Its a (Turkey) Wrap!

To tomorrow,

Because I did this last week I'm going to do it again. I am taking that next step, going there, and forging my own tradition. From the dictionary of my dome, the word "tradition" is defined as: something done once but in the classiest way possible. Thus I will straighten the bow in my hair, slip on my white silk gloves, sit up straight, and recap the most kablamo things I've come across this week.

1)I totally know how to do electrochemistry now. Yeah so you better watch out or I just might REDOX your face. OOOOO.

2)Muay (moo-ee) Thai was formerly known as "nawa arwut" (which means "nine weapons") because soldiers were taught to fight using their nine natural weapons: 2 hands, 2 elbows, 2 knees, 2 feet and 1 head. NB: the head is now forbidden but everything else is still fair game

3)Vis pacem para bellum.

4) My little brother kicks ass. My older brother...well he has an STD.

5) Pulitzer Prize winners write good: "The wealth of the world has a New York address. It piles up in buildings on land that is laced with gold. And perhaps nowhere is the essence of New York more evident than in Greenwich Village - for it is a microcosm of all that New York has become, and in its story is the story of a great city...It is one of the few places in the city where the sky has not been stolen by high and indescribably ugly buildings. You can stand on a Greenwich Village street in the early Manhattan morning and watch the night sky lighten and break into streaks of rose that suddenly saturate the heavens, then burst with sunlight that ignites the sidewalk and street." (Jimmy Breslin)

And in the words of Jay-Z...."GOODNIGHT."

A Different Kind of Growth

To all future earth spawn,

According to this population clock, the globe's citizenry is rapidly approaching 7 billion. WOW.

The world, of course, has never been home to so many humans in its entire history. Questions surrounding resources, sustainability, and other related topics all arise and are currently hot topics of debate between everybody and their second cousin. But when all the numbers conglomerate together, all all history is sewn into a tapestry of life, and those who have crossed the river into Hades coupled with those who have experienced the pearly white gates/reincarnation/paradise are put into a simple equation of addition, this question arises: do living people outnumber the dead?

Demographer, Carl Harb, has dedicated his studies to this very question. Mr. Harb starts his research at 50 000 years ago, time = 0 where he believes homo sapiens first appeared with Adam and Eve. From there he has used the information available surrounding various time periods (E.g. 8000 B.C. during the Middle East's agricultural revolution) and deduced approximate population numbers. In short, his studies conclude that from time zero to around 2002 the total of those human alive and dead reached 106 billion. Even with today's almost 7 billion, we comprise only just over 6%.

What about the future? A professor from Columbia University, Joel E. Cohen, highly doubts that the Earth's population will ever double its current figures. Following past and present trends, he predicts that "the world body's estimates range from 7.3 billion to 10.7 billion people" in 2050.

So the answer is fiction, the world's living will never outnumber the dead.

(Source: Scientific American article by Ciara Curtin)

This photo is completely unrelated
but hilarious nonetheless.
(Globe & Mail)

The Ever-Expanding Latitude of the World

To my lunch,

When making a trip to the bookstore I always pass the magazine section to see if I can discreetly check up on the current relationship status of Brad and Angelina by just glancing at headlines (you see this way I just keep my curiosity casual instead of borderline obsessive). Recently, as I was doing a quick walk-by, the special issue of Scientific American on "FEAST and FAMINE: The Global Paradox of Obesity and Malnutrition" caught my eye before I reached the US Weekly section. The bold headline, a picture of a global hamburger, and a quick flip through cemented my interest and the magazine was effectively sold.

According to most of the articles within the covers, the world is fat. I knew America was fat, I knew certain places in Canada were fat, but I didn't know that currently the number of overweight people is significantly greater than those who are underweight. In fact, studies estimate that 1.3 billion people are overweight while 800 million still go hungry. This transformation - the shift from undernutrition to overnutrition - is called the the nutrition transition and has literally happened overnight (well, within a generation).

Developing countries are the significant players on both sides of the scale (har dee har har). Famine and food insecurity are rooted in a wide variety of causes ranging from lack of good governance to natural disasters. Most often states and communities will become stuck in the poverty trap (see Jeffrey Sachs) and consequently go hungry. On the flip side, countries such as Mexico, China and even Brazil are doing the opposite.

Lifestyle changes and the adoption of more Westernized practices abroad (driving instead of walking, fast food instead of good food etc.) have created an obesity epidemic. In the aforementioned countries the percentage of adults who are obese have all practically doubled from figures from 10 years ago. For example, in China during 1991, 12.9% of adults were overweight...the figure in 2004 was 27.3%. Furthermore, the price of being fat is become cheaper and cheaper and thus a more favorable option for those on low-budget incomes. A bottle of Fanta is less expensive then a quart of milk, potato chips taste better than a raw carrot, and vegetable oil goes nicely with everything. You get the picture.

It has never been a question of lack of food in the world. It is well-known that there is enough calories on Earth to fill the stomachs of citizens from Chicago to Freetown. Discouragingly the world's belt is poking new notches in all the wrong places, while those starving a literally left in the dust.

Kablamo Expanded with K --> 8 sideways

To K-King,

Here's a list of really incredibly incredible things that I have stumbled across this week. The supposed list is a little random, kinda like finding Decepticon slippers in my living room, Beijing shooting down rain clouds, A-Coop finding his way into my bed (OH! I'm not even sure what that means), or even a polar bear with a naturally occurring mullet.

1) "Sheep are evil. They have no eyebrows. You never know if what you're saying to them is having any effect." ~ Tommy Tiernan

2) There were 3 big booms in the history of the interweb: (Business Week)

• Early 1990s: BROWSING - users began typing in addresses of sites/portals to find things
• Mid-1990s: SEARCHING - with the advent of search engines people could now use keywords to find them a list of results. This thereby re-defined "web surfing" and provided a quicker way to sort out info
• Now: SHARING - users are increasingly customizing websites, blogs, social networking profiles with small programs known as "widgets". It is highly likely that individuals will now become the main distributors on the web market.
  

3) Starvation can be considered a weapon of mass destruction.

4) Calculus is more than U + ME = US....it has like graphs and shit. WEEEEEEEIRD.

5) You can send mail for free at EasyPost.ca

6) Adam learned that he has a fist magnet in his head. (NB: A fist magnet is something attracts fists to your face or head or both)

7) Feeling down? Watch David Caruso's one liners from CSI: Miami.

That's pretty much it. Time for me to go and watch Anna and the King cause thats just how I roll (I heart Chow Yun Fat).

(We Feel Fine)

a break from the same old same old

To the processes of metamorphism,

I thought things were getting a wee bit too serious there, and unfortunately my brain is all in like superstar genius mode right now (thank the U + ME = US), and thus not in funny mode whatsoever. My days are filled with scenarios like these:

"Hi! My name is X, are you in first year?" - Student X
"Um, me?? Oh no no." - Me
"Oh, well then you must be in second year right?"
"Acutalllllly, I've graduated. Yeahhhh, I already have a degree. Huh."

But you know what?!? Its okay. I will be okay. Perhaps if I keep chanting that under my breath I will start to believe it. As cherry on the shitastic cupcake (okay okay its not that bad...I tend to exaggerate things by a small fraction) I dreamt that my beloved object of affection was gay! If I recall correctly, I think he was featured in some paparazzi shots carrying several multi-coloured children in his hands with his life partner. BOOOO! WHY GOD WHY?!? First Anderson, now Johnathan!!!! From here on out, I'm only madly falling in love with guys who have one syllable in their name. Like Zac.

And lastly because pictures speak 1000 words. Well in this case only : "Look guys! I'm a butterfly!"

Here to Japan? No problem, mon!

To the chick in Zambia who smokes 3 cigarettes a day,

Globalization an ambiguous albeit very familiar term, nowadays infers a wide spectrum of meanings. Recently brainiacs have narrowed the focus of this concept and now view globalization as the, "fundamental changes in the spatial and temporal contours of social existence" (Stanford University). Distance is traditionally measured by the time it takes to get from Point A to Point B. As this time decreases so, essentially does the distance. From this idea, it is possible to reach the conclusion that the human experience is changing as the concept of space and boundaries are altered. Whew.

Using this notion that geography (in its traditional sense) is becoming increasingly peripheral, International Networks Archive has adopted a new means of mapping the world: Information Mapping. Motivated by the framework of 'network analysis' this Princeton-based group seeks to link the global community through areas that transcend national boundaries (Eg. education, water, the tobacco trade, and even the good ol' Golden Arches/Green Bean Shop). This is all done not only as an effort to trace the ever-changing shape of the world, but a to better understand the complex web of relationships that is emerging.

Its cool, trust me.

Here are a few examples....



NB: Jonathan Harris, current object of my affection, was a participant in this during his Ivy League days. *sigh*

Big Fish in a Big Pond

To shrimp,

I was going to write something on what my beloved and long-lost JTT (aka Jonathan Taylor Thomas) is up to these days, but then as I was partaking in my daily surfing routine I stumbled upon these incredible creatures. A tad ugly, but intriguing nonetheless.

(National Geographic)

This fine specimen of fish featured above is appropriately called the Mekong Giant Catfish.Endemic to Cambodia, this megafish can also be found in neighboring Thai and Laotian waters. Weighing in at over 300 kilograms and spanning up to 3 meters, this colossal Poseidon of Kampuchea is rarely caught (only once in 2006) but still remains on the 'Critically Endangered' List. Though bans have been placed in Southeast Asian regions, they are highly ineffective and this poor fella ends up on the dinner table.

(National Geographic)

This herculean mass of aquatic matter is known as the Giant Freshwater Stingray, and is also found in Cambodia's Mekong River. Slightly larger than its catfish counterpart, this stingray can reach a maximum size of about five meters and 600 kilograms.

I'm not certain what either of these mega-fishes eat....probably people, maybe only small babies. It also baffles me how they are caught, or how for that matter the man above is just holding onto the stingray's tail like one would to a doggie leash.