Hello. Thanks for the thoughtful and substantive list. I'll pass this along to some friends and family. I am personally grateful for several of these developments. (You may also see a note from me in response to a different endeavor, The Media Project, and a show partly concerning higher education. But that's another matter.) May we all see peace and health in the new year.
“Optimism is the belief that things are going to get better. Hope is the belief that we can make things better. Optimism is a passive virtue, hope is an active one. It takes no courage to be an optimist, but it does need courage to hope.” - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.
Nice commentary. Danny Westneat, a Seattle Times columnist, wrote a similar end of year column, pointing out that ordinary people keep maintaining public order and institutions, like election workers who count the votes accurately whether they would have voted for the winner or not. On such good people we depend. The very blue state of Washington for many years had a Republican Secretary of State, the only Republican in the higher offices, and we kept voting for her because we trusted her.
How about world health, Rex? Despite ridiculous accusations against it by you-know-who, the World Health Organization has done a heroic job of eradicating some of the worst plagues on the planet. This is an addendum to that amazing vaccine work done with Covid that you mention. As most people know already, WHO succeeded in eliminating smallpox worldwide in 1980. It's now closing in on malaria, which is a bit of a tougher challenge than smallpox. But, after a brief setback during the pandemic, the eradication of malaria has gained momentum again. In 2023, WHO declared malaria eradication in three new countries: Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Belize. As you know, I'm a professional historian of science, technology, and medicine. These accomplishments of the World Health Organization are some of the most spectacular developments ever in the history of medicine. Happy New Year to you and Marion and all your followers. We're loving our new life in Tucson. Come visit any time. You get the special Friends and Family Rate on the Presidential Suite here at the Carroll Arms Tucson, of course.
Thank you for the words of Hope. It's good to periodically be reminded of the good in the world and that the media keeps us aware of most of it.
On a different note, I'm going to have a little fun with you as I often do. This article inadvertently provides an important lesson on how we must be vigilant about the validity of what we read, particularly quotes out of context. I can now accurately state the following:
In his December 30, 2023 Substack column, Rex Smith writes, and I quote: "....a voting machine company, Dominion Voting Systems, helped steal the election from Donald Trump". 😂
Hello. Thanks for the thoughtful and substantive list. I'll pass this along to some friends and family. I am personally grateful for several of these developments. (You may also see a note from me in response to a different endeavor, The Media Project, and a show partly concerning higher education. But that's another matter.) May we all see peace and health in the new year.
“Optimism is the belief that things are going to get better. Hope is the belief that we can make things better. Optimism is a passive virtue, hope is an active one. It takes no courage to be an optimist, but it does need courage to hope.” - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.
Thanks for the uplifting message. "Hope is a thing with feathers..."
Nice commentary. Danny Westneat, a Seattle Times columnist, wrote a similar end of year column, pointing out that ordinary people keep maintaining public order and institutions, like election workers who count the votes accurately whether they would have voted for the winner or not. On such good people we depend. The very blue state of Washington for many years had a Republican Secretary of State, the only Republican in the higher offices, and we kept voting for her because we trusted her.
How about world health, Rex? Despite ridiculous accusations against it by you-know-who, the World Health Organization has done a heroic job of eradicating some of the worst plagues on the planet. This is an addendum to that amazing vaccine work done with Covid that you mention. As most people know already, WHO succeeded in eliminating smallpox worldwide in 1980. It's now closing in on malaria, which is a bit of a tougher challenge than smallpox. But, after a brief setback during the pandemic, the eradication of malaria has gained momentum again. In 2023, WHO declared malaria eradication in three new countries: Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Belize. As you know, I'm a professional historian of science, technology, and medicine. These accomplishments of the World Health Organization are some of the most spectacular developments ever in the history of medicine. Happy New Year to you and Marion and all your followers. We're loving our new life in Tucson. Come visit any time. You get the special Friends and Family Rate on the Presidential Suite here at the Carroll Arms Tucson, of course.
Thank you for the words of Hope. It's good to periodically be reminded of the good in the world and that the media keeps us aware of most of it.
On a different note, I'm going to have a little fun with you as I often do. This article inadvertently provides an important lesson on how we must be vigilant about the validity of what we read, particularly quotes out of context. I can now accurately state the following:
In his December 30, 2023 Substack column, Rex Smith writes, and I quote: "....a voting machine company, Dominion Voting Systems, helped steal the election from Donald Trump". 😂
Happy New Year!