Dear Egypt ...

Personally, I don't give a damn what government you elect. You want to live under Islamic law, fine. You want to subjugate your women, fine. It's your country and you threw out your dictator so you could have the government you want. I applaud that. Thing is, though, since a great portion of your national wealth is derived from the tourist industry, if you go 'full Sharia' on us, I, and whole buncha other tourists sure as hell ain't gonna spend their money in your country. As I said, I really don't give a shit what you do in your own country but if you don't want to end up as some 12th Century throwback (see: Afghanistan), you'll practice the basic human rights the rest of us all take for granted.

Ultraconservative Islamists, known as Salafists, have emerged from the first stage of Egypt's parliamentary election as a powerful political force.

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However, since the revolution that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak in February, they have turned to electoral politics as a way to try to further incorporate Islamic law, or Sharia, into legislation.

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In parliament, al-Nour is expected to press a socially conservative agenda, including plans to phase out non-Islamic banking, alcohol sales and revealing swimming costumes on beaches.

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So, if I go there on vacation to see the wonders of the Cradle of Civilization, my wife and I would not be allowed together on the same beach? I would not be able to get a beer in that hot ass climate of yours? My wife would not be allowed out in public without a head covering? Fine.

Guess what? I'll spend my money somewhere else and so will a couple million other people. Enjoy the 12th Century.

What??? Really???

Yes, I am taking this Costa Concordia thing personally. For several reasons (I am a seasoned cruiser of over 30 voyages, I have many friends in the cruise ship industry and I am concerned about their safety and the effect this will have on their income and, lastly, I am a shareholder in Carnival Corporation LLP and, however minutely, it reflects on me) I am quite angry with the Captain especially but also the others in the crew who seemed to have abdicated their responsibilities.

This latest:

00:32am

The port authority asks the captain, Francesco Schettino, how many people are left on board. He says 200-300, therefore claiming unrealistically that 4,000 people were evacuated in only 40 minutes. It quickly becomes clear he has already abandoned ship.

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00:42am

PA asks how many people still need to be evacuated.

Schettino:"I called and they told me there are about 100 people. I am coordinating the operations. But I can't go back on it. We have abandoned the ship."

PA:"Captain, did you really abandon the ship??"

Schettino:"No, no, I am here, I am coordinating the evacuation."

PA:"Captain, this is an order, now I am in charge. Get back on that ship and coordinate the operations. There are already casualties."

Schettino:"How many?"

PA:"You should tell me that! What do you want to do, go home? Now you get back on that ship and tell us what can be done, how many people are still there and what do they need."

Schettino:"OK, OK, I am going."

(The captain will not get back on the ship)

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Hanging is too good for this guy. You know why he chose to hazard his ship and put 4000 souls in grave danger? This is why:

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The captain of the luxury cruise ship that capsized after hitting rocks off Italy had sailed perilously close to the coast to "make a bow" to people on a Tuscan island, according to media reports.

Francesco Schettino made the dangerous maneuver so that the Costa Concordia's head waiter could salute his family on land, according to reports.

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I think keelhauling would be appropriate.

And more Concordia ...

This pic gives more perspective on how close to shore they were. The cruise line is also throwing the Captain under the bus at this point. As I've said in comments on my previous posts, I've been through this area many times and it is impossible not to spot the ship channel, even at night. Civitaveccia (2 hours from Rome) is one of the biggest commercial ports in Europe and the traffic in and out goes on 24/7. Leaving the port, it looks like you're entering a highway, always a line of cruise ships, freighters, and tankers out in the shipping lane. If I were on a cruise ship and saw them approaching this close to land, I would have been running for my life jacket long before they had a chance to hit anything.

And a note, this is not the port of Civitaveccia, this is the port on the island of Giglio, not deep enough to accommodate this class of cruise ship. Assuming, according to some reports, there was an electrical casualty before they ran aground, heading for this port for repairs was out of the question for the same reasons the course he set was. Fortunately for the people on Giglio, he didn't run it aground in the harbor.

More Concordia ...

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Police say the captain has been arrested on suspicion of multiple manslaughter. He has been taken to a prison, where he is awaiting questioning.

I'll lay odds, the captain isn't the only one who'll be seeing the inside of an Italian jail cell.

Seriously ungood ...

How in Hell does this happen in this day and age?

Three people have died and at least 50 more are missing after a cruise ship carrying thousands of passengers, including 24 British holidaymakers, ran aground off Italy's coast.

One of the victims was a man aged in his 70s who reportedly died of a heart attack caused by the shock of the icy water when he dove in during the chaos.

A major rescue operation was launched last night after the Costa Concordia began sinking near the island of Giglio, off the Tuscan coast.

Five helicopters plucked people to safety after they became trapped on the ship when it listed so badly they could not launch lifeboats.

...

Random snap ...

From the Cunard site:

Finally ...

I finally did a video of our 20th Anniversary celebration last year:

Paradise?

Eagles - The Last Resort

Random snap ...

Entering the Kiel Canal, Baltic '10:

Random snap ...

Europe's biggest bicycle parking structure, Amsterdam 2010.

Garden final ...

The garden/yard is finally finished ... at least the major stuff is finished. A few pictures of the ganze mespucher. Click pics to make bigger:

Montauk ...

A few pics from our run to the east end of Long Island for sightseeing and lunch. Chris and Terry wanted to see something different from the usual tourist spots in NYC (they've been many times) so I took them in the opposite direction.

One of the most beautiful places that includes a 60 mile drive through quaint old fishing villages and yes, the Hamptons, is the very tip of the South Fork of Long Island, Montauk Point State Park.

"Hello, officer."

The lighthouse is part of it and still functions with an automated foghorn and digital beacon to warn ships off the coast. It's the oldest lighthouse in New York State.





The lightkeeper's house has been turned into an interactive museum. I came out here the first time on a class trip when I was a kid and they still bring them here for the kids to learn some local history.







This is a memorial to all the local fishermen who've died off our shores since the late 1600s. Sadly, the fishing industry on the east end is mostly gone.



Chris, the Mrs., and Terry enjoying the beautiful view from the cliffs:







And you know the government wouldn't let such a strategic location go to waste. There's a Homeland Security listening post looking for the Taliban Navy or something.

Click pics to make bigger.

And for the best fresh seafood in the world, you go here like we did. Lobster, clams on the half-shell, shrimp, and scallops (along with a couple beers) completed the afternoon.

Shedding ...

They came and installed the shed yesterday (8' x 8') so now I can get the lawnmower, wheelbarrow, and all my garden implements out of my damn garage in addition to all the lawn furniture. Yay!

Click pics to make bigger.

Of course I have to paint it (the Mrs. already picked out the colors) this weekend and put a hasp and lock on it, but I got the furniture we're not using in it already.

Timber!

My Sword of Damocles.

During this past horrible winter, we had a bout of thundersnow. Like a thunderstorm in the summer with snow instead of rain. Well, during that storm, one of my neighbor's sassafras trees got hit by lightning, splitting it in half. One half fell into the woods in the neighbor's yard, the other, bigger, piece fell on one of my trees over the compost. It's hung there since the middle of December and hasn't moved. It would creak and moan in the wind but stayed put.



Well, Saturday, I was back there with the dogs when I heard noises unfamiliar coming from the tree. The Mrs. was shopping and I threw the girls into the kennel because they were getting too curious about the noise. I watched for about a half-hour as shit began falling, little branches at first, and then some of the bigger ones. The Mrs. came home and asked what I was doing and told her to hang around. It would be like a bad death scene in a B-movie. It took 2 hours, but it finally fell, the branch it was leaning on finally breaking.



Thing is, instead of coming all the way down, it hung up in the crotch of another branch. So, guess what I did on Father's Day?



Being I worked for a tree sturgeon (sturgeon - because he drank like a fish; there'd be a case of Budweiser on the front seat of the truck before we got to the first job in the morning) when I was 16, I pretty much know what I'm doing with trees. I got the chain saw out and started sawing branches off, allowing it to twist (with a little help from me) and leverage itself out of the crotch. It came down with a satisfying thump. I looked around to see all the neighbors watching me. No applause though ...





My only bitch now is that the branch it was leaning on didn't break cleanly and is still hanging up there. I gotta get a new blade for my chain saw, it's horribly stretched and I'm out of adjustment, before I start cutting up the logs. Shouldn't have used it yesterday but the tree was really unsafe and I had to bring it down.

That's tomorrow's job.

Click pics to make bigger.

Un-Gitmo ...

The new kennel looked like the prison at Guantanamo Bay, where they keep all the Talibans so we got some more shrubs and hanging pots to make it a little less ... institutional.





I also had to move some privet hedge for the kennel expansion so I put them in front of the compost and pruned the shit out of them. Hopefully they'll bush out enough by next year to hide the compost.

Click pics to make bigger.

Painting this afternoon ...

Testing ...

Now that the new garden is ostensibly finished, somebody's gotta test it out, right? My buddy Ed stopped by yesterday and joined me, the Mrs. and the dogs* for a cold one on a hot summer afternoon (although it's still technically spring, you wouldn't have known it yesterday and today).



We also added a few more decorations over the past week. You know it wasn't the Mrs.' idea to get these. Heh ...







We also put in a big ol' frog and we got a chicken in memory of my mom (she always had a chicken statue in her garden).





And I almost forgot, the Mrs. picked up a couple of copper lanterns too:

Click pic to make bigger.

So much for the test, I got carpentry to do this morning.

* They got water.

Expansion ...

As I said in a previous post, we had to expand the dogs' kennel. It was just too small for the two of them. Well the fence guys came yesterday.

Before:



And after:

Click pics to make big

I have two very happy dogs.

Yay!!!!

I got grass!

Progress ...

Been out in the garden most days, trying to get everything finished but I figured I'd put up a progress report.

Click pics to make big

I got all the stone work done (the path and perimeter fence) and I'm just waiting for the grass to fill in. The maple is shitting a million little "helicopters" and I'm out there with the blower every other day cleaning them out. Other than that, I hope to have it completely finished by next week. Then I can move on to the other stuff I have to do before 1 July. Oy!