Short Thursday…
(6/11/2009)
Today I’ll be flying against the sun to see my brown-eyed girl. It’ll be a very short Thursday and I’ll arrive in Madrid tomorrow at 9:30 AM on Friday.
Mary in her Spanish dress
You are reading the archive for the category: General
Don’t make him angry…
(6/10/2009)
Tomorrow morning I hop a plane to Spain and I’ll be with my sweetie for about 5 weeks. As a result, I won’t have much time for the blog over the next two weeks, but I saw this SNL skit and thought it was amusing.
Time is a stormblown tempest…
(6/8/2009)
Today is the 37th anniversary of the day I was born. Our plucky little planet has once again successfully circumnavigated the sun and you have to admit there were times during the Bush administration when we were uncertain it would make it.
I recently found a series of YouTube videos called the Everyday videos. These were originally started by a photographer in New York named Noah Kalina in January of 2000. Noah began taking photographs of his face every day and continued for 6 years. He then streamed all of these images into a video that shows the world flashing around him as he ages 6 years in about 5 minutes. This is classic Geek innovation and Noah deserves serious credit for originating the concept.
One of the striking things about the images is that time seems to blast the world around Noah like a wind tunnel while the only the unchanging constant is his gaze and expression.
Noah Kalina Everyday
Ahreelee
Another very striking change is Johnathan Keller’s video. Both Noah and Ahreelee seem to have almost ageless faces but Johnathan starts his video as a young man and changes from a gangly teenager into an adult before your eyes.
Johnathan Keller
To find more like this, search YouTube for “everyday”.
~P.
AJAX for Rabbit Geeks
(06/05/2009)
On Tuesday I hosted another online web seminar dealing with embedded web development. Specifically, I covered AJAX with the Rabbit embedded microcontrollers.
Not for everybody, but pretty geeky:
Rabbit Webinar Link
I also wrote up a beginner’s workbook which I think is pretty nifty. It makes me think I could do the same kind of presentation and workbook for fencers someday.
Uncle Puck’s Doorway
(6/3/2009)
This article is a fencing tip for amateur rapier fencers. In Italian rapier and classical fencing the arm is held straight from elbow to tip. Fabris favors an extended and straight arm, but he discusses the sword held at an angle as well.
——————————————————-
Those who hold the sword at an angle (with either the hand in third just above the knee or in second higher and outside the knee) do fortify their sword, but pay the price in giving the opponent much bigger openings and allowing him to come closer.
Fabris’ 1606 text as translated by Tom Leoni
And also this concerning the sword held at an angle:
It is much better to hold the arm withdrawn and the sword straight so as to form a direct line between the elbow and the point.
Fabris’ 1606 text as translated by Tom Leoni
Compare that to this 1997 classical Italian text:
In the completed guard the weight of the body should be distributed equally between the legs, with the torso profiled, and inclining slightly forward, head up and turned to the right, eyes on the adversary, shoulders down, right arm well extended and relaxed, elbow in line with the flank, hand in central position on the line of offense, midway between invitations in third and fourth, and forearm and weapon forming an unbroken line.
Gaugler’s Science of Fencing
——————————————————-
From these two quotes we can see that the Italians are wary of extending a bent wrist forward. A sword that is extended in a straight line from elbow to tip protects the hand behind the guard.
Kevins straight wrist protects his wrist and arm behind the guard.
From the front, the opponent’s perspective is more obvious. (Notice below that the swept hilt protects not only the hand but the entire forearm as well.)
By keeping his arm straight from elbow to tip, Kevin protects his wrist and arm.
Most amateur fencers don’t realize this target is exposed and they open a line to an easy attack that I call Uncle Puck’s Doorway. On a swept hilt rapier there is a V-shaped notch where the rings meet the sweeps and the superior half of the cross.
Kevin grips the sword at an angle with a bent wrist showing Uncle Puck's Doorway.
When this angle exists in the wrist, it creates a nice landing pad for an attack to the top of the arm. The bend in the wrist acts as the perfect backstop for the attack.
Kevin's bent wrist shows the open door and the angle creates a nice backstop for the attack.
An adversary who holds a sword extended and forward with an angle in the wrist is the gift that keeps on giving. If you are an SCA fencer and you are aware of this line of attack, you can be very effective in tournaments and group combat because newer SCA fencers often make this mistake.