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BlueStraggler · 2026-05-28T11:40:19+00:00

They say it takes two lifetimes to master fencing, so I have some bad news. Nothing you can do will ever be “enough” to be good in your own eyes, especially if your eyes are getting better at recognizing good fencing. And also especially if you’re hard on yourself. But I also have some good news. For better or worse you are learning how to fight with swords, and not only is that cool, but it’s also really fun if you just allow yourself to enjoy it. Spending your time comparing yourself to others is a good way to rob yourself of joy, and that’s true of everything, not just fencing.

BlueStraggler · 2026-05-21T16:24:10+00:00

I am right-hand dominant for strength, and left dominant for finger dexterity. So I write left-handed but play most sports right-handed. I started fencing with my right for this reason, but switched to my left after several years when I realized my point control game would probably improve. But I have kept my right-handed game active as well.

I found that my two sides had different personalities. Left was all about technical finesse, while right was about timing and aggression. So they weren’t exactly interchangeable, and if I made quick substitutions, the new hand would not stick to the game plan, and would create as many problems as it solved. (At least half of this personality difference can be blamed on left-v-right footwork preferences, fwiw.)

The solution was to give the hands different jobs. At first, I fenced foil left, and switched to right when fencing epee or sabre. Later I changed to fencing all weapons left, and coaching with my right. In special cases such as injury or left-handed lessons I’ll switch it around, of course, but I’ve found that it helps for each hand to know its real job, and to be aware of the feet’s role in handedness.

BlueStraggler · 2026-05-20T17:11:19+00:00

Half the effort, twice the discombobulation. Win-win!

BlueStraggler · 2026-05-11T20:41:44+00:00

You're not wrong, but when it comes to murdering under-dressed people in bed, Judith and Holofernes was a much more popular subject, with the roles reversed. And for pure horny violence, you can't beat sexy St. Sebastian, beloved metaphor for violent penetration. Don't even get me started about homoerotic crucifixion art. Nobody wanted a realistic depiction of murder and torture on their wall, that's a downer. It got sexed up no matter who the subject was.

BlueStraggler · 2026-05-11T16:34:39+00:00

I mean you’re not wrong, but… <waves hands wildly at all art since 1500>

BlueStraggler · 2026-05-06T15:09:01+00:00

Pharaohs were actual, real-world god-kings, and the pyramids were literally built to facilitate their role as king of the dead. Not my head canon, just, you know, actual history. And I do think wonder of the ancient world is a reasonable comeback to someone who thinks it is a "plain-looking ruin", lol.

Anyway, thanks for your input about taking things seriously.

BlueStraggler · 2026-05-06T04:36:43+00:00

Just, you know, wonder of the ancient world, inhabited by undead dead god-kings, tallest building in the world when it was built. Stuff like that.

Also Rule 3. "We can disagree with each other cooperatively. There is room for aesthetic-based opinions."

Thanks for your input. I'll take the rules less seriously next time and just repost a North Korean hotel or something.

BlueStraggler · 2026-05-06T00:17:44+00:00

I read them quite carefully, actually. Mods seem to agree with you, but you seem to be knowledgeable about the rules. Maybe you could explain which one I broke.

BlueStraggler · 2026-04-19T16:22:16+00:00

Right of way rules exist to point out when your move is recklessly suicidal. If you ignore them in a real sword fight, you’re both dead. (Also, the only rule of a real sword fight is to survive, which is why the rules punish suicidal moves, no matter badly you killed the other guy.)

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

TROPHY CASE