When I buy a house, I'm going to buy a "houseboat" and just live in it on land.

Hey! Better safe than sorry. You never know.

I might wear a life jacket around the house too.

note: I envision yelling "Man Overboard!" a lot.

double note: I will call my property "Dry Dock".

triple note: sales people and religious touts will be considered pirates and dealt with accordingly.

quadruple note: photo taken in Northern Peru.

SPECIAL NOTE:   Nathaliewithanh came to visit me in Japan! How does her trip unfold? or unravel? Check it out here or click on the page up in my header.

http://humor-blogs.com/

Warmup
3 Rounds
10 Pull Ups
10 Push Ups
10 Dips
10 Sit Ups
10 Supermans
10 OH Squats

WOD - Man Overboard
*Everyone does exercise at station until runner gets back. Switch stations.

2 Rounds
200m Run with 15lbs weighted backpack
Push Press
KB Turkish Get Ups (alternating)
Pull Ups
Jumping Dips
Burpees with Dumbbells

Your success is in no small measure contingent on your diet as all of you no doubt have noticed. Exercise powered by junk food and alcohol feels completely different than the workout that's fueled by protein, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and nuts.

Well in calling my parents house, to find out what the "plan" was for fathers day, my mom asked if any of the kids wanted to come help move the boat. The J24 was put in the water but needed to be moved from the boat yard to the yacht club mooring. All three boys wanted to go. Thinking that was unfair to my parents, I said we all will go.

We get to the boat yard. The kids are programed well to put on their PFDs and they are off and running. The puppy, Bessie was with my parents, you know to add to the confusion. I told my dad we should take the power boat just in case the J24 motor breaks down. He agreed. My dad grew up on the water unlike my mother. She she is a nervous wreck! She went out and bought the dog a PFD. I chuckled thinking dogs swim why would she need a life jacket???

We motor out to the J24. Finally get the little 4horse power engine going. There is a scramble who was going with mommy and who was going with grandpa. Jordan put up such a stink i kicked him off the J24. So the twins, and the puppy were with me alone on the J24. No big deal. I have moved boats bigger and i knew my parents were right there. Of course my mother was a wreck, she was convinced someone was going over board!

So I gave Raymond and Nathaniel the rules...if anything happens, someone falls overboard blow your whistles! and if mommy says to sit, YOU SIT. No hanging on to the puppy, it is a sloped deck. Okay we were off! Engine stops. No big deal, gas line was disconnected. Got her going again. Kids are bouncing around with the puppy. Everyone was enjoying themselves.

We were almost into the harbor, and i could see the puppy on the foredeck, twins were back with me.

Yup you guessed it! BESSIE WENT INTO THE WATER!! The boys started blowing their whistles. I could see her go in. So with out skipping a beat, i turned that boat around, just like a man over drill. Thank god that dog had a life jacket on, being black she would have been impossible to see. Well her splashing was huge too. Trail by fire! By the time i had the boat turned around, my parents were closer. I knew i could have let them pick the dog up. BUt in my head i did not want the boys to ever think that if they went into the water i would not be able to pick them up.

Plucked to dog out of the water, thank god for the handle on the PFD or else i would never have been able to pick her up! Just picture me laying down over the stern, foot pushing the tiller so steer, me by myself with two 7 year old twins blowing their whistles!!! I did not panic nor did the puppy which was good, she swam right to me. I could hear my mom I knew someone would go in! She actually thought i was Nathaniel in the water.

It felt good to prove to my parents I know what to do in case of an emergency. I felt good, because i knew what to do and how comfortable i was on the water. (even though my mom had pushed the panic button!! ) OH the adventures we have!!

After putting the J24 on the mooring, this is Bessie after going for her first swim and Jordan hanging on to her so she does not go in again. Personally i think she liked it! she was ready to go in again!!

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister
Room 313-S, Centre Block
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Prime Minister,

This is to inform you that I am resigning my post as Minister of Foreign Affairs, effective immediately.

I informed you late this afternoon that last night I became aware that I had left behind classified government documents at a private residence.

Prime Minister, the security breach that occurred was my fault and my fault alone and I take full responsibility for my actions. I have asked the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to conduct a thorough review of the situation.

Thank you for the trust you have shown in me. I will do everything I can to serve the government well in my capacity as Member of Parliament.

Yours truly,

Maxime Bernier

First of all, if Bernier found out over the weekend, why did he wait until this afternoon to tell the Prime Minister? What was he doing for the last 24 hours or so, other than putting off that fateful phone call to PMO? (Not that you can really blame him for wanting to avoid that particular conversation. I mean, would you want to be the one to ruin Stephen Harper's big day as a world statesman, in front of the Ukrainian president, no less?)

If this document was so very sensitive, why didn't the then-minister notice it was gone until his ex-girlfriend's lawyers showed up to return it to the department? Was it just a copy? Did he really just forget it at her apartment, or did he deliberately leave it there, under the assumption that he'd be back?

Why did Bernier wait until after his meeting with Harper to put his resignation in writing? Was he hoping that his verbal offer would be rejected?

Finally, his final act as minister, apparently, was to order that the department conduct a "thorough review of the situation." What are the chances that the resulting report will eventually be made public?

I’ve got headaches and toothaches and bad times too, but on the upside I have life, for what it’s worth. Yesterday over ten thousand people in China had their existence cut short by a cataclysmic earthquake that took lives and buried the dead in one fell swoop. A little over a week ago, the nation of Burma was devastated by a cyclone that washed more than one hundred thousand lives out to sea with the tide. Ken McDunn had it right when, after the accident onboard the ship he got a tattoo that says; “The Shadow of Death, A Fact Of Life”.

Mc Dunn is one of a kind and we met in boot camp years ago.  He got there a day before I did and we served our entire enlistment together, assigned to the same school, and later the same ship. McDunn was skinny and pale and a real life skin head, whose buddies were all on trial for murder. On Sundays, the one day that we were allowed to look at a newspaper, he would point out the articles that recounted the trial of his fellow skinheads who eventually wound up in prison. When we met, Ken had no tats, but by the time we had served our two year enlistment with the USN, his upper body was nearly covered with ink.

Like myself, Ken was not happy with his decision to enlist and chafed at the lunacy that is characteristic within the armed forces. We were in a drill company in boot camp and as a result tobacco was forbidden. Ken’s parents would send him chewing tobacco in the bottom of a Pringles can that they had removed all the chips from before replacing them and resealing the can. We would volunteer for the overnight watches so that we could indulge our nicotine craving while everyone else was sleeping.

The store on base was restricted for recruits that were still in boot camp, but McDunn didn’t care and would strut right in there like he belonged and buy cigarettes for the both of us that we secretly smoked at any chance we could get. It was big risk for him to break the rules and it could have resulted in an extra week in boot camp, but Ken was a genuine iconoclast who believes that authority exists only to be challenged and usurped.

When we graduated from boot camp Ken and I had one mission; like many freshly minted recruits in the armed services, we struck out to find some whores. The working girls that we came upon were supremely sketchy and he took the fat one, while I got the skinny one. They took us back to their filthy, one bedroom apartment and Ken and his girl went into the back bedroom while my gum cracking wraith and I took our place on the fold out couch. I’ll never forget the bored expression that she looked up at me with while my pale, skinny ass bounced up and down like an over revved piston. All the while she kept popping her gum and saying, “Are you finished yet”. It turned out that the experience did not match our expectations that had been eight weeks in the making.

When the ship was out at sea Ken would do something that, to this day, I find hilarious. Being assigned to a ship meant that when we were away from port we were on duty 24/7 and there was no way to escape, but Ken found a way to get time off even when the ship was in the middle of the ocean. Periodically he would collect up some snacks and soda pop and a book and then he would vanish into one of the ships many vacant crawl spaces for days at a time.

The first couple of times that  he did this it caused quite a stir, inspiring man over board drills and panic within the ship’s hierarchy, but after a few days Ken would reappear, rested and ready resume his duties, albeit in a lackluster fashion. Of course he would be punished for his unauthorized absence, but he didn’t care, and I knew that he would do it again regardless. They always came to find me when Ken pulled one of his disappearing acts and I would always assure them that he was still onboard and would come back when he was ready, he just needed a little time off to get lost in a book.

Authority can always be countermanded so long as there is a will that contends, but the power of nature is undeniable. When the earth shakes so mercilessly that humans are crushed under their own toppled creations, or the ocean encroaches upon the land to drag the living into its abyss there is little resistance that can be offered. There is nowhere to hide when the shadow of death stretches its pall across a landscape.

So long as we are the living we can continue to escape the things that displease us and avoid situations that are unpleasant. Eventually though, a bony, outstretched finger will tap every single one of us on the shoulder with a summons, and there will be nowhere to run. Until then, enjoy what you still have; life.

Questo spot è fantastico, è come un guerrilla marketing ripreso in tv... poi la musica è davvero in sintonia con il rosa e i petali... è tutto molto delicato e rilassante. Veramente bello. Alla fine il messaggio arriva. La canzone è: Polytechnic dei Man Overboard

RFID tags contain tiny radio transmitters that can be picked up by a reader. Research being funded, among others, by BP, will see smarter versions appearing in the workplace that can, for instance, monitor work and rest periods, the amount of vibration a worker is exposed to by machinery and ensure that these remain within accepted limited for health. For seafarers, however, these little tell-tales could mean the difference between life and death.

New generation tags can be networked together and detected using the sort of wi-fi technology now common in offices coffee shops, restaurants, bars, and hotels.

In an environment of limited domain, like a ship, the ability to track the location of people and objects accurately can present a number of safety benefits.

The simplest scenario is man overboard. Unless the casualty is lucky enough to be seen falling off the ship it can be hours before he or she is reported missing, as happened in a recent case involving a seafarer on a cruise ship, the Celebrity Constellation. Searches began after the ship docked in Port Everglades and he didn't show up for a muster. Crew members recalled last seeing him at 5am on the morning of Monday, 18th February. The US Coast Guard called off the 1,500 square mile search on the next evening but restarted when video surfaced showing that the seafarer had actually fallen overboard at 3.25am on the Monday morning. He hasn't been found.

Had that seafarer been wearing an RFID tag his falling overboard could have set off an alarm and a search started within minutes rather than several hours later.

When it comes to confined space incidents, smart RFID technology worn by seafarers and attached to equipment, could prove even more useful. Not only could it reveal when someone enters a potentially hazardous space but whether they're wearing the right equipment, whether someone is on watch at the entrance to the space and whether appropriate rescue equipment is in place. Conceivably this could be an entirely automated system.

A shortfall in the present 'safety systems' is that they rely on form-filling, an activity seen as an end in itself rather than a means of safety working. Increased training and education will not, by themselves, resolve the enormous problems of confined space entry deaths. Competency assessment certainly will help but companies appear to be reluctant to take that step, possibly because a number know that their crew are not competent and might be deemed liable if they were proven to be aware of that shortfall and it is in their interests 'not to know'.

It will be interesting, indeed, to see which companies are the first to introduce smart RFID tag technology to keep their seafarers alive.

Video shows man's plunge from cruise ship

After calling off its search for a missing cruise ship crew member Tuesday night, the U.S. Coast Guard on Wednesday has begun looking again.

The reason: A video has surfaced of the 28-year-old Chinese national falling overboard from the Celebrity Constellation.

Coast Guard officials said the staff of the cruise ship informed them of the video early Wednesday. Its time stamp shows the man going overboard at 3:25 a.m. Monday, the Coast Guard said.

The Greek navy and coast guard were last night trying to tow to safety a Russian navy ship that sent out a distress signal in choppy seas off the eastern Aegean island of Icaria. Tugboats, helicopters and a navy frigate were dispatched to the area at 11

Remembering those lost on the Lady Luck
Gloucester Daily Times - MA, USA
Last week, the Coast Guard said it would change its report about the vessel's sinking after the Cone family disputed several aspects, including the accuracy 

Satellite debris warning to ships
The Press Association -
New Zealand's maritime safety authority has warned ships in the South Pacific to be on the lookout for falling satellite debris as the US attempts to shoot 

Stranded ship strayed too close
Safety at Sea - London,England,UK
... insufficient engine power (main engine 12357 kW) and heavy winds – 7 to 8 Beaufort – may have combined to cause the grounding

MIAMI - Coast Guard crews are searching for a 52-year-old Indian man after he was reported to have fallen overboard from the 722-foot motor vessel Stena Compassion around noon Tuesday 116 miles southwest of Jamaica.

Dutch shipping company fears 10 drowned

Ten migrants may have drowned in the Mediterranean this week when a Dutch cargo ship collided with their flimsy boat, the shipping company said. Jumbo Shipping said one of its craft travelling from Derince in Turkey to Plymouth in England came across the packed polyester boat in stormy seas

Barge Collision Shuts Waterway

Posted 12/06/07 at 07:30 AM

HOUSTON - Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Galveston temporarily closed the Intracoastal Waterway in Freeport, Texas Tuesday night after a barge collision occured in the Kirby Barge Fleeting area. <p> The tug boat Drum Point, was pushing two barges loaded with Naphtha, when the collision occurred.. Bulk carrier pulled from the mud
The Australian - Sydney,Australia
Maritime Safety Queensland and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau are investigating the circumstances of the grounding. The vessel is owned by Toll

Illegal Immigrants on cargo ship
Athens - About 200 illegal immigrants were spotted on a cargo ship off the island of Crete and are being taken to shore, the Greek government said Thursday.

Fatal accident sparks safety concerns at Port of Oakland
San Jose Mercury News - CA, USA
involve shipping representatives and three ILWU locals: Locals 10, 34 and 91, Pacific Maritime Association Assistant Area Manager Dan Kany said

EMSA Oil Recovery Vessel Contracts Signed

Posted 12/06/07 at 07:32 AM

The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) has finalized contracts to strengthen its pollution response coverage in the Atlantic and Mediterranean areas. <p>UK ship owner James Fisher Everard will provide a pollution response arrangement based on a pool of three vessels normally trading between the UK and Ireland..