By Erik Dolson
When I had a small business, I provided health care for my employees and their families. The reason was simple: I did not know how to look them in the eye while turning them away if they had no insurance and they or one of their children faced death from accident or disease. My business was also better off if they were healthy.
Unsurprisingly, I am a believer in universal health care for America. … Read more…
By Erik Dolson
Wind howls through shrouds and halyards while rain splatter splats on the deck above in a cadence of the storm. It’s intimidating to think about taking Foxy up the Strait of Juan de Fuca, from Victoria to Friday Harbor, in the morning.
Is this the tail of a front passing through late, or the front of one scheduled for Sunday but arriving early? The plan is to thread the needle between them.
I sent a note off to my mentor Roy. What did he think about weather for the trip? He agreed it looked … Read more…
By Erik Dolson
Who knows why it was today? Because I wasn’t adequately sad, what with a firm, final goodbye from someone I loved but hurt badly enough they’d finally had enough? Because
the sun was out? Because it was today, it just was?
This was always going to be one of the places where I’d leave some ashes. It was a crisp lovely day long … Read more…
By Erik Dolson
When I bought the 25 year old boat, I was completely ignorant of electrical systems and the boat had three battery monitors: One in the charger /inverter (charges the main or “house batteries when connected to “shore” power, or takes direct current from the batteries and turns it into alternating current for appliances), one in the master switch panel, and a small round monitor labeled “Balmar” that only retired Balmar Inc. techs remembered and for which Balmar has no information anywhere. I asume it was sourced from another OEM.
None of the three ever agreed with either of the other two as to … Read more…
by Erik Dolson
Well, that happened a lot sooner than I thought it would. Pickup drivers blocking access to charging stations for electric vehicles.
Fighting the future is natural, I suppose, and no one wants to be a dinosaur (did they really become diesel fuel belching from those truck exhausts?) either.
Now, I’m not going to suggest this ill-considered “protest” is the result of efforts by Marathon Oil or Koch Industries or the American Petroleum Institute to delay the electrification of transportation. That would be baseless and irresponsible. Maybe they used Facebook.
Industries in … Read more…
by Erik Dolson
Now THAT was a success. Planning the tides, the currents, time of departure, time of arrival … I’ll tell you, I have talent. A special talent, in fact …
Somehow, I got it all exactly wrong.
Not a little bit wrong, not off on the shoulder wrong, but current dead on the bow wrong, full flood, maximum flow.
by Erik Dolson
This evening I plotted two courses from Friday Harbor to Victoria, B.C. I’ll take the longer one tomorrow, the last day of 2018, and maybe get there sooner.
The route around the southern tip of San Juan Island is 26.2 miles. The route around the north end of the island is 30 miles. All things being … Read more…
by Erik Dolson
Marriott Hotels has selected me for a special, low cost vacation. Windham Hotels wants me to view a resort property and tell all my friends (both of you) how great it was. Credit Card Services is giving me a low, 6 percent interest rate on my Visa and Mastercard balances. To top it off, someone is going to give me better health insurance at NO ADDITIONAL COST!
All that by noon today. By bedtime, especially around the dinner hour, I imagine I’ll have received another four or five spam calls. Up until now I would … Read more…
By Erik Dolson
Merry Christmas.
It’s that time to turn away from the scourge of Trump and look for kinder, gentler souls. Recent news gives us many candidates, but we’ve heard enough about foreigners with names like Putin or Erdoğan or Assad.
Fortunately, we can focus much closer to home on Gary R. Heminger, Chairman and CEO of Marathon Oil, and the Koch brothers, David and Charles,
These oligarchs are or soon will be responsible for killing thousands of innocent people around the world, many right here in the U.S. These three, especially, are … Read more…
By Erik Dolson
Humor is how we communicate our intelligence.
Humor depends on something being out of context, that does not fit into “its” pattern.
Only a Brain that knows the pattern can tell when something does not fit.
Explaining a joke is not funny. Explaining “why” fits the something into another pattern. Those of similar brains who see similar patterns just “get it.”
Pieces out of context are not always funny. Chaos can be terrifying. Clowns.
Do animals laugh?
Of course, when someone does something out of context that they see as … Read more…
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