Book Writing

About a month ago, one of my younger brothers and I decided to start writing a book about our adventurous travels in South America this past summer. This particular jaunt included wandering around Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, as well as Mexico (on the return back to the United States). In addition to typing up all our journals, we've also come up with a tentative outline. However, neither of us have really had that much time to devote to this project lately due to us both being in school - he in college and I in two masters programs. I also have a job. I hope we'll be able to put more time into the book over the Christmas break - maybe. We need to consolidate both our journals, polish them up, contextualize them, link them all together, and a lot more bits and pieces to the overall tale. Its something I would really like to do though. Other people write books - I mean look at all the books available in a local bookstore, not to mention online. So, why shouldn't we be able to as well. We're both decent writers. And we have an interesting story to tell. I imagine this book will somewhat be geared toward the so called "armchair" travelers out there and other people who enjoy reading travel writing. In any event, if we don't actually get a book published, I would certainly hope we could get a couple of travel articles into some magazines. Time will tell. But the prospect of this really excites me - as does many things related to traveling.

I'm also working on a couple of scholarly journal articles based on my geography master of science thesis. I'll coauthor one with my major professor, and I hope to get at least one submitted by the end of the year. I'm also trying to get a couple of research papers based on my thesis ready to present at a geography conference in San Francisco in the spring. All in good fun for a budding academic professional geographer.

Wasting Time...

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations. A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you. You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have high conscientiousness. Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life. Most things in your life are organized and planned well. But you tend to overachieve without realizing it. Agreeableness: You have high agreeableness. You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly. Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone. You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism. You are very emotionally stable and mentally together. Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly. Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is medium. You are generally broad minded when it come to new things. But if something crosses a moral line, there's no way you'll approve of it. You are suspicious of anything too wacky, though you do still consider creativity a virtue.

The Five Factor Personality Test

---

You Should Get a PhD in Liberal Arts (like political science, literature, or philosophy)

You're a great thinker and a true philosopher. You'd make a talented professor or writer.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

---

WHITES are motivated by PEACE, seek independence

and require kindness. They resist

confrontation at all costs. They are

typically quiet by nature, they process

things very deeply and objectively, and they

are by far the best listeners of all the

colors. They respect people who are kind, but

recoil from perceived hostility or verbal

battle.

WHITES need their quiet independence and refuse to

be controlled by others. WHITES want to do

things their own way, in their own time. They

ask little of others, and resent others

demanding much of them. WHITES are much

stronger than people think because they don't

reveal their feelings. WHITES are kind,

non-discriminate, patient and can be

indecisive, timid, and silently stubborn.

When you deal with a WHITE, be kind, accept

(and support) their individuality, and look

for nonverbal clues to their feelings.


What Color Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Global Village

In class this evening, one student gave a presentation on diversity of students and employees at our university. This student concluded by showing a short DVD presentation entitled Village of 100. The video described the demographics of the Earth by reducing the Earth's population to a village of just 100 people.

If we could reduce the world’s population down to a village of 100 inhabitants with all the human ratios remaining the same, it would look like this :

• 60 Asians (of which 20 Chinese and 17 Indians), 14 Americans (6 from North America and 8 from South America), 13 Africans, 12 Europeans and half an Oceanian.
• 52 women and 48 men
• 70 non-whites and 30 whites
• 70 non-Christians and 30 Christians
• 89 heterosexuals and 11 homosexuals
• 50.5 people live within the village and 49.5 are scattered throughout the countryside.
• 6 persons possess 59 % of the world’s wealth, several of them are Americans.
• 50 of the village inhabitants live on 2 dollars a day while 25 live on 1 dollar a day.
• 15 persons produce more than half the CO2 emissions in the village
• 25 persons consume three quarters of all the energy, the other 75 consume the remaining one quarter.
• 17 persons have no access to medical services, decent shelter or drinking water.
• 50 persons suffer from malnutrition
• 70 persons are illiterate
• 80 persons live in poor-quality housing
• 20 inhabitants control 86 % of the GNP and 74 % of the telephone lines
• 11 persons have a car and they will probably be 20 in twenty years time
• 20 persons have 87 % of the vehicles at their disposal and 84 % of the paper in use
• 9 persons have access to the internet
• 1 person (yes, only 1) has a college education
• 1 person dies and 2 or 3 children are born into the world each year
• And the population of the village will be 133 people in 2025.

When one considers our world from this perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes obvious. "Changing the situation entails awareness on the part of each and every one of us." Global manifesto (basic text of the Associated Humans 1984)

I also found the following information interesting. This listing presents information about the Earth's population based on a village of 1000 people. Although from looking at some of the statistics this data may be out of date, I find it interesting nonetheless.

If the world were a village of 1,000 people by Dona Meadows (Dona Meadows has written a regular bi-weekly column called "The Global Citizen" that are equally thought provoking):

If the world were a village of 1,000 people, it would include:

• 584 Asians, 124 Africans, 95 East and West Europeans, 84 Latin Americans, 55 Soviets (including for the moment Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians and other national groups), 52 North Americans, 6 Australians and New Zealanders
• The people of the village have considerable difficulty in communicating: 165 people speak Mandarin, 86 English, 83 Hindi/Urdu, 64 Spanish, 58 Russian, 37 Arabic. That list accounts for the mother tongues of only half the villagers. The other half speak (in descending order of frequency) Bengali, Portuguese, Indonesian, Japanese, German, French and 200 other languages.
• In this village of 1,000 there are:, 329 Christians (among them 187 Catholics, 84 Protestants, 31 Orthodox), 178 Moslems, 167 "non-religious", l32 Hindus, 60 Buddhists, 45 atheists, 3 Jews, 86 all other religions
• One-third (330) of the 1,000 people in the world village are children and only 60 are over the age of 65. Half the children are immunized against preventable infectious diseases such as measles and polio. Just under half of the married women in the village have access to and use modern contraceptives. This year 28 babies will be born. Ten people will die, 3 of them for lack of food, 1 from cancer, 2 of the deaths are of babies born within the year. One person of the 1,000 is infected with the HIV virus; that person most likely has not yet developed a full-blown case of AIDS. With the 28 births and 10 deaths, the population of the village next year will be 1,018.
• In this 1,000-person community, 200 people receive 75 percent of the income; another 200 receive only 2 percent of the income.
• Only 70 people of the 1,000 own an automobile (although some of the 70 own more than one automobile).
• About one-third have access to clean, safe drinking water.
• Of the 670 adults in the village, half are illiterate.
• The village has six acres of land per person, 6,000 acres in all, of which 700 acres are cropland, 1,400 acres pasture, 1,900 acres woodland, 2,000 acres desert, tundra, pavement and other wasteland. The woodland is declining rapidly; the wasteland is increasing. The other land categories are roughly stable. The village allocates 83 percent of its fertilizer to 40 percent of its cropland - that owned by the richest and best-fed 270 people. Excess fertilizer running off this land causes pollution in lakes and wells. The remaining 60 percent of the land, with its 17 percent of the fertilizer, produces 28 percent of the food grains and feeds 73 percent of the people. The average grain yield on that land is one-third the harvest achieved by the richer villagers.
• In the village of 1,000 people, there are: 5 soldiers, 7 teachers, 1 doctor, 3 refugees driven from home by war or drought
• The village has a total budget each year, public and private, of over $3 million - $3,000 per person if it is distributed evenly (which, we have already seen, it isn't). Of the total $3 million: $181,000 goes to weapons and warfare, $159,000 for education, $l32,000 for health care.
• The village has buried beneath it enough explosive power in nuclear weapons to blow itself to smithereens many times over. These weapons are under the control of just 100 of the people. The other 900 people are watching them with deep anxiety, wondering whether they can learn to get along together; and if they do, whether they might set off the weapons anyway through inattention or technical bungling; and, if they ever decide to dismantle the weapons, where in the world village they would dispose of the radioactive materials of which the weapons are made.

On the Radio and Other Stuff

Well, this morning I got up bright and early to play in a brass quintet on a local radio program. The two hosts of the show are quite hilariously crazy! We all had a good time though. The two trumpets, trombone, tuba, and I (French Horn) performed a very crazy arrangement of Jingle Bells, complete with sound effects provided by others present in the studio. It was quite a fun and interesting experience.

The rest of the day involved going to work (and meeting two new employees), then class, stopping by grandparents, working out and running, and then homework. Fun stuff!

I've been reading a book lately called The Pentagon's New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century (Amazon.com Link) by Thomas P. M. Barnett. I'm heading towards the end of it, and so far it has been very enlightening. Barnett's thesis is quite interesting and makes me think of and perceive many things in new ways. Basically, Barnett divides the world into two parts: the Functioning Core and the Non-Integrating Gap. The Core is where globalization and connectedness are the way of life. The Gap is where globalization and connectedness have yet to reach. Click here to see the map: Pentagon's_New_Map.jpg
Here is an article by the author written for a popular magazine offering a brief synopsis of the ideas presented in the book: Magazine Article Link

Wikipedia has the following to say about the book:

"Key ideas:

1. Systems of rules called Rule-sets reduce violent conflict. Violence decreases as rules are established (e.g., the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding) for dealing with international conflicts.
2. The world can be roughly divided into two groups: the Functioning Core, characterized by economic interdependence, and the Non-Integrated Gap, characterized by unstable leadership and absence from international trade. The Core can be sub-divided into Old Core (North America, Western Europe, Japan, Australia) and New Core (China, India). The Disconnected Gap includes the Middle East, South Asia (except India), most of Africa, Southeast Asia, and northwest South America.
3. Integration of the Gap countries into the global economy will provide opportunities for individuals living in the Gap to improve their lives, thereby presenting a desirable alternative to violence and terrorism. The US military is the only force capable of providing the military support to facilitate this integration by serving as the last ditch rule-enforcer. Barnett argues that it has been doing so for over 20 years by "exporting" security (US spends about half of the world's total in military spending).
4. To be successful the US military must stop thinking of war in the context of war but war in the context of "everything else", i.e. demographics, energy, investment, security, politics, trade, immigration, etc.
5. In recognition of its dual role, the US military should organize itself according to two functions, the "Leviathan" and the "System Administrator."
• Leviathan's purpose is employ overwhelming force to end violence quickly. It will take out governments, defend Core countries, and generally do the deterrence work that the US military has been doing since the end of WWII. The Leviathan force is primarily staffed by young aggressive personnel and is overwhelmingly American.
• The SysAdmin's purpose is to wage peace: peacekeeping, nation building, strengthening weak governments, etc. The SysAdmin force is primarily staffed by older, more experienced personnel, though not entirely (he would put the Marines in SysAdmin as the " Mini-me Leviathan"). The sys Admin force would work best as a Core-wide phenomenon.
6. By exporting security, the US and the rest of the Core benefit from increased trade, increased international investment, and other benefits."

Barnett has already written a sequal entitled Blueprint for Action: A Future Worth Creating (Amazon.com Link). I'll plan to read that one as well in the not too distant future.

All in all, the Core-Gap thesis appears to be a sound way of describing the current dichotomous nature of the world. It is also a positive outlook toward a "future worth creating" where all people are free to choose their level of connectivity with globalization and the global economy as a whole.

Activities of the Past Few Days

I heard this interesting anecdote this morning about Rudyard Kipling (a British author born in India; one of the most popular writers in English, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907):

At the height of Rudyard Kipling's popularity, he is said to have earned about $1 a word (around $20 today). This inspired a certain autograph hound, who had been unsuccessful in obtaining the great man's signature, to try again. He sent off a letter that he was sure would produce the desired result: "I see you get $1 a word for your writing. I enclose a check for $1. Please send me a sample." The writer replied by postcard -- unsigned: "Thanks."

Anyway, I thought that was humorous.

Well, the past few days have been absolutely beautiful - warm and sunny! Friday afternoon, my brother, mom, and I helped get my grandparents Christmas decorations out of their attic (we would return on Saturday to help them finish the decorating process). Friday night I went to a football game at the high school I graduated from. We won 39 to 14. The MTV television trucks were there in full force filming the second season of their reality TV series "Two-A-Days". I ran into several people I attended high school with - along with some of the band directors (I was in the band). It was interesting to find out what some of them are up to these days, and what some of their family members are now doing.

Saturday, we visited a friend who works at Radio Shack and made a purchase from them to help their commission. Then went to grandparents and helped them finish decorating for Christmas. Had dinner there as well - a friend brought them a huge pan of fettucini alfredo, salad, and bread. Saturday evening I started researching and writing a paper thats due Monday evening - I know, I'm a procrastinator. But I always get the job done, and I get it done well. Grades always turn out fantastic anyway.

Went to church this morning, played in the orchestra. Had lunch at grandparents (more noodles), boiled potato with sour cream, and apple salad. Then I worked more on the research paper. All afternoon was spent in orchestra/choir rehearsal at church for our Christmas programs which are next Sunday. After that, I had a steak dinner at my family's house. Then, I returned to my apartment to finish the research paper, which I just completed.

I'm getting up real early in the morning to play in a brass quintet on a local radio program to advertise for our Christmas programs. That should be fun and exciting, and I'm looking forward to it!

Thanksgiving

Well, I certainly had a fun and filling Thanksgiving Day. Although Thanksgiving for us is typically held at the grandparents house, an aunt and uncle (mom's brother) decided to have it at their place this year. Now, this aunt isn't particularly a very friendly aunt to the rest of the extended family (or in general supposedly - I mean, the lady had their little Yorkie put to sleep for no good reason the other day). The uncle is always nice to all of us, but their kids weren't very talkative around the rest of us or the other cousins either. My youngest brother (another younger brother couldn't make it home for Thanksgiving) a couple of other cousins, and I all had a great conversation over lunch, but the kids of the aunt who lived there didn't seem to chime in at all. I tried to include them, but it didn't really work. Are we not good enough for their level of sophistication?

The lunch consisted of turkey, ham, green bean casserole, jello salad, sweet potato casserole, chicken dressing, rolls, and pecan pie, coconut cake, and cheesecake for dessert. After the meal, we saw the aunt pouring the leftover sweet potato casserole down the disposal in the kitchen sink. As if no one else wanted to eat any leftovers? There's always room for leftovers eventually - that's one of the grand things about holiday meals! I would have taken them with me and ate them later if no one else wanted them (which was not the case of course). She just doesn't like sweet potatoes apparently. Oh well. At any rate, people usually leisurely hang around after a Holiday meal when it is elsewhere. Well, not here. Not an hour or so had gone by before it was "time to leave". It was just as well though. We took my grandparents back to their house before heading home ourselves and taking naps.

Well, this evening after napping a while, we went to try to go see the new James Bond movie - "Casino Royale" - but it was sold out. So we then went to visit another aunt and uncle (mom's youngest brother) and their family. After staying there a while and eating a piece of cheesecake, we went to catch a later showing of James Bond at a different theater. When walking into the actual room we ran into another cousin and one of his friends. I thought they had gone out of town to have Thanksgiving with their dad's mother, but apparently, as it turns out, they had just had it at their house so they wouldn't have to be around this particular "aunt". hmm...interesting I would say.

I really enjoyed the James Bond movie, and usually always like films of that genre. I like the action and intrigue and also the flitting around from one country after another (i.e. traveling, which I love of course). Speaking of movies, I saw a preview for the fifth Harry Potter movie the other day ("The Order of the Phoenix"), which is due out next July I believe. I absolutely love reading those books, and have thoroughly enjoyed the films as well - and will certainly be looking forward to this one.

Anyway, I'm not planning to get out in the mad rush of day after Thanksgiving shoppers in the morning. I think we'll stay around here and decorate the house for Christmas.

Past Travels

Just to go ahead and throw this out there - I love to travel. I try to travel as often as I can (or can afford), and would probably travel most anywhere given the opportunity. With that in mind I offer the following maps:

These are the countries I've visited thusfar:



create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

and the U.S. states I've traveled to:

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

First Post

Well, here's another blog to add to the vast array already out there floating around the internet. I don't really have much to say at the moment, so I don't even know why I created this thing. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Thanksgiving will be here in a couple of days. Always a fun day - lots of good food. My roommates and I and several friends prepared a large "Thanksgiving" meal this past Saturday evening. I successfully cooked a turkey for the first time. Other dishes I prepared were sausage balls, green bean casserole, french onion dip, and cream corn. Other dishes we had were: vegetable casserole, chicken dressing, cornbread salad, sweet potato casserole, turnip greens, squash casserole, deviled eggs, hashbrown casserole, pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice cake, pecan & cranberry pie, an assortment of white and milk chocolate covered desserts, sweet tea, ...
Everyone who showed up seemed to enjoy it. Although, half the people we invited (and planned the date around) decided not to show up at the last minute, which seemed a little rude to me. Oh well, thats how people can be I guess. I don't think I'll ever understand them? But there were plenty of leftovers to eat off of for days.

I started a new job a couple of weeks ago. Already, I'm realizing why I decided to go to graduate school and why I am so looking forward to start working on a Ph.D. in geography somewhere next fall. Anyway, this job involves staring at a computer screen all day, right hand latched onto a mouse - I can't imagine doing that for any extended amount of time. Data collection and updating databases, statistics, GIS, geocoding, and research are all involved. But, it pays the bills.

Someone sent me one of those "forwarded" emails the other day as many people often do. This particular one actually made me mad for some reason. Here is what the forward said (sorry it looks all garbled up, but you get the gist):

"> "What you are is God's gift to you; what you do with yourself is your> gift> > to God."> > Danish proverb
>>>> > >The way it should be> > >Good morning> > >Welcome to the United States of America> > >Press "1" for English> > >Press "2" to disconnect until you have learned to speak English.> > >> > > >Subject: FW: SOCIAL SECURITY> > > >> > > >My mom was a homemaker and dad worked all his life and> > > >paid into SS, dad> > > >has passed away and now my mom can barely make ends> > > >meet. While the> > > >possible "illegal" alien in front of her at the> > > >grocery store buys the> > > >name brands, my mom goes for the generic brands, and> > > >day old breads. She> > > >doesn't have out of state calling on her phone,> > > >because she can't afford> > > >it and shops at the thrift shops and dollar stores> > > >while the "illegal"> > > >aliens go to Macy's, Gap, J.C. Penny, Banana Republic,> > > >etc. She> > > >considers having a pizza delivered once a week "eating> > > >out". She grew up> > > >during the depression, watched her husband go overseas> > > >to fight in WW II> > > >a year after their marriage, and then they went on to> > > >raise, feed and> > > >clothe 5 children, scrounging to pay tuition for> > > >parochial schools. I'm> > > >sorry, but I can't see how the Senate can justify this> > > >slap in the face> > > >to born and bred!, or naturalized citizens. It is> > > >already impossible to> > > >live on Social Security alone. If they give Benefits> > > >to "illegal" aliens> > > >who have never contributed, where does that leave us> > > >that have paid into> > > >Social Security all our working lives? The Senate> > > >voted this week to> > > >allow "illegal" aliens access to Social Security> > > >Benefits. Attached is> > > >an opportunity to sign a petition That requires> > > >citizenship for> > > >eligibility to receive social services. If you do not> > > >wish to sign the> > > >petition yourself, please forward on to anyone you> > > >think might be> > > >interested.> > > >> > > >PETITION FOR: President Bush> > > >> > > >Mr. President:> > > >The petition below is a protest against the recent> > > >vote of the senate> > > >which was to allow illegal aliens access to our social> > > >security! We> > > >demand that you and all congressional representatives> > > >require> > > >citizenship for anyone to Be eligible for social> > > >services in the United> > > >States. "

--and then a list of almost 500 names made up the rest of the email, followed by this statement:

"> > > >If you don't forward the petition and just stop it, we> > > >will lose all> > > >these names. If you do not want to sign it, please> > > >just> > > >forward it to anyone who might want a voice. Thank> > > >you!!!> > > >> > > >To add your name, click on "forward". You will be able> > > >to add> > > >your name at the bottom of the list and then forward> > > >it to your> > > >friends.> > > >> > > >I just copied it and pasted it to a new email - then I> > > >was> > > >able to add my name.> > > >> > > >> > > >THE 1,000TH PERSON SEND IT ON TO THE FOLLOWING E-MAIL> > > >ADDRESS:> > > >President@WhiteHouse.gov"

Was I justified in getting angry over it? I started to write a response and "Reply to all" that it was sent to, but then decided against it because it probably would have just gone over their heads anyway. Who Knows. That type of stuff just serves to provoke narrow-mindedness about things and people and cultural differences. But you can't try to tell some people anything that goes against what they think about things.

Anyway, the following is what I felt inclined to write down after reading it:
"My, My. I sure feel so sorry for this poor unfortunate old lady. But if she really is this destitute, why is she solely relying on Social Security? Why isn't she out looking for a job to help support herself? Did her five children suddenly abandon her as well? Surely at least one of them made something of him or herself and could help support her if she raised them properly. I also find it hard to believe that (up until last week) a majority republican Senate would be considering enacting legislation that would give the same benefits to undocumented immigrants that U.S. citizens receive. Remember, this is the same senate that voted recently to use your tax dollars (that could be much better spent elsewhere) to construct a 2,000 mile long wall along the entire length of the U.S./Mexico border (never mind the fact that throughout history "walls" have always failed - Berlin wall, iron curtain, Israel/Palestine wall, etc...). This is the same Senate that voted to make it a felony to have any interaction with undocumented immigrants. I just find it hard to believe that this senate would also be considering legislation giving Social security benefits to undocumented persons.Maybe if this lady needs more help we could all vote to raise taxes to have more funds to put into Social Security. Or, we could reallocate funds from the already poorly funded education system to help this lady out (I doubt congress would allow a decrease to the defense budget at all for the same purpose - we have a war in Iraq to pay for you know). Last time I checked, I didn't notice too many "illegal" immigrants shopping at high end stores - they really can't afford to, but at least they are working to support themselves and their families back home in their origin countries. And most do pay taxes in one form or another. Most work long hours day to day in low-wage jobs such as construction and landscaping in cities, or agriculture and food processing in rural areas. You won't find as many Americans doing these jobs anymore because they can't get paid as much as they want to, but they also want cheap goods and services which requires someone to perform low-wage jobs to produce those low-cost goods and services. I would also like to point out here that, from direct personal observation on my part, the poorest of the poor in America are far wealthier than a lot of people around this world. I'm beginning to wonder about Americans in general. Most act so entitled and self-centered about everything, always coming up with excuses and blaming others for their own shortcomings. And they worry and fret over the stupidest things. Most have absolutely no earthly idea of the horrors that many people in this world go through on a daily basis. Many Americans could do with a good eye-opening!"

People are funny! Anyway, that's about all I have to say right now.