Posts by Michael D. Belanger

1) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Any SCA-dians out there? (Message 60089) Posted 12 Mar 2009 by Michael D. Belanger Post: I think the page width here is determined by the width of the picture you posted in the first message here. I run 1280*960 and I can only just fit it in without scrolling. The text wraps round at that width. On my laptop, I see the page just fine without scrolling; on my other machine, I have to scroll (that's the one set at 1024 x 768; the laptop's set at 1280 x 800); for some reason, the graphics card on it won't allow 1280 x 800 resolution.
2) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Any SCA-dians out there? (Message 60084) Posted 12 Mar 2009 by Michael D. Belanger Post: Note to Moderator: any way to get the diplay settings (at least on this thread) reset so I (and probably others) don't have to scroll across to read the posts? I have my 'puter set to a resolution of 1024 x 768 and on most (but not all) of the threads, I don't have to scroll across; this one, I do.
3) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Any SCA-dians out there? (Message 60082) Posted 12 Mar 2009 by Michael D. Belanger Post: I went up to The Catonsville Community College near Baltimore, MD, USA yesterday to see my son play lacrosse and they had a bunch of medieval dressed, mostly college kids, people doing their thing on a field. They were all dressed up, I took some pictures with my phone but haven't put them on the web yet. They had the rattan, I guess, swords, authentic looking clothing and all that. It was pretty cool looking. We didn't get to stay and see the action because the game was moved to a different location. Baltimore would be in the Kingom of Atlantia; more specifically, it's the Barony of the Brighthills ; you can, if it looked interesting enough for you, contact their Seneschal (they're like the local group's "President"). and find out when and where they meet, have Fighter practices, etc.
4) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : 有中国人吗？？ (Message 60081) Posted 12 Mar 2009 by Michael D. Belanger Post: what is the poster's name/ID? (I don't have that program, either, and all I get are a bunch of squares displayed)
5) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Personal Milestones (Message 59896) Posted 1 Mar 2009 by Michael D. Belanger Post: I'm nowhere near that high (yet); I'm only at about 7K, but I'm sure I'll get there, eventually. Originally joined up with the S@h project in July, 2000, but then I was away from it for several years (didn't have a 'puter to crunch the data during that time), and only recently got it re-installed on this machine.
6) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Any SCA-dians out there? (Message 59893) Posted 1 Mar 2009 by Michael D. Belanger Post: I've been to a number of the Norman era battle demonstrations, hosted by English Heritage and CADW and found them to be fascinating. The chain mail armour they had in those days was extremely effective. To see them belting seven bells out of each other with swords, axes and maces (cricket balls with spikes) and not getting seriously hurt was very instructive. You see movies about the era and realise how many of the story lines are laughable in their inaccuracies. When you see the modern Olympic archer with their specially designed bows repeatedly hit the target you can then really appreciate the skill and practice needed by medieval archers who had to fire up to 12 arrows per minute before they got trampled by the advancing cavalry. In the SCA, we use rattan "swords" (has an equivalent feel and balance of a metal sword) and the "fights" aren't coreographed in advance; you actually don't know what your opponent is going to do. There are also numerous other aspects of possible interest besides the Combat Arms and being a fighter isn't required to "play"; paid membership is also not required; you'll just be paying a small non-member surcharge to attend events (usually only about $3 more than a paid member, but at the larger events, it can be as much as $10 more). Here in Arizona ("Kingdom of Atenveldt"), we're currently going to be holding our semi-annual "Crown Tournament" next weekend (3/6/2009), where, in one-on-one battles, we determine who our next King will be (the winner of the Tourney becomes Crown Prince until the next Coronation in May, then steps up and becomes King; he and his Queen - not necessarily his real-life wife - reign until the next Crown Tournament in September, and steps down at the Coronation in November). As to the archery (target), we can use modernly-manufactured bows (as you saw in my pic), but we can't use any "special items" (sights, rests, counterbalances, etc.) that would give anyone any kind of an advantage over the others; it's stricly "bare-bow". Combat Archery involves using longbows and crossbows, but the arrows are foam-covered (or just foam, in the case of the crossbow bolts); we're not trying to actually hurt anyone, just simulate the style of fighting that was done "back then".
7) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Team Thread (Ads only, not for discussions) (Message 59881) Posted 28 Feb 2009 by Michael D. Belanger Post: If you "play" in the SCA, regardless of your Kingdom affiliation (I'm in the Kingdom of Atenveldt, by the way), come join us at Team SCA!!
8) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : general chat here (Message 59694) Posted 21 Feb 2009 by Michael D. Belanger Post: Only the finest fly boys come to Seattle for Seafair. They also bring the Harrier and the Chinook for demo on the lake. I have left Seattle about 7 years ago and I miss being rattled by those planes during practice. I figured their distance was quite far apart for such moves. Still at the speed they are going, 50ft isn't much. Just a few wing tip distances. Once you have your space heater machine up and running, the boinc manager will find out how fast you crunch and adjust the amount of work you get. It will also manage what kind of files you get that fit your processor and memory usage. So don't worry, just let it run. Any machine is accepted. When you get a chance, look at the pics on my post, "Any SCA-dians Out There?"; that's what I did for my vacation the week of Feb. 9-16th.
9) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Any SCA-dians out there? (Message 59682) Posted 20 Feb 2009 by Michael D. Belanger Post: One of me at the archery range at Estrella War XXV - I had just bought this bow (and arrows, etc.) and wanted to try them out) - I'm shooting at the 30-yard target:
10) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Any SCA-dians out there? (Message 59679) Posted 20 Feb 2009 by Michael D. Belanger Post: Just got back from an SCA event, the 2nd largest one in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism); here's a pic of one of the "battles" that were "fought" there (we don't recreate any specific battle, per se; we just recreate the style of fighting that they did back in the Middle Ages):
11) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : general chat here (Message 59678) Posted 20 Feb 2009 by Michael D. Belanger Post: last on to post wins died to lack of interest..so if you want to chat..you can do it here. Hey, Greg; I like your avatar - my favorite Demo Team (being former USN myself). In reality, those planes are about 50-60 ft apart, horizontally. Running lhc@h, S@h & this on a very slow machine - "only" 400 MHz, with 512 MB RAM, so it's going to most likely take me a very long time to complete some tasks; I hope they take that into consideration when sending me WU's.