Celebrity Meets Paparazzi

Last weekend, Celebrity Cruises introduced their new ship "Celebrity Solstice" to the world, and early reports are that she is stunning. There is still a large segment of the population unfamiliar with Celebrity, and that's a shame. Ever since their inception nearly 20 years ago, they've made themselves known more by word-of-mouth than advertising. More recently they've tried some ads, but they're too laid-back and not representative of the actual onboard product. With as many ships as I've sailed on, if you told me I could have a free ticket to go on any cruise I wanted, it would almost certainly be a Celebrity ship. The level of service, the cuisine, and overall ambiance compared to the dollars spent is second to none. The only downside to sailing them has been no new ships for years. That's not much of an issue for me, since I've sailed and piloted ships 50+ years old. But just like cars or anything else mechanical, age tends to mean more can go wrong, and technology is behind the times. That's why there's so much excitement for the new Solstice - it's the best of all possible worlds!

Last night, new Prez Obama gave a fascinating interview to 60 Minutes. With all the challenges to be faced, I'm not sure I've ever seen someone carry more dignity and calm into the job. Somehow he makes you feel like it's going to be OK, and in these turbulent times, that's about all we can ask up-front of anyone assuming such a role. I wish him all the best, and hope America is smarter than a 5th grader, to will rally around him.

Holy Theft, Batman!

Orthodox officials in a central Russian region say an abandoned church building, which was intended to be put back into use, has been stolen by local villagers. Say what? Orthodox priest Vitaly of the regional diocese said officials last saw the two-story Church of Resurrection intact in July. When they returned to the area in early October, the church was gone. Sometime during those 3 months, he said, people from the nearby village of Komarovo (near Moscow) had dismantled the building and stolen it, brick by brick. Villagers apparently sold the structure to a local businessman, for one ruble (about 4 cents) per brick. "Of course, this is blasphemy," he told The Associated Press. "These people have to realize they committed a grave sin." Vitaly said police were investigating the theft of the 200-year-old building, which no longer had its icons and other religious valuables. Most recently it had been a school for disabled children during the Soviet era, before it was closed down in 1998 and turned over to the church. The businessman in question claims complete innocence in the situation. He says that after the church "went missing", he simply wanted to perform a community service, by re-building a similar structure for the townsfolk. That's why he offered money for bricks, to complete the project. He said he had no knowledge of where those bricks came from, and purchased them in good faith. Kind of reminds be of the scene in This Is Spinal Tap, where they talk about how their drummer died. Can't really tell the story in this-here clean-cut bloggin' thing, but if you know the movie, you know what I'm talking about.

According to the Plymouth Guardian newspaper, Researchers at Plymouth University in England, using a small Arts Council grant, wanted to test the theory that an infinite number of monkeys, with an infinite number of typewriters, could eventually produce the works of Shakespeare. However, like I said it was a small grant. So instead of an infinite number of monkeys and time, they got six Crested Macaque monkeys and a computer, and decided to base their research over a four-week period. According to a report in The Guardian, the little critters produced a total of five pages of text between them over the month-long project, mostly consisting of the letter "S". According to University professor Geoff Cox, the monkeys spent a lot of time sitting on the keyboard, and the "S" appeared to be a pressure point on the keyboard.

I wouldn't complain if I were professor Geoff Cox. Lots of worse things COULD have happened, with monkeys plopped down on your keyboard. Some even start with "S"....