@Lookout

I need to defer to QMS' greater knowledge on such matters, but the Mary Margaret is quite famous and I always wondered if her flexibility reduced drag (I think almost certainly) and maybe allowed her to exceed hull speed (I think far less likely).

Some of the catboats shown have jibs. When I firts learned of catboats and the cat rig, there were no jibs (nor bowsprits). In fact, the mast was stepped so far forward that no jib would have been possible. Maybe that's what makes "Biloxi catboats" special.

be well and have a good one

..took the better half to the eye doctor this AM and just getting back home.

Nice looking boats. Here's some shots from the maritime museum in Biloxi...

Thanks for the OT!

@on the cusp

that; in fact, I almost stated that Herreshoff never had a pony.

be well and have a good one

@QMS

Russian forces have struck a location where Ukrainian security and defense commanders were holding a meeting, the Defense Ministry claimed on Monday.

The attack was mentioned in passing in the ministry’s daily briefing to the press. It said military commanders and their counterparts from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) were present. The meeting was mentioned among targets chosen for Russian warplanes, missile strikes and artillery in the past 24 hours.

https://www.rt.com/russia/594426-ukrainian-commanders-meeting-strike/

@soryang

be well and have a good one

The irony.

Unfortunately timed to help bolster Yoon's party during the general election April 10. It also lends credence to Yoon's "fake (gajja) news" anti-disinformation campaign. There is an excellent summary of Yoon's repressive administration including efforts to suppress and control the media in this New Yorker article, published last year. A rare breath of fresh air in English language media. I got one free look at the article before I got the pay wall.

The Worrying Democratic Erosions in South Korea

This is from Reuters:

SEOUL, March 18 (Reuters) - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol joined U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other foreign officials this week in calling for measures to counter digital threats to freedom as Seoul hosted the Summit for Democracy.

The event is the third of its kind after U.S. President Joe Biden established the summit in 2021.

As the summit opened on Monday, Yoon's administration denied allegations that it had mobilized government agencies to coerce the media into more favourable coverage.

Explainer: Why is South Korea hosting a 'Summit for Democracy'?

In a prior news report Reuters claimed that any backsliding in South Korea was mostly about discrimination against women, and that other complaints about the Yoon administration were overstated.

The Reuters report attempts to distract and minimize the South Korean democratic backsliding, and the obvious authoritarian inclination of the current far right Yoon administration because it caters to US and Japanese foreign policy goals.

Democracy in South Korea took a step backward since Yoon took office, the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden said in an annual report last week, citing legal cases against figures associated with the previous administration, and assaults on gender equality and freedom of expression.

Concerns about democratic backsliding in South Korea are likely overblown for the moment, and recent elections have been free, said Philip Turner, a former New Zealand ambassador to Korea.

South Korea to host third democracy summit with digital threats on agenda

This Hankyoreh column below outlines the real problem of the policies of Yoon Seok-yeol, Han Dong-hun, and other principal figures in the current PPP so called "new right" configuration:

The claims they have made are farfetched and based on leaps of logic. A basic translation of them might read thusly: “The Constitutional Court dissolved the Unified Progressive Party because they were communists (added note-in 2014). Their successors in the Progressive Party are also communists. In forging an election alliance with the Progressive Party, the Democratic Party and its leader Lee Jae-myung are likewise communists. Don’t vote for communists.”

After Korea’s liberation, members of the pro-Japanese collaborators branded many democracy advocates as “commies” and had them executed. This was an ideological maneuver, a ploy to achieve dictatorial rule while covering up their own misdeeds during the occupation.

The column goes on to say that today's new right are the descendants of the pro-Japanese collaborator class. This is a key to understanding contemporary South Korea's domestic political scene. This is why statues of independence fighters must be removed from the military academy grounds, and the "bamboo spear song," must be ridiculed.

The tiresome commie witch hunt of Korea's fake conservatives

“Since the majority party is set on preventing serious crimes from being prosecuted under the law, we must stop that party from further mischief that would wreck this country’s present and future. We must also eliminate the politics of privilege for members of the protest generation who have held sway over that party for three decades now and who attempt to bully and indoctrinate generation after generation of Koreans. We have to stop the Democratic Party under the leadership of Lee Jae-myung from ruining this country as it seeks to enrich itself in collaboration with its hardline supporters and the privileged members of the protest generation,” Han said.

The real reason for Yoon and Han's politics of antagonism and hate

Members of the assembly elected by a majority of South Koreans are described as "privileged members of the protest generation" rather than the elected majority representing the South Korean people. Note the misuse of the term "collaboration." Everyone in South Korea knows the principal meaning of collaboration in historical context. Han'sYoon's use of the word in this way is Orwellian. Above democrats and progressives are characterized as "communists," here as privileged criminals. In fact, Yoon and Han with their politically motivated firings, and prosecutions of political rivals, labor and media figures and journalists, are doing the bidding of traditional corporate chaebol elites. Their interests and families thrived during the dictatorships and the earlier Japanese colonial period. They resent having to share power with the democratic opposition that wrested political and economic concessions from their privileged grasp.

There seems to be an emerging consensus online that the democratic party isn't going to lose its majority in National Assembly although it could lose some seats. This is contrary to a recent bandwagon effect, the pollsters and conservative media tried to create in recent weeks in favor of the ruling conservative party. The new Innovation Party of former justice minister Cho Guk, whose family was devastated by Yoon/Han directed political prosecution, looks like it may take 10 or more seats in proportional representative elections. They are allied with the democratic party.

Thanks for the OT enhydra lutris!

(corrected a couple of typos)(had to make another correction)

@dystopian

be well and have a good one

Hi all, Hey EL!

A warm Happy PEMEX Day to all! It revolutionized the country. It would us too if used the same way.

Is their a world expropriation day?

Here is a little boat picture... looks like this one is a ms dys pic to me...

We actually stayed in the hotel once, about '83, was a promotion thing. We were glad they sprung for the water view side of the boat though. It was great fun feeding gulls out the porthole windows from the suite. We called a bunch of friends up to come over and party for the evening. The most amazing fantastic marquetry I have ever seen, by factors, were the art pieces on the walls in there. Showers with three faucets: hot fresh, cold fresh, and SALT water~ It was a nice little boat...

Thanks for the nice boats all!

Hove good ones folks!