--THIS IS TAKING FOREVER

…The sun is shining in Seattle at long last.

How was your weekend?

…I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of the site http://www.postsecret.com/ but it’s interesting.

People anonymously send in their secrets as a cathartic means of venting, I guess you’d say.  It’s surprising what they reveal and reading them feels somewhat voyeuristic.  You feel sad or sorry for them.  Sometimes you feel a spark of happiness.  Most of the time you go away thinking that your own difficulties aren’t that bad and that everyone has tough times.

…Wacky dictators like the two in power in Iran and North Korea fascinate me.  How did they ever get to be dictators in the first place?  They didn’t just all of a sudden go insane.

Here’s some information you may or may not know:

Apparently Kim Jong 11, deceased radical dictator of North Korea, was an amazing sportsman.  State media reported: He scored a perfect 300 the first time he bowled and sank 11 holes-in-one the first time he golfed.

In North Korea, up to 200,000 people live in prison camps.

All TV's are tuned to state-controlled domestic programming.  The internet does not exist other than as a closed domestic network.

2 million people died of famine in the 1990's because of erratic farming policies and flooding.

North Korea's annual GDP per capita is $1,800--197th in the world.  The GDP is 18 times higher in South Korea.

Electric power largely shuts down at night.  Homes with electricity often receive only a few hours per day.

North Korea's regime gets much of its income by exporting counterfeit pharmaceuticals, narcotics, cigarettes and counterfeit $100 U.S. bills, in addition to selling small arms and missile parts to terrorists groups and other rogue nations.

…Meanwhile, South Korean pop star Psy's "Gangnam Style" has racked up 1.5 Billion views on YouTube so far.

His latest saucy new single, "Gentlemen" has already topped 128 million views.  In five days.