Quick Fire Questions (A Place to Ask and Answer)

Status
Not open for further replies.
And me again... fairground rides, this time. Does anyone know the name of the fairground ride where you're in a big sort of wheel spinning horizontally and the centrifugal force as it spins holds you against the wall?

If not that one specifically, anyone know the name of a fairground ride with a faster version of a ferris wheel (or similar)?
 
er I was looking for something a bit more dangerous and potentially romantic. Although I'm sure vomit has its place in fairgrounds, I'm not sure something called The Vomitator would have quite the effect I was hoping for.
 
Fairground ride you're looking for is the Gravitron. There's an older version called the Rotor. Not sure about a faster Ferris Wheel offhand.
 
Sorry for the double post. Just had a thought, so checked it on Wikipedia (there's a page for Fairground ride there, who knew?) Did you mean the RoundUp? That's a big cage-like wheel that raises up at an angle. Otherwise similar to the Gravitron. Went on it years ago - fun.
 
Wow Abernovo -- thanks. Any of those look brilliant. I looked at the wikipedia page, but it was going to be me going through them all one by one because I had no idea what name I was looking for. You're a star.

ps: you can edit posts up to an hour (I think) after you make them.
 
Last edited:
i always assumed the Farris-wheel and the Caricell (i always called it a Marry-Go-Round growing up but when i got older no one knew what i was talking about and i had to say "that one with the horses like from Mary Poppins") were the only "romantic" fair rides. unless your fair was lucky enough to have a flume or roller coaster version of The Tunnel of Love which mine never was.
 
I think that's a carousel, hopewrites. (The Merry-go-round, I mean, not the Tunnel of Love**.)









** - The Marry-go-round often comes after the Tunnel of Love, by the way. ;):)
 
thank you thank you. i argued with two different spell check programs trying to get carousel.
i swear voules are the most inbred of letters. each one sounding like the other till there is no telling them apart.
 
I think it depends on your defintion of romance. Personally I find ferris wheels terrifying and carousels sickening. And you know, love makes your head spin and all that.
 
Ahem. How come I'm the only person with a squillion silly mini-questions?

So, those fancy dresses that women wear in dungeons-and-dragons-type medieval settings -- princess/ damsel in distress type things. Would it be remotely possible to put one on by yourself?
 
As far as I understand, the special dresses for wealthier women (by the way, how come there are never dirty, ragged poor folk at mediaeval re-enactments?) were designed to show that they had servants to put them on as well as being able to afford quality material and accomplished seamstresses. Everyday wear would have been more practical. Even in a castle, you would want to slob around some days.

I found Bernard Knight's Crowner John books to be quite good for basic info on late 12th Century life, including clothing standards. Although styles changed, sometimes rapidly, the basic structures of the clothes didn't, so the descriptions probably hold for later dates.

The dresses, and many of the men's clothes too, were sectional - the arms would be attached with laces, which could be adjusted for fit and undone to wash the garment. As well as lacing up the backs of gowns, there was also the option of lacing at the front of the bodice. Whilst this is now pretty standard uniform in historical and fantasy movies for barmaids, it would make smart dresses easier to put on without help. There were also some that had lacing at the sides - a bit more tricky, perhaps.
 
I've heard of pistols being around as early as the 15th century. I am trying to incorporate guns into my fantasy novel with rifles and firearms in general being such a new and unfmailiar technology, that few people understand how to fire one correctly. I do however have a couple of characters capable of firing the even more uncommon handgun variety.

An army of knights and bowmen and footsoldiers would inevitably have a tiny contingent of riflemen, like 12-16 in an army of 4000.

My initial thought was revolver, but then I realized those only came about in this last century. So a flintlock pistol was my next idea. Anyone got some guidance here? Would it even be believable?
 
As long as you have gunpowder, the concept of a hand-held firearm isn't a big stretch. Flintlocks are actually pretty advanced -- before them came the matchlock and the wheellock. Matchlocks were around in Europe in the mid-15th C.
 
Hex, basically what Abernovo said (except for the slobbing out bit, I suspect).

It would be physically possible to dress oneself, but one's final appearance wouldn't be as soignee as usual. I recall a story of Louis XV (I think -- I always get them mixed up) where a lady of the court was invited to his bedchamber, and since being the king's mistress was a sure fire way to riches she went, got undressed, but he decided he didn't want her after all. She was a woman who had literally never dressed herself in her life -- and she struggled, but managed, and this was the far more elaborate costume of the 18th century.
 
Hex, I have a D&D lace up the back dress, with the lace up the front over dress to go with it.
Its do-able on my own, but takes longer. Lace it up but dont draw it tight, shimmy up into it, pull the lacings as needed. the over dress is easier as it only has 16 eyelets total, close together right up front. I go a bit cross-eye if i try and and hold a conversation while i do that one up.

I have read more of ladies maids doing up hair then doing up gowns. but the kind of fantasy i read the men know how to help their women slip in and out of their dresses.
 
An army of knights and bowmen and footsoldiers would inevitably have a tiny contingent of riflemen, like 12-16 in an army of 4000.
Click to expand...

They didn't have riflemen. Rifling is the process by which a barrel is cut with a continuous groove which makes the bullet spin. A spinning bullet is far more accurate. Rifles slowly replaced the musket, which was so unreliable in terms of accuracy that if you lined 100 chaps up 100 yards in front of a brick wall and ordered a volley, you'd be lucky if 10% of the balls hit the wall.

Early firearms were (I think) flintlocks and matchlocks - long, cumbersome, imprecise, one shot affairs which took an age to reload and which were virtually useless in wet weather. These developed into the classic musket of the 18th C, which in turn gave way to the rifle. British battalions of the period each had one grenadier company (a.k.a "the Tow-Rows") and one light company (a.k.a "the Light Bobs"). The light companies contained the battalion's best shots and were generally the first to be issued with the new rifles. They often acted as skirmishers.

Regards,

Peter
 
There were some muskets with rifled barrels, mostly used by sharpshooters. They were much more accurate, but because of the tight fit of the ball in the barrel, they easily jammed up with black powder and had to be kept scrupulously clean. They were also, obviously, much more expensive.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
Toby Frost Quick question on titles Writing Discussion 7
Mouse Quick question about fire Writing Discussion 19
David Evil Overlord A quick question about FIRE Writing Discussion 14
David Evil Overlord A quick FIRE question Writing Discussion 16
T Quick Poll - Will Firely fly again? Firefly 3

Similar threads


Back
Top