Mission

You're confusing what's urgent with what's important. You're in the next Surgeon's Journal, BTW. So there. (It should be done this week - don't you hate posts like this. In a month it won't make any sense. Let me stick a rabbit thing in here so I'm not totally failing in my duties to this, my most important thread.)

Oh, I forgot one! 4) To investigate murders - see for example the TV show Psych.

See, I said you weren't paying attention. (Wait, I'm cross-posting again! Sorry! :lol: )

For me, it's pretty well explained here. (But it basically comes down to having fun.) There are actually several topics on why individual people re-enact around here, but let me take another tack. Philosophically, I'd say that most people re-enact for one of a couple of reasons (and it can be one or all of them): 1) To educate people. 2) To make money. Some try to get paid gigs. From what I've heard, this can be something of a fool's errand - you usually can't make enough to do more than defray your costs and you have to go to the events people are willing to pay you for and do what they tell you. Others start businesses supplying re-enactors, which appears to have more potential. Although from talking with folks who do this, it is again often done to help defray the cost of the third reason, which is what I suspect is the most prevalent one. 3) It's fun. Fun has lots of different disguises. For example, some enjoy the company of other fun-loving re-enactors. Others engage in the escapism thing you mentioned. Love of acting is another reason - some people are born extroverts and just have to be out there. [These people often re-enact many different periods, I've found] Still another is the 'immersion' thing, although true immersion is extraordinarily challenging (think personal vermin, dirt, and really hard work) and is ultimately subject to mental contamination by modern knowledge that makes it pretty well impossible. So even that really just boils down to fun IMO, albeit disguised as completism. [i've found that folks who do this are often competitive and/or revel in organization and control.] If you wanted to be a real pirate, you'd be off in the South China Sea or some such place wearing cutoffs and carrying an automatic weapon. That has little to do with re-enacting or the pyrates of olde.

And now for something completely the same... And, for those of you who weren't paying proper attention: And, for those of you who enjoy pop culture: And, for Duchess, who is almost surely not paying any attention:

One of these days I have to get to another left coast event...I was going to do it this year, but it's an expensive proposition.

I may regret having put that up... One of them is in development as I mentioned. It's about 2/3 done. The other three are just the next three events I am attending and planning to write journals for... What I want to do though, is get some serious content on that page soon. I have a cool idea for the Jacques Guillemeau book I have been reading.

Let's look at these paintings by Goya. Someone has thoughtfully identified and lightened the alleged smoker in La Cometa, as you can see here: It's pretty hard to tell what color the paper is if it is indeed a cigarette. It looks like a smoker, but the details are not very clear. I tried blowing it up: Here it looks like a light tan or possibly white coffin nail of some kind. However, it's pretty pixilated and that could just be the distorted effect of the lighting on it, too. It also appears to have smoke coming from it, which is promising. It's your best bet as far as proof from Goya suggests based on what I found with the other two paintings mentioned. Moving on to the guy(s) in El juego de la pelota a pala, we see this (I have enlarged it a lot and lightened it a bit): There is the man standing oddly on the rock and the guy in the background. Other than their positions, I can see but little proof that these are smokers. (There might be smoke coming from the guy in the foreground, but that might also be junk from blowing up and resizing the picture. You'd have to see the real painting to be sure.) The last one, La Merienda en el Manzanares, is here (again, blown up dramatically): This one holds more promise as proving a cigarette in that there is a space between the guy's hand and his mouth. Blowing it way the heck up makes whatever it is look black or dark gray or dark brown. Oddly, it appears to be pointing down, which I would think would burn him based on the way he's holding his hand. But it does look like a cigar at least. The other point of interest here is that the first painting is credited with having been done in 1777-8, the second in 1779 and the third in 1776. These are all 50+ years out of period. So I think we can safely dismiss Goya's paintings as proof that GAoP pirates might have smoked white paper-wrapped cigarettes.

I created a new web page for the Surgeon's Journals. You can check it out here: www.piratesurgeon.com I created new content and added a menu that makes it easier to navigate the Journals. Eventually I'm going to start adding content culled from the period surgical references I have, starting with medical tool drawings and descriptions. Stuff from Woodall, Scultetus and whoever else it occurs to me to add. (For the nonce, I am working on the Surgeon's Journal for the July Lockhouse. It should be completed next week.)

Good ol' Priceline. Staying at the Hyatt again for $50 a night. I've decided that I quite like that hotel - and now that I know where it is I won't have to spend hours hunting for it.

Ivan Henry said he was interested in doing a weapons demo. (I don't know if he's coming or not, but he seemed interested in returning.)

What do you think about recruiting people to do displays? After seeing everyone pitch in at Put-in-Bay, I was thinking about all those splendidly dressed folks hanging out on the tiered lawn and all their latent potential. (Not make it a required thing, you understand, just to give them an option - a suggestion, a hint. Everyone did such a fine job at P-i-B....)

I'm surprised she doesn't eat it. (Maybe it's because she can't smell it.)

I'll bet people bitched about the sight all all those unsightly sail-less masts sitting anchored in the harbor in the 18th century too. (If the 18th c. Short Title was content searchable, I'll just bet you would find something like that. People were just as opinionated back then as they are today. The difference is that pamphlets were written expressing their opinions since they had no internet.) It's all relative. I'll bet not more than 10% of the population would be concerned if you polled them on this. By definition, public policy caters to the majority - when it caters to the minority it is usually not very utilitarian and we wind up with laws that often have to be ignored or changed in the long run. We do not live in a snow globe. The world changes - as it must.

I with Ed. It's a just another flavor of the same old "It's impossible to be truly period" lolly pop. The world changes. (As for the nuclear thing, would it be a visual improvement to have a nuclear plant within sight of the fort wall? Although, like Ed, I think the cooling towers have a certain interesting shape that makes them appealing in a way. There's a giant (and I mean giant) windmill within sight of the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan that is startling gtacefull-looking in its way.)

A Coy Decoy "You...! And yer' education!"

I don't recall seeing it in the journals I've read, but then I wasn't really looking for it. Although it's not really the sort of word you would use in a journal - it's more something you would hear in speech (and thus in dialogue) or in poetry.

I'm reading Albucasis, who is actually a 10th c. Arabic physician who is cited by several of the period authors because his text was used in the education of surgeons. So you have to take this as a possibility for use at sea rather than evidence of something that was absolutely done. Caveats aside, I couldn't resist posting this. For all you migraine suffers, I present a solution. (Don't try this at home.) “CHAPTER THREE. On the extraction of the temporal arteries. When a man has a chronic migraine or acute catarrh, on account of acrid humidities and heat in the temporal muscles, or a violent chronic headache, or the like, and has been treated with various medical treatments without success, we have sometimes in these diseases tried extraction of arteries from the temples or cauterization of them, already described. The manner of extraction is for the patient to shave the temporal hair; then you press upon the artery appearing on the temple; for it will be manif3est to you by its pulsation, and is rarely invisible save in a few people or on account of severe cold. But if it not plain to you then let the patient bind his neck [footnote 1: read ‘head;] with the end of his garment; then do you rub the place with a piece of cloth or foment with hot water, till the artery is obvious to you; then take a scalpel shaped thus (fig. 42); then with it gently scrape away the skin till you come to the artery, then stick a hook in it and draw it upward till you extract it from the skin and free it all round with the membranes that are beneath it. But if the artery be think, twist it with the tip of the hook and cut out enough of it for the two ends to be well separated from another and __ __ contract so that no haemorrhage occurs; for if it is not divided and cut it will not let blood flow at all. Then let blood, from six to three ounces. … After extraction of the arteries the place must be packed with teased-out cotton wool, and on top of that must be put firm pads. And after loosening the ligature, dress with dry medicaments that encourage growth of flesh, and with bandages, until it heals. But if arterial bleeding hinders you in the course of your operation, hasten to stanch it either by cauterization or by filling the place with vitriol [footnote 2: probably the green vitriol, i.e., iron sulphate.], compressing it with your hand till the blood stays; or, if you have nothing of this kind by you, put your finger on it till the blood clots and rinse over the place till the flow dies down; then tie off as you should.” (Spink, M.S. and Lewis, G.L., Albucasis On Surgery and Instruments; A Definitive Edition of the Arabic Text with English Translation and Commentary, University of California Press, Berkley and Los Angeles, 1973, p. 178-80)

Thanks! Cuisto, I didn't expect to see you there either - being that you live so far away - so we're even. I am in the planning stages of a SJ for the July Lockhouse event. Fortunately Shay has a wonderful sense of humor (and remembers things better than I do.) Thus it's going to be something of a joint effort. Shay also has a much more natural ability to sit and chat with people and found out interesting things about them which I hope will add a bit of depth to my people profiles in this one. (So...heads up in about...oh, 3-4 weeks. It takes about a month to create a short SJ.)

For your perusal and distemper, I present The Surgeon's Journal for Put-in-Bay from June 25-27. Also, for those who can't get enough of this junk, I have created a FB page for the Surgeon's Journal. If you'd like to become a fan, check it out.

Actually, the Park Hotel is pretty reasonable for the island. It was completely booked up for the weekend we were there when I looked at it - I think you'd have to book way in advance to get a room there. Since our attendance at the event was so touch-and-go for awhile, that wouldn't have been possible. Now that we know we're going to be there next year, I may have a better shot at getting a room next year.

This is from Albucasis, who was an Arabic surgeon in the 12th century. His books were still in use during period as teaching guides, although more in France than England. Still, I have seen reference to the actual cautery in dentistry in books contemporary to period and they are probably based upon this work: “CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE On cauterization for toothache When the toothache arises on account of cold, or if there be a worm in the tooth, and medical treatment does not avail, then cauterization should be undertaken. There are two ways of doing this, one with butter, the other with the cautery. Cauterization with butter is done thus: take cow’s butter and let it boil in an iron ladle or pan; then take cotton or wool, wind it round the top of a probe, and dip it in the boiling butter and quickly apply it to the aching tooth and hold it there till cold. Repeat this a number of times till the power of the fire reaches the root of the tooth. If you prefer, dip wool or cotton in cold butter and put it on the aching tooth, then on top of that apply the hot iron until the heat of the fire reaches the root of the tooth. The actual cautery is administered thus: take a tube of bronze or iron with some thickness in the body o fit so that the intensity of the fire does not reach the patient’s mouth. Then heat a cautery whose figure will be given shortly, and apply it to the tooth itself and hold your hand until the cautery gets cold. Do this several times over; the pain will certainly depart the same day or next. After this cauterization the patient is to fill his mouth with good butter and keep it in for a while, then spit it out.” (Spink, M.S. and Lewis, G.L., editors, Albucasis On Surgery and Instruments; A Definitive Edition of the Arabic Text with English Translation and Commentary, University of California Press, Berkley and Los Angeles, 1973, p. 66)

Actually (being serious for a moment), the 'First Aid kit' would be the little brown leather thing in the lower left corner. That's the surgeon's pocket kit that he carried with him for emergencies. He would also most likely have a piece of cloth to use as a quick tourniquet. I only brought a few things because I wasn't sure how this was going to go down and I expected to have to carry everything with me on my back when biking. If I could get a reasonably priced place to stay next year, I'd probably make a weekend of it. I missed out on some good stuff on Friday and Saturday night.