The Agents of F.L.A.S.K.

[GHT]

I've never stabbed anyone so I don't really know which explanation is true (or most true), but the last one is the one most historians recite.

My source came from watching some documentary of battles pre-gunpowder, it was probably the commentator elaborating for dramatic effect. Let me put this to F.L.A.S.K:
St Swithin or Swithun was Bishop of Winchester and he died in AD 862 He was adopted as the patron saint of Winchester and in the 12th century the doggerel lines were penned. "St Swithin's day if thou dost rain For forty days it will remain St Swithin's day if thou be fair For forty days will rain na mair"

Bishop of Winchester 852-862 although very little is known about him other than from legends. In 971 Bishop Ethelwold moved Swithun's remains to a new shrine, commissioned by King Edgar, to Winchester Cathedral (the Old Minster not the present one) which became a place of pilgrimage as miracles were worked at the tomb. In the 990's Swithun's sanctity and miracles were celebrated by two Winchester writers as well as in Aelfric's "Lives of the Saints". His cult continues to flourish in the Middle Ages. His day is 15th July; if it rains then it will rain for 40 days because Swithun, a humble man, wished to be buried in the graveyard at Winchester and not in a fine tomb, cursing the land with 40 days of rain should the latter be done.
And tomorrow is the 15th July.

 

[Benny Holiday]

Many years ago someone explained the purpose of that depression in the blade to me as you described it, and it made perfect sense--the faster the victim bleeds out and succumbs to his/her wounds, the sooner the combat is finished. Years later in a different conversation on the same subject someone else said that it was to "vent" the victim's body because the flesh, once the body is punctured, tends to "grab on" to the metal and create suction, making it difficult to remove the blade and continue the fight. Then years later I read that both explanations, however plausible, were incorrect and that the purpose of that so-called "blood groove" (actually called a "fuller") had nothing to do with blood, but was simply a way to remove material and a) lighten the blade without weakening it, and/or b) balance the weapon. I've never stabbed anyone so I don't really know which explanation is true (or most true), but the last one is the one most historians recite.

As a student of Old English I've come across many medieval reeanactors, historians and even smiths and that's exactly what I've heard from them all regarding the fuller. Actually my daughter is getting right into woodwork and metalwork and just the other night we had a long discussion about Damascus steel and its predecessor, pattern welded steel. She also mentioned the fuller's role in making a sword balanced and lighter.

 

[Tiki Tom]

This guy makes a good point about how the fuller does not usually extend to "the pointy end". Made me laugh.

P.S. - Sorry I missed St Swithin day.

 

[EngProf]

The guy in the video (and others here) who assert that the purpose of the "fuller" is to maximize strength and minimize weight are exactly right.
There is an engineering term for this physical situation: the "parallel axis theorem", and mechanical engineers learn this in their sophomore and junior-year machine-design courses.
Look at an "I"-beam or "H"-beam and you'll see the same concept taken to a greater degree. In the ultimate case (almost), look at a steel building and notice the "bar-joists" which hold the roof up. They consist of just a steel tube at the top and bottom with a small web of steel elements holding the top and bottom parts together. Lots of stiffness - very little weight...
You wouldn't think that such a small re-distribution of material as in a sword would make that much difference, but the theorem states that the improvement in stiffness goes up as the SQUARE of the distance between the top and bottom elements and the center of the sword (or bar-joist or beam).
A little bit of change thus goes a long way.
(Most of what I know about Medieval sword-technique comes from watching "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", but I think that there would be more hacking, bashing, and slashing than outright stabbing in those days, hence making a "blood-groove" not very necessary.)

 

[Tiki Tom]

Speaking of strange medieval stuff encroaching into our modern world:
A crop circle appears in France in the shape of a Templar Cross.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2020/07/templar-crop-circle-appears-in-french-field.html

One hardly knows what to make of crop circles, let alone crop circles involving a 900 year old crusading order. As my mom would say, “crazy kids”. But you gotta admit that a certain level of skill is required.

 

[Zombie_61]

^ Not a bad design. You're right about the level of skill--the logistics of "laying out" such a pattern over that much space and still have everything be symmetrical when you're finished? That takes a lot of planning and effort. If only those kids had used their smarts for good instead of pranks...

 

[GHT]

Graffiti is a blight on the urban landscape, yet some graffiti has true art qualities. It's much the same with crop circles, the talent of those who can create such a visual effect is amazing. It's just the canvas that they use for their talent, could they not channel their efforts in a more acceptable venue?
Do you remember Pi-r-squared? Look at this crop circle:

It's a mathematical crop circle, that appeared in an English barley field. It's a cryptic representation of the first ten digits of Pi. In other words, the circle is divided up into ten invisible segments, like a pizza. To represent the 4 in 3.141592654, the third notch is four segments further along in the spiral than the preceding mark.
The field happened to be in the vicinity of Stonehenge. Coincidence, deliberate or just another tease?

 

[Tiki Tom]

That mathematical crop circle is a wonder. It contains everything a “true” crop circle should have: it exhibits a higher intelligence, it seems like it might be trying to share some cryptic message, it is so intricate that it is almost difficult to buy the standard hoax conclusion, yet it offers up no alternative explanation. Brilliantly done!

My sister-in-law would say that 95 percent of crop circles are fakes and copy cats, but that 5 percent defy explanation. She has some psychic theories that don’t involve aliens. I love a good mystery, but if someone is going to say “undiscovered psychic focusing”, I need a little science-based evidence.

https://www.livescience.com/26540-crop-circles.html

 

[Zombie_61]

Years ago I watched a short documentary on the crop circle "phenomenon" in which they spoke with land owners who had been targeted, then people who had made crop circles. Those who made them seemed to me to be very much like graffiti artists; they know they'll get in trouble if they get caught in the act so they plan everything out in advance in order to accomplish the task as quickly as possible. And every "artist" they spoke with said there's no "mystery" about them--they're all man-made.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Just playing the devil’s advocate:

"Leigh himself admits to an interest in these enigmatic patterns and their associated theories: ‘Many people, including me, have experienced tangible changes of energy on entering a crop circle. Your mobile may cease to function, and your watch, and your compass; yet the moment you step outside, they instantly return to normal…. Some are man-made but the majority have no explanation: they are profoundly mysterious,’ he said."

https://www.apollo-magazine.com/mike-leigh-crop-circles/​

"Crop circles have appeared in all sorts of crops, even silverbeet and rice paddies," she said. "But the ones in canola are the most extraordinary in my opinion ... canola has a consistency like celery. If you bend canola, at 45 degrees it snaps. Yet, in canola fields the plants are bent at 90 degrees to an inch above the ground. The whole stem lies parallel with the delicate flower heads intact. If you stomped a crop of canola down you would get mush — the delicate flower head would be totally destroyed. But in crop circles eventually the plant will stand up again." For Ms Heazlewood, the crop circle art forms — which often appear in remote and hard to access locations, with designs layered with symbolism — are not the work of humans.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2...ircle-research-held-back-by-ufo-links/7660712​

Glickman believed that the precise geometric qualities of some of the formations – fractals, spirals and so on – are so astounding that they could not possibly be man-made as no human hand could achieve such precision. Hoaxers, he observed, "claim to work in darkness, in silence, in secrecy and produce something which is sheer perfection. As an architect I know about geometry and it's just not possible. …Besides, human beings had "never made a circle of quality," he claimed in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph Magazine in 2010. "We've seen what they can do and it's crummy. It's the difference between a five-star meal in Lyons and a Big Mac." "I broke down and wept in one formation," he told The Guardian in 1998. "I don't often do that. It was simply too beautiful to digest. The crop was laid in the big, gentle strokes of a master painter. The sweep was so benign, so considerate. I felt on the edge of revelation. Year by year I'm coming closer to it."

https://www.smh.com.au/national/arc...-mysterious-crop-circles-20200720-p55dqj.html​

I jest, of course. I’ve never seen or been near a crop circle, so my default position is that they are man-made. But it is remarkable that people are still making these incredible claims. I’d like to see some scientific evidence supporting these extraordinary claims. But I suspect it is a bit like UFOs or Bigfoot: If you are a scientist and say you are going to study crop circles, you might as well kiss your career goodbye.

 

[Tiki Tom]

More medieval mayhem. In Italy, a tourist films a living Gargoyle on a church: (Go to minute 1:00)

As any monster hunter knows (paging Carl Kolchak) gargoyles hatch in 700 year cycles. So we are about due for another gargoyle outbreak.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Kryptos... A community has coalesced to solve the mystery. The message is probably not the point. The point is decoding the mathematics... for the point of solving the puzzle. Of course, the artist is playing with the spooks. Crazy, when you think about it. And fun.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/25/us/kryptos-secret-message-code-trnd/index.html

 

[Tiki Tom]

Any Hudson Valley dwellers out there?
I always thought that Bigfoot/Sasquatch was a Pacific Northwest phenomenon. The West has vast tracts of undeveloped forest land where maybe (just maybe...and it's a long shot) an intelligent creature could hide from marauding humans who have cameras and guns. But the further east you go, the more sceptical I become. Still, are ALL these people just off their meds?

http://westchester.news12.com/story...rcher-woman-is-chased-by-bigfoot-in-hyde-park

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Any Hudson Valley dwellers out there?
I always thought that Bigfoot/Sasquatch was a Pacific Northwest phenomenon. The West has vast tracts of undeveloped forest land where maybe (just maybe...and it's a long shot) an intelligent creature could hide from marauding humans who have cameras and guns. But the further east you go, the more sceptical I become. Still, are ALL these people just off their meds?

http://westchester.news12.com/story...rcher-woman-is-chased-by-bigfoot-in-hyde-park

Doesn't really sound convincing. " The creature jumped up in a tree above her & you know, branches a leaves started falling on her & then the creature started to move from tree to tree." That's pretty vague & it's unlikely a Sasquatch could be so agile.
I'm willing to admit that the person concerned may have had an encounter with some species of non indigenous primate, possibly an escapee or an abandoned pet & that during the encounter, because of the fear & excitement, the monkey/ape appeared bigger than it actually was.
As for the "mysterious sound" ....a lot of primates have loud weird calls but that to me, sounds like a howler monkey singing the intro of George Gershwin's ' Rhapsody in Blue.'

 

[Tiki Tom]

Chupacabra, anyone?

While the article argues that the image is probably that of a dog suffering from mange, I have never seen such a mangy dog!

https://abc7news.com/chupacabra-animal-legendary-creature-mythical/5305873/



Whoa. Here is another one! What is this? Chupacabra Season? This one looks more like a kangaroo than a dog… but in North America?

https://abcnews4.com/news/local/is-this-a-chupacabra-in-the-lowcountry-or-simply-a-coyote-with-mange


Chupacabras supposedly live all over the Southwest and down into Central America. They kill livestock, I hear, and suck their blood. I’m surprised by how many sightings there are (and photos)… of a creature that doesn’t exist. A quick Google search will get you dozens of sightings and many creepy pictures. While Bigfoot hogs the limelight, Chupacabras play to the cheap seats. They are kind of a second-rate Cryptid. I don't know... there seems to be a lot of them in Texas.

 

[Turnip]

As an alternative you could also google for "Perro sin pelo del Perú" ...

Cheers

 

[Zombie_61]

As an alternative you could also google for "Perro sin pelo del Perú" ...

Cheers

Yeah, but "Perúpacabra" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Try saying “Perupacabra” ten times fast.

it has been a busy summer... This Chupacabra looks like a cross between a cat and a fox. So many photos, so many not-normal looking critters.

https://www.gafollowers.com/chupaca...ad-or-a-coyote-with-mange-we-asked-an-expert/

 

[Benny Holiday]

Yech that is one creepy-looking animal!

I guess a bit more than a year ago, I was driving home in the early hours of the morning through my hilly suburb in the middle of winter. As you drive up the mountain, the road dips where it crosses a creek and a surrounding nature corridor. Bear in mind it's a built-up area first developed around 1960.

As I drove up the steep incline on the other side of the dip, I saw a weird shape planted in the middle of the right lane. It was very skinny but with a giant head with conical horns on top. It looked downright freaky!

Driving past it, I got a good view of a scrawny-looking fox with big ears and a messy, bushy tail. It ran back down into the thick foliage bordering the creek as I drove by. It sure looked weird in the middle of the night!

 

[Tiki Tom]

Scotland doesn't want it solved, myth or fact, Nessie is a monster, a money-making monster for the Highlands, £41M a year.

Happy Friday!

In keeping with GHT’s comment: Here is another very strange story coming from the UK. It seems that a retired gentleman was out for a walk in rural Scotland when he saw and photographed this creature. Non-native, for sure. It looks as if the reptile is alert to the danger of a nearby human and his dog. The photo caused quite a local stir.



What strikes me most about the story in the local press is that there is very little discussion about what the beast might be or where it came from.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/...eact-sighting-10823510#ICID=sharebar_facebook

Instead, the article jumps right into “what shall we name it?” and “perhaps we can generate some tourist money from this sighting.” I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Or perhaps that line of talk suggests that this was all a fraud from the start; an effort by a dying village to reinvent itself.

A cynic might even say the photo is just an odd piece of wood caught at just the right angle. The power-of-suggestion is a powerful thing!

But then again...?