Sunday morning: A pause in the fray.

1. Let's have a hearty Liamverse welcome for silk_noir, jdr1066, thereject and niniae!

Funny story about connecting with silk_noir, who is from Calontir. hradzka, whom we both read, commenting on how much he liked "Blood of Heroes," and she and I both immediately commented about the Calontiri event based on that movie.

2. Sunny and 12 degrees is still 12 degrees.

3. King's and Queen's Bardic was great!. Toki Redbeard is King's Champion and Judith The Uncertain is the Queen's Champion. Eexcellent dinner from Mistress Eleri, and we were home by 10:30 p.m. More on that later.

4. Let's go to the New York Times via the John Scalzi blog. The link is to the current No. 1 article at the Times, a piece about dirty-sounding British place names. I linked to Scalzi, largely for the comments. But read the article, if for nothing else, for this"

“It’s pronounced ‘PENNIS-tun,’ ” Fiona Moran, manager of the Old Vicarage Hotel in Penistone, said over the telephone, rather sharply. When forced to spell her address for outsiders, she uses misdirection, separating the tricky section into two blameless parts: “p-e-n” — pause — “i-s-t-o-n-e.”

5. It just seems to me that you should be able to fly from a state capitol (Albany) to a major city in the state (Buffalo) for less tan $280.

I also find it great amazing that on one booking site, the cheapest fair takes you from Albany to JFK to Baltimore to Detroit to Buffalo and involves 12 hours of travel -- far more than driving would take!

6. Several people asked about Kirsten Gillibrand, our new U.S. senator, who is from the Albany area.

I voted for her. I really liked her. She was about to start her second term as our Congressman, and she turned back a challenge from a very well-funded Republican. She did vote for wire-tapping and was supported by the NRA. She is a fiscal conservative.

That said, socially, she tends to be more liberal, and I have to be impressed by anyone who can be a Congressman and carry a baby to term at the same time.

Here's what the local paper had to say.

7. The rest of the day will involve trying to wrap up a lot of reign-related stuff (feel free to shoot me an e-mail if you have a question) and some cooking. I have a big lamb shoulder that I need to split and cook. I made French toast with cheese bread this morning. There will also be cleaning.

Getting together at Birka . . .

I am hoping to see some old and new friends at Birka.

Yes, I will be busy, but there are some times I will be able to just visit and enjoy myself.

We hope to be getting in by 3 or 4 p.m. Friday afternoon.

I am actually pretty clear for Friday night.

Saturday, I will be going pretty quickly from 10 a.m. on, but I could probably get together for breakfast.

I may have a bit of three times between, says, 1-3 p.m.

Post-court, I will be around as well.

There is a good brew pub (Millie's) and a good beer bar within walking distance, maybe for Friday.

Please let me know.

Sunday afternoon: Updating a little

1. King's & Queen's Bardic pictures are here. It was a busy day, and I did not shoot a lot. Sadly, no, I did not get mare_in_flames_ getting her baroncy, nor did I get the spiffy coronet. I will do that at Birka.

There are, I think, pictures of four of the five finalists floating around in there, but I did not get Queen's Bard Judith The Uncertain. I will fix that.

2. I am seriously thinking about doing a "Betting Man's Guide to King's & Queen's Rapier Champions." If you are planning to compete or know folks who are competing, please drop an email to liamstliam@gmail.com Thanks!

3. This is a fascinating story about how the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act could potentially bar kids under 12 from going to libraries unless the libraries get rid of chldren's books.

This is *not* the OMFGWTFBBQ version. Thanks to fireroseboudicc for the link.

4. Reign stuff pretty well done. Haven't started on the lamb yet. Lamb roast in the oven and lamb curry about ready to eat.  Wow, the lamb curry with green beans over quinoa is great!

5. Hey! The NHL All-Star Game is tonight. Just sayin' is all.

6. Speaking of cooking, alethea_eastrid made a pretty spiffy pumpkin cake with chocolate frosting that we have been working over all week.

7. Look! vairavi!

Sunday night: Squeezing out one more . . .

1. Some of you say you like my "sports style" SCA news stories. I give you . . .

Redbeard's the top bard -- again

         For the second time in five years, Master Toki Redbeard of Concordia of the Snows will serve as the East Kingdom King’s Bard.
        Master Toki, the only man and the only Laurel in the finale five, bested a field of 11 competitors hosted by his home barony. Lady Judith Fitzhenry the Uncertain, whose final piece was an Eastern anthem rendered in Latin, was chosen by Queen Alethea Eastriding to be her bard and to serve the next two queens as well.
       King Darius Serpentius, who made his decision after consultation with Prince Andreas Eisfalk, told Master Toki he was chosen, because the East is bound for war, and the kingdom needs of bard of his skills and specialties to carry it there.
        Master Toki was the last of the five finalists, and performed in his signature Skaldic verse. The piece was one of two in the finals about the bravery of the Snowberg army – the baronies Concordia of the Snows and Bergental – while they were badly outnumbered at Pennsic.    Just prior to Master Toki’s performance, Lady Lorita de Siena told a tale on the same topic. 
        One of the other finalists was Katrusha the Sokmoroh, who received her Troubadour from the king and queen in court, told a spell-binding Russian folkTale.  
         The first competitor in the finals was Lady Aoife inghean Conchobar, who sang a faithful rendition of Heather Dale, “One of Us,” which unknown to her, is a favorite of the queen.
        Also in court, Lady Rennata received a Troubadour and Anna, the youngest competitor at age 10, received a Golden Lyre from Her Majesty for her original harp competition in the second round.
      Tiberius Iulius Rufus stepped down as King’s Bard and stepped up at the marshal for youth combat. Mistress Ana de Guzman stepped down as Queen’s Bard.


2, Not your typical paragraph from the New York Times.

While the subjects watched on a computer screen, Chivers, who favors high boots and fashionable rectangular glasses, measured their arousal in two ways, objectively and subjectively. The participants sat in a brown leatherette La-Z-Boy chair in her small lab at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, a prestigious psychiatric teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto, where Chivers was a postdoctoral fellow and where I first talked with her about her research a few years ago. The genitals of the volunteers were connected to plethysmographs — for the men, an apparatus that fits over the penis and gauges its swelling,  for the women, a little plastic probe that sits in the vagina and, by bouncing light off the vaginal walls, measures genital blood flow. An engorgement of blood spurs a lubricating process called vaginal transudation: the seeping of moisture through the walls. The participants were also given a keypad so that they could rate how aroused they felt.

3. So I sent the YouTube link for "My Enormous Penis" to baronessmartha, and she responded by sending back the Irish Drinking Song, which is clearly influenced by Calontiri bards.

4. Oh, and "Avenue Q?" No one said anything about puppet sex! Absolutely fabulous. The play, not the puppet sex.

5.  I think I want to see the Asylum Street Spankers some day. In their 10th anniversary album, Wammo points out:

"If you drink three beers a day for 10 years ... that's 11 thousand fucking beers!"

6. I performed during the informal bardic circle at the break yesterday. I told, "And You're So Dead," "Hitting the King With Traffic Cones" and "Why Liam Gets No Wishes."

Peregrine also led us in a rousing rendition of "Death, Doom and Gloom."

Master Grim said: "Liam, if you start doing `Swing Low,' I am going to get the queen.

7. The King's Bardic Champion -- rehearsing: