[black gold] current choice for header

A question was asked, in comments, about Black Gold in my header. Truth is I saw the pic and have lost the article. It's a Scottish lugsail dinghy of the older variety and she's a beauty.

Don't know about you but I've never been sure about lugsails with a one man crew - it all seems unnecessarily complicated when a gaff might have done. Still, he seems happy.

The boat is solid and the varnished deck is the colour scheme my boat would be, with a tanbark sail to set it off, golden-wood mast and a strong, solid colour for the hull - navy, olive or maroon would be nice. My choice of wood would be western red cedar, if I could get it or else oak.

Aren't wooden boats lovely and wouldn't you feel safe in a big sea in that craft? By the way, do you know that clinker is one of the strongest building methods? For all these reasons, Black Gold represents the values I'd like to stand for on this blog.

Click on the pic to get an enlarged look.

[quick question] for americans

If someone suggested you took the 10 E 15 N 70 E 78 E or maybe the 10 E to 15 N to 40 E to 44 E to 70 E to 79 N to 80 E, if someone else said to take the I-95S to I-10W and another the 10 E to 15 N to 40 E to 44 E to 70 E to 79 N to 80 E, between which major [and I mean really major] cities would they have been discussing a possible route?

[hard to counter] a point by point fisking would assist

WONDER WHY NO ONE LOOKED AT THIS VIDEO? :)

This is a long video [over an hour] and as this is just a blog, I'd not expect anyone to see it through, which is such a pity because it is well worth it. What did I find? Evidence which it is hard to counter, some assumptions I had which turned out to be inaccurate and some conclusions which are hard to sheet home.

911 should not be a slanging match between neo-cons shouting, 'Conspiracy theory,' and truthers saying, 'You're all corrupt and murdered Americans.' I'm not interested in someone saying, 'Oh come on, James, surely you can't believe any of this?' Why not? Do you have hard facts to counter it? For example, the vid states that A met B in Washington. Now, if you have proof he didn't, that he was somewhere else, then say so.

The vid needs a point by point fisking - then we can accept what you say.

Similarly, I'm not interested in being told what I should conclude from this material. I don't need to be led - I can make up my own mind. I've come to some conclusions and I'm waiting for those conclusions to be comprehensively fisked, after which I can adjust my stance.

I tell you one thing though - if even half of this stuff is authentic, then we are in very DS.

UPDATE WEDNESDAY: Oh, oh, here it is - the admission.

[weekend poll] some of the best yet

Mildly excited here, having just saved the last of the ten pics and links for this weekend's poll - rate your sexiest. Don't know about sexiest but they sure are lithe, powerful and beautiful, every one of them and it's going to be tough to say one is better than the others. I keep going back into the pics folder and sneaking looks.

[britain] as seen by the world press

Always nice to read about yourselves from elsewhere in the world:

A big loser Monday was the pound, which fell 1 percent to $1.6131.

Earlier this year, the pound fell to a near 24-year low of just above $1.35 amid mounting worries about the state of the British economy and the level of government borrowing. It slowly recouped some of the losses since March as the appetite for risk improved, most notably in the stock markets. With concerns about the growth outlook, the early-year concerns may be re-emerging.

"Anecdotal evidence suggests some sterling selling by central banks has already taken place, but the biggest sterling threat comes from private investors turning their backs on Britain due to declining investment opportunities and the rising default risk," said Hans Redeker, global head of FX strategy at BNP Paribas.

Lovely, just lovely.

[another down] johnny walker gets his marching orders

Johnny's leaving

David Farrer, of Freedom and Whisky, reports the closure of Johnnie Walker. I have to admit to being stunned and dismayed. The details:

Last Wednesday the Striding Man lost his confident swagger. Diageo, the world's biggest drinks manufacturer, announced it was closing the plant with the loss of 700 jobs.

Quite rightly, David says:

But there are deeper issues.For as long as I can remember Scotland has suffered from the departure or downsizing of well-known companies. Up here, we all know the importance of having locally-based employers. If Johnnie Walker had still been locally-owned would it have left Kilmarnock?

Probably not.

But all those folk who are moaning about profit being put before people are missing the point. Profit is about people. Without profit there won't be any jobs, something hundreds of thousands of "public" sector workers will shortly find out.

People, we are in deep s---. Apart from the issues just mentioned, there is the long, slow demise in Britain of all it once stood for. Icons cannot be allowed to disappear like this and it's not a quick fix I'm referring to but a whole infrastructure change.

We are in deep s---.