Medieval Pole Arms - I found this page clear, well written and interesting.
I never knew weapons such as the Spetum, Voulge or Guisarme existed. More probably, I'd seen pictures of them but didn't know what to call them beyond the generic "pole arm". I also finally know what a glaive looks like, and what I always thought to be a morning star is actually a specialised form of flail.
Also, contrary to what I was led to believe, "Swiss pikemen did not ground the pike butt to accept a cavalry charge, but rather held the rear part of the shaft higher than the front, so the points which glanced off armor would not go uselessly into the air but would be forced downward into rider or mount - at worst, into the ground to form a barrier."
Interestingly, 5 of out of 6 of the sources listed in his bibliography were published in the first 25 years of the 20th century, and the last in 1934.
I was boggled by the Principia Discordia until someone explained it to me thus: "It's basically a deliberate mindfuck, set out into the world to see how far the madness spreads."
Trivia bits:
'Cocksucker Blues' was a 1976 film about The Rolling Stones.
The movie 'Cleopatra', starring Elizabeth Taylor, was banned from Egypt in 1963 because she was a Jewish convert.
The Marx Brothers (Chico, Harpo, Groucho, and Zeppo) were actually named respectively Leonard, Adolph, Julius, and Hebert.
When young and impoverished, Pablo Picasso kept warm by burning his own paintings.
Charles Baudelaire, preferred to Wagners music, the sounds ' of a cat hung up by its tail outside a window and trying to stick to the panes of glass with its claws'.
One of Britain's most famous composers, Sir Michael Tippett, composed pieces notoriously difficult to play, At the premiere of his 'Symphony No. 2', the orchestra got lost in the middle of the piece and the conductor had to start again.
The French equivalent of 'the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog', a sentence which contains every letter of the alphabet (useful when learning to type), is 'Allez porter ce vieux whisky au juge blond qui fume un Havane', which translates to 'Go and take this old whisky to the fair-haired judge smoking the Havana cigar'.
In the story of Cinderella, her slippers were originally fur, but they became glass because of an error in translation.
Nineteenth-century artist, Cesar Ducornet, drew with his feet - he had no arms.
Mickey mouse's Latin name is Michael Musculus.
About half the pianos in England are thought to be out of tune.
The phrase ' The 3 R's ' ( standing for 'reading, writing and arithmetic' ) was created by Sir William Curtis, who was illiterate.
Monaco's national orchestra is bigger than its army.
Richard Strauss wrote a 'gay Viennese ballet' on the subject of Whipped Cream.
During World War II, W.C. Fields kept US $50 000 in Germany 'in case the little bastard wins'.
The French composer J.B. Lully, while conducting a concert, pierced his foot with a pointed baton, and died from the resulting gangrene.
The Stone's album 'Sticky Finger's has a zip on its sleeve.
The most commonly sung song in the world - Happy birthday to you - is under copyright, the copyright runs out in 2010.
On the same day as he completed his masterpiece "The Divine Comedy", the Italian poet Dante died.
Bob Dylan turned The Beatles on to marijuana.
Actress Sarah Bernhardt played the part of Juliet (13 years old) when she was 70 years old.
The original title for the best seller 'Gone with the wind' was 'Ba! Ba! Black sheep'.
The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from British Public Libraries.
Irving Berlin, who was born on 11 May 1888 and who composed three thousand songs in his lifetime, couldn't read music.
The Green Hornet is the Lone Ranger's grandnephew.
Some hotels in Las Vegas have gambling tables floating in their swimming pools.
The French critic, Saint-Beuve, was born on 23 December 1804. On one occasion in his life he was unfortunate enough to get involved in a duel. When asked to choose his weapons, he replied " I choose spelling, You're dead".
The longest Hollywood kiss was from the 1941 film 'You're in the Army now', it lasted 3 minutes and 3 seconds.
The music hall entertainer Nosmo King derived his stage name from a 'No Smoking' sign.
Hmm.
"My mom and dad went to an ADULT BOOKSTORE and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt
Porn Star"
Seen on a T-Shirt