When two worlds collide...

Two of my favorite things in the world are Wikipedia and the MacArthur Foundation. And so here we have Jonathan Fanton interviewing Jimmy Wales, and it's such a great combination:

Other great combinations:
1. Kentucky and Australia
2. Google and the Oxford American Dictionary:
3. Free access and law school
4. the French and the Germans
5. Clark and Michael

The best laid plans of mice and men...

I had to momentarily suspend country appreciation on account of busy-ness (not to be confused with business, which is originally what I wrote, and not at all what I meant). I also decided that while the abecedarian method is fun and allows for a more varied week, I should probably take advantage of physical travels, as well as relevant national holidays, in my virtual adventures. So tomorrow is the Day of the Armenian Genocide, and since all I did on Armenian day was listen to a lot of Cher, I'll continue its appreciation tomorrow. I'll celebrate Belgium on Saturday and Sunday, since I'm going to Brussels for the weekend.

Australia will be duly celebrated on Monday. I'm going all out for Australia day. I will only listen to Australian music, I will talk to Australian people, and I will use Australian slang (it's easy as!).

And then Thursday, the Netherlands will be celebrated. Thursday, you see, is Queen's Day. I'll have to buy something orange.

Anyhow, time to save this post....

Here are cool things that live on the internet:

Like Lastfm, only for books. Find out what people are reading RIGHT NOW!

Clearly, a world where doing this feeds the hungry is fucked, but, well, yeah, the world is fucked up. So go draw on bread and try not to think about it.

Susan Boyled potatoes. Looks run of the mill on the outside, but what's on the inside will change your life. Or something like that. Leave out the bacon, because pigs are people too.

This was where my brother was born! (Er, not in the Taco Bell bathroom...but in South Bend...)

Way to go, Spiderman!

Way to go, smaller, Brazilian Spiderman!

Still travelin' (but first, a recap)

I've learned so much this past week! The highlights of things learned include:

-Dari is what Afghans call their language, not Persian or Farsi, even though it's basically the same.

-Argentina claims part of Antarctica, which is disputed by Chile and the UK, both of which also claim parts of the continent. In order to enforce their claim, Argentina flew a seven-month pregnant woman onto their Antarctic base so that they could claim that the baby was a native-born Argentinian, and thus that Antarctica is part of Argentina.

-Andorra and Angola's mottos are remarkably similar ("strength united is stronger" and "virtue is stronger when united," respectively).

-Albania, under Enver Hoxha, was the world's first officially atheist state.

-The banjo originated from Angola; they call it "mbanza" in Kimbundu.

-Jamaica Kincaid was born in St. John's, Antigua. Also, Silvio Berlusconi has a home there.

-Nathaniel Davis, Assistant Secretary of State under President Ford, resigned when his warning that supporting the Angolan insurgency would lead to an escalation in the conflict was ingored. He later became a professor at Harvey Mudd College.

-Argentina's population consists of only 10% mestizo or Amerindian. In contrast, Paraguay's is 95%.

-Adolf Eichmann's last words were, "...long live Argentina."

-About two thirds of Albanians fell victim to a government-sponsored ponzi scheme in 1997. Riots ensued.

I decided I need a sabbath. I didn't realize how exhausting virtual travel could be. This weekend I'm going to Brussels (in reality), so I'll have to take a hiatus then too.

I'm excited to finish off the A-list this week. I already have great fondness for all of the following countries and I can't wait to learn more about them. Especially about Azerbaijan, which for now I only associate with Eddie Izzard. Here is the schedule:

Tuesday, April 21: Armenia
Wednesday, April 22: Australia
Thursday, April 23: Austria
Friday, April 24: Azerbaijan

Beautiful people in Argentina

Do beautiful people have an advantage in Argentina? Gonzalo Artelora thinks so. The self-declared feosexual (feo is Spanish for ugly) believes that growing up ugly gave him a disadvantage. His solution is to tax the beautiful, of which Argentina seems to have many, and give the money to the uglies. He thinks that former president and current First Man Nestor Kirchner should be sympathetic. He is, after all, a hook-nose who cares nothing for fashion. Artelora calls him a "comrade."

Artelora's tongue-in-ugly-cheek campaign is more than just a joke.

It's not about making yourself look beautiful, he says, but about coming to terms with and being positive about who you are and what nature has given you.

I was really disappointed by this feel-good message. Easy for Gonzo to say. Ugly people, especially ugly women, are treated terribly, all over the world, and always have been. For Artelora it's all well and good; he was an awkward teen and emerged from it relatively unscathed (he looks pretty normal in his adult pictures) and with a quirky sense of humor to boot. Chicks dig that. But don't expect President Fernandez to start letting herself go at any point. To put it simply, there are higher expectations for women. And beauty is one of them.

Speaking of beautiful women in Argentina, Metric's Emily Haines traveled to Buenos Aires to clear her mind and write new songs. While the problems of the beautiful and talented might seem silly compared to the problems of, say, workers struggling to keep their jobs and assert their rights, I do like her song.

Ancient and bearded: Antigua and Barbuda

Not just a host to a one of the biggest ponzi schemes in recent months, Antigua and Barbuda can also boast of having the world's first giant thing in nature to be named after Obama. Mount Obama was coined by Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer following the American President's November victory.

Additionally, there are 365 beaches in Antigua alone, which means you could visit a different beach every day for a year! I suppose that would be cool if you're into sitting around and doing nothing all day on a beach...

That said, I think I would hate visiting this place. It looks like a tourist cestpool. And not just any kind of tourist, but jerk billionaire tourists who want to steal people's money. No thank you. But since this is supposed to be an adventure in appreciation, here are some recipes that look delicious:

Ducana:

INGREDIENTS:
* 2 large sweet potato
* 1/2 cups sugar
* 2 1/2 cups flour
* Dash of all spice
* Dash of cinnamon raisin (optional)

METHOD / DIRECTIONS:

Grate sweet potato and add sugar to grated potatoes. Leave for a while - it will spring water from the mixture (so you don’t have to add water at anytime). Mix in flour and add spices and raisin. If the mixture is too thick then you may proceed to add a little water, if the mixture may seem too watery add a little more flour. Spoon some mixture into foil paper. You may be able to make at least five individual Ducuna from the above recipe. Wrap Ducuna and place in boiling water and boil for 45 minutes until they are firm. Unwrap and enjoy (it will be hot). Hope you like it.

National Dish

The national dish of Antigua and Barbuda is fungie (pronounced as foon-gee) and pepper pot. Fungie is a dish that is similar to the Italian Polenta, and is almost completely made from cornmeal.


Fungie & Pepperpot

Ingredients

For Corn Meal Fungee
4 cups water
2 cups corn meal
1 tsp salt to taste
6 okras, cut into small pieces

For Pepper Pot
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
Vegetable oil
4 cloves, cut
2 medium onions, chopped
4 tbsp ketchup
4 tbsp margarine
1 bunch thyme
1 bunch chive
1 lb spinach, chopped
2 cups fresh greenpeas
4 fresh green eddo leaves
1 lb antrobers(eggplant), peeled & cut
1 lb okras, chopped
1/2 lb pumpkin,peeled & cut
1 lb salt beef, chopped
1 lb pig snout(optional), cut--->hahahahaha what! I'm glad this is optional
1 lb green papaw, cut
3 small squash, cut
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp pepper

Corn Meal Fungee Preparation
Place water, okra and salt in a pan. Bring to boil until okras are cooked. Remove half the liquid. Stir with a wooden spoon. The corn meal is mixed to a pasty batter by adding cold water then stirring & mixing this.

Add wet corn meal. Reduce the heat, stir continuously with a wooden spoon until mixture becomes fairly stiff.

When the mixture breaks away cleanly from the pan (i.e it does not stick), the fungee is ready. Butter a bowl, turn the mixture into the bowl, shaking it into the shape of the bowl, then turn it out into a serving dish.
Serve hot with Pepper Pot, boiled fish or stew.

Pepper Pot Preparation
Wash all leaves and vegetables in salted water. Place cut vegetables; eggplant, squash and leaves to soak in fresh water Cook salted meat in water with no salt for 10 minutes.

Remove and drain. Heat vegetable cooking oil. Add salt meats. Fry for about 15 minutes, add onions and fresh meats. Fry for another 5 minutes.

Add all vegetables, except peas. Stir. Add just enough water to cover and cook the vegetables till tender. When the vegetables and meat are cooked, add the peas along with all seasonings.

Allow all ingredients to simmer under low fire for approximately 15 minutes or until thick. Serve with okra fungee rolled in butter or margarine.

Antigua’s Fungee is Barbados’ Couscous. If you’re vegetarian or do not eat red meats, you may omit the meats from your preparation. Recipe courtesy of Antigua & Barbuda Board of Tourism.

Oh, also, their flag looks like someone is trying to send a ninja star through the mail. Dope.

Andorra

Andorra is so tiny that there's not much that can be said about it. They just got a government in the '90s, the people live into their eighties, they like to ski. They lost a bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics. They are Catholic but support gay marriage. They are a national minority in their own nation. They refer to their country as a "princess" in the national anthem. They don't like taxes. They were officially at war with Germany until 1957. There's more, but that's all that's interesting.

There's a lot that can be said, however, about Caribou. Caribou is the musical alias for Daniel Snaith, an electro-musician/mathematician from Canada. His Andorra (see the connection??) album won him the esteemed Polaris Prize in 2008. He went on a very long tour last year which shows working hard hasn't yet gone out of style, but he has never played in Andorra. Anyhow, I could drone on, but how's about you just have a listen to the whole album instead? Plus two bonus remixes!


SeeqPod - Playable Search

Fiji is sooo boring

The Fiji Daily Post has nicely protested the recent emergency regulations which, among other things, have been deployed to severely limit freedom of the press. Given that the top story has been declared by the Fijian "Government" to be not newsworthy, the Post has turned to other events dominating the national agenda. These include breakfast, watching paint dry and the spectacle of a man boarding a bus.

The tension between the authorities and journalists over the media blackout was relaxed a little today as foreign journalists were "welcomed" back into the country. It's difficult to pick a winner at this stage, we'll just have to see who crumbles first.