Defense Articles

Editor’s Note: This kicks off the beginning of our wall to wall Special Report coverage of the Consumer Electronics Show 2003. Check back all week for news and reviews of the great (and not so great) new techology.

Science Fiction fans should be familiar with the concept – Neal Stephenson called it the Metaverse in Snow Crash, Gibson called his cyberspace. Over the past ten years, many companies have tried to create a real-world analog to these fictional constructs, with names like Blaxxun Interactive, Worlds Inc, Linden Labs and others. So far, most of them have failed.

Today marks the birth of the latest virtual world, this one called “There” – as in lets go There. Under development for four years, and led by Tom Melcher, previously of CNet and Snap, There takes a somewhat different angle on the world creation business.

Rather than a place for techno-geeks to hang out, or a massively multiplayer game, There is focusing on becoming the next generation of instant messaging and chatrooms.

The company’s literature quotes Neilsen/NetRatings research that shows approximately 53 million adults have chatted with friends online over the past month. There is designed to appeal to the sweet spot of that audience – focusing on the casual and regular chat and instant messaging user, not the tech-geeks. In fact, There expects its audience to skew more towards women than men, at least at first. Why? Well according to CEO Tom Melcher, “men will go where the women are, but the reverse isn’t true.”

Avatar Based: Like other virtual worlds, a custom avatar provides your proxy. You can select either a male or female avatar, and then customize clothes, hairstyle, skin color, etc. Because There focuses on non-tech geeks, and because communication and chatting forms the core of the world, the company limits you to normal, human looking avatars.

In addition, There has developed a detailed set of gestures and facial expressions, essentially mapping emoticons onto the avatar’s expression and bodily language. You can wink, flirt, nod, laugh, smile and even blush. Shooting daggers and a very Mario-like floating heart convey deeper emotions.

You can even customize your Avatar by visiting a Spa for a “facial”, although we didn’t get a chance to try that out.

First experience: To get started, we first created an avatar. This was an easy, menu driven approach, and gave us a basic, happy looking guy.

One unique aspect of There: you either buy or earn Therebucks, and then use that virtual cash to purchase clothes, toys and other cool things inside the world. The current exchange rate is $1787 Therebucks for a dollar.

The company set me up with $5,000,000 Therebucks – almost $3,000 worth. A guy could have a good weekend in Vegas with all the stuff I could buy! So like any good consumer, the first thing I did was to go and buy me some stuff!

First I bought some new clothes. In addition to making money from consumers, There has sold store-space to Nike and Levis, with others on the way. So I bought me a natty Levis Jean Jacket ($1,000), and a pair of Hiking Boots ($1,000) and Ghost Martial Arts pants ($1,000) from Nike.

Then, of course, I needed transportation. A bunch of fun options are included, including a Dune Buggy, hoverboard (like a floating snowboard) and a jet pack – in many festive designs and colors.

I picked up a green and yellow hoverboard called Slimer ($1,000), and a Zebra striped Dune Buggy ($1,000) so I could navigate in style, and a paint-gun for paintball games, and a soccer ball ($499) just for fun.

Finally, I visited the pet store. Yup, inside There, you can get your very own dog, a faithful friend that will follow you around everywhere – and never leave a mess behind!

I could have purchased a Dachsund ( $3,199), but that was too wimpy, so instead I got myself a lab ($3,599)– and colored him silver. You can play with your dog by tossing him Yummy Treats ($399 for a bag of 15), or giving him simple commands, like stay, heel, speak, etc).

I could have bought a lot more stuff, including a couch to sit on, and other add-ons and toys. I could even rent a house, so I’d have somewhere to host private gatherings.

If you get tired of some of your possessions, you can always sell them back, or auction them to the highest bidder. Unlike Ultima Underworld and other online worlds, which auction items using eBay, There guarantees the veracity of objects and auctions.

But enough shopping! I wanted to go explore!

Note: prices for items have not yet been set.

The world is modeled on the Earth, with actual topographic maps, latitude and longitude scanned in. Although only four areas are currently enabled, There expects many more worlds to be created by themselves or partners.

Currently you can visit four areas: Tiki – a collection of islands, Tyr – more of a gothic and dark vampire world, Saja: a floating collection of islands and Egypt – wander around the pyramids and sphinx.

A comment for your better late than never department: from the April and September 1989 articles by Chuck Karwan on auctions)

I read with interest the comments by Mr. Harvey McRay of the National Auctioneers Assn. to Chuck Karwan in relation to Chuck’s advice on how to buy at an auction. Boy, it’s amazing how loud these characters holler when you step on their toes. We’ve been plagued for years in Missouri with Dog & Gun Auctions, where a bunch of “good ole boys” get together for a “good ole time” tradin’ guns. An atmosphere is created where stolen firearms from another part of the state can be sold for cash … no questions asked.

As a stocking dealer I am required as all other legitimate dealers large or small are to account for every firearm I sell and determine that the buyer is legally qualified to purchase that firearm. An auctioneer sells the firearm on consignment and collects a fee from the seller and an admission from the buyer and doesn’t give a damn who he sells it to. The buyer could be a convicted felon, mentally incompetent, underage or whatever. The pace is fast, the crowd comes and goes and nobody knows nothin’. Anything obviously illegal can be handled out in the parking lot out of the trunk of a car.

The general public thinks these auctions are great, fun and exciting. It allows them to beat the system,” no 4473 to fill out, no handgun permit, no sales tax, no questions asked. But you should see the long faces on these same “good ole boys” when their guns are stolen and the realization hits that their guns have disappeared into the underground network of “good ole boys” just havin’ fun sellin’ guns.

I suggest that all firearms dealers, no matter how large or small, write their representatives in Washington and their state capitol as well as their local law enforcement officials and DEMAND that existing Federal and State laws be enforced at auctions as they are under control of the 1968 Gun Control Act and be required to maintain a bound book of sales and require a 4473 on every transaction just like the rest of us, because these auctioneers are sure as hell in it for the money.

Name withheld

Missouri

Editor’s Note:

The ATF’s 1990, Volume 1 FFL Newsletter, recently added some clarity to the subject of auctions. The following paragraphs are taken from page seven of that journal:

Under the Gun Control Act of 1968, as amended, any person engaged in the business of importing, manufacturing or dealing in firearms is required to have a Federal firearms license. “Engaged in the business” is defined for a dealer in firearms other than a gunsmith or a pawnbroker as:

A person who devotes time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit through the repetitive purchase and resales of firearms, but not such a term shall include a person who makes occasional sales, exchanges, of purchases firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection of for a hobby, of a who sells all of part of his personal collection of firearms.

Accordingly, whether an auctioneer is a person who should be licensed depends upon whether he is engaged in a firearms business. Occasionally, an auctioneer is merely acting as an agent for the actual owner of the property by finding a purchaser and arriving at a price. The owner consummates the sale and the auctioneer receives a commission for his services. If the property included firearms, this transaction would normally be treated as a sale between private individuals (the actual owner and the purchaser) and the auctioneer would not require a Federal firearms license.

However, if an auctioneer purchases firearms for resale or takes firearms on consignment for sale in his auction business, he may need a firearms license to be in compliance with the GCA. The necessity for a license is determined on a case-by-case basis, taking into account all pertinent facts. For example, if an auctioneer infrequently auctions off a firearm which was part of an estate that contained a wide variety of personal property, he would not be considered to be engaging in the business of dealing in firearms. On the other hand, if an auctioneer held a weekly or monthly auction of such property, his conduct would probably constitute engaging in the business and he would require a Federal firearms license. It should be noted that a Federal firearms dealer’s license is issued for a specific premises, and all sales concerning that license must be transacted at that location. However the licensee may solicit purchases for the firearms (by auction or otherwise) at a location other than the licensed premises so long as the sale is consummated and the property is delivered to the purchaser at the licensed premises. Also the records of the licensed dealer must be kept at the licensed premises.

Political Activism

I noted that (again) your Legislative Update column mentions the increased need for political activism. Last week a customer castigated me for the 1989 import ban because the other dealers in town don’t care. How do I fight other gun store owner’s apathy?

“Ay, yie-yie-yieeee! “I am dee Frito Bandito!” the Frito-Lay Company’s infamously caricatured Mexican American advertising mascot used to sing on TV commercials:

“I love Frito’s Corn Chips/I love dem I do/I love Ftito’s Corn Chips/I take dem from you!”

As a pudgy, greasy, illiterate-sounding, jolly thief, the Frito Bandito was an early 1970s racist offense. It took four years for Frito-Lay to pull the image from its ad campaigns.

During that time, the company’s years of aggressively marketing the symbol–as a pencil eraser, a toy ring, and even as the feature on a “Wanted for Theft” poster–made Frito Bandito items a hot commodity. A writer on the toy collector’s website ToyNfo.com notes that, “The controversy plus the age of the Frito Bandito, makes anything with his likeness quite collectible today…. A small pencil-eraser image of this gun-toting junk-food bandit, in good condition, can bring up to $20 today.”

The Frito Bandito is part of a growing trend in the world of racist collectibles. Like Aunt Jemima, Fu Manchu, and Redskin Indians, the Frito Bandito is a stereotyped ethnic image that may ignite controversy, but is also quickly becoming an income-generating antique.

Activist groups are reliably boycotting and petitioning to stop the sale of these items. What’s strange, though, is to find that some of the newest consumers of these antiques are members of the same ethnic groups its stereotypes are slurring. Scores of recent magazine articles have featured middle-class African Americans finding their niche in the world of antiquing by collecting derogatory black memorabilia. Others, both white and non-white, are debating the merits of bucking political correctness and daring to purchase racially “edgy” items. Under the premise that “we could all use a laugh,” or that racist antiques are collectible documentation of “how bad things used to be,” ethnic memorabilia sell like hotcakes in online auctions and other markers. These reminders of the ugly faces of racism continue to have new permutations and continued shelf life.

To the Highest Bidder

There was a time when you could’ve typed in the letters “n-i-g-g-e-r” on eBay’s search engine and pulled up “Tragic Mulatto” books, “Coon” ashtrays, “Sambo” or “Jigger” masks, “Picaninny” toys, “Uncle Tom” matchbooks, and tons of other so-called black memorabilia items.

In February 2003, the California-based National Alliance for Positive Action and the owners of the website BlackNews.com took the lead in urging eBay to stop selling such racially offensive objects. Although eBay banned the sale of Nazi Germany/Third Reich and Ku Klux Klan items back in May 2001, its new policy regarding the n-word will still permit the sale of “Mack memorabilia” and “extreme ethnic” items. eBay is currently setting up a new pop-up screen that will surface whenever the n-word is used to describe an item for sale on its auction site. The pop-up screen will advise sellers that the n-word is “highly offensive” and that its use in describing an item will be checked and could be against eBay policies.

But eBay isn’t the only auction house to blame. Online sites like Yahoo! Auctions and outfits like TrashTalkers.com have taken to selling ethnographic antiques and toys. Sotheby’s, Swann Galleries, Christie’s, and other high-end auction houses also sell racist items to the highest bidder. Items in circulation include the “Talking Alligator Cookie Jar” which, when you open the jar by tilting the alligator’s head back, features the voice of an alligator saying, “Mmm Mmmm, them sho’ is some tasty cookies!” At the website TrashTalkers.com, Perleberg, a company based in Germany, offers equal-opportunity offensive dolls: there’s a male Chinese doll who’s constantly got sex on his mind, and the site offers dolls depicting flamboyantly stereotypical gay white males. The gold-neck-laced black male doll, “Pimp Daddy,” is programmed to utter phrases like “You better make some money, bitch” and “Ooww!!! You got some nice ass titties, birch!”; while a bindi-wearing, turbaned “Mr. Patel” reminds you that in his native cou ntry: “We would’ve already killed you already.”

Racist dolls and ethnographic figurines and antiques have become so voluminous that selectively protesting the companies who sell them can seem like trying to stem a growing tidal wave.

Collecting Garbage

“A lot of people think they know about race and racism,” notes David Pilgrim, curator for the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. “But they don’t.”

A virtual tour of the museum is also available via Internet at www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/menu.htm. Ever since he was a child, the African American sociology professor says he has been both disgusted and fascinated by the proliferation of anti-black, Jim Crow images and racial artifacts. But he’s found a way to overcome his disgust and use the artifacts as teaching aids.

Pilgrim points our, “These things are great visual aids in telling the story I am trying to tell. I see it as such a unique opportunity to teach people about race and racism in an educational setting.

Aggressive lending has long-term impact as neighborhoods suffer from foreclosures

With one of the worst economies and job markets in the nation, it is no surprise that more people here fall behind on mortgage payments and lose their homes. But the foreclosure rate in Ohio is three times the national average, making this state the nation’s leader in home foreclosures.

The foreclosure spike began in 1997, years before the state’s economic nose dive. No part of the state was spared, not even white-collar Columbus, home to state government and the nation’s largest university. The foreclosure problem cut across every type of mortgage, from riskier loans for low-income buyers with spotty credit to conventional loans for uppermiddle-class suburbanites.

We wondered: How could that be? Then we found a common thread: predatory lending.

We discovered people were being lured into taking out loans they could not afford by aggressive mortgage brokers, appraisers and others who profited regardless of whether the buyers ultimately succeed or fail. It was a ticking time bomb.

Suburban blight

The four-day series, “Brokered Dreams,” came into focus after mapping sheriff’s sales data with Arc View.

Foreclosures in Ohio typically end with the property being sold at weekly auctions at the county courthouse. Reporter Jill Riepenhoff obtained five years of sales data from the sheriff’s department, and Projects Editor Doug Haddix mapped them.

Seeing the dots - nearly 12,000 of them - scattered across the county was jaw dropping. It did not seem possible in prosperous and stable Columbus, Ohio.

Foreclosures were predictably concentrated in poor, inner-city neighborhoods. But, surprisingly, clusters of dots circled the outskirts of the city, in the newest subdivisions of suburbia.

It soon became obvious suburban foreclosures were disproportionately in neighborhoods built by Dominion Homes, a publicly traded company based here that serves as the mortgage broker for its customers.

Riepenhoff hand-searched hundreds of county auditor and recorder records, tracing sales and deed transfers to identify the homebuilder for newer houses that had gone to sheriff’s sale.

Dominion was No. 1, accounting for nearly a third of all houses built since 1998, more than larger competitors.

A federal database called Neighborhood Watch that tracks default rates among lenders who make Federal Housing Administration loans proved to be a smoking gun. The database (www.hud.gov/offices/ hsg/sfh/lender/nw_home.cfm) showed Dominion led the state in the number of homeowners who defaulted on FHA mortgages within two years of closing on the loans.

It also allowed us to discover that Dominion had the worst default rate in the nation among its peers - builders with their own financing divisions.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development audits, which took six months to obtain through a Freedom of Information Act request, documented Dominion’s questionable lending practices.

The company gave loans to buyers with shaky credit, income and savings. Dominion shielded from customers its ownership in a title agency that closed their loans.

The Dispatch also found that Dominion’s “free” down payments also contributed to foreclosures among its customers.

Dominion rolled the cost of the freebie into the price of the house. The company funneled the down payments through a national charity that did nothing but collect a processing fee and issue the down payment “gift.”

In a sidebar, we profiled the California-based charity, Nehemiah Corp. of America, and its partnership with Dominion.

Because these were FHA loans, an insurance fund bailed out lenders when the mortgages went bad. Dominion faced no financial consequences when foreclosures hit.

The story “Suburban Blight” focused on one neighborhood, where one of every six houses was either in foreclosure, bankruptcy or both.

Residents of the Galloway Ridge subdivision who were able to pay their bills found themselves surrounded by vacant houses with weed-infested yards. They were stuck in a neighborhood where their brand-new houses were worth less than they paid for them, while Dominion was still building houses in the 804-lot development.

Flipping frenzy

Real-estate speculation and predatory lending have ravaged poor neighborhoods for years. But we had never seen or heard of anything quite like the deals involving Stillwater Capital Partners, the focus of one day of the series.

Last year, Stillwater began showing up in county records as the lender holding the mortgages on some of the city’s worst vacant houses. By crunching county sales data from the auditor’s office and deed transfer data from the recorder’s office, reporter Geoff Dutton ultimately identified nearly 400 vacant houses in Columbus financed by Stillwater.

Further digging uncovered more than 100 others around the state, mostly in Akron.

Stillwater’s 90-day rehab loans were designed to help investors buy, fix up and quickly resell houses. But many of the purchases appeared to be flips to begin with - property that had been quickly resold at large markups after few if any improvements.

Why Not Try Auctions As A Good Source For Acquiring Used Guns?

Once a firearms dealer has made used guns a significant part of this business, there is an on going requirement to find such guns to add to the business’ stock. One of the best sources for acquiring used guns for resale are auctions. In some cases auctions are also a good source for bargain priced new guns, ammunition, and accessories as well.

Firearms auctions can come in a wide variety from simple farm or estate auctions, where firearms make up a small part of the auction, to large, nationally advertised firearms auctions run by big name auction houses. Both can be excellent sources.

Some antique auction houses that deal primarily in furniture also have firearms as a small part of their business. State and local police in many areas conduct periodic auctions to dispose of firearms that they have confiscated, seized, or otherwise acquired. Similarly, state fish and wildlife departments sometimes have auctions consisting of guns that they have confiscated from poachers and game law violators. There are also “going out of business” auctions for gun shops, sporting goods stores, and hardwares stores that can have guns as all or part of the items to be auctioned off.

There are various auction houses that specialize in firearms and related items as well as auction houses that conduct infrequent firearms auctions as a part of their total business. Even the U.S. Post Office conducts periodic firearm auctions at the regional level to dispose of guns they have accumulated from confiscations, inability to deliver, or from being lost or damaged in transit and then having been paid off with insurance payments. All of these and more offer auctions that can be an excellent source of used guns for the dealer.

About Bidding

Most auctions will be the type where you participate actively in the bidding. The auctioneer will quickly identify the individuals that are interested in the item and will go back and forth between them, raising the bid in increments until only one person is left with the winning bid. Sometimes, as is usually the case with the postal auction, bidding will be done by mail, using a “sealed bid”. In a sealed bid auction you have to figure the selling price you could expect from the items in the lot you are bidding on and work backwards, to figure out the price you are willing to pay. This bid is submitted in writing. At a specified time all bids are opened and examined with the highest bid for each lot winning.

About The Auctions

Each type of auction has its own peculiarities that a smart dealer can take advantage of. For example, estate, farm, or antique auctions that have some guns as a small part of the total auction will not usually draw in dealers from any distance. It is often possible to make prior arrangement with the auctioneer to establish a time in the auctions when the guns will go up for bid. This can save you wasting a whole day to bid on just five or ten guns. Without the competition form other dealers, it is often possible to get the guns quite reasonably.

At large auctions of expensive collectible firearms what can often happen is that the cheaper, more common guns will be largely overlooked while the rarer ones draw all the attention. This can also happen if the auction has a primary theme such as Winchester lever actions or Colt Single Action revolvers. Then the guns that do not coincide with that theme will often go overlooked by the collectors, who are there for that particular specialty. In both cases the dealer can often snap up the overlooked guns at a good price.

Postal Auctions

Because the postal auctions will have a high percentage of guns that are damaged, these firearms can be particularly good money makers for gunsmiths, dealers that have a gunsmith on their staff, or dealers who have a close working relationship with a gunsmith.

On one such regional Post Office auction a gunsmith friend and I combined forces. We both inspected the lot of guns, ammunition, and accessories and made up separate evaluations. We then combined our analysis and compared notes to arrive at our bid. It turned out that we had the winning bid.

We then combined forces again. My gunsmith friend repaired and refinished the broken guns while I sold the guns and other accessories. We made sure to share our expenses and time as equally as possible. When the dust had settled, we made a nice 66 percent profit on our purchases. Neither my gunsmith friend nor myself could have been as successful without the other’s knowledge and skills.

“Going Out Of Business”

Auctions

The “going out of business” auctions for sporting goods, gun shops, etcetera, each have their own peculiarities. It is my observation that expensive guns often go for a fraction of their market value at such auctions. Consequently, they often constitute the best buys and the best potential profits. Less expensive guns, on the other hand, often go for a price too close to full retail to be good buys. At one auction I attended, I remember watching a Ruger Standard Model .22 pistol be bid up over full, new retail in the excitement of the bidding.

My fondness for horses began when I first saw a bad dude in a black hat galloping across a movie screen, pursued by the man who became forever my favorite cowboy, Roy Rogers. A look of fierce determination creasing his brow, Roy always rode headlong into the wind, astride his beautiful palomino pal, Trigger. The pair lassoed my heart. They cantered through my dreams at night, and I conjured up images of them every day as I wore my fringed leather jacket and practiced twirling my trusty six-gun. But my ensemble lacked one essential. So whenever my mother traveled and asked what she could bring me back, I’d reply: “A horse.” Living in the Bronx made the request a bit unrealistic, but she did buy me three tawny-toned equine statues of varying sizes that I named Trigger, Trigger, and Trigger.

I got to see my beloved duo in person once, when they made an appearance in New York City. I marveled at Trigger’s ability to “dance” and compute arithmetic problems by tapping out the answer with a hoof. Trigger so impressed me, he nosed himself into the No. 1 position in my world, with Roy running a close second. Alas, our trails never crossed again and eventually the twosome rode off into the sunset.

Rarely do I run into a singing cowboy, but sometimes I see a horse grazing in a green pasture, strutting smartly in a parade, or hurtling across a finish line. And once again, I remember with pleasure that gorgeous golden palomino. Judging by the number of people who ride, follow racing, or attend equestrian events, I know I’m not alone in my affection for horses.

Horsing Around

Here’s a sampling of “horsey” places where equine enthusiasts can pursue their passion:

CALIFORNIA

Twain Harte. If you ever wondered what it was like to be a pioneer, join the Historical Sonora Pass Wagon Train, a non-profit living history group. Ride in a covered wagon or on your own horse for a 10-day, 70-mile adventure, which won’t be quite as rough as your ancestors had it. A crew prepares meals, and most evenings include entertainment. (209) 586-5565; www.sonorapasswagontrain.com.

CONNECTICUT

Old Lyme. Visitors are welcome year-round to McCulloch Farm, Connecticut’s oldest private Morgan horse breeding farm. About 25 registered Morgans inhabit McCulloch’s, which hosts two annual events. Open Barn Days in spring and fall attract about 900 people who come to pet foals and watch them play. Every September, owners come with their horses and delight onlookers with displays of dressage, bareback riding, and more during Versatility Event, now in its 50th year. Call first, (860) 434-7355; www.neineternet.com/whippoorwill.

FLORIDA

Ocala. This is horse country, with more than 400 Thoroughbred farms and training centers located in its green rolling hills. Forty-four breeds inhabit Ocala, including Peso Finos, Arabians, and Miniatures. Many northern owners send their horses here to winter. Horses are bought and sold four times a year at the Ocala Breeders Sales, Horse fans can see the auction house and take self-guided tours of many of the farms or opt for an organized tour. Ocala/Marion County Chamber of Commerce, (352) 629-8051; www.ocalacc.com.

GEORGIA

Conyers. Polo matches, dressage shows, barrel racing, and just about everything else take place at Georgia International Horse Park, the state-of-the-art facility that hosted the equestrian events in the 1996 Olympic Games. The riding trails are actually the cross-country trails from the three-day event. (888) 860-4224; www.georgiahorsepark.com.

Cumberland Island National Seashore. If you prefer horses in herds who roam wild and free on a beach, hop a ferry from Kingsland/St. Mary’s to Cumberland Island. Pristine and undeveloped, Cumberland is Georgia’s largest barrier island. (912) 882-4000; www.stmaryswelcome.com.

Jekyll Island. Ride through maritime forest and along Driftwood Beach on one of Georgia’s Golden Isles. (877) 453-5955; www.jekyllisland.com.

KENTUCKY

Louisville. Churchill Downs is the country’s oldest continuously operated racetrack and a National Historic Landmark, but most of us know it as the site of the “greatest two minutes in sports,” the Kentucky Derby. Tours of the track are part of a visit to the Kentucky Derby Museum, where you can weigh in on an authentic jockey scale and learn all about Thoroughbred racing through hands-on displays, artifacts, audio-visuals, and a wealth of memorabilia. (800) 283-3729; www.churchilldowns.com.

Lexington. A majestic sculpture of Man o’ War welcomes visitors to the Kentucky Horse Park, which is dedicated to man’s relationship with the horse. Housing the International Museum of the Horse, the park is a working horse farm with nearly 50 breeds and an educational theme park where Belgians, Clydesdales, and others pull trolley tours. Visitors can experience horse-related arts, including saddlery repair and horseshoeing, and enjoy horse shows, trail rides, and carriage rides (800) 678-8813; www.kyhorsepark.com.

MARYLAND

Baltimore. Maryland is a hotbed for horse lovers, offering steeplechase races fox hunts, rodeos, and the legendary wild ponies who roam Assateague Island. Best known is its hosting of the second jewel in the Triple Crown, the Preakness. Held at Pimlico Race Course, the sporting event is the centerpiece of an eight-day festival that draws a half million people. (800) 719-5900; www.mdweleome.org.

Anguillans, from government leaders to the average Joe, are convinced that their home-grown brand of boatbuilding and competitive sailing sets them apart from their Caribbean neighbors.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

What also sets this island apart are some of the most beautiful powder-white sand beaches to be found anywhere. Many of the island’s 33 beaches are nearly as uncrowded and pristine today as they were 13 years ago when my wife and I first set foot ashore at Blowing Point, a short ferry ride from the bustling harbor town of Marigot on nearby St. Martin.

You also won’t find any 747s landing here, tee-shirts hawked at five for $10 on every street corner or cruise ships disgorging thousands of passengers at a time.

Not for Everyone

The fact is there appears to be a movement among the islanders to establish and position Anguilla as much more than just another sun-drenched island. Few tourists would be attracted by its landscape, which can be best described as scrub. There are no verdant green pastures, thundering water-falls, sleeping volcanoes or lush forests here. There are also no golf courses–yet.

A former British colony located 150 miles due east of Puerto Rico and nine miles north of St. Martin, Anguilla, (which means eel), is 16 miles long and as much as three miles wide. A total of four traffic lights regulate what passes for traffic on the island, most of which is located in The Valley, the island’s center, its capital and home to around 600 of its 12,000 residents.

When we first landed for a day’s lark all those years ago, we marveled at the unspoiled and undeveloped nature of what was Anguilla. Upon arrival we got to choose whatever rental car we wanted. All we had to do was pick one not “guarded” by one of the roaming goats. There was little paperwork. What were we going to do? Fly off the island with the car, asked the proprietor?

Of course, we were younger and more impressionable then. But, we certainly weren’t all that clueless. Well, times have changed and development has come to Anguilla. But, so far only enough to enrich the stay and not enough yet to ruin the experience as is often the case when a place gets “discovered.”

In fact, the addition of a select few discreet and low-rise four- and five-star resorts in addition to a wealth of very nice private villas, hotels and inns that are spread out over the island rather than clustered together have added to the island’s attractiveness.

Sailing In, Welcome Mat Out

As to the island’s sailing attraction, the local spirit was on display last May, a prequel to “Anguilla Day,” when the islanders get really serious about racing against one another in their traditional and unique hand-crafted wooden sailboats.

The Anguilla Sailing Association hosted a special three-day sailing event called “Mix It Up.” Yachts from around the Caribbean raced around the island on the first day, the islanders raced against themselves on the second day; and on the third day, a “Mix It Up” regatta was held in which the skippers and crew from the off-island yachts and the local boats exchanged vessels.

Some 23 visiting yachts from St. Martin, Tortola, Antigua, France, the United Kingdom and Monaco joined 10 local boats for the weekend racing which was unfortunately hampered by light winds. While life was especially grueling for those who participated in the round-the-island race, the partying that went on into the wee hours on Sandy Ground beach more than made up for the lack of wind.

To fully appreciate Anguillan sailboat racing, consider the vessel: the boat is unique to the island in the way it is fitted and handled. These shallow-keeled open boats have no decking and no external ballast on the hull. Large smooth rocks, lead or bags of sand are used as ballast. This is often changed during a race and thrown overboard as needed. A crew consists of 10 to 18 persons, anyone of whom may be jettisoned during a race. This, of course, adds a bit of drama to the racing.

Their Class A boats are 28 feet long by nine feet wide and have masts of up to 40 feet, many of which are now made of aluminum rather than wood. Dacron sails have also largely replaced canvas sailcloth.

Unlike most competitive sailboat racing, which is nearly invisible to those ashore, Anguilla’s races are begun from the beach which is filled with music, dancing, the smell of open-pit cooking fires and sails drenched in deep colors, in stark contrast to the white sand. When the gun goes off there’s mad scramble to get aboard and head for the first mark.

While sailboat racing in Anguilla is very much a community-oriented “neighborhood” undertaking, one important indicator of just how important sailing has become to the island has been the creation of the Anguilla International Yacht Club (AIYC).

Situated on the south shore of the island, the AIYC is a brand new facility spearheaded by the colorful Italian yachtsman, Gianfranco Comparetti, who hopes to attract sailors and yacht owners from around the world who are looking for high-end accommodations without the crowds of tourists who flock to neighboring gateway islands.

In August, I mentioned the efforts to help raise money for Ross Anderson, a 12-year employee of Leupold & Stevens, in his battle against leukemia. Industry veteran and former Leupold executive Ray Oeltjen established a shooting event, raffle, auctions and a fund to help the Anderson family. A three-gun event was held August 29 in Sherwood, Ore.

Following the fundraiser, Ray asked if we would publish the following. Of course.

“The Friends of Ross Anderson would like to thank all the wonderful people and companies in the shooting sports market who so generously contributed their products to Ross’s bone marrow transplant fund. We were able to raise just short of $40,000 in the day’s shooting events, raffles and auctions.

It speaks very highly of so many in this industry who selflessly donated their time, their money and their products to this worthy cause, and I struggle for words to say how touched we have all been by your kindness.

On behalf of Ross and Judith Anderson, their son Benjamin and all their friends, I want to say a very heartfelt thank you, and God bless you all.”

LONDON–In January, Christie’s held its first camera sale of the year, featuring equipment dating from the 1830s through the 1980s. Included in the sale were a selection of spy cameras in various disguises, such as coat buttons, cigarette lighters and gentlemen’s pocket watches.

Pictured here is a Japanese Doryu 2-16 gun camera, similar to they type used by Japanese police for shooting practice. The model dates back to the early 1950s and held an estimate of 7,000 [pounds sterling] to 10,000 [pounds sterling]. Another Japanese-made spy camera disguised as a cigarette lighter held an estimate between 300 [pounds sterling] to 500 [pounds sterling]. Produced during the late 1950s by the Suzuki Optical Company, the chrome 8mm camera looks exactly like an authentic Zippo lighter, and, when fitted with a proper wick, it can actually be used as one.

Stalin and the Rothschilds is one of the more bizarre connections that I discovered while writing a book on the dictator’s early life. Stalin worked for the Rothschilds; he burnt down their refinery and ordered the assassination of their managing director — yet later they helped fund Lenin and Stalin. There were always rumours, but my discovery of a long-forgotten memoir in the archives of Tbilisi now reveals the true story. In December 1901 Stalin, aged 23, arrived in the Black Sea oil port Batumi, which was dominated by the Rothschild and Nobel dynasties. One day Stalin came home late boasting, ‘Guess why I got up so early this morning? Today I got a job with the Rothschilds!’ Then he almost crooned, ‘I’m working for the Rothschilds! I’m working for the Rothschilds!’ One of his comrades, who wrote the memoir, joked, ‘I hope the Rothschilds will prosper from this moment onwards!’ Stalin sniggered, thrilled to be working for the dynasty that personified the wicked glamour of international capital. On Stalin’s first day at work the Rothschilds’ refinery mysteriously caught fire. Stalin bragged to his comrade, ‘Your words came true.’ The Rothschilds did indeed prosper with Stalin as an employee. Stalin the arsonist next organised a brutal strike. When the Rothschilds’ director refused his demands, Stalin ordered his assassination: the gun jammed and the director fled back to Paris.

This was not the end of Stalin’s relations with the Rothschilds. In 1907 he moved to the lawless boom city Baku, home of super-rich oil barons who were much the same as today’s oligarchs. To finance Lenin, Stalin’s gangster outfit of hitmen and bank robbers used protection rackets, piracy, blackmail and kidnapping. The Rothschilds were hugely powerful in Baku, yet the Tsar’s secret police and Bolshevik memoirists recorded how the Rothschilds contributed to Stalin’s funds, even paying him off to stop a strike. The Rothschilds never knew that they had employed the future supreme pontiff of Marxism-Leninism — nor that he burnt down their refinery. The family shrewdly sold their Russian interests in 1912. Only now have they returned to Russia. I recently recounted this to Jacob Rothschild, sending him a postcard of young Stalin on which I wrote, ‘Your Employee of the Month 1902!’

Gay weddings will be remembered as Tony Blair’s greatest achievement! Last week my wife, Santa, and I attended our first gay wedding and it was one of the best and most exhilarating since my own. Our friends Tom Konig Oppenheimer and Adam Beaumont Brown, fashion grandees listed among Britain’s most important gay potentates, gave a lasciviously glamorous dinner-dance at Tramp. It was such an improvement on English straight weddings. For a start, everyone was more beautiful, fit and fragrant.

Glamourpusses prowled like pantheresses.

The speeches were hilariously, outrageously, unzippingly saucy. The entertainment was the actress Thandie Newton singing ‘The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face’; the waiters were topless musclemen; Vogue photographed it.

The camp exuberance liberated Anglostraightness and converted even the most rhythmless clod-footed hokey-cokey congadancers into lithe prancing eroto-disco-fever Dionysians. If only all straight weddings could be somehow gay-ified.

Frank Johnson’s beautiful memorial service was on Friday: how he’d have enjoyed the parade of grandees. In 1997, when he edited The Spectator, we cooked up a wonderful act of journalistic mischief: an interview with the Spice Girls in which they revealed they were Thatcherites. Recently Frank tended to telephone me pretending to be a (strangely Cockney) Soviet Marshal calling Stalin at Headquarters (Stavka). How I miss the East End’s urchin-Marshal calls: ‘Hey lad, Marshal Frank Zhukov calling Stavka! Permission to launch the offensive, mate!’

OnFriday Santa and I went to Marlborough House for the charity dinner of Ark, an impressive institution that uses auctions and splendour to coax rich hedge-funders into supporting Aids treatment in Mozambique, a noble and desperate cause.

Millions were raised. Bill Clinton, Ark’s partner in this admirable enterprise, spoke in his seductively husky drawl. Prince played. The party’s magnificence marks London’s emergence as an equal to New York — in splendour but also in the new cult of philanthropy. It reminded me of history’s most extravagant ball: Prince Potemkin’s 1791 party for his partnerin-power-and-love, Catherine the Great. He was like a rock star and statesman combined: the prince also played his own songs, not unlike the pop star Prince. Potemkin served puddings garnished with real diamonds, an idea for Ark next year.

Ilaunched my book at Asprey on Monday.

Stalin was here in London to plan his biggest bank robbery exactly a century ago: he might have found Asprey an irresistible target for his gang. My highlight was taking my children, Lily and Sasha, to their first grownup party. Sasha, 4, was very proud that the book was dedicated to him. Santa is relieved Stalin’s dark domestic reign is finally over. But it’s taken a terrible toll on my family: I’m ashamed to say that my children were able to recognise Stalin even before they knew Thomas the Tank Engine.