Hey all, I’ve been posting some new stuff to Syridian.com, even though I will shortly be redesigning the whole site… Take a Peek… HTTP://syridian.com

Seems that updates to this webspace are few and far between… lack of thinking time to myself might indeed be the cause… So what is taking up valuable CPU cycles in my brain these days… What are that thoughts that rattle through various cells and junctions of that pink squishy mass?

Website stuff mainly… And what is it they say about mechanics, electricians and plumbers? Well… other than those things. Yes… they find little time to do their own Car’s, Electrics and plumbing… So alas dear reader, your whinging blogger has segmented his brain for the following purposes…

The House Drakkar website, a site for the morally depraved wanna be Vikings out there willing to sell their war talents for Cider and food. Work on this site started in July, and the site went live on the First of August this year. It has now been handed over to the ever competent Egan to administer, however I am still involved in small maintenance tasks and larger updates.

The Barony of Rowany website, a site for all things good in and around Rowany. This site is consuming a greater part of my mental power (what little there is), tracking down information isn’t as easy as it seems, though I do have a great support base. Being reletively new to full SCA involvement there is alot I am learning, hence the brain drain. But we are slowly getting to a point of easing off, where I can concentrate on detailing the content more and not so much of the chasing content and writing content.

This with my training obligations to Drakkar as a fighter, and my desire to get IKAC shoots happening in Rowany has left me little time to tinker here. So for that fellow reader(s), I am sorry.

Casual War this weekend in Canberra… I’m looking forward to this last War of the year, and then spending time preparing for Festival. So many projects, only “Two Weeks” to Festival…

Clap your hands…
Clap! Clap!!

Seems that Drupal, the CMS I’m considering using to fix my blog site Syridian.com actually has a built in RSS parser…. Oooo What fun… Now to just work out how to blend that content with site content…

LJ now allows you to post directly from your IM client?!!?!?!!! Thats amasingly fun and easy! Now I just have to work out how to get my LJ posts imported into my normal website, and All will be right with the world. :)

Memory lane is an interesting place… It exists in all of us, yet it’s never the same. Like a generic street name that turns up in virtually every suburb, it’s always there, but sometimes hard to find. At times you find yourself hopelessly lost on those cobbled back lanes of the past, wandering aimlessly revelling in the sites and sounds that surround you.

Since participating in the SCA again, I have found myself wondering those cobbles a lot. It may seem strange for someone like me, who was always on the fringe to dwell on brief memories of fleeting SCA involvement, a feast here, festival there, and even the odd armouring day and fighter training, but dwell I do. Maybe the ghost of regret haunts me… regret for not being involved back then, all those years ago.

I’ve lost track of how many years it’s been since I was first introduced to the SCA. I was hooked, but being introduced by someone who was not part of a household, and not knowing anyone, I felt like an outsider. My friends involvement was always fleeting, a feast here and there only. He wasn’t that interested in fighting, and didn’t really get involved that much, so I had no-one to go with who I knew. My life changed… I moved over-sea’s (stupidly I should have chased up the SCA over there), and basically work and socialising took over. The SCA became a memory for a few years longer…

I have resolved to draw a map to Memory Lane, well at least the SCA part of it. I would like to drag up the old memories, and thank those that helped to try and drag me in.

Stay tuned for Part II…

Rowany has just been given official permission to hold an IKAC shoot on the first Sunday of December, and submit those results for the 2006 season.

This makes Novermber’s shoot the first but penultimate IKAC Shoot in Rowany. So, if you are an Rowantite Archer, get those Sharps ready, Stretch that Bow arm… Because there are now 2 local chances to submit a better score and elevate Rowany’s Renown.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

In other Rowany IKAC news… I have an official Marshal for the day, however if someone would like to volunteer to be a back up Marshal, that would be great. Contact me if you want to help.

Went to Fighter Prac last night wanting to talk to Lady Mayela about the Rowany website, and to get some feedback on my device that I am preparing for submission.

Lady Mayela has suggested that I apply for the position of Rowany’s Webminister, this was of course after I asked her if I could help with it in the future. I’m keen to get involved with something in the Barony, and I do enjoy playing with websites. Well, I’ll find out something next week, or the week after.

His Excellency Baron Hrothgar has given approval of the Homebush Archery Centre to be used for IKAC, so I shall push ahead with the organisation for that. More info will apear here magically when I have more to give.

In other news… It has been suggested that to get my Device registered I may have to add a border to satify the points of differance requirements… though that was suggesting in an informal discussion.

Anyway, thats it for now…

Oh no… I forgot to update this during the excited preparation for spring war…

I spoke to the manager at Homebush Archery Centre again on Thursday last week while I was picking up my bow and new strings. He seems to have changed his mind about letting us use the range and a couple of his Targets for wooden arrows. For those of you that haven’t been to the Homebush Archery Centre, it’s a great site as it is well… perfect for Archery.

I spoke to the manager there when I started looking into running an IKAC shoot on a regular basis, as I’m a little uncomfortable with large quantities of people shooting at the St Peters site. First time I spoke to him, he seemed against the idea, and told me outright that he wouldn’t allow wooden arrows to be used on his targets. However I think the idea of having an extra 10 or 15 people coming to the site on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon appealed to him, not only will it bring business to the cafe, but also to the archery shop.

This of course works well for all of us. The Cafe can provide an easily accessable lunch/afternoon snack, and the archery shop can help our archers with bow and arrow maintainence. These plans will probably be working towards starting IKAC at Homebush in 2007, So Novembers IKAC for Rowany will still be held at St Peters (and there MAY be a December one as well).

Though this isn’t an official “OK”, and may need to be run by the Baron and Baroness, as there will be fee’s and sign-in to the Archery Centre. It’s a step towards a safe and archer friendly environment for active Rowanite Archers… And Also… ;) It provides us with a recruiting ground so that we can recruit some exceptional archers who might be interested in shooting IKAC for Rowany. Can anyone say Ringer? ;)

Hmmm.. Last night My personal whinge blog was hacked… all that was changed was the Index.html file, no actualy access to the site was achieved… but it kinda annoyed me for a while.

The tag the hacker used was “Chip ownz you!” which in my humble opinion, given the fact that he just used an exploit and attacked a large number of websites on the same server, just proved the guy is nothing more than a bot hacker… Utilising premade utilities to plant his pathetic massage all over the internet. Ahh well… He got what he wanted, and I got my site back shortly after I noticed it.

I updated Bleep, Dots and Nonsense last night and this morning, mainly cause a hack was brought to my attention, but then because I noticed it had also been a few months since it had been updated…

I’m a non-smoker… So what follows is a whinge based on my personal beliefs, and as such is not directed at anyone in particular.

As a non-smoker, I am constantly surprized by the idiosy that is smoking… To draw into your lungs toxic particles from burnt substances just seems totally un-natural, and well…. stupid. To top it all off, the number of people who smoke who have friends or family with lung problems is staggering. Sure, some of these smokers stand outside, and don’t smoke in cars, or wind the window down, and then say “Well, I’m being conciderate, I have the window down!”

Most non-smokers would know, that that doesn’t make a differance really. The car still fills with invisible passive smoke which they still have to breathe. So what about these people who smoke outdoors? Are they being conciderate to others? Well… lets see… A smokers smoke will travel on a breeze for about 50 to 100 metres before disapating enough to not be noticable.

Personally I don’t think smokers really concider how much, or how many people their “right to smoke” actually affects people around them. Sure, they have that right, as do non-smokers have the right to breathe fresh clean air. Is it right to say “My right as a smoker is to smoke where-ever I choose!”, yet have that one persons choice affect multiple people. I’m all for peoples right to do something, even if it is just plain stupid in my opinion, but when it affects more people than the individual who chooses to smoke, then I think it’s only fair to concider the entirety of who is affected by that choice.

From what I have been able to work out, smoking was originally used in religious ceremonies and events, it wasn’t something that people took part in every day. Christopher Columbus was the first European to discover tobbaco in the America’s, and returned to Europe with it. Seems to me that all Western cultures opt to take the mysticism out of that which they cannot explain, by turning it into a popular everyday occurance. Through the 1600’s, smoking became more and more popular, and developed into the industry we see today.

I am truely amazed that people pay not only the tobbaco company’s, but the government as well, for the right to choose to distroy their health, make themselves smell bad, yellow their teeth, and possibly give them long term, or even life treatening health issues. What is the real benefit? The right to choose? The Ex-smokers I have spoken to rave about how much better they feel from not smoking, they rave about how much better their homes smell. While a few also say they miss it, they acknowledge that it is much better that they don’t smoke.

More and more people are falling ill because of smoking each day, I for one have two people close to me who have life threatening illness’ because of it. And whilst I love them dearly, and care for them and their health, I cannot bring myself to feel sorry for them. Their illness’ were more than likely caused by smoking, which has been a documented cause of illness since 1602.

Here are a few facts about the documentation, as well as a link back to the Cancer Council website with the original article:

• In 1602 an anonymous author published an essay titled Worke of Chimney Sweepers (sic) which stated that illnesses often seen in chimney sweepers were caused by soot and that tobacco may have similar effects. This was one of the earliest known instances of smoking being linked to ill health.
• In 1795 Sammuel Thomas von Soemmering of Main reported that he was becoming more aware of cancers of the lip in pipe smokers.
• In 1798 the physician Benjamin Rush wrote more on the medical dangers of tobacco.
• During the 1920s the first medical reports linking smoking to lung cancer began to appear. Many newspaper editors refused to report these findings as they did not want to offend tobacco companies who advertised heavily in the media.

Ok, so I haven’t been keeping up to day with posts on here… I have kinda been busy working on the House Drakkar website and the SCA. I also had an idea about modifying this blog to use the same back end as I am on that site… I just need to find the time to do it…

I’m really getting into the SCA, and as such have started a LiveJournal as well, to keep track of SCA related stuff, as well as find out what LiveJournal is all about, and keep intouch with SCA friend who have LJ accounts.

The plan is to still change Syridian.com over to a self contained blog, and no longer rely on Blogger.

In other news, Syridian.com was hacked this evening… Thanks Chip, for proving how much of a man you really are by taking advantage of an exploit and wankerfying yourself for all to see. Yes, you achieved what you wanted, you have been imortalise here in text for all to see.

Thursday was hectic… Shopping during the day for all the bits I needed to get before Spring war, and then Dinner with a friend, Fighter Practice, and meeting friends and driving them arround at night

I picked up from his place (and saw the extremely cute , she smiled and nodded… I did the same, too lost for words to say much), and drove him over to Will’s Country Mansion. After a beer or two, I finally got home at about 2:30am, in bed by 3am… Hmmm… not good for getting up early and heading off to Spring War…

Ahhh… Well the drive up there was uneventful, picked Jan up from the Station and headed up there, met Will and breifly on the road… Got there around 2ish, and started setting up.

I was there… Now I just had to get Authorised, good thing the Archers battles wouldn’t start until after 1pm on the Saturday…

Spring War is this coming weekend, and I am really looking forward to it. What I’m looking forward to most is trialing the “BattleCam” Video Camera that I have put together and battle hardened. If it all goes well, there should be lots of video of ’s and ’s backs, as I hide behind them advancing up the feild.

In other news, it seems that the Baron approves of my attempts to get a regular IKAC shoot going in Rowany, and is keen to see that happen. It’ll be great to be able to post some more scores from Rowany. I have contacted the ‘Keeper of the Lists’ about possibly having a shoot in the First week of December also, so if everything goes well, we’ll have two opportunities to greatly increase Rowany’s renoun amounst the Known World’s Archers.

Well, plans for a regular Rowany IKAC shoot are moving forward.

It’s looking like it’ll be starting on the 5th of November at the moment, though thats still not official. Still need to make a way to mark out a safe field, and also make a 60cm+ target butt. We’ll get there. Thanks to Fitz. ;)

A friend of mine took me to my first SCA event when I was 18, It was festival, just for the Market day, but I was kinda hooked. I loved it, and was so disapointed when we had to leave the site as the sun was setting… When I got home, I was thinking of all the fun stuff I would like to do…

I had a Device in my head, one that I really liked, it was similar to the one I’m currently in the process of registering, though instead of the the 3 arrows, there was a sun with wavey rays, 8 of them, and the field was a gyrony of eight sable and gules, not whats currently shown. Anyway, my SCA adventure was short lived, as the following year I moved to the UK for 2 years, and spent alot of time travelling, drinking, and working… and was so stupid that I didn’t get into any of the re-enactment societies over there…

Now that I have rejoin the SCA fold, I can resume work on getting everything sorted. I’d like to say starting with registering my device… But as the Drakkar website (http://www.drakkar.org.au/) shows, I kinda started elsewhere. ;)

Well… Concidering that my usual blog (http://syridian.com) hasn’t been updated for over a month… I really should be adding to that… But having this LJ, I thought I might play and find out what this LJ thing is all about…

Have you noticed that our lives these days are controlled by so many rules? Rules that control how we think what we can’t do, what we can do, what we HAVE to do… Rules for how to behave, how not to behave… Rules, Laws and general conscience control our lives fully and there is no way of getting away from them, as there are rules to forbid that too.

Rules protect us don’t they? But what are they really? Are they a means of control? For they certainly do that… But we as societies demand these rules don’t we? How many of these rules are nothing more than reactionary bandaids to protect people from litigation rather than real attempts to fix problems?

How many laws these days are put into place to each year? How many of these are justifiable new laws which genuinely help society? And how many of these new laws are just bandaid solutions to a problem, or worse yet, are just a bandaid solution so that another new law fits lawfully in with all the rest of the laws.

Here’s a couple of interesting Australian laws to think about courtesy of Amazing Australia.

No vacuum cleaners

Since December 14 it has been against the law in the outer Melbourne suburb of Brimbank to vacuum clean your house between 10pm and 7am on weekdays and 10pm and 9am on weekends, noisy cleaners will cop a $205 on-the-spot fine, which can rise to a $1000 court fine if it is not paid, and subsequent violations attract fines of up to $2000!

Cooking up a crime

In the Douglas Shire in north Queensland, roughly the area
from Port Douglas to Cape Tribulation, it is illegal for guests in a B&B to
use the kitchen, it is illegal for a B&B host to cook the guests dinner, yet
the B&B policy states that dining room must be shared by host and
guests!

Every now and then you come across someone who’s inspiring words of wisdom, whether they be advise, questions or down right bitchy opinionations, enter your soul and tell you that this person has the right of it…

I have discovered such a guru in the wilds of Washington, USA. Laura of Drunk in the Morning’s life observations are not only inspiring, they are enjoyable to read, and leave you wondering if she might have read your mind before putting digit to keyboard.

I highly recommend that you read Drunk in the Morning, and contemplate the wisdom of Laura, a guru of life observation and entertaining writings.