Blogtrek

Where is Iraq?

I have found something surprising as of late. The National Geographic conducted a survey of 18-24 year olds around the world and found that only 13 percent of American young people could find Iraq on a map. 87 percent couldn't, and we want to send these people to fight a war there? Only 17 percent could identify Afghanistan on a map. About 45 percent knew where New York was, but an incredible 11 percent could not even identify the United States. Scores around the world are similar. Mexico is even worse than the United States. In general, young people around the world don't know their world. This is dangerous. A lack of knowledge about the world, about science, mathematics, and social systems is what dogmas, fundamentalist religions, and tyrannical regimes feed on. Don't you think that if instead 87 percent could identify Iraq, Afghanistan, Mongolia, the United States and so forth that tyrannical regimes would fall and fundamentalist religions would disappear? I think so. Get out your National Geographic maps and discuss them with your kids. The fate of the world may depend on it.

More Giséle and PETA

This thing is starting to get hilarious. So far I thought that when PETA activists barged into the Victoria's Secret fashion show when strutted out, that the only signs that they held read "Giséle: Fur Scum". But according to two other Blogs, namely right-thinking.com and Blogs of War (sorry, no URL; it has become invalid), there were other signs, such as "OMG, she's hot!!!" and "I'm a fat whore with no life", and even one with the F word. To me the photos look authentic, but either they are fake or the media has misreported the PETA intrusion, maybe because some of these signs are not for family audiences. In my opinion, the PETA people are missing the mark. Their target is cruel treatment of mink, not the sex life of Giséle. It is the sight of these PETA women walking around a sexy supermodel is what I find interesting. The PETA women had their mouths wide open, and looked angry and demonstrative, while Giséle did not crack a smile and looked like an unfriendly nearly-undraped statue. At least the PETA women were expressing themselves and making their positions clear. To me Giséle seemed stuck up.

Giséle's name is interesting; to me, unnecessary umlauts and accents are hifalutin. But apparently her real family name was Bündchen. That is a German name; the word means little "Bund", since -chen plus umlaut is what the Germans use for a diminutive. For example, "Hund" is dog, and Hündchen is "doggie" or "puppy". "Bund" has several meanings, all of which suggests a binding or putting together. It could mean "league", in which case Giséle is Little League; maybe I'll find her in Williamsport. It could also mean "waistband", in which case it describes what she wore: a little waistband.

To me PETA is the Coyote of the protest world. They are always uncorking goofy skits. They have a woman in a skimpy bikini in a cage in the middle of downtown to protest cruel treatment to caged animals. Their dress is interesting and is designed for maximum impact: they dress skimpy where people are normally dressed, and they dress well covered where people are normally skimpily dressed, as at the fashion show. They recommend that kids drink beer, not milk. Why not orange juice? Because they want impact. They even compare a grisly murder to the butchering of cattle and other animals destined for the dinner table. Their tactic is to get people to notice. But much of the time they simply alienate. I prefer the actions of groups such as the Humane Society or the Farm Sanctuary.