blackjohn

There are shipbuilding trends by region, sure. England had New England shipbuilders and Jamaican shipbuilders at her disposal. Spain had ships being built in her holdings in the South Sea. The Dutch had the fluyt. Sooner or later, though, if someone sees a good thing, someone somewhere is going to copy it.

Way to go! I like that low impact stuff because I sometimes worry about my knees.

Bravo for having a goal!!! I think seeing numbers or some other measureable quantity helps focus. My goal... be able to fit into some old clothes so I can spend more money on pirate stuff! :)

Impressive! I did 20 again this morning. It is a fact that it is easier if I do it as the very first thing right after I wake up. I think next week I'll try cranking the time up by 5 or 10 minutes.

And we are talking about guys who can, when shipwrecked, cobble together a decent ocean-going craft from wreckage. If your carpenters can do that, what's the big deal with plugging a hole?!?! :)

Very true... and since I need to hit my copy anyway... Unfortunately I'm not with the marine archaeologists anymore... Also Cascabel, think about a bullet hole in a board for a second. It can leave a round hole with long sections of splintered word around it. Cannonballs probably do something similar. Tune in to Mythbusters tonight to find out!

I have heard of them. How far back they go... I suspect pretty far. As for efficiency... even if it doesn't fit the hole perfectly, the theory is that "some is better than none." I'll look for a period account of one being used when I get a chance.

My pleasure. Glad to be of service.

Thanks! Yep! Good call! Saurian Brandy... tribbles... I'm gearing up for a huge party on December 29th, 2007. The 40th Anniversary of Trouble with Tribbles!!!

Mooncussing

In a similar story, Basil Ringrose gives an account of a "Spanish Stratagem" whereby the Spaniards inflated a horse's hide and sent a fellow out to the buccaneers ship on it with the intent of setting it ablaze.

In fact, not only will it not kill you, it will, over time, do just the opposite! Jill, I agree... the typical pirate shot of rum is much larger than normal... hmmm... what's your daily rum ration??? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gill_%28unit%29 Hmmm... I'll trust wiki on this... "Following Britain's conquest of Jamaica in 1655, a half pint or "2 gills" of rum gradually replaced beer and brandy as the drink of choice." Interesting, this article refutes the Vernon-grog connection. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grog

Ok, time for one of you clever folks to find out just how many calories are in a "serving" of rum!

Exactly!!! Set yourself up for success!!! Hey Christine... you know as well as I that they say exercise is a great stress buster!

The library, not quite as messy as it usually is... looking in and to the left... and straight ahead...

Start small. Win a few battles and progress from there. It can be done. I know I can do it. I know you can do it. We all can do it!

Bravo! Good choice! I know that feeling. It would be SOOOO easy to walk away. The mind starts trying to cut some deals with the guy "manning the helm" wanting to do those exercises... Glad you toughed it out!!!

Someone had cut and dumped a bunch of it. Thought it might have some sort of piratical use. Dampier carried his notes in a bamboo tube, as I recall. I'm glad you asked, because that spurred me to do some research. I kept thinking "bamboo = Asia" but the fact that Dampier used it, and I believe I saw reference to it in Wafer's book too, got me to thinking. As it turns out, there are around 400 (I think) species native to the Americas. Today... I did my 20 minutes while watching one of my all-time favorites... Forbidden Planet. What a film! Now, time to get ready for the Verizon guy's visit... he's going to install FiOS. Wooo! No more cable for me! It's the fiber optic age!

Funny. I think part of my problem yesterday was my choice of viewing material. I still haven't be able to find PotC 2 interesting. Ymmv. This morning I watched The Duellists. Much better. Tomorrow, select bits from either Yellowbeard or Master & Commander. My bonus excercise yesterday... carrying an armload of bamboo a mile in the rain along the river behind my house. I kept wishing I was dressed as a pirate. Would've made the whole adventure that much better!

Without a doubt, you need that book. I'm sure I've mentioned this one before, but I'll mention it again - Barry Clifford's The Lost Fleet. Very interesting read. Combination of history and "true life" archaeology adventure. Deal's more with things from the French perspective, but very interesting just the same.

Now that is my kinda pool! You should invite us all over for a pool party!

Well, we do have you plural, right? Youse! We need it, and we made it up to fill in the gap! I make attempts at replacing "you" with "one" - e.g., "if you handsew" becomes "if one handsews." Sounds less finger pointingy.

20 minutes... it's next to nothing. Really. I probably spent 20 minutes loggin in, reading these few messages, and replying. I'll probably spend about 20 more making a cup of coffee. Does my mind scream no no when I do those. So 20 minutes doing something healthy... it's a worthy cause. In a couple weeks, maybe we'll bump it up to 25. Funny how in English word order is crucial to meaning... you slip that word "when" over two places to the right and that sentence of yours becomes rather amusing.

You're welcome. Glad to have you onboard. If we work together, we can do this! Ok, this day was tougher, and I was hemming and hawing about giving it a rest on the weekends, but a) I knew if I did I'd be back to square one with respects to building that better habit and I wouldn't have been able to reply to you, or to Red Cat Jenny, or to CrazyCholeBlack's message about sources for natural dyes! So... hey, I guess this system works!?!?! :)

I need to, because sitting around behind a pc all day just doesn't qualify as an active lifestyle. And hey, I was inspired, so I worked out a second time just now.