Beer vs. Oil: Beer Wins | Mother Jones

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Captain Jill

I’m glad to hear the beer people won. I still wonder where the oil people will go next. They need to be able to go SOMEWHERE. This mess will probably NEVER be totally cleaned up. I don’t know for sure, but even if it DOES get totally cleaned up, it will take years, probably a LOT of years. I work in the oil industry and happy to, but I also realize that no matter what they say, ALL accidents are NOT preventable! As long as we use oil for practically everything in modern society, we WILL have to put up with risks of this kind of thing. I would like to see more work on alternative energy. I see they are coming up with more and better systems. Maybe one day soon they will come up with something comparable in price and efficiency with oil based energy. I sure do hope so. I am looking into getting solar panels for my house and they are SO expensive and not very efficient. It will cost me a fortune to put them up and take years to pay for themselves. I would put up a windmill too but “not allowed”. Why do we still have so many restrictions on being allowed to USE alternative energy sources????

Your Steak Is Addicted to Drugs | Mother Jones

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Captain Jill

Your Steak Is Addicted to Drugs | Mother Jones.

I’ve never liked these factory farms, just for the way they treat the animals. I always thought they were necessary in order to feed the increasing amounts of people on the planet. I saw a movie a few months ago. I think it was called “Farmaggedon”. It was talking about how organic farming is actually MORE productive than these factory type farms. I don’t know if I believe that or not yet (I haven’t had time to research it yet). If it IS true, then I don’t see any way these factory operations can be justified.

Tom’s Kitchen: Ratatouille, the Classic Summer Veggie Stew | Mother Jones

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Captain Jill

Tom’s Kitchen: Ratatouille, the Classic Summer Veggie Stew | Mother Jones.

This sounds like it might actually be good. Sounds simple enough to make it.

Texas Police Hit Organic Farm With Massive SWAT Raid

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Captain Jill

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.

Maritime Monday for August 26th, 2013: Part VII; The Final Reel | gCaptain

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Captain Jill

Maritime Monday for August 26th, 2013: Part VII; The Final Reel | gCaptain

This is the final installation of the series on maritime movies that gcaptain has been putting out in their maritime monday emails. They have sent out a huge listing of movies with pictures and short blurbs about the movies. I’ll have to go back when I get time and post the first ones since they came out before I started this blog (or you can go to gcaptain). If you’re at all interested in film, you might want to check this out, there are some good ones in there. Enjoy 🙂

Saving Democracy with Civic Literacy in America 101

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Captain Jill

Saving Democracy with Civic Literacy in America 101.

I liked seeing this article (in Utne Reader) and I really agree with pretty much everything they said about the need for civic education. I remember we used to have classes in civics in elementary school. I still remember a lot of what I was taught then and I still really believe in all that stuff. I am a strong supporter of the constitution and wish more people around me were. I think people need to have a good understanding of the constitution and the principles behind it. I do disagree with the writers when they say that what made our country great was BIG government! WOW!! I totally disagree with that! In fact, I think its the complete opposite. We became great because we had the FREEDOM that having a SMALL government gave us! We are still living off the productivity those years provided. Now we are losing our freedom, our prosperity, our strength and influence in the world because we have strayed from our founding principles and our government has become so huge it has taken over everything here. You can’t do ANYTHING here anymore without government somehow being involved. You can’t get though a day without breaking at least one law anymore. There’s a book out, its called “Three Felonies a Day” by Harvey Silverglate. I haven’t read it yet but just the title makes it sound like something I would really get into 😉

Art Created From Undocumented Immigrants’ Discarded Objects – Politics – Utne Reader

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Captain Jill

Art Created From Undocumented Immigrants’ Discarded Objects – Politics – Utne Reader.

I really would have to see the art to say anything about it. I have been to museums before, looked at a piece of ‘art’ they had there and said to myself, “WTF”??? I really don’t see what makes a simple black or white painted canvas “art”, or at least what makes that art good enough to cost thousands of dollars to hang in a museum.

My idea of art is probably not the official definition but I think art is something that creates a response in the audience. I expect that this art does. According to the article, it has already pissed off at least one right winger (blogger Debbie Schlussel-in case anyone here follows her- I never heard of her til now).

I think its a good thing to stir up emotions, to make people feel, hopefully to eventually make them THINK. That is what I am hoping to do with this blog. I was glad to see this article in Utne Reader since I think the US-Mexico border is something we really need to THINK about as a nation. I have never really agreed with the whole idea of keeping people in/out of a place. I think ALL people should be able to travel freely. Of course, that will get me vilified by most of the people in the USA. I am not really sure about the whole job/employment situation as to: do the immigrants (illegal) take away jobs or lower the wages for those of us already here? I have seen studies that show the illegal immigrants put in just as much or more than they take out of the system. I DO think the major problem most ordinary people have with immigrants (especially illegal ones) is the fact that we have a huge welfare state now and so they get all kinds of ‘freebies”. My solution would be to stop the original problem first, which would be the welfare state. This country was NOT intended to work that way, its founding principles will not support that outlook. We are supposed to be a country of FREE men, that is incompatible with any kind of welfare state! How can you be dependent and free at the same time?

Hope to get some comments on this post since I really have more to say but I’ve got to run off to class this morning. More later (maybe).

The Weekend Vigilante August 24, 2013

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Captain Jill

The Weekend Vigilante August 24, 2013.

I’m a subscriber and I really love this email newsletter I get, TDV (the Dollar Vigilante). Its written by Jeff Berwick and his team of libertarians/anarchists. I wish I had his ability to get my thoughts out so well and to so many people. I wish more people would pay attention and wake up to what is happening around us, the daily loss of liberty here in the USA. I am to the point of desperation to leave, but still stuck here trying to figure out a way to support myself anywhere outside of this country. I am SO tired of beating my head against the wall. I am SO tired of trying to explain to people here that we are NOT a democracy but a constitutional republic, and that we have certain inalienable rights that are NEVER subject to a majority vote. That our actual rights belong to us as an integral part of our being human beings, they do NOT come from any government! Our so-called leaders violate our rights continually and no one seems to care. I just don’t get it and I guess I never will, WHY do so many people choose to live as sheep instead of accepting the freedom they were born to?

Designing a Better Windmill

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Captain Jill

Designing a Better Windmill.

I would like to see more use of renewable energy sources. My father was an engineer and invented a couple of different types of wind and current generators while I was growing up. Too bad he was never allowed to test them out or put them to use. The ‘city’ we lived in was run by morons and of course they had ‘rules’ against anything like that! It didn’t matter if any of those projects would actually have hurt anybody, it was “against the rules” and those rules could NEVER be questioned, no matter how stupid and anti-creativity or even anti-life they might be. Rules were rules and had to be followed no matter what. WOW! Most of the people I grew up with didn’t pay much attention to the rules but those generators were too big to be left undiscovered by the enforcers of the rules for long enough to be useful, so they never got built. Things have gotten even worse now. Most people now seem to go along with the rules without even bothering to question them. I feel more and more like an alien in my own country every day.

Sun setting over the clouds

Posted on August 24, 2013 by Captain Jill

on the way to Boston, watching the sun set over the clouds

2013 Utne Media Awards: The Winners

Posted on August 24, 2013 by Captain Jill

2013 Utne Media Awards: The Winners.

This is one of my all time favorite magazines. Their motto used to be ‘The best of the alternative press”, now it is “cure ignorance”. I love it! They always have the most interesting articles, reviews of books, music, movies, etc. I don’t usually agree a whole lot with their writers point of view, but I always enjoy reading it anyway. (That’s a compliment)

Music Review: Stars and Satellites – Media – Utne Reader

Posted on August 24, 2013 by Captain Jill

Music Review: Stars and Satellites – Media – Utne Reader

Check it out, some cool music 🙂

Undercover Agents Infiltrated Tar Sands Resistance Camp to Break up Planned Protest

Posted on August 24, 2013 by Captain Jill

Undercover Agents Infiltrated Tar Sands Resistance Camp to Break up Planned Protest.

Here we go again. Just like usual, government agents infiltrating and spying on people where they have no right or justification to do so. Where was the probable cause for a warrant? We DO have freedom of association and freedom of speech and we also have the right to peacefully protest and petition to address our concerns. The constant spying by the government ( I refuse to call it “our” anymore since it no longer represents me at all now a days and has completely broken its contract with me -and all of us), has become the norm and somehow people have accepted it. I do not understand the complacency at all. What is wrong with people that they can’t see the danger in allowing the government to violate the constitution like this? It goes on CONSTANTLY now, they violate daily every one of the Bill of Rights except the 3rd (the one about quartering soldiers in our houses). I cheered the Egyptians for fighting for their freedoms the whole while wondering why we are not up in arms. We have a whole lot more to be angry about than they do. Yet we sit here quiet as a mouse, submitting to a strip search every time we want to go somewhere. No protests by anybody over it. I am grinding my teeth and its all I can do to keep my mouth shut so I will be ‘allowed’ to travel. By the time I get to the x-ray machine I am fuming! The TSA NAZI tells me to “have a nice day” and I tell them that’s impossible while they are violating my rights. So far, they haven’t hauled me off to prison or put me on the no-fly list but I’m sure it’ll happen sooner or later. How the hell did we ever get to this point? More important, what is it going to take to get people to do something about it????

How Robot Swarms and Cloud Umbrellas Could Help Save Coral Reefs | Innovations

Posted on August 24, 2013 by Captain Jill

How Robot Swarms and Cloud Umbrellas Could Help Save Coral Reefs | Innovations.

I don’t know if there is really anything we can do to save the reefs (other than to limit the growth of the human population on this planet- either start using birth control or find a way to put some of us on the moon). I think its sad that we all just want to live our lives the best we can and we are justified in thinking that way, but we have no sense of how we have advanced our science so much to allow us to overcome all the limiting factors on our population. We use all the benefits of modern technology and so our population has exploded. People do not seem willing to limit their reproduction to 1-2 children (at least until their economic situation improves past a certain point). I do see it starting to happen, I just hope its not already too late with so many billions of us running around already. Personally, I would prefer it if EVERY person alive on Earth could live a decent, happy, productive life with everything they need and want available to them, rather than just keep on producing more and more people just because we’re somehow special and we deserve to live more than all the other things that share the planet with us.

Why Are So Many Dolphins Washing Up Dead on the East Coast? | Surprising Science

Posted on August 24, 2013 by Captain Jill

Why Are So Many Dolphins Washing Up Dead on the East Coast? | Surprising Science.

Very sad. I hope they figure out what is happening to the dolphins. I’ve always loved seeing them out there. They always seem so happy. I always thought, if I ever got reincarnated, I would like to come back as a dolphin 🙂

Pirates Move Hijacked Fishing Vessel to Somali Coast | gCaptain

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Captain Jill

Pirates Move Hijacked Fishing Vessel to Somali Coast | gCaptain

Its way past time we cracked down on these pirates. What the hell is wrong with our priorities these days. We go around the world bombing people all over the place who haven’t done anything and yet we can’t manage to do ANYTHING about these pirates???? What the hell? Pirates were one of the first things we attacked back in the early days of our country and if we had good enough reason then, we have good enough reason now. Stop droning the people of Iraq and Afghanistan and go drone some pirates instead!

Boston- full moon over the marina

Image

Night on the river walk

WOW Conference coming up!

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Captain Jill

I wanted to get this out there in case anyone was interested and planning to go this year. WOW = Women on the Water. I haven’t had time to check into it much myself yet. At the moment it looks like I’ll be off and so will plan to go. Its going to be Oct 31-Nov 2 at SUNY (Bronx, NY). Here’s the link to the website. Its www.sunymaritime.edu/wow

If anyone is interested in going, be sure to contact me. We can be sure to get together at the conference. I went to the one at Texas A & M in Galveston a couple of years ago and had a blast! Come on, a couple hundred SEAFARING women??? You know we had a great time 🙂

PS- men ARE welcome too

Catching up

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Captain Jill

Wow! I’ve been busy the last couple of days… I did manage to get off the rig on Tuesday morning. Confusion with crew change up to the very last minute. The original plan was to change out at Fourchon and fly from New Orleans to Houston. Plans changed Monday noon time. Now we were going to have to fly out of Lake Charles. So, scrambling to change my reliefs flights so he could get to Lake Charles by 0530 to catch the helicopter. Flying from there added about an hour onto the flights since we had to stop in Fourchon to get more fuel. They made it to the rig and we all got off, had some interesting weather on the way in. Lots of squalls, lightning in some of them. I was glad when we landed.

So, from Lake Charles, they picked me up and we drove straight to the airport in Houston. I had some time there to relax a little bit before my flight to Boston. I got in after midnight and didn’t get to sleep until about 0200.

The blogging workshop was great. I got a lot out of it. We did some critiques of the blogs some of the others had started already. I met a bunch of really fantastic, interesting people. We continued our fun and conversations over drinks and dinner at the hotel. So, another late night for me 🙂

Today we started the actual travel writing workshop. We learned some tips to help us catch the editors attention and some rules for great photos. There was about 100 people there. Again, I met some of the most interesting people. From all over the world, Australia, Italy, France, South Africa, Canada, Ireland, and all over the US. Happy hour tonight (with free drinks and snacks) helped us get to know each other a bit better.

I’ll try to catch up and get a few more things on here tonight but will have to stop soon, another early wakeup tomorrow 😉

I’ll try to get some photos on here in the next couple of days, I’ve got a great view of the river from my window. The moon has been full and I managed to get some decent shots from the window on arrival. Last night I went back downstairs (outside) to get some better ones 🙂

Libertarian Party calls for restoring the Fourth Amendment | Libertarian Party

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Captain Jill

Libertarian Party calls for restoring the Fourth Amendment | Libertarian Party.

I vote Libertarian whenever I can. I figure if they are willing to run for office with that label that puts them at such a disadvantage from the start, they must REALLY believe in the principles of liberty. I haven’t seen any candidate from any other party worth voting for in decades. I will vote for freedom and individual liberty on every issue every time and I refuse to support anyone who will take away my freedom. We have already given up WAY too much of our freedoms. Just in my lifetime, we have lost SO much of it. I will never allow FEAR to dictate my choices, my life. I can’t stand it that the people of this country seem to be willing to give everything up for the false feeling of safety and security they get from listening to the government. Its like we’ve morphed from the ‘land of the free and home of the brave’ to the place full of whiny little irresponsible babies who want to be ‘taken care of’ from birth to death. I just wonder what ever gave people the idea that anything like that could even be possible, much less achievable?

10 Simple Things You Can Do Today That Will Make You Happier, Backed By Science – The Buffer Blog

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Captain Jill

10 Simple Things You Can Do Today That Will Make You Happier, Backed By Science – The Buffer Blog.

A friend sent me this post in an email today (thanks Suellen). I thought it made a lot of sense. When I tried to track it down in order to post it on here, I found out it was originally on a blog. That blog looks like it might be very interesting, especially for other bloggers, I’m going to sign up 🙂 Its called Buffer, A blog about productivity, life hacks, writing, user experience, customer happiness and business.

Maritime Professional – Whaleship Charles W Morgan

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Captain Jill

Maritime Professional – Whaleship Charles W Morgan.

Its really too bad they don’t sail more of these old ships. They just got done with a huge restoration project! The perfect time to go sailing. But they have no plans to use it for anything but a museum. What a WASTE!

What’s going on with me today

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Captain Jill

OK, this blog has been fun so far 🙂 I’ve been learning so much. Still have a lot to go. I’ve just been putting some of the interesting stuff I come across during the day on here. Tomorrow morning I’ll be leaving the rig and heading to Boston for a class on writing/photography/blogging (by AWAI). I’m REALLY cutting it close. I didn’t plan on being on the move on the rig for crew change. I just have to hope things don’t get too screwed up in the morning and I can make it to the airport in Houston on time. The way things are supposed to work is: my relief will arrive at the heliport in Lake Charles, LA by 0530. They will leave around daylight as long as the weather looks good (no rain). They will have to stop in Fourchon for fuel so they should get out here by 0800? They will fuel again here. We should leave here by 0900, stop to fuel up in Fourchon and hopefully arrive in Lake Charles by 1100. I have a driver waiting for me there and IF all goes well, we should make it to IAH (Bush Intercontinental) by 1500. Nothing usually works out as scheduled in the oilfield! If I make it to IAH on time, I’ll hang out in the lounge and might be able to get on here to say a few things. My flight leaves at 1900, I arrive in Boston at midnight. So, straight to the hotel and BED! Up at 0600 to get ready for class at 0800! WOW! I am really excited about it. I hope I can absorb everything they’re going to be teaching us 😉