You probably have heard this, that one way the Chinese wish one ill will is to say, “May you live in interesting times”. Interesting times, indeed!

I just learned today that I my 96 year old aunt on my mother’s side is in the hospital in Tucson with breathing problems, and her 94 year old sister is also in the hospital in Issaquah, WA, with a broken pelvis. Last week, I got a rocket from my son in Seattle telling me that his 75 year old mother, my ex-wife, has been hospitalized in Bremerton, WA with bleeding ulcers and a tumor on one kidney. Fortunately, the prognoses for all three are apparently good, and there is family there to care for them.

Other less personal current events add to the milieu. As if the US economy weren’t bad enough, the global economy adds an interesting dimension to it (there’s that word again).

Ongoing weather modification, commonly attributed to global warming seems to be producing crazy and dangerous storm events (cyclones, typhoons, hurricanes) resulting in wind and flood damage, and loss of life. Things are moving a lot faster than you would expect them to, if they were simply occurring as a natural long-term cyclic trend – the conclusion is that they are induced by mankind. Come to think of it, perhaps the world population growth is part of the long term trend. Seems to make sense.

We used to have predictable monsoon seasons here, wet and dry. Now, it is hard to see a pattern to the weather we receive.

It will be interesting to watch the political action in the US this coming year. Let’s hope that everyone gets behind our new President, and help him turn things around.

Make times less interesting? Well - OK, if that's what it takes.

-=<()>=-
"We've met the enemy, and it is us." Pogo