Sailing in the Same Boat

After an orange cloud--
formed as a result of a dust storm
over the Sahara and caught up
by air currents--
reached the Philippines
and settled there with rain,
I understood that we are all
sailing in the same boat.

~Vladimir Kovalyonok
Astronaut


Of Note: I didn't have a photo of a boat, but I did take this picture tonight of a very orange sky. First spying it when going down to the mailbox, I missed the showiest part by minutes. A person has to be fast to get sunset shots--within minutes the scene is gone forever.

Today Weather Report: We have never had such a warm mid-March as this. Today it was 60 degrees! When our little culvert opened, the melting snow started running down the man-made stream. It wasn't opened at 1 pm, but was by 6 pm. I even weedwacked the canes down around the ponds without a jacket, just a sweater. Sometimes falling through the snow, I got my shoes wet, of course. What a glorious day. If you recall, it was -20 degrees just last week in the morning, so this is quite a change!

Watch For Change Snippet: In the future people will not make money the same way they do now. Reading the tea leaves, companies like Lockheed and Northrup Grumman, who traditionally build military planes, have started engaging in more peaceful pursuits. "We recognized five or so years ago that the industry was changing and that the government was looking at more than just hard power," said one Lockheed executive. Consequently, one of its fastest growing sections is the "Information Systems and Global Services Division," which saw revenues rise 14% in 2008 to $11.61 billion. Examples of its worldwide endeavors include a several million dollar contract training peacekeepers in such places as Darfur. Another helped forge the Afghan constitution. These activities called "soft power" were promoted as the wave of the future by Defense Secretary Robert Gates back in 2007. President Obama has signaled that he will continue the progressive trend. One of the challenges of the current economic downturn is to find more of these opportunities that are based on global cooperation, service to the common good and an understanding that we are all sailing in the same boat.