LongTom

I have a standing bet with some friends, that I can make a musical instrument out of anything at the restaurant table. Haven't lost yet, but we have been kicked out once or twice.

Frantically backing sail and fending off with boathooks, the two ships shuddered to a creaking halt, their bows passing mere inches apart, like two dowagers, secretly nursing a private feud, but publicly air kissing.

I use two 36" x 60" folding tables (the plastic topped ones from "Lifetime Products" that you can buy at Costco), that I set side-by-side and cover with a two yard piece of 55" wide blue marine vinyl for the play mat. That should be plenty of ocean for even the biggest game. I like to run the movement phase with dry-erase or wet-erase markers on the vinyl surface. It lets you measure accurately from point to point, and if things get bumped, no big deal, just put them back on their marks after you are through plotting the course.

"Seen us! 'Ee's seen us!" shouted one of the men, standing suddenly and pointing emphatically in my direction, whereupon the other diggers dropped their picks and erupted from the hole like large, angry, hairy, ugly, drunken ants, spouting oaths.

to misquote: "I see dead pixels."

I pretty much stopped collecting with Revolution; Barbary Coast and South China Seas just didn't appeal. (eh, what can I say?) This variant, however, tickles my funny bone. I'll have to pick up a few. I'm sure my cabin boy will go nuts over the sea monsters: http://www.wizkidsgames.com/pirates/articl...e.asp?cid=40734

Sanctuary is never to be violated, on pain of excommunication.

Fame is fleeting, but honor lives forever.

Lot o' weevils in that flour barrel, Mr. Cook.

I think I'll just stay eight years old, thank you very much. Unfortunately, I've turned eight five times over, so far...

Here be the rest of the list: Pickup lines from TalkLikeAPirate.com

Sand flew from the excavation in an increasing cadence as the object within was gradually unearthed, while the captain stood off and muttered, "What cursed blighter's gone and pre-empted my hole?"

... you sleep?

I claim that the meaning of "shiver" in "shiver me timbers" is not the more modern meaning "to vibrate" but the more archaic meaning "to break" or "to smash to slivers (also called shivers)." Using this sense, "shiver me timbers" would refer to breaking parts of the ship, always a considerable calamity: perhaps masts or spars from bad weather or accident, or any part being smashed by a cannonball. The flying "shivers" produced by said cannonball could also be the source of the term "Blyme" [blind me]. Not that I know of any etymological or historical authority to back up such a claim, but personally I have a bias towards the older meanings when they are available. Mainly it just feels a little less improbable -- and well, less cutesy...sorry -- than the idea of the ship vibrating when bouncing off a rock (?!?) or thrumming in a strong wind, as the folks at talklikeapirate.com would have it. (And of course this doesn't even begin to address whether real seamen ever used the phrase, but I figure if you are going to have a good story around it, you may as well have the more plausible good story.) Hmm. That makes me wonder whether the term "shiv" (an improvised knife) comes from the same meaning of "shiver" as "fragment"...?

There's another list on www.talklikeapirate.com. My favorite from that list is: "Well, blow me down?"

We remodeled our kitchen a few years ago. There was a period of about 4 months, spanning when the kitchen was completely torn out and when it was just newly finished, where, well, something was going on. I would be in the kitchen looking over some detail or other, I would turn around or look back over my shoulder, and I'd startle and reflex duck, so as to avoid bumping into someone directly behind me. By the time I'd completed the maneuver, there was nobody there, of course. But I had the strongest impression from my eyes (can't actually call it "seeing" him, as it was way too quick) of it being a man, a little taller than me, late 60's in age, dressed in shades of black -- and a distinct impression of him being curious and a bit confused ("what's happened to my kitchen?") Trick of the light? Who knows? The house was built in 1936, but there is no history that I'm aware of that would indicate a classic haunting. This happened on about 4 or 5 different occasions. I have had a similar experience once or twice in other parts of the house: glancing through a doorway while passing by it and getting a glimpse of a silhouette. Nobody there when I looked for real, and no indication from the lighting conditions of anything in the room that would have composed a shadow that looked like that. Most likely it was me being accustomed to the old patterns of light in the space, and having reflexive reactions to the changed lighting. We are creatures of our nervous systems, and they do get programmed by habit. Ever do something like change a doorknob, then spend several weeks accidentally slamming the door, because the new latch works so much more smoothly than the old one? Still, just the littlest ... tiniest bit ... creepy.

Trailed 'em, I did, through jungle and fen and piney barren, never letting them catch wind of me, 'til at last the captain bellowed, "Drop 'er there, lads, this be the spot. Now, each of ye, get a shovel."

Plunder the contents of the hold, before she goes down!

Way to go, Mr. Navigator, next time try using the map.

Let's see if the bbcode that Photobucket provides works in a message... ... ??? Guess it's not a problem with the image....

Thanks for the suggestions. Here's the particularly weird part: I have a small jpg uploaded to Photobucket for use as an avatar. The URL to that image works fine as my avatar. The very same URL fails when used as Personal Image. To me, that sounds like a problem on the Pyracy.com end of the transaction. I'm going to try a few more experiments.

Every once in a while I will have some random real-life experience where right in the middle of it, I suddenly become aware of a strong memory of having dreamed this very scene several years previous. Sort of deja-vu, except that I don't feel like I've actually had the experience before; the feeling is very clearly of having been asleep and dreamed the experience before.

I've been having a problem getting Change Personal Photo to accept the url from Photobucket (the avatar worked fine, though). The error is: "Sorry, you are not permitted to use that image as a personal photo as the extension isn't on the permitted list." Huh? It's a .jpg file. It's 27K and 200 x 195, so it's under the size limitation. What's more, the .jpg that works for my avatar fails when used for personal photo with the error above. Thanks in advance for any help.

"Captain Scarlet... and the Mysterons!!! (dumdum dum dumdumdumDUMMMM!)" Remember that one? In a nutshell, marionettry with GI Joes?

Anyone played Master & Commander by these folks? http://www.frontporchclassics.com/_adventu.../masterbook.php Looks sort of like a variant on Dread Pirate (at least in terms of the physical game bits) but with wind and damage rules instead of collecting treasure. They have a pdf of the rule book available at the above page.