Instant Karma

[DisneyMom]

It's all rumour and fear-mongering.

None of the events, at least in all of the clubs I know about, where medieval archery (bows or crossbows) are present use those weapons in a mock war or melee of any kind. (Real arrows are used in target archery only, with pretty strict safety requirements.) All our combat arrows use plastic blunts on the tips instead of actual points, or they're mock arrows made of golf tubes with rubber stoppers on the end. :D: Your friends get upset if you try to shoot real arrows at them...

Swords, now, that's a different story. Medievalists generally aren't the problem with swords, or any of the medieval weapons, for that matter. Any SG with a hundred bucks can buy a pseudo-medieval or "ninja" sword at their local mall, and they've usually watched Lord of the Rings or Braveheart too many times and thus think they can actually use it...

Or they've read Game of Thrones- "Stick them with the pointy end!" :p:

[Freak]

Any SG with a hundred bucks can buy a pseudo-medieval or "ninja" sword at their local mall, and they've usually watched Lord of the Rings or Braveheart too many times and thus think they can actually use it...

OMG, totally agree! Back when I still hung out @ Knott's, I was in the smoke shop in Ghost Town to pick up some cigs (back when I smoked). Some teenage girl who looked like she's seen one too many episodes of Bleach was getting overly irritated because she couldn't buy this samurai sword. I plainly went "Why would you want to get one of those, anyway?" To which she spun around and yelled at me telling me that she was a sword MASTER and collects and can TOTALLY use these swords, even on people.

I laughed at her and walked out of the shop.

[DisneyMom]

OMG, totally agree! Back when I still hung out @ Knott's, I was in the smoke shop in Ghost Town to pick up some cigs (back when I smoked). Some teenage girl who looked like she's seen one too many episodes of Bleach was getting overly irritated because she couldn't buy this samurai sword. I plainly went "Why would you want to get one of those, anyway?" To which she spun around and yelled at me telling me that she was a sword MASTER and collects and can TOTALLY use these swords, even on people.

I laughed at her and walked out of the shop.

hehehe :twisted:
Yeah,we get those "Sword Masters" in Urgent Care,screaming their head off to get a couple stitches
Old Dudes usually come in with large wound held together by Duct Tape,saying, "My Wife made me come in....."

[hobie16]

hehehe :twisted:
Yeah,we get those "Sword Masters" in Urgent Care,screaming their head off to get a couple stitches
Old Dudes usually come in with large wound held together by Duct Tape,saying, "My Wife made me come in....."

Reminds me of my youngest daughter, the Lil' Husker/future vet. She called to be picked up from her boy friends house. I got there and she was standing with three boys who all looked ashen faced. Turned out she and the boys decided to play explorer and cut a trail through the under brush. The missing kid was whacking the weeds and managed to implant it into his thigh.

The paramedics had already hauled him off to the ER so on the drive home I decided to make it a teaching opportunity. I asked if the blood was spurting or flowing, did any of them know what pressure points and direct pressure were, stuff like that. The boys were still freaked out but my kid actually got on the web and was able to answer my questions.

Oh yeah, they used Duct Tape to close the wound. The paramedics tore it off.

Here's another ER story:

This is a complete reprint from an article Medical Aspects of Human
Sexuality, July 1991, by Dr. William A. Morton, Jr. MD.

Scrotum Self-repair

One morning I was called to the emergency room by the head ER nurse. She
directed me to a patient who had refused to describe his problem other
than to say that he "needed a doctor who took care of men's troubles."
The patient, about 40, was pale, febrile, and obviously uncomfortable, and
had little to say as he gingerly opened his trousers to expose a bit of
angry red and black-and-blue scrotal skin.

After I asked the nurse to leave us, the patient permitted me to remove
his trousers, shorts, and two or three yards of foul-smelling stained
gauze wrapped about his scrotum, which was swollen to twice the size of a
grapefruit and extremely tender. A jagged zig-zag laceration, oozing pus
and blood, extended down the left side of the scrotum.

Amid the matted hair, edematous skin, and various exudates, I saw some
half-buried dark linear objects and asked the patient what they were.
Several days earlier, he replied, he had injured himself in the machine
shop where he worked, and had closed the laceration himself with a
heavy-duty stapling gun. The dark objects were one-inch staples of the
type used in putting up wallboard.

We x-rayed the patient's scrotum to locate the staples; admitted him to the
hospital; and gave him tetanus antitoxin, broad-spectrum antibacterial
therapy, and hexachlorophene sitz baths prior to surgery the next morning.
The procedure consisted of exploration and debridement of the left side
of the scrotal pouch. Eight rusty staples were retrieved, and the skin
edges were trimmed and freshened. The left testis had been avulsed and
was missing. The stump of the spermatic cord was recovered at the
inguinal canal, debrided, and the vessels ligated properly, though not much
of a hematoma was present. Through-and-through Penrose drains were
sutured loosely in situ, and the skin was loosely closed.

Convalescence was uneventful, and before his release from the hospital
less than a week later, the patient confided the rest of his story to me.
An unmarried loner, he usually didn't leave the machine shop at lunchtime
with his co-workers. Finding himself alone, he had begun the regular
practice of masturbating by holding his penis against the canvas
drive-belt of a large floor-based piece of running machinery. One day, as
he approached orgasm, he lost his concentration and leaned too close to
the belt. When his scrotum suddenly became caught between the
pulley-wheel and the drive-belt, he was thrown into the air and landed a
few feet away. Unaware that he had lost his left testis, and perhaps too
stunned to feel much pain, he stapled the wound closed and resumed work.
I can only assume he abandoned this method of self-gratification.

[avengador1]

Too bad he didn't lose both testicles, then he wouldn't be able to reproduce. That guy sure is a candidate for the Darwin awards. ;)

[DisneyMom]

Reminds me of my youngest daughter, the Lil' Husker/future vet. She called to be picked up from her boy friends house. I got there and she was standing with three boys who all looked ashen faced. Turned out she and the boys decided to play explorer and cut a trail through the under brush. The missing kid was whacking the weeds and managed to implant it into his thigh.

The paramedics had already hauled him off to the ER so on the drive home I decided to make it a teaching opportunity. I asked if the blood was spurting or flowing, did any of them know what pressure points and direct pressure were, stuff like that. The boys were still freaked out but my kid actually got on the web and was able to answer my questions.

Oh yeah, they used Duct Tape to close the wound. The paramedics tore it off.

Here's another ER story:

This is a complete reprint from an article Medical Aspects of Human
Sexuality, July 1991, by Dr. William A. Morton, Jr. MD.

Scrotum Self-repair

One morning I was called to the emergency room by the head ER nurse. She
directed me to a patient who had refused to describe his problem other
than to say that he "needed a doctor who took care of men's troubles."
The patient, about 40, was pale, febrile, and obviously uncomfortable, and
had little to say as he gingerly opened his trousers to expose a bit of
angry red and black-and-blue scrotal skin.

After I asked the nurse to leave us, the patient permitted me to remove
his trousers, shorts, and two or three yards of foul-smelling stained
gauze wrapped about his scrotum, which was swollen to twice the size of a
grapefruit and extremely tender. A jagged zig-zag laceration, oozing pus
and blood, extended down the left side of the scrotum.

Amid the matted hair, edematous skin, and various exudates, I saw some
half-buried dark linear objects and asked the patient what they were.
Several days earlier, he replied, he had injured himself in the machine
shop where he worked, and had closed the laceration himself with a
heavy-duty stapling gun. The dark objects were one-inch staples of the
type used in putting up wallboard.

We x-rayed the patient's scrotum to locate the staples; admitted him to the
hospital; and gave him tetanus antitoxin, broad-spectrum antibacterial
therapy, and hexachlorophene sitz baths prior to surgery the next morning.
The procedure consisted of exploration and debridement of the left side
of the scrotal pouch. Eight rusty staples were retrieved, and the skin
edges were trimmed and freshened. The left testis had been avulsed and
was missing. The stump of the spermatic cord was recovered at the
inguinal canal, debrided, and the vessels ligated properly, though not much
of a hematoma was present. Through-and-through Penrose drains were
sutured loosely in situ, and the skin was loosely closed.

Convalescence was uneventful, and before his release from the hospital
less than a week later, the patient confided the rest of his story to me.
An unmarried loner, he usually didn't leave the machine shop at lunchtime
with his co-workers. Finding himself alone, he had begun the regular
practice of masturbating by holding his penis against the canvas
drive-belt of a large floor-based piece of running machinery. One day, as
he approached orgasm, he lost his concentration and leaned too close to
the belt. When his scrotum suddenly became caught between the
pulley-wheel and the drive-belt, he was thrown into the air and landed a
few feet away. Unaware that he had lost his left testis, and perhaps too
stunned to feel much pain, he stapled the wound closed and resumed work.
I can only assume he abandoned this method of self-gratification.

I hope your Daughter's Friend was OK! It sounds like he removed knife himself though

One question about Machine Shop Guy....
Did they ever find his missing part?

[hobie16]

I hope your Daughter's Friend was OK! It sounds like he removed knife himself though

One question about Machine Shop Guy....
Did they ever find his missing part?

It was a machete. Did a lot of damage but was easily removed. They're easily available as there's always palm fronds to cut down and banana bunches to harvest.

I imagine some poor janitor found the missing 'nad.

[Odie]

Or they've read Game of Thrones- "Stick them with the pointy end!" :p:

You mean, that's not enough?

(insert obligatory YOU KNOW NOTHING JON SNOW) here.

[Big Wallaby]

It's all rumour and fear-mongering.

Fair enough. That information as I heard it came from someone who participates in the events. And I did forget to mention that they do, if using real arrows, make them less than dangerous as long as you play safely.

... Your friends get upset if you try to shoot real arrows at them...

But you still want the arrows to behave in the air like real arrows, right?

Swords, now, that's a different story. ...they've usually watched Lord of the Rings or Braveheart too many times and thus think they can actually use it...

Because the way they use swords in the movies is totally the way you should always do it. Same with all aspects of life. I think I'll go out and do some parkour now.

I imagine some poor janitor found the missing 'nad.

Hopefully with a pan and broom.

[bookbabe]

Fair enough. That information as I heard it came from someone who participates in the events. And I did forget to mention that they do, if using real arrows, make them less than dangerous as long as you play safely.

The question is which events... :D: The club I belong to has pretty strict rules. Most of the serious or semi-serious reenactors do. However, the LARP groups can vary dramatically in terms of safety and common sense.

But you still want the arrows to behave in the air like real arrows, right?

Yes, in an ideal world. However, due to the litigious society we live in, accuracy and authenticity come second to safety. Shafted combat arrows have to have a specially made rubber blunt at the tip and a large ring at the nock end, and there are size (diameter) requirements that ensure an arrow can't go through a helmet face grill. Even then, only some of the "kingdoms" permit the shafted arrows to be used at all in combat. The kingdom I live in only uses siloflex tubes or golf tubes as the shafts, with a padded rubber stopper or specially-made blunt at the tip. And every kingdom has bow strength limits for combat bows. With a 35 lb bow and a plastic golf tube, your arrow isn't going far or doing much damage... ;)

The target archery folks have real arrows and full-strength bows, but with what some of them have spent on them, they're pretty careful with them, and they tend to be the types of people who take safety very seriously.