I have just found a website linking here called mahalo.com. It is just a page of links, but if you would like to read some reviews and piece it is an interesting site to look at.

I did not think my links / square buttons were really obvious.
I hope you now agree they are, as they now have a link border on two sides.

For those ultra observant members of our crew, you may have noticed a little shifting of the text. I went back to college and learnt a little about HTML and CSS. So I have used a bit of it, to move codes usually found in my HTML to the CSS. Rapid Weaver which I use has shifted quite a bit up already, but I am now a little more confident to change more than just the colours.

Beer is good for your health, when drinking water may not be as safe as it could be. In the days of the cholera and plague epidemics, it was noted that beer-drinkers did not fall ill. Monasteries through out the ages have been recorded producing beer for the local townspeople. They were urged to drink beer instead of water owing to the poor water quality and this gave rise to a thriving brewing industry. Brewing of beer involves boiling the water first, which kills the germs and if the equipment is not sterilised, it is obvious as, the fermenting beer goes off.

Even children drank beer out of fear of contracting cholera and typhus and sailors drank strong beer as it could be kept for months on the sea. But as safe supplies of water developed, so did a taste for higher-alcohol beers, rather than the thirst-quenching, low-alcohol variety. Traditionally the third mash or small beer was served to servants, field workers, the poor, even the young. The first runnings from a brewer's mash (xxx) would go to a stronger beer, the second (xx) for ordinary beer. A small beer (x), taken from a third running, was probably about 2.5% alcohol by volume. Monasteries, in particular, produced large quantities of small beer in the Middle Ages.

I love the attitude of the Canadian version of Amazon. We are waiting for word on book 4 and they list:
"Vampirates 6 by Justin Somper (Paperback - April 1 2012)". I am think the date is wonderful.

Our crew is growing, as a thank you, I have been bidding on ebay and won a postcard of Lorcan Furey and a signed copy of Blood Captain and Dead Deep. So competition time, with three prizes this time. First prize a signed Blood Captain, second prize a signed Dead Deep and third prize a postcard of Lorcan Furey.

As before I am willing to put one entry into the tankard, per crew member, per page you have contributed on.

Entries are only valid if I have a way of contacting you back, by a valid email address (or if agreed in the past via The Nocturn message centre). The page excluded from this, is the frappr map on the where page, as this is an external map shown on the Tempest Twins pages, which I have little control over. For the crew page, if you have written about your character (ie it is in quote marks) it will be included as a contribution. For the blog, you are welcome to send in contributions, I will post any I believe are relevant, any sent since the beginning of the year will be included as a contribution.

Closing date is the 7th March so you should get the book by Easter, where ever in the world you are. I will email you if you are the winner asking for your name and address.

If you are under sixteen please get a parents or guardians permission before sending anything in to any website, especially pictures.

I learnt a little HTML on Saturday and now the Where page with the Frappr map is centred. I hope you like it. It is found at http://www.frappr.com/tempesttwins but not centred on the page.

For those crew members who have been around a while, you may remember the Frappr map. Well I am making a fresh attempt at it. I hope you like like it and it works better this time. It is found on the left under where and at http://www.frappr.com/tempesttwins

I had the joke following joke on the front page:
What do you get if you cross a vampire and a snowman?
Frost Bite.
Did you hear of any good pirate or vampire cracker jokes over Christmas?

I don't know how many of you are familiar with Mythbusters on the Discovery channel, but they collect myths and then work out how accurate they are. I saw part of the Pirate Special where they tested:
"Pirates wore eyepatches to preserve night vision in one eye.
PLAUSIBLE
This myth works under the assumption that the eye covered with the eyepatch is already accustomed to low light conditions, while the other eye must take time to accustom. The Mythbusters were sent into a dark room with light-accustomed eyes and were told to complete certain objectives. Their movements were hampered by the darkness and it took them five minutes to finish. When they went into a rearranged but equally dark room with an eye that was covered for thirty minutes, the Mythbusters were able to complete the test in a fraction of the time. As a control test, the Mythbusters then went back into the same exact room with light-accustomed eyes and ran into the same difficulty as the first test. The myth was deemed plausible because there is no recorded historical precedent for this myth."

Message From Notorious Black Bart's Daughter
Just to say a very happy new year to all the buddy vampirates crew!!!!

Pirate Captains had a strict code of conduct called articles.
Below is a list of articles I have found.

• Penalty for desertion
• Fair share of the treasure and punishments for pirates that cheated
• Gambling was banned
• No lights at night
• No boys or women allowed on board - Shall we ignore this one
• Each pirate takes responsibility for maintaining his weapons
• Equal voting rights
• No fighting between pirates on board the ship
• Compensation according to the severity of wounds
• Shares of the treasure
• Musicians available to play when required

Happy New Year to the Vampirate Fans around the World.
So far we have had hits from: Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand (Aotearoa), Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Tonga, Tuvalu (Polynesian Island), Ukraine, United Kingdom and of course the United States (Commercial, Educational and at home). Thank you for reading our pages and contributing.