From the Desk of Wierdkid20

I feel like a certain amount of queer persons have fallen for the propaganda that our existence is inherently sexual, so anything that is even remotely sexual (as identified by a needlessly puritanical culture) is factually for sexual gratification in some way.

One of our event coordinators wants to do a live art session with nude models that are trans, and I was explaining to a friend that the hard part was finding a venue willing to host it. She assumed that the person coordinating was going to be a model and that this was an exhibitionist thing.

Like ... no? He's a talented artist who wants to give opportunities to trans persons.

People think our nature programs are about hookup culture. I would simply like a group of birders that is not going to put me in exile for mentioning my wife.

The bellydancing is not about sex. It is just fun for me. I enjoy it in a nonsexual way. And also like... if it was, would it be hurting anyone?

However.

The price of the Brig seat is one third of the price of the cheapest ticket on the plane. And if someone on the plane gets rowdy and pitches a fit, they get restrained and sent to the Brig so that nobody has to Turn This Plane Around. And if you're flying Brig, you get their seat.

First: THIS RECALL IS NOT STATE SPECIFIC. IT IS NATIONWIDE.

here are the specific products and dates:

FDA page on this:

what does this have to do with boiling your surgical tools? well look, the boiling water releases bubbles of steam which carries the malign influences up to heaven. you boil a knife, you send all the miasmic particles off with the steam to heaven. if you rinse the knife off in a bucket the water isn't hot enough, the particles go into the water and then right back on to the knife. you gotta boil it to get the particles all the way away. how can a tool or rag or a bed have miasmic particles on it when you can't smell them? humans have a lousy sense of smell. look at your dog on the hunt. are there no rabbits in the woods just because you can't smell them? we know that miasma is carried on the air, and is what makes stench so dangerous, and we know that humans can't smell worth a damn compared to dogs cats horses etc. a dog can smell if a rat died in a corner of the room last week. you can't. do you think licking the spot where the rat died is going to go well for you? luckily, what humans lack in snout we make up for in brains. we have extra brains where our sniffers should have been. God set that up for a reason.

and why does a rinse with wine spirits work? man, look how fast alcohol evaporates. my guess is that because wine contains a lot more vice than water, it evaporates a whole lot faster, in sort of an equal and opposite way that a rock falls faster than a feather. if you want the miasmic particles to get off there FAST, you dunk it in something that's going back to heaven at a gallop.

1. Potatoes. Best starch and caloric yield per acre of just about any food.

2. Tomatoes. Easy to can or dry, tasty, high in nutrients.

3. Corn, beans, and squash, planted Three Sisters style. All are nutritious, and planted this way the beans put back into the soil the nitrogen the corn uses. If you plant dent or flour corn and dry beans and sun-dry the squash, all store well. 

4. Mint. It’s useful for minor aches and pains in salve, it’s good for upset stomachs, and it’s quite tasty.

5. Hot peppers. Tasty, and also useful for aches and pains.

8. Radishes. Same reason. Regrows in a few weeks. How perfect is that.

9. Strawberries. If the climate is right for it. Easy and jummy. Strawberry plants can live multiple years (though they give less fruit after the first 3 years) and create their own baby-plants in fall. So you can have more strawberry plants every year or give the plants to other zombie-apocalypse survivors.

10. Winter carrots. Your winter will be boring if you only have potatoes. Carrots are a great winter veggie. 

11. Onion and garlic. Because you really can’t cook without them, can you?

Oh, & maybe just as important is what NOT to grow or the apocalypse or just for your first DIY garden:

1. Cauliflower. Difficult. Requires a lot of work, time, space and nutrients and you’re quite likely to end up empty handed.

2. Broccoli. Same reason.

3. Olives. The trees need to be over 5 years old to produce their first olive and many more for a good harvest. That’s not much use for immediate survival.

Started doing these with a weighted vest, now adding them to my daily workout. I may not have a sword yet but I can get a good foundation.

She took a certain swordtok channel talking about dual daggers as a bad weapon choice as a challenge.

This was a clip from her first time fencing using two daggers against me with my greatsword.

Somehow, after multiple attempts, she got the angle of the parry just right, and parried my sword, while stabbing me in the armpit.

Later, she managed this...

And a few other plays in which she hooked my sword with her off-hand dagger, before stabbing me.

I'm gonna be honest, there's a reason I don't talk about Sellsword Arts, and it's mainly because I just don't like them as I find them obnoxious. That's not a condemnation of people watching them, I just don't enjoy them.

The other reason is that they know just enough to give an opinion that is entrenched in absolutist HEMA ideology with no room for experimentation or nuance, or in stage combat. I can't fault the latter, I don't do stage combat, so it's not something I can comment upon. But the rigidity of HEMA can bother me increasingly as it stifles development and informed speculation where we lack information, or takes the written word as gospel in a way that is somewhat difficult to reconcile with the reality of practise.

This means that I try to avoid their content, as it often starts with a position which is fairly well researched by people in HEMA, and devolves into David making blanket statements without any nuance. And that's when he's talking about well researched content. His video on axes being generally bad weapons was outright incorrect in almost all aspects, to the point a member of the group I'm in (who is something of an expert on axes, having recognised the lack of info and put years of study into actually learning how to make them work) addressed the topic.

Similarly, my squire is a dagger enthusiast, and she knows she's going to be at a disadvantage for it. She still manages to win more often than most people in the same position, and actually fighting her with a dagger against dagger especially is a losing battle. So of course, she heard "dual daggers doesn't work", and we decided we'd test it.

Right off the bat, we have some issues with how David approached the topic. First, in his video, he mostly spends time running blindly in, not parrying or binding, then claims it won't work. Compare with the clips of Squire Jess entering with a parry, and using the second dagger to attack into the opening underneath...

We've concluded that dual daggers (so far) is certainly not an ideal selection for combat, but also that (1) it is possible and can definitely be used to fight other lightly armoured opponents. And that (2) given practise, dual daggers can make an effective response to other larger weapons. It's also worth pointing out that from my perspective, dual daggers is up there with giant sword: not always the most practical choice, but it is a power fantasy for the target audience, and certainly feasible within a proper context. That's not even mentioning the use of dual short blades in, say, Kali.

I also wholeheartedly agree with the stance that being too rigid in foundational points kills the ability to explore and grow. Foundations should always be a starting point to build on - and yeah, maybe not everything you explore ends up being good, but you never know what discoveries there are to make along the way. And that's part of the joy and art of things like this.

Obviously it makes sense that dual daggers is going to be at a disadvantage in a lot of situations. But the power fantasy of it is exactly - being at a disadvantage, and being able to find ways to use it anyway. To find the advantages others might overlook. I think the comparison to great weapons is perfect in that regard.

grace is kept in a clear, airtight container filled with a completely different environment with a carefully maintained life-support system that, should it fail, he will quickly die.