I missed International Talk Like a Pirate Day. And I’m really sad about that. The DH will tell you it is for the better, because he has heard me try to talk like a pirate.

Despite not honoring their special day, I am actually fascinated by pirates. Who isn’t after Mr. Depp brought his special touch to the genre. (I read somewhere that the Chinese government was not pleased with the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie and actually cut some scenes out because they thought that Chow Yun-Fat played up Chinese stereotypes that they would rather the world forget about. No clue where I read this, though.)

Pirates are on my mind because I’ve been reading National Geographic online again. This month they are featuring an article on the modern pirates of the straits of Malacca, the narrow shipping channel between Malaysia and Indonesia where millions of dollars worth of cargo travels each day. Great reading.

I’m infinitely tickled at saying “Malacca” ever since I visited the city last year and later found out malaka is a nasty word in Greek.