Here are this week's topics: NPR factoids; China, Australia, and the "Pacific pond;" hope in deep space; the NPS is needed; flag displays; smoking bans; green energy dilemma; the not so "new" Russia.

NPR. The  public network announced it would end its readers' comments section. According to Scott Montgomery, manager of NPR digital news, "...at this point...the audience itself has decided for NPR, choosing to engage much more via social media, primarily on Twitter and Facebook, rather than in the NPR.org comments section."

The Pacific's South China Sea in the 21st century. The situation in this area between Australia and China and China's quest for dominance cannot but call to mind America's past thirst for Caribbean dominance at the beginning of the 20th century. Back then many internationalists thought of the Caribbean as America's pond. Australia's Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, commented, “It has often been noted that this is the first time in our history that our No. 1 trading partner is not an ally..”
     Washington Post foreign affairs columnist David Ignatius notes that "Australia has a split personality when it comes to China..." Hence, the mounting regional tension as China literally creats, then militarizes, man-made islands. Just for a good measure of unease, throw in the heavy presence of the US Navy's 7th Fleet.

Science and "life after death." NASA has announced that its "lost" STEREO-B spacecraft has been "found." Actually, they have been able to reestablish communications and the mission continues. Unexpected scientific wonders never cease to amaze.

The NPS and everyday life. In a Washington Post op-ed, Fritz Cahill ruminates about why we need our national parks more than ever. If you feel the need to get away, even if vicariously, take a read.

Flags. Roll Call reports that the US Department of Veterans Affairs will not allow the flying of the Confederate flag at national cemeteries on Memorial Day or Confederate Memorial Day. This was an item in a recent legislative proposal; it was later removed behind closed doors. In the vernacular, "messing with" flags is always a touchy subject, especially below the Mason Dixon Line.
     In the not so distant past, the rules of flag etiquette were largely complied with. Then came the anti-Vietnam era and now victorious athletes from seemingly all nations who drape their nation's flag around their shoulders for their victory lap.

Smoking bans. I live in CO, regularly visit with relatives in PA, IL, and TX, and travel abroad. "Watching" the slow spread of smoking bans has been a continual source of pleasure, amusement, and consternation. Early on CO moved ever so slowly to restrict smoking: restaurants had to have a designated smoking area, then it was banned outright; bars and casinos were dragged along, kicking and screaming all the while; cigar bars; public venues.......
     My wife does not smoke and I only enjoy an occasional cigar. Over the years we have been alternately appalled, then gladdened as smoking bans spread. Smoking abroad is another matter, though the anti- side is slowly winning there, too. 
     Now the Obama administration is advocating a smoking ban for any federally-assisted housing projects and the fight is on -- again.  

Green or not so? An announcement by CO governor, John Hickenlooper, aptly points out the continuing  tensions between the green energy movement and the gas/oil/coal industries. Not even those who object to his announced goal of reducing CO's carbon pollution by 35% would call Hickenlooper an outright advocate of "drill, baby, drill." Nevertheless, with prices down and production up, the loss of revenue, both for businesses' stockholders and the State treasury have combined to stir the pot.
     On my recent trip in/out of DIA (Denver International Airport), I passed the airport's good-sized solar "farm" that supplies electricity to DIA. With my own rooftop solar panels, last month's electric bill was $0.00.

Reading, non-fiction, #1 Russia or a "new" USSR? Anne Garrels, Russian-speaking, former NPR correspondent based in the USSR/Russia, has written Putin Country: A Journey Into the Real Russia (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015). She relates what she has learned from her frequent trips to the region of Chelyabinsk, an aging military-industrial center a thousand miles east of Moscow that is home to the Russian nuclear program. It was once a "closed" city she had not been able to visit, but knew of from Russian friends. Since retiring, she has been a frequent visitor with many continuing friendships. (Chelyabinsk is about as far east of Moscow as Chicago is west of Washington, D.C.)
     Russia today seems to be carrying on the pattern of cronyism and corruption that was the unspoken, but necessary, of the USSR as its end neared. If you are at all curious about this "new" Russia, Garrels' revelations about life in Chelyabinsk and Moscow (social and economic) will be both enlightening and frightening. Her visits and conversations reveal an increasingly authoritarian national government hell-bent on recreating the past, but saddled with a stumbling energy-dependent, corrupt economy that is increasingly short on education and innovation. (Fearing reprisals, she feels the need to, or been asked to, use pseudonyms for some of her more outspoken acquaintances.)
     More and more, Russians are beginning to realize that they "make" little the world wants to buy. They have gas, oil, and lumber. Russia's "brain drain" is a very real, devastating problem. Intelligent, highly motivated young Russians are seeking education abroad, but are not terribly inclined to return home.

Reading, non-fiction, #2. Jacqueline Woodson was interviewed by PBS' Jeffery Brown in his weekly Bookshelf segment. Young, female, African American. Ms. Woodson's latest book, Another Brooklyn, tells the story of growing up in one of NYC's boroughs.  Her earlier book, Brown Girl Dreaming tells of awakening to the power of writing and her desire to become a writer. She has been named Young Peoples' poet laureate by the Poetry Foundation. I have added both to my reading list.

Clouds. For a portion of this past Sunday's home-bound flight from St. Louis to Denver, we flew at 33,000 feet, over lower, still forming thunderstorms. These bright-white mushrooms, bathed in the sunlight from above, sprouted upwards, haunting talismans of the rain and wind being experienced below.
     Yesterday (Monday) one such thunderhead produced flash floods and nearly two feet of hail in/around Colorado Springs, south of metro Denver. Mother Nature at her most unpredictable.

Thank you for reading. Have a good week.