Do you ever wish you were born in a different era?

[Thaluikhain]

What is the SCA?

Society for Creative Anachronisms. Think cosplay, but hardcore and historically accurateish.

That is intriguing and something I should look into..[/quote]

You can find groups interested in that around, to varying degrees of accuracy. There was a group at my university interested in that sort of thing...I was doing a history degree, but everyone else there weren't, they just liked to know how to kill people with swords.

It will make you yell at "historical" films more, but then that's a risk with learning about anything, really.

Off-topic, but did Rayne870's post not show up for a while for anyone else? I got the message that I'd been quoted, and the name came up in the latest posts thing, but the post wouldn't show up in the thread until I'd opened and closed it quite a few times.

 

[Rayne870]

What is the SCA?

Society for Creative Anachronisms. Think cosplay, but hardcore and historically accurateish.

That is intriguing and something I should look into..

You can find groups interested in that around, to varying degrees of accuracy. There was a group at my university interested in that sort of thing...I was doing a history degree, but everyone else there weren't, they just liked to know how to kill people with swords.

It will make you yell at "historical" films more, but then that's a risk with learning about anything, really.

Off-topic, but did Rayne870's post not show up for a while for anyone else? I got the message that I'd been quoted, and the name came up in the latest posts thing, but the post wouldn't show up in the thread until I'd opened and closed it quite a few times.[/quote]

Shouldn't be too much of a change I already ***** at almost every military flick in a setting from WII or later, and I have started on some Medieval or ancient history themed movies.

Seems there's no SCA group in the area I could be moving to very soon, so I may have to settle for burying myself in my college and joining a Dungeons and Dragons group or something.

 

[trooper6]

What is the SCA?

Society for Creative Anachronisms. Think cosplay, but hardcore and historically accurateish.

That is intriguing and something I should look into..

You can find groups interested in that around, to varying degrees of accuracy. There was a group at my university interested in that sort of thing...I was doing a history degree, but everyone else there weren't, they just liked to know how to kill people with swords.

It will make you yell at "historical" films more, but then that's a risk with learning about anything, really.

Off-topic, but did Rayne870's post not show up for a while for anyone else? I got the message that I'd been quoted, and the name came up in the latest posts thing, but the post wouldn't show up in the thread until I'd opened and closed it quite a few times.

Shouldn't be too much of a change I already ***** at almost every military flick in a setting from WII or later, and I have started on some Medieval or ancient history themed movies.[/quote]

What you might enjoy is that the SCA is not like Ren Faires...in that it isn't just about cosplay. Very central to the organization are fighting tournaments. Heavy fighters out there in mail or plate with fake swords and real shields wailing on each other. I was a Rapier fighter, so I did that. Depending on your kingdom, there may be Archery. People do crafts. There are regular events. People also try to live with a chivalric code.

SCA stands for the Society for Creative Anachronism. It lets you have some of the imagined nice parts of the past, without all the actual gross parts. I'm in a new state, and I've got get myself hooked up with the local Barony.

There website is here: http://www.sca.org/
To find your local kingdom/barony, go here: http://www.sca.org/geography/kingdom_lookup.html

This will let you get back to the past without having to actually get there. And some of the Rapier fighters can get quite pirate-y.

 

[Lilani]

As a woman, not really. I rather like being able to vote and having prospects other than being a very good housewife.

I suppose being a woman of the upper class anywhere between the 18th and 19th centuries would be nice, if only for romantic and leisure purposes.

 

[Rayne870]

What is the SCA?

Society for Creative Anachronisms. Think cosplay, but hardcore and historically accurateish.

That is intriguing and something I should look into..

You can find groups interested in that around, to varying degrees of accuracy. There was a group at my university interested in that sort of thing...I was doing a history degree, but everyone else there weren't, they just liked to know how to kill people with swords.

It will make you yell at "historical" films more, but then that's a risk with learning about anything, really.

Off-topic, but did Rayne870's post not show up for a while for anyone else? I got the message that I'd been quoted, and the name came up in the latest posts thing, but the post wouldn't show up in the thread until I'd opened and closed it quite a few times.

Shouldn't be too much of a change I already ***** at almost every military flick in a setting from WII or later, and I have started on some Medieval or ancient history themed movies.

What you might enjoy is that the SCA is not like Ren Faires...in that it isn't just about cosplay. Very central to the organization are fighting tournaments. Heavy fighters out there in mail or plate with fake swords and real shields wailing on each other. I was a Rapier fighter, so I did that. Depending on your kingdom, there may be Archery. People do crafts. There are regular events. People also try to live with a chivalric code.

SCA stands for the Society for Creative Anachronism. It lets you have some of the imagined nice parts of the past, without all the actual gross parts. I'm in a new state, and I've got get myself hooked up with the local Barony.

There website is here: http://www.sca.org/
To find your local kingdom/barony, go here: http://www.sca.org/geography/kingdom_lookup.html

This will let you get back to the past without having to actually get there. And some of the Rapier fighters can get quite pirate-y.[/quote]

That is pretty cool, thanks for the links. I'll have to pick at it more and hope for archery, I do very much miss my bow. Though I presume a modern recurve wouldn't be accepted and I would have to move to something more from the times. I wonder if I could work a Turkish Tartar Bow in there...

 

[A random person]

Contrary to certain nostalgics (not anyone in this thread), we've improved in every possible respect from the past; we no longer have rampant legal discrimination by race and sex (though the nostalgics I mentioned wouldn't cite that as a positive...), technology has improved greatly in terms of computing, high industry, and everything else (not to mention that, according to several models, it will just improve even faster), and the things about the past we do like can be revisited with much less of their associated downsides (for example, you can enjoy 50's dining without the racism, socially regressive mentality, and fear of nuclear annihilation). I'd also argue on more trivial notes like how most forms of entertainment improved, but that's a much more subjective thing.

Considering that the era I'd have the most desire to revisit is the 80's and 90's, I'd have to say I'm happy with the modern age.

 

[SHIFTYMACO]

Hell no. This era is FANTASTIC.
Do you realize just how fucking awesome we are?

Right on!!

Mobile phones, computer games, the internet, modern medicine and not to mention everyone's favorite,
PORN!!

THIS ERA IS FANTASTIC

 

[Dancingman]

I think I'd be mostly quite happy living in the US, though I can see myself running a stint or two in the British Empire or USSR.

I would want to see the US in the late 1800s, Civil War and Reconstruction.

I'd want to cast a vote for Woodrow Wilson in the Election of 1912 and another for FDR in 1933, I'd want to do something on behalf of the US government in WWI and somehow get a chance to watch the proceedings of the Treaty of Versailles. I'd go to all the important League of Nations meetings... I'd go to the last one with a box of tissues.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

No not really, but I do occasionally find myself missing the time before the Internet.

 

[Raistlinhawke]

OP: Be interesting to know why you would chose that era. Obviously, it looks like you would have wanted to serve in WW2...but any particular reason?

For me, the Roman Empire. Mainly because every other era generally deemed "cool" didn't have functional plumbing. I love Shakespeare, but not that enough to forgo toilets.

 

[ObsessiveSketch]

I'd like to have been born in 1800, just so I could convince Charles Babbage to finish his Difference Engine and usher in a steampunk era of advanced technology that might have made up for our failure during the dark ages.

For those unaware individuals, Babbage was working on a <a href=http://www.willamette.edu/~gorr/classes/cs130/lectures/histpict/diffeng.gif>basic computer and a programming language to go with it, but his backers pulled their funding when he tried to scrap the project after realizing it could be made obsolete by ANOTHER of his ideas; the analytical engine. Basically, he lost himself his job.

If he had succeeded, we could've had computers as soon as Lincoln's presidency. 200+ years with computers? We'd finally have goddamn flying cars by now.

 

[KapnKerfuffle]

A a beneficiary of Lasik, appendectomies, braces, vasectomies, deodorant, allergy meds... nothing before the 90s really appeals to me so no.

 

[Ghengis John]

I always wish I would have been born before World War II and been about 18 years old when the war started.

I do sometimes but then I realize I'm probably part of the luckiest generation that's ever been in terms of our life quality, what we can see and do and hope to achieve. Also my parents have been great. Too good to me. I wouldn't want any others. Barring this era though how about the future? Can we say the future?

As for your request my Uncle Albert who was in WWII would probably tell you you were being foolish, Super. He was a flamethrower specialist and part of the D-Day invasion at Normandy and he walked away with the opinion that all war was wrong, inglorious and best avoided. His stories would probably set you straight.

If I could visit another era I'd visit the 1893 world's exposition in Chicago. Seems like it was a heck of a nice time and people didn't hate Americans then. Of course there's the moral dilemma of "since I'm here should I stop that crazy killer guy who killed dozens if not hundreds of people in his hotel of crazy saw-like death traps?".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes

 

[Ambi]

i wish i had been born about 2-300 years ago

i have an honor code that does not fit in with todays world an a really strong urge to wander the highlands with a sword on my back.

its rather weird how strong this feeling/picture in my mind is tbth.

I sometimes wonder how many people share that feeling. I wonder how many people listen to folk, viking, and power metal as a form of escapism and have the urge to dress up like this:

0:36 onwards

Sometimes I imagine going back in time for a little while but then I remember they'd have nowhere to plug in their amps. I think I just played too much Age of Empires when I was younger. I don't wish I was born in another era. The information age has its benefits.

However, sometimes I partially feel like I've wasted most of my youth on the internet (although I don't regret what I've learned here). I also feel like other eras had better music scenes and that the majority of today's bands have to be virtually unlistenable for most just to be avant-garde and not just a second-rate band copying a style that was perfected by someone else three decades ago. That's just a vast generalisation, and I know there are decent bands out there that have evolved a somewhat unique sound. It's just that the music I listen to from the 60s to the 90s seems more authentic and meaningful than most newer music.

The only music scene (near me) I can think of that's unique to people around my age is the deathcore/metalcore scene. Their lyrics are mostly clearly written by an angsty seventeen year-old who's been dumped/cheated on by his girlfriend ("ERADICAITON OF THEM ALL!! WHORE TO A CHAINSAW!!!"). It's resorting to shock value to seem rebellious and edgy in an un-clever way. It's not even infectiously catchy, ironically happy, and raw-sounding like Danzig-era Misfits. The lyrics aren't clever or political like the Dead Kennedys, they're not protesting against anything, it's all personal melodrama and it's not as beautiful and poetic as Rites of Spring. So while I can listen to a little deathcore and post-hardcore and every now and then, I'm not passionate about it. Don't let me start on bands like BrokenCyde and Millionaires... Eh, I guess every generation had it's vapid rubbishy music.

 

[Haydyn]

Middle Ages, or being a teenager in either the 70's or the 90's. Classic Rock and Grunge man. Maybe even the 50's. I miss leather jackets.

 

[trooper6]

Eh, I guess every generation had it's vapid rubbishy music.

This is true. Every era had music you'd find vapid and rubbishy. Every era. And every era has music that someone finds "authentic" and meaningful.

 

[rofl jet]

Yes, I wish I was born in time to still explore the world, and specifically be around during the "golden age" of Piracy. Either that or I wish I was born much later than now when we make first face to face contact with an alien species, or have the capability to travel in space. Essentially I just wish there was somewhere new to go and vastly undiscovered.

Edit: As for living in the past if I did die of some horrible disease that we have a cure for now I think I would be ok with that in trade for a life at sea.

So, basically, you want to go back in time and be 'someone'.

Again, folly. Your chances of being 'someone' is even less likely back then, seeing as there is a reasonable chance you wouldn't even make it to your teenage years.

And life at sea BLOWS.

Seeing as I am a woman who likes pants... Late 20th-21th century works fine.

I like your pants too.

/creepywink

Ladies and gentlemen I believe we have a troll.