Mission

I almost never miss not having TV reception. Netflix and the library are all I need. Any important news stories, like those about Albino Pink Dolphins and the unearthing of a woman who had stones or something shoved in her mouth because they though she was a vampire seem to show up here. The media is at least half responsible for the recession IMO. (Media people, please shut up about it and it will go away as people stop cowering from all the news about how bad things are and how much worse they're going to get. A great deal of the state of the economy is the result of people's expectations about the future of the state of the economy.)

So no one can tell me about the branding or not of Vane? Compared to all the journal accounts, I am finding the General History to be rather cold and lifeless in detail. It seems to me that it must have been written by someone who had court accounts and such, but either not as many first-hand accounts as it is claimed he had or a decidedly journalist perspective. Anyhow, I found this tale of scarring with the intent to sort of brand while typing in my notes and found it fascinating. NOTE the SASH! (I want a freaking sash - this makes it period!) “Whilst our Squadron [the Dunkirk Privateers] rode at Anchor in the Groin [Groyne - a structure built to protect ships near shore], there came in some Hollanders, under the notion of Hamburgers, with three Ships new trimm’d up for the King of Spain’s Service. A Boastswain of one of these ships happened in company ashoar with some of our men, were drinking together, the Hollanders began to prate of Religion, upbraiding one of our men for wearing a Cross; and after a while, growing more heated with drink, he became quarrelsome, and swore Sacrament he would not wear a Cross, no, the Devil take him, repeating it often. One of our men beat him down, and fell with him; then kneeling upon his Breast, and holding his Head down, he drew out a Knife sticking in his Sash, & cut him from the Ear towards the Mouth, then from the Os zygoma [cheek bone] to the neather Jaw. Now, said he, you shall wear a Cross, that the Devil do not carry you away. I was sent for from the next house as a friend to that Religion, and stitcht the Lips of the Wound close together; then sprinkling them with a little pulv. Galeni, [extract of powdered aloes to cause bleeding to stop, often combined with hare’s fur mixed in egg white] applied Pledgits [compresses of lint] with a sarcotick Unguent [unguent generating granulation tissue in a wound], and with Astringents and Bandage dressed him up. The next morning he was let bloud, and the third day after I took off the Dressings, and finding the Wound as it were agglutinated [the wound edges adhering together].in the Slits, I cut out some of the Stitches, sprinkled the Wound as at first, & drest him up with Sarcoticks, with Compress and Bandage. The second day after I drest him again, and cut out the remainint Stitches; and in a dressing or two more cured him. This being the work of Nature, who rarely faileth in acting her part, if we perform ours, in retaining the Lips close together, and defending them from Fluxion [discharge]. The Patient was well pleased with his Cure, though there remained some marks of a Cross. These sort of people wearing them with much pride in their Faces, as marks of their Courage.” (Wiseman, Richard, Of Wounds, Severall Chirurgicall Treatises, 1676 p. 362)

Ninja rat. "Silent...I am coming for you when you least expect it...you only think we don't know how to work the cage latch! Heh heh heh."

I believe Stynky got rid of the intro page when he upgraded the forum software. I'm sure he would like folks to spread the word, though. The more the merrier. Why not just link to the forum main page? Everything you need is there. (The old intro page was lame as hell IMO.) If you'd really like to see an intro page, I suggest you pm Stynky and explain what you're looking for and why. I know he's trying looking to increase the traffic here.

At present I don't have one at all. The one I took to PiP has started refusing to upload for some reason. (Plus it's a pain in the behind to carry around because it's so big.) I actually researched and bought one off eBay, but it turned out to have a mechanical problem so I sent it back. So I know what kind of camera I want (and it's no longer in production), I just have to wait for one to come up on eBay that sells for what I'm willing to pay for it. Although my photography acumen is pretty weak. I took a two week trip to Australia in 2005 and took about 20 pictures. Between the pictures I took at PiP this year with my and Mary Diamond's camera, I believe I shot more photographs than 30 years of other vacation photos combined. (I am serious.) I guess I just prefer to paint word pictures. But you didn't choose to be a Pyrate Surgeon, we pressed ye inter service......... True. It is one of the reasons I chose that character.

Er...I must admit illicit activities (particularly those that have the potential side-effect of causing my imminent arrest) are probably not going to be a salient feature of my inquiries. Although it appears anything and everything goes in Manila from my research. This is actually listed in the 'Con' column of my decision-making tree. (Some pirate I would have made. It's a good thing I chose to be a surgeon.)

It appears (much to my surprise) that I am going to be the first to back out. It's all explained here. No one is more astonished by this turn of events than me, to be quite honest. Sorry about that!

So I have this opportunity to go to Manila and do some history snooping through a most bizarre set of circumstances that came about this week. For those of you who don't want to read the intrigue and adventure (so to speak) of how this came about, I am looking for info on what might be interesting in the GAoP sense in Manila. For those of you who like a yarn, settle back in your easy chair. I read this newspaper called Investor's Business Daily that has a page called "Leader's and Success" every day. On Monday last, they had an article about a spy in the WWII named Claire Phillips. Manila was a location where we got our behinds handed to us; it's right near the site of the infamous Bataan Death March. Claire's husband was killed in action there and decided she was going to help the war effort. She established a bar where the Japanese hung out so she could use liquor and feminine wiles to coax secrets out of them to report back to the Allied forces. You can actually read the whole article yourself here (although I don't know how long IBD will have it up there). Usually I read these profiles, feel a little bit smarter and then go on my merry way. When I find one that particularly interests me like this one, I start digging and trying to find books on the person profiled. In this way I have read about many fascinating people you don't often hear about like publisher Bennett Cerf, photographer Margaret Bourke-White, and dancer Doris Humphrey among many others. But I couldn't find any books on Phillips. I did find she published an autobiography in the late 40's called Manila Espionage, but it cost about $300 - more than I'll spend even on a period surgical book. However, I also found through Amazon that a woman named Edna Binkowski had published a book on Philips in 2006 called Claire Phillips aka "High Pockets". High Pockets was Phillips' code name because she used to smuggle messages out in her brassiere. For some reason a book published in 2006 wasn't currently available. This didn't make any sense, so I did a search on Ms. Binkowski and found this page which gave her email address. So I emailed her. She answered with info about purchasing the book and then explained that she was giving a tour of Manila, Bataan and local environs focusing on Claire Phillips. She sent me a link to her web page, which is here. This intrigued me, so I emailed for more info. The trouble with emailing someone in the Philippines is that it takes a day to get a response. It turns out that Edna (who is much younger than her name sounds) was born in the Philippines and is a self-described "history nut". She is also fascinated by Ms. Phillips, thus her reason for writing the book and doing the tour. The tour is about half as expensive as the airfare and includes most of the meals and all of the lodging. To be honest, it was the quirky way this all came about that captivated me. Who could resist it? Not me, apparently. So now I am planning a trip to the Philippines. The question, which I have already asked, is if there is reason to extend my stay and search for piratical things of interest. Not modern piracy, which doesn't interest me a whit, but GAoP and + 20/-100 years.

See! He's seen them too! (Oh, gosh, mine is a lame response, but that is LOLable.) My first thought sort before I read any of the responses sort of reflects something Jill mentioned: Wouldn't a pink dolphin get sunburnt pretty easily? Water magnifies the sun and dolphins are often near the surface. Maybe that's why they are so rare. (Evolution; you know pink dolphins hate it.)

This is a really interesting commentary by a writer on genius. It's long, but worth listening to if you enjoy the topic as I do: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html I don't buy into the mystical elements of course, but I don't suspect she does either. In fact, my thought would be that calling someone a genius is misguided - as she suggests- but this has as much to do with the environment in which the person channeling genius tendencies exists. (That's a lot of wordy babble that boils down to a quote I once heard: "When it's time to railroad, you railroad" or, stated a bit more elegantly by Sir Isaac Newton: ""If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."(letter to Robert Hooke, 1676)) So what others see as genius is really just an accumulation of ideas by a person who is open enough to examine, combine and clarify them for public consumption. The ideas have always been there, the person is the conduit for them. (On a side note, I think I am in love with Elizabeth Gilbert. Well, maybe it's just passing intellectual infatuation.)

I knew it must come up eventually! Of course, it added this fine picture of a rabbit with a skull. This makes this thread the best ever! (Until I change my mind in five minutes, that is.)

Well it is a coffee shop, so the Kahlua is not an option. Dark chocolate definitely hearkens to huffiness and dark-colored bunny. For some reason I can't see huffy bunnies as being white, so that is a good suggestion. The cherry will be the nose.

Splendid! In it goes! Any other suggestions?

So today I was on my morning constitutional to the local coffee emporium, when I spotted an ad in their window for a coffee drink called a "Huffy Bunny." (Note that this is the same brewer of beans that provided the setting for the scary Marshmallow Peeps Coffee story I told last year.) Nevertheless, the idea of a coffee drink called a Huffy Bunny intrigued me, so I asked the morning Barista (who is still Bethany) what was in a "Huffy Bunny." She laughed at me and tartly replied that it was called a "Fluffy Bunny" and I had misread the sign. (Bethany is used to my bizarre banter by now.) Well, I looked at the sign and noted that it indeed said "Fluffy Bunny" although the fancy script made the 'FL' look like an 'H' if you weren't paying close attention. So I asked here what was in that. "Caramel and marshmallow." Huh. Not at all what I would want to find in my coffee. It does sound vaguely like something I would picture my pal Black Syren drinking on an outing. (I can't abide caramel. It's sticky. I'm not a big fan of things gooey.) So I asked Bethany what she would put in a Huffy Bunny. Bethany is a lot of things, but even she admits that she is not very creative. She did say that if I came up with a recipe, she would be sure to promote it for me. I personally think we should start with espresso, to invoke the huffiness of said bunny. Beyond that, I am open to suggestions. I lean away from the marshmallows, unless they are bruised. Caramel is right out. Anyone else have ideas?

Ditto. I have also occasionally seen them called "savages," particularly in reference to their religion and dress customs. Political correctness was 275 years distant.

Ah, now you touch on the one area that does I cannot do garb-wise. There is no possible way I could one-up Mr. Dogge, so I must defer to those who can pull such things off with so much more aplomb.

I was image searching and I came across this company in the UK that makes life-sized pirate thingees. I've seen the girl on the rope several times before, but the rest of them are new to me. Veddy interesting! http://www.jollyroger.eclipse.co.uk/PIRATESPAGE.html

Yo ho! Yo ho! A pirate's life for me! Here is the perfect get up for me at PiP. Nice and subtle and right square in my area of interest: I've just got to lose a few more pounds...and a leg. (That's mead he's holding, you know.)

However, there's no point in doing it now. Nice make-up! (I was going to make some special ones that I could actually see through, but leave it to Hurricane to one-up that lame idea. Did he fall in?)

Might be true for most Europeans, but then sailors weren't most Europeans. As a consequence, one frequently runs across mention of tattoos in the descriptions of runaway sailors found in colonial newspapers of the early 18th century. The ones I've seen all had religious/magical themes. Don't think there were any tattoos specific to pirates, though. Seems sorta counterintuitive to me--but who's to say? As to branding with a "P"--several instances of this are recorded as an East India Company punishment during the 1680's and 1690's. When the John Company caught a batch of pirates, it would usually sentence only a few to death. The rest would be branded--so that future merchant captains would know them for what they were. Regards, The Corsair Ah, further proof of the tattooing in prisoner accounts from a similar source as CrazyCholeBlack. (And from no less than corsair2K3. You can't beat that.) ___ Although I actually dug this old thing up from the thread graveyard because I wanted to talk about branding without starting a superfluous thread. I have been re-reading The General History and I came across this in the chapter on Charles Vane: "But the next Day, the Captain's [Vane's] Behavior was obliged to stand the Test of a Vote [for not attempting to engage a French Man of War], and a Resolution passed against his Honour and Dignity, branding him with the name of Coward, deposing him from the Command, and turning him out of the Company with Marks of Infamy; and, with all those who did not Vote for boarding the French Man of War." [Johnson, erroneously attributed in this volume to Defoe, p. 139) Now when I first saw the word 'branding,' I didn't think it meant an actual brand, but just an interesting way of noting that he was called a coward. But then they talk about 'Marks of Infamy.' So did the pirates actually brand him? Or did they do something else to indicate infamy? Any thoughts?

Aye. Running around with two patches might lead to...well...two eye patches. And lots of bruises! Just for that I'm going to do it!

I sure didn't take your comments that way. You did mention a desire to go MP after all... (Come to the dark side! Imagine how differently you can behave when you're covered with skulls and eyepatches and hooks! Well, maybe only one eyepatch. Unless you're Chrispy the blind guy.)

To be honest, if it were otherwise, I'd probably stop going. I like striving for PC, but when you get all serious the thing becomes a job and it sucks much of the fun out of the event for me. There are plenty of other 'serious' events to fill the dance card of those who desire such and I already have a job. Yeah, but I can't go in there. (I heard Diosa has been known to bite people's ears off when they make her angry. (Well, that's what I heard.)) All kidding aside, you've actually hit the nail on the head for me. I don't want to have to watch my stuff. In fact, I predict I won't watch my stuff. My real, honest-to-John problem is that if I think someone will steal it, I will worry about it. I'll try to remember to lock it up or whatever, but I'll forget and then I'll be standing in downtown Key West or arrive in my condo at 3am and think, "Oh, crap! I left my stuff out!" Then I'll sit there and worry about it because I'm really quite anal about such things. Since that also sucks the fun out of an event, I'd rather just not have to deal with it. Plus there's all the other stuff I mentioned.

Say, I've never heard of that rule vis-a-vis garb. Who made it? (You'll have a fine time explaining this to the Bone Islanders. ) Imagine it, though. You can wear skulls on everything. (I do so love skulls - it's what first drew me to piracy when I was a lad.) You can tie a big fancy pirate sash around your waist. Not to mention the already mentioned bucket boots. And you can wear black with impunity! (I'm a winter. That apparently means I look good in black. Plus it's slimming according to Vague magazine.)

I am not entirely sure I'm going to bring it this year. It's expensive to ship, a lot of work to break out and the interest seems only to be middling. Plus there have been some slightly alarming posts about damaging my belongings that concern me just a trifle. I almost feel like I need an insurance policy on my hard to procure period or period-like stuff. (I'm still pondering that one. We shall see what we shall see.)