Strange days

Major news events are happening so fast that it's hard to keep up. Three stories that matter to me, in no particular order:

Egypt. What happened? The people just decided enough was enough and asked their dictator to leave. And the amazing thing is that he did. I have significant concerns about extremists winning elections in Egypt. But the fact that elections are coming is pretty amazing.

Libya. I wondered why the people of Libya didn't rise up to throw off their crazy dictator earlier. He would not work as a Bond villain because he's too ridiculous. His family is already rich from their years of looting the Libyan economy. Why wouldn't he step down? The tragedy is that civil war has broken out and the rest of the world is too busy/distracted to provide the aid necessary to knock down the dictator once and for all.

Japan. My mind can not get around the tragedy. Historic earthquake. Tsunami. Nuclear disaster. Thousands dead. Debris will be washing up on the Pacific coastline for years to come.

All in all, I'm glad to be in Maryland.