After all my serious posts this week about such weighty topics as the Sailing World Cup and ISAF Rankings, I thought you would all appreciate a picture of sailboats to end the week.
27 comments:
BlueVark
said...
Would it be ungentlemanly at this point to continue discussing Belarussian sausage.....
"Belarusian" is the generally accepted spelling. It is used in United Nations documents and in English versions of official government documents in Belarus.
"Byelorussian" is still very wide-spread on the Web. It is actually an old Soviet form that stems from the Russian spelling of the country's name. For that reason, many people in Belarus would find the adjective Byelorussian offensive.
The third most popular spelling is "Belarussian." The writer of the article thinks it may indicate "ignorance on the part of English speakers." Ouch.
Good to hear from your Mr. Froman. You are exactly the kind of person that US Olympic sailing needs. I have forwarded your generous offer to Dean Brenner, Chairman of the US Olympic Sailing Program, and I am sure he will be in touch.
I may not agree with Abe Froman's politics, but I think you're right about US sailing needing more support like his.
Here's an article about this where Andrew Campbell is quoted as saying a competitive Star campaign now costs something like $250,000 per year, so, at that level, corporate sponsorship is practically mandatory. The article also repeats what is pretty common knowledge - that government and private funding seem to be easier to come by in countries like Britain that have been doing well in the Olympics lately.
Is it Britain's sailing heritage that makes the sport a more attractive draw for potential sponsors? And maybe there are still remnants of the old soviet sports machine in Belarus?
It's not too well known, I think, that Anna Tunnicliffe, as accomplished as she was, had to rely on corporate support from her father's company for her Olympic campaign.
From what I can gather the Olympic funding in Belarus comes from a mixture of government funding and private sponsors.
Interestingly the President of Belarus is also president of their Olympic committee. Do you think that might help a bit when he makes those phone calls to prospective sponsors?
Britain, I think I am right in saying, funds its Olympic effort through a mix of government funding, private sponsorship and a hefty chunk from the National Lottery.
It is also true that the UK has long had an excellent youth development program in sailing, and the sport has always had quite a high profile in the press with heroes like Francis Chichester and Ellen MacArthur.
The head of the British Olympic committee isn't the head of state (the Queen) or the head of government (the Prime Minister). But it is the Queen's daughter, the Princess Royal.
OK. Who can name the chairman of the USOC without Googling it first? Clue: it's not Barack Obama.
Anonymous, you may need to click on the picture to enlarge it to see all the boats. Or perhaps you need to print it out and examine the picture with a magnifying glass? I think you will see that there are around 80 images of boats in the photo. They seem to be sailing in two separate fleets, or perhaps two separate races.
To be fair the picture is a bit like that famous Escher drawing of sky and water where some people initially see birds, and some see fish. But if you stare at it long enough you eventually see both. Just keep staring at it.
I can't help but notice you've added a new feature to Proper Course - a list of regattas - on a separate page.
The name of that page is regattas_02.html, so I guess you must refer to it as just 'Page 2'.
I so like this photo of the sailboats that I'd like to suggest you start a new, continuing feature on Proper Course - a new photo of sailboats every day. You could put this on its own separate page and, since 'Page 2' is already taken, you could call it 'The Page 3 Boat'.
I have indeed been experimenting with the Pages feature of Blogger. If you recall, I did have a special page of horse links to honor our friend Joe Rouse. But he was so grumpy about it on his blog that I took it down.
I have no idea why my regattas page is "02". Maybe I had another version before this one. In any case, I thought it might be good to have a page of regattas so that I can glance at it from time to time and try to think of excuses for not sailing them. For similar reasons I might soon create a page of running races that I probably won't enter if I can find good excuses.
I've been wondering what else I could put on a Page?
Perhaps a list of sponsors? If I had any sponsors.
I did think of making a list of all the sailing trophies in my basement man cave. It would be a lot of work but I'm sure it would be of great interest to all my readers. Not many people know who was First Master in the 1995 Laser District 10 Championship, for example.
Or I could make a list of all my favorite sailing books?
Or the contents of my toolbox?
I'm not sure I really get the concept of Pages. I notice, friend O, that you also have been using the Page feature lately. I especially like the Capsizing Tips page. Do you have any suggestions for me?
If you mean suggestions about capsizing, how could I presume to advise the master?
But if you mean about adding pages, my only advice would be to add a 'Page 3'. I'm too new to this to understand why, but there does seem to be something magic about the 'Page 3' designation.
Rupert Murdoch was supposedly able to save a failing London newspaper merely by adding a new feature on page 3. Other London tabloids took notice and added their own page 3 features, with similar success.
The page 3 phenomenon took off and there is now a very successful website which pays homage to this very special number. And, there is also the ultimate confirmation of a phenomenon's significance - a Wikipedia page about Page Three.
Unfortunately "Page Three" and "Page 3" are registered trademarks of News International Ltd. Do you think it would be OK if I had a "The Page 4 Boat" page?
The newspaper I work for has a page 3 every day, although the content of our page 3 may vary somewhat from that in Mr. Murdoch's publications, but no one seems to be suing us over having a page 3.
Oh no! You've fallen into his trap! One day soon Murdoch will unleash his hordes of IP lawyers on all those newspapers that have been infringing his trademarks by publishing newspapers with a "Page 3" or a "Page Three".
Those papers will owe him massive royalties for every edition of their papers that they have published with a "Page 3" or a "Page Three".
Even worse they will be served with injunctions prohibiting them immediately from publishing a "Page 3" or a "Page Three". Can you imagine? They will be forced to reduce their papers to only two pages. Their circulations will plummet. They will make huge losses. Their shareholders will sell out to Murdoch for pennies on the dollar.
Run for hills O Docker! The end of the press as you know it is nigh.
27 comments:
Would it be ungentlemanly at this point to continue discussing Belarussian sausage.....
BlueVark Here is a very interesting article about the correct spelling of the adjective form for Belarus.
"Belarusian" is the generally accepted spelling. It is used in United Nations documents and in English versions of official government documents in Belarus.
"Byelorussian" is still very wide-spread on the Web. It is actually an old Soviet form that stems from the Russian spelling of the country's name. For that reason, many people in Belarus would find the adjective Byelorussian offensive.
The third most popular spelling is "Belarussian." The writer of the article thinks it may indicate "ignorance on the part of English speakers." Ouch.
And there are 21 other variations!
What was the question again?
Thank you Tillerman, I am now suitably educated edified and enlightened.
Now back to looking at the pretty sailboats.
In Chicago, it's Belarusky!
The Sausage King of Chicago ain't about to be outdone by no pinko Belarusky!
If it takes sausage to save American sailing, you got it. Free sausage for life for US Olympic medal winners.
Sausage for Stars! Franks for Finns! Linguiça for Lasers!
...kielbasa for Comets! Chorizo for Cherokees.
Steve in Baltimore
Good to hear from your Mr. Froman. You are exactly the kind of person that US Olympic sailing needs. I have forwarded your generous offer to
Dean Brenner, Chairman of the US Olympic Sailing Program, and I am sure he will be in touch.
Hey...maybe these guys could branch out from footraces into Laser sailing.
Then you could write a post about six Laser sausages sailing around a sausage.
I may not agree with Abe Froman's politics, but I think you're right about US sailing needing more support like his.
Here's an article about this where Andrew Campbell is quoted as saying a competitive Star campaign now costs something like $250,000 per year, so, at that level, corporate sponsorship is practically mandatory. The article also repeats what is pretty common knowledge - that government and private funding seem to be easier to come by in countries like Britain that have been doing well in the Olympics lately.
Is it Britain's sailing heritage that makes the sport a more attractive draw for potential sponsors? And maybe there are still remnants of the old soviet sports machine in Belarus?
It's not too well known, I think, that Anna Tunnicliffe, as accomplished as she was, had to rely on corporate support from her father's company for her Olympic campaign.
From what I can gather the Olympic funding in Belarus comes from a mixture of government funding and private sponsors.
Interestingly the President of Belarus is also president of their Olympic committee. Do you think that might help a bit when he makes those phone calls to prospective sponsors?
Britain, I think I am right in saying, funds its Olympic effort through a mix of government funding, private sponsorship and a hefty chunk from the National Lottery.
It is also true that the UK has long had an excellent youth development program in sailing, and the sport has always had quite a high profile in the press with heroes like Francis Chichester and Ellen MacArthur.
The head of the British Olympic committee isn't the head of state (the Queen) or the head of government (the Prime Minister). But it is the Queen's daughter, the Princess Royal.
OK. Who can name the chairman of the USOC without Googling it first? Clue: it's not Barack Obama.
This is the best sailing post ever!
Thanks Joe. They are very pretty sailboats aren't they? Can you tell what class they are?
Boats? What boats? I don't see any boats?
Anonymous, you may need to click on the picture to enlarge it to see all the boats. Or perhaps you need to print it out and examine the picture with a magnifying glass? I think you will see that there are around 80 images of boats in the photo. They seem to be sailing in two separate fleets, or perhaps two separate races.
To be fair the picture is a bit like that famous Escher drawing of sky and water where some people initially see birds, and some see fish. But if you stare at it long enough you eventually see both. Just keep staring at it.
I can't help but notice you've added a new feature to Proper Course - a list of regattas - on a separate page.
The name of that page is regattas_02.html, so I guess you must refer to it as just 'Page 2'.
I so like this photo of the sailboats that I'd like to suggest you start a new, continuing feature on Proper Course - a new photo of sailboats every day. You could put this on its own separate page and, since 'Page 2' is already taken, you could call it 'The Page 3 Boat'.
What do you think?
I have indeed been experimenting with the Pages feature of Blogger. If you recall, I did have a special page of horse links to honor our friend Joe Rouse. But he was so grumpy about it on his blog that I took it down.
I have no idea why my regattas page is "02". Maybe I had another version before this one. In any case, I thought it might be good to have a page of regattas so that I can glance at it from time to time and try to think of excuses for not sailing them. For similar reasons I might soon create a page of running races that I probably won't enter if I can find good excuses.
I've been wondering what else I could put on a Page?
Perhaps a list of sponsors? If I had any sponsors.
I did think of making a list of all the sailing trophies in my basement man cave. It would be a lot of work but I'm sure it would be of great interest to all my readers. Not many people know who was First Master in the 1995 Laser District 10 Championship, for example.
Or I could make a list of all my favorite sailing books?
Or the contents of my toolbox?
I'm not sure I really get the concept of Pages. I notice, friend O, that you also have been using the Page feature lately. I especially like the Capsizing Tips page. Do you have any suggestions for me?
Your best or close to best picture post ever!
Thanks Zen. It is indeed amazing to see all those boats in one picture.
If you mean suggestions about capsizing, how could I presume to advise the master?
But if you mean about adding pages, my only advice would be to add a 'Page 3'. I'm too new to this to understand why, but there does seem to be something magic about the 'Page 3' designation.
Rupert Murdoch was supposedly able to save a failing London newspaper merely by adding a new feature on page 3. Other London tabloids took notice and added their own page 3 features, with similar success.
The page 3 phenomenon took off and there is now a very successful website which pays homage to this very special number. And, there is also the ultimate confirmation of a phenomenon's significance - a Wikipedia page about Page Three.
Some things just defy explanation.
Unfortunately "Page Three" and "Page 3" are registered trademarks of News International Ltd. Do you think it would be OK if I had a "The Page 4 Boat" page?
I don't understand this.
The newspaper I work for has a page 3 every day, although the content of our page 3 may vary somewhat from that in Mr. Murdoch's publications, but no one seems to be suing us over having a page 3.
I would risk it.
Oh no! You've fallen into his trap! One day soon Murdoch will unleash his hordes of IP lawyers on all those newspapers that have been infringing his trademarks by publishing newspapers with a "Page 3" or a "Page Three".
Those papers will owe him massive royalties for every edition of their papers that they have published with a "Page 3" or a "Page Three".
Even worse they will be served with injunctions prohibiting them immediately from publishing a "Page 3" or a "Page Three". Can you imagine? They will be forced to reduce their papers to only two pages. Their circulations will plummet. They will make huge losses. Their shareholders will sell out to Murdoch for pennies on the dollar.
Run for hills O Docker! The end of the press as you know it is nigh.
You had me scared for a minute, so I called our IP legal team.
They are, apparently, not concerned.
They said Murdoch would first have to establish that the 'property' on his Page Three is in some way intellectual.
Does this post have something to do with a famous British doublehanded sailboat race to Brest?
Effectively Yes, We appreciate! :-)
I agree with O Docker on the desirability of adding the unmentionable Page # (an integer between 2 and 4).
How about calling it "Page Tree"? (with apologies to Brooklyn)
Wouldn't it be nice to have a page where you could regularly feature the the likes of the glorious twin spinnakers on Number 43?
... and I stutter when i get excited.
OK. You made me do it. Here is Page Three. Don't tell Rupert Murdoch... or Tillerwoman.
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