Can't Blink

Seems like you can’t blink these days, or you just might miss out on some new means of communicating or collecting information. Email and the web still rule, but gaining control of our information seems to be an increasing priority. Scuttlebutt has been offering the RSS feature since last year, which allows the web-version of the Scuttlebutt newsletter to be delivered to special “reader” software that collects new information from websites that have been subscribed to.

A twist to the RSS subscription concept is Bloglines.com, which is a web-based reader that searches for items that you have indicated. No software to download – simply register as a new user and you can instantly begin accessing your account any time, from any computer or mobile device. One of the features of Bloglines.com is that you can have your email subscriptions go to your Bloglines.com account rather than your email client, so as to help minimize some of the email that comes to your inbox each day. Instead of the Scuttlebutt e-Newsletter going to your personal or business email account, it can now go to your Bloglines.com account.

While we haven’t tried out the Mobile version of Bloglines.com that is optimized for handheld computers and cell phones, we imagine it could provide another resource for sailors to get their daily fix of Scuttlebutt, regardless of where they are. Given that RSS readers and bloglines.com are free, the growth of these ideas are only limited to whether you happened to blink at the time they found you. - Craig Leweck

Details on RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss
Details on Bloglines.com: http://www.bloglines.com/about

Simple Rules

Whoever made the KISS rule, "Keep it simple, stupid," deserves more credit. If all you ever tell is the truth, it makes everything else go much smoother. Such was the case on March 20, 2006, when we printed the following in Issue 2054:


DAMAGE CONTROL
Scuttlebutt received the following note from Bernard Schopfer, Communication Manager for Ericsson Racing Team: An article about the Ericsson Racing Team has been published on Sunday in the UK, and there seems to have been a lot of misunderstandings between the journalist and our navigator. I would therefore like to ask you to be so kind and not to publish it on Scuttlebutt. Just for your information:

* Our navigator Steve Hayles is contracted until the end of the race and there is no talk about him stepping down.

Curmudgeon's Comment: Out of respect, we have agreed not to include the above mentioned article. However, from the above note, you can likely guess what the news source had stated with respect to Steve Hayles, and his intent to continue with the team. Time will tell.
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Well, we knew we had been suckered into being Ericcson's mouthpiece, just realized it a bit late. ERT was in damage control mode after Hayles truthfully told an English journalist that he was done with the team and the VOR, and wanted out. Surely, some snidely lawyer reminded Hayles of his contract, got him to calm down and do the next leg while the team worked to secure a replacement.

Today, ERT sent a press release announcing that Hayles has stepped down, to be replaced by Mark Rudiger. "It has been a hard race," explains Steve Hayles. "I have given a huge amount of energy to get the boat going better, but at this stage the best thing for me is to make a change." Yea, right!

As we stated, time will tell, and as ususal, it did. Next time, we hope to stick with the facts, the truth, and let the spinners tug on someone else's chain. - Craig Leweck

I need out of India

I want to start by saying that I have nothing against India. I don't know enough about the country to really have a position one way or the other. But after a week of solving some computer issues, and with every solution involving long conversations with tech help by phone, and with every support call going to India, I have just grown tired of making small talk with folks from India.

Every person I spoke with was very qualified to help me, but that was only once I could get past the challenging english dialect and scripted small talk that would fill the time while my computer was rebooting, reconfiguring, reinstalling, etc. Either these folks were reading from 3 x 5 cards, or they have spent too much time in western bars. "Where are you from? How's the weather? What kind of music do you like? Seen any good movies lately?" Heck, most of the time the only thing I understood from these folks was these inquirys into my private life. Hmm, maybe I have spent too much time in western bars.

I read this past week that the odds were good that if you were to pull into a McDonalds drive-thru line, that the person taking your order in the speaker would not be inside the restaurant, but rather in an out-of-state call center. Given that the computer and software industry have farmed out all their help to India, I guess that this idea with the fast food industry is not all that unique. I just hope that the voice in the speaker doesn't start making small talk during my order. - Craig Leweck