mail@davemoral.es

We are not Norwegian Cruise Line customers, nor have we booked a voyage with them. I suspect that their public affairs office advised their CEO to send out a note to anyone who has ever booked with them alongside any registered user on their website.

i.e. The shotgun approach of  ”Lets get some communication out and tell anyone who will listen that we are not like the other guy”. Contrasting with Carnival, parent company of Costa Cruises, who will be utterly destroyed in the aftermath of the Concordia accident.

“We operate all of our vessels to meet and exceed the requirements of the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention and the International Safety Management Code maritime standards, the international safety requirements which govern the cruise industry. Every crew member is well trained in the Company’s stringent safety protocols, participating in weekly safety drills onboard every one of our ships.

Our Captains are experienced seafarers with an average of 33 years at sea. All of our Captains come up through the ranks progressing from Second Officer to First Officer and then Chief Officer up to Staff Captain before they can become Captains. On average, it takes at least 15 years for a Captain to be promoted into that role. We further ensure that our Captains regularly undergo rigorous simulation training on navigation and bridge operations.

To assist our Captains and Officers while at sea, we have extensive navigation protocols in place. Our bridge operations are based on a two-person team approach. Accordingly, there are always two officers in charge of bridge operations, mandating strict adherence to operating procedures. Furthermore, our bridge teams follow pre-set voyage plans which are thoroughly reviewed and discussed by the Captain and bridge team prior to port departures and arrivals. In addition, all of our ships employ the latest state-of-the-art navigational equipment and technology to ensure that our bridge teams have the most accurate data regarding the planned itinerary.

Prior to every cruise setting sail, we hold a mandatory safety drill for all guests during which important safety information is reviewed and demonstrated. We also show an extensive safety video which runs continuously on the stateroom televisions should further information be required.”

The perfect Christmas gift for a Poly Sci major. One of these things is not like the others…

I am a child, largely, of the Post-Cold War world. Born in 1980, I did not live under the immediate threat of Soviet Bombers in the 50s and 60s, the Cuban Missile Crisis or the Vietnam War. I became largely aware of the broader world as the Iron Curtain crumbled, the Wall tumbled in the middle of the night and Russia produced a President standing on a tank, facing down a coup.

A recent discovery (for me) is the massive, Nike Missile program of the 1950s and 60s. The installation of hundreds of sites around the United States, protecting population, industrial and strategic centers is completely staggering. Everyday citizens went about their lives at the height of the Cold War, in places like Dayton, Norfolk and Chicago under the blanket of surface to air missile batteries.

Equally impressive is the painstaking precision that modern enthusiasts have gone to to catalog these sites, complete with GPS coordinates and present conditions of the structures. I am inspired to hunt down some of these sites in my back yard.

Much has been written and shared about Steve Jobs, his impact and his legacy, in the days since news of his death entered the collective conversation. His passing saddened me and I have been ruminating and reflecting upon his legacy ever since.

As with many, I first learned of his death via Twitter, as my feed exploded with platitudes, compliments, reflections and simple comments, coming across in a torrent. I am unable to count myself as one of the lucky few to have met the man personally. My closest contact with Steve came in a mass of many thousands, packed into the High Temple of Apple Keynote as Jobs delivered, with aplomb, the message of the day.

The occasion was the unveiling of the iPhone, January of 2007, at MacWorld San Francisco. Waiting in line with thousands of fellow migrants the excitement and anticipation was palpable. The spectacle of a Jobs Keynote lived up to legend. Clothed in his signature black turtleneck, jeans and sneakers Steve worked the crowd, his delivery and timing perfect. I have watched many pitchmen, many a executives make presentations. Steve was the best there was and the best the technology community has ever seen. Above all, Jobs was a man of passion, vision, poise and supreme confidence. He was speaking to the collective masses, believers in his vision for a technological future but all the while he was making a much broader pitch. Steve was transforming his company that morning. Twice before, in the preceding decade Apple lurched in new directions, first with a rebirth of consumer computing under the iMac and years later a new focus on personal content and media with the iPod. The iPhone pitch, it’s vision for a quantum leap in mobile communication and collaboration was equally important.

That morning, as Steve stood on stage, trumpeting the advantages of his new technological wonder, you shared his vision. You believed, as he did that everything that had come before was leading up to this. Every piece, every step along the way, building atop one another to some larger, master plan for the future. Flawed or perfect, correct or misguided Steve’s vision, for his company, for the industry, for society he believed to be the correct one.

Jobs’ second act at Apple is, unquestionably the greatest business comeback in American History. Steve, rightly, deserves the plaudits as an entrepreneur, industrialist and executive. Yet what separated Steve Jobs from many other leaders, and what makes him truly a special person is his overarching vision and force of will. As leader of Apple 2.0, Steve made missteps, errors in products and services however a unified, cohesive vision always outwardly guided his leadership. Vision, true confidence of where you want to move something, people, an industry, indeed a culture is far too rare in this world.

To this day, the brilliant advertising campaign, spawned by Jobs shortly after his return to Apple, Think Different, and its opening television ad moves me to near tears. Vision, passion, true belief in making tomorrow better than today need not be separated from business interests and the bottom line. Steve was a great man. He left the world better than he found it. His legacy upon technology and culture will persist. Steve thought differently and changed things…