Full Width [alt+shift+f] Shortcuts [alt+shift+k]
Sign Up [alt+shift+s] Log In [alt+shift+l]
3
This week we’re going to do something a bit silly, in part because I have to prepare for and travel to an invited workshop/talk event later this week and so don’t have quite the time for a more normal ‘full’ post and in part because it is fun to be silly sometimes (and we might … Continue reading Collections: Alexander Goes West (A Silly Counterfactual) →
21 hours ago

Improve your reading experience

Logged in users get linked directly to articles resulting in a better reading experience. Please login for free, it takes less than 1 minute.

More from A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry

Fireside Friday, May 9, 2025 (On Lighter Bows)

Fireside this week! First off, it seems like last week’s post on the Hollywood myth of archery volley fire really got out there, so if you are a new reader just joining us, welcome! If you are in to discussions of historical tactics with an eye towards correcting common myths in games and film, you … Continue reading Fireside Friday, May 9, 2025 (On Lighter Bows) →

a week ago 11 votes
Collections: Why Archers Didn’t Volley Fire

This week we’re looking at a specific visual motif common in TV and film: the arrow volley. You know the scene: the general readies his archers, he orders them to ‘draw!’ and then holds up his hand with that ‘wait for it’ gesture and then shouts ‘loose!’ (or worse yet, ‘fire!’) and all of the … Continue reading Collections: Why Archers Didn’t Volley Fire →

2 weeks ago 5 votes
Collections: How Gandalf Proved Mightiest: Spiritual Power in Tolkien

This week, I want to keep unloading my Tolkien-related thoughts, turning from last week’s character study to a look at the way ‘magic’ and spiritual power work in Tolkien’s legendarium and in particular to how contests between fundamentally magical beings in Middle-earth are decided. This is a topic that I think even the best adaptations … Continue reading Collections: How Gandalf Proved Mightiest: Spiritual Power in Tolkien →

3 weeks ago 5 votes
Collections: Why Celebrimbor Fell but Boromir Conquered: the Moral Universe of Tolkien

This week (and probably next) I want to talk a bit more Tolkien, but in a somewhat different vein from normal. Rather than discussing the historicity of Tolkien’s world or adaptations of it, I want to take a moment to discuss some of the themes of Tolkien’s work, which express themselves in the metaphysical architecture … Continue reading Collections: Why Celebrimbor Fell but Boromir Conquered: the Moral Universe of Tolkien →

4 weeks ago 15 votes

More in history

Make Your Own Space Station (1970)

Today I have found some "space crafting" : ) projects for you. Make Your Own Space Station is a series of cards that show you how to built some cute little space toys. It seems to have been part of of series of crafting cards of projects you could make from household objects. Probably a little strange but also a lot of fun to try. Make Your Own Space Station. (Spears Games Project Cards.) New York: Ace Publishing. (10 cards.) 1970.

4 hours ago 1 votes
Aristotle and Ethics

Practical Philosophy

14 hours ago 1 votes
The Anglo-Russian Conflict in the Napoleonic Wars: A “Smokeless War?”

Britain and Russia were notably enemies during the Crimean War (1853-1856). However, the two countries briefly clashed during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). Yet, Britain and Russia were allies for most of the coalition wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France (1792-1815). So, what prompted the Anglo-Russian War in 1807?   The answer lies in Napoleon’s […]

21 hours ago 1 votes
Blackpool 1984–1989

“We stayed in boarding houses with similar families, made intense friendships and lived on the memories through the following winter!” – Barry Lewis on magic holidays in Blackpool, Lancashire     Since Victorian times Blackpool on Britain’s north west coast has been the country’s most popular seaside resort, Synonymous with wide sandy beaches, donkey rides, … Continue reading "Blackpool 1984–1989" The post Blackpool 1984–1989 appeared first on Flashbak.

2 days ago 2 votes