Cities! Doing stuff...

Ghent, Belgium goes vegetarian.

Vauban, Germany goes car-less.

New York and Paris get naked:

New York, I love you

Back in 'merica! Potential swine flu aside, it's good to be home. And by home, I mean New York City.

Happy Birthday, Becky!

Happy Birthday, Becky! I hope you have had a great day, and I look forward to continuing the celebration in Lexington.

By now you should have received your gift certificate to Kiva.org. Given your active engagement with the world of human rights and global betterment, you probably already know that Kiva Microfunds is a microlending organization dedicated to funding institutions in developing countries, which in turn lend the money to small businesses.

For those that are not familiar with this organization, however, Kiva is remarkable because it gives everyone an automatic and tangible way to make the world a better place. To participate, you choose one of the hundreds of qualified entrepreneurs profiled on the website, and you lend however much you can to help them reach their goal. You can read all about these entrepreneurs, and see how many previous loans they have received as well as their rate of default.

One entrepreneur I've decided to support is Pendra Diallo:

"Mrs. Penda Diallo is a divorcee aged 40, mother of three children, who lives in Sanankoroba, a village situated 20 km from Bamako (the capital of Mali) where she is a social worker in the SOS children's village. Sanankoroba is situated in the second administrative region of the Republic of Mali.

Penda sells 'pagnes' (lengths of brightly colored African print cloth), bedsheets, fabrics, etc. In her search for complementary financial resources, she decided to join the micro-finance institution Soro Yiriwaso. She is on her first individual loan after having correctly reimbursed three group loans (solidarity loans) and with this loan she intends to buy 35 'pagnes' and 15 sheets

She does her buying at the market in Bamako, then sells for cash and credit in Sanankoroba. She hopes to make an average monthly profit of 55,000 F CFA so that she can not only reimburse the loan but also invest in her business and contribute to family expenses."

None of your money is a donation. Via profiles on their website, you keep track of how much of your loan has been repaid each month, and when you have been paid in full, you have the choice of reloaning the money, donating it to Kiva to fund operating costs, or withdrawing the money.

Thanks to Wikipedia, here is a partial list of famous/influential people who support Kiva Microfunds:

• Nicholas D. Kristof wrote about the organization in "You, Too, Can Be a Banker to the Poor", New York Times, March 27, 2007.
• Frontline and The Oprah Winfrey Show had segments devoted to Kiva.
• Kiva is mentioned in Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World, by Bill Clinton.
• League of Virtue LoV—a non-profit network and life-change strategy to help ordinary people build micro-giving concepts into a sustainable lifestyle—showcases Kiva as a critical part of what it call “sustainable human compassion.”

I know this present is, in essence, a delayed box-full-of-cash, but I hope you like it.

Small peeing children

My trip to Brussels last weekend introduced me to Manneken Pis, the child who has been continuously peeing outside for hundreds of years now. Originally constructed in 1388, this little boy represents the future for all Dutch/Flemish males, who will experience countless outdoor urinations throughout their lives. But their countries are prepared for it. Outdoor urinals are erected (ha) throughout cities in crowded drunken areas so that these boys and their bladders will be able to take care of business. That's all well and good except that girls' bladders are often smaller and just as much in need of relief. In the statue world, this led to the construction of Jeanneke Pis. In the actual world, this has led to lines that last forty-five minutes. I spent a total of two hours in lines for the bathroom yesterday and the day before (Queen's Day and Night, respectively) and still had to pay as much as a euro to relieve myself. These outdoor urinals are free, convenient, and wait-free. My solution? Funnels. Think about it.

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