researching 17th century piracy tonight. came across this:
One popular pastime amongst pirates was the mock trial. Each man played a part be it jailer, lawyer, judge, juror, or hangman. This sham court arrested, tried, convicted, and “carried out” the sentence to the amusement of all. (x)
how widespread could this have really been? how would it have gotten passed from ship to ship? can you imagine a pirate crew at a tavern, bragging to another pirate crew about how good they are at playing pretend? why was their go-to game “legal system”? were they performing incisive satire? is this some sort of pirates-only inside joke that’s been lost to the ages?
update: the mock-charge in the mock-trial was piracy
they used to pretend to try each other for piracy
as a stress relief
ok but it’s got to have been a lot of fun to be the pirate defense lawyer, for the pirate accused of piracy, to attempt to argue to the pirate judge, in front of a jury of pirate peers, that your client could not possibly be a pirate
this is the group bonding activity i never knew i needed
‘“You know,” Harry’s voice said quietly from beside him where his arms leaned on the railing next to Draco’s, “one of the things that Muggles get really wrong, is that they don’t turn all their lights out at night. Not even for one hour every month, not even for fifteen minutes once a year. The photons scatter in the atmosphere and wash out all but the brightest stars, and the night sky doesn’t look the same at all, not unless you go far away from any cities. Once you’ve looked up at the sky over Hogwarts, it’s hard to imagine living in a Muggle city, where you wouldn’t be able to see the stars. You certainly wouldn’t want to spend your whole life in Muggle cities, once you’d seen the night sky over Hogwarts.”‘
excuse me but fuck you
Tags:
#Brin reads HPMOR #Brin is touchy about stars #I think this is a stronger version of the reaction I had a couple dozen chapters ago #when he casually claimed that human emotions were universal among humans #I know *very* well that just because you’re running on human wetware *doesn’t* necessarily mean you’ve got the full suite of human emotions #very well indeed #oh look an original post #things that make me uncomfortably aware of my apparent inability to feel awe
Oh, crud. I just had an idea where this is going. You’re going to start a holy war, take one of the boats and go to Europe, and apply for asylum on the basis of there being a holy war in [your country].
Ilzolende, when I suggested I might be charismatic enough to start a holy war. For the record, neither of us endorse holy wars.
Tags:
#anything that makes me laugh this much deserves a reblog
“I will only ask that you think twice and ponder three times again, the next time someone tells you to distrust me.”
…because that’s not suspicious at all. Especially from someone who proceeds to more or less state outright that he knows he’s in a fantasy novel, inhabiting the role of mentor.
Tags:
#Brin reads HPMOR #mostly unspoiled #a while back I was thinking about The Boy Who Cried Wolf #the supposed moral is that lying is bad #the friendly neighbourhood Cardassian thinks the moral is that one should never tell the same lie twice #but it seemed to me that the moral is that a reputation for honesty is important #not *being* honest mind you #having a *reputation* for honesty #tell enough truths for a long enough time and people will believe the first lie you tell #save up social currency so you can spend it at the right moment #sounds to me like Dumbledore’s making a deposit #(I guess I’ll find out) #oh look an original post
#five points to anyone who correctly guessed I was referring to Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres #(I wouldn’t be *too* surprised if someone actually *did* guess) #last night I was upset and looking for a good distraction #and it occurred to me that I would like to be a person who has read HPMOR #so I can understand better when people talk about it #(Worm will have to wait) #and I’ll probably enjoy the process of becoming such a person because I enjoyed other stories in the genre #and stories of that genre *are* very distracting #distracting enough that summer break is probably the best opportunity I’ll get to read such a long one #so basically there’s no time like the present #except not really because fifteen minutes before bedtime is a *terrible* time to start reading a book you expect to be page-turny #so I waited until morning #ftr I mentally composed this post halfway through Chapter 14 and wrote it up and posted it after finishing the chapter #I tagged the other post involving HPMOR #I still don’t have a rationalist tag #which is a weird thing to use as a category tag but maybe I will go back and add a proper one later #I’ll also throw in #Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality #tag rambles #oh look an original post
Be in a relationship with someone who motivates you to do better, to be better, who wants to see you succeed, who doesn’t bring you down. Don’t waste your time on someone who isn’t going to make a positive impact on your future.
Be in a relationship with someone who frightens you with the insignificance of human existence to trembling; who is apathetic to anthropomorphic concerns, whose banner carves the skies and aeon’s with horror. Be with someone who fills your with the most ancient and strongest emotion: primal fear. Be in a relationship and remember the ultimate mercy–the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. Fall madly in love and be unable to ever look back. Date an Elder God.
Be in a relationship with someone who helps you do the impossible. Who can stare into the abyss, look on the incomprehensible billions upon billions of years and light years saying that extinction is neither desirable nor not but simply inevitable and answer No. I—we—are humans, and we’re not going anywhere. Who can clasp your hand as the sky is rent with the banner of the god and the earth shatters around you and say ten bucks says that thing loses. Somehow. even as you say I’ve got a plan.
Make a positive impact on everyone’s future: date someone who can turn aside an Elder God like a mouse can an elephant. Date me.
the US trans survey is now available! It is the followup to the single most-cited survey about trans people, and it looks like it’s going to present even better data about trans people and transphobia.
If you are transgender, a crossdresser, nonbinary, or a person who has detransitioned, please take the survey.
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