May marks the first birthday for this blog. With this milestone that sometimes feels like a millstone, it has already outlasted 75% of ALL blogs ever begun. Started as a lark, a time filler, because of a dramatic reaction to the H1N1 swine flu outbreak by Cuba's Castro brothers...cancelling ALL flights from Mexico for nearly two months...and canceling my annual spring visit with the ex-in-laws and friends there. Thus started the daily postings about Latin American and Eastern European politics and economics--a virtual "cloud clip file"-- along with observations. Thanks to GOOGLE, visitors trickled in while BING ignored it for too many months. Students were the earliest adopters. But now there have been over 10,000 page views with visitors from Bogota and Bishkek, Moscow and Medellin, Hanoi and La Habana. Many one-timers but also dozens of regulars. This is no Huffington Post but gets about 35-50 page views daily. I am honored to be of service and will continue as long as my sight remains. Challenges loom ahead. More pay walls, especially the dreaded one at the wonderful NYTIMES in 2011. And some travel, possibly extensive.
If you have any comments, questions or suggestions... go to the blog profile... and send an e-mail via Gmail.
Also...now on: twitter.com/HyperObserver...for observations about life, politics and culture in the U.S. and Texas and relevant news links.
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