Platt Design

04/03/2026

Mini-OPNI :D

The new “double 505” was tested last summer in Sweden – here caught in a rare picture

The picture is from the Swedish Nationals, which was also 505 Euro Cup 4. There was no "double 505" spotted ashore, but on the water, it appeared. How do they do it? Is it faster than the ordinary 505? How do they tack? There are many questions. We have tried to persuade the helm onboard SWE 9013 to speak, but he is as silent as a mouse. Keep your eyes wide open – when will the "double 505" appear again?

Photo: Hanseric Orre

02/19/2026

If only there were a vaccine to be taken for misinformation and Robertt Kennedy.

You’ve taken your daughter to a birthday party. In the air, invisible, is the measles virus. Even if she survives, the virus may never be done with her, or the other people it has infected. Elizabeth Bruenig on what measles can do to a body, to a brain, and to a family: https://theatln.tc/VQQA8Di1

The virus might be transmitted “from an infected but asymptomatic child who was hopping and laughing among the others,” Bruenig writes. “The infected aerosolized droplets will linger in the air for hours, which is partly why measles is among the most contagious diseases in the world.”

“The virus infects roughly 90 percent of unvaccinated people exposed to it; the infected can then, in turn, infect a dozen to several hundred people each,” Bruenig writes. “Among the unvaccinated, one in five people infected with measles in the United States will require hospitalization, and roughly two out of every 1,000 infected children will die of complications, regardless of medical care.”

After two weeks of steadily worsening symptoms, your daughter and infant son are diagnosed with measles. “Your daughter is in pain and bewildered and afraid, but you tell her everything is okay,” Bruenig writes. “You try to keep your voice even, though your heart is pounding.”

“Most children infected with measles will survive the virus, but 30 percent of cases lead to complications, and it is nearly impossible to predict which patients will be affected,” Bruenig continues. Your son “lost some of his hearing, but the doctors say that he could make a full recovery in a matter of months.”

Eight years later, your son begins acting uncharacteristically. He is diagnosed with a rare measles complication that leads to irreversible degeneration of the brain. “There are treatments but no cure,” Bruenig writes. “Your son will continue to lose brain function as time passes, resulting in seizures, severe dementia, and, in a matter of two or three years, death.”

“You look at your son, the glasses you picked out with him, the haircut he chose from the wall at the barbershop, the beating heart you gave him,” Bruenig continues. “You know that you, too, will never recover.”

Read more at the link. https://theatln.tc/VQQA8Di1

📸: The Atlantic

02/18/2026

Dynamic naval architecture:

King Tides and good waves in California can block the flow of the creek to the ocean until it becomes so full that it floods over the sand berm keeping all t...

02/17/2026

Three middle-aged white guys vandalizing an historical display about slavery. What a good look.

02/11/2026

An invisible tracker

Tracking pixels are nothing new. For years, companies that run advertising networks – including Google, Meta and hundreds of others – have used them to eavesdrop on what people do across the web. They're an invisible image the size of one pixel of your screen that loads in the background of a website, full of data-harvesting tech. They're everywhere, and they're constantly watching you.

Here's how it works. TikTok, for example, encourages companies to put pixels on their websites to help the social media giant harvest more data. Let's say I have an online shoe store. If I use a pixel, it lets TikTok collect lots of data about my customers in order to show them targeted ads. Plus, it helps TikTok figure out whether people who see those shoe ads end up making a purchase. That way, I know the ads I paid for are working, and maybe I'll pay for more. (Like most news organisations, the BBC uses analytics tools and shares data with advertising partners in accordance with our privacy policy. The BBC does not use TikTok tracking pixels on its website or place advertising pixels on third-party sites.)

When it's shoe store data, the information might be innocuous. But I've reported on TikTok's data collection for years and pixels can collect extremely personal information.

For example, last week I visited the website for a cancer support group. According to Disconnect, when I clicked a button on a form that said I was a cancer patient or a survivor, the website sent TikTok my email address along with those details. A women's health company sent TikTok data when I looked at fertility tests. A mental health organisation pinged TikTok when I indicated I'm looking for a crisis counsellor. Websites that use pixels send data about every single visitor, so it doesn't matter if you don't have a TikTok account.

A TikTok spokesperson says, essentially, that this isn't TikTok's responsibility. They say websites are required to abide by privacy laws and tell you about their data practices. TikTok says websites are prohibited from sharing certain kinds of sensitive information, such as health data. And the company says it takes proactive steps to alert websites that share anything inappropriate.

TikTok is growing its data harvesting empire, and avoiding the app won’t protect you – but some easy steps can keep you safe.

12/19/2025

Sea Dog Worlds, Wickford.

12/15/2025

christmas tree

12/03/2025

a must read:

I've spent enough time around different groups of people, from boardrooms to job sites to late-night diners, to notice something interesting. People who should be united against the systems screwing them over are too busy arguing about cable news talking points to realize they're getting robbed by t

10/04/2025

In the world of violin-adjacent, here is a fretless bass in action

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

09/30/2025

Facebook allows AI bots to have pages, to pretend to be humans. Meanwhile, Variety writes an article citing an AI bot as if it were human.
Disgusting.

07/16/2025

07/16/2025

Blue/black is a Europa Moth, Red is an essentially ready to sail classic moth, and bare wood is a nearly completed moth. Blades are in another photo, there are masts.
They will all go on auction within a few weeks or so (don't know date yet) if they do not find a home.