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Invasion of the iPod People

Boston has appeared to be invaded by iPod People

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And the heavens wept…

The weather the past few days has been pretty strange. It has been unseasonably cool for Virginia in August, and much rainier than is usually the case. We’ve got green grass here in Virginia. Normally,...

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Taking Security for Granted

I often get asked if I run anti-virus software on my Mac, and if I do, why do I bother. The reasoning of the people asking me is usually something like: “There are no viruses for Mac OS X, so why waste...

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The Rule of Law, Al Gore and George W. Bush

Apparently, the Democrats have realized that George W. Bush has broken the law. Al Gore denounces GWB in his speech on Martin Luther King Day. In his speech, he and Congressman Barr, a conservative...

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Gore and Clinton: Two Different Takes on Democracy

The Irregular Times blog, one of my regulars, has an excellent analysis on the differences between Al Gore and Hillary Clinton’s take on democracy and the actions of the Bush Administration. You can...

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Third World Economy

Well, glad to say that GWB did not disappoint (see my previous post). The government of the United States is officially in default. They’ve exceeded the debt ceiling of $8.18 trillion dollars, and are...

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RFID Passport Security

Technology, being used for technology’s sake, rarely is effective, unless it is done with a thorough understanding of the underlying issues and requirements. That is not the case here. RFID technology...

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Real Security

There’s a very good post over at Not Bad For A Cubicle on Airport Security. He is one of the few that I have seen writing on the subject who realizes that most of the highly visible security measures...

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Fascism—American Style

I recently read an article that pointed me to Dr. Lawrence Britt’s essay on the Fourteen Defining Characteristics of Fascism. Now let’s take a look at each of Britt’s fourteen points, and how America,...

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A Sane Response to Terrorism

Wandering the internet, I came across an article with an excellent and sane response to terrorists and terrorism. America could learn alot from this. My thanks to Emergent Chaos for the link.

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Republicans Misbehaving

Here are a collection of short posts that all seem to have a common thread—Republicans misbehaving. Whether it is lying, intimidation, spying, breaking the law, or stealing, it all seems to point to a...

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More Sailing Quotes

“The wonder is always new that any sane man can be a sailor.” Ralph Waldo Emerson “I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning to sail my ship.” Louisa May Alcott “Twenty years from now you will be more...

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Identity

Over at Dear Elena, there is an article on identification, and it set me to thinking about who I am. As my life has progressed, who I am has changed. During my life, I’ve had two identities which have...

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Leadership

What makes a good leader? I was watching a movie the other night… a tacky apopcalyptic movie titled, “10.5”, about an earthquake that devastates the west coast of the United States. The President of...

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Fear of Death

There’s a post on a blog I read called Fear of Death. The post is about the fear of death, and of dying that was caused by her friend’s diagnosis with a particularly nasty form of non-Hodgkins...

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What is Terrorism?

Define: Terrorism This is the definition according to Wikipedia. Terrorism is the systematic use or threatened use of violence to intimidate a population or government and thereby effect political,...

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Sailing Around Cape Ann

Since this is a sailing blog, at least to some degree… I should probably write about sailing at some point. As part of my plan for long-distance passage making, I was taking a Macro Cruising Course...

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Blame

Over on Dear Elena, there is a post titled “Blame”. It is about whether Daniel or Kim is responsible for their daughter’s death. Elena died from a bacterial infection about six months ago. I can...

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37 Days and Meta’s Story

One of my favorite blogs to read is 37 Days, by Patti Digh. A recent post of her talks about the movie “March of the Penguins”, and talks about a young woman named Meta. The story really hit home for...

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An American Problem

One of my on-line friends, Alex, recently posted this message in response to the killings at Virginia Tech. I have been watching the news here in the US… What drives young people to go to a school and...

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Capsizing A Multihull

On a sailing forum, the question of capsize or pitchpoling a multihull came up recently. That’s a good question, how common is capsizing a cruising multihull? The poster was talking about two trimarans...

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Death of A Dream

Heather Neill announced her plans to circumnavigate the globe in s/v Flight of Years, a Pacific Seacraft Flicka last year. This was a rather unusual announcement, given that Heather was not a sailor,...

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Should We Bail Out Detroit

George W. Bush’s plan to tap the TARP fund to bail out the big Three is short-sighted and irresponsible. It doesn’t matter where the money goes, it is throwing good money after bad. Letting the auto...

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The Next Generation Automobile

The average passenger car requires about 25 horsepower for 90% of its operation.  The only time more horsepower is really needed is when the vehicle is accelerating. Unfortunately, current automotive...

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Cored Laminates in GRP Boats

As a caveat, I am not a laminate engineer, but a just an amateur boat builder.  As such, the information contained within this post is written to be a basic primer. Modern GRP boats often use a cored...

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Re-deploying Government

Who thinks that Congress should be totally revamped? When this country was formed, having Congress meet in Washington, DC made sense. The travel times for the congressmen, especially those in remote...

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Social Networking Sites and Identity Theft

As I am a member of some social networking sites and have a fairly high on-line presence, I thought I’d write a bit about security and social network sites. A lot of social networking sites, like...

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Virtual Friends

Over the past few weeks, I’ve received a lot of support and love from friends that I met via online sailing forums and through blogging. While many of these friendships started out on the Internet, I...

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The Weather Goddess

A little over ten-and-a-half years ago, Gee came home for the last time. It was Thursday, June 7th, 2001. She had been released from the hospital, where she had been since May 28th, Memorial Day, for...

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Real Friends

A little over thirteen years ago, when Gee was in the hospital, one of my best friends came down to visit her. The previous Friday, he had walked into his boss’s office and told her that he was flying...

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