I'm not sure to be happy or terrified

[Cain]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-14264693

Police have arrested a 48-year-old after a patrol car came under attack from a man brandishing an airgun and bow and arrow.

Nottinghamshire Police said the attack involving "various weapons" smashed the window of the car in Newark.

A man was restrained and taken into custody following the incident in Welbeck Avenue at about 16:00 BST on Friday. No-one was injured.

Det Insp Dave Sinclair said the local community had been extremely helpful.

Last week, a kid in Birmingham was set upon by a gang armed with longswords.  Not even joking.

On one hand, it's good to see people keeping up with the traditions of the past.  On the other hand, medieval weapons are bloody terrifying.  I'm just waiting to hear about the first maul-related death in England for the past 500 years...

[BabylonHoruv]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-14264693

Police have arrested a 48-year-old after a patrol car came under attack from a man brandishing an airgun and bow and arrow.

Nottinghamshire Police said the attack involving "various weapons" smashed the window of the car in Newark.

A man was restrained and taken into custody following the incident in Welbeck Avenue at about 16:00 BST on Friday. No-one was injured.

Det Insp Dave Sinclair said the local community had been extremely helpful.

Last week, a kid in Birmingham was set upon by a gang armed with longswords.  Not even joking.

On one hand, it's good to see people keeping up with the traditions of the past.  On the other hand, medieval weapons are bloody terrifying.  I'm just waiting to hear about the first maul-related death in England for the past 500 years...

Do you have a link to a new story about the kid in Birmingham.  'd love to share that with my friends.  They are very into swords.

[Cain]

http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2011/07/21/teenager-escapes-death-after-aston-sword-attack-97319-29093731/

A TEENAGER narrowly escaped death after his arm and leg were almost completely severed from his body by a masked gang armed with at least two swords.

It is believed that 19-year-old college student Sajakat Hussain was deliberately targeted by the thugs just yards from Villa Park.

Sajakat survived after Army medics at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth military hospital performed life-saving surgery.

He was treated for a partly severed leg, severely injured arm and serious injuries to his chest after he fell on the pavement near the junction on Trinity Road and Endicott Road in Aston.

Det Chief Insp Simon Wallis, leading the hunt for the four attackers, said it would have been a murder investigation if it were not for the intervention of military medical staff.

The victim's cousin Fairaz Jelis, aged 18, said Sajakat, of Aston, was still seriously ill in hospital, following the attack at around midday on Wednesday, July 13.

Fairaz Jelis said: "I went to school with Sajakat. He is my cousin and I was called by someone who said he had been attacked in the street by two men who jumped out of a silver Audi with four people inside.

"We have been told that surgeons from the Army operated on him at the QE and they saved his leg from amputation.

[Luna]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-14264693

Police have arrested a 48-year-old after a patrol car came under attack from a man brandishing an airgun and bow and arrow.

Nottinghamshire Police said the attack involving "various weapons" smashed the window of the car in Newark.

A man was restrained and taken into custody following the incident in Welbeck Avenue at about 16:00 BST on Friday. No-one was injured.

Det Insp Dave Sinclair said the local community had been extremely helpful.

Last week, a kid in Birmingham was set upon by a gang armed with longswords.  Not even joking.

On one hand, it's good to see people keeping up with the traditions of the past.  On the other hand, medieval weapons are bloody terrifying.  I'm just waiting to hear about the first maul-related death in England for the past 500 years...

Once upon a time, I took an apartment in a rather rough neighborhood.  I moved in on Sunday.  That Tuesday, I arrived home and spotted flashing lights and, what I thought from a distance, an ambulance parked in front of my apartment building.  I walked toward the building, and my new landlord came over and tried to walk me in... past the police officers and what turned out to be not an ambulance, but the city's violent crimes unit.

After that, my home defense was me moving my bed up to the loft (accessable only by a narrow ladder), a spear, and a sword... Not a longsword, a falcata.  One of these choppers:



It was my humble opinion that, if someone broke in and tried to get up that ladder, if they managed to get past the spear, anything they put on that top rung belonged to me, and if they wanted it back after I detatched it with the falcata, they could ask the nice police officers.

Said falcata was also the first thing I unpacked in my current apartment, it lives on my wall.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Axe handles are good, too. As are baseball bats.

[BabylonHoruv]

Axe handles are good, too. As are baseball bats.

why just the handle?  Axes are good, if you train with it a bit to get used to the unbalanced weight.

[East Coast Hustle]

Tell me, can you deflect a bullet with an axe or sword?

[Worm Rider]

Can you deflect a nuclear explosion with a bullet? There is something dehumanizing about mechanized violence, as if somehow sharpened sticks and bits of handheld metal are more friendly, even when impaling you. Even though this makes no sense at all, it finds a degree of refuge in my mind. In the Dune world of Frank Herbert, thinking machines are universally opposed on religious grounds; there is moral opposition to outsourcing thinking to machines. At the same time, projectiles are rendered ineffective by shields which stop all but slow moving objects. I think these two concepts are somehow related, though not explicitly described. One can fire a gun and feel a lack of responsibility. Attacking someone with a sword or knife requires that the attacker really mean it. Eliminating guns would not eliminate violence, but it would perhaps cut down on the casual nature of violence. If we all had guns, then what? There would still be violence, and its source would be human nature, not technology. Eliminating the current technology that distracts us lays this bare. We see sword violence as crude and primal, but gun violence as a sign of the times. All human violence is monkey violence -swords, guns, bombs, and fists. 

[Luna]

Tell me, can you deflect a bullet with an axe or sword?

Nope, but you can't deflect a bullet with a gun, either.

I chose what I did because it was what I had, and I was flat broke.  The loft gave some cover in case they DID have guns, they'd have to come up to get a line of sight.  Me, I know enough about guns to know not to fuck around with them unless you know more.  I wouldn't even know what kind of ammo to pick up to make sure you blew a hole through the bad guy, but not through the neighbor's kid next door through the wall.

[Freeky]

I want a falcata!

[Luna]

I want a falcata!

They're nice.  Pretty lines, and they've got a respectable heft.  I wouldn't want to, say, swing one through a long battle, but I've got girly wrists.