Tag Archives: book

How the Shipping Industry is the Secret Force Driving the World Economy

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How the Shipping Industry is the Secret Force Driving the World Economy | Ideas & Innovations | Smithsonian Magazine.

I thought this was pretty good, despite the reservations I have from only seeing this article. It’s an interview with author Rose George about her latest book: Ninety Percent of Everything. She somehow arranged to spend some time sailing around on the container ship Maersk Kendal. I’m going to have to find a copy of this book to read. 🙂

a container ship underway

a container ship underway

She makes a lot of good points. That people who aren’t personally involved with shipping are totally unaware of the industry. That those of us living in ‘first world’ countries don’t know any seafarers personally any more. That the ports have been moved so far away from the cities that most people don’t have any awareness of them anymore. That people on the beach have absolutely no idea what it’s like to be a seafarer.

I do think she got a lot of that correct. She sees how isolating it is out here now. She mentions the lack of communication and that the ships don’t provide internet or phone access to their crews (because of the expense). I do agree that it is an expense. I do not agree that it is an ‘extra’ expense. I don’t think it’s very much to pay a couple of thousand dollars a month when that would be something like 1% of expenses on most ships (if that). Isn’t it worth that for such a HUGE increase in crew morale?

a tank ship underway

a tank ship underway

I don’t really know if she’s right in her assessment of how much or how little sailors have a ‘sense of romanticism’. She mentions that she thinks the captain has more of it then he lets on, that he still secretly loves the sea.

She seems to think that most sailors are only out here for the money. I might agree that most sailors from the poorer parts of the world go to sea for the money. They probably went to sea because it paid better than anything they could find at home.

I would agree that the great majority of seafarers are not in a great position at sea. Some of the conditions sailors work under are just horrible. A lot of shipowners do flag foreign just so they can cut expenses.

They all say that the cost of the crew is their largest expense so they cut it any way they can. They cut the crew size, they lengthen the hitch (2 YEARS or more), they skimp on groceries, they skimp on medical care, they refuse to pay for visas so the crew can’t leave the ship in port, etc.

That’s not even to start on the issue of crew abandonment. Rose George seems to think the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) will help. I’ve seen in the news there have already been 3 ships detained, but I have serious doubts it will actually help the crews.

In spite of conditions like that, I believe most seafarers do still enjoy sailing (at least sometimes). 😉

romanticism of life at sea

romanticism of life at sea

I know I still do. Most of the time. 😉

This Is Mars in Extremely High Resolution

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This Is Mars in Extremely High Resolution | Collage of Arts and Sciences.

Another good article from the Smithsonian this morning. This one is about Mars. The article shows a dozen or so beautiful black and white photographs of Mars. They were taken over the years by various spacecraft. That in itself is pretty fantastic.

Now, a French photographer, editor, designer- Xavier Barral is putting together a book. Called This is Mars, it will showcase about 150 of these gorgeous pictures. I’ll have to look for it at the library. 🙂

Universal Subjectivism: An Ethical Theory for the 21st Century

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Universal Subjectivism: An Ethical Theory for the 21st Century

This looks like a very interesting book. I haven’t read it yet but the review in Utne Reader makes me want to try and find a copy.

I read the review and of course I agree, it would be a wonderful thing to stop all suffering. I just don’t know how to accomplish that.

The author suggests that it would be simple to just pass a law and we could stop factory farming here and so end so much suffering. I totally agree, factory farming is really a sickening situation, horrible for the animals. But how ‘simple’ would it be for us to stop it?

First of all, I’m not sure it would be simple even to pass a law like that. Our political system here is SO screwed up. Our politicians pass laws every day, THOUSANDS of pages long, they never read them, no one understands them, special interests get their little favors hidden inside somewhere, we all have to wait until the shit hits the fan to find out that maybe SOMEBODY should have READ the bills BEFORE they passed them into ‘law”!

We’re fighting Obamacare right now because of that exact same situation. Our agriculture lobby is pretty powerful too. As powerful as the insurance/pharmaceutical/medical lobby? I don’t know. I DO know they would not want to have their profits hurt even a teeny tiny bit! They’ll fight tooth and nail, spend millions of dollars to riddle whatever law comes up with benefits to them and detriments to the rest of us. That is how our politics works now a days! They ALWAYS find a way to screw the little guy! 🙁

Besides the fact that it would be a huge political issue, MY objection to the whole factory farming thing is: would it REALLY be possible to feed everybody (without destroying even more of our land and resources)? I have seen SOME things that suggest that localized, organic type farming can be just as productive, even MORE productive than factory farming, (Farmaggedon-film- was one if I remember right). It just seems so hard to believe. I would really need to learn a lot more before I’m totally convinced that is true.

The author makes the point that people starve every day tho there is enough food to feed the population of today. I would agree with that, most of the people who are starving today are in that situation because of POLITICS and not because there isn’t enough food around. Corrupt and greedy ‘rulers’ find ways to work the system to benefit themselves and their cronies and screw everyone else! The issue is getting the food (or other aid) to the people who need it. Best way to solve that problem is to get rid of politics! Get rid of ‘rulers’!! They’re nothing but thugs wearing suits!

I have to admit, I really don’t want to change my lifestyle. I’m not a vegetarian now and I don’t really want to be one. I don’t want to learn to eat worms or insects either. I travel every chance I get and I don’t want to stop doing that either. So, OK, I am not very ethical according to this author, at least according to what I can get out of the intro to the book in the review. I don’t feel bad about it. I don’t think reading the book will make me change my mind.

How in the heck are we going to get everyone to change their mindsets to this kind of ethics? That question alone makes me want to get hold of the book and find out the authors ideas. I am curious to see what other people propose to solve these sorts of problems. I can’t imagine it ever happening by choice. I have a feeling people will eventually be using force, like they say about climate change, we don’t have time to THINK about the proper kinds of solutions, it’s time for ACTION. Same old, same old here. 🙁

As usual, MY solution to the issue of suffering is the same as it is for almost every other issue… start using some BIRTH CONTROL!!!!! We sure as hell can feed 9 million people on this planet a LOT easier than we can 9 BILLION!!! We MIGHT even have some land/water/resources left over for some of the OTHER creatures on the planet if we would use our big heads instead of our little ones for a change!

To me, that would involve a whole lot less suffering for everybody. I mean, really, how hard can it be to just take a pill every day? or a depo shot every 3 months? Everybody that can have a kid, gets ONE. Maybe that policy would even encourage people to appreciate their kids for a change. 🙂

Let the people who can’t have one adopt one that is already here on this planet (instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on artificial insemination, etc). Oh, you want your own genes? Too bad, life’s not fair, it’s YOUR problem, don’t expect the rest of the world to pay just to indulge your FEELINGS. If you have the big bucks to pay for the procedure all on your own (NO insurance should cover these procedures!), then fine, maybe we’ll consider an exception if you’re some kind of genius (maybe). Instead of giving incentives to HAVE kids, give incentives to NOT have kids!

Just do the same thing as China did, establish a one child policy (must CONVINCE people of the need- NOT force them!). It shouldn’t be THAT hard. After all, most people have been convinced that people caused global warming and they’e only been spouting that story since what, the 80’s?

After a while, the population will eventually start shrinking, human suffering will lessen (and animal suffering along with it) and we can start solving the REST of the problems we have created here, such as starvation, medical care, education, engaging and fulfilling work, improving the condition of our land/water/air, maybe even make a dent in climate change. 😉

Functional Medicine for Autoimmune Diseases

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Functional Medicine for Autoimmune Diseases – Mind & Body – Utne Reader.

This is a book review from Utne Reader on the new book The Immune System Recovery Plan. Dr Susan Blum MD MPH recounts her own experience with immune disease (Hashimoto’s thyroiditis) and how she has been able to cure herself and even repair her body using functional medicine rather than the usual type we get now a days. They sound like totally different fields of endeavor. 

I like how she describes the ‘new’ field of functional medicine as an approach that looks at the person as a whole, not as a collection of symptoms. I would really like to find a Dr that treated me like that. I’ve always had a hard time with that, most Drs I’ve had take one look at me and blame everything on my weight. My arm could be half chopped off, I’m spraying blood all over the place, and they would tell me I needed to go on a diet and that would fix it. 😉

Yes, it would be ideal to live in such a way that you stay healthy all the time, never get sick or come down with a disease. I just wonder how HARD will it be in reality to be able to do that? I do have to admit, I’m lazy. I don’t want to go on a strict diet. I don’t want to have to exercise for hours every day. I don’t want to take pills every day for the rest of my life either. So, is there any hope for people like me?

From reading just this article, it looks like there actually is. I have a couple of friends who swear their lives have been totally changed by ‘simple’ changes in their diets (and have lost a lot of weight). A couple of friends who’ve had their hormones adjusted and say they’ve been feeling SO much better. I remember my dad had such bad arthritis, but then he started using apple cider vinegar and it just went away. I guess I’ll have to try to find a copy of the book when I get off. 

Anarchy: The Basis for a Civilized Society, Part 2

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Anarchy: The Basis for a Civilized Society, Part 2 | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.

Here’s the second part of the post I put up last night about Crispin Sartwell and his book Against the State.

The main part of the book is spent in destroying the classical arguments for the State, from thinkers like Hobbs, Locke, Hume, etc. Then he takes up the discussion of why anarchy?

There are plenty of reasons, not least of which, it has worked in the past and still works right now all over the world (example: bowling leagues, ‘invisible hand’ of the market, etc). That is the argument from utility. The other argument is from morality. 

Is it better to argue for anarchy from utility or from morality? I agree with him that the moral position is better.

I think its pretty basic that (non masochist) people don’t want to have violence used against them. People are naturally OK with the Golden Rule. I think that’s a pretty good starting place for society. In fact, I think that’s pretty much the ONLY rule we really need to live in any society. 

Sartwell talks about Lysander Spooner as a good person to refer to. Another writer/philosopher he talks about is Josiah Warren and his book The Practical Anarchist.

I would add Ayn Rand, her writing explained the reasons to value your self very simply. Try her book The Virtue of Selfishness. It’s very short. 😉 Self ownership is the basis for how I think humans should relate towards each other. Society is made up of individuals (duh). A strong, vibrant society is impossible without strong individuals who make it up. The only other alternative to self ownership is slavery and I will never agree with any form of slavery. 

I hope more people start thinking about things like this, instead of just swallowing whatever they’re told in school or on the TV. It’s pretty important. If we don’t have any kind of basis, any foundation, any principles, then how can we expect our society to last? Like a house with a damaged foundation, it will fall down sooner than one with a strong one. 

Our country was based on principles very close to anarchy. We had a VERY limited government, it was a minarchy. Now, we have a bloated beast of bureaucracy and it rules every tiny little detail of our lives.

I can’t count how many times people tell me that if I don’t like the government, I can move to Somalia where they don’t have one. OK, I’m not really up on the details of Somalia but I’ll give you my take anyway…

Somalia is only fighting over WHO is going to be in charge, not that there will or won’t be somebody in charge. So it’s not a stateless society at all, it’s a society with a competition of states. State is defined as the monopoly of the use of force. 

So, Somalia is not a place to go if I don’t like government, it has an overabundance of them and will have to wait for the dust to settle and somebody wins. There’s no place on Earth that I’m aware of that has NO government, if there was, I would absolutely take them up on that and go there asap! 

Anarchy: The Basis for a Civilized Society

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Anarchy: The Basis for a Civilized Society | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.

In an interview with Crispin Sartwell discussing anarchy and his latest book Against the State, Chris Mayer digs into the questions of what’s really so wrong with anarchy?

I’d really like to know. I agree with them that the left-right paradigm is a big mistake (a scam). All it does is divide us into warring parties and allows the people who really run things free latitude to do whatever they want while we’re distracted.

The reason I posted the Worlds Smallest Political Quiz (http://captjillsjourneys.wordpress.com/2013/08/19/worlds-smallest-political-quiz/) as a sticky at the top of my blog was to get people to take the quiz and hopefully find out they might not really be what they’ve been labeled as. That there are other options out there other than just Democrat (left/liberal) and Republican (right/conservative).

It’s a real shame that our media has been taken over by the corporate world and so we never manage to get any real information about the choices we have during elections. Thank goodness for the internet. 🙂

We ALWAYS have more than just the Democrats and Republicans to choose from! We just have no way of finding that out until we see the other names on the ballot (if like most Americans, you get your information from the major media, TV, etc). By that time, it’s too late to make any kind of informed choice, so most people will vote for the same-old, same-old for no other reason than familiarity.

I’ve been a libertarian since I first heard of them. I’ve been fighting city hall since I was a kid. I believe in the principle of SELF ownership. I’ve always questioned authority and I find myself doing even more of that lately.

Who the hell says they’re authorities? Why?? How come the ‘authorities’ constantly screw things up yet still get treated as the best choice there is????  What makes them any better than the rest of us??? Why in the hell should somebody I’ve never even met who has NO idea what my life is like get to make ANY decisions about MY life????

OK, so maybe now I’m becoming an anarchist, even more than a libertarian. They are very close philosophically. I think its worth thinking about more. I definitely think the system we have now which is basically a corporatocracy (run by corporations)  is terribly wrong and we need to get rid of it asap!

I don’t really think any sort of democracy is much better. Look what’s happened to our country since we all started acting like it’s a democracy (it’s NOT, it’s a Constitutional republic!). Democracy is really just 2 wolves and a sheep deciding what’s for dinner. So who wants to be the sheep??

I don’t! Do you?

How To Be a Slave –

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How To Be a Slave –.

A friend forwarded me an email a few days ago that had this post in it.Tonight I read it and I was like, oh yeah, GOOD stuff here…

I might nit- pick a little bit on his numbers, but the truth is, he is absolutely correct. Those of us who are still working for somebody else ARE basically slaves. Most people never think of it that way. I never really thought too much about the employer part of it, which is why I say I have some small issues with his numbers. But I’ve been aware of the fact that I am a slave to the government for a long time now.

Yes, he is right. The government takes between 40-50% of your income. I will argue with that and say it is even more. Just to be nice, lets say it’s ‘only’ 40%. OK, if some bandit held you up on the street and told you that they would take 40% of everything you earned for the next 50 years of your life would you think he was turning you into a slave?

Yes, right, he DID just turn you into a slave. Having the government do the same thing, means that you are a slave to them instead of just a single robber. Whooo- hooo! Big deal! OK, so now we know we are all slaves to the government, lets look at what Mr Altucher says about your employer.

I’ve been working with temp agencies for the last couple of years. In this capacity, it is very explicit that exactly what Mr Altucher is saying is true about the employer/employee relationship. I get a day rate when my company sends me out to work for a client. That client pays my employer a LOT more money then my employer pays me. Yes, it’s VERY clear! The money I (and everybody else working as temps there) earn has to pay for the entire upkeep of the company!

It works the same way at EVERY company. If you are not worth a certain amount of money to them, they’ll either not hire you, fire you, or just pay you less. The arguments going on (again) about minimum wage are very relevant here.

I LOVE what he says about owning your time, owning your work, owning the value you create for others! This is very basic stuff. This is at the bottom of all my political beliefs- SELF ownership.

I want to find out how to break free. I’ve been trying to for a long time now but just by following the usual paths. Work hard, save money, buy a house, etc…. it’s just taking too long. Now I understand more about why that is. OK, yeah, if 90% of what I earn is being taken from me before I even see it, then yeah, I can see why I can’t break free. 🙁

In the article, he mentions a book but he didn’t give a name. I looked Mr James Altucher up on www.amazon.com and found out he has a few books. I am assuming it is the one called “Choose Yourself!”. I just downloaded it for my kindle. It’s only $2.99!

I can hardly wait to read it! 🙂

Are Weeds Healthier Than Farmed Veggies?

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Are Weeds Healthier Than Farmed Veggies? | Mother Jones.

My guess would be yes. 🙂

We’ve had an expert on edible plants come out to lead our Campaign for Liberty meetup group on an expedition to hunt down local ‘weeds’. I’ve managed to miss it both times so far. I’d really like to know more about this and hoping I’ll be home the next time he can come to see us. We’re trying to get more involved with natural, organic, non-GMO foods.

I can’t manage a garden very well when I’m offshore most of the time. I’m pretty sure I could manage to grow weeds. In fact, I have a yard full of them already. I just need to know if any of them are good for eating. 😉

Book Review: A Captains Duty

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http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/Book-Review-A-Captains-Duty-by-Captain-Richard-Phillips-2013-09-09/

OK, I haven’t read this book yet, but it looks like a good one and I’ll be looking for it when I get home. Sailors, merchant ships, pirate attacks, Navy SEAL teams to the rescue, WOW! It should be pretty intense 😉

This is the true story of the attack of the container ship Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates and the response of the crew.

I remember when it happened and I felt like, oh, so NOW people care. Its only because its an American ship. The pirates had been attacking ships for years and holding hundreds of sailors hostage and nobody did diddly til a US ship got attacked. It still pisses me off.

It’s something I never want to be involved in but can relate to for sure. So far, I’ve been lucky. I’ve never been attacked (yet) I’ve gone through the Suez Canal and the Malacca Straits a few times which are both areas with plenty of real life pirates. They’re NOT like Johnny Depp!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the movie with Tom Hanks starring as Captain Phillips of the Maersk Alabama is due out next month. I’ll try to catch it, but the book is always better than the movie IMHO 😉

Let me know how you liked it.

The Double Standard of Smoking Marijuana

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The Double Standard of Smoking Marijuana – Arts & Culture – Utne Reader.

This is an article from Utne Reader on a new book, “Marijuana is Safer”. Well, duh, YES, it IS! MUCH safer! I could say I can’t believe how we have spent so much time, effort, money, to keep it illegal in this “free” country. But I do believe it since I know the history of how it was made illegal in the first place.

Federal marijuana prohibition is the direct cause of the continual violations of our 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th amendments and the filling up of our prisons. First of all, the prohibition was not legally passed by congress like alcohol prohibition was. They did not make any constitutional amendment to make marijuana illegal. Instead, they listened to the lobbyists for DuPont, Hearst and their puppet doctor. Congress was bought off by those who just plain didn’t want the competition that the marijuana plants (and hemp) would give their companies making paper from trees and artificial fibers such as nylon. Watch the movie “Hemp for Victory” (put out by the federal government to encourage farmers to grow the weed to help with the war effort) and you will get an idea of just how useful the marijuana (and hemp) plants are. Of course, the prejudice they stirred up against blacks and Hispanics didn’t hurt any either.

I want to know, how many MILLIONS of people do we have to put in prison, how many lives to we have to completely destroy? before we will come to our senses and legalize weed??? I am going to come out and say it, it is a RIGHT! Rights which we enjoy not only under our constitution, (which only says our federal government was formed to PROTECT those natural rights we had BEFORE there was ever any government), rights we have due to the fact that we are human beings. We have allowed “our” government to get its foot in the door, due to prejudice and greed, and of course FEAR, and now we are paying the price. They have used this so-called War on Drugs, which is really a war on US, to take away our rights and destroy our country. 

I am sick and tired of having to listen to people who don’t know what they’re talking about tell us all that we need to continue the ‘drug war’. NO, we do NOT! We need to STOP it asap! I hope lots of people will read this book and learn the truth about the issues, STOP listening to the politicians, they do NOT do anything that is not in THEIR interests, they do NOT represent US anymore, if they ever did.

Get Rich, Stay Rich: 3 Secrets on How

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Get Rich, Stay Rich: 3 Secrets on How.

I like how these guys think. He makes some good points in this article. I read the book a while ago, it was pretty good.I have been trying to build my own wealth through real estate investing. So far, I have been keeping pretty busy with buying old, trashed properties, fixing them up and renting them out.

I’m hoping to move overseas asap. Buying rental property is my way to get there. I hope the income will allow me to move soon to somewhere more friendly to the lifestyle I want to live. Peaceful and free, friendly neighbors, lots of open land to garden and explore. I’ve been looking at Belize, Nicaragua, Chile, Ecuador, Panama, Indonesia, Thailand, and some of the Pacific Islands. I think I’ll start in Central America since it’s close enough that I can get to/from work in the Gulf of Mexico if I can’t manage to find a job overseas soon. I’ve been trying since 2007 and getting tired of it. I need to make a move soon and stop procrastinating!

Texas Police Hit Organic Farm With Massive SWAT Raid

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Texas Police Hit Organic Farm With Massive SWAT Raid.

This crap is going on every day now, all over the country, see the references in the article to SWAT raids on gay bars, organic farms, BARBER SHOPS???!! We now live in a police state and I can NOT figure out why more people are not up in arms about it. It is almost too late. When are people going to wake up enough to put a stop to it? If this keeps up much longer, something like this WILL happen to YOU! Remember what I said the other day: there are so many ‘laws’ on the books NO ONE in this country can go through a day without breaking at least one of them. Read the book Three Felonies a Day by Harvey Silverglate! You people who think ” if they’re not doing anything wrong, they have nothing to worry about” are just plain refusing to see the truth in front of your eyes.