My Travel Geography IQ

This Traveler IQ was calculated on Monday, November 17, 2008 at 05:16PM GMT by comparing this person's geographical knowledge against the Web's Original Travel journal's 3,320,716 travelers who've taken the challenge.

This is a cool site for testing your knowledge of places around the world. I did very poorly on the extra credit. I was not prepared for the vagueness of the hints. I know most of my capitals and countries, but am not so hot when it comes to famous places, and secondary populated places.

The United White States of America

The Associated Press is currently running this article. The New York Times picked it up today; I am sure others are to follow. Apparently, gun sales are up, as well are threats against those who support Barack Obama.

Seems as if Whitey, and by Whitey I am lumping myself into that group, is nervous about a black man being president. Or president-elect.

The last decade or so, lots of commentary has revolved around whether or not racism, true racism exists in the good ol' USA. No, we are too far removed from the days of slavery, some would argue. People of color are completely at ease in the US. 

The problem with this is that the "people of color," Blacks and Hispanics were saying that no, this is not the case. But we, meaning whitey, and maybe some well intentioned minorities were saying that these comments were coming from disgruntled people who were at fault themselves for becoming disenfranchised from the US.

Someone ran down our street, pulling up the Obama/Biden signs, wadding them up, then throwing them in the drainage ditch in my yard. I straightened them back out and set them back where they came. When my neighbors McCain/Palin sign fell over, I went over and set it up.

Folks, this is not the United White States of America. 

This is not the United Christian States of America. Nor is it the United Christian White States of America. This is not an autocracy (well, it is obviously) of old, white, rich men. The country was not supposed to be an autocracy of old, white, rich, men. Religion was not supposed to the basis of our government. Nor was gender. Nor was race. The only true stipulations were that a president has to be born in the USA, and has to be 40 years old.

The people voted, and Barack won. Therefore, let his victory stand and stand behind the President. 

After all, God wanted him to win. Right?

The End of Poverty

Several months ago, the Christian Science Monitor ran a series of articles covering poverty. When the series was over, the blog that helped people share their concerns and ideas went away with it.

Last week, I received an email from one of the authors of the series, and the author of the blog for the series, informing me that the blog was up-and-running.

These are a great series of articles. The issues and concerns are completely addressed, and ideas and current efforts also covered. 

Now, the blog is back up and, if the new posts are any indication, very active.

The Geography of Whiskey

As we learned in my earlier post, the geography of bourbon is really the geography of whiskey. Bourbon is a member of the whiskey family, by definition.

We also learned that I do not care much for Jack Daniel's. At least the cheap stuff. Maybe the more you pay, the better the whiskey gets. I am pretty sure that is true. A decade and a half ago, I visited a professor's house. He treated the guests to a sample of some whiskey he kept in his freezer. All I remember is how smooth that stuff was. I wish I could remember the brand. I know it was in a small bottle, that he kept wrapped in a velvet bag.

Whiskey drinkers talk about whiskey in terms of smoothness. Jack Daniel's, on my smoothness scale, is about as smooth as a swallowing a sheet of 80 grit sandpaper. The amber fluid that he sparingly shared was smooth in the truest sense of the word, truly "water of life" as whiskey is meant to be.

Not to be completely undone by my bad experience with JD, I bought an inexpensive bottle of Kentucky bourbon, W.L. Weller "Special Reserve" Straight Bourbon Whiskey. The bottle was refrigerated for a several hours before sampling. Once sufficiently chilled, I poured a small amount into a glass and sniffed. Smoky and sweet scent, not completely off-putting. The small taste I took had a metallic, tinny-tasting flavor, though definitely smoother than the JD,  but still somewhat harsh. In the end, I still found that mixing with Coke or Dr. Pepper was a must. I didn't care for it neat and clean, didn't care for it with water and ice; only with another beverage added was I able to throw a few back.

Weller comes from the Buffalo Trace Distillery, located outside Frankfort, Kentucky, which happens to be the oldest distillery in the United States, having come into operation before 1773. That is not why I bought this label; I had no idea until I googled it prior to writing this article. I wanted an inexpensive bourban made in Kentucky that did not have to do with large, irritable, game fowl or grumpy old men. 

Waiting in the wings is a bottled of the Old Weller Antique 107 Brand. I guess this is the original formula or something. I had a sip of it; tastes different than the S.R. but I have't sample enough to speak with any intelligence on it, yet.  

The Geography of Bourbon

A long time ago, a friend gifted me with a bottle of Jack Daniel's Black Label Sour Mash Whiskey. I must not have treated this friend very well, as this whiskey tastes like poison. Of course, it is a poison, destroying my liver. I'm sure my liver has since recovered. My memories of this foul concoction persist, however.

As I drank the bottle, it did get me to thinking. How do people drink this putrescence straight? I ruined Coke after Coke, using it to dilute the taste. My neighbor across the street hipped me to the fact the, in the case of JD, Dr. Pepper works better. After a little taste-testing, a 3:1 ratio of Dr. Pepper to JD reduced the Retch factor significantly. Thanks to Dr. Pepper, I was able to finish the bottle. Well, I guess, "thanks." The combination of the two I call, "Dr. Jack." I won't waste my money on JD. Lesson learned.

And I also thought about this: what is the difference between Whiskey and Bourbon? Is it just a name thing, or is there a real, ingredient, process, content difference?

The short answer is: yes, there is a difference between Whiskey and Bourbon.

"Whiskey" comes from Ireland, or perhaps, Scotland. We aren't sure. The process of making whiskey was probably brought to Ireland and Britain from the Middle East in the 8th or 9th century, by Christian monks. 

As a side note, Christians seem to be responsible for the early development of whiskey. Later, others would further contribute to the history of the beverage. Once Kentucky became involved, Baptists would have a hand in creating Bourbon.

"Whiskey" represents any mixture of grains, fermented, distilled, blended, and aged, in barrels - usually oak barrels. Typically, whiskey can be up to 160 proof (80% alcohol content). 

Scotch Whiskey, by law, must be bottled in Scotland.

Irish Whiskey, by law, must be bottled in Ireland.

Japanese Whiskies are available in Japan, and, I would guess, must be bottled there, as well.

Canadian Whiskey, by law, must be bottled in Canada. Canadian whiskies are usually rye based, rather than barley.

Now that the definition is covered, how does bourbon fall into this mess?

"Bourbon" is a uniquely American beverage, and represents another member of the whiskey family. Bourbon mash is comprised of at least 51% and not more than 79% corn mash, must be aged at least 2 years in oak barrels. Bourbon is derived from the name of Bourbon County, Kentucky. It should be noted, however, that when this designation was made, Bourbon County was much larger then than today. The American Territory was still young in those days, and over time, the territory would be carved into the present counties we have today.

About 95% of bourbon available today comes from Kentucky.

The bottle of sour mash whiskey I drank came from Lynchburg, Tennessee. I'd like to give it back, if I could. But, then, I would not have learned some valuable lessons.

The Geography of Coltan

Congo's riches fuel its war - Christian Science Monitor

Coltan - the article mentions several valuable resources available in The Congo: timber, gold, diamonds, cobalt, copper, tin, and coltan. What the heck is coltan, anyway? Sounds like a cross between a jazz musician and an anime robot.

Reading up on coltan using Wikipedia, I learned that coltan is what I thought it was: Tantalum. I figured it had to be tantalum because I knew that The Congo was a good source of tantalum, and since tantalum was not listed as "tantalum," I assumed by its absence, tantalum was present, just called coltan. And I was right.

Coltan was once called "columbium." Take the "col" part + "tan" from tantalum and we have coltan.

If you have a Playstation 2 at home, like I used to, or probably a PS3, or a Wii, or an XBox 360, or a home computer, or a laptop, or a cell phone - jeez, everyone in the world has a cell phone - then your life is affected by tantalum. Specifically, it is used in capacitors. And capacitors are found everywhere. Thusly, you affect and are affected by people's lives in The Congo. Bet you didn't know that, huh?

But look at the list again. Gold? Diamonds? Copper? The article says that "...the Congo should be one of the richest countries on earth..." My question is this: why haven't we invaded this country yet? The government is weak, the countryside is overrun with warlords, the inhabitants have primitive technology. The Congo sounds like the Southwest Asia version of Afghanistan.

Oh, wait, no oil ... Well, there you go. Jeez, if they just had oil. After completing the necessary paperwork, The Congo would be a good candidate for regime change. Kinda like a sex change, only everyone gets it, it costs a lot more, the doctors have to move in with you to make sure the change takes, and not everyone is sure the result will be an improvement, and that eventually the body may revert back to the original gender.

And by the way, we are taking about The Democratic Republic of the Congo, the largest state/country in Africa. The DROC is almost landlocked, with lots of militant groups running around the countryside, all either upset at the DROC government or at the government of an adjacent country.

To make things complicated, right next door is a completely other country, called "Congo." To keep the two countries separate, we call the smaller one, "Congo" and the bigger one, "The Congo." Must be an ego-thing, like Ohio State University changing their name to "THE Ohio State University," because as far as they are concerned, there are no other schools in Ohio. The rest are pretenders. <-joke

Boundaries, People, Boundaries!

Bangladesh-Burma (Myanmar) maritime boundary dispute escalates - Christian Science Monitor

Look at the "A." That is the location of St. Martin's Island, used as a reference in the article.

Now, draw an imagery line southwest (who knows what bearing), and the endpoint of that line ends up being near the bottom of the image.

Installing chain-link fences is hard to do in the ocean; they tend to drift away; corrode, then drift away. Forget about drawing a line, those tend to dissolve. What are we supposed to do in order to play in our yard, and stay out of the neighbor's?

We should hire surveyors to draw, or paint, lines in our yard so that we don't accidentally plant trees in our neighbor's yard, or dig in our neighbors, or suck oil out from under our neighbor's yard. Especially oil. Saddam invaded Kuwait, thinking that they were drilling in his yard.

In this article, oil rears its slimy head. Burma is looking for offshore oil reserves. Bangladesh went out to look and to see why its neighbor is prowling around. Somebody will have to go in and help the two figure out where the fence is supposed to go. Bangladesh and Burma - I mean, "Myanmar," (jeez, those military junta guys are touchy about their name) - will have to adjust their GPS units to make sure everyone plays nice.

What if ... The Rotating Presidency of America

European Union to Be Led by Former Soviet Satellite - NYTimes.com

Here is an interesting idea: What if the United States had a rotating presidency?

Read the article above, then get back here and read this.

From the article we learn that the European Union has a rotating presidency. Right now, everyone's favorite European, and husband to model/singer Carla Bruni, Nikolas Sarkozy is running the show. Come January 1st, the reins will be passed to the Czech Republic. And, of course, we all know that the Czech Republic is a lapdog of Russia. Not really, just trying to be funny.

Can you imagine what this country would be like if we had a rotating presidency? Instead of campaigning for two years and spending millions of dollars, U.S. leadership would pass from one state to the next each six months. That means that Texas, Arkansas, and California would be disqualified for this year's election.

Obama, from Illinois, would definitely qualify, and McCain would qualify, too, being from Arizona.

Throw the 47 remaining states into a hat and then someone draws the next state the leads the nation. Say that Obama wins the election; in July, McCain would take over. In January, though, someone would need to remove Illinois and Arizona from the hat, and pick from the remaining 45 states.

The process would continue every six months until all states have had a chance to lead the country. Then, all states go back into the hat.

Sounds equitable to me.

The Geography of Crazy Sh*t

I have to rant. I'm really getting wore-out on all of this garbage. People sitting back and doing nothing while child-rapists and child-murderers get state-sanctioning. Yes, I'm talking about you, Sudan, The Congo, and Somalia. I'm sick to freakin' death of it all.

Meanwhile, back in the United States, we are victims of our own narcissism. This dipshit, Robert Fox, is paying $10,000 US to have Barack Obama's bestselling book, Dreams from My Father, analyzed to see if it was really written by William Ayers, the guy that was over militant during the Civil Rights movement, bombing police stations, and what-not.

By the way, I did not slander Robert Fox, mentioned above. Anyone who flagrantly illustrates his or her idiocy qualifies as a "dipshit."

WHO CARES?!?!?!

Madmen are running loose, killing and raping children, and this California nutjob thinks someone ghostwrote Obama's book. Who cares???

I am so damn tired of all of these jackasses who think Barack is Muslim (who cares???), thinks he is a socialist (who cares???), thinks he is a closet Arab (who cares???).

The Republican Party seems to be bastion of: 1-Racists, 2-Bigots, 3-Christian zealots and Fundamentalists, 3-Old men, 4-White men, 5-Rich men - who am I leaving out? The thing I don't get is how they can sit around and be pro-Life and also be in favor of the right to bear arms (kills people) and also in favor of killing people in foreign lands. Seems to me that the natural position of Republicans would be pro-Choice: I choose to kill people in Country A but, well, the people in Country B are ok, I guess, so I choose to let them live.

They are all 'fraidy cats, 'cuz they can't handle a true democracy, a democracy where, heaven forbid - literally - a Muslim might be President, or a Woman, or a Hispanic, or a Negro, or a Socialist, or a lesbian, or a gay man. Do Republicans even understand the nature of Democracy? I mean, really? Why can't someone other than a rich, white, man run for President?

But I digress.

We sit around in our comfy little lives, eating our comfy little comfort foods, and watch comfy little people make comfy little cakes on our comfy little cable channels while some child gets her head bashed in by a bunch of cowards. And this happens day-after-miserable day in Africa.

Our government is culpable. We are the most powerful nation on the planet, by far. We can reach out and snuff out a life like blowing out a candle - unless it is Usama bin Laden, of course - we can invade not one but two countries all because two buildings in NYC get demolished. And our government sits by, lets state-sanctioned child-rapists and child-murders run loose. But, hey, there is no money in helping kids, no oil, no natural gas, no nothin'.

But, we can't protect children in other countries from atrocities that occur in those countries because that would be "wrong ... those are sovereign states ... we can't just waltz in there with guns 'ablazin' "

Oh, yeah? Who says?

By God, if I were President, I would put China on notice and tell them to quit screwing around in Sudan, and back us up, because the US is going to make the Janjaweed part of the history books, and the Sudanese government, as well. Or, at least stay the hell out of the way.

Then, we start blasting away at all the damn pirates off the coast of Somalia; like we had to do with the Barbary pirates of the coast of Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. We have to make piracy so very unattractive to them that farming looks like easy livin'. Once we have the coast under control, then we can work our way inland. We can then partner up with Ethiopia and whoever else wants to clean-up Somalia.

What would happen if our conscious led our Foreign Policy decisions? What kind of country would we live in? What kind of world would we live in?