243 years ago the United States declared its independence from Britain. What followed was a war that lasted 7 years and saw Americans fighting Americans. In 1812, the British tried to take back the USA and failed. The only thing that kept us going was the incredible tenacity and vision of men like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, etc. We had some incredible good luck along the way. We got a lot of help from France, Germany, and even Poland. Napoleon helped us most of all. He started a big war on the European continent. Britain had to pull a lot of soldiers and ships out of the US battle to deal with Napoleon. There was the Declaration of Independence, The Bill of Rights, and the US Constitution. All these documents promised liberty and equality for all. In those days long ago, this did not include women. As a woman you went from being the property of your father to the property of your husband. We also had slavery where millions of blacks were property and not human beings.
Global warming continues to rear its ugly head. Mumbai is experiencing floods that they have not seen in 14 years. On the other side of India, a city of 9,000,000 inhabitants is out of water. Cape Town suffered this problem a couple of years ago. They were fortunate to sit right on the sea. Wealthy suburbs, hotels, and corporations built desalination plants to take the salt out of seawater. This Indian city will not have this option.
There is a saying in English as follows:
"Every dark cloud has a silver lining."
With all the glaciers melting in Greenland, massive amounts of sand is appearing. We all take sand for granted. It is mined all over the world to provide silicon that keeps the high-technology world going. Greenland will make a fortune selling sand.
Tonight Elena and I go on a special cruise on the Hornblower Dining Yacht. We celebrate her attaining her pension for life and our 19 years together (effective 1 August.)
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