SAGA (Kyodo) Kidsbeer, a nonalcoholic brew aimed at children, is catching on with young drinkers and is posting monthly shipments of 75,000 bottles, according to maker Tomomasu Co.
(Via Winkie.org)
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Category: Misc.
Tokyo? Nope. Seoul? Uh-uh. London? No. New York? Try again.
As the New York Times’s Nicholas Kristof says in his column today*, it’s in Hermiston, Oregon, a town of less than 25,000. Amazing stuff — the hotspot stretches for some 600 square miles. (My Dad lives in Pendleton, not far away.)
Back in early 2003, when I was living in Ecuador, I rode atop the famous Nariz del Diablo (Devil’s Nose) train. And one of my favorite pics from the journey was this image of me and a vendor who climbed atop the train and was selling his wares during one of the stops:
(for a bigger version, click here. The photo would’ve been better without the annoying German guy sticking his head up behind us. But anyway.)
I subscribe to an RSS feed (What is RSS? you say) for Flickr photos tagged “Ecuador,” and today this one was delivered to me. It’s a photo of the same vendor — and interestingly, though the pic was just uploaded, it appears to have been taken some three years before I met the guy, before he traded in his traditional bowler’s cap for his (probably pirated) Yankess woolie:
Update: Sorry, this photo is no longer available on Flickr, it seems.
One of Flickr’s most useful features is that it allows users to associate their images with “tags,” thus liberating them from individual albums. And discovering such photos is simple with RSS. Pretty cool stuff, if you ask me.
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Reason Number 768 I Wanna Go to Finland
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Re: Baseball and Steroids
Check out Foreign Policy’s Failed States Index Map. Interesting stuff.
My gripe: Ecuador is listed as “borderline,” while neighboring Peru is described as “in danger.”
Is Peru really in worse shape than Ecuador, which has seen three presidents deposed since 1997? While Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo’s approval ratings have been subterranean for a while (only about 7-10% of Peruvians currently approve of his performance), the government appears more stable than its northern neighbor.
The country-by-country data provides some insight: Peru receives a poorer score for “Security Apparatus.” I suppose that’s a reference to the Peruvian state’s ongoing struggle to deal with those pesky Maoist rebels, the Shining Path. The guerillas have been quiet of late, though, so I find this explanation surprising.
UPDATE: I just took another glance at the map, and I wanna know this: who’s doing the fact-checking over at Foreign Policy? Morgan Spurlock? Amazingly, Bolivia’s not even included on the list.
Bolivia’s president — as you’ll recall reading about here and elsewhere — stepped down a few months ago after a massive indigenous uprising. Bolivia is truly teeting on the edge of chaos; Peru and Ecuador are comparatively far from collapse.
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Motorcycles Around the World
Question: why are motorcycles so prevalent in Asia and yet comparatively less widespread in other parts of the world? I have no idea. I’ve asked smart people about this in the past but have received no compelling explanation.
Is it because Asian cities are more compact than those in the West, making shorter distances more suitable to motorcycle travel?
Is it because many motorcycles are manufactured in Asia, so they’re cheaper to buy there?
Have motorycles not caught on in in South America because the roads are poor and would be difficult to traverse by motorbike?
Do Asians have a different outlook on death — hey, it happens — and thus are more comfortable with riskier motorcycle travel?
Motorycle usage in Europe is higher than in the Americas, but not as high as in Asia; what about motorcycles in Africa and Australia — do people ride them there? Not so much, I think.
Please posit theories in the comments. I’m dying to resolve this issue.
Seriously. Reason number 541 that I want to go to Nigeria. Behold:
More pics here. More info here.
Perhaps the most amusing photo of the lot:
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Run Free, Little Bouncy Balls, Run Free!
Check out this fabulous photo.
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Myanmar (nee Burma)
Ostracising Myanmar has not helped its people. It is time to explore the possibility of a deal