Consulting Swordsman
I like reading about lifestyles I have no intention of emulating, but might learn something from. Such as the “travel the world for ten years with only one pair of underwear” minimalist types. It’s all very “I’ve got an ultralight laptop and that’s all I need”. Which is fine if you’re only a writer or … Read more
During the Second World War, some tiny Pacific islands were suddenly strategically important, and inundated with Japanese or American service personnel and material. In the years following the war, islanders started dressing up like servicemen and doing parade ground drill with wooden rifles, carving headphones out of wood and sitting in control towers wearing them, … Read more
I understand perfectionism. In some areas of my life, I can see every flaw in what I am doing, and so it feels like everything I do is not nearly good enough. Good enough for me, that is. But usually, it’s plenty good enough for accomplishing its goal. Let’s take a basic sword strike for … Read more
There are always at least two sides to every story, and usually many more. As historians, we do our best to take all the evidence into account, and tend to rely more on first-person eye-witness accounts than on secondary sources. But I have recently been personally involved in historical eye-witness accounts, and I’m here to … Read more
I get a lot of my best ideas while brushing my teeth. This morning, as I watched the water swirl down the drain, I suddenly thought about how much expensively-heated water gets wasted every day from shower stalls around the world. And then I thought about penguins and camels. Because they both have an arrangement … Read more