A film I've been waiting for...

An excellent post on the subject of marinas, good point being made, and in the "So this is what thoughts and prayers accomplish" department... 

What I'll be watching tonight.

Listening to five good covers  

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...

A film to look out for...

Sailing Anarchy has something interesting, a death of note, and in the "Fear, weapons, and money vs knowledge, awareness, and love" department...



Check it out.

Listening to Bash & Pop

So it goes...

Something you should watch...

Why the Galápagos is no longer on my places to visit list, Kunstler says "reality-mandated economic contraction...", and on the subject of those overpaid workers...

Something important to watch.


Ending Overfishing from OCEAN2012 on Vimeo.

Listening to The Alabama Shakes

So it goes...

Some seriously scary mayhem and idiocy...

I saw this over on Sailing Anarchy yesterday and thought this sort of cleansing-the-gene-pool sort of hijinks deserved to both be shared and commented on...



Over the years I have seen this sort of madness stunt more than I should and more often than not it ends in tears with someone getting hurt or the loss of the boat.

When things turn to shit on the water the last place you want to go is someplace that is even more dangerous! I don't care how great a helmsman you might be in a situation like this hoving to outside with some sea room is the prudent course and the fact this boat pulled it off is just simple luck and that OMO protects drunks, fools, and little children from time to time.

When it gets ugly, "sea and sea room are your friends" is not a bad mantra...

Listening to Neil Innes

So it goes...

a double standard...

Watching the antics of the US Coast Guard (affectionately called "our bitch" by BP execs) in the Gulf does not fill one with any optimistic warm and fuzzy feeling that those responsible for this madness will be doing any perp walks... ever. On the other hand, I'm sure they will be arresting and prosecuting to the full extent of the law any clean up workers who might accidentally drop a rubber glove or reporters with the audacity to do their job. I'm told it is all about priorities...

Bummer! But then corporations get the government and laws they pay for... So it goes.

Today's mind boggling news story on the oil front is that there are 27,000 abandoned oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico and while there are laws and regulations that say these are supposed to be plugged and inspected but in actuality are not. Seriously scary stuff.

What happened to "Can Do"?

There was a story in the San Francisco Chronicle
that of course I forgot to save
But it was about a lady who lived in the 'good old days'
When a century was born and a century had died
And about these 'good old days' the old lady replied
"Why they were just a lot of people doing the best they could"
"Just a lot of people doing the best they could"
And then the lady said that they did it, "pretty up and walking good"

- John Stewart, Mother Country

I just finished reading a series of books that mainly covered the World War Two era and the thing I noticed most was how the population of the USA supported the war effort in a very impressive way. Whole industries changed over from making luxury cars and consumer goods to building tanks and suchlike. There was a national speed limit to reduce the use of fossil fuels and rubber. People recycled their tin foil and tin cans to enable the building of fighters and Liberty ships...

Our parents and grandparents were very "can do" generations...

Sadly the same can not be said for those running the show these days who, while using the "Can do" sales pitch, just can't seem to get past the "Can't really" stage and we the people who should be telling our elected officials to get to doing don't seem to have the right stuff to follow through and just maybe cut back on our use of fossil fuels and needless toys because as a whole we simply cannot be bothered.

Sad that...

For us boat folk, a simple matter of sailing more and motoring less becomes part of the solution... So does swapping down to a smaller outboard for your dinghy and the bonus of running a 5HP over a 15HP  will save you big bucks in the process. If you already have downsized horsepower you might want to switch from two stroke to four stroke (or maybe even "oar" strokes) which will more than double your miles to gallon while cutting your personal pollution down by 90%.

The point is there are a whole lot of "can do" solutions that are neither painful, expensive, or even hassle making, and well within our abilities.

Sadly, I don't have high hopes that the right stuff our parents and grandparents took for granted exists anymore but some times I hope...

"Just a lot of people doing the best they could"
And then the lady said that they did it, "pretty up and walking good"

Carl Hiaasen pretty much says it all...

One of my favorite writers pretty much nails the whole BP situation in a nutshell...

We be the problem...

The situation in the Gulf of Mexico bothers me and there is a great pool of anger much of it directed at BP and the bought and paid for politicians who enabled (and still are enabling) BP in their quest for profit over common sense.

Then there is the anger directed at myself because I have not done as much as needful in cutting back on my use of oil which is a big part of the problem as well and as a result I share some of the blame. What can I say but it is a complicated world and we are either part of the problem or part of the solution and we are way past the point where we can continue to dither and make excuses.

The Glittering Eye makes the case a lot better than I can...

Get angry...

Watching the ocean die a gallon at a time...

Dog and pony show...

So the President of the United States visited the oil spill and BP put on a dog and pony show, or maybe The President was part of it...

How dumb do they think we are?

Kind of like getting the lights of New Orleans up and running for the last President's visit back after Katrina and turning them off when he left...

Business as usual it would seem... S.N.A.F.U.

Watch the video...

Just as an aside oil from the Gulf disaster is expected to start showing up in the Bahamas this weekend....

Sanding thoughts... The mast continues and the oil is still flowing.

Well, I wanted to be reflecting on surfboards and clever/cunning means of building them, but hand sanding thirty-seven odd feet of mast takes you to darker places...

Like the fact that in the Gulf of Mexico that well is still spewing an Exxon Valdez's worth of oil EVERY DAY and the powers that be are letting the folks who are responsible for it still call the shots... Some kind of scary.

I live on my boat and like anyone who spends 365 days a year floating on the ocean one develops a certain feel for OMO (Our Mother Ocean) and a certain anger or rage is not so much a surprise when folks in the name of greed, hurt it.

Then again, when sanding by hand, one can channel that anger into a very productive work day and today I have the blisters to prove it...