| JeffsaysHi | 26 Nov 2005 6:31 p.m. PST |
For anyone wishing not to read posts they find tiresome, it is a simple matter to click on a name, scroll down and hit 'stifle'.
Thus the stifled have the freedom of speech to say anything they like and you have the freedom to neither know nor care they said anything at all. |
| llebpmacbob4 | 28 Nov 2005 4:35 p.m. PST |
Thanks for the information Jeff. It'll make visiting the Napoleonic forum much more pleasant. Can you take it off to see if they've reformed? Bob Campbell |
| Stavka | 28 Nov 2005 5:15 p.m. PST |
Scholarship is always welcome, but I agree that the tendency for many Napoleonic threads to devolve into arguing the same old academic spat is getting tiresome, and does not exactly leave any of the principals involved covered with glory. In fact, I am concerned it just reinforces the negative stereotype some people have of Napoleonic gamers and enthusiasts in general. However, the trouble with stifling in this case is that it is kind of like throwing the baby out with the bathwater- in amongst the diatribes there are often lots of neat bits of information and the gents in question have both contributed much to my knowledge of the period. I suppose an alternative is that whenever the "duel" rises to the surface again, someone should provide nerf bricoles with which to whack one another , and the one left standing is deemed the victor- allowing the thread to continue on topic. I'd pay to see that.:) |
| donlowry | 29 Nov 2005 4:35 p.m. PST |
but are nerf "bricoles" (whatever those are) authentic to the period? |
| Stavka | 29 Nov 2005 5:34 p.m. PST |
You tell me, Don. I have followed these threads for ages and still do not know exactly what a "bricole" is. I used to think it was one of the things you needed to fuel a BBQ, now I am pretty sure it has something to do with artillery. I never checked the dictionary as somehow it one of those things that seems more fun if I just leave it to my imagination, and my ignorance of the term has not yet resulted in me having to suffer ridicule in cocktail parties. |
| donlowry | 30 Nov 2005 4:18 p.m. PST |
I picture bricoles as small bricks. Useful for when you run out of ammunition. |
| Steven H Smith | 30 Nov 2005 6:47 p.m. PST |
Stavka and Don, Your life is now complete! The bricole, in illustrations. 1) An early Prussian one. From an "Artillerie-Kollegium" manuscript made by Braats. Note: Hook at top is not part of bricole. Please, do not ask me what this hook is for: link 2) Early Austrian use. Special illustrations for the 1757 "Reglement fur das Kaiserlich Konigliche gesammte Feld-Artilleriecorps": link 3) The earliest printed French example I know about, 1783: link 4) French example an III: link 5) Prussian regimental gun in use. From an engraving ca. 1801: link You just had to ask! Steve |
| donlowry | 30 Nov 2005 6:58 p.m. PST |
Hmm, it's either a harness and rope for prolonging a gun, or part of a lady's unmentionables. The hook in the first link looks like a "sky hook," a handy mythological item used by engineers to hold up otherwise unstable constructions. |
| Steven H Smith | 30 Nov 2005 7:15 p.m. PST |
Don, You are hopeless! <;^} Steve |
| LORDGHEE | 01 Dec 2005 12:26 a.m. PST |
You could have brought this up on it's own thread but noooo. . .. did I not see this same strap used to haul stone to the pyramids. No I am not kidding! really. Lord Ghee |
| Stavka | 01 Dec 2005 10:39 p.m. PST |
I like the "ladies unmentionable's" idea. Bungee-jumping from a 12-pder was what I had thought of when I saw the Prussian one. |
paints a Napoleonic caricature.