Sjöröveren

Thank ye all for yar kind wishes! I wish all of ye could have been here tonight, but we've gotten about a foot of snow so far, with much more to come before tomorrow ends. There were still about 20 daring and intrepid souls who made it through the snow. Our basement "pirate pub" got a proper baptism, with my brother and 2 nephews providing live music. Ye should have seen Red Bess cuttin' a rug to my nephew Björn's original fiddle tune. The kid is barely 13, but his fiddlin could make the dead get up and dance. Hey, wait! I've got pictures of Red Bess cuttin' a rug! Hmmmm...... :angry:

Tak så mycket, kär Rod Katt Yenny! And the same to you, Silkie and Mad Jack in English! My party is about to start. We were expecting 40-50 guests, but we weren't expecting 15+ inches of snow. Many people have called to cancel, but we'll still be here for anyone who shows up. We'll keep ye posted!

I'm listening to "The Squid Jigging Ground" by the Cheiftains and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

I am an unwilling insomniac. I want to sleep. I need to sleep. But I can't get to sleep most of the time. At least, I couldn't until I started taking an Rx that helps my mind "shut up" so I can drift off. That's what kept me awake. My mind simply wouldn't shut off at night. I wasn't worrying about things, reliving the day, or anything on that side of OCD. I'm over on the other side. Mostly songs running in my head, seldom good songs. Most of the time extremely awful songs, ones that I am suprised and appalled that are even in my head to begin with. Examples? How would you like to be up all night with "Let's Hear it for the Boy" or "We Belong" playing non-stop. I hated these songs from the day they debuted! I took great pains to never hear them from their opening measure! Yet here they are, keeping me awake, 20, 30 years later. That's why I take the meds. Let's Hear it for the Meds!

I think the splinter test failed because the small section of hull they used moved too much, so most of the energy of the cannonball was dissipated. The amount of mass in a real ship far overshadows the amount of energy in a cannonball, so the energy is much more focused at the site of impact, thus throwing out splinters at a much greater velocity. That's my theory anyway. Any physics types out there?

Tak så mycket, Yenny! Why is the rum frozen!?!

Not really. Many of the healers for the common folk were women. (Speaking in terms of land-based here, not sea-going) Surgeon and Physician were members of guilds, and often refused to see the lower classes, and the common folk couldn't afford them anyway. But they still got sick, so they went to bonesetters, "witchy women" and other female practitioners. And of course, a pirate ship probably wouldn't have any sort of surgeon, unless they were forced to serve against their will.

A hearty birthday toast to ye, Captain! Yet another great Pirate born in February. I be a Piscean meself. Then when I hit the big 50 on the 24th, I'll really be piscean meself!

First of all, it's misspelled. It should be "Sjörövaren, but it's too late to change it now. It's Swedish for "The Sea Rover." When I meet up with Pub Pals, they just call me Sea Rover. Trying to pronounce it properly in Swedish is like trying to whistle with a mouth full of crackers.

Once RF IV & V are out of the way, might I suggest Charleston, SC for future consideration? Plenty of piracy tie-ins there, and I've heard it's the most intact colonial city in the US. It would be worth the trip! And as much as I love Duluth, MN, it's a hell of a long drive for pretty much anyone except us MN residents. Milwaukee would be a great place to alternate with Chicago, but face it, Chicago is the hub of the midwest.

High temps in the single digits below zero today here in Minnesota. Tomorrow morning it may be -20! Hasn't been this cold here in several years. About 10 years ago it got down to -60 in northern MN. The weather is very nice here most of the time, but when it gets like this, you just wonder what the hell are doing here? It's warmer on Mars!

I think I'll try to track down some of the folks who have posted on the subject in previous threads and invite them to join this theorhetical guild.

I'm looking for a good image of general pirate mayhem to use for a party invitation. I've searched the "Pirate Image Archive" and found some good ones, but I haven't found just the right one. Ideally, I'm looking for black & white line art, like a woodcut or engraving. But mostly, I'm looking for the perfect image of pirates drinking, fighting, etc. Post them if you have them!

If she's infinitely frictionless, shouldn't a gentle puff of air send her skidding across the floor, like an air hockey puck? You may have invented a completely new sport!

Winter sort of forces us to take a break from reenactments up here in Minnesota. There's folks around here that do winter encampments, but they are pretty much exclusively buckskinner events, which I find tiresome in the extreme. Besides, I like my feet to be warm and dry, and I like to wake up without icicles on my nose. True pirate events are non-existant here. The closest one is the Port Washington Pirate Fesival, which is well-worth the 5 hour drive for us. So I have a ways to go before I'm burned out on pirates. I've burned out on other hobbies over the years. but this one has stayed with me for some time, and I've hoodwinked Red Bess and the kids into doing it, too. So I'm still having fun.

Thank God they are all safe! We had the pleasure of being aboard the Royaliste last summer when they were in Green Bay. Kathy saw us standing in a very long line, and whisked us aboard for a private tour. Finer folks you will never meet! Our hopes and prayers go out to them and for a successful floating of the ship.

*a distracted and harried-looking Sjöröveren stumbles thru the door. The creases in his brow soon relax when he sees familiar faces in the pub...* My apologies, ladies and gents. I had every intention of makin a more timely appearance, but I have let myself wander into every unlocked door in the vicinity, and have completely lost track of the time! *notices a fine fellow in the arms of a fellow Fool's Gold...* Ah, my good man, ye must be the man Lady Barbossa has been singin the praises of! An honor to meet ye, sir. And if the tap be still flowing, I will gratefully accept your hospitality! *cozies up to Red Bess, and is soon dozing on her bosom like a kitten. A very large kitten.

I'm a photogrammetrist, something most people have never heard of and can't figure out from the name. I make topographical maps from aerial photography. It sounds much more exciting than it is, and it may not sound all that exciting. For the most part, I map very dull terrain. Mostly in the midwest, mostly for things like highway construction or new housing developments. But I've been doing it for 5 years now, and it's still interesting.

Look at the threads I miss when I'm too busy to check in.... I suggest we take an informal head count of those of us who are interested in Medicine at sea. We could form a Guild of sorts, for purposes of exchanging ideas, in the tradition of Royal Societies. Anyone interested?

They didn't recognize the "ö" so I just used a regular "o", and got: S.J.O.R.O.V.A.R.E.N.: Sexy Jealous One Readily Offering Velvety, Arousing Recreation and Erotic Necking Well, I'm not the jealous type, but I think I'm fairly velvety. (I would drape myself in velvet if it were socially acceptable...) You'll have to ask Red Bess about the rest.

Nothing particularly piratical for me, just a couple of nice sweaters and a gift card from JC Penney's. I really need a new winter coat, although I really want a tarpaulin jacket or a harpoon. They don't seem to carry the really good stuff at Penney's. I got a book of some interest to any of the ship's surgeon's out there: "Atlas of Human Anatomy and Surgery" a repro with color plates from 1831-1854. A bit later than GAoP, but still very interesting. $25 at Barnes & Noble, with many copies unsold. I got Red Bess something piratey, but I'll let her tell ye about it.

Regarding cobwebs, I have used this remedy with great success on myself a number of times. It will staunch the bleeding of a superficial cut almost immediately. Of course, a superficial cut will usually stop bleeding on its own in under a minute, so the cobweb itself probably doesn't do much. I also assigned the benefit not to the spider silk, but to the dust collected on the silk -- remember, it's cobwebs, not fresh spider silk that's supposed to be the remedy. All that dust makes it act much like lint, which was almost always used on cuts and incisions. Regarding hair as sutures, I have never personally read anything about human hair being used, one's own or someone else's. I do know that the Southern doctors during the Civil War used boiled horse hair for sutures when silk was unavailable. They boiled it to make it more pliable, with the unknown benefit of killing germs.

This is why I love people like us! I throw out a comment like this and all kinds of hands go up. I should have said "How many of them have butchered a pig?"

I'd listen to the Pirates of Portabello sing pretty much anything. I just hope they can get a CD recorded soon!

It doesn't look like my mental image, but if Foxe made it, I'm certain my mental image is wrong. I think I could handle making that one