Everything Reminds Me of Cantr!
Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2005 6:16 am
I can’t believe how many things make me think about Cantr during my real life so I thought I would give a few examples and, hopefully, other people will share some of theirs.
A few weeks ago I was watching a show on PBS (Public Service TV) about a guy in the 1950s or thereabouts who went out into the wilderness alone and built a cabin from scratch. He took a camera and recorded all the details. I couldn’t help but think about the cottages my chars build as I learned about the tools and techniques he used to cut logs, fit them together, shape them into boards, fashion door frames, hinges and furniture out of wood, etc. Then he made a fireplace out of stone!
Just recently I was in a museum and saw a thick rope-like thing made from a kagillion tiny red bird feathers which was used in the South Pacific (I can’t remember how long ago) as a form of currency to trade for very valuable things like livestock and wives. Nearby I saw a 6 inch disc made out of tortoiseshell that was also used as currency. Of course, I thought about the debates in the coin press thread about how and why and when people might decide they need a form of currency and what resources they might use for it.
I also saw a necklace made from tortoiseshell that looked exactly like lace. It seems you can cut it into detailed, intricate patterns if you heat it up first. A couple of my chars love making things out of tortoiseshell and now they want necklaces like this.
Last (and best), yesterday I got to go on a tour of a ship which is an exact replica of the first ship to sail around the world! It was one of Magellan’s fleet of four ships and the only one which completed the voyage. It was soooo tiny…only 75 feet long and carried 40 to 50! sailors who all slept on the open deck because the hold was full of supplies. Only 18 of the 240 sailors (and at least one rich, paying tourist) who started the voyage in 1519 arrived back in Spain in 1522. Quite a few of them starved to death.
Here’s a picture of the ship, the Nao Victoria, in the Panama Canal (nao is a class of ship). http://www.canalmuseum.com/photos/panamacanalphoto051.htm I totally pictured some of the Cantr ships looking exactly like this. I don’t have any chars who are out exploring the Cantr high seas but I enjoy hearing the stories of the ones who have (and are) and I’m glad there are new and amazing things out there for them to find eventually. It was fun to get a little glimpse of what life was like for the real life sailors who were daring enough to sail into the unknown and, also, to pretend for a few minutes that I was on a Cantr vessel.
A few weeks ago I was watching a show on PBS (Public Service TV) about a guy in the 1950s or thereabouts who went out into the wilderness alone and built a cabin from scratch. He took a camera and recorded all the details. I couldn’t help but think about the cottages my chars build as I learned about the tools and techniques he used to cut logs, fit them together, shape them into boards, fashion door frames, hinges and furniture out of wood, etc. Then he made a fireplace out of stone!
Just recently I was in a museum and saw a thick rope-like thing made from a kagillion tiny red bird feathers which was used in the South Pacific (I can’t remember how long ago) as a form of currency to trade for very valuable things like livestock and wives. Nearby I saw a 6 inch disc made out of tortoiseshell that was also used as currency. Of course, I thought about the debates in the coin press thread about how and why and when people might decide they need a form of currency and what resources they might use for it.
I also saw a necklace made from tortoiseshell that looked exactly like lace. It seems you can cut it into detailed, intricate patterns if you heat it up first. A couple of my chars love making things out of tortoiseshell and now they want necklaces like this.
Last (and best), yesterday I got to go on a tour of a ship which is an exact replica of the first ship to sail around the world! It was one of Magellan’s fleet of four ships and the only one which completed the voyage. It was soooo tiny…only 75 feet long and carried 40 to 50! sailors who all slept on the open deck because the hold was full of supplies. Only 18 of the 240 sailors (and at least one rich, paying tourist) who started the voyage in 1519 arrived back in Spain in 1522. Quite a few of them starved to death.
Here’s a picture of the ship, the Nao Victoria, in the Panama Canal (nao is a class of ship). http://www.canalmuseum.com/photos/panamacanalphoto051.htm I totally pictured some of the Cantr ships looking exactly like this. I don’t have any chars who are out exploring the Cantr high seas but I enjoy hearing the stories of the ones who have (and are) and I’m glad there are new and amazing things out there for them to find eventually. It was fun to get a little glimpse of what life was like for the real life sailors who were daring enough to sail into the unknown and, also, to pretend for a few minutes that I was on a Cantr vessel.
For instance, when I saw the name "Alyssa Milano" on TV the other day, I thought at first, "No, it should be 'Alyssa Bellino.'" 
(can you say hopeless addict)*
and the older my charries get...and the more active some of them are becoming...the harder it is to turn off the computer... to bad minutes are not like rabbits!!