Random

No, this isn't a post about Random Paul, our beloved junior senator. Man, I keep posting them, no one seems to like my snarky Random Paul memes. Maybe just too snarky? There's

Here in KY we call him Random Paul because you never know what he's going to say next.

and

The Boy Who Would Be King

and

Sarah Palin with a Y chromosome, a narcissistic lightweight.

and

Random Paul is like a stopped clock. Occasionally he gets something right.

Oh well, I'll keep on plugging I guess. I of course recommend my post from before his election (sigh) "Random Paul's Top 10 Randomisms".

Life has been somewhat disrupted lately. My mother-in-law died March 16, 2014, after having a massive heart attack and stroke. She was making oatmeal for her 55 YO Downs Syndrome son, said, "I feel woozy.", passed out, and never regained consciousness. 93 YO, pretty coherent til the end, but in increasing pain. For the next few months, I will be taking a turn watching Uncle Bruce 1 or 2 days a week with his sibs and other sib-in-laws. I'm going to try to get him out to shoot some hoops, we used to do that.

So haven't read any of "Wealth of Nations" for over a month. Magazine stack is clear, so hopefully I'll be back on it RSN. I have stayed current with my online course "The Age of Sustainable Development". Main thing I have gotten from that course is just how screwed sub-Saharan Africa is:

• tropical diseases;
  
• no coal (for an industrial revolution);
  
• no oil;
  
• no major rivers, giving many land-locked countries;
  
• no connected network of railroads like India has, since there were many colonial occupiers rather than 1.
  

I did read the collection of short stories "Adrift in the Noösphere" by Damien Broderick. He's Australian and has been writing for decades but somehow stayed under my radar. It's a nice mix of stories. A couple are pretty creepy, particularly the final one with a UFO abduction theme.