Mission

And a period bone saw. (Well, that's what I want.)

May the schwartz be with you. (If Rick Moranis had legs like that he'd have had a whole different career...) I am being myself. I'll be sitting on a friend's porch like I do every year drinking wine and counting the number of kids in cool costumes. I celebrate Halloween vicariously through my various props. this year's prop is probably sitting in Fort Taylor in Key West, celebrating the holiday at Fantasy Fest this year for me. I don't have a pic of the whole thing assembled yet; I am waiting for Harry at the fort to take one and get it to me. So be sure and scroll to the bottom of the page to see what the final pirate corpse looks like. http://www.markck.com/images/Piracy/Gibbet...ed%20Pirate.htm

Thanks for the compliments! Arguably talented, perhaps, but sadly insane. I won't even tell you how much that thing cost to make. (Actually, I have refused to figure it out.) I'd always wanted one since I saw a full-sized latex costume at the Halloween Show in Chicago in 1997. (If I remember the price rightly, it would have been a bargain...) Still, it's nice to see a dream come true. I do so love designing and creating weird things.

Not necessarily true - they had onions, moldy cheeses, butter, oil, oatmeal and sack-crete - er, ship's biscuit as well. A lot of the food at sea seems to have been a sort of stew made from the salt-beef and the other stuff that was available. However, when encamped, they ate whatever fresh foods they could get their hands on. They bartered with locals for beeves (I love that word), goats, sheep, they caught fish and ate fresh fruit and vegetables of all sorts. They gathered coco-nuts, breadfruit, bananoes and all manner of foodstuff that grew locally. This saved many sailors from scurvy, but also created all sorts of dysentery issues.

Ah, this and the fleam have been lost for months and I just found them in a box that was sitting in my dining room! (Well, where would you have put them? Probably somewhere more readily apparent then that...this is why they were lost.) So these items will be making their way to PiP for their debut in the pirate re-enacting world. Now, what should I use to hook it up? The holes in the plates are so small I suspect I will have to use black thread...

I am a big fan of search functions on forums as I sometimes use them to type in things I want to use later or copy into my notes. But have you ever had the problem where you search a forum and you come up with a thread with dozens of pages of replies? The forum (so far) doesn't take you directly to the page where the search term came up. However, I stumbled across something that may be helpful just now. If you are inside of a particular thread, you can search that thread only and the search function will produce all the posts that contain the word you want. So rather than clicking through dozens of the pages, all you have to do is select the thread containing the term and do a second search within that thread. It kinda' sucks because you have to do two searches, but it saves a lot of work on subjects like the two "Random Topics" threads in the Beyond Pyracy forum.

Here's a nice gruesome Halloween-ey one from Wiseman. Wade into this one only if you're strong of stomach and/or lacking in imagination: "At the Siege of Taunton [1645] one of Colonel John Arundell's men, in storming the Works, was shot in the Face by Case-shot. He fell down, and in the Retreat was carried off among the dead, and laid into an empty house by the way until the next day: when in the morning early, the Colonel marching by that house heard a knocking within against the Door. Some of the Officers desiring to know what it was, lookt in, and saw this man standing by the Door without Eye, Face, Nose, or Mouth. The Col. sent to me (my Quarters being nearest) to dress the man. I went, but was somewhat troubled where to begin. The Door consisted of two Hatches; the uppermost was open, and the man stood leaning upon the other part of the Door which was shut. His Face, with his Eyes, Nose, Mouth, and forepart of the Jaws, with the Chin, was hung down by his throat, and the other part pasnt [? passed?] into it. I saw the Brain working [coming] out underneath the lacerated Scalp on both sides between his Ears and Brows. I could not see any advantage he could have by my Dressing. To have cut away the lacerated Parts here had been to expose the Brain to Air. [Note: Wiseman believed exposing the brain to air caused putrefaction of it which he felt eventually lead to death.] But I helpt him to clear his Throat, where was remaining the Root of his Tongue. He seemed to approve of my Endeavours, and implored my help by the Signs he made with his Hands. I askt him if he would drink, making a sign by the holding up a Finger. He presently did the like, and immediately after held up both his Hands, expressing his Thirst. A souldier, fetcht some Milk, and brought a little wooden Dish to pour some of it down his Throat: but part of it running on both sides, he reacht out his Hands to take the Dish. They gave it him full of Milk. He held the Root of his Tongue down with the one Hand, and with the other poured it down his Throat, (carrying his Head backward,) and so got down more than a quart. After that I bound his Wounds up. The dead were removed from thence [the house - which was full of bodies] to their Graves, and fresh Straw was fetcht for him to lie upon, with an old Blanket to cover him. It was in the Summer. There we left that deplorable creature to lodge, and while we continued there, which was about 6 or 7 days, he was drest by some of the Chirurgeons with a Fomentation made of Vulnerary [Wound healing] Plants, with a little Brandy-wine in it, and with Stupes of Tow [hot, wet hemp, flax or jute] dipt in our common Digestive [something promoting the formation of pus in wounds - often turpentine]. So we bound him up." (Wiseman, p. 402-3)

The federal government's financial overseeing role definitely should to be taken out of the equation. (We can thank Jimmy Carter for that ingenious extra layer of bureaucracy that allowed the "No Child Left Behind" thing to even be possible. Trouble is, if a politician suggests getting rid of this layer, they are accused of being "against education" by the opponents.) Government control of previously locally controlled entities rarely adds much positive influence from what I've seen. They always say they're doing it for the overall good or to make the process more uniform and "fair", yet it rarely works and always costs more. Kind of like the discussion on who gets road money in the Gas thread. Or the splendid bloated, yet soon-to-be almost insolvent Social InSecurity program? Can anyone else extrapolate the outcome of nationalized health care based on these real life examples of our fine national government at work? I'd like to see the funding returned to the local level. Giving the government control of anything is too open to abuse - if not now, in the future as the education problem reveals. Boy, am I on a soap box, or what?

Go ahead, Jones. Blow it up. That was one hot costume. Plus the little kids would see you and they would fling themselves at you like a guided missile. Unfortunately, their very hard, bony heads are at just the wrong level - so you have to keep your big mitten-covered hands in front of you to avoid potentially painful collisions. "Never willingly dress in a Baby Bop costume," is my motto. So when do I get my Ripper 'Roo costume, Patrick? It has to be articulated like the movie characters.

I'll have you know that I have been Baby Bop in public - and that's apparently a girl character - so I'll be more than happy to be a Ripper 'Roo.

Yeah, she's not exactly movie quality, but not bad for a home effort: http://www.markck.com/images/props/PROPS_raptor.htm She's in the back yard because...what the hell do you do with a 12' long fiberglassed velociraptor after the haunted house closes?

This one's for those of you out there with an attention span longer than a half-dozen typical internet users put together, but I thought it was a nice, detailed account of a skull fracture case from Richard Wiseman's Of Wounds, of Gun-Shot Wounds, of Fractures and Luxations. It is actually one long freaking paragraph, so in deference to the reader, I am artificially inserting some breaks to make it slightly more readable: "A young Fellow, a Mason by Trade, being at work with others making a Stack of Chimneys three Stories high, the Foundation of the house sunk under him. He was taken up speechless; but being presently let blood by a Noble Lady's advice, he recovered his Senses, and was removed to his Lodging. The Part contused and swelled as was the right Temporal Muscle, and that side of his Head. He vomited often, and shrewd [showed] Symptoms of a Fracture. I caused the Hair to be shaved off, and made an Incision in the upper part of the Tumour, from his Ear forward, above two inches in length, passing as near the Temporal Muscle as I durst; and having at the same time divided the Pericranium [the dense fibrous membrane covering the surface of the skull], I thrust it off from the Bone; then with a Sponge prest out of Red wine wiped away the blood, and saw a Fissure running the whole length of the Wound. I also espied another Fissure stretching from this downwards towards the external Canthus of the Eye [the place where the upper and lower eyelids meet - in this case at the outside corner of the eye]; and the lower I pressed with my Finger; the more rough the Bone felt. I was unwilling to cut the Temporal Muscle; but there seeming to me a necessity of it, I drew my Knife downward, and laid open the Wound in the forum of a Roman T. but the lower Lips [of the wound], being musculous, wound not so turn back to bare the fractured Bone as I designed; therefore I contented my self with what I had done, and filled up the Wound with Dossils [plugs] of Lint, embrocating [moistening] the Parts about with ol. ros. cum album, ovi. [oil of roses with egg white], and applying empl[aster] é Boli [a sort of bandage with oil, litharge [lead-oxide] and bole, or argillaceous [clay-containing] earth] over it, with Compress and Bandage, then laid him to rest with an Anodyne draught [pain alleviating drink]. The next morning I found the Patient in a Fever. He had rested ill, and had vomited often, and complained of much pain in that lower Jaw. I took off the Bandage and Emplaster, and drest the Lips of the Wound with a Digestive ex terebinth, &c [turpentine - used as an antiseptic and to create the formation of pus in wounds] upon Pledgits [compresses of lint] dipt in ol. hyperici [st. John's wort] hot, embrocating the Parts about with ol. cham. & ros. [oil of roses and probably chamomile] and applied a Cataplasm ex far. hord. flor. ros. rub. balaust. &c. [Geez... this is a plaster containing a bunch of stuff - including extracts from roses, flower of the pomegranate, barley and I don't know what else] as you may find it described in the method of Cure. Then we let him blood in that Jugular, and advised a Clyster [For fun, look that one up on your own]: a Ptisan [nourishing decoction, originally Barley Water] and contemporary Juleps [a sweet drink - a spoonful of sugar and all that] were also made him. Having afterwards considered of the necessity of making more way to the depressed Bone, and the danger which might happen by cutting off more of this Muscle, I resolved to consult Doctour Walter Needham [physician and anatomist - physicians were theorists and gave direction to surgeons]; to which purpose I sent to him, and he accordingly met me the next day. We found the Patient restless, and accompanied with an increase of all the forementioned ill Symptoms. We took off Dressings, and discerned the upper Lips of the wound digested [inclined to the release pus], but the lower more dry and swelled, especially upon the lower part of the Temporal Muscle, upon the pressure wereof a white Matter discharged from within, between the Cranium and musculous Flesh, where we judged the Depression of the Bone to be. there was a necessity of cutting off part of the Temporal Muscle, and that in the form of a Semicircle: wherefore we marked it with Ink from the upper part, so passing within an inch or more of the external Canthus of the Eye, and carrying it toward the Ear, to take off that Lip which was lying over the Depressure. This being so marked, we cut it off. There was an effusion of blood out of both ends of the Arteries: but having Dossils [plugs of lint, remember?] ready dipt in the Royal Stiptick [French medicine, used to stop bleeding], we applied them; and having filled up the bared Cranium with our Dressings, we bound up the Wound. From this time his Jaw was so weak, that we were forced to muffle it up with Chin-cloaths." (Wiseman, p. 398-9) I'm going to interject something here that I learned from reading Wiseman, which I find really interesting. During this time, there were two sorts of devices in use for making holes in the skull. One is the trepan (or brace trepan) and the other is the trephine (or hand trepan). See the pic below for a comparison: Before reading this book, I had thought that the trephine was a different spelling of trepan. One thing you learn when reading period books is that the spelling of a word sometimes seems almost random. After going through several books written by surgeons, however, I have found that their spelling is much better than most period books and it often quite consistent. So I should have suspected something was up. The above photo is from the copy of the Wiseman book which I am reading -although neither picture is from Wiseman's original book; they are both from Woodall's book The Surgeon's Mate. In the Wiseman book I own, they are in the introduction written by the excellent modern naval surgeon John Kirkup. Kirkup also wrote a book on the history of surgical instruments called The Evolution of Surgical Instruments; An Illustrated History from Ancient Time to the Twentieth Century which was published in 2006. I very highly recommend it if the topic interests you. Anyhow, Kirkup notes the difference between the trepan (which Wiseman seems to prefer) and the trephine or hand trepan. In fact, there is a point in the book where Wiseman describes himself showing both instruments to the friends and family of a patient and asking them which instrument they think would be better for the operation. They choose the trepan. And that is that - end of digression. Onto the trepanning. "At our next dressing we set on a Trepan: after which with a Levator we raised up the depressed Bone, and dropt into that Wound a Solution of resina en mel. ros. [resin of honey and roses]. We then drest the trepann'd hole with ol. ros. [rose oil] upon a soft Dossil; applied Digestives [probably turpentine, used to cause wound supperation - pus to form] over the Lips of the Wound. At the second Dressing Doctour Walt. Needham was present, and saw the Dura mater [the tough and inflexible outermost of the three layers of the membranes enveloping the nervous system] under the trepann'd Bone incarned [covered with granulation tissue, which happens before scar tissue forms] so well, that from that time we only applied a little round Dossil to keep the Flesh from thrusting out of it. But from the Fracture below much purulent [pus-containing] Matter came away daily: we supposed it was the more increased, by reason of the hollowness which it had made between the Muscles and fractured Bone, which being depending, did yet retain its Cavity, notwithstanding our endeavours by Compress and Bandage. Therefore to prevent the enlarging of that Cavity, we applied a Caustick on the outside, and the next day divided it; from which time the Matter discharged it self that way, and thereby the internal Cavity was disposed to cure. The Fissure that stretched it self from his Ear towards his Brow did lie so undiscovered, that we neither saw beginning nor ending of it; nor did we care: that part of it which we saw served to discharge the Serum sufficiently. I rasped the Cranium and covered it with Dossils dipt in spir. vini. [rectified spirit distilled from wine] &c. keeping them close to the Lips of the Wound; and by timely rubbing the aforesaid Lips and every Superexcrescense with the Vitriol-stone [a hard, crystalline mixture of ferric sulfate and aluminum sulfate], I kept the Cranium dry, and disposed it to exfoliate [cast off dead flesh or bone]. After the discharge of Matter ceased from within the Cranium, I left the Exfoliation and Incarning of it to my Servants, visiting the Patient but seldome my self. His Wound was cicatrized [covered with scar tissue] in less than two months" as indeed they all usually are, if they be treated as they ought. But if they fall into such ignorant and obstinate hands, who suffer the Cranium to be overgrown with loose Flesh, a great discharge of Matter will follow, and the Cranium must of necessity corrupt, and consequently the Cure must be prolonged." (Wiseman, p. 399) Post script: Thank God I stumbled across this book on Google Books about 2/3 of the way through typing this. It was very helpful in trying to discern the abbreviated Latin medicines.

Oh, no. Now the mental link is forged; you have to do it! (I cannot picture this. Then again, I cannot picture you in a kilt.)

I own the series - it's what I was referring to. However, I could not find the statue and we were on the Canadian side. I asked locals and they had never even heard of Wonderfalls or an Indian girl in a canoe statue. I watched some of the episodes with the VO on after that post and they said the statue was portable - in fact, I think they said there was one stored at Niagra where location shots were done and one in Toronto where most of the show was actually filmed. So I stand on my (lack of) discovery and say it doesn't exist. At least not as a real statue in Niagra Falls, that is. Else I would have gotten a pic of me with it. (I'd be interested to find out where the two statues are, though. If it wasn't too expensive, I'd put on of 'em in my back yard. Right next to my velociraptor prop.)

Well, our language is such that it changes with common usage. From Freedictionary.com (my personal favorite on-line dictionary): decimate 1. To destroy or kill a large part of (a group). 2. Usage Problem a. To inflict great destruction or damage on: The fawns decimated my rose bushes. b. To reduce markedly in amount: a profligate heir who decimated his trust fund. They go on to explain, "Usage Note: Decimate originally referred to the killing of every tenth person, a punishment used in the Roman army for mutinous legions. Today this meaning is commonly extended to include the killing of any large proportion of a group. Sixty-six percent of the Usage Panel accepts this extension in the sentence The Jewish population of Germany was decimated by the war, even though it is common knowledge that the number of Jews killed was much greater than a tenth of the original population. However, when the meaning is further extended to include large-scale destruction other than killing, as in The supply of fresh produce was decimated by the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, only 26 percent of the Panel accepts the usage." So, for better or for worse, there is room for interpretation. (I don't know who 'the usage panel' is, but I'll bet they meet at midnight wearing black robes in a large chamber with lots of shadows and overhead spots focused on the members.) There are far more intense examples of word usage being modified (and even being used in a way completely opposite of their original meaning) in the English language. The usage panel is probably patrolling the streets with semi-automatic weapons looking for the people who started using "bad" to mean good. Michael Jackson is to be hung by his thumbs if they catch him. (Which actually makes some sense on general principle.) And pronunciation...well, wotcha gonna do? Besides, cavalry is pronounced "eff-troop." "I dunno why everybody says you're so dumb, Agarn." (Several scenes later.) "Who says I'm dumb?!"

I wonder what the point of Hang On Sloopy is? I mean, you know? And is Sloopy the girl's real name? Did she get made fun of in school because of that name?

Yes, the teacher has massive impact on a student's performance. For a absolutely fascinating study related to this, see the Rosenthal study - a quick overview of it is on wiki under the Pygmalian Effect.

I'll bet you do you have answers. I find in Brainstorming sessions I have overseen that the people who think they have no good ideas often have some of the best ones. I'm also glad your teacher friends aren't happy with the education system. They're in the best position to change it. Has anyone else seen the movie "Stand And Deliver"? It's an excellent movie based on fact showing what one teacher can do. It's well worth your time. (And Edward James Olmos is just cool in any acting role.) Plus it's an interesting example of what students are capable of with or without parental support. (Don't underestimate desire. It's the key to learning in any situation.)

The gibbet won't actually hold people - or even the 25 lb skeleton for that matter. It's plastic and held together with 1/4-20 screws and the instructions explicitly state that all weight must be suspended by the turnbuckle that holds the top of the cage together. It's actually too bad because I sent it down to the Bone Island Buccaneers for their Halloween event and Harry wanted to put Spike in it.

FYI, I moved the OT comments about education to the Beyond forum. Sorry for any confusion. You can find it here.

Note: this is split out of a topic that was in PiP and Silkie's fist post is a response to a post by Harry in 2008 Festival Schedule, which said (in part): And I apologize to those who find the word 'whining' to be offensive. It was ill considered and I would have changed it to 'complaining' had I thought about it more.

This is exactly how I think education should be structured - at a certain point. The problem with education is systemic (as many people readily admit - you occasionally hear how the school season is patterned to provide optimal access of children to the family during harvest season, as a small example of this.) To create a better education system, I think we need -in part- to start from scratch. Note that, as I jokingly explained in my first post, my opinion is colored by my experience in school. I am sure that it has changed from talking with high schoolers who are in my college classes (high school kids can now take college classes for credit - which is actually sort of cool). Still, my involvement directly in the system is from long ago. I neither have nor want kids, so I don't have a dog in the race, either. So caveat emptor. The No Child Left Behind and resulting test seem to me to be a natural extension of the current system design. To measure education, you have to see how well the students are learning and the way we do that is with tests. So, as a logical extension, to measure the education system, you have a giant test. Most tests have good and bad points, but in general, I see: Some Good Test Points ▪ Easy to administer ▪ Standardized ▪ Efficient ▪ Promote Material Absorption (Temporarily at least) Some Bad Test Points ▪ Create Stress That Can Lead to Poor Test Performance (ironically enough) ▪ Often Fail to Test Comprehension ▪ Do Not Engender Desire ▪ Punish Failure` Some of the bad points require more explanation. ▪The comment about comprehension relates particularly to multiple guess, fill in the blank, short answer and similar tests. Although even essay questions frequently focus on remembering points rather than comprehension from my experience. We've all had the experience of learning something, never to remember it again. Exceptions here are simple task-focused tests such as those in math, reading and writing tests. (There are probably others as well.) ▪ I believe desire to learn something is the real key to true learning. A test creates a black/white "Do you know this fact?" sort of situation. You might reasonably argue that the test is not the place for creating desire for or interest in a subject. ▪ Failure is a key learning situation according to many successful people. Tests teach that failure is a bad thing, while it is actually one of the best motivator for learning. A test says "you need to know this material to get past this point" and if you don't, you get an 'X' on the paper and you've done poorly, but we move on to other material. These points do not take the efforts of good teachers into account, of course. (I'll bet your favorite teacher was the one who gave you the most incentive to learn and made the subject interesting. Mine were, although your mileage may vary.) Plus, as I mentioned, some subjects lend themselves well to this sort of testing - usually basic skills tests with objective answers. My basic concept (and it's just a theoretical framework) is that we should teach and focus on basic skills in the way we best know how for the first _x_ years of a student's educational career. Developmental psychology has learned a great deal about comprehension of children at different age levels (although it varies from person to person, on average there are patterns.) The mind of a child is much more pliable and literal than that of an adult and certain skills - reading/writing/languages/math and so on - seem to be most easily learned when the mind is still forming. Anyone who is going to function effectively in the world we have created needs as much of these basic skills as they can absorb. The current educational system is basically well suited for this sort of learning as far as we know. I suspect technology can play a key role in this process, although there is much to be said for the human touch. Note that I don't think a lot of non-basic skills are crucial until the key basic ones are learned. (Which I'm sure a lot of people would argue with.) History, for example, while being a subject many of us love because we find it interesting is also so open to such bias in interpretation that I'm sort of amazed we consider it to be important thing to teach at the outset of a child's life. (Feel free to disagree with me on that.) Once basic skills are learned and the mind is more formed, I think the current system becomes less effective. This is where we need to start from scratch. To begin, you have to ask yourself, "What one thing are we trying to achieve through education?" Such a loaded question... My answer is that we are preparing people to be successful (not to mention effective) in the world. How can we do that? I think this ties in directly to another post - If You Could Only Have One Job. Most people don't know the answer to that. So they spend years trying to (often passively) figure it out. Yet, many of the most successful people are successful because they are focused in a particular direction (note that by 'successful', I don't necessarily mean 'rich' - not everyone defines success that way, nor should they). I think the education system, once it teaches basic skills, should help people to figure out where they would be happiest contributing to the society we have designed. Note that I am not saying we administer some test and tell people "According to the magic test, you'll make a good mechanic/engineer/nurse/dog catcher/criminal-politician" or whatever. Baloney. Skills alone do not a career make - thinking this way means you're replicating the Test fallacy I outlined above. Plus you factor the most important ingredient to a successful career out of the equation - passion. I think people need the freedom to explore careers -real careers, not the theoretical versions we get in classrooms- so that they can discover what they enjoy and excel at personally. Then they need to get the hands on and, if necessary, theoretical skills required to go ahead in that particular career. Does this mean that will actually be their career for life? Possibly, but not necessarily. Last I heard, the average kid today is projected to have 10 or 11 'careers' in their lifetime. Colleges still exist to expand skill sets (although many of them could use some jolts of reality-based experiences as well.) Still, the increasing number of average careers may be because people need change in their life...or it may be because they don't have a good handle on what they enjoy doing. Helping them early could make a whole lot of people happier and the country more productive. Disagree? Your thoughts welcomed.

I've created a topic in the Beyond Pyracy Forum (where this mutant topic actually belongs) for all those who want to propose solutions to the education problem. (With the thought that whining about a problem never solves it.) So what say we take all the educational improvement ideas and concerns to the proper forum?

Hmmm who says we need keep that fake skeleton in the gibbet cage? Mission, died from an overdose of leeches... I don't think that leeches were... oh, bother. Never mind