h a l f b a k e r yFaster than a stationary bullet.
add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, best, random
news, help, about, links, report a problem
browse anonymously,
or get an account
and write.
register,
|
|
|
We all seem to want to bleat about how bad life is from time to time. The ideal would seem to be to live like a king/queen.
So, let's give some lucky whinger the chance to be a king for a day, or a week. There were hundreds of the buggers running around Europe 1500 years ago, so pick one at random.
Kit out a castle in our best estimation of what life was like in, say, the 5th century AD; add footmen, handmaidens and retainers riddled with tuberculosis, and who have not bathed in 3 years, at least.
For realism, no running water, no lighting or heating in a draughty stone castle, all manner of personal parasites and pests, no bathing, sooty air, poor food (eaten with the hands) and the oppressive weight of superstition and the smell of open sewers pervading the whole place. Add to that the interminable plots against your life and an endless round of pathetic peasants arguing before your court over the ownership of turnips and piles of sheepshit.
Not a rant, just an interesting social experiment. I'd be interested to see how many people demonstrated a marked change in attitude following the experience.
PBS: The 1900 House
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/1900house/
Taking a family back into the Victorian area. None of that whole "king" thing, but the lack of modern amenities is similar. [jutta, Oct 25 2001]
Please log in.
If you're not logged in,
you can see what this page
looks like, but you will
not be able to add anything.
Destination URL.
E.g., http://www.coffee.com/
Description (displayed with the short name and URL.)
|
| |
How much do you have to pay *not* to be in the lottery which may put you in such an undesireable situation? |
|
| |
Being forced to have sex with distant relatives while witnesses stare... This sounds less like a lottery and more like conscription. |
|
| |
I guess the Blackadder version would be more expensive. Staying out of this one has about the same odds as Lotto, around 8,143,000:1 |
|
| |
[sdm], you have some experience in such matters? |
|
| |
No, actually. I think this is one of the few times I can lift my head and proudly proclaim to all that my family is total steerage going back at least two generations before the Holocaust. Just simple merchants or farmers (we're not sure,) displaced peoples, then settlers. No kinky stuff like the the great houses of Europe. |
|
| |
For about 6 months I'd considered posting an idea about a service to make one day of your life the greatest ever. I ultimately decided, "nah, I'm sure someone else will think of it too."
Half a year later, I give thee a croissant, though a slight difference in the idea. |
|
| |
King for a day just wouldn't work.It's too short a period to really take it seriously.
Every now and again we get politicians doing something similar and spending a week on the streets as a homeless person, but of course it's not real and they don't really gain anything from the experience because if the going gets tough they can just bug out and go home. Which they'll be doing in a weeks time in any event. The same sort of rule applies to King for a Day.
If I had the chance of doing this though, I think that I'd take it. I quite fancy the idea of riding across Europe with my retinue to petition the Pope for a divorce. |
|
| |
And being burned alive for having the great misfortune to be born with supernumerary nipples, as used by many a familiar? |
|
| |
Don't forget to hobble the winner, remove all bridgework, burn off all moles and other body flaws, and exorcise one eye … wait, that's baked in the form of radical inquisition-period Christianity. |
|
| |
"The sword of Damocles is hanging over my head...." |
|
| |
"I'm told it does hang by the finest of thread." |
|
| |
We could go even further back and restore the ancient traditions of ritual regicide. The first 'Kings For A Day' did tend, after all, to have rather nasty headaches the morning after. |
|
| |
I'm a little late, but has anyone read Tom Robbins' Jitterbug Perfume? He has the "bean king" in there. Ya see, during some holiday, everyone in the village eats these specially prepared festival cakes. The guy that chomps down on the (raw) bean is the bean king. He gets everything he wants in the village for 2 weeks - this includes anyone's wives etc. The drawback is that after 2 weeks, he gets his head cut off. Anyway, your discussion brought Tom Robbins to mind, and the character escapes - so don't fret! |
|
| |
This sounds a bit like a Helliday to me. Would the person get to wear a crown? And if so, would it be real or plastic?
I'd love to wear a crown for a week - it'd offer me the greatness I so greatly deserv...... desire*. |
|
| |