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[Red Cat Jenny]

Oh well weaving I have done..but I still don't care for the crawlies..though nature can be quite fascinating in it's ability and intricacy. The easiest weaving I found to do is on a 4 foot shuttle loom with thin natural fibers it's a goode way to start. :)

[Jolliet Rouge]

I've done a bit of weaving myself. But some of the most beautiful art works of nature I have ever seen are spider webs both delicate, intricate and durable.

[Caraccioli]

On Contemplating an AT-AT

How did you get here, small AT-AT toy? Imagine my surprise to find you stalking away from me, frozen in mid-step on the pedestrian bridge over the River Raisin, during my morning run. I stopped and paused. Looked with puzzlement at your dramatic pose, one leg lifted as if to stalk forward, head tilted down and to the left - hunting for pesky rebel soldier toys.

I picked you up - couldn't resist - and opened your cockpit head. Straddling the two seats, but sitting in the correct position was a vintage speeder-bike trooper. Vintage? What was he doing here? Inside your cargo belly was two of the new style stormtroopers. Clearly you were left behind by some forgetful child. Or maybe not. Perhaps you were spirited away by a bully who wrenched you from the hands of your owner and derisively placed you here, off to the side of the walkway, at the crest of the bridge to tromp along in my imagination.

I notice that all your stickers have been carefully placed on you. That suggests your owner was pleased to get you. Did your owner put those on, oh so carefully, being cautious not to let them catch your plastic too tightly before being secured? Or perhaps his dad had helped him get them on you using patience and a pair of tweezers.

You have the slightly worn look of a somewhat beloved toy to me. What will be your fate now, AT-AT with your cargo of three imperial figures? I am tempted to pick you up and carry you off myself, putting an ad in the paper or a note at the spot where I found you, suggesting the owner contact me to retrieve you. But I would just be meddling in the your future drama. Where is your owner? Perhaps springing out of bed, demanding that his mother take him back to the park to retrieve you? I hope so. It's what I would have wanted had I been a kid who accidentally lost or briefly forgotten you.

[Jacky Tar]

Ever had a conversation wit' someone that caused ye t' plumb the depths o' yer very soul?

Sometimes the things we thought we put away long ago are right where we left them; if we don't acknowledge the elephant in the middle o' the room, mayhaps the other person won't bring it up in conversation. Of course some hav their own elephants, or are too polite t' point out mine.

[Jolliet Rouge]

Would that be a Pink elephant by chance?

[Red Cat Jenny]

Nay, JAcky's got ducks!

[Jolliet Rouge]

Ducks you say? Ooh, then that makes him extra special then, now doesn't it?

[Patrick Hand]

"Wot else we go on this 'ere Pyrate ship?....

Bunnie Rabbits..... there are bunnie rabits onna pyra.........

BUNNIE RABBITS.....! ! ! !

well I though we had some..........."

[Red Cat Jenny]

Lol Patrick..

Save me some Rum!

[Jacky Tar]

Wot's up Patrick?

I picture Pat wit' his blunderbuss, doin' his Elmer Fudd impression.

"Shhhhhhhh, be vewy vewy quiet; Patwick is hunting wabbits!"

[Red Cat Jenny]

[Caraccioli]

Ok, my user ID Caraccioli has reached Dread Pirate status. So I'm retiring it like I (sort of) did my user ID Mission. (Mission cannot be fully retired because it is a moderator ID.)

I'm going to start using a new ID I created a few months ago...Misson. (Got to keep people on their toes.) Expect me to continue to maintain the mediocre level of witless wit that I have with this user ID.

[Misson]

Misson, or Captain Misson, is a fictional pirate from the pages of Captain Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates. From Wiki:

Misson was French, born in Provence, and it was while in Rome on leave from the French warship Victoire that he lost his faith, disgusted by the decadence of the Papal Court. In Rome he ran into Caraccioli - a "lewd Priest" who over the course of long voyages with little to do but talk, gradually converted Misson and a sizeable portion of the rest of the crew to his brand of atheistic communism:

    …he fell upon Government, and shew'd, that every Man was born free, and had as much Right to what would support him, as to the Air he respired... that the vast Difference betwixt Man and Man, the one wallowing in Luxury, and the other in the most pinching Necessity, was owing only to Avarice and Ambition on the one Hand, and a pusilanimous Subjection on the other.

Embarking on a career of piracy, the 200 strong crew of the Victoire called upon Misson to be their captain. They collectivised the wealth of the ship, deciding "all should be in common." All decisions were to be put to "the Vote of the whole Company." Thus they set out on their new "Life of Liberty." Off the west coast of Africa they captured a Dutch slave ship. The slaves were freed and brought aboard the Victoire, Misson declaring that "the Trading for those of our own Species, cou'd never be agreeable to the Eyes of divine Justice: That no Man had Power of Liberty of another" and that "he had not exempted his Neck from the galling Yoak of Slavery, and asserted his own Liberty, to enslave others." At every engagement they added to their numbers with new French, English and Dutch recruits and freed African slaves.

While cruising round the coast of Madagascar, Misson found a perfect bay in an area with fertile soil, fresh water and friendly natives. Here the pirates built Libertalia, renouncing their titles of English, French, Dutch or African and calling themselves Liberi. They created their own language, a polyglot mixture of African languages, combined with French, English, Dutch, Portuguese and native Madagascan. Shortly after the beginning of building work on the colony of Libertalia, the Victoire ran into the pirate Thomas Tew, who decided to accompany them back to Libertalia. Such a colony was no new idea to Tew; he had lost his quartermaster and 23 of his crew when they had left to form a settlement further up the Madagascan coast. The Liberi - "Enemies to Slavery," aimed to boost their numbers by capturing another slave ship. Off the coast of Angola, Tew's crew took an English slave ship with 240 men, women and children below decks. The African members of the pirate crew discovered many friends and relatives among the enslaved and struck off their fetters and handcuffs, regaling them with the glories of their new life of liberty.

The pirates settled down to become farmers, holding the land in common - "no Hedge bounded any particular Man's Property." Prizes and money taken at sea were "carry'd into the common Treasury, Money being of no Use where every Thing was in common."

So now you've all had your history lesson for the day. You can read the whole account here. The introduction by Maximillian Novak is quite interesting IMO.

[jessie k.]

Just how many people are there in your head?

[Misson]

True confessions time.

Back when I first got on the net, I joined a Star Wars AF collecting site that was like the Old West. The members attacked each other individually, in groups, in sub-groups and what have you. Sometimes it was quite vicious. God forbid you should have an opinion that someone didn't agree with! It would regularly happen that one faction would get so pissed of at another faction that they would leave the forum and start a new forum! (Over action figures. ) There was one in-absentia administrator who showed up every few weeks or so and never, ever did much more than issue small warnings. It was a riotous place to start my forum career (I want to say this was in 1996 or '97...the site had no graphics when I started. They took way too long to load back then.)

Anyhow, to protect myself, I created three user IDs: MarkCK, Barstool and something else that I don't recall. The third one didn't last long. I went wayyyy out of my way to make them unique in opinion and attitude, but I maneuvered them around the forum like a chessmaster to very, very subtly protect each other (if you're not subtle and don't limit your interaction between alternate IDs, you greatly increase the risk of being discovered). This proved to be so much fun that I started creating really bizarre user IDs with personality tics that would annoy the most stalwart. One spoke entirely in Old English. (No, I don't know why I did that. It irritated the shite out of the other posters, though.) Another was a little kid named Timmy Spud who spoke entirely in irritating run-on sentences. (I think I saved some of his text to a file, but it's not on my laptop. If I find it on my desktop, I will post a sample.)

I eventually left that forum because it was so unruly and argumentative that the focus was often lost. I joined TheForce.net where they had regular administrators. (And where I created several other user IDs. My favorite was one named "stupid.") I hung around a bit at the old, unruly site because I had some friends there. As it happened, a huge fight erupted between some of my friends and another sect of users a few months after I left and they formed a secret forum. They eventually invited me to join and when I revealed that I had had (I think it was seven) user IDs they were astounded. I had done such a good job differentiating them that even my friends didn't realize I had separate IDs. The moderator of the secret forum so liked Timmy Spud that he insisted I post as him occasionally.

I sort of grew out of it as I began to realize that reasonably good moderation and administration existed outside my first unruly experience. Here I only have these three user IDs and they all appear as the same person - me. They all have the same look and feel. (Actually, jess, you may even recall Caraccioli from the other pirate board. You may also recall why I created him...Foxe spotted it immediately.)

So, in answer to your question: I don't know how many people I have in my head. I create new ones when the need arises. (Which it hasn't lately. I am creating ideas for my house instead.) I do have this book I am writing (well, 'not writing' would be more accurate just now) and it's interesting how you have to shift your perspective to give the various characters depth. In fact, when I fail to do that, they all sound like weak carbon copies of each other.

[Misson]

Another [user ID I created] was a little kid named Timmy Spud who spoke entirely in irritating run-on sentences. (I think I saved some of his text to a file, but it's not on my laptop. If I find it on my desktop, I will post a sample.)

I thought so. Here is a sample of the text. Note that I was trying to post as a 6 or 7 year old kid might - thus the lack of correct capitalization and punctuation. This is a much later post than when I first created this user ID. In the beginning of his forum life, I intentionally misspelled large and commonly misspelled words to make it more realistic. Since I posted this particular bit on a private board, essentially for the enjoyment of one or two people, I didn't do as much of that to make it more readable. ( This really is a bit more readable! Honest!) BTW, this is circa 2000 - thus the old toy references. (I apologize in advance to those of you who actually read this. lol: )

i went to kb with my friend eva and evas mom went and i only had five dollars to spend that was from my allowance and i earned it last week although i didnt clean my room very well because of all the toys on the floor but my mom gave me it anyway and said i better do a good job next time or i wouldnt get it but she always gives it to me and i was in kb and they had a lot of star wars stuff but mitch was looking at the dragon ball stuff and the pokemon but i only had five dollars so i was going to buy a r2 because i dont have one and i like r2 but obi is better because he beats maul and r2 saved the ship but it wasnt as interesting as obi and maul and the other guy that got killed and that was bad but obi got him back and was a hero and i wish i had a saber but not the fake one because i want to be able to fight the bad guys and use the force but i was looking at pokemon with mitch and they have james and ash and james is funny but i dont like jesse as much because she is mean and meowth if cool but so is obi and i was trying to decide to get an r2 or a james but i would have to borrow money for james at kb so i asked mitch and he wouldnt give me any so i reminded him that i new that he like jenny and i would tell eva except i cant talk to eva because i got in trouble but mitch didnt know and he said ok and i got james but i will get r2 next week when i go with my mom to toys r us and i know theres a bunch of them to choose from but one has a funny leg and the other doesnt but now james can fight obi and thats cool ok

[jessie k.]

That's rather brilliant, actually! Yeah, I do remember Caraccioli from the other board, but I don't really remember why or when. There were some issues on that site as well, though. (And still are! WHY did I ever agree to become a mod?!?)

Oh, and...!! You know Old English?

[Misson]

I know something remarkably like Old English. Since I doubt the spoken language was ever formally recorded during its actual lifetime and the written language varied from the spoken (as it frequently does today), I can claim I wrote in the spoken version.

Actually, when you decide to write in any dialect, you have a decision to make. You can write it so that it is as true to the actual annunciation of the words as possible, thus being absolutely accurate. Or you can write it in such a way that people can actually read and understand it, yet still manage to get the general flavor of the thing. Correct or comprehensible? Your choice. (The same argument could be made for re-enacting, if you think about it some.)

I was writing a character who was Scottish in a fiction thread over at TheForce.net and I got so into making it correct that I couldn't figure out just what the heck I had said a week ago when I reviewed it. (I started keeping a dictionary for the character when it occurred to me that if I couldn't figure out out after I had written, most everyone else had given up long ago.)

You know, I think I am still a mod over at the other pirate site. Last time I checked I was. Amazing...

[jessie k.]

One of my goals in life is to learn to read Old English, and I guess to speak it as well as a dead language that we never heard spoken in its own day can be learned.

Actually, when you decide to write in any dialect, you have a decision to make. You can write it so that it is as true to the actual annunciation of the words as possible, thus being absolutely accurate. Or you can write it in such a way that people can actually read and understand it, yet still manage to get the general flavor of the thing. Correct or comprehensible?

That's really interesting, actually. I've come across that in books on occasion, where the author tries to replicate a dialect, but it's so much work just trying to figure out what you are reading that it's almost not worth it! Of course, if we just wrote everything with phonetical symbols...

[Misson]

Phonetic symbols are still limited to the language in which we're speaking, so I don't think they'd help much. Besides the phonetics would change with the dialect, wouldn't it?

Say, who the heck decided to spell phonetics that way? I mean, really!

[Red Cat Jenny]

One of my goals in life is to learn to read Old English, and I guess to speak it as well as a dead language that we never heard spoken in its own day can be learned.

I found this link which has some good info as well as some excellent script examples for those of us attempting pen and ink

How to read 18th Century Brittish-American Writing

A bit from the opening page which relates:

Something as basic to us as writing was quite different in 18th Century British-America. British-Americans in that century spoke English, yet they used words that we do not, and we use words that did not even exist then. 18th Century pronunciation differed from ours, and many of the rules of spoken and written usage differed as well.

In this time, not everyone could read fluently, and even fewer people could write. Literacy estimates vary, but it is thought that almost all of the adult New England population at the end of the eighteenth century could read at least to some degree. Maybe half of those could write. The ability to read the printed word did not necessarily result in the ability to read handwriting. Likewise, the ability to write one’s name or copy phrases in one "hand" or style did not necessarily mean that the same person could compose original prose

[Patrick Hand]

for those of us attempting pen and ink

Unfortunatly, I've been writting and using the elongated "s".... I can read it... but no one else can...(well with out difficulty)

If you really wanna confuse people, use the y with a subscript e for "the"....

But the flourishes are fun........

[Ransom]

I have a book on Shakespear which shows pages of his plays written the style of that time - f and s interchangable, y and i interchangable. Part of the problem for writing from then up until I think, Victorian times (I'm not sure of the exact date), is there was no standard spelling for anything. No dictionary to check spelling against (I should have been born then!).

Wasn't it also the case, particulary with secretaries of the times, to develope a distint style of writing so that it was harder to forge, and therefore add things to a document that weren't there originally?

I'm crawling back into the habit of handwriting - using (gasp) a calligraphy felt-tip pen - because my handwritting is so bad, that at this point, it would be a waste of ink to use the good stuff. That's what writing on the computer does - makes your own handwritting degenerate.

[Red Cat Jenny]

no standard spelling for anything. No dictionary to check spelling against

Ransom you make some excellent points! Aye I have read that distinct script to avoid forgery.

LOL my handwriting is not so great although practice in period script has helped. Now if I could only chat without misspelling

Patrick, I am still looking for an alphabet in the copperplate script (not the MS font) Have yo one?

Flourishes? whee!

[Patrick Hand]

False Ransom, buy yourself a fountain pen..... cheaper than felt tips in the long run, and you get better, finer lines..... pluss there are soooooo many diferent colors of ink avalible for them.....

I bought a vintage 1940's German Fountain pen and ink from this company...

http://www.pendemonium.com/

Rats.... I couldn't find the other web page that sells inexpensive Chinees made fountain pens........

The pen I use has a fine semi-flexable nib, so I can get the thin lines and shadding..... for "Roundhand"..... But with a cheap Chineese pen, you can grind down the nib for fine Italic writting....... Or just buy a fine calligraphy cartridge pen ... you can refill the cartfidges with your favorite color ink and a syringe.....