Oh it’s times like this I miss not having all my certifications on hand, cause this romance book blogger has got enough actual certified science and licensed know how to fill a fairly substantial wall.
Just from what I have handy atm, Robert Tisserand is one of the worlds leading experts on aromatherapy, and he talks extensively about the safe (and unsafe) uses of essential oils, including medical interactions with drugs, and how the base compounds react with basic physiology and the environment.
I’ve taken the liberty of screen shotting the summary on the known effects of essential oils on the olfactory system, and highlighted parts which are relevant to you having breathing issues:
So basically even though it can help some people feel relief with correct use, if you are triggered by scents or suffer from breathing problems, the use of essential oils should be done with extreme caution. And shoving menthol directly under the nose is not even remotely in the same vicinity as using caution.
Essential oils should be used in a well ventilated space and applied to safe spots to the body, away from mucous membranes. Directly under the nose, on the skin, is not one of those safe spots, though I know plenty of people who will tell me they do it all the time and they’re just “fine”. (Nb: if you’re one of those people that’s your choice, but don’t inflict it on anyone else, especially children or people with allergies)
If it’s a diluted mixture (which those rollerball things tend to be) your chances of skin damage are reduced, but you’re still at risk from developing a sensitivity, or from personal irritation due to existing sensitivities.
Also here’s what Poison Control has to say about it:
Some nasal inhalers contain menthol. The menthol makes us feel as though we are breathing easier, but it does not actually help with congestion. In fact, it appears that more inflammation develops.
There’s also an article in the Canadian Respiratory Journal to back this up, which breaks down how menthol works to soothe breathing difficulties with some actual science and figures if you’re interested:
Nasal resistance before testing was similar on both occasions. No differences were found in respiratory frequency (mean ± SEM) (menthol 17.0±1.1 cmH2O/L/s; sham 16.9±0.9 cmH2O/L/s), minute ventilation (menthol 7.7±0.5 cmH2O/L/s; sham 7.9±0.5 cmH2O/L/s) or total inspiratory time/total breath time (menthol 0.4±0.1 cmH2O/L/s; sham 0.4±0.1 cmH2O/L/s). The upper airway resistance was similar during menthol (3.47±0.32 cmH2O/L/s) and sham (3.27±0.28 cmH2O/L/s) (P=0.33) inhalation.
CONCLUSION:
Inhalation of menthol does not alter upper airway resistance in awake human subjects.
Basically, the tl;dr version: menthol doesn’t increase your ability to breathe, it merely cools things down, providing relief from the symptoms of inflammation, while not actually increasing your airflow capacity.
So shoving menthol under your nose, isn’t going to actually help your breathing problems to resolve long term. If anything it may trigger them into being worse if you are sensitive to fragrances, or suffering from some form of inflammation which may be worsened by the use of volatile oils, which is another name for essential oils. Sounds a lot less friendly than “essential” though, doesn’t it.
Anyway, I hope these are useful to you. Good luck with avoiding the rollerball.
Games often overestimate how much a sword or an axe weighs, and the assumption that many people make is that this lump of steel in your hand is a great burden, although this assumption has been working is way out.
The simple fact of the matter is, medieval weapons are quite light.
The medieval Arming Sword, the single most common sword of the middle ages. One handed, ext to carry, you wouldn’t expect this one to be that heavy, and it isn’t. Arming Swords tend to weigh between 3 and 4 pounds / 1⅓ and 1.8kg, that’s it! This particular example weighs 3 lbs. 11 oz / 1.6kg.
The Longsword, a much longer weapon than the Arming Sword, as the name implies, and obviously much heavier. But it’s not.
Standard Longswords, especially later period ones designed more for thrusting (like the one pictured above,) can be shockingly light. They can weigh in the same range as arming swords, although they can weigh more as well.
Longswords tend to sit between 3 and 5 pounds / 1⅓ and 2.25kg, and this example is 3 lbs. 7oz. / 1.5kg meaning it weighs less than the Arming Sword pictured before!
The Rapier, a famously light and nimble weapon that is also clouded in a fog of incorrect assumptions. The rapier is a long weapon. This example measures 45 inches in the blade and isn’t even among the longest I’ve seen.
Including all that weight from the steel basket around your hand, and it starts to add up. Rapiers can however be quite light, so including the extremes of the spectrum you end up with a range of between 2.5 pounds and 5 pounds / 1.1 and 2.25kg. This particular example is on the lighter side, weighing 2 lbs. 13 oz / 1.3kg.
The Zweihander, the famous greatsword, surely this is a much heavier weapons! Well of course it’s heavier than the others, the entire thing is five and a half feet tall, however they are deceptively light.
Zweihander weigh, on average, 6 pounds / 2.7kg. That’s it, only 6 pounds. Some on the heavier side weigh about 7lbs / 3.1kg, but they rarely exceed that. This example weighs 6 lbs. 2 oz. / 2.8kg.
Moving away from swords, axes will surely be heavier, won’t they? Think again.
There is an important distinction between battle axes and wood cutting axes. Battle Axe heads tend to be thin, very thin, good for cutting flesh and bone, and easier to wield. Wood cutting heads are wider so as to be more robust, and split wood open more efficiently, and let’s not even talk about splitting mauls.
As such, one handed battle aces like this tend only to weigh between 1 and 4 pounds / 0.45 and 1.8kg. They can be very very light! The example is 1 lb. 7 oz. / 0.65kg.
Warhammer even tend to stick to that same range, between 1 and 4 pounds / 0.45 and 1.80. This example is 2 lbs. 8 oz / 1.15kg.
It’s only once you reach polearms that you begin getting heavier weights. The weights of a polearm is greatly changed by the length of it’s shaft, which can vary greatly, so these numbers will be somewhat more flexible.
Spears tend to be the lightest polearms, often weighing between 3 and 6 pounds / 1.⅓ and 2.7kg, with this example coming in at 4 lbs. even / 1.8kg.
Poleaxes, tending to be on the shorter end of polearms, also tend to be lighter. Interestingly, the examples I’ve seen are quite consistent, and all weigh between 6 and 7 pounds / 2.7 and 3.175kg, though greater variation is possible. This example weighs 6 lbs. 9 oz / 3kg.
Halberds tend to be even heavier, though examples in museums tend to have hafts that are too short simply for storage and display purposes.
As such, the weights tend to be somewhat off, however we know from period sources and good modern reproductions that properly sized balberds tend to be about 8 pounds. This museum piece fits the “too light” mould, and weighs 5 lbs. 10 oz / 2.5kg.
For the purposes of giving you (the reader) a proper appreciation of what the pike is, I elected to not use a museum photo for this one, so you can see their full scale.
The pike is a massive weapon, and these piles being used by reenactors in this photo are quite short. On the shorter end, they measured over 10 feet / 3m in length, and on the lookout get end occasionally hit 30 feet / 9.1m !
These could be the heaviest melee weapons typically used in medieval/renaissance warfare, and even these only weigh between 5 and 13 pounds / 2.25 and 5.9kg.
With your heaviest weapons only weighing 13 pounds at their most extreme, this paints a good picture of how light these hand weapons tended to be. Something for RPG and video game developers to keep in mind in the future.
– mod Armet
So what you’re telling me is that virtually every medieval weapon is out weighed by my CAT?
It’s not uncommon for chickens, especially roosters, to have iridescent green* feathers of varying intensity and hue, but those feathers are typically located on the body or tail, and are really more like black feathers with a green sheen. Some ckickens will have these feathers up in the head/neck area like
A) This Nice Australorp Rooster
B) This Buckwild Mutuant, which looks an awful lot like some of the feral chickens I saw roaming Hawai’i, though the photographer does not say where this specimen was found. His green feathers go right up to his throat! I’ve seen specimens there with some outright teal necks and heads, though they didn’t seem to be as popular with the ladies as thier more fair-headed cousins.
*Fun fact: almost no birds have green-pigmented feathers. The green color comes from light reflected from microscopic structures on the bird’s feathers. the only bird with Actual Green Pigment is the Turaco, which has Turacoverdin! This is probably only a fun fact if you are a biology nerd, but it’s one of the EXTREMELY FEW green pigments that occurs in vertebrete animals and comes from the Tucraco’s copper-rich diet, which is another Fun Fact only if you are major NERD. here’s a picture of one becuase they’re cute, and becuase it’s a really strange green for a bird to have:
So while Turacos come in the nice limey green color like in my Icon, Chickens Do not.
Yet.
I see in the replies section a lot of people are confused how there are other birds that are green– all of the birds that do not have green pigmented feathers, but look green?! The OP mentions this but for clarity: That is because bird feathers are colored in two ways: Pigments and structural color! Green (and blue) pigment is pretty rare in bird feathers. Turacos, as mentioned above, being an exception!
Most birds that sport bright blues, greens, purples, and iridescent feathers have feathers that use structural color. The feather uses light refraction between microscopic physical structures in the feather barbs to create a color. Iridescent feathers are the greatest example of this (it’s how they color ‘shift’ depending on the angle of the light and your viewing angle!), but non-iridescent feathers can use structures to make color too, by using air pockets in the feather barbs to refract light and bounce only certain spectra back to the viewer (most of the non-iridescent blues, greens, violets, and UV colors of feathers are formed this way; e.g. jays, parrots, fruit doves, etc). People who have seen green/blue parrots bathe know that if the feathers get soaked, they look brownish… because they are no longer refracting the light in a way that allows you to see the green/blue (at least until they dry out!).
Some birds have both structural and pigmented feather colors! IF YOU DON’T THINK THIS IS SOME OF THE RADDEST STUFF I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO TELL YOU, COME ON
