As a family who enjoys traveling by cruise ship, the reports from Italy and the Costa Concordia are shocking after the ship ran aground on Friday. It is difficult for me in the day of GPS, sonar, autopilots, etc to understand how a ship of this size (4200 people) with an experienced captain and crew could have hit the rocks near the small island of Giglio. It is equally puzzling to hear the preliminary reports regarding how the captain and crew handled (or didn’t handle) the emergency procedures.
Current reports are that “at least five people died after the Concordia ran aground on the tiny island of Giglio Friday night. Several others remained unaccounted for.”
Additional news report have passengers telling disturbing stories about preparedness:
Survivors recounted a frantic rush by passengers to get on lifeboats, while the crew appeared helpless and overwhelmed to cope.
"There wasn’t anybody to help you," Shafer said. "I mean, the passengers were loading the lifeboats by themselves."
Compounding the problem was that only one side of lifeboats was available as the ship was listing. Passenger Laurie Willits, from Ontario, Canada, said some lifeboats on the higher side got stuck, leaving people suspended in mid-air amid the sounds of children crying and screaming.
Although I love our house and like living in Ohio, winter is the time I envy those who have sailed south and are spending their days exploring the islands of the Caribbean.
Jen and Maxwell sailing in the Bahamas on sv Anastasia January 2012
A sailing couple spending the winter in the Bahamas aboard their Baba Anastasia posted the photo above, no doubt knowing at least a few of us reading their blog or checking their Facebook page would be dreaming that we were there too. Very nice. It has me remembering the old 1980s song and advertising campaign … “It’s better in the Bahamas” and times on Baba 25 years or so ago … certainly good memories when I read about Jen and Maxwell.
Brenda and Rich on “Brenich” our Baba back in the early 1980s
With the NFL playoffs in full swing, I can’t imagine that there will be a more watched game this season than Saturday evening’s New England Patriots and Denver Broncos game … unless perhaps Tim Tebow takes the Broncos to the Superbowl? Even the President has been known to slip into Tebow mode before starting his day in the Oval Office, praying that his 4th year goes like a Tebow 4th quarter (or OT) no doubt!
I’m thankful for the mild weather so far this year and it’s not realistic to think we’ll make it through winter without snow or cold weather. Still, waking up on Friday to 35 mph gusts and temps in the teens was a shock to the body as I haven’t adapted to winter yet, have you? I’m escaping with a little slow motion surfing … you’ve heard of “air guitar” … well join me in some slow motion “air surfing”(video below and go full screen!).
Although I know the employment and housing market has been bad in Ohio, I didn’t realize it was as bad as it was in our county until noticing the foreclosure numbers for 2011. Butler County had 3,330 foreclosure filings in 2011, which was about the same as 2010. Only 2009 saw higher filings with 4,000, according to Irvine-Calif.-based website RealtyTrac. Let’s hope we see some kind of reprieve in 2012.
Butler County had the worst foreclosure rate in Ohio in 2011, with one in every 43 homes receiving some type of foreclosure filing, according to a RealtyTrac’s annual market report released today.
If you’ve ever tried using a straw with a can of soda, you now what happens: the straw comes flying out and falls onto your desk. Reddit user triggerhoppe solves this annoyance by threading the straw through the tab on the top of the can.
It’s as simple as turning the tab to the side and sliding the straw through it. This keeps the straw from rising up and falling out of the can. We know drinking soda through a straw helps the sugar bypass your teeth, but it has always been a pain to use a straw with a can. Every dentist in the world will tell you to just stop drinking soda, but at least this way you can help thwart some of the negative effects of soda without straws flying everywhere.
There’s must be an easy way for social media users to capitalize on advertising products or companies using social media …hmm?
For example, yesterday morning I passively plugged a product by recommending the Volkswagen Passat TDI to Andrew Ross Sorkin, one of the CNBC Squawkbox anchors and NYTimes columnist. He is looking for a safe car that will fit his two young boys “for weekend trips out of the city.” His politics are a bit “greener” than the other anchors so I figured the larger, and safe but still fuel efficient Passat would be a great choice.
We’ve all probably watched the Mousetrap-like YouTube videos over the past few years and admired the producers ingenuity (not this kind of mousetrap video though); well here’s one that I could actually use to help turn my paper the morning … until I switch to a tablet! I wonder if I could train my daughter’s rabbit into playing the part of the “rodent?”
Governor Mitt Romney soundly defeated Republican challengers in New Hampshire last night and most talking heads have noted desperation from a couple GOP candidates. Both Gingrich and Perry have taken what I would call “cheap shots” at Romney’s “real world” business experience at Bain Capital as well as U.S. based capitalism — a core Republican believe in keeping business competitive, efficient and profitable. The next nearest vote getter, Ron Paul, would be better running as a pure Libertarian than trying to fit into the mainstream Republican party, but may keep the GOP’s focus on shrinking government and cognizant about trampling individual liberty (something neither the Democrats or Republicans have been good at in recent years).
The momentum gain in New Hampshire will be needed in the next primary of South Carolina where they will weigh social values a little heavier than in the previous primary. Some have suggested that if Romney continues to deflect the negative attacks that he will have nearly clinched the nomination by Florida.
I heard a little audio on SirusXM’s CNBC Q & A stream this morning that highlighted the difference between the 3 years of Obama and his administration’s political philosophy and what one under a President Romney might be like.
Without getting too political, I question whether Mercedes-Benz Chairman of the Board of Management Dieter Zetsche was thinking clearly as he gave his presentation at CES in front of an enlarged photo of Che Guevara?
“Some colleagues still think that car-sharing borders on communism," Dieter Zetsche said "but if that’s the case, viva la revolucion!"
I suppose the German car company could have gone with an even more dysphemistic German figure for shock value … if that was their intent, but the folks at Mercedes need to have their head examined if they think this marketing works on most Americans considering a Mercedes-Benz, or maybe it is just me?
For the record, they were not celebrating Guevara or even promoting their next expensive luxury sedan, but highlighting “car sharing” … but then you be the judge regarding using Che at the CES presentation. LINK
"Viva la revolucion!"
Mercedes-Benz may not seem like the kind of company that would promote the social use of its vehicles, but at CES today, it was doing just that.
During the company’s CES press conference, Daimler’s chairman of the board of management, Dieter Zetsche, laid out a vision for car sharing that may be intimately tied to Mercedes cars in the future.
