RedJessi

This article got me thinking:

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/fallbeauty/image-of-ultra-thin-ralph-lauren-model-sparks-outrage-521480/

Cory Doctorow issued a stern warning to Ralph Lauren yesterday on the website, saying that the company's attempt to silence their criticism has only inspired them to step up their efforts in the future:

"Copyright law doesn't give you the right to threaten your critics for pointing out the problems with your offerings. You should know better. And every time you threaten to sue us over stuff like this, we will:

a) Reproduce the original criticism, making damned sure that all our readers get a good, long look at it, and;

Publish your spurious legal threat along with copious mockery, so that it becomes highly ranked in search engines where other people you threaten can find it and take heart; and

c) Offer nourishing soup and sandwiches to your models."

I don't think I will get any argument that the media portrayal of what we are supposed to find as "attractive" has become only ever more distorted over time.

And yet....

Remarkable similarity in some respects.

My thoughts exactly Hurricane. Class all the way - which is exactly what such a ship deserves.

Ransom, that is what I go to the local RenFest for - to wear the fun, totally non-PC pirate gear, complete with reversible upholstry fabric, big brass grommets, high collars and coat tails. Which is just as much fun to me as anything else!

On the Motley topic, Nikki Sixx's new bad (Sixx A.M.) is entertaining rock for the most part - and the album is a good companion to his book - The Heroin Diaries - which is an edited down version of the diary he kept during his worst drug use, when he notoriously flat lined with a needle in his arm.

All the same, Kudos to the ship's operators for not asking for special exception and for working to improve an already beautiful vessel.

I had thought there was an existing thread, but I got too lazy to make a decent search of it. heh - sorry!

Today, I am apparently all about the Foo Fighters. Not the least reason being that I am attempting to teach myself (with my limited skill) how to play a few of their songs on the guitar (for the morbidly curious, Razor and Another Round are the songs I am currently butchering on my long suffering instruments).

What are you listening to, pirates?

I got the exact same results as Captain Sterling. Does this mean I get a promotion?!

It looks like you could achieve the same effect by tea staining?

During Thomas Jefferson's presidency he and a group of travelers were crossing a river that had overflowed its banks. Each man crossed on horseback fighting for his life. A lone traveler watched the group traverse the treacherous river and then asked President Jefferson to take him across. The president agreed without hesitation, the man climbed on, and the two made it safely to the other side of the river where somebody asked him: "Why did you select the President to ask this favor?" The man was shocked, admitting he had no idea it was the President of the United States who had carried him safely across. "All I know," he said, "is that on some of your faces was written the answer 'No' and on some of them was the answer 'Yes.' His was a 'Yes' face."

"The most significant decision I make each day is my choice of an attitude. When my attitudes are right there's no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme and no challenge too great." - Charles Swindoll

It's another great read!

May You Be Blessed

May you be blessed with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you will live deep within your heart.

May you be blessed with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people so that you will work for justice, equality and peace.

May you be blessed with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that you will reach out your hand to comfort them and change their pain into joy.

May you be blessed with the foolishness to think that you can make a difference in the world, so that you will do the things which others tell you cannot be done.

http://beachpiratefestival.com/

The posting on the main forum is incorrect - the real info is available at the link above.

Anyone going?

An update:

The test results came back in support of there being a problem with the nerves originating somewhere in my spine. I was supposed to have a thoracic and lumbar MRI this morning, but Aetna seems to think that one does not need to see the entire spine in order to diagnose a spinal issue and have thus put my clinicals "under review". Because they are agents of SATAN. Thus, no MRI for me today. They are supposed to come back with an answer by end of business today.

um?

My thoughts are with you and your family ((HUGS))

I've been working on an art journal recently - here are a few of my favorite pages:

Maybe it just me, but it seems like everyone has times when they can use a a healthy dose of something positive. Something inspirational or sensical or even just a break from the daily rhetoric the media feeds us about terrorism, violence and threat levels - the political punditry and the fact that the number of hate groups around the country has increased by more than 50 percent since 2000, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center and all that other stuff about life that can just feel oppressive after awhile.

So, here's thread where maybe when you need a healthy dose of something better, you can poke in and maybe find it.

(9 hells! I've gone granola!!)

The Wolf You Feed

An elder Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me.. it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego."

"The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith."

"This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too", he added.

The Grandchildren thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee simply replied... "The one you feed."

I don't often participate because I don't' know if I am up to the standards of these folks here, but as longs as we can all accommodate some healthy debate then... all is well, is it not?

To sleep — perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub!

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause.

I suppose, for myself, I haven't seen much "pausing", or healthy debate for that matter. And if someone like YOU doesn't know if they are up to the "standards of these folks here" - then there is precious little hope for the rest of us grunts.

Jessi- where do get the idea that I hate Jack Sparrow? I have all 3 movies, just watched #3 on Saturday. I also like Cutthroat Island and Swashbuckler, among others. What I hate is the effin lack of imagination that manifests itself. Bloody hell, can't people think beyond making a cookie cutter image of someone else? We have 140 years of the era where pirates were a big thing, we have 5 continents and 3 oceans and multiple seas. There is a body of pirate literature, both accurate and fantasy, tha is enough to fill a library of it's own. And all people can bloody well do is dress up like somebody else. It doesn't have to be authentic , it doesn't have to be perfect for something like this, but can't it at least be different?

Hawkyns

That too is my rub. I can't stand the lack of imagination, given the wealth of information out there. It's just so disheartening to see so many Jack imitations, most of which are poor. I'd rather see some originality and broaden the tapestry of an event. I just can't take any more Jacks. Enough, already! Really, why can't someone be Blair or Dog Brown from Cutthroat - those were some interesting characters to work with. Some of the characters from Nate and Hayes would be great too, like Blake... and that's just out of two movies.

- Hurricane

Hawkyns, I get the idea based on how often I've seen you make fun of the people who dress like him at events.

To put it simply? No. Not everyone is capable of that. Which is exactly why there is a market for premade costumes. Also, some people get a kick out of recreating -not a time period, but a specific person or icon. Which is why every year people dress up as Superman for Halloween. Gosh, why can't everyone make their OWN iconic superhero?

Well, because it takes a whole lot of talent to do what Jerome Siegel and Joseph Shuster did when they created Superman. Not EVERYONE can create Superman. Not EVERYONE can create their own interpretation of a pirate - fantasy or historical. Does that mean those people should be looked down upon because they are not as talented and knowledgeable as you? Should they not be allowed to participate? Should they be ridiculed for not having the same abilities or the same level of interest as you do?

Are there a lot of Jack Sparrows at pirate events? Absolutely. I think that's a given. But it doesn't bother me in the slightest. I am interested in how much effort they put into to portraying the character, I am interested in why they chose him and I am most of all interested in why they decided to dress like him on a hot day in March to come out to a park and hang out.

So I ask them. Sometimes they just shrug and says "He's a cool character" or "My girlfriend likes him" or some variation. Sometimes it's because he's the first pirate to catch their interest - and then they start asking questions - and maybe they get interested in actual GAoP and maybe they don't. But At least a dialog was opened. Which I feel is a lot more productive than snickering or rolling my eyes at ANOTHER "effin" Sparrow.

Grace is very good and has a lot of experience, but even she is learning... and after Pike River, new safety rule for all girl gun crews... boys clothes...long skirts can be a major safety issue...tripping, getting tools caught in the folds... etc...she completely agreed when this was pointed out to her...

Frankly, we should all always be learning. Isn't that one of the points of this whole enterprise? It is the people who think of themselves as the utter experts that I find the most troubling. Maybe that's part of my own personal philosophy of life/education - which dovetails with one of my favorite quotes from Picasso - "A painting is never finished. It just stops in interesting places".

Education is never completed and mastery is never attained. We just stop and move on to other things when we've hit out own line.

Yeah, I know Hurricane. I'm already considering getting a prozac drip for the week . The clothing issue is what it is. Two years ago at MDRF we had, on the same day, 19 different Jack Sparrows. Goddess knows what else we saw out there on Pirate Invasion. So I'm kind of ready for that.

Why do you hate Jack Sparrow?

I'm having a hard time grasping this concept.

Is he authentic? No - what in Hollywood is?

But are we authentic? If you are really honest with yourself, I think you have to answer no as well - we can only make educated guesses at how accurate we are.

Is he entertaining? That's a matter of personal taste.

Are we entertaining? Same as above.

Did he raise the awareness level in the general public and spawn several History Channel specials to be aired in the wake of each movie? You better believe it. Were all those specials accurate? Probably not - but neither are we. I think we all do the best we can and I doubt the dramatic documentarians were maliciously trying to spread disinformation.

Do we raise awareness levels? If only we had his marketing campaign - I think we do as good as we can.

So....explain this to me. Why hate a fictional character that raised awareness? It seems kind of like a wasted effort to me - and all you are accomplishing is making yourself feel a whole lot of negativity, because I can just about guarantee you that not a single one of those 19 Jack Sparrows was concerned with your ire. They were there to have fun.

Boy, is PiP going to make you crazy, Hawkyns. :) Some of the crewes receive training the day before they're on the line. And I don't think there are a lot of exacting standards - the Viceroy (and Harry up until this year) handled everything at the fort. Don't know who was out with the field pieces.

As one of the people who received training the day before being on the line - and as a member of the first all woman crewe - I feel I must speak up here. Mainly because I feel it is an incorrect supposition, but also because it is an insult to Grace and the quality of the instruction she gave us.

Grace went over, back and forth, not just the "how-to" of firing a big honking gun - but also the safety issues, answered every question myself, Kate Souris and Rusty Nell had, and made sure we understood what we were doing and WHY we were doing it. We had a specific count for each move, and she made sure we were each comfortable with our positions. When I told her at the offset that I was not comfortable in one position, she promptly made it a crewe discussion and we were all given opportunity to define our own comfort zones. We took the matter of manning the gun together extremely seriously and not a one of us would have accepted any nonsense around the weapon. In fact, when another pirate stepped up on the line just minutes before the battle and asked to join a crewe - Grace refused to even have our crewe as a consideration in the matter. There was no way we were letting a totally unknown element into the mix on a moment's notice.

We kept our crew together for 2 days (in fact, we were specifically requested to return the second day) and I cannot give Grace enough credit for being the reason we did so well.

Flash forward to May, and Kate and I are on the Santa Maria, manning another gun (much smaller) - perfectly comfortable with what we are doing because of Grace. And when there was a misfire - despite the gun owner stating how he felt we should handle the matter - because of our own sense of safety and respect of the danger such weapons can present - we both refused to continue on the line and stepped down to let the owner handle the matter himself - because we didn't necessarily agree with what he said to do and neither of us had personal experience with the matter.

The point being that you don't have to have 10+ years experience to have a sensible head on your shoulders and you don't have to have known/witnessed/heard of a guy who lost a limb to comprehend the dangers of firing a weapon.

I think I tend towards your and Mission's way of thinking, Patrick - there there is only so much we can "know" - the rest is our best educated guess. To cage it in any other terms is fooling ourselves, fooling the public and doing a disservice to history. In that way, it's kinda like science - which never finds a theory 100% proven - just strongly supported.

I am sorry for your loss, but marvel at the send off you gave your friend - well done, sir.