{"id":2202,"date":"2023-09-22T01:01:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T01:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/?p=2202"},"modified":"2023-08-19T13:36:46","modified_gmt":"2023-08-19T13:36:46","slug":"chap-12-we-all-meet-pirate-jack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/?p=2202","title":{"rendered":"Chap. 12 – We All Meet Pirate Jack"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chapter 12<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all Meet Pirate Jack<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     On Sunday, Susie said good bye to us all \u2013 especially Huck \u2013 and went back home to Montana with Eloise and her volunteers.  Max was now officially back on the bus.  On Monday, we had a fine send-off from our RV friends.  The proprietress told us to come back after L.A. saying, \u201cSkip the east coast for sure \u2013 all those parks out there are lousy.\u201d  A good number of the park\u2019s denizens waved good-bye as we pulled out; several saying they would follow our adventures on our newly created blog, \u201cFollow the Rumpkins!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     As we headed out on Hwy. 101, Sally suggested we stop in Palo Alto even though it was only a few miles down the road.  \u201cWhy?\u201d  We asked, \u201cIt\u2019s not on the list.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cWell, this Pirate Jack \u2013 his name for himself – is a big-time venture capital owner having made a lot of money with a Silicon Valley start-up.  His thing with the Pirates is they have this \u2018hacker ethic\u2019 – everything on the internet should be free, transparent and available to all.  I think this guy fits in with the Portland crowd you ran into, this rump organizing<\/em> we seem<\/em> to find ourselves doing<\/em>,\u201d spoken ominously – and then cautiously she continued, \u201cand yes, well . . .  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \u2026  ummm \u2026 errrr.  yah, Jack and I ended up doing some kissing \u2013 so come on let\u2019s stop!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cSure!\u201d we all said, Patty having told most of us what this fishing trip was really about for Sally.  It was unanimous for a Palo Alto detour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Skip added that he had been back in touch with Jesse up in Portland about Jesse\u2019s idea for doing \u201crump organizing\u201d on the internet, and mentioned, \u201cSally has even re-designed our blog, after talking with Pirate Jack about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Pirate Jack met us at his \u201coffice\u201d \u2013 the patio deck in front of the Hewlett-Packard building.  A dashing man, slim, short, probably in his mid-50s, he was more dapper than \u201cpirate.\u201d  But with black hair combed back, thick eyebrows and a broad mustache \u2013 but for a hook, you had a dashing pirate.  Another sunny 70-degree, early October day, just a few stray clouds.  We all pulled up chairs to a large round table and Jack came out with a thermos of coffee.  \u201cGreat to see you all again so soon, that hoot was really fun,\u201d he said, giving Sally a big smile.  \u201cSally, your friends are on to something.  It\u2019s like what I\u2019ve been helping the Pirate Party set up, a quasi-legislative body or debate society, inviting the whole world to participate.  Am I right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cWell not the whole world, or at least not yet,\u201d Skip responded.  \u201cBut yes, the basic idea is to say this is what we would do if we<\/em> were in charge<\/em>, create some excitement, and get a whole lot of people participating.  Can we really have meetings on line orderly enough to get something done?  What if eventually we have hundreds of people trying to message all at once?  You know I love your slogan, Jack \u2013 \u2018harnessing the spirit of imagination.\u2019  Are you willing to help make this work?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Jack said he didn\u2019t have all the answers but we could experiment breaking into smaller groups \u2013 still on line \u2013 and figure out a way to elect representatives from the smaller groups to a higher up tier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cNow you\u2019re talking!\u201d Rocky exclaims sarcastically.  \u201cI can\u2019t wait to cast a hundred votes under a hundred different aliases. This idea will never work.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cNo, give this a chance,\u201d Sally said un-skeptically.  \u201cThese guys really think we can set up a whole legislative apparatus, have elections, and vote ideas up or down, on line using computers, without ever having to meet in person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Rocky retorted, \u201cThere\u2019s no way I\u2019ll trust that system.  I like the centuries-old Rump-way gathering at a tavern, having a beer or two, and looking each other in the eye.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cWell, who cares,\u201d Sally was back with, \u201cit could be fun trying, and Jack, I know already \u2013 from staying up with you until sunrise the other night \u2013 how passionate you are about using technology to broaden democracy, to achieve public participation on an unprecedented scale.  How you dare to imagine a Pirate, or somebody Pirate-like, actually running for President capturing the imaginations of the Zoomers, plus . . .  plus, I just like the idea of you being part of . . . of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Whereupon, Jack invited Sally upstairs to see his \u201cother office\u201d and suggested a pub down the road for the rest of us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Closing the office door, showing her the view from his fifth-floor window, they started kissing.  She gently pushed him onto the couch.  Embracing with their clothes on, they both got a good feel for what could happen next.  \u201cThey\u2019re going to be missing you,\u201d Jack whispered in her ear.  \u201cLet them,\u201d Sally whispered back.  \u201cI want another lingering kiss.  Next time promise me we won\u2019t have to race through such a sweet place.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Meanwhile, at the pub we were directed to, Rocky \u2013 doing his mid-morning \u201cwhat is fun thing,\u201d \u2013 ordered everybody in the bar \u201cFlaming Tennis Shoes,\u201d a concoction where schnapps (using the bottom side of a spoon) is floated \u2013 gently \u2013 over brandy, and when lit with a match, only the schnapps flames up, so you can toss the brandy straight down while the flames go straight up.  Patty was video-graphing for our blog and caught the guy who yelped trying to sip<\/em> the drink rather than tossing it straight down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter 12 We all Meet Pirate Jack      On Sunday, Susie said good bye to us all \u2013 especially Huck \u2013 and went back home to Montana with Eloise and her volunteers.  Max was now officially back on the bus.  … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2202"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2595,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202\/revisions\/2595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}