Larry wrote:
The size of the boat library you can take on a long, mostly boring voyage,
on a single DVD would sink a 70' motor yacht.


True.
But there's something really really nice about having a
book, so far no computer or little electronic gizmo has
replaced it. Another nice thing is the book exchange shelf
at marinas & sailing clubs. I have often found very
interesting things that I would not normally have sat down
to read.

I loved the quotation. I forget which English economics professor said it,
but back in the late 1700's he said something like:

A democracy can only exist until the electorate discovers that they can
vote themselves an income from the public treasury.....something to that
effect. America's gone past that line many year ago....


There weren't very many English economists in the 1700s, so
it's a rather small field

Anyway, a Roman named Seneca made an oft-quoted similar
statement, employing the key phrase "bread and circuses."
Rome was a republic for several hundred years and retained
elements of democracy under the early & middle empire... the
senators had a lot of power and universally manipulated the
gov't and the military to make more money for themselves.
Sort of like Halliburton only without the faudulent billing

Seneca: "Democracy is the greatest form of government, but
destined to be short-lived because the masses will always
vote for bread & circuses for themselves." Of course he said
it in Latin so this phrased many different ways in English.

DSK