A modern land owner...?

...maybe I should rephrase. What would be the modern incarnation of a lower level member of the aristocracy in medieval times?

nothing to say

Still grumpy, eh?

The flashy car was a status symbol, but it does establish a decent income. This is why it's exceedingly rare to see a ticket distributor of a movie theater driving a new Jag.

Speaking of incomes, the average income in Washington DC is about $46k a year. What would you call someone who makes more than double the average income of the people in their community, like a Georgetown professor?

nothing to say

http://site.netopia.com/tsunami/nss-.../dangerous.gif
WOOSH!

nothing to say

Oh, that's not me. I googled "hand over head". First image.

nothing to say

Did somebody say "humour"!?

This calls for a physician!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebit...ur_humours.jpg

This is actually important for your survival. This is how people described different temperaments. (Hint: Stay away from the choleric!)

nothing to say

Okay, a real answer:
First off, if it's really random, odds are you'd be deposited nowhere near other people. This means survival 101. Shelter, food, water, safety. If you're lucky, someone might meet you or you might find someone when you're exploring or hunting, but really it's likely that you'll simply live out your life in a forest somewhere. And it's actually better. We'd be bringing back bacteria and viruses that didn't exist then, and that as such there were no antibodies for.

Step 1: You're probably not going to be dropped off next to a stream with cover and such, so you'd need to scout a bit and then construct a makeshift shelter near where you think it'd be most prudent. Then you have to get as much firewood as possible and try to get a fire started. If you're damned lucky, you can get a fire going before nightfall. In the morning you scrounge for food, likely bugs. If you're lucky, you won't starve. After you've gathered some food and supplies, you go off in search of a more permanent residence.

Step 2: Once you find a place close to fresh water, and that you feel won't flood, and that's on high ground, you start digging. I'm thinking maybe a 15'x15' square, maybe 2' down. With the dirt excavated, you create a barrier around the hole, and pack it down well. Be sure that the ground of the hole is solid, maybe near rock protrusions from the ground. Do not dig into a sandy loam. After this, it's time to start developing tools. Hopefully you found ways to assist in digging, you'll need those. Let's be honest, the average person can't forge an axe, so you'll need to make stone axes. This will take time. You need to locate stones made up of strong enough material to actually chop wood, which probably means a dense volcanic or igneous rock like basalt, diorite, granite, or quartzite. Good news: you're in Europe. One of the reasons Europe was able to move ahead of many other areas where humans developed was the easy access to mine-able materials. But really, most of this will be trial and error. Bring back a collection of possible axe-heads and test them on nearby trees. Did it break? Discard and move on. Is it intact? Good. Now it's time to build your cabin.

Step 3: You should spread out to get your wood. Heh. You'll need fairly strong walls and supports, which means thick wood. Heh. I would suggest chopping down a few trees for the 4 corners of the house and planning on building a shed roof (or a flat roof which is lower on one side than the other). It'd be way too difficult to try and build a gable roof your first time. Once your 4 corners are in place, you get to mud and stacking. Use logs like bricks and mud like mortar. Hopefully you can find a loam rich in clay nearby, which would make a much better wall. Once 3 walls are up, it's time for a roof. This will not be easy. You'll need to have a set of supports in place, then use bent sapling poles to tie down bark into the roof in order to make it as waterproof as possible. Be sure it's waterproof by testing every square inch. If you notice dipping, you need thicker supports. The 4th wall will be for your stove. Gather as many rocks as possible and stack them up to the height of about 2' tall. Make sure it's strong and stable. You'll want it at this height in order to make cleaning out the ashes easier. You'll then want to build two walls on each side of the area that will host the fire and cover the back with a large flat stone you can move. Again, this is for clearing out ashes. Have the smoke stack open above the ash door and facing away from your home. It's made of wood, and the last thing you need is a fire. Finish the 4th wall on each side of the fireplace and seal them with the clay loam.

Oh, and don't forget an opening as a door. You don't want to have to exit through the ash door. After this, It's simply a matter of hunting for meat, finding berries and seeds to plant nearby and to cultivate, and saving up for winter. You'll want pelts to cover yourself at night, and a decent supply of dry wood to burn.

If you're lucky enough to get this far, you're going to get bored soon. This might be a good time to explore and map the area.

will, that seems kinda defeatest, don't you think? even if you're not put down anywhere near another person (and i really don't think you'd be that far from civilization, although it could take days/weeks to find someone walking), don't you think it would make more sense to find civilization than to dig in and plan on being lonely?

i think, once you've found some food and water, it makes much more sense to search out civilization... it might be a crapshoot whether they kill you or not, but better that than going crazy being alone. and you never know who's land you're on, if they find you living there, you may have zero chance.

There probably weren't even 30 million people in all of Europe around the tenth century. And that's over about 4 million square miles (7.5 people per square mile). To put that into perspective, Montana has about a million people over 147k square miles (6.8 people per square mile).

I see it more as pragmatic than defeatist. Once you're established and stable, then maybe you can go looking for people if you get lonely. But really, if you just set off, you're asking for trouble; predatory animals and the elements can make life difficult for a wandering stranger.

Damn will, what happened to changing the world with your advanced 21st century brain power??? Now your going to live alone in the forest??? :lol:

If I'm being transported into Europe in the year 1000, I'd want to be equipped with the following.

http://www.militarypictures.info/d/1..._Hummer_SF.jpg

http://orford.tased.edu.au/dirtbi1.jpg

With enough fuel to last both a long, long, long time.

http://www.airsoftscotland.com/acatalog/Gamma_M33.gif

http://www.dreadgazebo.com/gunporn/w...fn-shotgun.jpg

http://sleepless.blogs.com/george/sw625.jpeg

http://www.enemyforces.com/firearms/ak47.jpg

http://img.redwolfairsoft.com/upload...GRND-MK2-L.jpg

http://www.pacsafety.com/graphics/products/p_2120.jpg

All kinds of ammo.

http://img.alibaba.com/photo/51016757/Hatchet.jpg

http://www.knifesearch.com/images/uc212.jpg

A guide...

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/...stration-1.gif

http://www.iliadreader.co.uk/covers/...dleEnglish.jpg

Flint...

http://www.hike-lite.co.uk/acatalog/flint.jpg

Lots of these...animal intestines or leather pouches don't sound comfortable...

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA280_.jpg

If you take only one thing, bring one of the long guns with an automatic feature. After that, learning the language, getting a job, obtaining shelter will likely take of itself!

cheater. :thumbsup:

Nothing wrong with a little cheating. At least I'll stand a better chance of surviving than the rest of the schmucks who will be transported naked. :hyper:

Well as I said the odds of being deposited near a populated area are low, and the odds of surviving several days of looking for what passed for civilization then I would imagine are slim to nil.

Even if one found other people, one would have to ask one's self about the historical repercussions for each and every action. Even one living an unobtrusive and quiet life could still do incredible damage to the timeline. What if you flirt with a woman who is supposed to marry someone else and that was supposed to eventually give birth to Winston Churchill's ancestor? Could you be responsible for Nazi Germany leading a successful invasion of England? That responsibility is too great. The best thing to do would be to not make contact with anyone and try to erase the fact that you ever existed.

Without an advanced education in temporal causality (something not even taught yet), no one has the intellectual ability to effect the past with any certainty of positive result in the present.

Who's she?

6'6" dude, all his teeth, with peircings (and if they wait a few more months, tattoos?)

yeah, I'll blend right in!

I wouldn't speak a word though, I'd act mute.

so what we really need is for anyone transported to the past to first to be transported to the future, where star fleet academy already exists, take a class on temporal causality, and then head to the past. that way no one mistakes stopping the plauge in teh 1300's is a good thing. star trek and history channel ftw?

In case they shoot back?

Gotta protect myself from the arrows. :)

I also figure I would need a full body motorcycle armor with a scary looking helmet. That ought to strike fear into the hearts of the wicked...and everybody else.

Something like this:

http://www.harpersraceshop.co.uk/usrimage/wolf1.jpg

with this:

http://thekneeslider.com/images/iconvest.jpg

and this:

http://www.uberreview.com/wp-content...ormtrooper.jpg

I mean, I could look like this, but it wouldn't be comfortable on the dirt bike.

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...ight-AGATT.jpg

Though it might fit in a little better with the time period.

You don't need an advanced education in temporal causality (taught at Star Fleet Academy) to realize that the grandfather effect is a constant threat involved in Time Travel. Anyone with the ability to travel into the past could conceivable kill their own grandfather before they were ever born, and would then have never existed. If they never existed how could they have killed their own grandfather??? Temporal Paradox 101.

I was only teasing you will because you went from changing the world for the better, which is totally uncertain as you have said, to living alone in the woods. Good to see you've rethought your position. :)


I just saw Harry's post, great minds think alike! :lol:

nothing to say

hooray! fun with languages!

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/theme...beowulflge.jpg

Actually, this here is an excerpt from a book that would prove quite resourceful to the time. It's from The Domesday Book by William the Conqueror. It's a census and survey of English landowners made at around 1086. It was basically a "who owns what." Might prove useful if you go to that time in England.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...up-extract.jpg

Useful for targeting for theft. I wonder how the medieval armies would stand up to a fully armed and armored Hummer...

With the number of horses that William the Conqueror brought to England from Nomandy in the Battle of Hastings, and that his knights numbered 5,000, my guess is maybe not too poorly.

Nothing a few well placed claymores and well thrown grenades couldn't help with...

If anything, there's always a speedy retreat.

Now this got me thinking of something else. Say I get transported and bring all the crap I posted earlier with me. Also, say somebody jacked it all and brought it before the greatest minds of that time. Could they possibly reverse engineer it and create their own weapons? And if they could, how would that change history?

Not by much, I don't think. The Britons didn't really know how to make and use gunpowder until the 13th century. They might get some ideas, but they simply wouldn't have the technology.

We can, with saltpeter and other substances, compose artificially a fire that can be launched over long distances... By only using a very small quantity of this material much light can be created accompanied by a horrible fracas. It is possible with it to destroy a town or an army ... In order to produce this artificial lightning and thunder it is necessary to take saltpeter, sulfur, and Luru Vopo Vir Can Utriet.

-Roger Bacon, circa 1248-1257

Baraka, that's a GREAT quote. I like that a lot.
I wonder what they would have thought had they been told that gunpowder was invented by the Chinese.

I think at that time, many of them would have asked who or what are the Chinese.

its is kind of a bit off topic, but on topic really lol

has anyone see the altoids commercial where the guy is in olden times talking about doing morse code (but not calling it that) and they accuse him of being a witch and haul him off?

More to the point, in the year 1008 - er, I mean, MVIII - did they have baseball? beer? hot dogs? talk about the need for extreme survival skills if they didn't..!!

Nerd.

I doubt a form of baseball existed. But you had wrestling, tournaments, and hunting. Sausages and beer. Not too bad. Maybe even more fun.

I probably shouldn't tell you I understand it, could read it aloud with reasonable accuracy of pronunciation, and could translate it to contemporary English? :paranoid:

A non-carbonated beer! :grumpy:

Baseball's ancestor didn't appear until the 14th century and was called Stoolball. Don't ask what they were throwing....

It was better than drinking the water (wild cows), and it was normal to have it for breakfast.

Why not? What were they throwing? Bar stools? :)

Close. It was a game played by milkmaids. They used their milk stools as wickets.

actually, from what I understand, those who drank beer rather than water during the Black Death managed not to get sick. Of course that was more than 300 years after MVIII.