Swords for a long time didn’t have long cross guards because shields mostly covered the hands, even while striking. Long cross guards grew as the use of strap-shields grew. With the shield strapped to the arm, it couldn’t cover the hand as well, so a cross guard was more useful. Basket guards that covered the whole hand became popular once the sword became a side weapon and unarmored hands were needed to operate firearms.
“Almost all of the AI models showed a preference to escalate aggressively, use firepower indiscriminately and turn crises into shooting wars — even to the point of launching nuclear weapons. “The AI is always playing Curtis LeMay,” says Schneider, referring to the notoriously nuke-happy Air Force general of the Cold War. “It’s almost like the AI understands escalation, but not de-escalation. We don’t really know why that is.””
“Russia is increasingly using chemical weapons in Ukraine in an effort to subdue the country by causing as much pain and suffering as possible, Europe’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said Tuesday.
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Most countries around the world, including Russia, have signed a 1993 international convention banning the use, production, development or stockpiling of chemical weapons. Russia is one of 65 countries to have not only signed the Chemical Weapons Convention, but also ratified it.”