Chocolate Glazed Chocolate Tart Recipe | Epicurious.com.
Here’s another yummy looking recipe! To add to its rating on my scale, it’s easy to make. To top it off, it’s CHOCOLATE!
Yummy!! 🙂
Chocolate Glazed Chocolate Tart Recipe
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Dilbert vs NSA
Maritime Monday for September 30th, 2013: Movies About Sailors Part 5; Sailor’s Luck
Maritime Monday for September 30th, 2013: Movies About Sailors Part 5; Sailor’s Luck | gCaptain
Yeah, I know I’m late. 😉 I’ve been so busy, I’m falling WAY behind in my emails, etc. I had hoped to be able to catch up a little bit this weekend but STILL just SO busy. I’ve only got a couple of days before I have to go back offshore and not sure what kind of access I’ll have to the internet, so trying to post a few now to keep my loyal followers happy. 😉
Here’s another from Monkey Fists’ great series on Maritime Movies. Movies About Sailors Part 5: Sailor’s Luck looks like another great batch of movies to while away a lazy afternoon.
I haven’t seen ANY of these movies which seems like something I’ll need to fix one of these days. Some of them look pretty good. I would like to watch the Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea starring Kris Kristofferson and the Sand Pebbles starring Steve McQueen (he got an Academy Award nomination for this role).
Some of the other movies look pretty good too, like Sinbad the Sailor with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Anthony Quinn and Maureen O’Hara. Should Sailors Marry? starring Clyde Cook looks interesting. Of course Sex and the Single Sailor would be high on the list. 😉
I hope Monkey Fist continues to come out with these great posts of maritime related movies. I’m saving them so if I ever do get some time to just relax one of these days, I’ll be able to just look back at my old posts and find the perfect one for my mood. Adventure, romance, comedy, drama, its all there. I hope some of you will get a chance to watch soon. I think it’ll be a while for me. Enjoy! 🙂
Free Markets: Just What the Doctor Ordered
Free Markets: Just What the Doctor Ordered | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.
This is an excellent article by former Congressman Ron Paul on the problems with our health care system. He brings up a good point and one I have mentioned myself in previous posts about the confusion of language. How the arguments we use to discuss these important issues are skewed from the very beginning because the meanings of the words we use have been twisted.
Socialism, Corporatism, Facism, Capitalism, Democracy, Republic, Liberal… all of these terms have been used and confused. Purposely? I can’t swear to it, but I would say: YES! All of these terms have been used in discussions about American politics and all of them are in one way or another accurate but it’s getting very hard to have a discussion and use any of these words and have your intention understood.
When I talk to others about Obamacare and call it socialized medicine, I am meaning simply that it is NOT in any way a free market system which is what we SHOULD have here. What we DO have here is not in any way a free market system either. Not by a long shot! We have not had anything remotely resembling a free market in health care for a LONG time!
So when the supporters of socialized health care put down the free market as the cause of the problems we have, it is just incredibly frustrating, since it is actually the socialization of our medical system which is the root cause of our problems and NOT the free markets! Ron Paul does a fairly good job explaining all this in this article.
I would just LOVE to see a real, honest discussion about how to fix our health care system (along with all our other problems). A discussion with clearly defined terms, with facts and rational arguments ONLY allowed to be brought up, instead of anecdotes and emotions over-riding all logical conclusions.
It looks like that is never going to happen. Obamacare has already been forced upon us and the emotions (hope, greed, envy, etc) have won out over reason. 🙁
Pirates Hauling $400 Million Since ’05 Pocket Little of Booty, Report Shows
Pirates Hauling $400 Million Since ’05 Pocket Little of Booty, Report Shows | gCaptain
I’m amazed they needed to do a study to learn this! Pirates work for bosses too, just like pirate leader Muse told Tom Hanks in the movie Captain Phillips. 🙁
According to the study, the pirates only get about 0.01 percent of what they manage to collect. The rest goes to the ‘financiers’. Wow!
One of the comments makes an excellent point and its too bad that no one will actually follow up on this idea…
“So! — the real crooks behind this reign of terror at sea are (as elsewhere) the financiers and the companies, who are profiting from the work of their ‘foot-soldiers’.”
Civil forfeiture: The grabbing hand of the law
Civil forfeiture: The grabbing hand of the law | The Economist.
I’m always amazed at how many people still don’t understand the way our government has changed. Our government that was formed ONLY to PROTECT our rights has somehow morphed into something intent on destroying them instead. Asset forfeiture or civil forfeiture as they call it in this article is just one particularly horrible example.
I started paying more attention to this issue years ago when I heard about a case where a man had his airplane stolen (confiscated) by the government. He spent years and thousands of dollars trying to get it back. It’s hard to fight the government when they’ve already stolen every asset you might have to pay for a lawyer to fight them with. 🙁
Since then, I’ve heard of SO many cases around the country. It’s really sad. The laws are written so that they are technically filing charges against the PROPERTY. Property is not a person. Property has no rights. Property can not defend itself. Property is guilty until proven innocent (which is VERY hard to do)!
We now have over 200 federal forfeiture statutes!! Any one of which could be used to steal everything you own. You are not likely to win any part of it back (unless you have big bucks hidden away someplace). Even then, good luck!
This article from the Economist concentrates on the Dehkos, who are fighting right now to keep their grocery store. Grocery store! Apparently the grocery store has been ‘money laundering’ for the last couple of years! Pretty obviously the grocery store is NOT guilty of anything, much less ‘money laundering’ (which is not a crime anyway since there is no victim).
This charge against the ‘grocery store’ leaves the Dehkos (who actually own/operate the store) in deep trouble. The government has already confiscated all the money they had in the bank. How hard do you think it is to run a business when all your money has just been stolen?
Thanks to the Institute for Justice (www.ij.org), the Dehkos might just have a fighting chance. They’ve stepped in to help fight government overreach and will try to help these people recover their money and their lives.
The article mentions a case involving a motel. This case was just recently settled. The Caswells spent almost 4 years fighting the attempted government theft of the property that had been in their family for generations. Thanks to the help of the Institute for Justice they were finally able to prevail. Here’s a link for more on that case http://www.ij.org/massachusetts-civil-forfeiture-release-3-15-2013. Its a pretty good example of the kinds of things going on around the country.
Sorry to say, most people in this country don’t have the help of the Institute for Justice. I wish more did. I’ve been a supporter of the IJ for years, I REALLY appreciate everything they do. Most people don’t have the resources to fight the government. So most people will lose.
It’s a legal fiction to charge the property. It is ONLY done to make it easier for the government to win its case. Cases that most probably could NOT be won if they had to play by the rules.
Take a look at some of the information posted by the Forfeiture Endangers American Rights Foundation (F.E.A.R.- www.fear.org). They’ve been at the forefront of this issue for years. They’re trying to make some very needed changes but seems they’re not making much headway. Here’s a link to a ‘position paper’ from F.E.A.R. on asset forfeiture http://www.fear.org/fposit.html.
I keep hoping that if more people only knew about all these violations of our rights. Of all the ways the government is stealing our freedoms. Of all the ways they are making our society poorer and meaner. Then people would stand up for themselves and put a stop to it. Say ‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’. I keep hoping…
Franken Berry, the Beloved Halloween Cereal, Was Once Medically Found to Cause Pink Poop
Franken Berry, the Beloved Halloween Cereal, Was Once Medically Found to Cause Pink Poop | Food & Think| Smithsonian.
Another interesting Halloween story from Smithsonian. I dimly remember something about this growing up. I thought it was kind-of cool. I mean really? Pink poop? Sounds pretty cool to most kids I think. Parents panic, but what the heck. Maybe that was part of the fun of the whole experience?
PS- they even managed to find videos of the original commercials 😉
The Haunted and the Haunting: Best Places to Visit on Halloween
The Haunted and the Haunting: Best Places to Visit on Halloween | Off the Road| Smithsonian.
Here’s a good article in honor of it being Halloween tonight. 😉
Smithsonian tells about the best places around the world to get your Halloween chills and thrills. Enjoy reading about the Blair Witch Forest, the mummies of Guanajuato, the Capuchin Catacombs, the hotel from The Shining and more.
It would be cool to do some scary stuff on Halloween. I won’t be home til late and will probably miss all the trick or treaters. 🙁
The World’s Fastest Failure
The World’s Fastest Failure | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.
Great article by Jeffrey Tucker about Obamacare and why it is such a huge failure (at least a failure if you don’t think Obama was trying to ruin the country on purpose- there are plenty who DO think that and they have some good reasons).
It’s true that this program has degenerated faster than the rest of them. Maybe it’s just because its SO big? Maybe it’s just because people are waking up? Maybe it’s because some people actually understand economics and that Obamacare can NEVER work and they’ve been able to make some progress informing others? Maybe it’s just because government has already taken over so much of the economy already? Maybe it’s just that people are sick and tired of government encroaching on our freedom?
Mr Tucker compares the government to a start-up company which has to compete in the market. He shows why government can NEVER be successful in the markets. It’s just their nature and can’t be avoided. He doesn’t think Obamacare will ever be repealed. Instead it will just collapse eventually under its own weight. I hope not, I hope it will be repealed before it collapses and also takes down the rest of the country (and us) with it. 🙁
Its worth reading and thinking about it.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Horizon
Flying in to Fourchon
I took this from the helicopter on the way in from the Ensco 8501 last hitch. We had just crossed the shoreline on the way in to Fourchon. This was a nice shot of the marshland that goes on for miles. The colors were just gorgeous. My photo doesn’t really do it justice, it’s really hard to get good photos from a helicopter with a point and shoot camera. 😉
Weekly Photo Challenge: Horizon
Chicago skyline in the evening
I took this from the observation deck of the Hancock Tower in Chicago. I was there for the AWAI Workshop last year.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Horizon
Horizon from the beach
I took this on the beach while I was at the International Living conference at the Mayakoba resort near Playa del Carmen Mexico.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Horizon
the sun sets over the clouds
I took this on the plane while flying home from the travel writing/blogging/photography workshop in Boston. I’ve been having a lot of fun with this blogging stuff since then. 😉
How the Shipping Industry is the Secret Force Driving the World Economy
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
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
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
I know I still do. Most of the time. 😉
The Enchanting Sea Monsters on Medieval Maps
The Enchanting Sea Monsters on Medieval Maps | Collage of Arts and Sciences.
Another good one from the Smithsonian this morning. I always thought those old charts were so cool. I really loved the drawings.
Those people really had some great imaginations! 🙂
Where Did the Fear of Poisoned Halloween Candy Come From?
Where Did the Fear of Poisoned Halloween Candy Come From?Smithsonian
I always figured this whole thing of the poisoned candy was some sort of old wives tale. I read this article thinking ‘here’s one more example of how we’ve been scared to death over nothing.’ I was right.
I do remember some scare stories about poisoned Tylenol and bad apples. I seem to remember a pretty big media frenzy over both of those things. I do have to admit that I can’t remember anything specific about poisoned candy or razor blades in apples.
Did all this fear really come about from Dear Abby? WOW! How have we come to let the media manipulate us all like this? I feel sorry for the kids now a days that can’t even enjoy a good time on this holiday without somebody bringing this stuff up. Let them enjoy their treats in peace please.
Reading to the end of the article really makes me wonder about people, WTF are they thinking??? (trying not to give away the story- read it- it’ll get you going!)
Thought For the Day
root of all evil
From Big Foot To Bluto, Gulf Of Mexico Set For Record Oil Supply Surge
From Big Foot To Bluto, Gulf Of Mexico Set For Record Oil Supply Surge | gCaptain
Good news for the Gulf of Mexico. At least that looks like the consensus at the moment. Somehow it seems the predictions never pan out. We go through booms and busts for reasons we never seem to figure out until after the fact.
From my perspective, the GOM does seem to be gearing up for a boom. I see more rigs heading this way, more boats being built, etc. (Check out the photos of the Olympus rig under tow in the link.) I also see more roadblocks for people who want to get into the industry which can’t help since nothing can get done without the trained workers to do the job.
I don’t see the hiring process matching any definition of the reality out here. There are lots of people looking for ways to get into the industry but the companies seem to be intent on isolating themselves behind online applications and never answered phone calls.
One other thing, the price of oil has been dropping lately. I’ve noticed the price for light crude has dropped from around $110/bbl to around $96/bbl in the last couple of months. It’s up slightly now but if it starts dropping off, so will the drilling and so once more the boom will bust.
I’m trying my best to work as much as possible now. 🙂
5 Sky Events This Week: Morning Comets and Solar Eclipse
5 Sky Events This Week: Morning Comets and Solar Eclipse – News Watch.
If I was still working as planned, I would be sure to see the (partial) solar eclipse. Nowhere better to see one than while at sea. 🙂
If you’re somewhere where you have clear, dark skies, this should be an interesting week for skywatching. Comet ISON will be visible in the constellation Leo from November 1. The Zodiacal Lights will be visible from November 2 for about 2 weeks. Then the solar eclipse on the 3rd.
For readers in Africa, you will be able to see a total eclipse! Be sure to use good shades. 😉
Texas Beach Cleanup: Update
Following up on my earlier (http://captjillsjourneys.wordpress.com/2013/09/28/texas-adopt-a-beach) post about the Texas Beach Cleanup last month, I was able to find the results of our efforts online this morning.
Stahlman Park, Fall Beach Cleanup 2013
At Surfside Beach, (which was where I went-along with a few friends), they had 1200 (!!) volunteers who cleaned up 13.35 tons of trash over 14 miles of beach! WOW! What a great turnout for a day that wasn’t expected to be nice weather wise. It was fairly windy and it actually did rain a bit after noon. And remember, Surfside Beach only has about 450 full time residents.
Houston Zoomers came down to help out
The great bunch of SaveOurBeachAssociation (www.sobatx.org) volunteers manned the home front at Stahlman Park and provided plenty of (FREE!!) hot dogs, chips and cold drinks to the hordes of cleanup crews. They served over 1800 volunteers around Brazoria County that day!! Here’s a big Thank You to S.O.B.A.!! 🙂
SOBA volunteers serving up the cleanup crews at the 2013 fall cleanup
Quintana Beach had another 174 volunteers who cleaned up 2 miles of beach and found 2.32 tons of ‘marine debris’. Yeah!!
I was not prepared to see bus after bus unloading at Stahlman Park and along the beach. People came from all over the area: representatives from Houston, Galveston and even further away. It was great to see so many people out and about, helping out. School kids in uniforms, church groups, civics clubs, sports teams…Young and old, all colors, all types, from prim and proper to young punks to grizzly old fishermen.
Bus unloads helpers at Surfside Beach
I didn’t really understand until I got there and started wandering the beach how the data would be gathered. It was a little harder than expected to keep track of every piece of garbage we found, from cigarette butts, bottle caps, plastic and glass bottles (none with messages inside), plastic bags, soda cans, plastic cutlery and tiny pieces of unrecognizable plastic to dead fish, old tires, fishing line, floats, escaped balloons, etc. The organizers gave us tally cards along with our collection bags. Great job everyone!
Assigned search areas for Surfside Beach 2013
You can see the results for all of Texas here…http://www.glo.texas.gov/adopt-a-beach/pdfs/results/2013-fall-results.pdf.
And if you want to help out with the next one, you can find more information on that here: http://www.glo.texas.gov/adopt-a-beach/cleanups/overview.html
Worldwide, the place to go is: http://www.oceanconservancy.org/our-work/international-coastal-cleanup/sign-up-to-clean-up.html
I had a lot of fun at this event. It was a wonderful way to get out of the house, play on the beach, enjoy the natural world, learn something new, have a good time with friends old and new. I hope I’ll be able to make the next one. I didn’t know it until I looked it up for this post, but there are at least 3 more cleanups in Texas coming up before the main one in Spring (April 26, 2014).
Just curious, but did anybody make it to one of these events where you live?
Surfside Beach 2013 Fall Cleanup
Gary Johnson at Stop Watching Me Rally
Gary Johnson speaks at the Stop Watching Me Rally last Saturday. I wish I could have been there. Gary Johnson should have had the chance to speak during the last Presidential campaign, but like Ron Paul, he was shut out by the mainstream media and their bosses in the Democrat and Republican parties(y). Too bad. He has lot of GOOD ideas. Listen for yourself…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1iljZltuc_w
Filthy-Minded Teenager
Filthy-Minded Teenager | OnEarth Magazine.
This sure sounds like a great idea. It looks feasible. It’s great to hear about kids coming up with such new and interesting ideas. We sure can use all the help we can get on coming up with practical solutions to all the problems we have (mostly self inflicted).
A comment below the article ( http://ecowatch.com/2013/04/09/fallacy-cleaning-gyres-of-plastic-with-ocean-cleanup-array/), leads to another really great article about the issue of plastic polluting the oceans.
So this might not really be a solution after all. Maybe at least its a starting point. So far, I haven’t heard (but Stiv Wilson has) of anybody else coming up with anything to try to get rid of all that crap floating around out there in the middle of the ocean and washing up on our beaches. 🙁
Read both articles for a good idea of what’s really happening out there.
14 Halloween Cocktail Recipes
14 Halloween Cocktail Recipes : Decorating : Home & Garden Television.
It looks like I’m going to miss all the Halloween parties this year (again). Here are some scary looking Halloween treats for the grown ups to enjoy while the kids are out hunting for candy. 😉
Instead of the usual Zombies in celebration of Halloween, I’d like to try some of that Pumpkin Spice Halloween Punch or maybe try a Liquefied Ghost or a Vampire, after a few of those I might be ready for some Bloody Brain Shooters (braaaaiiiinnnss)!
Save me some!! 🙂
OSV Crew in Africa Performs Toto’s “Africa”
WATCH: OSV Crew in Africa Performs Toto’s “Africa” in Viral Video | gCaptain
Great job by the crew of the Bourbon Peridot!
Working in Africa is one of the most dangerous places in the world for working seafarers. At least these guys still have a sense of humor. 🙂
It’s nice to see there are some places in the world where we can still enjoy doing our jobs. It’s encouraging to think that there is still some hope to find a shipboard job where its not all about the ISM, IMO, SMS, USCG, BSEE, and all the other alphabet soup that organizes our every move.
In the USA, the lawyers and accountants have taken all the fun out of the job. We would NEVER be allowed to do something like this here anymore. I see ‘no horseplay’ posted on almost every vessel now and the companies here do take that very seriously.
Someone would be hounding these guys about their JSA, and where the heck is their PPE? Gloves, safety glasses (with side shields), steel toes, long sleeved fire-resistant clothing, ear plugs, hardhats, etc. No one is allowed out the door here without all that on! 🙁
And OMG!!! He had a KNIFE! Not an alternative cutting device! He would be fired immediately! Sailors without knives are like birds without feathers. A necessary part of our garb has been stripped away from us. A safety item has been declared ‘too risky’ for us to use!! What total BS!!
No wonder most sailors who have been anywhere other than the USA are so desperate to get away from this place again and will work pretty much ANYWHERE else. Personally, I am willing to take quite a pay cut in order to enjoy my job again. Too bad that’s what they’ve done to this place. 🙁
Hey, anybody over there need a good DPO??? I’m available any time. 😉
The Phony ‘Fight’ And The Real Story
The Phony ‘Fight’ And The Real Story : Personal Liberty™.
Another good article from Bob Livingston and Personal Liberty. This one is discussing the events of the last few weeks, the fight over the budget and Obamacare. The scare tactic to ‘shutdown’ the government, as if that is a bad thing we would never want. As usual, the politicians caved in for bigger government, more money and more power for them. 🙁
I agree completely with Bob on the idea that there is really only ONE party in this country. We might as well just call it the ‘statist’ party since every piece of it (every so called ‘independent’ party), whatever it’s called, is for BIG government.
As the latest vote in congress just proved once more, BOTH the Democrats AND Republicans are for BIG government and completely against the limited government this country is supposed to have according to our Constitution and all the rest of our founding documents!
ALL of those politicians are breaking their oaths of office to uphold the Constitution. EVERY ONE OF THEM, FROM BOTH PARTIES! The Libertarians are the ONLY political party (unless there is an anarchist party I’m not aware of) who is NOT statist and is for the limited government our Constitution calls for.
The latest ‘shutdown’ was just one more farce. The latest show put on for us by ‘our’ leaders to trick us into giving up even more of our power to them. 🙁 I just keep wondering just WHAT is it going to take to get the American people to wake up? To put a stop to this?
I managed to piss off a good friend of mine tonight. He’s a die hard Obama fan and just couldn’t take any more of my ‘ranting’ about how Obama (and all of our previous ‘leaders’ for the last few decades) has been ruining this country.
Well, sorry to him and anybody else who can’t/won’t see the truth. I’m no Tom Paine, but I think the more people put it out there (shout out for freedom/liberty), the more people will come to their senses.
I’m thankful to all the other people in this country and around the world who are fighting for Liberty. In any way. Thanks to the Libertarian Party, to all the small L libertarians, to the Free State Project, to the Advocates for Self Government, to the International Society for Individual Liberty, to the Young Americans for Liberty, for Ron Paul and all his supporters, for the ACLU, for the Gun Owners of America, for the Institute for Justice, for ALL the people fighting AGAINST statism and FOR liberty!
I’m thankful to WordPress, Facebook, Twitter and any other platform I have to spread the word. To get MY voice heard, out there to compete against the mainstream media who keeps on NOT doing their jobs. Dianne Feinstein can go to hell! Here’s to me and the rest of the (‘non-journalist’) bloggers out there!
Keep up the good work!! 🙂
Obama vs Nixon…
Hard to believe he still hasn’t been charged with anything, he’s done a hell of a lot more to hurt this country then Nixon ever even thought of. He swore an oath to uphold the Constitution (or he SHOULD have) and he has done nothing since he’s been in office but work to destroy it. 🙁
He should have been MORE than impeached over this illegal spying. Don’t even try to tell me he didn’t know about it. He knew. Therefore he was complicit. As the leader of the Executive Branch, he was ultimately responsible. Since he was a ‘constitutional law professor’, he KNEW every bit of every one of those programs was unconstitutional (and so illegal) and it was HIS duty to destroy ALL of them! Period!!
Instead, he chose to destroy the constitution. He should be drug out of the White House on his ass, tarred and feathered and then thrown in a (regular) prison for the rest of his life! And yes, Bush should have had the same treatment for Iraq and the PATRIOT ACT. (But Obama has done NOTHING to get rid of that horrible ‘law’, and our people are STILL in Iraq and Obama could have brought ALL of them home years ago!)
I can’t think of ANY other reason he’s still in office and has evaded the trouble that even Clinton had except that Obama is ‘black’. Yeah, I know, I’m going to be accused of racism. Well, accuse away…
I know I’m not a racist and that anyone who brings that up is only doing it because they have nothing else to say. They have NO rational argument to make, so they start calling names. All those high hopes for our first black president from so many people. Obama has sure given the shaft to the next few dozen blacks who might want to run. It’ll take a LONG time to get rid of his ‘legacy’. I only hope this country can survive the rest of his term. 🙁
I am SO sad to see what has become of my once great country. ALL of our presidents for the last few decades (at least) have been working overtime to destroy that history but Obama is the one in there now and he needs to GO before he’s allowed to do any more damage!
The Founders Understood The Dangers Of Welfare And Redistribution Schemes
The Founders Understood The Dangers Of Welfare And Redistribution Schemes : Personal Liberty™.
Along with my last post, here is one more example of how the meanings of the words have been corrupted and now we are basing our political system on misunderstandings.
I have had discussions with a lot of people who say that the ‘welfare clause’ in the Constitution authorizes the federal government to do what they do. That they can continue to spend any amount of money on any program they choose to invent as long as it is intended to ‘help’ somebody.
I disagree. I disagree vehemently!! This article has some direct quotes from Benjamin Franklin and James Madison proving that my interpretation of the word welfare in the Constitution is the correct one and anyone who uses that term to justify ANY of the welfare (for rich or poor) today is just plain WRONG!
Alienable Rights = Glorified Privileges
Alienable Rights = Glorified Privileges.
Very good article by Kelly Diamond! I have been noticing for a LONG time that most people don’t have any kind of idea of what ‘rights’ are. This article does a good job of explaining what they are.
People now a days seem totally confused. They don’t seem to understand that there is a BIG difference between natural rights (which belong to everyone regardless of whether any person or even government recognizes that fact) and those ‘rights’ we enjoy because of the society we live in.
Because of this confusion, we are losing more and more of our natural rights. Our government, which was expressly created for the sole purpose of PROTECTING those rights is instead intent on chipping them away to nothing.
Diamond makes some good points about the ‘freedom of the press’ guaranteed to us by our Constitution and how Dianne Feinstein (and others) are working right now to restrict that freedom even more. As a blogger (and hopefully one day able to do more), I am NOT happy with the arrogance of ‘our leaders’ latest attempts to decide who can and can not be considered a journalist re: freedom of the press.
ALL of us should be considered able to publicize whatever we feel is news. That is what the internet has done for ALL of us! Who the hell does Feinstein think she is, to decide what can and can’t be published? Who can/can’t be considered a ‘real’ journalist? What information is OK or NOT OK to be publicized?
The reason the founders included ‘freedom of the press’ in the Bill of Rights was to ensure that we could always get information that the government might prefer to keep secret! The mainstream media has not been doing their job at all for the last few years (at least). Thank goodness for the internet and ordinary people posting to the internet!
Blowing in the “Vind”
This is a very interesting concept. I would love to see how these ships actually perform. It didn’t mention in the article if they had one built yet, so I have to assume they haven’t got that far.
If this really works the way they explain in the article -like a very large sailboat using the hull itself as a sail- then I think it would really do what they claim (save 60% on fuel and 80% on emissions).
I hope they hurry up and get a few built so they can test their theories. 🙂
NOAA announces end of traditional paper nautical charts
NOAA announces end of traditional paper nautical charts – Professional Mariner
Oh NOoooooo!! As a navigation officer, I have used both paper charts and a few different kinds of electronic charts. I MUCH prefer paper!
There are so many things I can think of where paper charts would be better. Especially for small boat operations. Especially for sailboats. First of all, they are very limited in the available power on board. What happens when the power goes out? At least with paper charts, you could still make your way safely to a port of your choosing. With only electronic charts, you would be lost (literally). 🙁
Lots of people do like the electronic charts, they’re easy to use (sometimes), but I personally think they can be dangerous (not ONLY when the power goes out). For one thing, its not as easy to get a good overview, to see the big picture, as on a paper chart. For another thing, its harder to make sure what you set it up for is still what you wanted when you are using it. For another thing, it’s very easy to become complacent using them.
Yeah, it’s supposed to be so much easier to use electronic and especially to keep them all updated. I don’t think so. AND, we are still required to keep paper charts on-board if we don’t have a backup to an electronic chart.
I don’t even want to get into the whole thing of all the required ‘training’ that’s being forced on us because of the new electronic chart requirements (but I will since its such a big deal). 😉
We didn’t need to spend many thousands of dollars to get trained to use a paper chart. Or re-take that expensive training for every ship we might sail on that had a chart from another country. I could use American charts, or I could use BA charts and I would NOT have to take another expensive class to learn how to use the different style of chart.
That’s NOT how things work with electronic charts. The IMO in its ultimate wisdom has decided that we will have to be trained in a ‘ship specific’ ECDIS course! OK, call me a Luddite, but paper still has an important place IMHO and I still want some! SO, now what?
Will we have to go get BA charts from the UK now? 🙁