Charter had an all-day appointment. Someone was supposed to be here between 8-5.

It is currently 4:53.

Blender, toaster, toaster oven, flour- packed.

Not true. The charter they sailed under was a working model for anarchist styled democracies. Pirate utopias are pretty fascinating, actually. Recruitment was not that uncommon. And it was far better to be a pirate than a member of the British Navy. While there were certainly pirates who were sadistic killers, it wasn't the norm and wasn't considered good for business. I'd expect you found as many sadists among Her Majesty's navy where the slightest infractions could get you scourged or keelhauled.

Yeah, I'm aware of the histories of Pirate utopias. Being on the crew of a pirate ship was undoubtedly better than being on the crew of a naval ship. But that did not change that as far as the people they stole from, pirates were stone killers. They were "utopian" even democratic among theselves. But if your ship was taken by pirates, your odds of dying or being enslaved were pretty good. A typical merchantment taken had 24 to 50 crewman. The odds oa pirate ship having 24 to 50 openings were pretty bad. Sometimes they'd leave the ship adrift, stripped of everything valuable and any sails that would let the location of the attack be reported in a hurry. But that was only if the odds of anyone finding the the people left on the ship was poor, at least anytime soon, meaning that it was still probably a death sentence. If there were good odds of the ship being found soon, then some other solution had to be found, because if the survivors of a a pirate attack were found too soon after the attack, that increased the odds of someone tracking the pirates. All the non-fiction attempts to romanticize pirates focus on their internal governance, and what they did with the loot. It kind of glosses over the actual piracy, cause there was nothing romantic about that.

And no, nothing romanitc about Navies, Privateers, and other criminal conspiracies that took place under cover of law. Doesn't make pirates anything less than brutal.

I think your definition of "romance" is insufficient if it doesn't include free, law-flouting, dangerous rogues. That is romantic. Both in the capital "R" Byronic sense, and the small "r" romance.

I have a copy of that book referred to in that Wikipedia article (yep, Grandpa's in it). Murat Reis was a well-respected citizen of one of said pirate utopias, Salee, but he also raided Baltimore, Ireland, and hauled off everyone he could get his hands on to the slave markets of Tangier. And if he got his hands on a Spanish ship, it was meat.

YUtopiaMV

Some dude on a train asked me to send a text for him. I was dubious, but I did. Because I watch too many procedurals, I'm now wondering how bad it would look if this dude were involved in a crime of some kind, and I leave town the next day.

It's possible that I'm wondering these things because I just ate a cupcake on an empty stomach and I'm experiencing a sugar rush.

I just watched some serial killer show while eating dinner, and was really glad I finished before watching Bones.

Sara, just be careful not to pack too much, too soon.

Pirate utopias are pretty fascinating, actually. Recruitment was not that uncommon.

"So...you can plunder, and you can swab, but what we really need is a fifth man for our basketball team. Can you guard a forward with a pegleg?"

managed to impale my finger with a splinter of fiberglass. Felt the prick, looked at my hand, saw two splinters sticking out on either side of the middle of my pinky. "Oh!" Still doesn't hurt as bad as all the little stabs from rose thorns. Or the arthritis.

I've got a ways to go before I can't find crucial shit. I'm not to the point of living out of a suitcase yet. Haven't touched the bathroom or clothes yet. And all I need in the kitchen now is a plate, some forks, a knife, spoon, a cup and mug, teapot, coffee cone, big salad bowl and catfood dishes.