“Dances With Wolves”—I’ve seen the movie a dozen times. One of my favorite scenes is when the muleskinner walked up to John Dum-bear who is crouched next to a human skeleton. The skinner said, “Someone back home is wondering, ‘why don’t he write?’”

I’ve been wondering the same thing about myself.

The past few months have been nuts. Not saying I’m nuts, but opinions vary.

I made a trip to Singapore the first week of November to look at a rig. I’ve been to Singapore a dozen times and I’ve seen a plethora of rigs, so I volunteered to stay home and have a root canal. Even picked the victim. The tooth was fine, but I figured it was the best one to numb for the procedure so I wouldn’t slobber all over myself or look like I had a stroke afterward. My boss had more votes than I did, so off I went.

Singapore is quite the place. The country is trapped between Malaysia and the ocean. Their only way to grow is to either go up, down (underground,) or out to sea. They call it reclaimed land, but it’s actually dirt they purchase and haul in by ship from nearby countries to fill in and push back the ocean so they can build. I never heard real estate prices mentioned, but I would not be surprise if the land sold by the square inch.

I saw a 15,000-ton bridge crane at the shipyard. That’s 30 million pounds. I’m used to seeing and working with large ships and equipment. This thing was huge. Just huge. The sight gave me the urge to see the machine that made the crane. It’s pictured below.

Automobiles can be registered for road use for a period of 10 years, max. There are no old cars on the road. Unless 10 is old. One guy I heard mentioned had an assortment of Rolls Royces, Bentleys and Lamborghinis parked on the street in front of his house. Could not drive a one of them. Too old.

Been on a toll road lately? Every road in Singapore is a toll road. Every auto has a bar code on the windscreen. The owner is charged by the kilometer.

FYI – Singapore is halfway around the world. Took 44-forevers to get there which equates to 30 hours of flying, airports and general misery. Took 30 to return too. I was gone six days, so not much time on the ground, and Singapore is 14 hours ahead of Mountain Time. By the time I arrived home I didn’t know what month it was.

The news mentions people who believe the earth is flat. If that’s the case, then what’s on the bottom of the earth? There’s a reason people say, “I’m going to fly around …”

And global warming? We’re responsible? Humans? If you’re inclined to believe such things, but have never taken a voyage across one of our vast oceans, I recommend that you add that to your bucket list. Your views about our abilities to alter our environment may change.

Now I ask you too. 7 billion people on the planet. 325 million, roughly 4.5% of the earth’s population, are Americans, and they’re responsible for all the pollution in the world?