Why bother?

In a galaxy far, far away, I started this blog with the hope of earning a few dollars every so often.

At first, most readers were from the U.S. and Canada.  Now I get dozens of visits from Russia or Italy.  These are probably trolls who are hoping I will click on their URLs which they hope will trap me into some nefarious scheme.

The few dollars never got to the level at which Google would send me a check.  With only a few dollars to go to that level, the meter stopped.  Then Google sent me an email that I hadn’t made certain changes or something or other.  I’ve long forgotten how to edit the site and really don’t want to figure out how to do it again.

If you’ve been a long time reader, I thank you.

Maybe I’ll post something else here now and then; maybe I won’t.  Che séra, séra!

Are we on the cusp of peace or of war?

President Rouhani of Iran is working to make life more open for Iranians and to build more bridges to the West.  See "Not for Prime Time: Music Video with Iran's President" and "Iran Invites Inspectors to Nuclear Site".

On the other hand, China has declared certain air space as requiring permission for others to enter.  The U.S., Korea, and Japan felt compelled to enter that air space.  Now China is sending fighter jets into that space.  See "China Sends Jets into 'Air Defense' Zone After Flights by Japan and Korea".

We have one situation slightly defused and another situation ignited.  The first can bring about more peace, and the second can put war a lot closer than most of us want.  Will we have a Kennedy and a Khrushchev to resolve the latter?

The Russians are back!

Me and my fat fingers!  I posted an entry on how the page views of this blog from Russia had gone to zero.  Now the Russians are back and the U.S. page views are down and far less than the Russian views.

I just can't believe that there are more Russians who are truly interested in what I post than Americans.

If you reside in the U.S. and like this blog, please tell your friends.  If you reside outside the U.S. and actually read this blog, I thank you for your interest and I hope I can keep your interest.  Maybe if the ranking of this blog goes up enough, the reverse spam will go down.

"That used to be us, how America fell behind in the world"

This is a title of a new book by Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum.  I think I'll buy it when my book budget shows a surplus.

You can read an excerpt at http://www.npr.org/books/titles/140211680/that-used-to-be-us-how-america-fell-behind-in-the-world-it-invented-and-how-we-c?tab=excerpt#excerpt.  Our infra-structure is falling apart while China's is building up at great efficiency.

You can listen to an interview with Thomas Friedman at http://www.npr.org/2011/09/06/140214150/thomas-friedman-on-how-america-fell-behind.

All three copies in the Duluth MN Public Library are out.

U.S. wins even as it "loses"

The New York Times has an ironic picture of Chinese youth marching in a Beijing parade celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. See "China's Next Stage: Spreading the Wealth".

Are they wearing traditional Chinese festive dress? No. Are they wearing unisex Mao jackets and caps? No. They are wearing unisex jeans and T-shirts. The T-shirts say in big letters/symbols, "I (heart) China".

The U.S. may be losing the economic "war" but it certainly is winning the cultural "war" as American popular culture reaches into more and more places in the world.

Seeking healthcare around the world

Abigail Zuger, M.D., wrote an interesting review of "The Healing of America" by T. R. Reid. He had a chronic shoulder problem for which he sought medical advice around the world. The advice ranged from thousands of dollars for shoulder replacement in the U.S., outright refusal in Britain because it was not serious enough, and relief in India for $42.85 out of pocket per night.

The book is on order at the Duluth Public Library and already has four reserves.