With this Barack Obama becomes the 44th president of the United States. I wish him all the luck, success and support that President Bush had, especially from the media, Hollywood and Congress. Good Luck, Mr. President! You are going to need it.
I went with six of my Sea Scouts to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. We went on this outing to give the boys a day off from working on our boat and to reward them for their hard work. Here are some pictures of them operating one of the gun mounts on the SS Jeremiah O’Brien and on the ferry Eureka at Hyde Street Pier. At the end is a video of the triple expansion steam engine on the SS Jeremiah O’Brien running and reversing with the Chief Engineer explaining to my Scouts how to operate the engine.
I shot some video of the reef tank at the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco using a Vado HD mini cam. I then edited the video clips together and set them to a soundtrack. Here is the result, enjoy!
please explain the attraction of “reality” television? I understand that realty shows cost very little to produce and I understand that they make obscene amounts of money for the networs and producers but I just don’t get them. I can see how “Survivor” or even “American Idol” can be entertaining and I can see how “So You Think You Can Dance” can showcase some creative choreography and some great dancing talent, but I really don’t get most of the others. “Big Brother”? Do I really need to relive my college dorm days? And what of the others? There seem to be a whole raft of “scripted” reality shows populated by young actors or actresses who become “celebrities” even though they are D list talent at best. How can something that is scripted be a reality show? Who watches these shows? How do these people become “celebrities”? Something tells me that these shows are watched by the paparazzi who then try to build the unknowns which act in them into “famous” people just to sell their “celebrity gossip” sheets. I don’t know anyone who even knows what shows in which these people supposedly star. All of the sudden, there are these people who show up at various award ceremonies or film festivals and I have never seen them before. I just don’t get it. Of course, we just elected an obscure junior Senator from Illinois president of the United States, so I guess it is possible that these people really are famous.
of the recession. Yesterday, my wife and I went to one of the local shopping malls and I figured out why there is a recession. First there were four candle stores in this mall. FOUR! Call me crazy but in my house we have this newfangled electric light and in order to light a room all you have to do is press a switch. Then, of course, there were the four stores which carry clothes for today;s youth, all Vivian Westwood knockoffs circa 1982. Yep, four of them also, not to mention Abercrombie and Fitch and Hollister which for all intents and purposes are identical. Do the teenagers of today really need a Ramones shirt? I knew it was bad when The Blasters “Marie, Marie” was playing in the store. Can’t today’s kids find their own style? Do they really need to dress like I did in 1981? Then there were the ten shoe stores, the five identical jewelry stores and the five or so beauty shops. Finally there were the 10 or so various corporate food outlets. There seem to be too many stores selling identical goods to consumers.
On to a large retailer which shall remain nameless, but has a bull’s eye logo. This store literally had nothing on the shelves. OK, I am exaggerating a bit, but a good third of the shelves and racks in the store were empty or nearly so. The toy department was nearly empty as was the cosmetics department. There were some clothes and expensive electronics, but really it looked as though the store had been picked clean. There were plenty of shoppers on hand who would have bought something had there been anything to buy. The same is true of a well known department store, the one that hosts an annual holiday parade in New York. Once, I used to enjoy shopping at this establishment, everything was neat and orderly and there were plenty of salespeople ready to help you find exactly what you were looking for. Now, the place has turned into a random hodgepodge of “product kiosks” with nary a salesperson in sight. If you can find what you are looking for, which is highly unlikely, chances are there will be no one to help you because whom ever you find may or may not be a representative of that particular brand or company. Furthermore, a number of the products are simply marketed stupidly. My wife picked up a jar of hand cream which had a label that said, “If your face looks thirty, your hands scream fifty!” She put it back with a dismissive, “Thanks for telling me I look older than I really am, fuckers!” Telling women that they look old is not a way to get them to buy your product.
So, why is there a recession? First, there are too many “brands” which are literally identical to other “brands”. The idea is not to create a brand but instead to create a product which is unique and which people will buy. Secondly, the large retailers have lost their way. They need to return to clean, orderly, well stocked and well staffed stores, not simply becoming a mini-mall within a mall itself. Finally companies have to go back to producing goods which people want and market them intelligently. If your marketing ploy is to try to recreate fashions from 30 years ago and there are four other shops just like yours, chances are you are going to fail. If your advertising insults your target consumer, chances are you are going to fail. If you do not provide customer service or can’t keep inventory on your shelves, you are going to fail. An exrtended period of business failures is called a recession.
“…And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.nbsp; And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.nbsp; And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all peoplenbsp; For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”
Well, the President-elect has finished his prospective cabinet appointments and it looks like it is 1996 all over again. We have Hillary as Secretary of State, Tom Daschle at HHS, Bill Richardson at Commerce and a host of other Clinton era retreads at various other posts. Is this the “change” that the American people expected when they elected Senator Obama? Somehow, I doubt it.
There are some interesting changes, however, like appointing Hilda Solis, a California congresswoman who is in bed with the AFL-CIO as Secretary of Labor and Tom Vilsack, the Iowa governor who never met a farm subsidy that he didn’t like, as Secretary of Agriculture. Now there are a couple of appointments that signal “change”. So we can see that government pay-offs to big labor and corporate agribusiness will continue and Americans will be forced to pay higher prices for food and consumer goods as well as higher taxes.
There has been a historic change in the American political landscape, one which I fear is not for the better. But, for the short term at least, it appears that things will remain the same.
A date which has lived in infamy. On this date 67 years ago, the United States was attacked by the Empire of Japan. Today, we face a new enemy and we have a new date which will live in infamy, September 11, 2001. We did not seek war in 1941 nor did we seek it in 2001; it was thrust upon us by those who wish to destroy us. Sixty seven years ago we had the resolve to eventually defeat our enemies. I pray that we have the same resolve today and I pray that I will never see a day like those again in my life.
Once upon a time Zimbabwe was a success. Zimbabwe had the one of the highest GDP’s in Africa, had a stable government, a high literacy rate and an increasing life expectancy and a decreasing infant mortality rate. Now, it is a moribund state. Inflation is officially at 231 million percent and a recent article pegs the real inflation rate at 516 quintillion percent. The infrastructure has collapsed and there is a raging cholera epidemic which has claimed more than 600 lives. A meal can cost over one billion Zimbabwe dollars. Doctors and nurses have not been paid and there is almost no medicine in the country. Hospitals are deserted and Zimbabwe Defense Forces soldiers recently rioted in the capital, Harare, because they haven’t been paid.
The simple fact is that Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, who has been in power since independence is responsible for this collapse. His disregard for the rule of law, basic democratic processes and the needs of his people, all under the guise of ending the legacy of colonialism, have led to the total economic collapse of his country. He needs to be replaced for the sake of his country.
