Locator: 48494RUSSIA.
Link here: Russia foreign exchange reserves.
Link here: Saudi's chart -- posted April 30, 2025 -- usually posts four to six weeks after Russia posts.
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The Book Page
I'm re-reading Eric H. Cline's 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed, c. 2021. It's an incredibly interesting and well-written book. I love it. But the author struggles to make the book relevant to current events no matter how hard he tries. He argues that it's not a question of "if" but "when" civilization collapses again.
It's truly amazing. He can't think of anything -- he gives possibilities like Covid-19 and ...
But the only thing I can think that would end civilization as we know it -- short of a nuclear war -- is a global financial collapse, and I think that's very, very possible.
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Life Is Bittersweet -- So Many Memories
I'm watching Sophia and her soccer team practicing this evening, on a soccer field near Grapevine Lake, north Texas. Brings back many memories.
I've been participating in or watching six generations of youngsters playing sports over the past 70 years. Amazing. And everything seems just as if it were yesterday.
The first generation: watching Phil Jackson playing basketball in the 1960s at Williston High School, Williston, ND.
The second generation: my generation -- football, basketball, wrestling, baseball. And though I never saw her play, I think of her often, my first love who died too soon. And, the love of my life, my wife,who I also never saw play, but who talks about how much she loved playing first base, softball. It's fun to imagine watching her. I wish I had known her from first grade on.
Third generation: our two daughters, playing soccer and hockey in Europe when we were assigned to Germany, England, Turkey (US Air Force -- overseas for thirteen consecutive years and then a couple of years in Alabama).
Fourth generation: our two older granddaughters -- water polo and soccer. The younger of the two, as a captain of the team, led her soccer team to a state championship title in the huge state of Texas. Not a trivial accomplishment.
Fifth generation: now watching Sophia start her athletic career -- soccer, long distance running, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
And, now the sixth generation: our five-year-old grandsons (twins) learning to rock climb.
In the big scheme of things, measured over decades, our five grandchildren would represent but one generation, but as a grandparent, it's as if there are three generations (and for some grandparents, maybe even more).
And you watch them, and you wonder where they will end up. And the number of children involved; and, the number of coaches. It's truly amazing.
