An airline pilot wrote that on this particular flight he had hammered his ship into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy which required the first officer to stand at the door while the passengers exited, smile, and give them a "Thanks for flying our airline". He said that, in light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment. Finally everyone had gotten off except for a little old lady walking with a cane. She said,
"Sir, do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Why, no Ma'am," said the pilot. "What is it ?"
The little old lady said,
"Did we land, or were we shot down?"

Many years ago I traveled to Montreal for laser treatment of my myopia. I paid out of pocket for the treatments which were done by the head of ophthalmology at McGill Un. medical school, using the latest German equipment. The cost? Less than half the price charged by US surgeons using older equipment. And I had great outcomes.
If you do the research you’ll find that in aggregate we in the US pay more for our healthcare and in aggregate have poorer outcomes than other high income countries. We have to stop believing the fantasy that the U.S. has the greatest healthcare in the world. We don’t.
My spouse is a primary care provider who’s nearing retirement. She’s been with the same office now for 35 years and her internal medicine practice has morphed from a physician owned and directed one to one that’s owned and managed by the largest healthcare conglomerate in Massachusetts. Her practice is managed by people who are bottom line directed. Her days are filled with more patients to see, with less time per patient, with less clerical help. It’s like the old TV show I Love Lucy with Lucy and Ethel on the production line at the candy maker. The patients just keep coming even though the providers can’t keep up.

In the 1950s, if kids wanted to bring toys to school in England, they had to fit inside a matchbox. That led to the Matchbox cars, and they became an international success. Not to be outdone, Mattel went a few steps farther and introduced the Hot Wheels series. They became the most successful toys ever and caused Matchbox to shut down. Ironically, the company that forced Matchbox to close eventually bought the company, and it continues to offer the Matchbox cars today. It doesn't look like they come in the little matchbox, though.

- from the History channel

In December Topeka, Kansas had an unusual visitor. A male Mandarin Duck. Arguably one of the most beautiful ducks in the world. It's not native to North America. The native range of this species spans from southeastern Russia through eastern China and into North Korea, South Korea, and Japan. These ducks breed in China, Japan, and Siberia. They spend their winters in southern China and Japan. How this pretty boy came to Topeka is anyone's guess. He was really strutting his stuff and being photogenic. He was hanging out in a semi-dry creek in central Topeka. On New Year's Day, a storm came through and he has not been seen since, but the weather has not been conducive to bird watching. He was a local celebrity, and I am sure if he is still around, he will be located as the weather improves.

I guess the rest of the World is dead.
I hear nothing lately on the TV news about what is happening in the rest off the World. We used to hear Covid statistics from everywhere. Now silence.
Only new shere is Covid and the Omicron variation quoted every 2 or 3 minutes, and only Infections hardly ever mention deaths and when they do, apparently many people catching it and only a few deaths.
Should we compare against the Flu virus. I personally would like so see the comparison figures for all deaths.
Seems to me that there is a mass hysteria, not backed up by stats