Infantry Missile Weapons in the Renaissance

Sunday, October 5th, 2003

We now take guns for granted and assume that they were always superior to bows or crossbows. Early guns were, frankly, pretty awful weapons. From Infantry Missile Weapons in the Renaissance:

By 1500 infantrymen had three different missile weapons available to them. There was the arquebus, a relatively light firearm manageable by one man, as well as the very common crossbow, and the longbow, which was mostly limited to use by the English. Technically the arquebus was inferior to both the other two weapons in range, accuracy, and rate of fire, while the longbow was generally superior to the crossbow.

Relatively speaking the arquebus was cheaper than either the longbow, which had to be meticulously handcrafted from yew, and the crossbow, which required equally meticulous workmanship and rather expensive steel as well. The arquebus could be mass-produced by a foundry in fairly cheap cast iron. In addition, while the range, accuracy, and effectiveness of an arquebus round were inferior to those of the other weapons, an arquebusier could carry more ammunition than either of his competitors. Arquebus ammo weighed less than arrows or crossbow bolts, even after adding in the powder charge.

As a result of this difference in ammunition weight, an arquebusier could sustain fire longer than either a crossbowman or a longbowman. And ultimately it was sustained fire that won battles, more than accurate fire.

In addition, despite the inferior technical performance of the arquebus ball, it was superior to arrows as an armor smasher. Rounded, soft lead bullets were less likely to be deflected by the polished curved surface of armor than were arrows.

The arquebus had one more very important advantage over its rivals. It was perhaps the critical advantage in determining the rather rapid conversion of armies from archers to arquebusiers. A man required considerably less skill to become an arquebusier than either a crossbowman or a longbowman. A few weeks training was all that was necessary to turn out a fairly capable arquebusier. In contrast, it took years to properly train a the bowman, who had to develop considerable musculature before being able to use his weapon to its fullest capacity. This was particularly true of longbowmen, of whom there was a saying that in order to a good one you had to start with his grandfather.

One other advantage of the arquebus is that it’s much, much more frightening than a crossbow or longbow.

Edit: It didn’t hit me at first, but the muzzle velocity the article lists for an arquebus, 30 m/s, is about 60 mph. I suspect I could throw a bullet that fast. From what I’ve read, an arquebus has a muzzle velocity closer to 1000 fps (like a modern pistol), or 300 m/s. Fixing that typo reveals that an arquebus round has a kinetic energy of over 2000 joules, not 20.

Remains Of Xena-Like Woman Found

Friday, October 3rd, 2003

Intriguing. Remains Of Xena-Like Woman Found:

The remains of a six-foot tall woman, buried with a shield and knife, were recently discovered in an Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Lincolnshire, England.

The body and artifacts, which date to A.D. 500-600, suggest that more women than previously believed may have fought alongside men during the turbulent years following England’s Roman period.

Brahe’s bladder & Mozart’s murder

Friday, October 3rd, 2003

Tycho Brahe was quite a character. From Brahe’s bladder & Mozart’s murder:

Tycho Brahe died in 1601 at 54. He had come to Prague from his native Denmark to serve as Imperial Mathematician under Rudolph II. Legend holds that during a banquet held by Rudolph or another worthy, Brahe had to pee so bad his bladder burst. The etiquette of the day required that he not rise before his host. Probably he did postpone urinating despite extreme discomfort. His bladder did not, however, pop on the spot as some Prague guidebooks suggest.

Arriving home he was unable to urinate (or sleep) for five days. Thereafter he fell into anguished delirium for another six days before he died. He seems to have been oddly certain of his coming death. Repeatedly he said that he wanted not to have lived in vain.

Modern forensics has established — by testing remnants of his beard exhumed from his cathedral tomb — that he probably died of mercury poisoning. Foul play cannot be ruled out but the favored theory is that he took medicine of high mercury content — common in those days — to treat a longstanding urinary problem.

Indeed, so exact were the tests that it was determined from the relative position of the mercury within a single hair’s length that Brahe ingested a significant quantity of the stuff about 20 hours before his death.

Brahe was an intriguing character: he had a silver prosthetic nose, for one thing, having lost the original in a duel. He is said to have reveled fiercely all his life and he kept a dwarf as a jester and an elk as a pet. A burst bladder fits nicely into this general description and seems a fitting end.

However Brahe would surely prefer — witness his dying wish — to be remembered for his scientific achievements. In addition to creating the most sophisticated astronomical instruments to date, and tutoring the next generation of astronomers including Johannes Kepler, Brahe introduced a meticulousness of observation without which further advances in astronomy would have been impossible.

Impact of Gun Control Laws Questioned

Thursday, October 2nd, 2003

I can’t say I’m surprised. Impact of Gun Control Laws Questioned:

A sweeping federal review of the nation’s gun control laws — including mandatory waiting periods and bans on certain weapons — found no proof such measures reduce firearm violence.

I’m also not surprised by the conclusion drawn:

The CDC said the report suggests more study is needed, not that gun laws don’t work.

Richard Sandrak Fan Club

Thursday, October 2nd, 2003

I followed a link to the Richard Sandrak fan club, and this is the first post I looked at:

Here are Richard’s stats from the RSFC Chatroom in March 2003.
Born: April 15, 1992 – Wt 6 lbs-Ht 19 in
3 yrs: Wt 25 lbs-Ht 2ft 5 in.
7yrs: Wt 60 lbs-Ht 4 ft.
10.5 yrs: Wt 80 lbs-Ht 5 ft.

Flexed Relaxed
Neck: 13 inches 12 inches
Chest: 33 inches 29.5 inches
Biceps: 11 inches 9.5 inches
Waist: 23 inches
Thighs: 18 inches 15.5 inches
Calves: 12 inches
Forearms: 10.5 inches

Lifts: We know Richard curls his bodyweight for reps, squats with 1.5X bodyweight for 1/2 hr, and benches 240 lbs. for several reps! (impressive to say the least).

However, Moderator Paul Thompson posted this message on 6/14/02:

His biceps are 12″ His chest is 35″ His waist is 21″ His legs are 17.5″ He is 4’8″ and weighs 75 lbs. He has 4% body fat.

And this post from 8/7/02: One-rep max lifts are not part of his training, but Richard benches over 200 lbs., does 100 behind-the-neck chins slowly with perfect form, squats with the 100 lb. vest for 45 min., and I believe he can curl almost twice his body weight (as of several months ago).

I’d probably go with the larger numbers from the above, since months have gone by.

Those numbers are crazy! He benches 240 pounds? He does 100 behind-the-neck chins? He squats for 45 minutes straight? With a 100-pound vest on?

Edit: Evidently the Richard Sandrak Fan Club no longer exists — or no longer exists as the original Yahoo! Group.

The Interactive Way To Go

Thursday, October 2nd, 2003

I just recently got a Go set, and I found an excellent on-line resource for learning the game, The Interactive Way To Go. I particularly enjoyed the brief introduction to the rules:

Before you begin, please remember just 3 rules below.
  • Two players (black and white) take turns, placing one stone on the board at a time.
  • A stone must be placed on the intersection of the vertical and horizontal lines.
  • Once a stone is placed, you can’t move it, although under some conditions it may be removed.

They are just too easy, aren’t they? Now, you understand half the rules of Go!

I also learned (or was reminded of) a key piece of trivia:

Stones that can be removed with one more move are said to be in “Atari”.

Atari isn’t just a classic videogame company; it’s the Go version of check.

Richard Sandrak – The Little Hercules

Thursday, October 2nd, 2003

I don’t know why I was recently reminded of Richard Sandrak – The Little Hercules, but there’s something fascinating about an eight-year-old with six-pack abs:

At 8 years old Richard Sandrak is the strongest human in the world, pound for pound. It was apparent early on in his life that Richard was gifted. Father Pavel, a World Martial Arts Champion and mother Lena, an Aerobics competitor, quickly realized that they had a young prodigy on their hands. When they introduced him to light training and martial arts at the age of two his development took off in a big way and continued to improve until they sought to find an appropriate outlet for him to focus his voluminous energy and talents. If at any time they believed all of it to be a passing phase, time and Richards persistence worked to discard the notion.

Eventually Pavel and Lena contacted Frank and Sherry Goggin-Giardina to take their son under experienced wings and work with him to hone his flourishing abilities. Sherry — a Fitness America Champion and fitness cover model having graced the covers of Physical, Ironman, Muscle and Fitness, Oxygen and Musclemag and Frank — a former competitive bodybuilder with a degree in Nutrition and a major in Physical Education, were stunned when they first laid eyes on their young charge. They could not believe the level of conditioning he possessed. With 1.5% body fat and good shape on his chest, triceps, and legs — they had never seen anything like him.

The photos on his own site have a certain freak-show allure.

Gene Mutation May Explain SARS Epidemic

Thursday, October 2nd, 2003

Gene Mutation May Explain SARS Epidemic:

A genetic susceptibility may explain why SARS raged last year in Southeast Asia and nowhere else in the world outside of Toronto, Taiwanese researchers reported this week.

They found a certain variant in an immune system gene called human leukocyte antigen, or HLA, made patients in Taiwan much more likely to develop life-threatening symptoms of SARS.

The gene variant is common in people of southern Chinese descent, the team at Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei reported.

Skimping on the Peace

Wednesday, October 1st, 2003

Skimping on the Peace discusses the $87 billion price tag on rebuilding Iraq:

Congressmen needn’t worry that Iraq is on the way to becoming a long-run welfare case. The country’s Governing Council has passed an economic plan providing for open trade, and a pro-growth, flat-rate 15% tax on corporate and individual income.

It’s enough to make you wish the US would invade…the US.

Baghdad City Cop

Wednesday, October 1st, 2003

Mr. Kerik, a former chief of the New York City Police Department, has just returned from a four-month stint in Baghdad as senior policy adviser to Ambassador Bremer. In Baghdad City Cop, he describes a few videos he had to watch:

In my four months in Iraq, spent living with, working with, and learning from Iraqi police, I’ve seen things that would sicken the worst of minds. In our hunt for the Fedayeen Saddam, Saddam Hussein’s trained assassins, I watched video after video of interrogations of Iraqis whose lives ended with the detonation of a grenade that was tied to the neck or stuffed in the shirt pocket of the victim. I watched the living bodies disintegrate at the pull of the pin. And if that’s not enough, there’s a tape of Saddam sitting and watching one of his military generals being eaten alive by Dobermans because the general’s loyalty was in question.

Johann Hari – The Iraqi Homecoming

Wednesday, October 1st, 2003

Johann Hari – The Iraqi Homecoming describes how exiled Iraqis, in the Iraqi Prospect Organisation (IPO), have tried to spread liberal thinking in their former country:

The IPO people went to Iraq with clear goals. First, they wanted to establish debating societies and newsletters in the Baghdad universities. ‘These are going to be the seeds of democracy,’ Yasser explains. ‘Once you learn to argue against people instead of killing them as Saddam did, you’re on your way. We explained to the university students that they could have different newspapers – and even have different opinions in the same newspapers – and it seemed totally surreal to them. They just couldn’t understand it. But when they realised that it really was possible and nobody was going to punish them, they were so excited that they were just obsessed.

[...]

Third, Sama explains: “We took a group of university students to a workshop arranged by a Washington-based organisation about how to set up NGOs [non-governmental organisations]. To you or me it would seem incredibly basic, but to them it was a revelation. They hadn’t understood that you could set up your own organisation, without any orders or permission from anyone. They thought societies and charities were something the state did to you, something secretive and conspiratorial, not something people create for themselves. It was beautiful to see this happening.”

It sounds like the Kurds have flourished without Saddam:

Yet hope was restored by their trip to Northern Iraq. “It was like going into a different world,” Sama says, her eyes welling up. “It’s beautiful. It looks like part of Europe. It’s totally free and efficient and secure and democratic. It was so encouraging, because at the end of [the first] Gulf War it was just like the rest of Iraq. We could make progress like that in the next decade. We brought one of my cousins with us, and he cried and said: `Is this my country? Is this really part of Iraq?’”