Archive for the ‘Musings’ Category

Talk Like A Pirate Day

Monday, September 19th, 2011

***ARRR*…..thar be Pirates about!!!!!**

Today, September 19^th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. And, who better to blog than I … PBS’ very own pirate … TinkerPirate!

My fascination with pirates started when I was but a small child growing up in a small town just about smack dab in the middle of Illinois. For a child surrounded by fields of corn, soybeans, and wheat, the possibility of an encounter with the denizens of Davy Jones’ locker was pretty much slim to none. But, the Fates had other ideas.

It was bowling and beer that led to this unlikely encounter. Family friends owned the town bowling alley and the local Budweiser distributor had a free hand when it came to giving out tickets for Cardinal games. At least once a year, those tickets came my Dad’s way and the whole family would hop into the old green station wagon and drive the 90 miles south to St. Louis for a game. For some reason, it always seemed to be a Cardinal vs Pirates game. And, for reasons still unknown, I always rooted for the Pirates. OK, admittedly, these were not “real” pirates, but the seed was still planted.

The attraction to pirates was nurtured through my childhood by a love of old movies. Seriously, who could resist Errol Flynn stabbing the main sail with his dagger and then riding the sail down from the crow’s nest to the fighting below on the deck in “Captain Blood”. And, then there was the classic of “Abbot and Costello Meet Captain Kidd”. And, what about Bob Hope in “The Princess and the Pirate” or Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance” (Come on, everybody sing “For I am a Pirate King! And it is, it is a glorious thing to be a Pirate King!”)?

I hit a slump as I made my way through nursing school and then joined the masses as they slogged through Monday-Friday work and household chores Saturday-Sunday. But, all that changed in 2006, when my inner pirate got rejuvenated by Johnny Depp agreeing to bring Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride to life! It was also the year my daughter badgered me into joining PBS. And, the second swap I tried was aboard the S.S. Stupidity! Pirates AND silliness!!!! I was HOME!!!! I had found my PEOPLE!!!!

OK, so this brings us to today’s holiday. Why have an International Talk Like a Pirate Day? I say “Why not?” Or as it is stated on the TLAPD official website “The best explanation came from a guy at a Cleveland radio station who interviewed us on the 2002 Talk Like a Pirate Day. He told us we were going to be buried by people asking for interviews because it was a ‘whimsical alternative’ to all the serious things that were making the news so depressing.” Unfortunately, that is just as true today as it was 9 years ago.

So, clear your throat, take a deep breath, and practice some piratey words with me:

Arrr! – This is essentially the pirate equivalent of surfer-speak “dude”. It can mean pretty much anything you want it to mean.

Bilge Rat – Think ex-husband/ex-wife, used car salesman, or politician.

Grog – Just what you think … alcohol … but primarily rum.

Keelhaul – A rather unpleasant trip under the hull of the ship usually used on bilge rats because they so obviously deserve it.

But, before I release you to practice your new found pirate-linguistics on your unsuspecting friends and coworkers … and, perhaps, a bilge rat or two, may I offer a little insight into pirates?

Why YES, TinkerPirate! Please grant us some of your wisdom!

Well, if you insist……

Pirates were not all burly men. Despite being of the “fairer sex”, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and Grace O’Malley were fearsome pirates. For example, Bonny, Read, and an unknown male pirate were the only pirates on board the Revenge to defend their ship when it was attacked by a British Naval vessel. The rest of the pirates were drunk below decks. When cowardly louts refused to come up to fight like men, Read shot several of them through the hatch; thus saving the British several yards of hanging rope. Grace O’Malley was known to commanded 3 galley ships and over 200 men. In her spare time, she was also the chieftain of the Ó Máille clan in Ireland.

Not all pirates were lawless men who owed allegiance to no country. The difference between a “pirate” and a “privateer” was in the eye of the beholder … or more accurately which side of the boarding you were on. If you were the person with the “letter of marque” by a government and you were doing the boarding, you were a privateer with a legal right to board, plunder, and scuttle merchant ships of the government’s enemies. If you were the boardee, they were pirates.

Pirates were surprisingly democratic with specific rules governing pirate life. Black Bart’s Pirate Code of Conduct went something like this:

One pirate, one vote – even the captain didn’t get a bigger say in who would be plundered next
Share and share a like – everyone got a fair turn at the booty
No gambling for money – obviously, this code was written before the advent of cruise ships and river casino boats
No lights at night – pirates needed their beauty rest
Keep your weapons clean –a dirty cutlass is a rusty cutlass
No boys or women on shipboard – well, I guess that must be why Bonny and Read dressed like men
Don’t even think about calling in sick during a battle – Read seemed to take that one personally
No fighting between pirates – save your energy for plundering
Early workers comp – lose an arm…..800 pieces of eight
Musicians available for entertainment – except Sunday….even for pirates!

If you would like to learn more about pirates (and you are lucky enough to live in Denver), go see Real Pirates at the Museum of Nature and Science! It is a truly wonderful exhibit chronicling the only pirate ship to ever be positively identified. You will discover who the pirates were, get to touch real pirate artifacts, and find out what it took to be a pirate.

Before I go, I have to leave you with a little information about some land-locked pirates I had the misfortune of encountering while living in Chicago. It’s a towing company that was immortalized in Steve Goodman’s song The Lincoln Park Pirates (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daDQLptd5TI&feature=related)

The Pyrates by George MacDonald Fraser

Fluffy: Scourge of the Sea by Teresa Bateman & Michael Chesworth

Expedition Whydah by Barry Clifford & Paul Perry

Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton

The Pirate Life by John “Chumbucket” Baur & Mark “Cap’n Slappy” Summers

AND AS A REWARD FOR MAKING IT ALL THE WAY THROUGH THIS BLOG…

I have an autographed copy of The Pirate Life that I will give to a lucky PBS members who comments here on the Blog. A winner will be chosen at random. The winner will be announced on September 27th. Good luck!

Tags: Book Suggestions, Members
Posted in Holidays and Special Dates, Musings | 26 Comments »

Ruminations on Reading

Friday, September 16th, 2011

Ruminations on Reading

by Cyn C. (Cyn-Sama)

Like most people on the PaperBackSwap, I have always been a voracious reader. Books have always been an escape for me. A way to hide from the world.

There are some authors that I gobble up like junk food. Mercedes Lackey, J.R. Ward, and Lisa Kleypas are my top guilty pleasures. Some people may complain about clunky plotlines or implausible characters, but, I don’t care. I love them. I can read them over and over again. Reading these authors is like watching my favorite movie. They are warm and comforting; mac and cheese for my frazzled brain.

Then, there are times when my brain craves the beauty and the word mastery of authors like Henry Rollins, Poppy Z. Brite, Neil Gaiman and Juliet Marillier.

Aside from my beloved Hank, you may notice that these authors lean ever so slightly into the world of pure imagination and fantasy.

I remember the first time I read Daughter of the Forest by Marillier. The book is a retelling of the legend of a girl with seven brothers who were turned into swans. Part of what she has to do to break the curse that was set upon her brothers is not speak until the other tasks set out for her are completed.

Each time I read this book, I start to feel like I’m unable to speak. The spell of the book has sucked me in so completely that I am transfigured.

Poppy sets up a different tone for me. I discovered them during my formative teenage years, when I thought that there was something broken in my wiring. Something that made me as a female enjoy reading about two men in love. Reading Poppy helped me to realize that I wasn’t broken.

Gaiman is the master of modern mythology. I have always loved his concept that as long as a deity has believers, they will still exist and influence the world. Given that thought, we can also create new gods. Gods of propaganda and electronics.

Then, there’s my Hank. He is the writer I turn to when I want to find blunt and honest truth. Truth that I sometimes don’t want to see inside myself.

The joy of discovering new authors and new worlds to explore is only a part of why reading is such an escape for me. My favorite thing is still curling up with an old friend I have read a hundred times before.

Tags: Book Recommendations, Book Suggestions, Members
Posted in Musings | 6 Comments »

VostromoScope – Virgo

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

By Greg (VOSTROMO)

Ruling planet: Mercury
Birthstone: Sapphire
Element: Kevlar
Sign: “Be Prepared To Stop”

Virgo is in an interesting position in the Zodiac, coming immediately after Leo, the most forceful of astrological characters — it’s as if “The Biggest Loser” was sponsored by Hostess, maker of HoHos, DingDongs, and SnoBalls: you respect the dedication though the frustration seems impossible to endure. Just a glance at some famous Virgos — Cameron Diaz, Claudia Schiffer, Raquel Welch, Rachel Ward, Sophia Loren, Sean Connery, Keanu Reeves, Hugh Grant — reveals why even the Virgo birthstone is blue.

Virgo is generally considered a warm, welcoming, accommodating sign, which would sound like a bad joke if you didn’t know about Mother Teresa, who, let’s face it, did some decent things without once going into Victoria’s Secret. Indeed chief among the characteristics of Virgo is dedication to service and sacrifice (though I suspect more than a few minds were changed on the way down to the bottom of the volcano). Etymologically “virga” is associated with youth, freshness and inexperience — which is what makes Charlie Sheen’s September birthday so puzzling! — and those born under this sign are almost never found under anything else, at least until college.

Virgos are also held among the more logical and analytical members of the Zodiac, and often enjoy participating in groups gathered around a central idea — AV Club, for example — though they often take great care pondering the ins and outs of topics, the thrusts and counter-thrusts of angles of entry to subjects, before opening their positions to further probing. If you meet a Virgo who seems ready and willing to go head-to-head with you without at least some preliminary manipulation, he or she is probably no Virgo at all! Emotionally, though, Virgos tend to be somewhat private and often keep to themselves — some people go their whole lives without ever encountering one on a deep level.

Lastly, this sign has graciously lent itself to one of the great vaudeville jokes of the age:

Distraught girl: “I’ve lost my virginity!”
Man: “Do you still have the box it came in?”

This month’s Forecast: To avoid misunderstandings, speak only French on the 19th. Those aren’t raisins. Today is the first day of the rest of your week.

The Virgo Club by Suzanne Power

Virgo Implants by Carmen and Theodore Peregrim

John Virgo’s Snooker Trick Shots by John Virgo and Jim Davidson

How to Live with a Virgo a Survival Guide by Daniel T Darmdy

Women Set Free by Wendy Virgo

Demeter’s Dilemma by Lucinda Mitchell

Tags: VostromoScope
Posted in Holidays and Special Dates, Musings, VostromoScope | 3 Comments »

Musings, Memories and Miscellany from our MoM’s

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

Amanda S. (ABCatHome) was named our Member of the Month for July 2011.

Several years ago…September of 2005, to be exact…I finally became disgusted with the book choices from my local small-town library. I’d read most every book in the genres that I liked and then found out they would charge me money for each book I requested through inter-library loan. Knowing that would add up to be several dollars a month, I quickly began searching for a way to trade books with other book-lovers. After a quick search, PaperbackSwap came up in my results. I browsed the site for just a short time before I knew this was the site I wanted to be a part of. And thus began my addiction…

I honestly don’t remember the specific date that I became a Tour Guide, or when I was asked to be a Tour Guide Assistant Coordinator…I just know that I wanted to help this site grow and become the best book-swapping site that it could be, so every chance I had I stepped up. I also wanted to help other members navigate and learn how to use the site to its fullest potential for them. When the Team approached me about being the Book Bazaar Czar, I wanted to instantly say yes. But knowing that I was expecting our third child and how that would change my life, I wanted to be sure I could truly be committed to doing a good job. It didn’t take me long to realize I would make it work, no matter what. Being a part of PBS is one area of my life that has stayed constant…no matter what I do, I always have PBS because it joins two of my favorite things in life: books and helping people!

I love to read books…and have enjoyed reading for as long as I can remember. My goal is to instill in my children the love for books, reading, and writing that I have. They get SO excited when they know they’ve ordered a book from PBS and they see that package come through the door…they can’t wait to open it and start reading their new books. As a homeschooling family, we gain a great deal of our knowledge from reading.

My husband, Terry, says that he needs to build me my own library to house all the books I’ve accumulated through swaps and games here at PBS. I’ve gotten very creative with how (and where) to store my books that are waiting to be read. But beyond the books, PBS is an extended family. The Tour Guides have shown me such love and encouragement in the gifts and cards they sent me when my daughter was born. And when my daughter’s birth started a year-long health battle for me, the Tour Guides and members alike showed their concern and their love through cards, PMs, emails, and more. Through the swap games in the Games Forum I’ve found some great friendships, shared many laughs, and prayed with many members. So while I give back to PBS, the members here have given greatly to me as well.

My favorite set of books growing up was the Anne of Green Gables set by L.M. Montgomery. What a fabulous story of love and acceptance!!

As an adult, Francine Rivers has had a huge impact on me and my reading preferences. Her book, Redeeming Love, is a book all about forgiveness and love. I’ve read it 3 times now and pick it up to read at least once every couple of years. Truthfully, anything by Francine Rivers is a good read!

Other authors I love are Mary Connealy, Miralee Ferrell, Kim Vogel Sawyer, Lauraine Snelling, Debbie Macomber, and Charles Martin just to name a few. And while I truly enjoy Christian Fiction the most, I also read Contemporary Fiction and Chick Lit.

Right now, I’m working my way through the Sons of Encouragement series by Francine Rivers and Bringing up Boys by Dr James Dobson.

If you have any nominations for Member of the Month, submit them to us here. Your nomination will not “expire”–anyone you nominate will have a chance at getting Member of the Month if enough nominations accumulate over time. Each month the person who has the most votes accumulated when the Newsletter goes to press gets to be Member of the Month and gets a newsletter mention and a nifty MoM icon to wear on profile and forum posts with pride. So go for it! Tell us who’s helped you in the Forums, who’s been a great swapper, who in your opinion is a credit to PBS. We are keeping a list of all the nominated members. Who knows–one of them might be YOU!

Tags: Club Member of the Month, Members
Posted in Club Member of the Month, Memories and Miscellany from our MoM's, Musings | 3 Comments »

VostromoScope – Leo

Wednesday, August 10th, 2011

By Greg (VOSTROMO)

Ruling planet: Sol
Element: Fire
Symbol: looks like Marlo Thomas to me
Birthstone: Peridot

Of all the Zodiacal signs, Leo is the one people most often think they can identify. The Lion as a symbol of power, control and fearlessness is so common across global societies that people often unconsciously affix those traits onto Leos without any prior consideration. Famous Leos like Amelia Earhart, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hulk Hogan and Connie Chung would seem to offer support for the Leo-as-power interpretation of this hairy sign. But lions, real and symbolic, have other traits which must be accounted for and assigned where not, perhaps, immediately apparent.

A few examples:

(1) Lions are inactive for up to 20 hours per day — applying this trait as a filter, the lives of such notables as Percy Bysshe Shelley, Jerry Garcia and Mata Hari make more sense (ok maybe Mata Hari wasn’t technically “inactive” but she was certainly lying down).

(2) Full-grown lions weigh an average of 450lbs and may eat up to 75lbs of food at a single sitting. That’s right, Dom DeLuise, I’m looking at you.

(3) Males, despite their superior physical stature, rely on females for their food. Yves St. Laurent? John Derek? Claus von Bulow? Bill Clinton? ‘Nuff said.

(4) Lions in heat will couple up to 40 times per day. *sigh* OK, here we go: Mick Jagger, Magic Johnson (indeed!), Wilt Chamberlain, Herbert Hoover…

(5) Females raise their tails to send a “follow me” signal. I almost don’t want to go there, but — oh look, isn’t that Shelley Winters by — uh, making off with — the canapes? Where is she… is that DeLuise behind the…

(6) Males mark their territory to “stake their claim” to certain lands. Does the name Neil Armstrong ring a bell? TE Lawrence? Napoleon? Mussolini?

So treat Leos with the respectful reserve their intense gifts deserve, but also the circumspection their more hidden aspects require. Leos make excellent friends and life partners (and also great, really just flat-out terrific jewel thieves) but may not be the best diplomats, hostage negotiators, or mothers-in-law. They are sexy, dominant lovers, but you’d best have your own health insurance. And toothbrush. And bring extra napkins, or wipey things. Towelettes, that’s the name.

*****

This month’s forecast:

It sounds insane, but I predict that “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II” will dominate at the box office.

John Boehner will look as if his tie is too tight even though it’s really a clip-on.

Don’t order the pate on the 12th, they ran out, it’s Fancy Feast.

Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus

Welcome To Leo’s by Rochelle Alers, Donna Hill, Brenda Jackson, Francis Ray

The Bum’s Rush: A Leo Waterman Mystery by G.M. Ford

Lair of the Lion by Christine Feehan

The Lion’s Game by Nelson DeMille

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Bob Marley: Conquering Lion of Reggae by Stephen Davis

Tags: Book Suggestions, Members, VostromoScope
Posted in Holidays and Special Dates, Musings, VostromoScope | 9 Comments »

Book Lovers Day

Tuesday, August 9th, 2011

By James L. (JimiJam)

I have always been what we classify as “a Reader”. Surely, there was a time before which I had not yet gained the ability as such, and, of that time, I do have a number of memories. Once that most essential of skills was acquired, however, there was never again a time in which a passion for

photo by James L.

reading did not exist in my life. Even learning to read itself was something to which I took with an inordinate amount of dedication; I learned by way of a series of phonics tapes, and distinctly remember, upon completion of one cassette, begging for the next lesson.

I remember the joy of joining what could properly be considered my first “book club”, receiving a steady supply of “I Can Read” books, beginning with the first in that series, Danny and the Dinosaur. I remember coming home from kindergarten with my primer, running with it clutched to my chest, into my room, and reading it from cover to cover by the end of that very first day. I remember my first sparsely illustrated chapter book, Albert in Wonderland, read over the course of several evenings in the time before bed.

Looking back on those days in such clear retrospection, it amuses me to observe the one thing missing from those memories: a realization that my love for reading was anything even remotely out of the ordinary. Our school certainly made the practice seem normal enough, first through the Book It! reward program, then followed by Accelerated Reader’s points-based system, each requiring that we read a number of books each month. Naturally, it seemed to me that reading was simply the way one was meant to use one’s free time. It wasn’t until around the age of ten, by which time I had begun reading books like The Three Musketeers, that others took note of what was apparently an odder sort of habit than I had thought.

Kansas City Public Library

Kalocsa Episcopal Library

Even while I continued to earn puzzled glances throughout the remainder of grade school and junior high, it wasn’t until high school that I truly saw how uniquely integral reading had become for me. By that time it had become somewhat impressive to a select few, who themselves knew an intense love for reading. We would exchange titles or volumes which we had found particularly entertaining or educational, sharing ever-broadening horizons with each other. When moving from one classroom to the next, I may have absentmindedly left the occasional textbook behind, but rarely –if ever- did I fail to bring along whichever extra-curricular volume I happened to be reading at the time. I even had a deplorable tendency to eschew the required reading of my English classes for the sake of continuing my own literary selections. This behavior troubled my teachers, and certainly had a deleterious effect on my grades, but I never managed to regret such decisions.

Yet, for all of this, I never knew the bibliophilic existence until years later, well beyond the realm of class and hall. Though I continued to read with a voracious appetite all the while, I had scarcely three dozen books to my name during the years that followed my formal education. My love for reading, and indeed for books in general, was not fully realized until one fateful day, little more than 4 years ago, on which a friend inadvertently revolutionized my world by asking a rather simple question: “Have you heard about this PaperBackSwap thing?”…

As I now sit, surrounded by more books than I can reasonably count, having fatted my mind and spirit on the finest of literature, at times I find myself pausing and simply marveling, not only at the profound pleasure and fulfillment derived from this life-long obsession, but at the sheer logistics of having crafted a life that so revolves around books and their ocular consumption. There are moments in which I can but stand and stare, virtually aghast at the size and quality of the library I now possess. That there should be a day dedicated to Book Lovers is almost preposterous in my mind, as indeed every day in my world, as well as the world of the PaperBackSwap, is a day so dedicated. And yet I am thankful for the excuse to expound upon my experiences thus far, to share briefly in the spirit of that which has shaped not only my life, but the lives of each and every member here.

Whether we read casually or obsessively, for education or pleasure, collecting our books or setting them loose upon the world once the last page has been committed to mind, we are all, undoubtedly, book lovers. It is in light of this kinship that I find myself so often smiling – when my attention is not focused otherwise on the book of the moment, that is. I wish all of you a most splendid Book Lovers’ Day, and, as ever, the very happiest of swapping.

Some books about the love of books