Quotulatiousness

July 11, 2024

“If -“, by Rudyard Kipling

Filed under: Britain, History — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Lindybeige
Published Jul 10, 2024

A poem with an excellent popularity-to-title-length ratio.

The timeless classic. A father talks to his son about how to be a good man. If any son ever lived up to all the virtues described, he would certainly be impressive.

    If you can keep your head when all about you
        Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
    If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
        But make allowance for their doubting too;
    If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
        Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
    Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
        And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

    If you can dream — and not make dreams your master;
        If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim;
    If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
        And treat those two impostors just the same;
    If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
        Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
    Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
        And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

    If you can make one heap of all your winnings
        And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
    And lose, and start again at your beginnings
        And never breathe a word about your loss;
    If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
        To serve your turn long after they are gone,
    And so hold on when there is nothing in you
        Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

    If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
        Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch,
    If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
        If all men count with you, but none too much;
    If you can fill the unforgiving minute
        With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
    Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
        And—which is more — you’ll be a Man, my son!

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November 18, 2023

World War Two’s most common tank

Filed under: History, Military, Russia, Weapons, WW2 — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Lindybeige
Published 2 Aug 2023

What click-bait title should I have used for this? “The tank that gave the Germans nightmares”? “The Commonest Communist tank?” “The tank of the teeming red hordes”? As I describe here, they made ever-so many of this type of tank, and that fact alone makes it an important tank.
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May 1, 2023

Doctor Sketchy and the Strange Case of the Syndrome of Doom

Filed under: Britain, Humour, Media — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Lindybeige
Published 24 Jan 2023

I teamed up with the highly-skilled Alasdair Beckett-King and together we threw together this sketch. Can you tell that he went to film school?
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December 29, 2021

A history of and my first go at MEDIEVAL TENNIS

Filed under: Britain, France, History, Sports — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Lindybeige
Published 28 Sep 2021

Thanks to Audible for sponsoring this video. New Audible members get a 30-day free trial. Visit http://audible.com/lindybeige or text “lindybeige” to 500 500 to try Audible today.

Tennis is a very old sport, going back at least to the 1200s. Here I try my hand at it for the very first (but not last) time, and talk about the history of it a bit.

Many thanks to Jesmond Dene Real Tennis Club (https://www.jdrtc.co.uk) where this was shot.

Editing this took a LONG time. We had three cameras recording at the same time, and synching the footage up took an age. The sound consisted mainly of echoing footsteps and ball bounces, and the fact that the main microphone kept glitching did not help (you will notice some of the patches to the sound using other mics, but most I made fairly smooth).

Court map by Atethnekos at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index…

Anne Boleyn picture by English school – https://thetudortravelguide.com/2019/…, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index…

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Lindybeige: a channel of archaeology, ancient and medieval warfare, rants, swing dance, travelogues, evolution, and whatever else occurs to me to make.

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December 2, 2021

TIKAL – greatest city of the Maya

Filed under: Americas, Architecture, History — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Lindybeige
Published 1 Dec 2021

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Here I take you with me on my first day at Tikal, in the jungles of Guatemala. Archaeology, wildlife, strange sounds, and a sunset. The overgrown remains of a stone-age civilisation.

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Kapok image: David Mead, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

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Lindybeige: a channel of archaeology, ancient and medieval warfare, rants, swing dance, travelogues, evolution, and whatever else occurs to me to make.

▼ Follow me…

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lindybeige I may have some drivel to contribute to the Twittersphere, plus you get notice of uploads.

My website:
http://www.LloydianAspects.co.uk

June 28, 2021

Pounds, shillings, and pence: a history of English coinage

Filed under: Britain, Economics, History — Tags: , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Lindybeige
Published 18 Dec 2020

I talk for a bit the history of English coinage, and the problems of maintaining a good currency. Once or twice I might stray off topic, but I end with an explanation of why the system worked so well.

Picture credits:
40 librae weight
Martinvl, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…, via Wikimedia Commons

Sceat K series, and others
By Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index…

William I penny, and Charles II crown
The Portable Antiquities Scheme/ The Trustees of the British Museum, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…, via Wikimedia Commons

Bust of Charlemagne
By Beckstet – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index…

Edward VI crown
By CNG – http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?Coi…, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index…

Charles II guinea
Gregory Edmund, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…, via Wikimedia Commons

Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Lindybeige

Buy the music – the music played at the end of my videos is now available here: https://lindybeige.bandcamp.com/track…

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Lindybeige: a channel of archaeology, ancient and medieval warfare, rants, swing dance, travelogues, evolution, and whatever else occurs to me to make.

▼ Follow me…

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lindybeige I may have some drivel to contribute to the Twittersphere, plus you get notice of uploads.

My website:
http://www.LloydianAspects.co.uk

October 19, 2020

A bowyer talks about authentic longbows

Filed under: Britain, Europe, History, Military, Weapons — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Lindybeige
Published 10 Sep 2016

Shot in Visby. I talk to Swedish bowyer Henrik Thurfjell about bows, asking stupid questions so that he sounds comparatively clever.
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He talks about wood, of hunting, of string, and of bear fat. Many people in the comments have suggested exotic meanings for the mark on the side of the yew bow. The comparatively mundane truth is that the symbol is a combination of the Norse runes for H and T – the bowyer’s initials.

Thanks to Johan Käll for showing me round the re-enactors’ camp.

Picture credits:
By the Mary Rose Trust, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index…
By Mary Rose Trust – Mary Rose Trust, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index…
By Mary Rose Trust – Mary Rose Trust – official webpage, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index…
By Own scan. Photo by Gerry Bye. Original by Anthony Anthony. – Anthony Roll as reproduced in The Anthony Roll of Henry VIII’s Navy: Pepys Library 2991 and British Library Additional MS 22047 With Related Documents ISBN 0-7546-0094-7, p. 42., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index…
By the Mary Rose Trust, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index…
By the Mary Rose Trust, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index…

Buy the music – the music played at the end of my videos is now available here: https://lindybeige.bandcamp.com/track…

Lindybeige: a channel of archaeology, ancient and medieval warfare, rants, swing dance, travelogues, evolution, and whatever else occurs to me to make.

▼ Follow me…

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lindybeige I may have some drivel to contribute to the Twittersphere, plus you get notice of uploads.

website: www.LloydianAspects.co.uk

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