Better Red Than Dead

A Shot in the Dark There’s a new sheriff in town. Italy’s most recent Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, ordered the country shutdown for the next 5-6 weeks. Covid infection rates spiked and areas that were yellow and orange turned red. …

Foiling Around

Position: 41°13’58.4″N 13°34’20.0″E Imagine you are the captain of a clipper ship around the 1870s. Your job and livelihood depend entirely on getting your cargo, tea from China or wool from Australia, from one side of the earth to the …

Singing in the Shower

Position: Upright It’s the little things, Carol likes to remind me. I’ll finish her sentence for her: It’s the little things that separate the girls from the boys. Like washing. For the past three years Aleta’s shower has served as …

Digital Artworking

“There are two kinds of people in the world – the connected and the disconnected.” – Michael Northcott, 2021 In 2013 Adobe changed its business model and went all in on subscription licenses. Customers could only upgrade and use Adobe’s …

Let There Be Light

Sailors, the cruising kind, are split into two camps these days – monohull or catamarans. Each camp, no surprise, has its opinions and position on which is the better tool for crossing oceans. One of the criticisms leveled at monohulls …

High Test or Unleaded?

Over the years our coffee drinking habits have evolved. Back when most of America couldn’t spell Frappuccino, people drank coffee as an antidote to whatever damaging compounds they’d ingested the night before. Those fortunate enough to travel to Europe discovered …

From Our Italian Correspondent

Position: 41°12’57″N 13°34’23″E A couple of weeks ago Italy’s Prime Minister resigned and the government collapsed. In the middle of the pandemic. Everyone locally appeared singularly apathetic. Unused to Italian political affairs and coming off the back of an insurrection …

My Mate Phil

Phil was never happier than when he was solving a problem. Whether that problem was a better method of laying out the instruments for an appendectomy or designing an amnioscope that puts light where the doctor needs it most. His …

Piss and Vinegar

If it ain’t broke… Sailboats require maintenance. Maintenance is something sailboats are not designed for. Perhaps because their designers never intended them to live as long as they do. Perhaps because aesthetics sell boats. Perhaps because the boat maintenance cartel …