IT'S GOOD TO BE A PIRATEBY DOUGLAS KOSAREK A.K.A CAPTAIN KRAVHN MOREGROG
lt's GOOD to be a Pirate...even under continued quarantine. You will have noticed that both the May Issue last month and this June Issue have a YELLOW BANNER at die top of the cover page...signifying our Quarantine Editions. The plain yellow signal flag "Quebec" also called the "YellowJack” is a simple yellow flag that was historically used to signal quarantine (it Stands for Q), but in modern use indicates the opposite, as a signal of a ship free of disease diat requests board-ing and inspection......and THAT is exactly what we are requesting...boarding and inspection... by all Pirates in solitary confinement social distancing at home as part of our Pirate Stimulus Act. We are still offering all of our magazine issues for free electronic download during the shutdown. Download at covidrelief.piratenationmagazine .com and enjoy the articles, the images, the vendor advertisements and more than anything...the FUN.The Pirate Stimulus Act also entails a special Advertising Öfter tbr the Craft Vendors and Merchants who serve our micro economy. For every advertiser who establishes an annual ad campaign of ANY size and we will give TWO MONTHS of FREE ADVERTISING to jumpstart the promotion. You teil us your budget and we will helpyou create your ad. YOU PAY NOTHING for the first two issues...and THEN you get the benefit of our annual payment discount of 25% but you still pay with even lower than normal monthly payments. We hope that giving you 14 months for theprice of 12 montlis with no payments for 60 days will get the message out to your potential customers that YOU ARE OPEN FOR ORDERS even if you are not at festival. We have been thrilled at the response. We rnay have to expand the magazine by adding additional pages to meet the demand for advertising space. Now that is what I call Stimulus.Quebec“ "My bessel is 'healthy' and I request free pratique."  ”LimaIn harbour: "The ship is quarantined."At sea: "You should stop your vessel instantly."In our conversations with almost 100 vendors, it became clear that there is a need for an alternative method for craft vendors to inexpensively and effectively bring their product to market ONLINE. Many have limited shopping cart capability or a few products on shopping sites where high fees were of the main complaints we heard over and over. We have engaged our web develop-ers to help create an all new CRAFTERS MALL that we hope will provide an easy and affordable answer for vendors who want to be found online to seil their wares.In our conversations with almost 250 nominated Bai’ and Restaurant owners while discussing the potential benefits to them of Pubs of the Pi rate Nation participation.. .it was interesting what they were saying about the shutdown and its atfects. Since MOST of the Pubs we list serve food...many were open for takeout and some even added delivery. Some were primarily working to “sharpen the saw” and were improving their websites and online marketing. About one third of them did not open their doors at all and decided to renovate while they were not allowed to use their dining rooms. The biggest thing we learned was that these businesses needed significant help to make their online and social media presence workfor them like it could and like it should. These technologies have gotten much more complex in the last few years and it is now almost impossible to Wo it yourself? We found that we needed help too. Our main Pirate Nation Magazine website broke...plain and simple...we thought it was displaying a subscription page and found out that it was displaying a broken down WordPress site from 5 years ago to over half of our visitors. Ooooops! Now, we are eagerly awaiting a new magazine site built by our Advertising Agency. Pardon our dust. Sometimes you have to know when to ask for help...particularly when you are busy and growing.Last but not least, we are always looking for additional contributors to the maga-zine...both writers and photographers. We have also recently hired several remote working sales professionals to converse with Pirate Nation Magazine Advertisers and with Pubs of the Pirate Nation partieipating pubs.Summer Pirating necessitates a tum to lighter garb and gear.. .and finding places to get wet. Memories of Pirate Pool Invasions, Poolside Pirate Parties at the conclusion of the Bay Area Renaissance Festival, Surfers for Autism events and Pirate Festivals situated in bayfront and oceanfront settings...are exclusively the stuff of fond fantasy THIS season. In the absence of Festivals, I find myself focused on the repair, maintenance, Upgrade and improvement of my gear. 1 will be asking our social media subscribers to recommend the BEST of the BEST items in the Renn/Pirate world. Boots, Hats, Belts, Tents, Mugs, Shirts, Kilts, Black Powder Weapons and Furnishings will be tried, tested and reviewed...and published in a new column called "Kraven the Best" The stuff proven to be the best will then be recommended to others with Kravens endorsement...kind of a combination of a Beta Test and those UnBoxing Videos that are so populär on YouTube because they let you get a feel for things before you invest your hard earned money in them online. Perhaps "Kraven the Best" will help you find your next treasured part of your overall look and impression.Stay well.. .take good care of your immune System. Get some rest where you can. Get out in the SUN if possible, to get some Vitamin D. Be good to yourself and good to each other.It s GOOD to be a Pirate...mostly because ofgetting to know people like each of YOU. May our paths cross in the real world, so we can raise a mug in friendship.Untilthen, I remain...Kraven Moregrog