2005 Marks a Decade of The ShanMonster Page

[shanmonster]

Yup. I've been writing for my webpage on a mostly daily basis for ten years now. Yikes.

I've been doing a bit of half-arsed genealogical research and discovered this little snippet from March 17, 1894:

"The Sea Serpent Again". The steamship ("Umfali" ?) Messrs. BULLARD, KING, & Co.'s new steamer, had a strange experience during the voyage out. When the vessel was about 300 miles North of Cape Verde, lat. 23 deg. N., long. ... deg. W., and about half-past .... in the afternoon, the chief officer (Mr. C.A. POWELL) who was in charge of the bridge, espied a strange looking monster swimming through the waves. The object was about 300 yards away from the ship, and presented the appearance of a huge serpent, with slimy skin, and several pairs of short fins, about 20 ft. apart. In circumference it measured about the same dimension as a full-sized whale, and about 80 ft. of its body could be seen above water. Mr. Powell immediately sang out to several of the passengers, who were on the afterdeck at the time, and each had a good look at the monster. Aided by his glasses, the chief officer distinctly saw the serpent's mouth open and shut. The jaw appeared about 7ft. long, and was armed with large teeth, the gums being of a whitish colour. The serpent had the appearance of a huge conger eel, both in shape and colour, the skin underneath being white. A few minutes after it had been sighted, Captain CRINGLE happened to come on the bridge and immediately caught sight of the monster. It was then well on the port quarter and the Captain had the ship's course altered, so as to follow it up. At the same moment the serpent headed directly towards the vessel until quite close up, and then altered its course, and was soon lost in the distance. Owing to the fading light and the uncertainty of being able to overtake the object, Captain CRINGLE abandoned the idea of giving chase. As the serpent turned in the water a further large portion of its length was seen, moving with an undulating motion, and it is computed that the entire length could not have been less than 150 feet. It will doubtless be remembered that a few months ago a creature answering the above description was passed in the very same latitude by a Liverpool ship bound for the West Coast of Africa. -- The Natl Advertiser. (from Twillingate Sun 1894)

I'm mildly excited one of my ancestors saw a sea monster. Wouldn't you be?

In other old news, the Comtesse DeSpair sent me this bit of historical trivia:

Preservation by pickling was occasionally used as an embalming method. During alterations to Danbury church in England in 1779 the village doctor came across the grave of Sir Gerard de Braybroke who died in 1422. The elm coffin and inner lead shell were opened to reveal a tolerably preserved corpse lying in an aromatic fluid which the doctor proclaimed, after tasting, resembled Spanish olives in mushroom ketchup.

Information culled from: Death: A History of Man's Obsessions and Fears by Robert Wilkins

My New Year's party was a success. I figure there were about twenty people here over the course of the evening including martial artists, dancers, geeks, freaks, goths, and combinations thereof. We played three games of Twister, and I am the undefeated champion. Go me! Somewhere out there is photographic evidence of the Kama Sutra-like positions we entangled ourselves in. I think André has them. I'll try to score copies.

We also played Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit in teams of four, and my team came in last, partially due to my own monumental screw-up on a Bill Clinton question. Oops. I learned that Andrew has an astonishing knowledge of pop culture. cynebeah, you have a rival in your demesne.

People trickled away in the wee hours, but Guylaine, f00, Sophie, Brennan, Siobhan, Justin, and I were still going strong until 6:00 AM. The last few hours were spent doing bizarre combinations of martial arts/yoga/dance/acrobatics in my livingroom. I think there may be photos of that, too.

Can you believe my apartment is neat and tidy? Yes, I cleaned everything. My clothes, books, and craft junk are all put away in a most orderly fashion. Floorspace and counterspace abounds, even in my bedroom (those who know me well can now remove their jaws from the floor). I am a cleaning machine.

Yesterday was much lower key. The bee-killing cramps of doom held me in their grip, and I spent the day wincingly playing Cities and Knights of Catan with superbrad, f00dave, and bloobert. Afterwards, we watched Firefly.

I feel much more human today, so maybe I'll get to the gym for a much-needed workout. But first, here are a few links to assuage the net addicts:

Briton Surfs Tsunami, Survives: It's like something out of Larry Niven's imagination.

And speaking of that tsunami, The Canadian government, until January 11th, will match any donation to major relief operations working from Canada. I believe this works only for Canadian donors (thanks, William Gibson).

Archaeological Dig Uncovers Ancient Race of Skeleton People: Bwahahaha (thanks, f00)!

Is This Real?: Most decidedly not, I should say. It's also most decidedly not safe for work.

An Apology: To the Girl in the Parking Garage: The accidental stalker says he's sorry.

Mushing Poodles in the Iditarod: Poodles make good sled dogs (I grew up mushing collies, instead).

Scared of Santa: The pictures say it all.

Comments

[f00dave.livejournal.com]

That's the best part!

[opts.livejournal.com]

I'm glad your ancestor was the person that saw the sea serpent and not the one that tasted the embalming fluid.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I think either would have been pretty awesome.