Launch Day!

Although the Hurricane was launched a week ago, apart from driving it round to its berth from the ramp, it's taken a week for us to get out on the water.  Well we finally went out for our first cruise of the season on a perfect day.  Flat water, few other craft and warm temperatures.  Here we are back again in our dock, where S.W.M.B.O. and the boys have hidden themselves in the shade.

Chris Ross - R.I.P.

I was very sorry to hear of the death of an old friend, Chris Ross of Woking, England.  I first met Chris in the early 60's when we both would play snooker at the Woking Conservative Club, when it was located on the main street of the town.  When the club moved just outside the center we moved our games with it.  He was a brilliant player and eventually won both the English amateur snooker championship, and also the national billiard championship.  He had a maximum break of 147 in Epsom once, and knowing I worked there he hoped I might wander in at the momentous moment.  For years he was stuck on 136 which he achieved on the night Kennedy was assassinated.  He taught me a lot about the game and very occasionally I would beat him, but it was only very occasionally!  He was a master of positional play, and he was a joy to watch. I last met him at the Woking Snooker Center where this picture was taken.  It was about ten years ago.

Video - Birds of Paradise

When my friend Paul in England sent me this video - I though it might be a clip from Valley Girls!  However it seems to be genuinely about flying objects in Borneo.  It takes about 5:30 and is well worth the time to watch. https://www.youtube.com/embed/REP4S0uqEOc

Sunday's Column - West Inn and Suites

This week my column was wrested away from me by Frankie - the senior of the two Poodles who share our lives.  The article is about the West Inn and Suites down in Carlsbad, a dog friendly hotel.  We had been there before to write about the hotel and restaurants, but this time we stayed and checked out the overnight facilities.  Naturally the "boys"came along and Frankie did quite a nice piece on it from a dog's point of view.  You can read the entire article at http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_23224692/people-at-west-inn-and-suites-carlsbad-are

Right Track - Taxes

It's a fairly well known and accepted fact that those on the left like to raise taxes, while those on the right want to lower them.  It's a struggle that has been going on throughout out my lifetime.  Now the president has submitted his budget and no surprise that being on the left of things, he wants more taxes.

Now what I'd like to know is how much is enough?  It's a simple question, but one I've never heard an argument on.  Many years ago when Dennis Healey was the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK we had a top rate of 99%. Naturally it didn't generate any extra revenues.  So how much is enough?  How much should the government be able to take from the wage packets of those still lucky enough to have a job?

Tirade - Boston

No doubt you are a little tired of the continuing media obssession with why the Boston bombers did what they did.  I received this interesting email from my friend Jim in Pasadena, it explains a lot.  Not why they did it but who cares.  Read on...

Now the news media will spend days trying to determine why these men did what they did in Boston. They will want to know what America did to make these brothers so angry with us. They will want to know why these men were not arrested before they did something unlawful. The media will be in a tissy about the new era of home grown radicals and about how they could live among us and still hate us.

Here in west Texas, I have rattlesnakes on my place. I have killed a rattlesnake on the front porch. I have killed a rattlesnake on the back porch. I have killed rattlesnakes in the barn, in the shop and on the driveway. I kill every rattlesnake I encounter. I kill rattlesnakes because a rattlesnake will bite me and inflict me with poison. I don’t stop to wonder why a rattlesnake will bite me. It will bite me because it is a rattlesnake and that is what rattlesnakes do. I don’t try to reason with a rattlesnake…I just kill it. I don’t try to get to know the rattlesnake better so that I can find a way to live with the rattlesnakes and convince them not to bite me…I just kill them. I don’t quiz a rattlesnake to see if I can find out where the other snakes are because (a) it won’t tell me (b) I already know that they live on my place…I just kill the rattlesnake and move on to the next one. I don’t look for ways that I might be able to change the rattlesnake to a non poison rat snake. I just kill it. Oh, and on occasion I kill a rat snake, because I thought it was a rattlesnake at the time. Also, I know that for every rattlesnake that I kill, two more lurk out there. In my lifetime I will never be able to rid my place of rattlesnakes. Do I fear them? No! Do I respect what they can do to me? Yes! And because of that respect I give them their fair justice….I kill them. Maybe as a country we should give more credit to the jihadist just being a rattlesnake!

Music Track - The Good the Bad and the Ugly

I'm a big fan of the spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone.  I was sent this interesting track by my friend Kevin in the Marina.  It's a different approach and after a lead in of about 1:15 you'll get to the recognisable part. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLgJ7pk0X-s&feature=player_popout

Warranties

I've posted a couple of comments about TV's recently.  We've had a little activity on that front and not the least was an experience with our main TV about a month ago.  It went wrong.  It didn't just fade away like the old ones used to do, but it lost its picture and instead made a really loud buzzing electronic noise, which scared the dogs.  We began looking at adverts for a replacement and even went to the local store.  It's a fairly big item so we were not in a rush as we could still coax the old one - about three years old by the way - into life by switching it off and on.

Now, when I buy electronics I'm always offered their extended warranty and I usually refuse, having a childlike belief in the march of technology.  So it was an odd instinct that made me look in my files and there I found a warranty for this set.  I was amazed and She Who Must Be Obeyed (SWMBO) looked glowingly at me for quite some time!  As a result an attempt was made by the firm's man to repair the TV, but in the end, I was offered a free replacement.  As I wrapped up the deal at the store they offered me another extended warranty; you can be sure I agreed to it!

Flat Screens

This week sees the last of our boxy TV's going to charity.  It's not that easy getting rid of such items these days and the local secondhand shop turned its nose up at my offer.  Having had a rental unit or two and a second home, we seem to have overloaded on the TV's and I'm not sorry to see this batch go.

We are now a flat screen only family and I'm happy about that.  Looking back to my first TV when I was about 14, things seem to have developed incredibly in my lifetime.  The only problem now is that even a big flat screen is easy for a burglar to pick up and carry out of the house.

Video - Two Minute History

I'm grateful to my friend Don in Orange County for this superb two minute history of the world.  When it comes to human history, I'm reminded of Isaak Asimov's quotation about it: "A dark turbulent stream of folly, punctuated by occasional flashes of genius." http://marcbrecy.perso.neuf.fr/history.html

Right Track - Racism

This is the second cartoon that I received from my friend Jim in Pasadena.  I think I identify with the little boy in this one very much.

Tirade - Emergency Alert System

Once again the do-gooders are dominating our lives.  In yet another attempt to remove all risk from our simple existances, we now have the Emergency Alert System.  Now I'm not totally against the idea, but really do we have to test this thing all the time.  When one is watching something on TV, is it really necessary for this nasty electronic buzz to start.  There are some shadowy graphics put on the screen and then an unpleasant bureaucratic voice telling us what to do in the case of an emergency.  It reminds me of Big Brother.  Could we not take a chance and accept that in the most unlikely event of a real emergency, which we will no doubt be too late to avoid anyway, that this vile intrusion be left alone and not constantly tested.  Or would that mean some department would have to close down or at least contract?  Come on People!

Music Track - Freedom

I haven't seen the movie Django Unchained, but one thing I know is that it will have some great music in it.  Tarantino movies always do.  Here is a track from it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcxiPimGz8k

Global Warming?

I'm going to stray into dangerous waters here.  I've always been a little sceptical about global warming - particularly when the proponents of it tried to alter the name to climate change.  It seems that the argument is based around having to pay more in fines and taxes, or be labelled a "denyer" or worse some type of heretic.  The fact remains that in my seven decades, I've not noticed a lot of change and I've never heard a serious debate on the subject.  Once again believers are only interested in shutting down any opposition.

I read an article in the British paper The Daily Telegraph on the subject the other day.  It showed this graph, which I'm sure is accurate.  A number of commentators at the bottom of the article swore the facts had been manipulated with doubtful start and stop dates.  But as with any religion, and this seems to have reached that level, advocates will never accept counter theories.  So the argument goes on.  But in the meantime could someone tell me how in Medieval times, England produced so many wine grapes that the French had to put an embargo on them.  England's climate is not warm enough to grow wine grapes without glasshouse heating, which they didn't have in those far off times.  They also had many fewer people and no evil fossil fuels.  Beats me!