Just got done reading the life of Alexander the Great. The sling shows up once in a while in battle.
 One of the best was when he was in a rocky area of Persia. The army was tricked into going into a narrow rocky valley. From on top they got pelted with arrows,slingstones, even boulders. Of course, Alexander doesn't retreat, but tries to make a tetsudo to protect them.   Eventually they have to retreat, but at the loss of many men.

slingbadger wrote on May 16^th, 2007 at 12:13pm:

Just got done reading the life of Alexander the Great. The sling shows up once in a while in battle.  One of the best was when he was in a rocky area of Persia. The army was tricked into going into a narrow rocky valley. From on top they got pelted with arrows,slingstones, even boulders. Of course, Alexander doesn't retreat, but tries to make a tetsudo to protect them.   Eventually they have to retreat, but at the loss of many men.

Alexander was one amazing dude, even if he did go a bit bonkers at the end.  I’m a little surprised (although I shouldn’t be) at his use of the “turtle” (testudo).   I thought it was a Roman notion.  But it makes excellence sense and, as I’ve said before many times, our ancestors were not idiots.

Trebuchet

I just finneshed the book mossflower by Brian jaques ,slings galore

Quote:

even if he did go a bit bonkers at the end

well syphilis will do that to ya :-)

I suppose the thing about the romans was that they weren't too proud to use someone elses idaes - as long as it worked :-)

Just look at pasta - invented by the chinese and now mostly associated with the italians :-)

Curious Aardvark wrote on Dec 18^th, 2007 at 11:20am:

Just look at pasta - invented by the chinese and now mostly associated with the italians :-)

 

I know this is a bit off topic, but.. sorry, that´s not true.
There are plenty of evidence for pasta (including dried pasta found in ethruscian graves) in what is today Italy way back pre-Marco Polo. I think I´ve even come across some documentation of pasta from Roman age, but at the moment I can´t recall the source.

That the Chinese invented pasta, and Marco Polo brought it back to Italy is just another of those things that have been repeated often enough that many people "know" that they are true. Lots of that going around. (You can´t see the Great Wall of China nor the pyramids of Egypt from the moon, either - in case anyone still believed that one...  ;) )

Lasse C
Happy little mythbuster

Lasse C wrote on Dec 18^th, 2007 at 4:51pm:

Curious Aardvark wrote on Dec 18th, 2007 at 11:20am:   Just look at pasta - invented by the chinese and now mostly associated with the italians :-)   I know this is a bit off topic, but.. sorry, that´s not true. There are plenty of evidence for pasta (including dried pasta found in ethruscian graves) in what is today Italy way back pre-Marco Polo. I think I´ve even come across some documentation of pasta from Roman age, but at the moment I can´t recall the source. That the Chinese invented pasta, and Marco Polo brought it back to Italy is just another of those things that have been repeated often enough that many people "know" that they are true. Lots of that going around. (You can´t see the Great Wall of China nor the pyramids of Egypt from the moon, either - in case anyone still believed that one...  ;) ) Lasse C Happy little mythbuster

Have you read The History Of Pasta? 'cuz i haven't......... i don't even know if their's a book called that. ;)

but yeah, alexander was quite amazing, one of the ancient superpowers of the ancient world, along with nebuchadnezar,cesar, gengis khan, england, and at the moment america, the world has an amazing legacy of super powers....

axon50 wrote on Dec 18^th, 2007 at 10:44pm:

Have you read The History Of Pasta? 'cuz i haven't......... i don't even know if their's a book called that.

I don´t know if there is a specific book called "The history of Pasta", either - but because I find it interesting I have read about the history of pasta, yes.
And the point you want to make is...?  ::)

BTW, taking a little care to evaluate sources of information and comparing with other sources is a great way to weed out myths and find actual facts. As I wrote, there are a lot of stories going around which are taken for true just because they have been repeated often enough.

Lasse C

lol did I mention marco polo ? I don't think so. Everyone knows the old 'marco polo brought everything back to europe' is a pile of old wives tales :-)
And anyone who thinks that mainland europe and china had no connection before marco polo is an idiot - it's a single contiguous landmass - of course there were many connections long before polo.

I suspect if you checked you'd find the chinese had pasta long before the italians had civilsation. The chinese certainly had civilisation long before most of europe.

I stand by my assertion :-)

Lasse C wrote on Dec 19^th, 2007 at 3:17am:

axon50 wrote on Dec 18th, 2007 at 10:44pm:  Have you read The History Of Pasta? 'cuz i haven't......... i don't even know if their's a book called that. I don´t know if there is a specific book called "The history of Pasta", either - but because I find it interesting I have read about the history of pasta, yes. And the point you want to make is...?  ::) BTW, taking a little care to evaluate sources of information and comparing with other sources is a great way to weed out myths and find actual facts. As I wrote, there are a lot of stories going around which are taken for true just because they have been repeated often enough. Lasse C

I was just (in a kinda sarcastic indirect way) pointing out that pasta's not that important (so I probably shouldn't have made that post),
but yes, i have found that checking as many sources as possible is a good way to check if something is true :). It almost always works (90+% of the time).

Curious Aardvark wrote on Dec 19^th, 2007 at 11:47am:

lol did I mention marco polo ? I don't think so. Everyone knows the old 'marco polo brought everything back to europe' is a pile of old wives tales :-) And anyone who thinks that mainland europe and china had no connection before marco polo is an idiot - it's a single contiguous landmass - of course there were many connections long before polo. I suspect if you checked you'd find the chinese had pasta long before the italians had civilsation. The chinese certainly had civilisation long before most of europe. I stand by my assertion :-)

the chinese had noodles not pasta, their is a slight difference. ;)

Well, generally if something has an actual religion dedicated to it, it's pretty important... :D

Ramen is Chinese, right? Most other pasta has relatively (OK, extremely) italian names... But that is totally worthless, because names change, and trans-culture items tend to achieve new names...

The pizza in its well-known form (the pizza pie) is actually Italian-American, right? Just thought I would throw out another controversial "Italian" comestible...

According to everyones favorite non-credible information source, wikipedia.org , depending on how you define "pasta" it has been in China, Greece, Italy, Israel... Horace, Galen, Isho bar Ali, Athenaeus, etc. wrote about it...

Back to the original topic...

Alexander was very cool, or very evil, depending on how you look at it. It seems that Ancient dictators and conquerors are seen as cool, while more modern ones are seen as evil.
Alexander, Caesar, various Middle-eastern warlords...

Then Charlemagne, Napoleon, Frederik of Prussia...

Then you have Hitler, Stalin, various Middle-eastern warlords... Seen as evil sickos.

I'm not saying that they weren't, because I think they were. But why, because Alexander killed thousands and brought havoc so long ago does it make him cool? Because the slaughtered innocents are nameless? Because the genocideded cultures are gone?
Just some thoughts...

Ethan wrote on Dec 19^th, 2007 at 6:48pm:

Well, generally if something has an actual religion dedicated to it, it's pretty important... :D Ramen is Chinese, right? Most other pasta has relatively (OK, extremely) italian names... But that is totally worthless, because names change, and trans-culture items tend to achieve new names... The pizza in its well-known form (the pizza pie) is actually Italian-American, right? Just thought I would throw out another controversial "Italian" comestible... According to everyones favorite non-credible information source, wikipedia.org , depending on how you define "pasta" it has been in China, Greece, Italy, Israel... Horace, Galen, Isho bar Ali, Athenaeus, etc. wrote about it... Back to the original topic... Alexander was very cool, or very evil, depending on how you look at it. It seems that Ancient dictators and conquerors are seen as cool, while more modern ones are seen as evil. Alexander, Caesar, various Middle-eastern warlords... Then Charlemagne, Napoleon, Frederik of Prussia... Then you have Hitler, Stalin, various Middle-eastern warlords... Seen as evil sickos. I'm not saying that they weren't, because I think they were. But why, because Alexander killed thousands and brought havoc so long ago does it make him cool? Because the slaughtered innocents are nameless? Because the genocideded cultures are gone? Just some thoughts...

The bible describes alexander as a pursocuter of saints, the reson (i think) that he is so populair, is because he was a millitary genius : :-?, but i suppose we shouldn't praise alexander as much as we shouldn't praise hitler, point taken. (if that's what you meant).

I didn't really have much of a point, other than, while military genius is genius and fun to study, and weapons are fun to weild (Duh. Look at the site name...), war isn't necessarily cool.

It's pretty much never cool, because either you are an invader, therefor bad, or being invaded, therefor the other guy is bad.
Either way, someone has to be evil...

Curious Aardvark wrote on Dec 19^th, 2007 at 11:47am:

I suspect if you checked you'd find the chinese had pasta long before the italians had civilsation. The chinese certainly had civilisation long before most of europe.

OK, I´ll buy that!
I guess I jumped to the Marco Polo conclusion too quickly. Whether pasta was invented by the chinese and spread, or if it is one of those many things that have been independently invented in several places, I´ll leave undebated.

Have you tried the braided leather sling yet, BTW?

LC

Yes he did. Nearly tore his arm off, slinging a 3 lb. rock, too...

I forget where he said that, though... I'm still jealous of it, lol.

Quote:

Yes he did. Nearly tore his arm off, slinging a 3 lb. rock, too...

yep - that pretty much covers it lol Buggered my elbow up that's for sure.
But I got some good distance with golfballs before that - good sling :-)
You get the wood yet ?

yep pasta was probably invented independantly in several places - but the chinese had the technology to do it first.

When I went to china a few years ago now. The thing that impressed me most was not the terracotta warriors but an excavated neolithic village nearby. Ban-po neolithic village it was called. Now my numbers are probably wrong here but I thought it was 60,000 years old. And the needles and hooks and other domestic items they had found were every bit as good as modern metal equivalents - but mainly made from bone. And at that point I realised that even though the tech level in china had hit a plateau a long time ago - they got to that plateau thousands of years before anywhere in the west.  

I'll dig out the pics over christmas - it was impressive stuff :-)

Yep... The primitive folks sure knew how to live... :)

BTW, according to a quick search, 60,000 years ago people were chasing mammoths around Great Britain and brushing their teeth, Neanderthal style (as told [url="http://anthropology.net/2007/09/12/dental-hygeine-among-neandertals-some-60000-years-ago/"]here[/url]!)  ;D

how we got from alexander to spagetti to sore arms to "ancient folk"........ I really don't know (actualy i do, but hey). ;)

it's not  a 'proper' discussion if you stay on topic all the time lol
On the bright side it didn't branch out into a discussion on syphilis :-)

but...you mentioned the Ban po!...very awesome digs, wish I could have seen them personally...

must....avoid....listing...famous syphillis deaths....

King Henry VIII I believe. :P
I heard that a scientist had taken the liberty to taste mammoth meat..but decided it was too dry. ;D

JTK wrote on Dec 18^th, 2007 at 10:53am:

I just finneshed the book mossflower by Brian jaques ,slings galore

 

yea its a great book im reading the seiris right now. the book im reading right now is taggerung

Pasta with tomato and mammoth sauce? Yummmmmmm!!

Gee, too bad. The archeological dig I go to in the summer only has bones. No meat yet.

slingbadger wrote on Feb 8^th, 2008 at 10:33am:

Gee, too bad. The archeological dig I go to in the summer only has bones. No meat yet.

Bones, that is what is used to make soup, isn't it?

Just put them in a pot of water and let it stand in the fire for a few hours ;D

Willeke

im on martin the warrior now

Yeah, but trying to sneak out the leg bone of a mastadon is tricky. They're 3 feet long.

slingbadger wrote on Feb 9^th, 2008 at 10:31am:

Yeah, but trying to sneak out the leg bone of a mastadon is tricky. They're 3 feet long.

It should be a archological experiment, done on the spot.
And a 3 foot long bone would make enough soup for the whole crew.
(I know they do not like soup that much nowadays.)

Willeke

Stick it under your duster/trench coat and just act like nothings wrong :)

Marc Adkins


slingbadger wrote on Feb 9^th, 2008 at 10:31am:

Yeah, but trying to sneak out the leg bone of a mastadon is tricky. They're 3 feet long.

Ya know for the Microbially enabled if ya really, really want to we could go there if ya want.
In a previous job ( Department of Microbiology and Immunology at a college of medicine) the Officestaff couldn't each lunch with the technical staff because of the lunchtime topics we used to have.

Marc Adkins


Curious Aardvark wrote on Dec 22^nd, 2007 at 1:39pm:

it's not  a 'proper' discussion if you stay on topic all the time lol On the bright side it didn't branch out into a discussion on syphilis :-)