A podcast worth listening to, at least one state seems to be doing the right thing, and the word for today in intervention...
I've mentioned that a friend of mine is in the process of building a new catamaran and, as it happens, he has been dropping me various notes regarding stuff he wants for the boat and boatbuilding process...
It's not easy giving advice on that level and I take it quite seriously because anything I may say could possibly affect the build of his boat, how long it takes to build, and the cost of the finished product.
That said, I know that he will (in fact) NOT take a lot of my advice on various issues but that my cog in the machine is simply that of being a contrary opinion that forces him to find the kernel of logic he needs to do what he wants. Which, I might add, is OK as it is his boat and he has to live with it...
Truth is, when I get around to building LM 4/4/4 I'll be looking for just such a person to disagree with me on a regular basis to force my brain to jump through some hoops in the various need/want conundrums as I come to them...
Speaking of need/want conundrums... A blog I read just posted some thoughts on why he has decided, for the moment, to refrain from having advertising on his blog. It's a good read and for any bloggers out there it is something of a must read.
I've spent quite a lot of time wrestling myself with the pros and cons of advertising on the blog and the conundrum of promoting a real world budget cruising and boatbuilding experience while at the same time profiting from an industry that far too often also rips us off...
For me the important factor is there is nothing wrong with commerce or the act of making a profit but an educated buyer is the solution because as soon as folks quit buying products at stupid prices and refrain from buying needless items, we once again take control of our budgets...
The various companies that you'll find on Boat Bits (and our sister projects Fishing Under Sail and Island Gourmand) are all companies that I buy from myself, have excellent after sales service, good community footprints and when I point out a product it is because I think the product has merit, utility, with no obscene profit margins, and comes in at a reasonable cost... The fact is, there are any number of companies and products that would provide more and better income to the blog but don't quite pass our standards.
While we, of course, appreciate the small amount of income that comes to us by folks buying stuff through the blog we sincerely hope that folks only do so after running the purchase through the full-on need/want stress test.
Since it's the first day of Zappadan we're listening to Frank!
So it goes...
Bruce+
10 hours ago
