Free Republic

EXTREME ADULT CONTENT ALERT. ADULT EYES ONLY. This piece has been a long time coming. I was alerted to this a few years ago, researched it, saw it was true, and then heard enough other anecdotes from across North America to become convinced (with encouragement) that a warning needs to go out, especially to those in Trad Catholic parishes. The best way to protect oneself from sex predators is INFORMATION. We’ve probably all been to a Renaissance Fair or at least heard of people who go off on weekends and do Medieval/Renaissance role playing/reenactment stuff. People make their own costumes,...

Ann, My husband and I have been in the SCA for many years and have been re-thinking our membership lately for a number of reasons. You are absolutely correct, the SCA is a cult, but it is a very subtle one. First, I must point out (and this isn’t meant as a blanket defense of the SCA) there are plenty of conservative folks in the organization, like my husband and myself. I read your post about the SCA after seeing a near-hysterical rant about it on FB from a lady who, to my knowledge, is not a swinger; there are...

Friends and family of a beloved Medieval knight re-enactor have been left “stunned” after the Virginia man accidentally impaled himself with his lance during a re-enactment event over the weekend. Peter Barclay, 53, was competing in an equestrian game in front of a crowd in Williamstown, Kentucky Saturday when he was fatally injured. Participating in events under the knight name of Master Terafan Greydragon, Peter went to spear a paper plate while on horseback when something went wrong and his lance impaled him under his sternum, WLWT confirms. Peter, a military veteran, was airlifted to a hospital but died en...

COLUMBUS – Fifteen miles northeast of Ohio State University, where a Somali immigrant attemped a gruesome attack Monday, Omar Hassan grieved. And worried. “The timing is not good,” Hassan, 54, said in reference to the country’s increasingly intensified anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim fears. “We are black. We are Muslim. We are Somali. We are all the negative stigmas.” Hassan sat in the lobby of the Somali Community Association offices upstairs and around the back of a 1970s-era strip mall on Cleveland Avenue. He said the office is the first stop for people arriving from the east African nation who are seeking...

Exercise is important. Some jog. Others play tennis. In Tokyo, a group of folks don medieval armour, wield swords, and beat the tar out of each other. Welcome to Castle Tintagel, a Middle Ages oasis in a hyper modern metropolis.

The Boeing Phantom Ray unmanned airborne system sits atop a NASA Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), a modified Boeing 747, as it takes off at 1:40 p.m. Central time for today's test flight at Lambert International Airport. The 50-minute flight was conducted in preparation for Phantom Ray's upcoming transport on the SCA to the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. "This is exciting not just because it's the first time that an aircraft other than the space shuttle has flown on the SCA, but also because it puts Phantom Ray that much closer to making its first...

Merrill Lynch sues bond insurer over deal terminations Stephanie Baum 20 Mar 2008 Merrill Lynch has filed a lawsuit over a bond insurer in the latest sign of tensions in the structured credit markets. Merrill contends that XL Capital Assurance, a monoline insurer owned by Security Capital Assurance, improperly terminated seven credit default swap contracts insuring collateralized debt obligations, according to its suit filed in the US District Court in the Southern District of Manhattan. Credit default swaps are contracts that offer insurance against default. Collateralized debt obligations pool together bonds or asset-backed securities and slice them up into tranches...

Security Capital Assurance Halts Taking on New Business Amid $1.2 Billion Loss in 4th Quarter March 13, 2008 - 6:13 p.m. NEW YORK (AP) - Troubled bond insurer Security Capital Assurance Ltd. on Thursday posted a massive fourth-quarter loss and said it will stop writing new policies in an effort to preserve capital. The Bermuda-based company reported it lost $1.2 billion, or $18.67 per share, in the last three months of the year as the value of securities backed by home loans the company insured deteriorated rapidly. During the same period in 2006, SCA posted a profit of $35.8 million,...

There hasn't been a wedding like it for quite some time. About seven centuries, in fact. The bride arrived riding side saddle on a white mare in a dress made from 270 feet of silk. And waiting for her was her knight in shining armour - £10,000 of hand-forged steel trimmed with brass and velvet. The scene was the wedding of Sian Jenkins and Rupert Hammerton - Fraser, who are so fascinated by the Middle Ages that they recreated a medieval ceremony down to the minutest detail - the bride even promised to be bonny and buxom in bed, a...

I just joined the SCA yesterday. Am trying to find out about Hungarian history and have had a hard time for years find anything related to the name Magoch (it has no relation to Magyar). There is a site that says the name has to do with the old Hungarian religion. There is also a town by that name that was ruined during the Tartar (Tatar) invasions. I figured if there was anyone who would know any of this type of thing, they would be a Freeper. I would also like to get to know others in the SCA, if...

A druid swordbearer appeared in court today charged with possessing an offensive weapon. Merlin Michael Williams, 26, of Edgell Road, Westbourne, Emsworth, Hants, was arrested on Friday, July 9, after he was stopped by a security guard in a branch of Wilkinson general stores with his sheathed 3ft ceremonial sword slung over his shoulder. He appeared before Portsmouth Magistrates today dressed in a green robe, blue cloak and with talismans around his neck. Acting as his legal adviser during the short hearing today was chief druid King Arthur Pendragon, swordbearer of Britain, who was dressed in white robes with a...

They come for the fighting — and the dancing. They come for the feasting, and because they get to wear cool clothes. They come to play, to socialize, to learn. Mostly, they come because they have fallen in love with a time so removed from our own that many people never give it a thought — yet it's a time that laid our foundations and shaped our thoughts in important and intriguing ways. Welcome to the Current Middle Ages — or as some say, the Middle Ages "as they ought to have been." This is the period researched and re-created...

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending a midnight showing of The Two Towers. What follows is my attempt at a spoiler-free review. Of three books of the trilogy, "The Two Towers" was always my favorite - I looked forward to the movie in fevered anticipation. I decided to throw caution to the wind and go to the midnight showing; I knew I would be hurting at work today (quick nurse, my caffine IV is low!) I was very surprised to get to the theater in our small city and find it utterly packed, my friend and I were...