Free Republic

<p>Anyone who couldn't understand why former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, the one-time front-runner in the Democratic presidential race, received a paltry 18 percent vote in the Iowa caucuses, need only to have listened to the candidate after his third-place finish. Mr. Dean, red-faced and determined, shook his arms, pointed, and vowed to fight in state after state in his quest to win the party's nomination.</p>

We dressed up in appropriate costumes, piled in the car, and went to Atlanta for the Renaissance Festival last weekend. One of the performances there was, of course, jousting. Those who haven't seen jousting probably have a false idea about how it's done. If you've watched some movies, like Ivanhoe, you think that jousting is fought to the death and is generally hard on the health of the participants. Not so. The phrase "blackmail" came from the period when jousting was the equivalent of NFL games in Europe. Here's how it was conducted: Weather permitting, jousts were held in venues...