virtualDavis's blog

And you thought a cruise off the Seychelles meant prime time rest and relaxation? Well, if you haven't noticed, the 21st century once more has plunged us into the days of pirates and marauders...

"A cruise liner that was attacked by pirates over the weekend docked safely on this Indian Ocean archipelago Monday after changing its course to escape. Passengers described their horror as pirates in speedboats chased their luxury cruise liner at sea, firing rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles - with smiles visible on faces otherwise hidden by ski masks."

Seabourn Spirit, a Miami-based subsidiary of Carnival Corp, was cruising off the coast of Somalia on Saturday when it was challenged by a band of pirates. The ship's captain changed course and throttled up the ship, successfully evading the pirates. The 440 foot, 10,000 ton cruise ship was wrapping up a 16 day cruise from Alexandria, Egypt and was bound for Mombasa, Kenya when the attack occurred approximately 100 miles off the Somali coast.

"The International Maritime Bureau has for several months warned ships to stay at least 150 miles away from Somalia's coast, citing 25 pirate attacks in those waters since March 15 - compared with just two for all of 2004."

Despite the fact that the captain seems to have wandered inside this advised limit, he nevertheless earned the praise of his crew and guests by evading the attack. The protracted engagement stretched to an hour and a half before a sucessful escape was made. Kudos, Captain!

Have you tried a Vacation Rental yet? Sure hotels and resorts can be fine, but sometimes you owe yourself a little luxury. Private accommodations that allow you to slip right into the shoes of a "local"! And the good news is that you'll often end up spending less than you would at a comparable hotel or resort. That's why Vacation Rentals are one for the fastest growing leisure products in the travel market. Consider these benefits:

More doom and gloom from the airline industry today. Reuters reports that Delta is declaring bankruptcy this afternoon and Northwest may follow shortly. Delta "asked its pilots for a second round of wage and benefit cuts" in a last ditch attempt to control their mushrooming debt, and -- with a little good fortune -- they'll be offered bankruptcy protection by the courts. But the message is pretty sobering nonetheless. Scarcely a quarter goes by without a major airline entering Chapter 11.

Regarding the wave of peer-to-peer and self-publishing environments sweeping the web, The New York Times' John Markoff says,

"Inexpensive to create and worldwide in reach, the new Internet services are having an impact far beyond... file sharing... Indeed, the abundance of user-generated content - which includes... citizen journalism sites - is reshaping the debate over file sharing. Many Internet industry executives think it poses a new kind of threat to Hollywood, the recording industry and other purveyors of proprietary content: not piracy of their work, but a compelling alternative... The new services offer a bottom-up creative process that is shifting the flow of information away from a one-way broadcast or publishing model..."