Sjöröveren

I saw a post here a year or two ago about a sail powered tanker that was in development. Looked nothing like a traditional sailing ship. 4 or 5 masts, sails contained within the spars. All sail management was done via a computer on the bridge, and the trim was set automatically using remote sensing. The entire ship could be operated by less than 10 people, who were there mostly to keep things repaired. Plug in your origin, destination and some waypoints into your GPS, push the "weigh anchor" button, and its off to the galley to microwave nachos and watch DVDs!

I hated POTC 3 not for its lack of history -- I had no expectations of it being anything of the like -- but for its claptrap, hodgepodge, self-indulgent storyline. It seemed to exist only as a vehicle to showcase one special effect after another. Some were pulled off with skill (the stone/crabs, the maelstrom) some were amateurish in their execution (the final explosion sequence, as the ship disintegrates behind Beckett. It's rear projection was as obvious as stuff my kids do at home with our computer. Effects like this were fine in the 1960s, but 40 years later, it just looks crappy. Geez, you're DISNEY fer cryin' out loud! Spend a little more money and make it look good!) Ultimately, the whole thing just failed to come together for me. I left feeling unsatisfied and rather taken advantage of. If they do make a 4, I will wait until I hear at least a dozen good reviews from people that I can trust before I hand over any money. And as far as historical accuracy in films go, even the ones that go to great lengths to be as accurate as possible, such as Master and Commander (my all time favorite film, BTW) have a handful of historical inaccuracies in them. But do they spoil the film? Not in the least. If you want complete historical accuracy, build a time machine or quit complaining. I'll forgive all kinds of historical inaccuracies if you give me a good film. But give me a really bad film, like POTC 3, then I won't be very forgiving.

Today, I got laid off from the job that I had hoped would take me into retirement. I loved the work -- what pirate wouldn't love making maps, right? But our bread & butter work was highway construction and land development, and both have been hit hard by the economy. So today, there were massive layoffs. Our office in Colorado was closed completely. Here in Minneapolis, we lost 15 out of about 30. Three left in my department, which until today had 10 people. The people who were left seem to think its just a matter of time before everything goes. And the hell of it is, I can't really get too mad about it. This was the best-managed company that I had ever worked at. Even up as recently as last December, they were confident that '09 was going to be a blockbuster year. But they're just losing money hand over fist, and no one can keep that going for long. But this was one of the few jobs that I've ever had that I really loved. You hear so many folks say how they dread Monday morning, how their boss is an idiot, etc. etc. I loved going to work, the people there were great to work with and work for. And now, I've got to go out and find some crappy job, a few weeks before my 52nd birthday, in this toilet of an economy. But I'm going to be Scarlet O'Hara for a day, and worry about that tomorrow. Today, I'm still too numb.

Just confirming that I'm still in. I've got some time on my hands now, so I will get to it this week.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press has an annual Peeps diorama contest. Entry deadline is April 1 2009, so get Peeping!

Personally, I wish they would have stopped at 1. The second was just OK, the third horrible in the extreme. I saw it once at the midnight premiere, and had no desire to see it again. We've owned the DVD for some time, and have never felt even a tiny urge to watch it. Pure crap from start to finish. Please don't inflict another on us, unless it is to atone for the last one!

Best Wishes for a speedy recovery, Syren! My dad just had a big icky thing removed from him, and he feels 10 years younger already!

I wanna take a crack at this. Count me in.

Whenever anyone proposes some crazy conspiracy theory in the future, I'm going to make them read this! It perfectly captures the mindset of someone who sees conspiracies where there are none. If you are congenitally suspicious, you can't help but seeing commie spies hiding in the pantry, and dark malevolence afoot everywhere. Big conspiracies tend not to be successful, because they require at least two people to work together without disagreement. And we all know how well humans do at that.

Yah, well at leats dare ain no such ting as a MinnaSOHdah accent, ya know! We don't actually all speak like the cast of Fargo, only about two thirds of us do. Sarah Palin's accent is pure rural Minnesota too, for some reason. My French professor in college was Korean, and when I visited Montreal back then, people told me I spoke French with a Korean accent. I don't get much opportunity to speak French anymore, so it has probably reverted to an American accent again.

The History Channel's total lack of even a semblance of accuracy in costuming, set decoration or casting has put me off their entire network. I once sawa 6 ft, 300-lb bearded man cast as James Madison! (who was barely 5 ft tall, maybe 120 lbs and of course clean-shaven.) If they are that slipshod in production details, I can't help but disregard the entire show as irrelevant.

Mousebender: Well, how about a little Red Leicester? Wensleydale: I'm afreaid we're fresh out of Red Leicester, sir. Mousebender: Oh never mind. How are you on Tilsit? Wensleydale: Never at the end of the week, sir. Always get it gresh first thing on Monday. Mousebender: Tish, tish. No matter, Well, four ounces of Caerfilly, if you please, stout yeoman. Wensleydale: Ah,well, it's been on order for two weeks, sir, I was expecting it this morning. Mousebender: Yes, it's not my day is it. Er, Bel Paese? Wensleydale: Sorry. Mousebender: Red Windsor? Wensleydale: Normally, sir, yes, but today the van broke down. Mousebender: Ah, Stilton? Wensleydale: Sorry. Mousebender: Gruyère, Emmental? Wensleydale: No. Mousebender: Any Norwegian Jarlsberger? Wensleydale: No. Mousebender: Liptauer? Lancashire? Wensleydale: No. Mousebender: White Stilton? Wensleydale: No. Mousebender: Danish Blue? Wensleydale: No. Mousebender: Double Gloucester? Wensleydale: ...No. Mousebender: Cheshire? Wensleydale: No. Mousebender: Any Dorset Blue Vinney? Wensleydale: No. Mousebender: Brie Rocquefort, Pont-l'Èvêque, Port Salut, Savoyard, Saint-Paulin, Carre-de-l'Est, Boursin, Bresse-Blue, Perle de Champange, Camembert? Wensleydale: Ah! We do have some Camembert, sir. Mousebender: You do? Excellent! Wensleydale: Its a bit runny, sir. Mousebender: Oh, I like it runny. Wensleydale: Well, as a matter of fact, it's very runny, sir. Mousebender: No matter, hand over le fromage de la belle France qui s'appelle Camembert, s'il vous plaît. Wensleydale: I think it's runnier than you like, sir. Mousebender: I don't care how f*cking runny it is, Hand it over with all speed. Wensleydale: Yes, sir. Oh.... Mousebender: What? Wensleydale: The cat's eaten it.

I would wager that it's a typo of "spring". According to Chapman's Sailor"s Lexicon: "a hawser laid out to some fixed object to slew a vessel proceeding to sea." My actual sailing experience isn't sufficient to visualize this, but I understand it to mean something about being ready to sail at short notice, while still being at anchor. Perhaps bringing the vessel into the wind without actually being under sail.

I can't believe I'm so lucky! T*TS!

LITHP I mean LISP

I think the thread I had in mind was the one about making a justacorps. And, being in the Thieve's Market area rather than in Twill, I didn't find it until after my post last night. So it seems the "Short Jacket Construction for Dummies" thread exists only in my mind. Guess that makes me the latest in a long line of dummies. I may be asking some rather stupid questions in the days to come. Like, when Kass' pattern says "fold", does that mean I double over the fabric, aligned at the fold? Right now, I'm tempted to fold as in "throw in my cards and give up."

I could swear that there was an old thread that was more or less an online workshop on sewing a short jacket. I've just gotten Kass' pattern, and since my sewing experience is virtually nil, I came here looking for help. So is my memory playing tricks on me, or was there a thread like this from a few years ago?

Anyone else having problems with the links that Patrick compiled? Every time I click on one, it just brings me to the main forum page. It may be my browser, I suppose. We just got a new iMac, and I'm using Safari for the first time.

I am happy to report that I am home and feeling pretty good. Yesterday was pretty bad, as all the CO2 used to inflate my abdomen tried to find an escape route. After trying to rise and go out my shoulders, the gas wised up and chose the only exit nature has provided me. Today I am feasting on 1/2 teaspoonfuls of sugar-free jello and other such luxuries. But I have seen another tide, and will sail again soon!

This seems like a good reason to bump this subject back into action. I am having gastric bypass surgery tomorrow. It was a hard decision to come to, but after a lifetime of trying and failing to lose weight the old-fashioned way, I realized that this was my best option. I've worked hard the last few months to lose about 35 pounds, but that still leaves me at 300+. So, beginning tomorrow, I have new insides and a new life. I hope to amaze everyone at RF5 in Chicago next year, and again in Port Washington. By next June, I hope to weigh about 100 lbs less than I do now. Which is a great excuse to get new garb! Red Bess will be keeping everyone here informed how the surgery goes, and I'll post my thoughts when I feel better in a week or so.

I'm hoping not for a sequel, but a full movie for each of the 20 books! Since the book Master and Commander has virtually nothing in common with the movie, they should wait a few years until most folks have pretty much forgotten about it. Then start over and do them according to the books. Sure, it would cost billions of dollars, but wouldn't it be great!?! Oh, well. A man can dream, can't he? I guess I'll have to be content with reading the books again. I finished my third time through the lot a few months ago, and I've promised to wait as long as possible before I start again. But if I wait too long, I might forget the difference between homousian and homoousian. And then where would I be? Oh, Mercedes! I can smell your visage de porco from here! I can't resist!

One liquor store near us cards every customer, regardless of age. Their cash registers will not work unless they enter a birthdate first. For awhile they were just entering fake dates for anyone who was obviously over 21, but awhile later they were back to carding everyone. I suppose some 23 year old manager decided that rules, even ridiculous ones, are made to be followed. Once I saw a clerk demand ID from a customer, who was obviously at least 70. When he realized the clerk was serious, he just left his bottle of scotch on the counter and walked out. Can't blame him. If you want to drive away all your older customers, this can't fail.

A scar left by the formation of new connective tissue over a healing sore or wound. So apparently alumen was used as a sort of chemical cautery. Absolutely true! My favorite example of this is Dr. Ignasz Semmelweiss, a Hungarian physician from the early 19th century. He worked in a hospital in Budapest just as it began to become fashionable for wealthy women to deliver there instead of at home. When a woman began labor, the doctors would leave they cadavers they were anatomizing, go upstairs and deliver the baby. Dr. Semmelweiss noticed that far more women were dying from "childbed fever" in the hospital compared to those who delivered at home. He proposed that there was a connection between the the cadavers and the fever deaths. For proposing such a ridiculous idea, he was fired and denounced. He died penniless. Less than 50 years later, his views were vindicated by Pasteur and Lister. Shows what thinking outside the box will get you.

Why is our forum the only one this ever happens to? Does someone have it in for us?

Patrick O'Brian mentions several times throughout his books that, when prize money is divvied up amongst the crew, there were coins (gold and silver) from all over Europe and the Mediterranean - British, French, Spanish, Turkish, etc. and more than a few Roman coins. The Romans produced an enormous amount of coins, and hoards are still occasionally found and sold. Do a search on ebay sometime for roman coins. You can buy them by the sack, just like sliders. And even though this source is from fiction, O'Brian had the reputation of meticulous research. So I would be completely comfortable including any coin, going back to antiquity, so long as it were gold or silver. And speaking of the Gunnister man, I have 3 original 1/6 Öre Swedish coins like the ones he had, one from the same year (1683) and one each from 1677 and 1668. The 1683 one is in great condition, and would probably be pretty easy to re-cast, if anyone knows how.