Lost_Warrior

Yay!!

I have a ring that's *supposedly* authentic and has a verification document with it. It's pretty cool. Not an archer's ring though.

I would love seeing that!!

I've seen these too, and wanted to have one. I haven't gotten one yet though. I haven't seen many actual sources for these rings; but I haven't looked very hard either. I do know there are a lot of "historical fakes" floating around Ebay.

I would love to know too, I have always wondered about this.

That's cool. Good to know. I've heard nothing bad about either one, except that Zazzle's stuff wasn't the *best* quality (my friend said "it was very meh". I have weird friends. Yea.) I just like Cafe Press better overall.

Oh I see. I remember something about Zazzle before. It seems like you stand to make more money from Cafe Press, but Zazzle has more products. You only get 10% from Zazzle though, and it seems like the chances of selling something from there are less (just by looking at the site's navigation, as someone who would be buying).

Oh no!!! How sad?? That's just awful!!!

Was it Cafe Press or Zazzle that you guys used?

Has anyone used Cafe Press before? I'm seriously considering getting set up to sell some things through them, but I want to make sure there's not any snafus that I haven't known about before. So, can anyone advise?

I don't know, it was seriously cool. And seriously meaningful, as I saw it the night before my Initiation. But I digress. Back to the topic!!

I actually think I saw a nova a couple of weeks ago...the star was very distant but it was flashing, not just twinkling, but flashing. I'd been watching this same star for a couple of nights. It went very dim, then a spike of light coming up and down from the star and then...nothing. I checked the night after that and the star was not there... On a related note, there is a lunar eclipse tonight!

He could always just use his sword. Being poked in the back with a sword would achieve roughly the same effect as being hit with a staff although I'm not sure that effect in either case would be beneficial.

Well, right. That's what I meant, I assumed that's what VTC was talking about.

Hey, I LIKE ramen. LOL the cajun kind is really good. Can't say I have ever done the condiments thing.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean any insult. GPM's little scenario was just to funny. It is a reasonable question...I assume if the Optio carried his staff into battle he would use it, just like he'd use anything else. I don't believe the staff was carried into battle though; it was likely left at camp in favor of having that hand available to wield a sword.

Something like that Pertinax. I've also seen one that had a horizontal "mini shield" attached. Where did they grip those ones? Right below the red fringe?

Actually some standards I've seen had a small boss where they were held that acted as a (tiny) shield. Probably more to protect the signifer's hand than anything else. I know that the standards were stuck in the ground at times, so it stands to reason that the end would be sharpened for that purpose. (Ever try to stick the round end of a broom handle in the ground? )

ROFLMAO!!! :D

The way I've been doing it is a simple Past/Present/Future spread. People have been having me do them just as a general reading about their life, but you can do it for a certain situation (for example I did one a while back about my situation with finding a job). I did a tarot reading for someone's relationship as well.

I finally got my butt in gear and wrote that article about Morrigan for the site. It's in for editing/feedback now and it should be published sometime soon I hope. I did that a few days ago. I also made my mom a snake out of Sculpey clay. It's beautiful, and I can't believe I did so well. Neither can she; I had a hard time convincing her I actually made it. Still looking for a job, but I'm enjoying the time off. I went back to the two places where I put in applications; one doesn't have any positions open right now, but that's OK by me because I kind of knew that when I put in the app. I was just hoping... At the other place I was assured that my application had been received, but it was in a big pile on the manager's desk and she hadn't gotten to look at it but would soon. So I reminded her, in person, which is always good. The other day I received some great news!! My friend Mari's son Thomas got his kidney transplant! Poor Mari has been through hell trying to get the transplant for her son, first attempting to be a living donor (but the doctors said she had to lose weight; which she did. Then they said the wouldn't do it because she doesn't have the right insurance, and due to certain family concerns she "wasn't allowed" to take her son to another hospital that would do it.) Then, out of the blue, she got the call that her son got a kidney!! Thank the Gods I'm calling it a miracle! He's doing extremely well; the surgeon said that his kidney "just slid into place and fit like it was meant to be there". It was producing urine before the incision was even closed! Part of my pathwork involves studying a form of divination, so I've been amusing myself by doing Rune readings for people on a pagan forum I frequent; it's a "closed" forum meaning only members can see it so I made a post offering to do the readings for people. I'm not about to try it on one of the larger forums because when you do that, you end up with literally hundreds of requests and that's way too much to handle. I'm almost out of "guinea pigs" from there, so if anyone here is interested let me know!! I'll be glad to do it, but it might be a few days before I get to it. Yesterday I was looking for a Celtic ring with a green stone, and I stumbled upon Lytha Studios. I fell in love with a pentagram pendant and my mom fell in love with a Tree of Life pendant. Well, we both fell in love with a lot of things but those are the two I ordered yesterday. This place could really get me in trouble; I'm already amassing a HUGE mental wish list!

The ones I've seen had a metal rim (or else they were painted gold...I've never gotten a truly up-close look at one) however I haven't seen any references to sharpening the bottom. It's just not practical to do so; for one, in order to use the shield in that manner you would have to let your guard down which is not something any soldier wants to do. For another thing, the position in which the scutum is held would make such a maneuver awkward at best and finally, having a sharpened portion of your shield, one would think, would cause greater danger to yourself and your comrades rather than the enemy.

I don't know what got me thinking of this, but is there any record of rituals or offerings done before battles by the Roman legions?

The Scutum is held by a handle, it is not strapped to the arm. There is a small handle on the back of the scutum which is held, while the arm is perpendicular to the torso. This isn't the best picture but it shows the back of the shield well: http://www.wildfiregames.com/0ad/pages/pictures/scutum.jpg And here's a soldier using one: http://www.romans-in-britain.org.uk/Photos...sting_sword.jpg It's difficult to imagine without having a decent sword to actually try it with, but it can be done. I've done it with a cutlass which is quite a bit longer than a gladius. The blade is strapped to the right side, and the right hand is held, palm facing out to the side, to grasp the handle. Then the arm is straightened, so that the blade comes directly forward. A simple turn of the wrist gets it in the right position. Not that I know of. Centurions and other high ranking officers wore greaves on both legs. I believe the regular soldiers only wore them if they could afford them, and they weren't ornate (while the officers sometimes had quite fancy ones.) Ya know...I really don't know!! I always thought thumb and first finger, with the rest of the hand holding on with a lighter grip, if you know what I mean. The officers were distinguished by their crests. The Optio wore a front to back crest, and the Centurion wore a side-to-side crest. Other officers had different crests, and different decorations. The auxiliaries also wore different clothing and armor, as did some of the cavalrymen, etc. Pertinax has great pictures of most of this stuff in his gallery.

I agree with Nephele, I believe they used Signet rings. At least, the higher ranking (senators, equestrians, etc) used them. Officers in the army also had them (I know Centurions did, and probably higher ranks as well.)