[Meanwhile...DOTT triggers]

Purple Tentacle channeling Al Haig there. Nice.

[The archaeological discoveries of the LucasArts projects]

If I remember rightly, Aric Wilmunder posted the initial design doc for this version (under the same "Pirate Curse" title) on his old site.

[Meanwhile...DOTT triggers]

It might actually be as simple as enough time passing while playing in-game. I know that I've never had all of the newspaper headlines in the present trigger, for instance.

[Issues with old accounts]

Thanks! But it wasn't my password that was the problem - it seems like confirmation emails for anything (changing email addresses, signing up for a new account, etc) just aren't being sent. And if you try to update your email address, it locks you out of the forum until you click on the link from the nonexistent confirmation email.