Archive for March, 2008
Los Matadors del Oleaje Radioactivo
March 31st, 2008 | 
Author: If you don’t get the Paddlewise emails you might miss this fun little video from Mark Sanders. Mark says, “This is the footage from my first attempts at surfing from last year. Mostly a good excuse to listen to the music.” Sounds like a good enough reason to me! Mark hails from Costa Mesa, California. Here is his Youtube Channel & his website.
Great Stuff Mark!
Posted in 
fire & water
So that’s what it’s like to look out the window on a rainy Monday. See, it’s ok. We can’t all be out on the water every day. Sometimes we have to stay home and earn some bucks. It’s ok. That’s life.
And speaking of life; Jeff Allen had to return home early from his Scandinavian adventure to real disaster as his houseboat home burned. Jeff is of course doing the responsible thing and taking care of business. Of course we wish Jeff all the best.
You may have read that Justine & Barry just paddled 91km in 11 hours! Ok, so that comes out to about 56 and a half miles, which breaks down to just over 5 miles an hour for 11 hours. Of course that was with Justine towing Barry the whole way as he napped and dragged his toes in the water. . . (well, maybe not. . ) Amazing guys!
when you’re not paddling. . .
Ok so I went through all that work building a balance board, when all I had to do was wait for this. . .
monday am
Satellite’s gone up to the skies
Thing like that drive me out of my mind
I watched it for a little while
I like to watch things on TV
Satellite of love
- lou reed
Good morning! Welcome back to the “Satellite of Love“! This is one of those mornings where it seems all the kettles are boiling over at once and the crazy cook is cussing rampently while trying to put the fire out on his hat! So while I try to get through my email, answer some phone messages and figure out how to get my car to the shop, AGAIN. . . feel free to roam around and play with the controls. . .
btw, yeah my hair is getting a bit crazy. . .
btw2, if you like here’s lou performing Satellite of Love
irgendwo in der Tiefe gibt es ein Licht
“The environmental movement is reaching a delicate moment. We’re well past the point where going green is novel, where just doing your bit to save the Earth deserves endless praise. We’ve become inured to the existence of global warming, to its inconvenient truth, yet we sense that the solutions we’ve been given — change a light bulb, change your life — fall far short of the scale of the problem. We risk green fatigue because, after all, what can we do about it? “ – Read This Article From Time
What do you think? Does this make a difference?
* photo from NASA.gov
275,000 seals
Here’s the thing. I can recognise someone’s right to make a living, even if i dont’ always agree with what they do. I have a pretty flexible opinion of hunting, but on the other hand there has just GOT to be something wrong with this. Regardless of the issue of hunting, conservation or whatever “cause” could be applied, I’ve never quite understood how someone could club another living thing to death like that. . . It makes me want to ask a twisted version of that question parents used to ask. . “Do you touch your kids with those hands?” Brutality toward any form of life on our little planet just has to be wrong. It has to be. There’s got to be a better way in this day and age to make a living.
If you’d like to see what’s going on this year visit the Canadian Anti-Sealing Coalition blog.
photo: harpseals.org
The Omen
“You should know everything about the Thorn business. After all it will be yours one day. “
I was having paranoid delusions again. One should never watch OMEN sequels before bed.
Imagine if you will, one corporation slowly & quietly, yes almost inperceptively taking over the paddling world. Sure you can imagine Damien Thorn here if you like, however you have to imagine him in a paddling jacket.
Over time this “Thorn Industries” of paddling begins to collect paddling related companies like baseball cards. Chances are you’d really never notice. The names and logos wouldn’t change. Maybe some of the reps would disappear to be replaced with guys in tan Dockers & polo shirts, but all in all it would happen pretty quietly. They’d collect a stable of paddle makers (high & low end), kayak and canoe makers (both high end and low), safety equipment makers, a clothing company or two, and even camping gear & hiking gear. Of course with all these brands, the average person would never tie them all back to “Thorn”.
Then of course with all these items and brands they could put together some sweet package deals for retailers. In fact they could (if feeling a little nefarious) create situations where retailers who want one “must have” product, have no choice but to carry their whole line. Retailers would be pinched. Slowly other independent companies would not be as competitive. Retailers would of course sympathize, but have no choice but to limit their independent purchases. What shopper would notice in a store full of variety that they were actually buying from one mega-corp?
This mega-company could use their leverage not only to “own” the shops but they could also own the shows. A large enough corporation could “assist” with marketing, provide guest speakers (who happen to be reps or distributors for their brands), they could produce instructional videos and so much more. If they take the McDonalds approach they could easily help out cash strapped national organizations and even local clubs with safety materials, paperwork, posters, and even some gear that subtly leads users always back to their stable of brands. . . Before you know it. . , Big Paddling Brother owns the industry.
In a twilight zone moment I imagine a guy who had just returned from an expedition. His compass failed, his paddle broke, his deck line mounts broke, his pfd ripped and even the poor guy’s tent pole snapped. He sits down at the phone with a list of each item and beside it each company’s toll free number. He begins to call. . in time he realizes . . no matter what number he calls. . . he gets the SAME support agent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! “How may I help you Mr. Smith?” Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
Wow! That was scary. As Silbs said, I have to stop eating salami before bed time. Thank god it was only a dream!
