September 17, 2009

• WOW. As a person who lives amid an extensive collection of maritime antiques, all too familiar with seafaring traditions and practices, this article took my breath away. I guess I knew this would be inevitable given that folks just aren't buying so much imported stuff these days, but I had no idea. Thanks so much for posting this, polychrome. This article gave me gooseflesh.
• Why not convert these hulks into living quarters? A shipping container is figured as 20 feet x 9 feet, and if the world's largest container ship, the M/V Emma Mærsk has a capacity of 15,200 containers, it could hold 180 of containers or stacked however it goes, a total of 2,700,000 square feet for living quarters. Cut that in half, say, to be safe, and we still get 1,350,000 square feet. The distance to London from Singapore is 5800 nautical miles at 13 knots per hour, so 446 hours, or 18 days for the cruise. At the new low rent of $5,500 for the trip, that's about $300. per day. A year's rent would be $108,000. Dividing the 1,350,000 square feet by that would make the rent $12.50 per square foot per year. A 50 x 50 foot apartment would rent for $31,000. per year, or 2500 a month rent. But that's sailing the high seas the whole time. Cut that in half and it might just be cheap at $1,250. a month. We could put up a lot of pirates for much less of course...
• An awesome sight. At least they're not burning (as much) fuel as they slowly rust and leak away. And there's less cheap plastic crap being distributed around the world. Good for whales and other sea life too, although probably not so good in the immediate area of the anchorage.
• Dan, homes for the world's less fortunate? What are you, some kind of hippy Communist/Socialist welfare-loving Left-leaning WEIRDO? Next you'll be thinking universal health care is some kind of good idea. Ships normally have a long lifespan, but as these are going unmaintained, there's going to be a big mess in a short time, hardwarely speaking.
• Well, they can always be converted to scrap.
• I think scrap metal is over rated. I say try to spiffy up and re purpose old assets. For one thing, we have lost so much history by incessantly destroying the old for the new. I really do believe we should preserve these ships, rather than churn out new, excuse me! crap. As a side dish (where IS SideDish?) I suppose I ought to comment on whether or not I am, in fact, a commie-pinko or not, even though BlueHorse was being funny here. Alright. Here it is: I did found a coop, later called against my feeble wishes, The Marble Arch Rivalry Gallery, in Charleston, SC. Not wishing to be the president, I opted for being the secretary. Wrong move! Much work and no influence. We renovated a fine historic theater for the purposes of making it into a studio at which we members could do our work and show our art. My non secretarial duties ended up being to renovate no less than three (3) different rooms, each one offered as *my space* to use as an animation studio and venue. But having completed the first room, I was told by the collective that it was 'too good' for me, it being a front room with a lot of light. So I obligingly renovated a second (2nd) room with the same judgment rendered. Finally I renovated a third (3rd) room, a diseased central room, fungoid but with a feeble skylight. I painted it black, but the coop did not approve. Having the worst real estate had one advantage: all they could do was complain. Then for a show, I spliced together the rotted black and white film of a former University of South Carolina Wunderkind. Hundreds of splices to his non archival, left by a furnace, but enjoyable piece. Enjoyalbe until the showing, at which time several prancing members came up to me accusing me of splice malfeasance. I was somehow accountable for the few breaks in the brittle that remained. Then there was the experience of my good friend, and former employee, who at one time had been a member of the Triple A commune near Pueblo Colorado. This was the very commune that evolved, or devolved, from Ken Kesey's Merry Prankster bus scenario, the landing place of the band involved with that... My friend was a talented blacksmith and set up his shop in a geodesic dome that he and others built, himself and his family living in a tepee. But the Women's Collective had more power. His, so-called shop, a money maker for the commune, was declared a male chauvinist enclave. He was summarily ejected therefrom. All of his tools were lost. For the record: I am not a communist!
• Unbridled capitalism has failed also, however.
• Submit your poly-sci ship management ideas here? Anarcho-syndicalism relies too heavily on unions, notoriously corrupt. Roving gangs like onto the war lords of the, so-called, Dark Ages? That begat monarchy. Not sure about that. Should it be the, so-called, sharing of power, or should it be trust in the, after-the-fact, divine rights of kings? Not sure about that either... I think (suddenly) that what we need is rule of the Internet (hegemonic MoFi) forum, forsooth!
• Things did not go well on the opening day at Dan's hegemonic anarcho-syndicated floating women's collective...
• :(O)MG!
• The French band Mano Negra once used an old cargo ship to tour South America. Story here, picture there.