Hummingbirds at my window

Every evening at between eight and nine, Mrs S and I are graced by the visit of one of these little guys. We sit inside, the windows closed by eight to keep out the first of the summers mosquitoes, and this particular bird darts back and forth less than seven feet from where we sit. At the risk of sounding a bit sad, it's one of my evening's highlights. A free aerobatic display. I would post a picture, but my camera is currently on the blink. However, in the words of one of Bob Monkhouse's less memorable gags; Norman Jervis will be exhumed as soon as possible.

Away from the delights of our current abode, we see mildly alarming news that the Sabre rattling Dictatorship of North Korea is threatening a missile launch in the direction of the USA. Certain pundits are predicting that said regime will be capable of launching a missile with sufficient range to strike at the continental USA within the next three years. However, seeing as North Korea's cash earning exports seem to be Missile technology, Insurance Fraud and Counterfeiting, I won't be holding my breath. The global financial community has cottoned on to the frauds, so it's very likely that any funds from the latter two activities will dry up like the proverbial spit on a hot stove in a very short space of time. Which will only leave the drug trade to pay for that very expensive North Korean nuclear programme.

I'm vaguely concerned about the North Korean sabre rattling mainly because our new home on Vancouver Island will be in range of the nutter of Pyongyang's latest toys if the three year prediction holds true. Mind you, if the drug trade suffers losses like the old time bootleggers did in the early 1930's, that source of income will be a bust as well, and ultimately said dictatorship will implode as the top dogs snuffle around for the scraps. Which is what generally happens with dictatorships when the money eventually runs out, as it always does. Another communist dictatorship quietly slides down the pan of history, which may not be good news for the poverty stricken North Korean public, but long term good for the rest of the world. China probably won't either want or be able to help them out, as the Chinese have discovered the joys of modern consumerism, and in all probability won't want to lose face by backing a losing one trick pony regime. I hope so for everyone's sake.

With the North Korean threat quietly consigned to the history books that means the threat of a first strike on US (and possibly Canadian) soil will disappear for the moment, and the world will breathe a little easier, and I will still be able to watch the Hummingbirds outside my window on Summer evenings. Good.