A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
A look at history and popular culture
Fireside this week, since the last post in our series on pre-modern textile production is not quite done yet (I had a fair bit of other writing to get done this week). Before I dive into this week's musing, I want to note two things, in case you have missed them. First, I am opening … Continue reading Fireside Friday: March 26, 2021 (On the Nature of Ancient Evidence)
Fireside this week, but next week we are diving into our long awaited series on pre-modern textile production, though we will be particularly focused on the most important clothing fibers in the Mediterranean world, wool and linen (rather than, say, silk or cotton). Trusty Research Assistant Oliver helping me find the right volume of the … Continue reading Fireside Friday, February 26, 2021
It's the first week of classes, so fireside this week. Next week, we'll dive into a short series looking at the question of the 'universal warrior,' the idea - too often repeated - that there is either a single consistent experience or personality true to all combatants to the present day. Also, for those who … Continue reading Fireside Friday, January 22, 2021
Happy New Year! Good riddance 2020! Fireside this week. Next week, we'll be finishing up our look at the Dothraki of A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones by looking at how they are shown to fight and comparing that to the fighting patterns of actual historical horse-borne nomads. Of course, it's … Continue reading Fireside Friday: January 1, 2021
Hey folks! Fireside this week. A bit of a change-up in terms of the coming attractions. I had planned to start "Textiles, How Did They Make It?" next, but I want to do a bit more reading on some of the initial stages of textile production (that is, the production of raw flax and wool) … Continue reading Fireside Friday, November 27, 2020
Hey folks! Fireside this week, but I promise we'll see that promised addendum on pre-modern crucible steel and cast iron next week. In the meantime, as you are no doubt inescapably aware, the United States (where I live) is having an election. I mostly avoid politics itself on this blog and that's something I intend … Continue reading Fireside Friday, October 30, 2020
Hey Folks! Fireside this week; next week, I hope to start up our next "How Did They Make It" series, focusing on iron production. I say 'hope' because COVID-19 related disruptions continue (my current university moved all classes online last week and has started moving students off campus this week) and it seems that no … Continue reading Fireside Friday, August 28, 2020
Hey folks! Fireside this week - sorry for those of you who were waiting patiently for the last post on cereal farming. I had hoped to have it ready to go, but the start of fall semester teaching has pushed that off until next week. Those who pay less attention to higher education news may … Continue reading Fireside Friday: August 14th, 2020
Hey folks! Fireside this week; musing on a rather silly topic: the practicality of planetary invasions in a science fiction setting. I am working currently on (among other things) getting the "How They Made It" post series started up; those will be a set of post-series detailing how pre-modern societies made all of the stuff … Continue reading Fireside Friday: July 17th, 2020
Hey folks! Fireside this week, as we're coming off of the end of what is now my longest post-series, the eight part series on Helm's Deep. It was a blast to write and I don't seem to have worn a hole through my DVDs in the process (though, it will surprise no one, but my … Continue reading Fireside Friday, June 26th, 2020
