Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Apr 13, 2019 16:49:45 GMT
There is not enough space in the title frame. The title should read: ,, A Spanish Toledo Silver Presentation Sword Based On The M1860 Light Cavalry Sword for Officers ''. Also, this was supposed to be review number 5 in the list of Spanish stuff I wanted to post here as in a kind of time line. Next up will be number 4 then. Oh well... This presentation sword is in fact a Spanish M1860 Cavalry Officers sword but adapted for the civilian market. The difference with the Cavalry sabre is the removal of the Spanish Coat of Arms from the shield on the knuckle bow to make it possible to engrave the initials of a civilian owner. That was all really. The M1860 design was called ,, a la Prussiana ''. The basket looked very Germanic indeed and variations of this in origin Austrian design were widely popular in Europe at the time. Spanish Officers enjoyed a great freedom to personalize their weapon and the engraved basket with the Spanish Coat of Arms on the knuckle bow was quite common.  This is the regulation Officers M1860 sabre. Officers had the permission to swap blades too. That's why the sword blade. The hexagonal blade was also quite popular with the Spanish Cavalry and already in use for a long time.  The Spanish M1832 HC Troopers pallasch.  The Spanish M1832 HC Officers pallasch. Notice the double fuller feature. Lighter versions with the typical double fullers were in use by Officials with for instance the M1830, the Artillery 1842 and Infantry sabres. The type of sword was loved by Officers and civilians alike and did make a very fine gift indeed. While some Spanish hilts and scabbards were made from Alpaca, an amalgam of nickel, copper and tin, developed in Germany in 1823 as an imitation and replacement of sterling silver, the hilt of this sabre is made from iron.  A Spanish General Officers sabre M1830. The hilt and the scabbard are made from Alpaca. To nevertheless imitate the silver effect, the pattern was etched out and the work piece left to rust. After some time the high portions were polished and the rust in the lower sections oiled or waxed or maybe varnished to turn it black. At least this is what I could observe when I had to remove the rust. The result of course is that over time the rust will start to work again as the acid used will be activated because the oil or wax have evaporated or the varnish decomposed. Since the etch is very deep they most probably had to use a strong acid to get the job done within a reasonable amount of time. If not all traces of acid are fully removed and rendered harmless, over time when the atmosphere of the environment is just right, read enough water is in the air, the acid will start the get active again. I have seen acids re activated from hundreds of years old. So it was here and I removed the rust from the etch on the blade and the basket with a soft steel wire brush.There was a lot of it as the recesses are really deep. Cleaning the inside of the cramped basket, where the ferule was also coated with a thick layer of rust, was pure hell, but it had to be done. With the rust removed it was imperative to protect the sword from any new formation of rust and in the spirit of the original design I decided to plate the basket and the blade panels with silver. I used the brush plating technique and a piece of a Canadian silver dollar from the 60's which contains 98% silver and 2% of nickel and some copper and other stuff to make it hard and resistant to corrosion. Plating base metal with silver or gold was done even far before Christ, with the same argument: to protect against the elements. The blade suffered from scars of the Toledo polishing wheel. Scratches, 2 mm apart and perfectly parallel , over the width of the blade and at an angle. So I had to polish them out. Luckily they were quite superficial and I could polish the blade to high polish in about three days. It must be said though that I did not expect this sloppy behaviour from a Toledo workshop and most certainly not where a presentation sword is involved. A little more care would not have hurt. The scabbard was Japanned at the time, which procedure was considered the latest and best for steel sheet protection. Look at all those pretty tin boxes that are for sale as antique collectibles. Still going strong after all that time. It just needed some touching up. That was all. The liners were intact and the sword sheets as it should. A new felt washer was made to complement the resurrected sword, now again with a nice high polished blade and with silver panels and a silver basket. The contrast between silver and steel is quite pronounced and I find, very attractive. Here are some pictures from before the operation. The scars on the blade are clearly visible:         Here you can see the typical profile of these blades: A flat 6.5 mm thick bar from the guard to just before the end of the panel, at which point two lines turn inside to form the flat of the hex part of the blade.What happens of course is that here material is taken away to form the cutting edge on either side.  For the removal of the thick crust of rust on the inside of the basket and on the ferule I made this little cone of 80 grid sandpaper. Very stiff, it will poke anywhere you need it to poke. I am sorry to say this but Dremels are of little use here.      Finally a clean interior and ferule.  That nice looking black is in fact also a thick crust of rust and oil.  All that stuff has to go or it will infect the rest of the sword again over time. Getting ready for plating with the rust gone. Notice how deep the relief is in contrast with before.   The dark spots still visible are residue from the casting. Cannot do anything about that.  Brush plating you can do anywhere where there is electricity. I like the kitchen. The coffee maker is stationed there. The little white bowl contains the magic potion. Normally it is green of colour. Here it is turning black from silver oxide.  To the left the polished blade under tape to prevent it from plating too. To the right the plated panel. And here is the finished sword:        The sheen of the silver contrasts nicely with the highly polished hard steel.    In typical Toledo fashion the grip is wired with a single strand made from Alpaca.  Yoh! Silver.... The numbers. BL: 90.5 cm.Hex and of sound Cavalry format. OL: 104 cm. Thick: 6.5 mm. Weight with scabbard and sword knot: 1310 grams. Weight sword with sword knot:930 grams. POB: 14 cm from the guard. Cheers. Notes. Jordan Williams review of the M1860 Troopers: sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/53817/spanish-modelo-light-cavalry-troopersSabres and swords for Cavalry Troopers: perso.wanadoo.es/jjperez222/tropacab3_e.htmThoughts? : sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/48017/thoughts-spanish-1860-cavalry-saberAcknowledgement: All images not made by myself are courtesy of Vincente Toledo Momparler. |
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Post by elbrittania39 on Apr 13, 2019 17:04:48 GMT
BRB, finding a spatula so I can scrape my jaw off the floor.
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Post by Jordan Williams on Apr 13, 2019 17:47:19 GMT
Very nice write up! Interesting information regarding the etching, and civilian market for what I would assume would be a military specific sword.
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pgandy
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Post by pgandy on Apr 13, 2019 21:12:01 GMT
And yet another sword succumbs to the magic hands of Uhlan. Beautiful work there, congratulations.
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Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Apr 14, 2019 8:21:44 GMT
Thank you all for the positive comments. I really appreciate this. I just returned to add some text under a picture in the ,, before '' section, where one has a good view of the blade. How it is formed. While busy I had to think about todays ,, Toledo '' blades in contrast with the blades of old and worthy of the Toledo brand name and myth. While at this moment I cannot remember what the source was and where to find it again, only that it was a source of high repute, I do remember to have read that Toledo blades, compared to the efforts of say Klingenthal, were quite thin. The French and everybody else for that matter, lay blades on us that are 8 mm minimum and about 11 mm maximum thick. That is a lot of material and thus weight to schlepp around and to fight with. The M1860 presented here is just 6.5 mm thick and is in fact a fully capable Light Cavalry Officers fighting sword. Here is my Carlos 1771 Toledo Cavalry Bilbo which will be reviewed in this ,, Spanish Series''..  Look at this mother. Double edged wide cutting blade of 91.5 cm length. It may have even been 92 cm because I think time nibbled off a bit from the tip. Made for the heavy lifting. This is a fighting sword if there ever was one. Blade width is a full 38 mm at the guard! See the tinny ricasso right under the guard? It functions as a blade stop cum rest for the hilt. This is the thickest part of the blade. Also the part that is relatively untouched, most certainly at both ends. Looking at the edges here I can state at least these ends are fully intact. Want to know how thick this Empire building, skull splitting, heavy duty double edged MOFO is? Just under 5.5 mm! That is half of what an AN IX or AN XIII does. My reasonably informed guess is that the HC Troopers M1832 pallasch from up the thread will not be much thicker. While it looks like a thick poker. How is it possible to have rather large fighting swords be so thin? The secret lays with the old Toledo art. The myth that Toledo blades were special, not only in say the 17th century, but from the get go, the year zero, so special indeed that and this is on the record, a delegation of Japanese gentlemen, I think it must have been during the time when the Portuguese traded over there, came over from Japan, highly curious about Toledo swords and wishing to know more about them. The quest must have been quite important. No Japanese person, gentleman or not, would on his own accord leave Japan. That was unheard of, a proposal leading to severe trauma in the brain. Then one had to travel for thousands of miles, surrounded by aliens under more then dramatically bad conditions. It is not that the gents whizzed by in their Lexus, donning Cartier sun shades. It must have been very important indeed. The answer probably lays in the scientifically proven fact that Toledo blades, like the Katana, are build in two parts. The core of any Toledo blade is made from soft pliable steel, while the outer casing is made from the hardest, toughest steel they could make. Then there was the tempering and hardening process, I must say processes really, that were also a tad different from what was the norm in the rest of Europe. The result of all this are blades that are exceptionally tough, hold their edges very long and are quite flexible enough to withstand the rigours of battle to the highest degree. What I also was thinking about this morning is the Toledo swords scam of our day. You cannot call this anything else but a scam. These ,, swords '' with made in China probably, but surely stamped stainless steel blades are an affront to the Toledo name and as such the parasitic families hawking their dross under this once great name, should be very much ashamed. It's not that they will ever atone. There's too many Pesos to be made and too many hypocritical slick marketing videos to be shot moaning about their ,,art''. Here is a nice PDF: www.researchgate.net/publication/235886833_A_Metallographic_Examination_of_a_Toledo_Steel_Sword |
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pgandy
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Post by pgandy on Apr 14, 2019 13:22:42 GMT
Thanks for the enlightenment Uhlan. I knew of Toledo’s reputation and when I was new at swords and on eBay and saw “Toledo Sword” I would get excited as I knew of their reputation. After reading the descriptions I would get really turned off thinking Toledos were a myth, or certainly a come down from the days of old. I had no idea of why Toledo swords were so highly rated until reading the above. The thickness really caught my eye.
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Post by Pino on Apr 14, 2019 17:12:57 GMT
Hey cool Spanish gift sword!
Pretty interesting deluxe piece; it leaves me wondering who the receiver was (lucky bastard!!) but also how the family ended up losing such a valuable heirloom sword.
Good old times when Toledo were known for their quality blades rivaling Klingenthal, Solingen and Zlatoust; now relegated to a tourist grade wall decoration...
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Post by Jordan Williams on Apr 14, 2019 17:52:36 GMT
Yeah, That's a really good read. The Toledo blades I've owned have all had excellent temper and dynamics, It's a real shame that they started to field such oddly poor designs compared to their earlier stuff.
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Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Apr 14, 2019 19:23:58 GMT
Hey Pino. Long time no see! Was just thinking about where the heck you were this morning. To pgandy. The PDF is an eye opener of sorts and I am very glad to have found it. It was a chance find though. There must be more modern research published that we totally miss because we do not know where to look. The problem with Toledo is twofold I think. First: Toledo workshops, as it is a conglomerate of workshops all over the town and nearby region, were not exactly keen to publish the secets of their trade. The Guilds also would have kept a tight lid on that. This helps of course in building the myth, but we lose on the informative side. There will not be many dusty manuscripts and old books in regional and/or national libraries wherein the actual manufacturing processes are written down. Wonderful stories enhancing the mythical side of the brand and it was and is a brand name just like ,, Apple", which are nothing but an advertising campaign, will abound on the library shelves. Would I be a researcher I would not dismiss those results of the centuries old ,, advertising campaign'' though. There certainly are interesting little bits scattered around in there that may shed some light on the actual manufacturing process. The hold the Guilds had on process information though was considerable and never to be underestimated and their ,, secret police'' squads relentless and vindictive activities bordering the absurd.Let me tell you a story, if I may, about glass. Why Ulahn! Glass you say? You are well aware we have glass in our Cantinas, eh, eh. Yes, but what I want to talk about is this very special gold inlaid Venitian glass made in the 17th century. This glass was a hit around that time, very expensive, one paid gold to aquire a piece and the secrets of manufacture closely guarded. Venitian glass workers, especially those who made this gold inlaid glass, had to swear oaths never to disclose the secrets on penalty of death. Never mind the Romans already made it. Some dug up pieces might have given the Venitians the idea in the first place. Well, one guy, let's call him Norberd, saw the mountains of money this glass brought in and began thinking. Norberd, thinking done, took the knowledge in his head and absconded to Antwerp in the hopes that the mighty Guilds there might protect him and also Spain that ruled Antwerp at the time would protect such a source of badly needed income. Spain was effectively broke. So, after a journey with lots of dagger and cloak stuff going on, Norberd settled in Antwerp and opened up shop. He begun to make the famous Antwerp version of the glass and even initiated his underlings in the making off. Guess what happened to poor Norberd. Venice, as soon as they got reports from their spies that something was going on up north, send a swat team hit squad and killed poor Norberd stone dead. The secret was out though and Venice glass industry never really recovered. Behold the power of the ( Toledo ) Guilds. I have a piece of a so called ,, flute '', made in Antwerp, maybe poor Norberd made it himself, which was dug up some 20 miles from here. It was trown into a refuse pit. All houses had a pit for junk. This one was from a farmhouse which just shows how once absurdly expensive stuff made it into the nether regions of society. Holland was extreemly rich at the time, but still. You find glasses like it on paintings done by Jan Steen. The full richness of this glass and Dutch society is depicted with gusto there. The colour of my fragment is because glass integrates over time. It dies slowly but surely once it is in contact with air.  Half of a 17th century Antwerp gold inlaid flute.  The brown - yellow lines are the actual gold wires going up the stem.  Same here. Now to go back to Toledo. The second problem facing the discovery of the manufacturing processes is something a lot of people noticed over a wide time period. I read an article about English travellers in the 18th century up to the first half of the 19th century, while doing, or trying to do really, research about the Bilbo and Sail Guard rapier, but from Spanish sources. The problem many an interested traveller came upon was the total disregard they found ,, the Spanish people '' had for their surroundings. In his ,, Handbook for Travellers and Readers at Home '' 2 vols, 1845 edition, the writer, Richard Ford, a very successful writer of travel books, the 1845 edition costing the ginormous sum of 30 Shilling! was sold out as fast as it was printed, states that he could not find one drawing or painting depicting places of interest, the total disinterest of the Spanish public in their architectual culture. He pointed out that many of his predecessors complained about it too. Even now, when I do an image search for pictures of the Toledo city crest on one of the town gates, I only get a few pictures and those are made by foreigners mostly. I like to search Spanish stuff in Spanish, but still there was nothing like what you get when doing the same in for instance Italy. That will bring up page after page of images, whether you search in Italian or English. Now, I think this strange habit may very much obstruct a fruitful search for Toledo sword manufacture documentation too. I am sure there are scores, at least there should be in any normal country, of academic papers done on the subject. Problem is, you cannot get to them. Probably they are on the shelf somewhere, but the Spanish attitude seems to be ,, why bother? ''. |
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Post by Pino on Apr 15, 2019 2:01:30 GMT
Hey Pino. Long time no see! Was just thinking about where the heck you were this morning. Now to go back to Toledo. The second problem facing the discovery of the manufacturing processes is something a lot of people noticed over a wide time period. I read an article about English travellers in the 18th century up to the first half of the 19th century, while doing, or trying to do really, research about the Bilbo and Sail Guard rapier, but from Spanish sources. The problem many an interested traveller came upon was the total disregard they found ,, the Spanish people '' had for their surroundings. In his ,, Handbook for Travellers and Readers at Home '' 2 vols, 1845 edition, the writer, Richard Ford, a very successful writer of travel books, the 1845 edition costing the ginormous sum of 30 Shilling! was sold out as fast as it was printed, states that he could not find one drawing or painting depicting places of interest, the total disinterest of the Spanish public in their architectual culture. He pointed out that many of his predecessors complained about it too. Even now, when I do an image search for pictures of the Toledo city crest on one of the town gates, I only get a few pictures and those are made by foreigners mostly. I like to search Spanish stuff in Spanish, but still there was nothing like what you get when doing the same in for instance Italy. That will bring up page after page of images, whether you search in Italian or English. Now, I think this strange habit may very much obstruct a fruitful search for Toledo sword manufacture documentation too. I am sure there are scores, at least there should be in any normal country, of academic papers done on the subject. Problem is, you cannot get to them. Probably they are on the shelf somewhere, but the Spanish attitude seems to be ,, why bother? ''. Busy with life and work, then I got ill and as soon as I recovered again trying to catch up the lost days so busy again...ah such is life. Regarding Toledo, it's true that sources are very vague and hard to find; occasionally here and there a book appears about Spanish swords or the Toledo manufacture but they are in Spanish, so not easily accessible to all and it is rare as Pope sh*t... Also just as an informative add-on; somehow this type of deluxe hilted sword must have made quite an impression on French officers because there are 1882 private purchase (superior) infantry officer swords that were made with this very same luxurious floral designed hilts; even the parallel fullered Toledo blades were more frequently used for non-regulation 1882 swords. |
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Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Apr 15, 2019 3:30:44 GMT
Ah well. Welcome back again. You and I read the same news papers. You mean this one?  Officier Superieur M1882. Private order in the Gothic Revival style. Yes, very close in pattern, identical in style. True, in the later 19th century there is definitely an uptick in interest in Toledo blades from foreign clients. And they were right. The style was unique, the ,,Brand'' and the quality still good. You can spot a Toledo blade from a mile away as it where. Regarding the publications about Toledo: I will see what I can dig up and ask some dealers in Madrid what would be a quality publication in regards to Toledo manufacture. Something a little on the academic side. Not the ,,History of Toledo according to the House of Marto'' if you get my drift. |
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Post by Pino on Apr 15, 2019 18:55:24 GMT
Ah well. Welcome back again. You and I read the same news papers. You mean this one? Officier Superieur M1882. Private order in the Gothic Revival style. Yes, very close in pattern, identical in style. True, in the later 19th century there is definitely an uptick in interest in Toledo blades from foreign clients. And they were right. The style was unique, the ,,Brand'' and the quality still good. You can spot a Toledo blade from a mile away as it where. Regarding the publications about Toledo: I will see what I can dig up and ask some dealers in Madrid what would be a quality publication in regards to Toledo manufacture. Something a little on the academic side. Not the ,,History of Toledo according to the House of Marto'' if you get my drift. Bingo, that's exactly the thing! Exquisite hilt! I'll have to check back Vicente Toledo Momparler's book of Spanish swords to see what he has to say about the Fabrica; but I know there is an obscure book written some time agio by a Dr Humberto I think but not sure of the name still it is a study about the arms manufacture of Toledo. Have you checked the Catalogacion des Armas articles? They are pretty informative. It's kind of funny now that you mention Marto because it really seems as if, according to Google search results, Toledo had zero material to be proud of before the years of Aceros de Hispania and Marto... |
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Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Apr 16, 2019 7:57:19 GMT
For those interested in Spanish swords and sabres: Mr. Vincente Toledo Momparler has a website where he lists all Regulation Spanish Army swords and sabres. This list is made up from thumbnails. Clicking on the thumbnail will download a PDF file containing the description of the sabre cum sword plus some photos. It must be pages from the book Pino talks about. My advise is to download all files and store them on a thumbdrive. Webpages do not have eternal life. vicentetoledo.es/es/espadas/sables-militaresAnother site of interest: www.caballeriaespañola.es/fotos/espadas-de-caballer%C3%ADa-1800-1909/And another one: hoploteca.blogspot.com/2015/08/sable-para-oficial-de-caballeria-modelo.htmlYou will find a few other sites too as long as you do not search in the language of the region you live in. That is the way the Google AI works. It sees your region via your IP address and does its best to serve you with localised results. If you want Spanish stuff you best start asking questions in Spanish. Also and as an aside: Use Startpage. It strips Google results of all spyware. No pixel beacons, no flags, no tracking anymore. I will look for the articles and Dr. Humberto. Acero and Marto: Here Google reflects the depressing and scary effects of the total disregard for history in teaching at schools and university. I had young people in the store totally amazed there was in fact a WWII. At the mentioning of WWI they did not believe me. They looked at me in total befuddlement with that uneasy smile on their faces which hides that they were checking out a fasted way to get out of there and away from this nutter. I am not kidding here. For them this is all Hollywood. A movie that never really happened. Also, people tend to search for stuff they know. Its safe. This is the result of years of training by way of the infamous ,, search suggestions '' feature. It puts great big blinders on your head. And that my friend, lets be clear about that, is exactly the way ,, they '' like it to be for us. For those poor kids Gladiator IS Roman history, a WWI or WWII documentary Dreamworks inc gone wild and so on. A 17th century book printed in Latin makes them, as I observed, uneasy. A confrontation with the reality that existed, quite afraid. And now dear listeners to Ulahns World Famous series of Morning Rants, said Ulahn has to do some shopping. Cheerio. |
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Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Apr 16, 2019 20:21:10 GMT
Found this picture of a part of a blade of a Troopers M1825 Line Cavalry pallasch. The same tool marks as I mentioned above, running over the width on an angle. Not a one off then. More like a Toledo feature. Interesting.  Image courtesy of La Hoploteca. Here a new bookmark of interest: perso.wanadoo.es/jjperez222/tropacab_e.htmand another one: hoploteca.blogspot.com/search/label/Caballer%C3%ADaThe Hoploteca site functions and looks a lot like the Napoleonic Sabres and Swords site. Beautiful pictures too. Cheers. |
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pgandy
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Post by pgandy on Apr 16, 2019 21:01:25 GMT
Acero and Marto: Here Google reflects the depressing and scary effects of the total disregard for history in teaching at schools and university. I had young people in the store totally amazed there was in fact a WWII. At the mentioning of WWI they did not believe me. They looked at me in total befuddlement with that uneasy smile on their faces which hides that they were checking out a fasted way to get out of there and away from this nutter. I am not kidding here. For them this is all Hollywood. A movie that never really happened. Also, people tend to search for stuff they know. Its safe. This is the result of years of training by way of the infamous ,, search suggestions '' feature. It puts great big blinders on your head. And that my friend, lets be clear about that, is exactly the way ,, they '' like it to be for us. For those poor kids Gladiator IS Roman history, a WWI or WWII documentary Dreamworks inc gone wild and so on. A 17th century book printed in Latin makes them, as I observed, uneasy. A confrontation with the reality that existed, quite afraid. And now dear listeners to Ulahns World Famous series of Morning Rants, said Ulahn has to do some shopping. Cheerio. I find it shocking what the youngsters don’t know. I’ll guarantee if you tell them that you would like to put an end to women’s suffrage and ask them to sign your petition the vast majority will. They hear something that sounds “cool” (their language) and they will be all for it without knowing what it means. Just last week I saw a number of youngsters being interviewed and they were all for socialism, but when asked to define it nobody could. |
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Post by Jordan Williams on Apr 16, 2019 23:30:42 GMT
Man, I would have loved to see that book as a kid. Could I have read or understood it? No, but that still sounds so cool.
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Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Apr 17, 2019 6:32:16 GMT
,, they were all for socialism, but when asked to define it nobody could. '' and so are bound to repeat the mistakes made in the past. ,,Interested third parties'' will tell them about unicorns, rainbows and Cumbaya or whatever it's called and that everything should be free of charge. This last one always works very well. Until of course, they wake up and they will, in the modern version of one of these: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gulag_campsOkay, enough already. We should not discuss these things here. Lets go back to discussing innocent and glorious instruments of instand death and festering mutilation. he he. So, the search results I posted above and again I advise you to store them somewhere safe, were only obtained because I looked for Spanish things in the Spanish language. Would I have searched with English or God forbid Dutch keywords, Google would have kept me within my regional bubble and nothing of value would have popped up. I know it sounds bizar but there it is. I checked this behaviour in German, French, Italian and Spanish and the results are always the same. To act upon it will greatly enhance the amount of information you are looking for. What is made obvious however is that Googles algorithms are quite primitive and highly tuned to service the needs of people looking for the nearest restaurant. Any search outside of that paradigm will go nowhere if you do not help the algorithm along a bit. |
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Post by Jordan Williams on Apr 17, 2019 7:01:36 GMT
I've met people who deny the existence of gulags, and my first history professor in collage would spend a lot of time propagating political myths (not even by opinion - demonstrated myths!) instead of teaching actual history - she also stated once that the Danes were from the Netherlands, these Danes colonized much of China and along with the Empire of Australia (?) and America they played a very key role in the Opium wars. The British I guess just took more a backseat role. I learned more from my own reading and YouTube than the course in that semester.
I think it is perhaps not always the youngster's faults based on my education so far - but someone should of course strive to research and learn on their own to achieve a true sense of the truth or at least their own opinion.
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Post by elbrittania39 on Apr 17, 2019 11:46:41 GMT
Acero and Marto: Here Google reflects the depressing and scary effects of the total disregard for history in teaching at schools and university. I had young people in the store totally amazed there was in fact a WWII. At the mentioning of WWI they did not believe me. They looked at me in total befuddlement with that uneasy smile on their faces which hides that they were checking out a fasted way to get out of there and away from this nutter. I am not kidding here. For them this is all Hollywood. A movie that never really happened. Also, people tend to search for stuff they know. Its safe. This is the result of years of training by way of the infamous ,, search suggestions '' feature. It puts great big blinders on your head. And that my friend, lets be clear about that, is exactly the way ,, they '' like it to be for us. For those poor kids Gladiator IS Roman history, a WWI or WWII documentary Dreamworks inc gone wild and so on. A 17th century book printed in Latin makes them, as I observed, uneasy. A confrontation with the reality that existed, quite afraid. And now dear listeners to Ulahns World Famous series of Morning Rants, said Ulahn has to do some shopping. Cheerio. I find it shocking what the youngsters don’t know. I’ll guarantee if you tell them that you would like to put an end to women’s suffrage and ask them to sign your petition the vast majority will. They hear something that sounds “cool” (their language) and they will be all for it without knowing what it means. Just last week I saw a number of youngsters being interviewed and they were all for socialism, but when asked to define it nobody could. In all fairness, I've seen plenty of full grown adults in my country who can't name a single branch of our government or say what rights the first amendment gives them  |
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Uhlan
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Post by Uhlan on Apr 17, 2019 14:01:29 GMT
Age is not the issue. Education is, or better lack thereof.
Education, the depth,the value, its merit, has been in decline since the 70's.
In the last 10 years the decline in general has accelerated into the realms of the ridiculous.
Swaths of people applying for university have to follow a course in the sommer months, under supervision of the unies, to hike up practically non existent reading, writing and math skills.
Nothing special. Just High School level stuff. Maybe the kids want, but it seems the teachers corps sure as hell dont. This is the trend in general. There are always outliers that do right by their students. Not many though. Not nearly enough.
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