Frith is Magick

439523

Being an assistant instructor in martial arts and working in a public environment I am afforded more opportunity than I would like to see different parenting styles, attempts, and outcomes. Beyond that, my experience in a teaching/leadership role as an assistant instructor has given me opportunity to even try different teaching styles and methods of gaining obedience without using corporal punishment (though I wholly support parents giving their kids a smack upside the head or a spanking if it is well earned). The end result is that I have more parenting experience than I would like, especially given the fact that I loathe the idea of having my own offspring. I had previously drafted a long-winded explanation on my views of raising children, but I found that through all of it, the greatest message was the importance of communication. When punishing or rewarding your child communicate the reason. I wholeheartedly support corporal punishment, but only where other methods of punishment either fail or where the severity of infraction is great. Rewards as well need be measured out such as to breed a sense of work ethic rather than entitlement. As a parent, your rules need be logical and reasonable, and the reason needs to be told to the child. They will learn more from it, be a little more likely to obey. "Because I said so" is not a good reason. Lead by example, and when your children are observing and learning from you, tell them why you make the decisions you do. Don't hide reality from your children because you think they are too young to understand or too fragile to handle it. As a parent your job is too help them understand and grow so as to not be too fragile. If a pet or relative dies, explain what it means. If your child makes a mistake or fails in some task or goal, don't gloss over it or deny it. Let them understand what it means to fail, but encourage them to always try to succeed. As a parent, know your child's strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. Encourage them to pursue tirelessly what they love, and encourage them to give up on harmful or fruitless pursuits. If your child asks a question, answer truthfully and to the best of your ability. Encourage curiosity and use it as an opportunity to learn yourself and expand your horizons. Teach critical thinking above all. If you are religious, your children will be exposed to it, but don't try to force it upon them. Allow them to have fun. Childhood is about learning and exploring. They don't need to start down the path to becoming a doctor or lawyer at the age of 5. Let them explore their interest, expose them (along with yourself) to new things. Be a teacher and leader in their lives, don't push off the job and hope others do it for you. Be there with and for your child, and know when to give them space. I have seen parents ignore their kids far too often, especially during the early years. They learn language and how to interact with people first from their parents, so teach them well. Angry Birds can wait. That text message can wait. On that note, the type of language you use around them is the type they learn. There are enough mumbling idiots without an iota of linguistic proficiency, don't make more. Just as children need to be interacted with, they also need room to grow. Don't smother them. Allow them to grow their own circles, have their own adventures, and amass a few scrapes and bruises, so long you are there for them at the end of the day when they need you. Parenting isn't easy, I won't pretend for a second it is. As stated before, the take away from all this is communicating with your child. Just as they are growing, it is an opportunity for the parents to grow as well. I have a certain life philosophy that applies also to parenting, as difficult as it may be to adhere to: Relax; there is no gain from panic. If you feel too stressed or overwhelmed or tired, just pause a moment, catch your breath and focus on how to get things done one step at a time. Remember, your children may just be growing and learning, but they are still people.

Selling swords, I often hear some pretty ridiculous stuff from people who pretend to be knowledgeable, but know next to nothing. Today I will be going over the ones that I hear the most often and are the most ridiculous. The Blood Groove Myths "A blood groove will make the person being cut or stabbed bleed out faster". Wrong! The usual explanation I hear is some half-assed nonsense about channeling or vacuuming blood away from the wound to cause more bleeding. Factors that affect rate of exsanguination are location, size, depth, and cleanliness of the wound(s). Cuts to major arteries/veins/organs bleed more than cuts that miss major vessels. A long cut or wide stab wound bleeds more than a short cut or narrow stab. A deep cut or thrust bleeds more than a shallow one (and is more likely to hit something major). A clean cut is easier to close and heals quicker than a brutal, torn open cut or stab wound. "The inside of the human body is a vacuum that will hold onto a sword". Wrong! While excess of air in the chest cavity can lead to collapsed lungs, this does not make the torso a super-sucking vacuum. If it was, swords getting stuck would have been a universal problem, making the fuller (oops, used that word early) a universal characteristic along a wider time span, Even if it was, a blade would not get stuck. First, large quantities of fresh blood on smooth steel make for a poor seal. Second, swords cut, going in and being drawn out. Third, most swords flex, shift, twist, and otherwise move during entry, making a mean wound and abysmal circumstances for a seal and vacuum. Blades get stuck due to either bone or armour, not due to super grabby cavities. The purpose of a fuller is to reduce the amount of steel in the sword, which slightly reduces material used in forging, but primarily reduces the weight of the blade without noticeable loss of structural integrity, the same principle used for I-beams. The Folded Steel Fallacy This misconception bothers me slightly less because at the very least it has basis in fact. Far too often people believe that being folded makes a steel automatically superior to unfolded steel. Note: if you have ever asked "how many times is it folded" about a sword, you just marked yourself as uneducated and were not taken seriously. This myth is predominant when talking about Japanese blades (kuh-tAHN-uhz to the folded steel fanboys) or comparing Japanese weapons to European. The misconception stems from the fact that early Japanese steel production yielded highly impure bloom steel (also called tamahagane) with uneven diffusion/distribution of carbon and other alloy agents. In that state it is dreadful to work, impossible to heat treat, and laughable as a blade. The steel had to be folded to remove impurities in the form of slag, to allow the carbon and the other trace elements from the ore to diffuse evenly, and to prevent inclusions that would cause weak spots. European steel production is thought to have made use of some folding among other methods to yield a functional steel, but folding in Europe doesn't get the same massive attention as Japanese folding. Modern steel manufacture is such that folding is unneeded. The alloy content is controlled, and the steel properties largely uniform. Folding is done these days for artistic value or the sentimental value of traditionalism. It adds nothing to the blade quality, and if done poorly can actually complicate the heat treat or compromise the structural integrity. If you want a folded steel blade, make it clear it is for traditional/artistic value and expect to pay through the nose for it; the added labour is not cheap. Thank you for reading through this. Maybe you knew it, maybe you learned something, hopefully it was interesting either way. Next time, Frith raises parents...

Keep

Level of speech should be, and generally is, dependent on context. In a professional environment, technical jargon is easier than describing thingamajigs and adds clarity when talking about similar similar doodads. It allows ease of communication by using a shared dialect and vocabulary relevant to the scenario and shared by the individuals communicating. Use of jargon with someone on the same page simplifies communication, but when communicating with those outside of the circle, technical jargon need to be simplified for the same reason it is being used in the first place. Additionally, eloquent diction possess potential to present more detailed, elaborate, and possibly specific ideas, or at the very least present drawn out concepts in a more brief manner. A synonyms can posses a more or less desirable connotation or implication adding further detail to the communication. That being said, just as with technical jargon, the type of language used needs to match the understanding of the individual being communicated to in order to be effective. Even if all parties have the same understanding, diction can also convey social context. An example of this is speaking roughly with friends and formally with superiors to convey either familiarity or respect (thought the options are far more diverse) or speaking in a more proper or technical manner with co-workers while on the job as opposed to while off the job. My opinion of the matter is that higher understanding of language is desirable as it allows for a greater diversity of types of communication and can convey more nuanced and/or specific meaning.The take away is that at the end of the day, it is optimal for all involved parties to communicate on the same level whatever that level may be. While being intimidated by eloquent speech is petty and displays insecurity, a standard requisite manner of speech for an environment does ensure unhindered communication.

Before I begin, this entry is not about about kitchen appliances, so if you are looking for input on your next fridge, look elsewhere. Selling knives, I far too often encounter folk who sneer at the mention of stainless steel and speak of it with pure disdain. Ask these folks what they thinks a "good" steel is, and they fail to provide a real answer. Today I seek to vent my frustration by explaining why a steel being stainless does not immediately render it inferior. So what is stainless steel? "Stainless" means that the steel contains more than 11% chromium by mass. The primary function of chromium as an alloy agent is to increase the corrosion resistance of a blade, whether that corrosion is caused by oxidation or acid. The more chromium in the alloy, the less the blade will darken, rust, or react with acids. Chromium also affects the strength (the ability to resist deformation) and toughness (the ability to deform without failing). While heat treat plays a massive role in steel properties, as a generality low-alloy, high-carbon steels can absorb more shock than high-chromium steels, but here are stainless steels that have amazing performance. My favorite is CPM-S30V, which has high wear resistance, low brittleness, takes a beastly fine edge, and can be heat treated to a relatively high hardness for a knife giving it superb edge retention. There are also super-stainless or "stain-proof" steels with high nickel and nitrogen content as well as chromium, making them more corrosion resistant than traditional stainless, and these steels are far from being crappy. The question remains, however, of why some people hold the misconception that stainless means inferior. My theory in the matter is that it has to do with the tendency of manufacturers producing low quality blades to simply mark the steel as "stainless". This creates an association for people who do not know about the vibrant world of blade steels and metallurgy of stainless steel with inferior quality. I would like to thank anyone who reads this for their time. I have a futile hope that someone may learn something from this, assuming they didn't know before.

407892

407890

^ Too damn hot! > I miss having internet. And disposable income. v Live alone?

Judging by lore given in Twilight's Kingdom, I would bet her that she could not magically rid herself of all magic without transferring it into another living being or inanimate (magical or otherwise) object/repository.

It used to be that I would really only talk to my friend once, maybe twice, a month and we would only hang out 3-4 times a year. Lately I've been trying to stay in closer contact, at least saying hi once a week. Oddly enough, it was what I consider a net negative influence in my life that convinced me to try to interact a bit more often.

Fan of MLP, fan of Firefly, fan of first gen pokemon, fan of Stallionslaughter, fan of German Industrial. All the same person of course. One of the problems of being perpetually broke is that I can never afford to get anything with sufficient room cooling power.

Helpful tip for staying positive: Try to minimize the electrons in your life. It's shockingly easy

Seeing as I have no shame, I would do it for just the laughs, but seeing as I need the money, y'all have to pay up if I'm going to do that.

407823 Wow. I've been gone a while and it still feels like 1,000,000 is so far away...