World Views: End Of 2019

Having completed my 10th year of blogging and a little more than a quarter of the way through my 11th, I thought I’d check to see my world coverage.  The U.S. recognizes about 195 countries / territories.  I believe the U.N. is upwards of about 210.
Aside from the normal (“expected”) ones missing (Cuba and North Korea), I’m still missing almost 15% of the world’s countries from at least one visit / view.  As near as I can tell, here is my list of countries which I have not had a view from (in alphabetical order):
1) Benin
2) Burkina Fasq
3) Central African Republic
4) Chad
5) Côte d’Ivoire
6) Cuba
7) Djibouti
8) Equatorial Guinea
9) Eritrea
10) Gabon
11) Guinea
12) Guinea-Bissau
13) Haiti
14) Liberia
15) Mali
16) Mauritania
17) Niger
18) North Korea
19) North Macedonia
20) Sierra Leone
21) Sao Tome and Principe
22) South Sudan
23) Suriname
24) Togo
25) Turkmenistan
26) Uzbekistan
27) Vatican City
28) Western Sahara
29) Yemen
I know it is pure vanity to imagine it — given my relatively small number of followers (1,400-ish), but I like to imagine if I cannot personally visit every country in the world in my lifetime, at least my blog has been viewed by at least one person in each country.
Like I said —  pure vanity  —  but at the end of each year I seem to inch a little closer to my goal.  Someone should tell them:  “Assimilation is inevitable.  Resistance is futile…”  (LoL!)
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On This Day In:
2021	Best Wishes For 2022!
	A Toast To Innocence
2020	Best Wishes For 2021!
	Tomorrow Starts A New Year
2019	Best Wishes For 2020!
	World Views: End Of 2019
2018	Best Wishes For 2019!
2017	Best Wishes For 2018!
2016	Best Wishes For 2017!
2015	Better Red Than Dead
	Tomorrow Starts A New Year
2014	Recovering
	Best Wishes For 2015!
2013	Best Wishes For 2014!
2012	My Creed
2011	It Probably Isn’t So

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Best Wishes For 2020!

Cheers to you, my blog readers!  Here is a suggested resolution for 2020:
Do your best to be your best as frequently as you can.  And when you can’t, remember to forgive yourself and try again at the next opportunity.  Tomorrow’s dawn starts a new day…
Please have a happy (and safe) New Year’s Eve!
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On This Day In:
2021	Best Wishes For 2022!
	A Toast To Innocence
2020	Best Wishes For 2021!
	Tomorrow Starts A New Year
2019	Best Wishes For 2020!
	World Views: End Of 2019
2018	Best Wishes For 2019!
2017	Best Wishes For 2018!
2016	Best Wishes For 2017!
2015	Better Red Than Dead
	Tomorrow Starts A New Year
2014	Recovering
	Best Wishes For 2015!
2013	Best Wishes For 2014!
2012	My Creed
2011	It Probably Isn’t So

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A Proud Assertion

Flowers and fruits are always fit presents;  flowers, because they are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.
—    Ralph Waldo Emerson
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On This Day In:
2021	Let Yourself Soar In 2022
	Where You’re Concerned
2020	The Most Dynamic Link
	Looking Forward To 2021
2019	A Proud Assertion
2018	Ask #45 About Anything
2017	Playing Makes Sense
2016	And Fathers, Sons
2015	My Suspect Confidence
2014	Disguised Blessings
2013	Be
2012	The Only Way to Win
2011	Honest Writing

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Still Hoping To Soar

The true lover of knowledge naturally strives for truth, and is not content with common opinion, but soars with undimmed and unwearied passion till he grasps the essential nature of things.
—    Plato
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On This Day In:
2021	I Hope To See You Later
	To Do With You
2020	More Than Satisfying Hunger
	End Of Year Thoughts Of Those Gone Before Us
2019	Still Hoping To Soar
2018	Why America Stinks More Than It Did 50 Years Ago
2017	No Universal Thinking
2016	Supervise The Results
2015	Just Magic!
2014	It Lies Ahead…
2013	At Least One Difference
2012	Are We, Are We?
	On Not Playing The Game
	Scale
2011	Nutcracker And Nooks
	Seeing Differences

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Just Rewards

The only reward of virtue is virtue.
—    Ralph Waldo Emerson
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On This Day In:
2021	Almost, But Not Quite
	Just Messin’
2020	The Definition Of A Modern Republican Senator
	#45 Has Got To Go
2019	Just Rewards
2018	Diet Resolutions For The New Year
	Day 3: Late December Diet / Fast
2017	Daily, Mr. President, Daily
2016	We Did This
2015	I’m Talking To You
	Forced (Again)
2014	We Are Not A Fearful Nation!
2013	Risking Truth
2012	Working On Reality
2011	Massive Contradictory Changes

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Almost Soulful Pleasure

Why do techies insist that things should be sped up, torqued, optimized?
There’s one obvious reason, of course:  They do it because of the dictates of the market.  Capitalism handsomely rewards anyone who can improve a process and squeeze some margin out.  But with software, there’s something else going on too.  For coders, efficiency is more than just a tool for business.  It’s an existential state, an emotional driver.
Coders might have different backgrounds and political opinions, but nearly every one I’ve ever met found deep, almost soulful pleasure in taking something inefficient — even just a little bit slow — and tightening it up a notch.  Removing the friction from a system is an aesthetic joy;  coders’ eyes blaze when they talk about making something run faster or how they eliminated some bothersome human effort from a process.
—    Clive Thompson
From his article:  “Efficiency Is Beautiful“
In Wired Magazine;  dtd:  April 2019
Also online at:  https://www.wired.com/story/coders-efficiency-is-beautiful/
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On This Day In:
2021	Someone Should Tell Senator Joe Manchin
	One Of The Things We Need
2020	Boxing Day 2020
	Fractal Branches
	Advice For Sons, Too
2019	Almost Soulful Pleasure
2018	Cursive In The News
2017	Coffee Crunch
2016	Preparation
2015	Scarcely Asked
2014	They Resemble Us
2013	Both
2012	That’s Success!
2011	Losing At Dominoes
2010	1,001

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Six Reasons Why #DumbDonald Will Always Be A Failure

Six essential qualities that are the key to success:  Sincerity, Personal Integrity, Humility, Courtesy, Wisdom, Charity.
—    Dr. William Menninger
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On This Day In:
2021	Live Well
	Lately
2020	Every Touch Vibrates
	When She Smiles
2019	Six Reasons Why #DumbDonald Will Always Be A Failure
2018	The Trouble With Bookstores
	Another No Chew Diet
2017	Biased World View
2016	Control In The Age Of Entanglement
2015	Okay, Maybe Not Ceaseless
2014	Can Do
2013	Are You Helping?
2012	Inside All Truth Is A Vacuum
2011	So, Whom Are We Trying To Fool Then?

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My Thoughts About The X-mas Turkey…

You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.
—    Yogi Berra
[Merry Christmas to all… !!  Hug everyone at your table and say a prayer of blessings for absent friends and family.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	Christmas Wishes For 2021
	This Simple Phrase
2020	Christmas Wishes For 2020
	Best Wishes For All
2019	My Thoughts About The X-mas Turkey…
2018	Merry X-mas – 2018
2017	Focus On Christmas — 2017
2016	Merry X-mas – 2016
2015	Merry X-mas – 2015
2014	Merry X-mas – 2014
2013	Merry X-mas – 2013
2012	Merry Christmas – 2012
2011	I Have Seen

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Looking Forward To Tomorrow (2019 Version)

Tomorrow will be the first Christmas in over a decade in which we didn’t host dinner for the (extended) family.  Our oldest daughter recently moved into a more spacious apartment, and she will be hosting!!  Yeah!!  Since I will be driving there and back, I won’t be drinking, but I also won’t be getting up at 6am to get the turkey in the oven.  (LoL)  Life is full of trade-offs…
Anyway, we are looking forward to a nice, relaxing meal with lots of family and natter (and maybe a little football on the telly).
Merry Christmas to all!!  Be safe!  And, if you are so inclined, say a prayer of thanks for those in harm’s way (and their families) who keep us safe.
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On This Day In:
2021	Everything Good In You
	Within Your Heart
2020	Keeping Christmas
	What Will You Give?
2019	Looking Forward To Tomorrow (2019 Version)
2018	Not One Cent!
	Looking Forward to Tomorrow
2017	Make Glad The Heart Of Childhood
2016	Sincerest Flattery
	The President-elect: Making Spirits Bright
2015	What Are You Looking At?
2014	Ite, Missa Est
2013	I Hear Voices
2012	Positive Thoughts
	Hope Works
2011	Look! Up In The Sky…
	Humility Before The Unknowable

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Ruff Clean

How To Wash A Cat
1.  Put both lids of the toilet up and add 1/8 cup of pet shampoo to the water in the bowl…
2.  Pick up the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.
3.  In one smooth movement put the cat in the toilet and close the lid.  You may need to stand on the lid.
4.  At this point the cat will self agitate and make ample suds.  Never mind the noises that come from the toilet, the cat is actually enjoying this.
5.  Flush the toilet three or four times.  This provides a ‘Power-Wash’ and ‘Rinse’.
6.  Have someone open the front door of your home.  Be sure that there are no people between the bathroom and the front door.
7.  Stand well back, behind the toilet as far as you can, and quickly lift the lid.
8.  The cat will rocket out of the toilet, streak through the bathroom, and run outside where he will dry himself off.
9.  Both the toilet and the cat will be sparkling clean.
Yours Sincerely,
The Dog
[Sent to me by a friend on Facebook.  No original attribution.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	And Still Don’t Understand
	Unconditional
2020	I Hope She Keeps Laughing
	Christmas Is Near
2019	Ruff Clean
2018	Sounds Like A Blog To Me
2017	My Fear For America
2016	Proceeding Still
2015	Seeing Rainbows
	I Am A Runner
2014	The Law Of The Perversity Of Nature
2013	One Standard Deviation
2012	High Anxiety
2011	And I’m Taking Me There
2010	1,000

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Foundational Pillar Of Civilized Discourse

The Enlightenment sought to establish reason as the foundational pillar of civilized discourse.  In this conception, logical argument matters, and the truth of a statement is tested by examination of values, assumptions, and facts, not by how many people believe it.  Cyber-enabled information warfare threatens to replace these pillars of logic and truth with fantasy and rage.
—    Herbert Lin
As quoted by:  Virginia Heffernan
In her article:  “Clock Watchers: The Beautiful Benefits of Contemplating Doom“
Appearing in:  Wired Magazine, dtd:  Apr 2019
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On This Day In:
2021	Climate Change Is Already Raising Sea Levels
	Running From You
2020	Speaking For Us
	Tears Don’t Wash Away
2019	Foundational Pillar Of Civilized Discourse
2018	Seven Minutes. Not Six, Not Eight
2017	Falling Forward One Step At A Time
2016	And Without Expectation
2015	Just Do It
	I Am A Runner
2014	Some Things I Learned (Mostly) In The Army:
2013	Who You Are
2012	Mine Stands
2011	Aversions

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Word Up

‘In the beginning was the Word’.  I have taken as my text this evening the almighty Word itself.  Now get this: ‘There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.’  Amen, brothers and sisters, Amen.  And the riddle of the Word, ‘In the beginning was the Word….’  Now what do you suppose old John meant by that?  That cat was a preacher, and, well, you know how it is with preachers; he had something big on his mind.  Oh my, it was big; it was the Truth, and it was heavy, and old John hurried to set it down.  And in his hurry he said too much.  ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’  It was the Truth, all right, but it was more than the Truth.  The Truth was overgrown with fat, and the fat was God.  The fat was John’s God, and God stood between John and the Truth.  Old John, see, he got up one morning and caught sight of the Truth.  It must have been like a bolt of lightning, and the sight of it made him blind.  And for a moment the vision burned on the back of his eyes, and he knew what it was. In that instant he saw something he had never seen before and would never see again.  That was the instant of revelation, inspiration, Truth.  And old John, he must have fallen down on his knees.  Man, he must have been shaking and laughing and crying and yelling and praying – all at the same time – and he must have been drunk and delirious with the Truth.  You see, he had lived all his life waiting for that one moment, and it came, and it took him by surprise, and it was gone.  And he said, ‘In the beginning was the Word….’  And man, right then and there he should have stopped.  There was nothing more to say, but he went on.  He had said all there was to say, everything, but he went on.  ‘In the beginning was the Word….’  Brothers and sisters, that was the Truth, the whole of it, the essential and eternal Truth, the bone and blood and muscle of the Truth.  But he went on, old John, because he was a preacher.  The perfect vision faded from his mind, and he went on.  The instant passed, and then he had nothing but a memory.  He was desperate and confused, and in his confusion he stumbled and went on.  ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’  He went on to talk about Jews and Jerusalem, Levites and Pharisees, Moses and Philip and Andrew and Peter.  Don’t you see?  Old John had to go on.  That cat had a whole lot at stake.  He couldn’t let the Truth alone.  He couldn’t see that he had come to the end of the Truth, and he went on.  He tried to make it bigger and better than it was, but instead he only demeaned and encumbered it.  He made it soft and big with fat.  He was a preacher, and he made a complex sentence of the Truth, two sentences, three, a paragraph.  He made a sermon and theology of the Truth.  He imposed his idea of God upon the everlasting Truth.  ‘In the beginning was the Word….’  And that is all there was, and it was enough.
—     Navarre Scott Momaday
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On This Day In:
2021	Being Constantly Great
	Hopeful Realization
2020	Sapping Joy
	Blew Out My Flip-Flop
	Really Wheelie
2019	Word Up
2018	But Much Is Worth Learning
2017	Mr. President, About Global Warming
2016	Starting To Stumble
2015	Begin Combat
	I Am A Runner
2014	Just Dig ‘N It, Why?
2013	Additions
	The Object Of Instruction
2012	Telling Her
2011	On Torture

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And Integrity For Today’s Elected Republicans

Money often costs too much.
—    Ralph Waldo Emerson
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On This Day In:
2021	If You Do Nothing About Climate Change
	Standing By
2020	Each Over All
	Rollin’ Along
2019	And Integrity For Today’s Elected Republicans
2018	A Faulty Start, Too
	Honorable Resignation And Syria
2017	Beneath The Tree Of Wisdom
	The Republican Rape Of The American Middle Class
2016	Something Authentic Happened
2015	Back On The Bricks
	On, Rocinante!!
2014	Changing Frequently
2013	Trifles
2012	Simple, Ordinary And Wonderous
2011	Humane Writers

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Curing With Salt

The cure for anything is salt water:  sweat, tears or the sea.
—    Isak Dinesen
[Found at:  The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally
The link to the specific post is:  https://annkoplow.wordpress.com/2017/10/16/day-1750-water/
The site is maintained by:  Ann Koplow.
Please give her blog a visit if you have some spare time.   —    kmab
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On This Day In:
2021	Most Likely Beast
	Memories To Last A Lifetime
2020	Meet Unexpected Success
	Sweet Love
2019	Curing With Salt
2018	A Politician With Skills
	And / Or A Genuine Smile
2017	A Lone, Brave Voice…
2016	Job Security
2015	For I Have Always Lived Violently
2014	We Stand !! (I Stand With George)
	Additional Requirements
2013	In The Present Day
2012	Feeling It
2011	Stretching Science

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#45: IMPEACHED!!!

Okay, before we go any further, let’s be clear…  There is virtually NO, NONE, ZERO chance that Donald Trump will be convicted and removed from office by a Republican controlled Senate.  Particularly, as a number of Republican Senators have already come out in public to say they are not even willing to consider the evidence and are already working closely with the White House to coordinate the trial.  If there is a “fair” trial, I (for one) will be shocked.
It is important to remember that elections have consequences.  In 2016, after almost 30+ years of spewing poison against Hilary Clinton by the Republicans and Right Wing media, Donald Trump was elected by the electoral college.  Although Trump lost the popular vote by over 3 million votes, Trump won more states and therefore became President.  If (by some miracle) Trump were to be convicted, VP Pence would become President, not Hilary Clinton.  Therefore, the 63 million votes Trump received have still been “heard”.  That’s as far as it goes…
But, remember elections have consequences…  In 2018, in an electoral landslide, the control of the House of Representatives was flipped from Republican to Democratic majority when they picked up 41 seats and out-polled the Republicans by almost 10 million votes nation wide.  With control of the House, the Democrats had the ability to investigate and impeach the President.
So, yes, elections have consequences!
As stated above, I have no expectation the President will be removed from office, but I am encouraged that the Democrats had the spine to stand up to him.  It now falls to the public to insist on a fair trial, and, failing that, to work for a massive turnout in next year’s (Nov. 2020) election to win the White House, but also the Congress (particularly the Senate), and the State houses and State Governorships.  This should be a resounding call to action for all Americans – Democrats and Republicans – who believe in the rule of law.
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On This Day In:
2021	Bring In Peace
	Glad I Found You
2020	And The Past Is Much Better Than It Used To Be Too
	A Winter’s Day
2019	I Just Remember It As Fun
	#45: IMPEACHED!!!
2018	Prediction: Morning Is Coming After A Long Night Of #LyingDonald
2017	While Congress Slept
2016	And A Fellow Who Insists On Telling Us He’s Smart?
2015	Curves Ahead
2014	Sitting?
2013	Misperceptions
2012	Essential Experience
2011	Lest We Forget Those Still In Harm’s Way
	Sound Familiar?

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