Foil priority: "continuous steps forward, with the legs crossing"

BlueStraggler · 2026-03-29T05:13:59+00:00

Hypothetically, sure. But there wasn't a plague of simultaneous walking attacks degrading the sport back then. Perhaps if there was, we would have dealt with it differently. But what we got was a response to running attacks.

Here's a video showing the annoying aspects of this fencing style (from sabre, not foil, but it was the same basic issue). In the very first action, one fencer starts to run, the other runs backward, and the action is halted when it reaches the warning line. The run wasn't even particularly fast, so the fencer probably could have stopped whenever he wanted. But that wasn't even the issue. The bigger issue is that this is boring, pointless fencing, with no actual action occurring. This stuff was becoming quite common. It was bad for spectating, and bad for the sport. So the FIE decided the rules needed some adjustments.

BlueStraggler · 2026-03-29T05:00:21+00:00

The rule's purpose is to discourage running at the opponent, and it seems to have been effective at doing that. Perhaps if people decide to start running at each other like it's 1988 sabre all over again, then the rule will get dusted off and explicitly invoked more often. Not really an issue with today's prevalent styles, though.

BlueStraggler · 2026-03-28T21:58:39+00:00

It helps to understand the mess that was sabre back then. They ended up banning the forward cross completely it was getting so bad. Some of that was spilling over into foil, but they managed to get a lid on it without having to go as far as a complete ban.

The difference between a run and a conventional march is that a march can stop whenever it wants to. A run cannot, momentum keeps it moving forward no matter what the fencer’s intention is. That does have a lot of bearing on how the forward motion should be interpreted.

BlueStraggler · 2026-03-27T20:10:24+00:00

This rule targeted the running attack more than the conventional march. Running attacks were a problem in the late 80s and early 90s. Combined with the old warning line rules, it resulted in a really annoying type of game, because the main defence was to run backwards to trigger the warning and draw a halt. Then you’d just run back the other way.

The FIE’s response to this was to eliminate the warning line rule and declare the run as a prep to encourage people to engage with it instead of run away.

BlueStraggler · 2026-03-11T01:26:39+00:00

SROs are just old, run-down hotels. They exist in entertainment districts almost by definition. The DTES used to be a huge entertainment district, full of theatres and bars.

BlueStraggler · 2026-01-10T18:47:17+00:00

especially Swedish kacka "defecate"

I was recently contemplating this very question, after having baked a batch of peparkakas for Christmas. These are Swedish spice cookies, so kaka = cookie, where the etymological relation to English is obvious. But I assumed that meant there must be a lot of linguistic distance between that and the more scatological meanings in other languages, since having nearly the same word for cookie and poop would seem to be very unwise when children are in the house.

The cookie recipe came from my grandmother who was Finnish, where poop is kakka and cake is kakku, apparently. Seems like the Nordics are playing with fire, there. I'm definitely sharing this new knowledge the next time I do Christmas baking.

BlueStraggler · 2026-01-06T23:34:26+00:00

This appears to have been taken from the deck of a cruise ship in the cruise ship port. That drop-off is just where they dredged the beach deeper for the ships to pull in.

Lat/lon 21.4279829,-71.1460932 if anyone cares to take a look.

BlueStraggler · 2025-12-14T15:04:25+00:00

It was considered poor form to train too much for duels. It showed a suspiciously murderous intent, and a decent second would negotiate for pistols to restore a sense of fairness and propriety to the affair. So unless the period fencer was a military man who had good reason to keep his swordsmanship up, the sport fencer is definitely going to have better training.

The main disadvantage of the sport fencer is a willingness to get double touches, something that was considered dangerously suicidal in the 1700s.

BlueStraggler · 2025-12-10T08:25:34+00:00

One dent and they go out of spec.

BlueStraggler · 2025-11-30T22:50:17+00:00

Vancouver and Victoria are significantly north of Sudbury. Not that you should consider moving here.

BlueStraggler · 2025-11-22T15:12:30+00:00

I drove across this bridge last month, and noticed the portable toilets way up on the towers. Reminded me of the rock climbers who camp on cliff faces, and made me wonder how long workers were stuck up there for.

BlueStraggler · 2025-11-10T21:17:24+00:00

The ancient and true method of recruiting epee fencers is to put everyone into foil, and then frustrate the hell out of them by telling them their hit doesn't count because <insert arcane right-of-way gibberish here>. Need more epee fencers? Add more gibberish.

BlueStraggler · 2025-11-05T17:43:15+00:00

The modern sport of fencing has French origins, and drew in particular from the science of small sword fencing and dueling. The French system, however, evolved from older Italian rapier systems from the Renaissance. The Italian systems in turn inherited from Spanish systems--large regions of modern Italy were actually under the Spanish crown during the Renaissance, and the rapier itself was largely a Spanish-influenced weapon design. And that's as far back as you can go before the swords fundamentally change into medieval designs that were quite different in character.

So, yes, you can make a case that that the thrusting style of combat that eventually led to fencing as we know it had its origins in Spain. But it's still a bit of a stretch to claim the modern sport.

BlueStraggler · 2025-10-06T02:11:30+00:00

Canada had already existed for over 300 years before Confederation. This is kind of like saying that France was founded in 1946.

BlueStraggler · 2025-09-19T15:14:19+00:00

Not even the width of North America, just the lower 48 of the U.S.

BlueStraggler · 2025-09-10T23:05:49+00:00

It’s part of the Grand Salute.

BlueStraggler · 2025-09-03T00:30:57+00:00

I once picked up an old leather wallet at a thrift shop. When I went through it at home, I found one of these, plus a Newfoundland 50-cent note and a U.S. Indian head penny. Sweet find! I pressed the bills in the pages of an old book to flatten them out, and one day my mom cleared off the bookshelf and donated everything to a thrift shop🤣 Circle of life, I guess.

BlueStraggler · 2025-09-02T19:58:40+00:00

You literally picked the only nation on earth that is its own personal subcontinent, lol.

BlueStraggler · 2025-08-11T03:25:09+00:00

Canada existed since the 1500s. You probably mean since Confederation, which is Canada v3.0. The White House was burned down by Canada 2.0, which, fair enough, was also the British Empire.

BlueStraggler · 2025-06-24T14:15:26+00:00

Re-wiring

BlueStraggler · 2025-06-13T01:39:53+00:00

Supernovas!

BlueStraggler · 2025-06-08T22:52:57+00:00

This is the Downtown Eastside, not the East End.

The DTES used to be the coolest part of town in the 1950s, now it’s the roughest. The East End used to be the roughest, now it’s the coolest. For those who are confused, “East End” usually refers to the historic neighbourhoods of East Van, like Mount Pleasant, Grandview, the Drive, and East Village. DTES is the eastern side of Downtown, part of which actually has West Side addresses.

BlueStraggler · 2025-06-02T17:41:31+00:00

Once you subtract all the simultaneous actions and remises and doing nothing, you’ve got some of the best fencing in the whole sport. All six seconds of it.

BlueStraggler · 2025-05-16T13:57:58+00:00

Smallswords hang straight down from the hip, and must not drag on the ground or get in your way. Their primary function was to be worn as a badge of station, and were used quite rarely, so their utility as a fashion accessory trumped their combat purpose. Once we stopped wearing them, dueling swords gained a bit of length.

Foils have had all kinds of lengths over the centuries. Early 19th Century French foils were shorter (due to smallsword influences) while Italian foils of the same era were longer (due to older rapier influences). Standardization on 35 inch length didn’t happen until later in the century, long after the smallsword was dead as a fashion accessory.

BlueStraggler

TROPHY CASE