Mission

"‘e’s stunned." "STUNNED?!?" "Yeah! You stunned him, just as he was wakin’ up! Norwegian Blues stun easily, major." "Um…now look…now look, mate, I’ve definitely ‘ad enough of this!"

I was at the Smithsonian Natural History museum on Thanksgiving and they had a special exhibit there called "Written in Bone" with a part focusing on early colonial forensics. (All of which I highly recommend.) Of particular interest was the condition of some of the bones they found and what the forensic experts had to say about them. I took loads of pics, so I thought I'd share some of the bits that connected with our hobby. (Those of you wishing to be truly PC can decide if you want to start modifying your bones or not based on this display.) This material is reprinted from the exhibit signs, gathered 11/26/09. "The Pleasure of a Pipe? Many activities can affect the skeleton, if repeated again and again. The wear and tear of growing tobacco bent the backs of colonists, while the habit of smoking tobacco in clay pipes damaged and stained their teeth. As they clenched the pipe between their teeth, the abrasive clay of the pipe stem wore facets in the enamel of the teeth around the pipe. Eventually these facets left holes in the bite. Nearly everyone in colonial Chesapeake, young and old, men and women, was smoking - a fact that only skeletal evidence could reveal. All of these skulls from the Patuxent Point site show well-defined pipe facets, some so deep they caused abscessed teeth." Now, I accidentally cut off the signs explaining these skulls, but I do know for certain that the one of the left is a youth and the one in the middle is a man. I believe the one on the right is a woman, but my memory could be playing tricks. Looks like the man had a two pipe at a time habit. Some job-related bone modifications. (Imagine the what sailors might have for repeated bone alterations and proceed as you feel compelled. Or not.) "Shoemaker's Femur Repeated muscle damage from nailing a shoe or pounding leather braced against the thigh can cause chronic bleeding in the tissue around the femur. New bone growth in the region of the hemorrhaging can create a distinctive, ectopic (abnormal) formation." From the descriptions in this pic: "(below) Shoemaker's combination tool 17th century Peter Scott site, James City County, Virginia this iron tool has pliers for stretching leather and a hammer for setting shoe nails or pegs, as the shoemaker held the shoe on his leg." "(right) Femur with damage possibly from shoemaking ca. 1600-1630s Statehouse Complex Burial Ground, Jamestown, Virginia The first known shoemaker in Virginia was Christopher Nelms, in 1619, he left Bristol, England, to come to Jamestown, with a contract of two years' of wages paid in advance and the promise of 70 acres of land for the third year. By 1620, a muster roll of colonists showed his untimely death." There was also a display on something called "tailor's notches" (in the teeth), which I would think might easily relate to sailmakers. Unfortunately, the pics are really bad and you can't even see the notches in the teeth they show very well (because the camera aperture opened for a long time in the dark room and I didn't hold the camera steady). However, I'll give you my best read on the fuzzy words in the photo and post it for reference anyhow. "Maxillae and mandible of an adult female, with "tailor's notches" ca. 16?? - 16?? ?? County Maryland "Central maxillary incisor or a woman buried at ????? ???? plantation (?????'s Point cemetery), Virginia, ca. 1625." And, lastly, an exploded skull, which has nothing whatsoever to do with period, but I thought was really cool, so I felt like sharing it.

Better yet, go to the bar first and join the pirates in the parade when the pass the bar you're in. (It's a long parade.)

In defense of those wallowing in Pipmas, it's hard enough to get around here to post when things start getting interesting at PiP, let alone posting pics on the fly. Asking folks to sort, fix and upload pics during the event is asking for an awful lot. (Those of you who have been there know what I mean. Think about it - if you were there, would you want to spend your time doing that? Or would you rather be in the middle of the non-stop excitement that is PiP?) So don't be surprised if you don't see pics popping up until next week. Unless someone goes above and beyond the call, you'll just have ta' be patient. (Besides, if you really, really wanted images of PiP, you'd and gone to the event and experienced them. Obstacles exist to test our creativity in overcoming them. ) Oh, and here's a pic from last year of Stynky, since he demanded it:

Yup. Classes at the Y is the best way I know.

By way of punishment, you should post the recipe for Wobble Juice so we can all drink one in your honor...or something like that.

The story is that I wanted a pelican, I found one on eBay that gave me enough detail to make an Autocad drawing and I contacted a blacksmith on Etsy who made it for me. See the updated photo in the Twill thread. I do not yet have it, but it looks outstanding and I am hopeful and pretty confident. This is probably the wrong place for this, so mods please feel free to move this thread into the Thieves market if it seems best, but the blacksmith can be found on Etsy here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/jenniferannmurphy Jennifer is not the blacksmith, her husband Zach is. He's a really easy guy to work with, although, again, caveat emptor - I have not yet seen the final product. (Looks damned good in the photos - note the detail on where on the outside piece where the inside hinge is...I'm drooling here.) He was really quite excited by this project, although he had never heard of a dental pelican before. Again, see the Twill thread for info on that.

Shooting themselves in the eye...? Methinks thou dost not fully grasp the function of said device, milady. Ok, it is finished, although this is just the blacksmith's photo; I do not yet have the device in hand. However, since I drew it up for him in Autocad and he followed my drawing, I feel pretty confident in the final product. My new blacksmith friend is quite proud of his work, so I believe it is good stuff. However, the final verdict will be when I have it in hand and try it out on my cat. (How many teeth does a cat need, really?) As to the use of this device, let me quote Alexander Munro, who explained its use in 1742. "'When this instrument is used, the claw [top of the device] is put inside of the tooth to be drawn with its points as near to the roots of the tooth as they can conveniently be put. The end of the rest [the inside of the 'claw'] is placed on the outside of the gums and a finger being placed above the claw to keep it from slipping, the patient's head is held by the surgeon, who pressed down the handle to extract the tooth, by raising the tooth, moved in an arch of a circle from the socket." Isn't that lovely? Hmm? (PS. Just kidding about the cat. Dogs maybe, but cats...no. Dogs have bigger teeth.) (No, kidding again! Don't sic (heh) the ASPCA on me. I don't even own a dog. Maybe the neighbors do, but what of that? I mean, seriously. So he goes missing a few teeth...it has nothing to do with me.)

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! My pelican is almost done! I hope I can get it to PiP with me on the plane! Isn't she beautiful? Good ol' Etsy! I'll have almost everything needed to start doing period dental work! Any takers?

C&H... Being a pirate re-enactor is weird...you know a lot of people by their imaginary names, but not their real ones. It can make riting the surgeon's journals more of a fact-finding mission that a creative exercise. (Plus freaky people occasionally call you and leave bizarre phone messages ending with... "Oh, but the way, this is Paul," and you wonder who the hell 'Paul' was.)

So what would one of those cost, minus the ribbony thing you have on the side of that one? You don't have one on your Etsy page and I can't access you web page for some reason. It would look cool on the skull in my living room.

*Whew* Thanks, Mark! Oh, the things I do to have something interesting to write about...

I wonder what Columbus would have thought of that statement?

It never seemed like a thing you would willingly carry unless you knew you were going to need it. (And even then it'd probably be under orders and you'd be as likely to whine about having to carry the extra weight as anything.) While things were different in the 17th/18th centuries, I can't believe this means folks were illogical and insensible. People are people, whenever you go.

Actually, I believe I know where that is. (I don't recall the name either.) I believe it's around the corner from that little pharmacy (that also serves a decent breakfast.)

What's it called?

What?! Does he really?!

Ah, it's 0|\|3 1337 |>!r473's birthday. He (for it is a he according to his email address) joined in '03, which I believe was around the time of the origin of this forum. He has no posts, probably because the forum automatically logged him out due to inactivity and he can't remember his user name. (Well, that's my guess.) What did you do, sneeze while you were typing?

It wasn't me. The pirates forced me at pistol point, threatening me by snapping their pistols at my head. It was Photoshopped. I just did that for exercise and to learn how to fire guns. Nah, it wasn't me.

Nice job. How did you mold the bat?

Wow! I really look forward to seeing that.

Having received a copy of Old instruments used for extracting teeth by Sir Frank Colver from the library which I want to read and enter into my notes before it's due back, I have set all other books aside for the nonce. Pelicans, forceps and toothkeys...oh my!

So then what sorts of articles were typical of privateering crews? Or does Little have this wrong? I at first thought many merchant crews had some form of articles that were composed by the ship's owners, but re-reading Littles comment, I realized that this wasn't what he was saying; he was restricting his comments to "rovers." "Rover" is the term he uses to encompass privateers, pirates, buccaneers, filibusters and those strange white orbs that float up from the ocean bottom and attack you when you try to leave.

Too bad you have that store to mind or you could accompany out to partake in corn and crab chowder. Mmmmmmm...