#14846: paperwight — 01/31  at  02:52 PM
OK, that's about the funniest thing I've seen a very long time.

I wonder, is there a Ragnarok Index?

#14853: Strange Doctrines — 01/31  at  04:47 PM
Now that's a false dichotomy.

#14866: — 01/31  at  07:12 PM
That was FANTASTIC.

Terrible grip on the axe, though.

CS

#14875: PZ Myers — 01/31  at  07:24 PM
Sure, but look at that -- he's got that feeble, pansy grip, and he's still able to cleave a skull to the collarbone. I think he's showing off, actually.

#14876: PZ Myers — 01/31  at  07:25 PM
A Ragnarok index? Ooooh, that would be fun to do...

#14904: — 02/01  at  04:11 AM
The Oz newspaper "The Age" has apparently proposed that if Genesis is to be given equal time with science in the classroom, then so should *all* other creation myths. This idea has a certain elegance, and seems to me to be particularly felicitous in the US context where, as in Australia, there are a great many indigenous nations, each with their own account.

#14905: — 02/01  at  04:41 AM
The axe grip is correct. The swing comes from the shoulder and you let the tool do the work. A correctly balanced battleaxe slices without apparent effort. I had one made for Saxon-Dane re-enactment battles to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the Battle of Maldon 991.

This occurred during the reign of Aethelred Unraed (means ill-counselled) of whom it was said, was a bad king. That in itself was not a problem for "the English had had many bad kings before." The tragedy for the English, was that he ruled too long!!!

The battle was a turning point for the English as soon after we had Danish kings. The battle was imortalised in the "Song of Maldon". The Danes set up camp on Northey Island in the Blackwater estuary. Then, and today there is a low tide causeway. The local Thane Brythnoth was 61, yet mighty. He gathered his Housecarls and the the local Fyrd (militia) and hastened to the shore. It being high tide, only arrows and insults could be exchanged. As the causeway became passable, the English tauted the Danes to wade ashore, Thet replied that they would be disadvantaged by the mud in the shallows.

Eager to settle matters Brythnoth, offered to allow the Danes to reach dry land. In the ensueing fight, great swordplay was had until Brythnoth was felled. The Fyrd, seeing their lord fallen, now fled the battle. The Housecarls, although greatly outnumbered, all fought to their deaths to protect the body and battlestandard of their lord. In that time of appeasement and Danegeld, such heroic action was so astounding and remarkable that it has come down to us as the first recorded instance of where the English sense of fairplay let them down.

Pericles

#14906: — 02/01  at  04:56 AM
Seek here http://www.kershaw.org.uk/song/maldon.html

If thou would knowest of the great deeds of the East Saxons.

"Thought must be the harder, heart be the keener,
mind must be the greater, while our strength lessens."

Pericles

#15004: — 02/01  at  07:12 PM
That must be Thor, because Odin only has one eye. He threw his other one down the well of knowledge. (Pedantic yes, but aren't we all?)

#15006: paperwight — 02/01  at  07:31 PM
I thought he lost it to a witch in exchange for learning that in order to win Ragnarok, he had to keep both eyes out. There's also a dearth of ravens, which is a bit of a giveaway that it's not Odin.

I don't think it's Thor either, because wouldn't he use his hammer?

Generic Viking, I think.