Shit happens...

EBM with a horrific but all too apt analogy, some resources in case you want to help Ukraine, and in the "Just more dangerous bigoted crap from Texas" department...

Being immersed in a world pandemic for the last two years that is still killing people at an alarming rate has people being a little nervous. Taking on any sort of life-changing enterprise like building a boat or sailing off to a tropical paradise, you should be nervous.

I get that.

Anyone not nervous about things these days is idiotic, willfully oblivious, or in a coma.

Nervous? It’s almost “H” season, there’s an ongoing pandemic, and there’s a world leader painting himself into a corner who keeps pointing out that he has atomic weapons and he’ll use them is part of the daily news. You’d be an idiot not to be nervous.

But back to budgets. Folks who think that with enough money, insurance, and being from an entitled 1st world country equals Teflon protection might be in for a nasty karmic WTF moment.

Listening to the Byrds

So it goes...

It's a very small world...

A positive trend in energy, some Hawaiian history, and a whole lot of ski films...

While I'm often told that politics has no place in sailing or cruising, the fact that Russia is currently invading a sovereign democratic country is going to be somewhat problematic for a lot of folks on boats.

Next time you buy diesel you'll no doubt notice that the cost to fill your tank is not going to make you a happy camper. Neither will the fact that the EU and Russia will, for the foreseeable future, be one bad decision away from what will amount to a World War.

Yeah, I know everyone says that the currently airborne excrement won't hit the rotating blades but I'll remind you that "everyone" said that about WW1 and WW2. Since I'm ranting, I'll add that they also said that COVID would not be a problem, too.

Face it, it's a small world and pretty much anything that happens in the dire department will wind up affecting all of us in one way or another. Being on a boat, avoiding the news, or ignoring your moral responsibilities won't give you a free pass.

Listening to a "sweet" playlist

So it goes...

about doing the Covid two-step...

Robotic fish, someone you should be reading/supporting, and on the subject of immunocompromised people where Covid is concerned...

I need to paint my bottom. 

Fact of the matter is I've needed to paint my bottom for quite a while now.

The plan was to buy some anti-fouling and skedaddle over to the Dominican Republic to haul out for a couple of weeks do a bit of bottom work, slap on some anti-fouling, head out towards somewhere different.

In general, a pretty good plan and we even got a great deal on the anti-fouling we bought but we did not factor in a worldwide pandemic getting in the way.

This morning, one of the first things I read was how the President of the DR has cancelled all Covid restrictions so a quick trip to the DR for a haul out is back in the possibility zone.

That said, it appears to me that while Covid is currently waning it's not the first time and sadly might not be the last. It is still killing around 2000 people a day in the USA and if the current relaxation of mandates continues recent history tells us we should expect yet another spike in new cases and deaths. Albert Einstein pretty much nailed it when he said...

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

You'd think we'd have learned enough to get off the Covid two-step by this time.

For the time being I think I'll just continue to scrape the bottom and spend some quality time with the crabs and shrimp. Plus it's good exercise.

Listening to a cornucopia of summer music

So it goes...

and in the just plain stupid department...

An important bit of situational awareness, some bad news on the kelp front, something way past batshit insane, and in the "Maybe our coming robot overlords won't be as bad as feared" department... 

The last couple of days I've been checking out various YouTube videos that were shot at the 2021 Annapolis boat show to see if there was anything new or interesting.  So far I've yet to find anything overly fascinating to look into further.

Well there was this...

In almost all of the videos I noticed a couple of things that did catch my interest.

No masks.

No social distancing.

First off, I figured that the purveyors of the Annapolis Boat Show was only allowing vaccinated folks to attend but that still would not exclude the need to wear masks or social distancing. I checked the Annapolis Boat Shows website and there was no mention of requiring attendees to be vaccinated.

Good news I thought to myself since, apparently the great state of Maryland and the greater USA must now be Covid free and since I live in an minute unincorporated territory that wonderful news has not reached us yet.

So, I did a little checking...

During the course of the Annapolis Boat Show which took place in October 13-17 there were 390,860 new cases and 6,366 deaths in the USA of Covid-19.

That's an average of 78,172 new cases and 1,273.2 deaths a day in the US during the course of the Annapolis Boat Show.

Sadly, the pandemic is still with us and, considering this sort of stupidity is part of the mix, it will continue to be a part of our lives for a long, long time.

Which brings up the question of just what the flying fuck were they thinking? Seriously, I'm at a loss to explain that sort of group think stupidity. I'm pretty sure in the next week or so there will be a measurable surge of new Covid-19 cases related directed to the Annapolis Boat Show just like those super-spreader Trump rallies.

Well, down here where we we're considered too stupid vote for President, most everyone wears their masks and know to keeps their distance while getting on with their daily business. You'd have thought sailboat folk would have their shit more together.

Listening to some best of the year covers

So it goes...

On the subject of thinking about buying another anchor...

Something from the "Just plain stupid or is it a Death cult" files, EBM making an excellent point, and an American heroine in Portland...

So, new cases of Corvid 19 keep popping up down here in most southern tRumpistan with the ever-present knowledge that peak "H" season is going to get going any day now.

Yeah, you might color me somewhat nervous these days. This means that a whole lot of my thought process gets sidetracked by my pondering what I need to do now to prepare for a storm, where we're going to go when it's coming, and how to prepare for the aftermath of a storm if/when we get hit.

Having been through this sort of thing before you'd think that it would actually be easy but the added factor of being in the middle of a worldwide pandemic is something of a wild card I'd prefer not to be a part of the mix.

For instance, there are a lot more cruising boats here in Southern tRumpistan than usual due to the virus. It's just about the only place an American flagged boat is welcome in the Caribbean. The problem is that hurricane holes are too few for the normal population of the islands plus, I expect, that for a lot of the newbies here for the duration don't have much in their how-to-prepare-for-a-real-storm skill set. Those things combined could make things get real ugly real fast.

The fact is, a real storm, even if you're prepared and knowing what to do, is still a very dangerous enterprise as the tons of well-anchored and prepared boats stacked up like so much cordwood in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria attest to.

This also has me stocking up for an extra couple of months of provisions and fuel because it's not just the storm but the aftermath we have to worry about and given the current situation we'd be stupid to expect any help from the powers that be stateside this time around judging from their piss poor and less than proactive response to the virus.

Like I said, got a lot to think about.

Listening to a few Bananarama covers

So it goes...

A quick reality check...

A positive psychological break, some scary reading, and something from the "barbaric and inhumane" files...

Just in case you've succumbed to the current strain of amnesia that's currently going around you might want to remember that in the US of A we're still getting 20,000 new Covid-19 cases and 1000 deaths per day.

Need I say more?

On a related note, Paul Krugman has a good piece on the "Marshmallow test" that you might want to read.

Listening to Erin Rae

So it goes...

and it's that time of year again...

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar writing about what's going on, some scary Coronavirus progress, and in the "Anyone seen anything like these from the sailing industry?" department...

So, as of yesterday, we find ourselves officially in the 2020 Hurricane season, and even before it started we've already had two named storms (oops make that three!) so I suspect it's going to get a bit crazy before the end of the season rolls around.



Throw in the fact that we're still in the first wave of a worldwide pandemic, the economy seems on track for a world depression of unprecedented severity, and the US of A looks primed for the soft civil war we've been in to morph into some seriously nasty merde.

Apparently, the only way things could get worse would be an alien invasion or a zombie holocaust. Then again, those shoes may drop in July and August...

Which, I guess, is more than enough reason to do some sanding in the cockpit that I've been meaning to get around to.

Listening to the Blue Ox Babes

So it goes...

On prepping vs just being prepared...

Sailing Anarchy's "Apparent COVID Direction Finder" might come in useful, a rather sagacious observation, and in the "A mind-boggling clusterfuck on steroids" department...

OK, I'll be honest and admit that I've taken issue with the whole idea of prepping and preppers. Not, I should add, that I have problems with folks being prepared, but I do find that most preppers are really not all about being prepared but just indulging their consumerist addiction.

I mention this as all of a sudden my email spam content is surging with offers of silly expensive survival foods, advice on weaponry to fetishize, and too good to be true tech that will allow me to keep living in a high tech wonderland while my neighbors, apparently, are reduced to living in the stone age. Oh yeah, there are also all those horrible people trying to sell me twenty-five cent dust masks for ten bucks a pop...

So, like I said, I'm not a real fan of the prepper/prepping dynamic.

That said, it's pretty obvious that our powers that be don't exactly have our needs or best interests at heart in general and that, when push comes to shove, they're pretty incompetent so not exactly anyone you can actually count on. Or, to rephrase it we're all pretty much on our own.

The current COVID-19 situation will be around for the foreseeable future and making plans otherwise, given the current situational awareness, is not a smart move.

Lucky for us boat folks on a budget we already have a mindset that gives us the tools to prepare for shit like world pandemics and suchlike. We know how to provision, we understand how to do long passages and deal with being in out-of-the-way-back-of-beyond places. Better yet, most of us actually enjoy being self-sufficient and taking care of needful business when required.

Just avoid too-good-to-be-true politician speak, think common sense cruising mode, and prepare accordingly.

Hunker down and we'll get through this shit.

Listening to an album's worth of John Hiatt coverage

So it goes...

today in the "Might be a good time to stay home" department...

A good question, some excellent points being made, and interesting stuff regarding mangroves...

Here's a little needful science you might want to catch.



Listening to Bob Weir And Wolf Bros

So it goes...

Lifeboat stations...

An astute observation regarding a movie, not exactly surprising, and in the "Democrats getting ready to turn a win into a loss" department...

On the subject of being prepared and, just maybe, keeping in mind that fecal matter is airborne and heading towards the proverbial fan. You might want to check out "How Everything Goes to Hell During a Zombie Apocalypse".

Of course, I'm being told that the powers that be who are led by a pathological liar have everything contained and under control. So everyone can give a huge sigh of relief and go back to the same old same knowing that they are in good hands.

Yeah, sure...

Back to "H" season mindset and getting prepared just in case. It's the prudent thing to do.

Listening to a plethora of Smokey Robinson covers

So it goes...

Pick and choose...

This just might ruin your day/week/month/year, news from the "Bought and paid for " file, and some needful situational awareness...

We live in strange times.

Some time back I pointed out to a well-known sailing/cruising blogger that their current post, which contained a quote attributed to Mark Twain, that Mark Twain had, in fact never said or written the quote in question.

I was some kind of surprised when they wrote back to tell me that they'd looked into it and since more people thought it was a Twain quote than people who did not that it was proof positive that Twain had actually said it. This response confused, bothered, and depressed me because it showed a certain lack of critical fact-based thinking and, as I'd put a lot of store in their writing where boats were concerned, it planted a seed of mistrust that shadowed everything I read of theirs from that point on.

Worse, it actually got me thinking about how, somewhere along the line, our society has opted for a non-confrontational mindset where facts are concerned and pointing out that someone might be incorrect was now a faux pas. Best summed up by something from the White House not all that long ago about how people were entitled to their alternative facts.

Now, I'm all for people having alternative opinions and, I expect, that a whole lot of people have differing opinions than I do and that's not a bad thing. Facts, on the other hand, are a whole different thing.

For instance, I use Raka epoxy which uses a 2 to 1 mix ratio. So, if someone asks me what the mix ratio is I can state that it is 2 to 1 which is not my opinion but a simple fact. Maybe if someone asked me which is the best epoxy that would fall into the opinion zone and for the record having used a lot of different epoxies over the last few decades my opinion is they are all mostly about the same as long as you follow the directions.

The idea of alternative facts where boat building, cruising, and other matters of life or death tend to frighten me. Facts are something you don't get to pick and choose. Facts are just what they are and all you need to do is find out what they are. The downside of this is that there are now so many alternative facts floating around where boat stuff is concerned that you pretty much have to do your own research and put it through the critical thinking wringer to make sure you have the real thing.

Just saying.

Listening to Los Lobos on Live From Here

So it goes...

Protect, restore, and fund...

Greta still telling it like it is, a very apt point being made, and in the "read it and weep" department...

Some sense being made.



Listening to Rhiannon Giddens

So it goes...

Round the Horn?

Some situational awareness on the climate front, good points being made, and Sailing Anarchy with a pithy comment...

So, it would seem, we're about to get a bump in the price of doing a Panama Canal transit. Which translates to get through the ditch sooner rather than later.

Then again, I hear great things about Uruguay, Argentina has a lot to say for it, and the Trout fishing in Chile is stupendous.

Just saying.

Listening to a Bananarama cover shich caught my attention.

So it goes...

Something important regarding a possible sustainable future...

This pretty much says it all, an interesting article regarding a favorite author/novel of mine, and in the "worst possible guy to run NOAA so let your Senators know how you'll be really, really pissed off" department...

A simple solution to sustainable fishing that, sadly, omits the greed induced stupidity factor.



Sigh.

That said, get rid of the greedheads and, just maybe, common sense might prevail.

Listening to the Dollyrots

So it goes...

Something that scares me senseless...

An important message from deep below the ocean’s surface, some needful reading, and in the "Sure seems like an open invitation to break the law" department...

Flat Earthers.



If that doesn't scare you Lawyers, Guns, and Money has some related content worth checking out.

Listening to Dakh Daughters

So it goes...

No boat content...

Dorworth with something worth checking out, Sailing Anarchy has a bit of outrage/good news, and in the "asshole blaming the victims" department...

A letter from Pittsburgh.

Listening to the James Gang covering Buffalo Springfield

So it goes...

Doing a little research...

One red penny, a worthwhile read, and some questionable prioritizing...

Yesterday I read an interesting post regarding cycling oriented companies that were owned by companies in the gun business.

It got me thinking.

How many marine companies might be a part of other industries that, shall we say, have conflicted moral objectives we do not share?

One thing I noticed about the cycling oriented companies listed in the post is that some of them are companies I had assumed were independent rather than part of a giant conglomerate of questionable moral and ethical practices.

Who knew that Bolle sunglasses, for instance, was owned by a company that, more than likely, made the ammunition that killed those people in the Florida high school on Valentines day?

All of a sudden a quick visit to the local chandlers has me wondering who really is profiting when I buy a bit of hardware, some rope, or fishing gear.

I don't like being an ignorant consumer.

I especially don't like the fact that buying something for my boat or bike might be enriching the folks who are destroying our world in the name of profit for a few.

How many of my purchases in the last year have helped enrich the companies I'd never do business with because I did not know they were part of the equation?

I'm pissed at myself for having been lazy and just assumed that some of the companies I've been doing business with were the sort of people they say they are and I have not bothered to check on their veracity.

It's time I started asking some serious questions...

Listening to Leonard Cohen covers

So it goes...

4.1 Miles...

Travel advisory, a Republican with a functioning brain stem, and two words for today: institutional + memory...

A film that needs to be watched.


4.1 Miles from The New York Times - Video on Vimeo.

Listening to Drake White

So it goes...