes, and the {potential} fact that swords were becoming male jewelry had more to do with it. I don’t know that I would say that the rapier as such had any decisive advantages over the longsword.

    One of the things that got beat into my head early in my study of medieval swords was that to understand the weapon, or the sword art, you needed to have an idea of the culture. The culture changed constantly from, say, 1200AD through the present time.

    Swords were already in decline as weapons of war in the thirteenth century. You weren’t going to cut your way through a surcoat over maille over padding. missile weapons {crossbows and longbows specifically}, and polearms were far more effective against armor.

    Swords in use as civilian arms {as much sense as that makes for the medieval period} go back a ways. I can’t think of where to find my source at the moment, but there was a prohibition on teaching sword and buckler within the city limits of London in the 1290’s. I can’t remember the name of the document, but there is one dated in the same time period from Switzerland that shows sword and buckler as a personal weapon system. The earliest longsword manual I know of is early 14th century, a German named Lichtenaur.

    Anyway, I got a little carried away. Facts on the ground on swords in any given period in Europe are rare. There are some tidbits, but you’ll find that there are a lot of opinions that can’t always be backed up by facts. Some of the most respected scholars of medieval weaponry will really caveat an answer. I’ve tried to learn from their example because there’s still a lot to learn, and it’s incredibly easy to be wrong.

  6. Although it seems they made a comeback in the 15th and 16th centuries with the Landsknecht and Reislaufen infantry blocks–pikes supported by powder weapons and men with those massive swords–as the situation on the battlefield changed.

    I know that soldiers will often carry whatever is in their kit, but if you weren’t a soldier, and you had the means, it just seems to me that a rapier or small sword with its speed is more suited to personal defense on the streets than some variety of big honking killer of steel 🙂

    Yes, fashion and laws and culture would modify the choice. But if you yourself had to choose and base your choice, not on any historical data, but simply on how well you think you could fight other opponents around town and out on the road with small swords, long swords, knives, or clubs, what would you select? I’m assuming most opponents wouldn’t be wearing armor, although a highwaymen waiting for you along a stretch of road might.

    And I’m asking you because I think you will have far more insight into this than I, having spent time using them. Angus, your personal choice. What would it be?

  7. Hi John

    I could say “the thing about swords”, and lay a line of bs. But I’m not really into that. I will say that there are several perceptions of these weapons that are, maybe a little off. At the end of this, I will give you an opinion.

    One of them is that most medieval swords were heavy. Not so much. The “big honking” swords you mention, sometimes also referred to as zhweihanders averaged about 5.5lbs. That would be with a blade/ ricasso length of 42 inches and a total length of 58 to 60.

    The 15th century longsword popularized in Germany and Italy in the fifteenth century, averaged 2.75lbs to 3lbs. Blade lengths from 35 to 37 and total lengths between 45 and 49 inches. They vary more than that, but this is where the bulk of the surviving antiques seem to lie. What I’m discussing here are not the “great swords”, which dimensionally are similar but could run up to 5lbs.

    Most single hand medieval swords would run about 1.7 to 2.5 lbs. Blade lengths range all over the place, my favorite is 31 to 32 inches.

    Depends on the period with rapiers, during the transition, they might be 2.75lbs and have a blade length of 36 inches. During the peak period in England some blade lengths exceeded 50 inches. These were a little unwieldy.

    If you consider rapiers for the whole period of their primary use, they averaged around 3lbs. The longer the blade, the more point specific.

    Before the stroke, I got to play the “Uneven weapons” sparring. And the one thing I learned is if you know what the other guy needs to do to defeat you, and what you need to do to get to him, and the other guy is clueless, the odds are in your favor, never mind the weapons.

    If the other guy has a clue, the weapon can give an advantage.

    Not what I would choose, but of those mentioned longsword has a bit of an advantage over rapier, and a healthy advantage of the single hander.

    The rapier’s real advantage is the blade length, and the fact a lot of practioners seem to underestimate it.

    “In Period”, the rapier masters turned the sword art into a science. Many rapier masters taught their students how to beat swordsmen, what a man with a sword would have to do, and how not to let him.

    More shortly

  8. We didn’t touch on the katana or the jian, popular sword types here in America with their own fans.

    Down to cases. For my own use, I’d prefer a single hand medieval sword. Today, it doesn’t have the cachet of the others, but its likely more versatile. Reading and trying to guess why you want the “best”, for me it would be that using a baldric and scabbard to carry it, it would be the easiest of the three to carry. Its the easiest to deploy in close quarters. Trying to draw a rapier quickly in close quarters just isn’t going to work. If you opponent closes with you, prevents the draw, and uses a dagger, your toast.

    With the longsword, that long hilt gets in the way. If you’re carrying it belted, its difficult to draw fast. If you’re carrying it in a baldric, you can deploy it fairly quickly, but if your opponent manages to get a hand on that long hilt, you’ve got a problem. In Northern Italy, part of the fashion in the early 14th century was to carry it in hand by the scabbard.

    I think in a heroic sense, the longsword might have the advantage. Once deployed by a good practioner, it’s the quickest of the three in movement. Cutting limbs off, lopping a head off, thrusting through an opponent’s eye before they can react, yeah, this might be the weapon. It’s also the best weapon to use in a non-lethal fashion, crossing swords and taking the other guy down in a wrestling hold is best done with the longsword {though I’m sure that could draw disagreement}.

    The rapier though, is the paramount dueling weapon. If your blade is 42 inches long, and the longsword blade is 36 inches, your measure is at least 6 inches deeper, which means you can penetrate him while he’s still trying to close with you.

    That longsword guy is going to have to deal with that point aimed at his eye, and it’s not as easy it sounds. He can slap it aside and try to rush. You take a step back, draw your rapier back towards you bringing the point back on line. If he persists his rush, he walks your blade into himself. On the other hand, if he can get “crossed swords” for a moment, and can grab your blade, your day’s about to go really bad.

    I have to admit I played with this in the fantasy series I’ve written. Mainly in book 4 and 5, and the first three take place “in the field”.

    I studied rapier for three reasons. I wanted to learn it as a simulator {I was making them at the time}, I wanted to see if you could use Tai Chi principles and techniques with it {you can}, and I wanted to learn how to defeat it with my chosen weapon. The latter depends on the rapierist’s grasp of his art, and his knowledge of what a swordsman needs to do to get to him. It would also help if he’s a bit arrogant.

    I probably didn’t answer things how you want. Part of that is caution, “back in the day”, if you answered things publicly, you could wish you didn’t.

    But looking at that paragraph again, I’d answer the same, the single hand sword. 31.5 inch blade, 2.2lbs, center of gravity 5.5 to 6 inches in front of the cross. Edge sharpened such that its fairly blunt at the cross, and from thirteen inches from the point to the point its as sharp as I can get it. Everything about the single hand sword is a weapon, the pommel {to pummel with}, the cross, and the blade.

    And truthfully, I’d be more concerned about facing the longsword than the rapier. A really good longswordsman scary indeed.

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