Kiltedkeefe - Cultist At Large

‘Legging’ was a method of moving a boat through a canal tunnel, especially in the early days of canal construction when tunnels were often built without a towpath. Such a path would have required a much larger tunnel cross-section and thus increased construction costs.

Before the introduction of motorised boats, ‘legging’ was one of the few ways to manoeuvre a boat through a tunnel. This technique involved the boatmen lying on their backs and pushing against the tunnel walls with their legs to push the boat forwards.

Reading through "manliness" discourse and websites, and I'm wound up dumbstruck.

So the takeaway from more left leaning wisdom givers seems to be the Alan Alda style of manhood, and is definitely geared towards the mythical Millennial tech worker. Bits of advice like "don't learn to fix things, learn to code" or "don't learn to defend yourself, learn to meditate" along with the assumption that you can always hire someone with these "outmoded" skills to do stuff for you. Not only is that classist as fuck, but why would you want to purposefully helpless in a good portion of your life? Sure, cars are getting more complicated all the time. Doesn't mean that you couldn't do basic repairs and maintenance with a basic tool set and some five minutes of YouTube. I personally saved us around $5k in repairs on the Vic with basic tools and videos. I changed out the whole cooling system-new radiator, new water pump, new hoses, new serpentine belt, even changed out the oil cooler with aftermarket because it was leaking into the coolant. I certainly couldn't have afforded that paying someone to do it for me. But I've got a running car that I only paid for parts on.

The flip side of this is the right leaning adviser that basically want to turn you into Heinlein. "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects". I'm perversely proud that I can do almost all of that, but I've led a weird life and I'm almost 50. Mix that mentality with the prevailing streak of neo-Victorian thought, toss in a soupçon of anti-intellectualism, and yearn for the magical time of the imaginary 50s that has no basis in reality.

I'm kind of the mind that all knowledge is good, and you never stop learning. Over the years, I've taught myself stuff that runs the gamut from picking locks to sewing, to formal table manners. Because I found them useful and interesting, not because of what manly men do.

He liberated Wallachia is what he did. He impaled 10,000 turkeys or whatever the FUCK they're called, and in this house, Vlad Dracul Tepes is a hero, END OF STORY

I aspire to be this filthy

When in doubt, go to primary sources. This picture is a drawing of Irish soldiers by Albrecht Dürer, 1521. Gallowglass and Kern, the gallowglass are the two on the left wearing the padded gambeson and the maille shirt with the burgonet. Gallowglass were (originally)Scottish mercenaries from the highlands hired by Irish nobles as heavy infantry, though in later years they incorporated locals into the companies. See the dude on the left with the claymore? Carries it like a polearm over his shoulder. See the Kern on the right? Holding the claymore under his brat (mantle)? He's acting as a sword bearer for the gallowglass with the spear. He's got the blade wrapped up in his brat so it doesn't cut him.

Here's a landsknecht of the Renaissance, a German mercenary and a doppelsöldner (double pay man) by his weapons. The zweihander he's carrying is to break up the large blocks of pike by chopping through the pikes and then dismemberment of the lightly armored pikemen.

The whole greatsword scabbard discourse gets me because, like, we know the answer to this one. We've got primary sources talking about it. The answer to "how do you carry a weapon that's more than a yard or so long" is:

If you don't think you'll need it on short notice and you're lucky enough to have access to a wagon or other means of transport, you don't carry it at all – you stick it in the wagon.

If you do think you'll need it on short notice or you don't have a wagon, you just carry it in your hands everywhere you go and constantly complain about how dumb and awkward that is, unless you're a professional mercenary and/or independently wealthy, in which case you hire a guy to follow you around carrying it in his hands everywhere you go and he complains about how dumb and awkward that is (though probably not while you're listening).

Rodrigo A. Branco

If you ever want hilarity in your life, watch a couple of chiweenies tear off hell bent for leather to try and murder a deer. And the look of sheer terror on the deer's face as Death approaches yipping at ankle height.

So in the interests of development of life skills, I'm going to pass down a bit of wisdom that will serve you well.

When one encounters a strange, obviously old, most definitely not a copy of the Readers Digest yearly compilation book in some strange place-perhaps like on a basalt altar you found in a cave hiking, or on a bloodstained table in the root cellar of your cousin's remote hunting cabin- there are certain rules for best practices.

1. We do not touch the book. Let it lie otherwise you'll die.

2. We do not open the book. Maybe circumstances have dictated you have to pick up the book or move it. Let it stay closed.

3. FOR ALL THAT IS SACRED, WE DO NOT I REPEAT NOT READ ALOUD FROM IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. WE DO NOT TELL OUR FRIENDS THAT THE LATIN IS FUNNY AND READ IT ALOUD TO ILLUSTRATE THE POINT OR SOUND OUT SOME GIBBERISH PHONETICALLY. YOUR EYEBALLS STAY OFF THE PAGE, AND YOUR MOUTH DARE NOT SPEAK THE WORDS.

Practice safe eldritch knowledge.

This is the kind of thing that gets you put up in front of that court in the Hague in an ill fitting suit and a 1970s earpiece for the translation.

This person needs to be arrested im going to cry