Sjöröveren

I can't seem to find these reputation points. Are they on my profile page, or by my avatar in a post? I'm not seeing any for anyone else either. But then again, most of the things in the "new look" Pub I have found immediately after complaining that I can't find them, so my problem should solve itself shortly.

The more I dig around the new site, the more I like it. It seems to have more flexibility than the old one - easier to read things in a manner I find convenient. I haven't experimented with the RSS feed yet, but that could make it even easier!

Never mind, I missed the "view new content" link. Apparently every post is new right now, so that may be a bug.

I don't see anything like the "See all unread topics" link as before. Is something like that in the works? It was a real time saver. I don't want to have to visit every sub-forum to see if there's an interesting thread going on.

Red Bess & I had one of the best Fourths that we've ever had. Nothing special - unless perfect weather, great food and watching the sky above one of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes erupt in fireworks, with powder smoke swirling across the water, almost driving away the mosquitos - counts as something special. In my book, it certainly does! We are at RB's mother's place, our peaceful and beautiful home away from home. Hope everyone had as perfect a holiday as we did!

Ours changes fairly frequently. Right now, it's a picture of our youngest powder monkey, Andy, fly-fishing last week. I used to be an avid trout bum, until I got too fat in the past few years. Now that I'm much smaller, I am starting to be more active again. Andy had always wanted to go fly-fishing with me, and last week we were able to hit a stream in southern MN for a few hours. He took to it like, well, like a fish to water! We saw very few trout, and didn't catch any, but he loved it, and I now have a fishing partner in-house! We hope to go again this week.

Congratulations to ye both! I hope to drink a toast to ye in person some time!

I got mine yesterday. They are all great! I must apologize again for having to drop out of this round. I'll try to make mine for the next round extra special in recompense.

The videos show the Steve Irwin flying a Dutch flag. But do they actually have Dutch registry? If so, then the Japanese government should deny entry to all Dutch registered ships until the Steve Irwin is stopped. If not, then they are in every legal sense, mere pirates, and should be taken by whatever nation's Navy encounters them. They apparently are often near Australia, so if they are lucky, they'll be taken by the Australian Navy, and they would have some reasonable expectations of due process. I would much rather seen them taken by the North Korean or Burmese Navy. Problem solved. And what does the family of the real Steve Irwin think about this? He didn't seem like the kind of person who would condone terrorism done in his name. But then, people who show absolutely no regard for international law would think twice about stealing someone's name for their cause. I think the Irwin family should take a big pile of crocodile sh*t from their zoo in Australia, and name it after the captain of the ship. Turnabout is fair play.

I have, but I hadn't made the connection until you mentioned it!

The thread No More History! got me to thinking. If you could write a History curriculum, how would you design it? Don't worry about state guidelines or No Child Left Behind or any of that claptrap. What would you teach? How would you teach it? You can pick a grade level if you'd like. Be as general or as specific as you want. We all know that History is one of the least liked subjects in school, most likely because of the way it has always been taught: chronological, centered around wars or economics, tending to be biased towards the dominant culture of one's nation. This results not only in bored students, but bad history, which in turn gives us an uninformed population, ignorant or apathetic towards the past and its effects upon our lives. I'll get the discussion started. This is how I would do it. This would probably be best beginning in middle school, but it could work for any grade I think. On Day 1, I tell the kids to think of an object - any object. It should be something that they are interested in. Since I don't want anyone to have the same object, I'd give some examples of things that could work, and let them name some examples too, to get their brains going. Electric guitar, cup of coffee, an iPhone, their dog, pajamas, their mom's eyeglasses - anything. Homework: write a 1 paragraph description of the object you chose. Bring a picture, or if possible, the object itself to class tomorrow. Day 2: Everyone reads their description of their object. Homework: dig deeper. When was your object invented, and by whom? What does it do, and is it the very first thing to every do anything like that? If not (and very very few inventions are completely and utterly unique) then research the objects that came before it. Why were those things invented? What need did it fill in human society? And so on through the semester. Keep digging deeper, and wider. After a few weeks, the students are no longer researching inventions, but human concepts, which inevitably brings human history into play. They begin to understand history not as a series of wars and depressions that happened to dead people a long time ago, but as something that has a direct effect upon something that they use or do every day. The original object they chose is just a stepping stone to the process of discovery. Let's say a student chose a cup of tea. Before long, they are learning about the 17th century, trade routes opening up between Europe and the Orient, the origins of the monetary system, the Japanese Tea Ceremony, European colonization of China and India, etc. etc. etc. At every little branch, they would have to research a bit, enough to come up with a paragraph of homework. Inevitably, something along the way will really catch their interest. At that point, I let the student guide themselves along the route they choose. They've found something in the past that really lights up their brain, and history no longer becomes drudgery. It's become what it has become to all of us - endlessly fascinating and relevant to our 21st century lives. I think this could work.

A friend is giving us his 16 foot fiberglass sailboat. He says he never gets to use it anymore, and knew that I have wanted a real boat for some time. But we can't agree on what to name it. Red Bess, our boys and I have each tossed out names that the other three pretty much immediately veto. My first choice was Åderlåtningen, which is Swedish for "the Bloodletting", but that seemed a bit too intense for a small pleasure craft. Plus, it probably wouldn't fit across the transom. My next choice was toyboattoyboattoyboat, but that was thought to be too "cutesy" and had the same problem with fitting on the transom. So, we're stuck for the time being. Maybe I should assert my right to name it today, it being Father's Day and all. Then they'd have to accept my suggestion!

It makes senses for we reenactors to use items that look new, since we are "living" in that era. For the non-reenactor, I would guess that they get these things as a sort of faux-antique, and so wants them to look the part. It depends who PoD's target market is. Maybe he could offer both versions, depending on who's buying it. This got me to thinking. Since letters of marque could mean the difference between life and death, they would be some the most important documents in a captain's possesion, right up there with his charts and ship's log. He would keep them very secure - away from weather, smoke, waves or anything else that could possibly damage them, wouldn't he? Safely protected in his cabin, I would think. This is just a supposition on my part. Is there any historical support for my guess?

I was wearing a jacket made from Reconstructing History's "Short Jacket" pattern in Port Washington this year. I know we didn't talk for too long, so if you don't remember, this is what it looked like: I used a synthetic blanket instead of wool, since this was my first try and I didn't want to learn while using expensive fabric. Overall, I'm quite satisfied with how it turned out, although I seem to have goofed up the neck area somewhat. The opening is too large it seems to me. But I'm going to make another using better fabric yet this summer. And I know next to nothing about sewing. Kass' instructions are quite detailed. I had one question that I emailed to her, and she was happy to answer it. If you're going to sew your own, I'd highly recommend her patterns.

and then if only we could make the photos scratch n sniff!

Red Bess & I have a 10.5x12 from Fall Creek Sutlery. They seem to have the best prices around, and I don't think the quality suffers for it. It does fill up pretty fast, like bbcddutchman said, especially with 4 of us, all on cots. (Our sleeping setup is still modern. We only keep the outside looking period, for now.) I'd like to get another one of the same size, then join the 2 tents with a fly between them. I've seen this done at several events, and it looks real cozy. I'd assume that you'd be using it in PA as well as in Florida, so I would highly recommend getting a sod cloth and a hole for a stove flue. That way you could use it even in the cold months.

My childhood favorite was - hands down - Zagnut. Toasted coconut over a Butterfinger-like crunchy peanut butter. Almost everyone else I knew hated them. So many people can't bear even the thought of coconut - Red Bess for example. I think she throws up in her mouth a little every time I mention it. And now, after my gastric bypass, I'll probably never have another Zagnut, or any other high-sugar content stuff. I had a sugar donut a few months ago and got a bit hypoglycemic, so I avoid sugar as much as possible now. If I could just find a single Halloween sized Zagnut, I could probably handle that. My eyes are peeled...

I'll have to get a "skinny" photo of me in full kit and post here so you can all get the full impact. Stay tuned.

Speaking as someone who was ready to work with you to help build a better community of Midwest pirate enthusiasts, I must say that I am not too upset that I was not able to make your meeting in PW. Any leadership qualities that you may in fact have are now wasted - you've been re-set to "0". I welcome any efforts you may want to put into rebuilding your reputation. You have confesses your acts and asked for forgiveness publicly, from your peers. I can forgive your rash act, but I hope you understand that until your subsequent actions demonstrate your trustworthiness, I will view you with a bit of suspicion. But plenty of lesser men and women than you have rebuilt reputations on honest effort. If you choose that course, I wish you the best of luck. And if in the future you have redeemed yourself in my eyes, you will be welcomed aboard my ship once again. Fair winds, Captain; you are in for some rough seas for a while.

I think Poopdeck Pappy's list lines up pretty well with anything that I could come up with, though I think George Clooney in "The Perfect Storm" should get a mention. And I feel that I, as a rabid Patrick O'Brian fanatic, that I must point out that although Jack Aubrey did eventually reach the rank of Rear Admiral, he was never knighted so he was never known as "Admiral Sir John Aubrey". Trifling and picky, I know, but I'm like that sometimes.

Well normally, I'm all for Swedish Pirates, being the token Swedish Pirate around here. But these guys are one of the kinds of modern pirates that I can't abide, in this case, intellectual property thieves. Too many of my friends and family make their livings by their own creativity for me to have any sympathy for these pirates.

Why, how nice of you to notice! Yes, that is my first major sewing project in some time. I've lost so much weight that most of my old stuff just hangs off of me now. I look a bit plump in some of these photos, but that's because the coat flares out a bit at the waist, but mostly because it was 45 degrees and windy all weekend, and I was wearing 4 shirts under the coat! Add a heavy belt over all that, and I looked like my old self! I used Kass' Short Jacket pattern, but used a cheap synthetic blanket for it. Now that I'm a bit more confident, I'll do a lined version using good kerseymere or something similar. I hope to have a proper gentleman's coat by next summer.

Once again, I was way too busy to take many photos, but here's a few of mine- Red Bess at Breakfast with the Pirates: Red Bess manning the Fool's Gold Crew's "RUM-mage sale" area, which met with mixed success. Calico Krys and I signing kids up to be on the Fool's Gold Crew: The Fool's Gold Crew and friends: left to right: Scuttle Sally, Bilgemunky, MerryDeath (in front of Bilgemunky), Red Bess, Sjöröveren, Lou, Tim, Andre (in front of Tim), Calico Krys, Daniel. Red Bess & I: Red Bess and our 2 powder monkeys:

We have the same favorite home furnishings store - Curbside Furniture! Best prices in town!

Right now, I don't see how I could get my set of cards done any sooner than mid-June. A lot of things have piled up all of a sudden. I have lots to do to get ready for Port Washington in a few weeks, and I've got some resumes that I've got to get sent out this week. If you want to wait for me, that's fine, but perhaps it would be better to go on without me for this round. Sorry, sometimes life intrudes.