Paloma Digs In

Hurricane Paloma came out of nowhere 72 hours ago, and suddenly it has built itself into an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm. Although as reported yesterday the eye of the storm passed East of Grand Cayman, Paloma slowed down dramatically and is now only moving about 6-7mph, heading towards Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. Because of the slow speed of the storm, winds and rain will hang around much longer, potentially causing catastrophic damage on those islands. They are by far less-inhabited than Grand Cayman Island, but rest assured there are still locals there, and some number of tourists (particularly divers). The storm is still heading in a Northeast direction towards a direct hit with Cuba, then on to the Eastern Bahamas such as Exuma and San Salvador. As of 5am this morning, sustained winds at the core are 135mph with stronger gusts, so this storm is a sudden monster. Hopefully any affected areas will be outside the main population areas. One weird thing is that after the storm hits Cuba, the computer models are freaked out - some show it going straight, some veering north, some taking a major turn West and some showing a u-turn South. I've never seen such a crazy quilt map. Here's a link (although it's updated continuously, so it could change by the time you read this). Just scroll down the page to the projections:

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200817_model.html#a_topad

Jet Blue claimed a world record this past week, when one of its E190 aircraft flew from Anchorage Alaska to Buffalo NY non-stop. That's a distance of 2694 nautical miles. Why did they do that? It was the McCain/Palin campaign plane, and they were trying to keep up with Gov. Palin's hectic schedule. Jet Blue credited the feat to a "strong tailwind", and the fact that the aircraft was not weight down by extra passengers or luggage. Hmmmm. That's an interesting concept, but I have my own theory on what kept the plane aloft so long, and mine is based on a more exact scientific principle: Hot air rises.

Princess Cruises announced that their "Movies Under The Stars" concept, showing full-length films outside at night on a 300 sq. foot large-projection screen, is going fleet-wide by 2011. This has been a hit with passengers, and after seeing other lines copy the concept, Princess new they had a winner. Is everybody happy about it? In fact, no. Many people (including this-here old Sea Dog) enjoy going out on deck at night, finding the darkest place I can find, and watching the glory of God's creation in the stars above. No matter how many stars you see from your backyard, until you're out at sea in a pitch-black night, in a dark corner of the outer deck, laying on a lounge chair and seeing about a billion star winkin' at you, well - it ain't Heaven but it's standing on the front porch peeking in.

What was your favorite toy as a kid? Mine was probably a toss-up between army men, Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em Robots (the greatest boy-toy of all time), and a plastic Navy boat that floated in the bathtub with me, attacking all enemy subs. Probably why I became a Cap'n in the first place. In Rochester, NY at the Strong National Museum, they've actually created a "TOY HALL OF FAME". Cool idea, if you ask me. Previous entries included all-time faves the bicycle, Mr. Potato head, Crayola crayons, a baby doll, and a skateboard. OK, that's a decent collection to start things off, but I'd question where's Barbie for goodness sake? How about Silly Putty, a Hoola Hoop, Cootie, Slinky, GI Joe (and Jane, don't send nasty letters), a yo-yo, Play Doh, Etch-a-Sketch, Teddy bears, wagons, cap pistols, water pistols, jump ropes, and on and on? Those somehow didn't make the grade yet, but there were two extremely unusual selections that made it in:

1) A cardboard box
2) A stick

Now, The Cap'n can see where some geniuses might look at these and say "Great choices! You're selecting imagined toys, allowing the children to use the full range of their minds, pretending the box is a castle or a secret cave, and the stick is a light-sabre, sword, or Davy Crockett's rifle." Yeah, that's what some geniuses would say. I'd say "Man, the Executives of the Strong National Museum in Rochester, New York are REALLY lonely adults, based on their deprived childhood."

Here's what you do, fellas. Get on your computer and find Ebay. Type in keywords Rock Em Robots, and get out your credit card. Once you receive the item, get one of your best buddies, or better yet one of your best enemies to line up across the plastic ring from you. Grab the controls. Go.

See what I'm talking about? Case closed: Cardboard boxes and sticks suck....