Probably the reincarnation of Locus Design Group, (whose Cynosure V2 USB cable was a measly US$3500.00 and was only 3 foot long).

and what is it with that snarky characterization? seriously?

I thought she might have hammered home some of her points a little harder than necessary at times. But hey! It's all just TV where snarkiness is the norm. So it's not like I thought she was out of line.

And I thought her objections were pretty well-founded. I'm not an archery expert by any stretch. But I do know more than a little about the sport from direct experience over the years.

As far as armour piercing capabilities, a 10-30 lb. draw will most definitely not pierce plate armour - and probably not chainmail either unless the arrow is extremely heavy and hits a weak link. FWIW plate armour is heavy. But it's distributed so it doesn't feel the same as if you were dead lifting an equivalent weight. However, wearing it can tire you out fairly quickly (like ankle and wrist weights can), which is why ground combat was never the preferred mode of fighting for someone wearing plate. They preferred to be mounted on horses for a reason. And it's extremely hot to wear. Heat prostration was always a concern for the armored knights of yore. A good hot day could take down as many of them as a human enemy could.

i know society expects its girls to show diffidence when criticizing boys. but come on!

@gwen - I don't think that was a factor in Edvard's reply. I think it's more a reflection of the vibe around here. The feeling at DoCo is that you can get your shots in, or toss in the occasional bit of well-intentioned snarkiness, without much fear of genteel reprimand. But make too regular a habit of it - or run with it a little too long - and people here tend to call you on it.

This is an unusual forum. It's more like a family dinner conversation than anything else. And it has very similar social "rules." Ms. Maltese video bumped into that I think. An occasional face pull or air quote would have been fine. But the overall tone was rather sarcastic. And since it runs around 15 minutes, it can get a little tiring after a while. Even I was getting a little impatient over it. And I agreed with a large amount of what Ms. Maltese was saying.

My feeling is you can call somebody out in a debate without recourse to 15 minutes of subtext and pantomime that is basically saying: "This moron is full of it! He doesn't know what he is talking about." Truth is, I'd have found it far more acceptable if she just bluntly said it up front - then went on to the rest of her presentation sans most of the drama following.

But it was TV (even if it's half YouTube) and that's the behavioral norm for that weird kingdom - which is probably not worth defending - any more than it's worth letting it get to us.

The whole problem with alluding to something is it leaves the message too much up to individual interpretation. Which often differs from what was intended and leads to misunderstandings. Even a simple forum post runs that risk. Even when you're trying to be explicit. As I think is the case with something you heard in Edvard's post. And which I honestly do not think was his intended message at all. We've somehow managed to keep ourselves remarkably free of most of that "battle of the sexes" nonsense. Perhaps, being human, our track record isn't absolutely perfect on that score. But I think it comes pretty close. And we do try.

I don't think anybody (consciously or subconsciously) was trying to "mansplain" (is that the word?) anything. I just think Edvard was saying - "Enough with the digs and editorial glosses already. We get it! You think he's a con man. Now can we just move past that and get to the substance of your arguments please?"

And since its been made a 'gender' issue, let's show another with just as much snark

I'd like to think it was a simple misunderstanding and not go there at all if that's ok.

to:edvard,40hz,wraith808: it was nothing more than me getting overly touchy. i was having a very bad day when i posted that. please accept my apology. :-)

@Gwen7: Just for the record, as regards possible gender implications on the subject of toxophily, there would seem to be an early precedent that it was very much a female's domain - as per the ancient myth of Diana (The Archer).
She became a firm favourite of mine when I was about 10 y/o, when I - as a budding archer and environmentalist - discovered in the Enc. Brit. that she was a goddess associated with wild animals and woodland, as well as being an archetypical archer. Some years later, I noticed that in SE Asia some wag had named an over-the-counter hormonal contraceptive pill after her, though she was also the virgin goddess of childbirth and women. I couldn't figure that one out.   

As far as armour piercing capabilities, a 10-30 lb. draw will most definitely not pierce plate armour - and probably not chainmail either unless the arrow is extremely heavy and hits a weak link. FWIW plate armour is heavy.

That was one part of the video where I was just rolling my eyes. Like, really? C'mon... We already know bows don't pierce plate armour. That's why the crossbow was invented. The comparison is disingenuous at best.

While Ms. Maltese's snarky 'rebuttal' may be based on stuff she knows a thing or two about, her attitude kinda grated on me.

^ This.

But, I just took Lars' video for what it was - some good entertainment from a "magician", complete with wild claims, showmanship, and theatrics.

What might be good for comparison is to check out some interview with Jackie Chan where he talks about some of the stunts he does, how difficult they were, and how many takes they needed to do in order to finally get the shot.

maps of the solar system drawn to scale

Pretty amazing.

@Renegade: Thanks for the to-scale pic of our solar system. Just what I had been looking for.

It's one of those stupid questions that has been dogging me for years. I searched, and that, well, it soaked up some time. However, it's time well spent to understand the vastness of space.

Buddy has done an impressive job there too. Not only is it informative, but very entertaining.

I used my middle-click scroll to keep that time element so that I gained a better understanding of the vastness. Hint: Don't do it if you're in a rush.

Ever wonder why you never see any maps of the solar system drawn to scale?

Nice.

How about something similar for atoms and molecules with their electron clouds?

That was quick work!

Thanks

...and the second link even mentioned:

  http://www.phrenopolis.com/perspective/solarsystem/

Next-generation http/2 protocol is done, promises faster, safer browsing.

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