It's always darkest just before it goes pitch black.

A Sun City Mouse

You probably heard that they found a previously unknown group of endangered gorillas, 125,000 of them, living in northern Congo. This is the picture that CNN.com had running above that story:

This is a pic that cries out for the right caption.
"We're down here! We're down here!"
"Hurray! Now we'll get cable! I want my Mylie!"
Your suggestions?


Rules for Life

1. It is more important to have good health insurance than good health.
2. Speak softly and carry a big stick. But don't mumble and don't swing the stick.
3. Be aware that most people are operating on a very condensed version of the 10 Commandments - the part about murder.
4. There will be times when a good neighbor is more important than a good neighborhood.
5. Trying to "teach someone a lesson" never works.
6. Never buy anyone a gift at a kiosk.
7. Rainbows are God's way of reminding us that beauty is an illusion. Except in cars.

So far I haven't figured out how to get past level one. But I will not surrender!
Bridge

I bought swim goggles. I went to the pool. I tried to swim. I did not drown.
I also did not do what any but the most charitable would call swimming.
I think a snorkel may be necessary to reduce the drowning risk to acceptable levels.

I recently read an article about John Templeton, as in the Templeton Fund. The author said Templeton's approach was to buy at the "point of maximum pessimism." When everyone else had given up hope he'd buy...stocks, real estate, whatever.
Are we at, prior to or beyond the point of maximum pessimism? And does it make any difference, if the dynamics that caused the pessimism have wiped out any ability to take advantage of the situation by buying?

I have mixed feelings about the Olympics, which start Friday. It's sports, and that's almost enough to trump any other factors. But China won the bid with a promise that they would have a more open and free political environment. The organizers have said quite clearly that they believed awarding the Olympics to China would encourage that country to adopt more democratic policies.
China now looks like they played the organizers like a five dollar violin.
When most people hear the word "Chinese" they picture the Han, the ethnic group that makes up the vast majority of that nation's population. But almost as large as the area in which the Han live, though not as densely populated, are the provinces on the "western frontier." Tibet goes in this category, as does Xinjiang (aka East Turkistan). The ethnic peoples in these provinces are oppressed, and the government in Beijing has had a policy of systematically settling Han in those provinces to dilute the influence of the indigenous culture.
Now let's add in the total disregard for the poor, the environment, democratic values....
The events of the last few months in Tibet and the last few days in Xinjiang remind us that a Tienamen Square is still a very real possibility.
Does sport take place in a political vacuum? Should the serious problems with the Chinese government be irrelevant for the next fortnight?

And then there's the whole NBC thing.