Imagine going to university with the dream of increasing human knowledge and ability, and ending up spending x years on a 97 page paper no one will ever read not even your parents. Imagine going to university to study English Lit. because you love Jane Austen only to read about deconstruction and colonialism. And so on.
The Middle Ages didn't have welfare, but it had jobs for those who needed them, and there was charity asked for and given, to those who couldn't work. A system far superior to what we have now, where the "market" takes the profits and society is forced to handle the losses. https://hell.twtr.plus/media/1b2ab13f8105310190ae0fb3edbd01efd964fef4bb1ccffda75e8a33e979b4dc.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/f23893afdd190bf7fc15923dbf6191c2e87551a19e8a253fb6a55cf4e761558d.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/ca40426424ba2beec83d40940e74a9a15f80d78df5d571c19663c8dc1dba7fcd.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/fe5a0f98a1cdf71513bb9399980f6fc5faf3070cfea3ee7df8800519444f5f90.file
Maybe the finest example though, and also one of the latest, are the walls at the 1481 St. Osyth's Priory Gatehouse in Essex, near Clacton. Still in remarkably good shape. https://hell.twtr.plus/media/23f618b61ae7f8534cfdb90775bbe5a84862175b758f46a8f3e761d9ce9bfcc8.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/5ffa0a5da80449db45e2f6c3bd489dffa450dc8710f9940c49166e66da094ef7.file
Flushwork is the name of a late medieval technique to decorate plain stone surfaces or to rubble masonry walls. It uses sliced pieces of flint to create patterns or mosaics carefully mortared onto stone. It was especially common where good stone was hard to find but there was money to spend on this time consuming decoration. Here Church of St Peter and St Paul in Lavenham, Suffolk, England. https://hell.twtr.plus/media/1b2ab13f8105310190ae0fb3edbd01efd964fef4bb1ccffda75e8a33e979b4dc.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/f23893afdd190bf7fc15923dbf6191c2e87551a19e8a253fb6a55cf4e761558d.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/ca40426424ba2beec83d40940e74a9a15f80d78df5d571c19663c8dc1dba7fcd.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/fe5a0f98a1cdf71513bb9399980f6fc5faf3070cfea3ee7df8800519444f5f90.file
The best way to stop a fare skipper going on to become a perpetrator of violent assault and then a murderer is to come down hard on the fare skipper. Every-time you go lenient on some sort of deviancy or criminal behavior you allow it to escalate. Especially since the vast majority of all crime is committed by a small hard core of people. https://hell.twtr.plus/media/bf3904eb277a062521dcba75e78e51e8defd3839cf8d01de8e1d120016b28379.file
A kind clarification to the last statement in the OT by @rangingwendigo : "I might say the stone bridge has a higher load capacity. Certain stone has a relatively high compressive strength compared to other materials. But it's really not the be all end all of bridge capacity." Which I fully agree with.
Snecked stonemasonry is when you have irregularly laid courses. Usually/ideally all the stones in one course are of the same height but in rougher work they used what was at hand. The stones that reach over one or two courses are called jumper-stones and the ones that are only half a height are called snecks. Sometimes the words are used interchangeably. This was commonly associated with a more primeval or rustic sense but today it is often imitated in art and fiction and in Disneyland because it looks more authentic to us moderns. https://hell.twtr.plus/media/854cabac8f5d9b714d31527a99659da99b17d6d3d6c0e210d6b20c162da01fb9.file
The Banker Mason is a stonemason specializing in working on the bench (orig. the "bancr") with the raw square or rectangular stone block (a "scant") cut to a specific dimension, and then shapes it according to the order, the plan, the description, using either zinc or wooden molds. The final resting place of the stone is usually carved in a code on the top surface (the "bed"). https://hell.twtr.plus/media/e7c097b9dde9cd4edc2237742271899c2b4f379098ff2f93b5899786be8661e0.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/2b01273fc6a2f2cdbc99061d5316ba8a77da062a433d127e591ce083f2aa3aa7.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/4272310252a56b6fe46cd4fc159fbb590c66612d95c0db369d8db0092ffb3ac6.file https://hell.twtr.plus/media/14361572ed1e88c545cee6ac6e81e3ac6fa3bd57320f18e89cad933c5b1dd870.file
My favorite online esoterica is when someone posts a random selfie or anecdote and someone who is a rare specialist medical doctor sees it and saves their life. "Wow lol why does all my detergents smell like cinnamon all of a sudden!?" Doctor: "Actually that is the first symptom of a lethal brain hemorrhage affecting the olfactory cortex, please go check it out."