Weekends Are For Relaxing

In the spirit of Blue Girl's "daycation," here are two pictures I took today. Have you ever been to Baltimore? You should go there.



It's a great place to get a little maritime cheesecake.



--WS

Wait Til Your Boat Goes Down

I'm sorry, but this sounds nutty...

As boating season approaches, the Bush administration wants to enlist America's 80 million recreational boaters to help reduce the chances that a small boat could deliver a nuclear or radiological bomb somewhere along the 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways.

According to an April 23 intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press, "The use of a small boat as a weapon is likely to remain al Qaeda's weapon of choice in the maritime environment, given its ease in arming and deploying, low cost, and record of success."

While the United States has so far been spared this type of strike in its own waters, terrorists have used small boats to attack in other countries.

Now, while that may be true, where's the evidence that they're going to have the means to accomplish this? Correct me if I'm wrong and I know you will, but can two dudes cross the ocean in a skiff? I would think you'd want to watch the ocean-traversing freighters and have in place a strong program of coastal patrolling and use radiological detecting devices all up and down our coasts.

But to think that Joe Blow in his boat, along with his idiot brother-in-law Bob and his buddy Skeeter from work--who are usually four sheets to the wind and barely able to handle creating a wake in the wrong area--are the first line of defense against anything other than a shortage of empty beer cans in the water is pushing it.

Update - Somali Pirates Release Hostages

Just a follow up on something we posted about last week:

Paris, France (CNN) -- Pirates have released the 30-member crew of a luxury French yacht that was hijacked a week ago off the coast of Somalia, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday.

The French armed forces resolved the hostage-taking without incident, Sarkozy said in a statement that gave no details.

Sarkozy thanked the French army and other state officials who helped negotiate the release, and said he would again receive members of the hostages' families later Friday.

Pirates seized the 288-foot, three-masted yacht last Friday. No passengers were on board.

French authorities made contact with the pirates on Sunday and sent an elite intervention group to Djibouti, which borders Somalia, to reinforce negotiations, the French Foreign Ministry said.

Authorities also monitored the yacht's movements with a small Navy warship and reconnaissance aircraft, the ministry said.

It's just an excuse to show pictures of that vessel. That's all this is. An excuse to show maritime cheesecake.