 In anchorages, there's this social phenomenon that I haven't given a name to just yet, but it goes like this: Anchorages are usually quiet places, in which any sound will be noticed by anyone sharing that echoing space. So, if you start your engine, all eyes will be on you. So people tend to be quiet, use their oars to get around. But you need just one vessel obnoxious enough to use their engine, to raise the volume enough that a second vessel will start their generator, and a third, .. 14 comments
@neauoire sounds like a positive feedback loop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_feedback  @neauoire Gosh, I see strong parallels of this in capitalism. It's like a normalizing effect, kinda like the Overton Window.  @amorris @neauoire reminds me of this excellent essay by Illich, “Silence is a Commons” http://www.davidtinapple.com/illich/1983_silence_commons.html :) > Silence now ceased to be in the commons; it became a resource for which loudspeakers compete. @neauoire When I was on a mooring down in the BVI's, we'd run our generator at night, because damned if I was going to sweat through a night with small children aboard. We shut it all down when everyone got up for breakfast, but I did feel a slight twinge of guilt through the night. It didnt' last long. I sleep hard.  @ccohanlon I think they were sold the idea of being here, but they don't understand the place at all. Most arrive in a hurry, drops their anchor, and leave the next day, and we've been watching them come and go for days now. I suppose, they work hard, then they relax hard. They don't take anything in, they're consuming leisure. @neauoire @ccohanlon I talk about this all the time with my family. In southern New England it's become pretty commonplace to run a generator on deck. It's brutal. I don't like to be haughty or unfriendly, but the people that cruise like that aren't there for the same reasons as I am, and we hold very little in common as mariners. |
Gregory's Server
Soon enough, someone is using a belt sander.
You sit there like, how the fuck did that happen. And then you walk it back, these guys started their outboat, then it gave the signal to this one to start their gas generator, and so here we are.