The world is in better shape than most people think it is...

The world is in better shape than most people think it is...  Well, most people in the U.S. or Europe, anyway.  I saw quite a bit of the third world in the '70s, and again in the '90s and early '00s.  The reduction of poverty in the third world just in those 20 or 30 years is astounding, and obvious if you've seen it (or if you're an inhabitant of the third world).  Most Americans, though, are largely unaware of this, and have a seriously mistaken notion that America is getting wealthier at the expense of most of the rest of the world.  The chart at right encapsulates the economic progress of the world very nicely (click to embiggen).  More information here...

Snow!

Snow!  Mo'i woke us up at 2:30 this morning.  The poor old guy had to go out to pee – his bladder is only good for about six hours at best.  When Debbie flipped on the light outside, she saw about 18" of snow on our porch, and 2" to 3" of snow everywhere else.  The porch is directly under a steep roof segment, so the fresh snow slid off right onto it (we're going to fix that :).

This snow is of a completely different character than the snow we had in December.  The temperature is 31.8°F – just barely freezing.  The snowflakes are falling at nearly the speed of a raindrop.  They're heavy, gloppy, and just barely removed from liquid water.  I shoveled that 18" off the porch and was surprised by how much a shovelful of snow weighed – the fluffy white snow of a few weeks ago could barely be felt; this feels more like a shovelful of wet dirt.

I took a look at the weather radar, and it looks like we'll be clear of the storm in an hour or so.  Looks like I'll be plowing at daybreak :)