someone’s comparison of differences between germany and the u.s.
a national geographic survey of 18-24 year olds’s geographic literacy. i’m not convinced it’s truely relevant. does it really matter if i know that there was an earthquake in pakistan in 2005? where is sudan on the globe? just to be clear, no, it doesn’t. the percentages weren’t generally that bad. the worst for me was probably the number of people in the u.s. and this poor showing probably lead to the one about what the most spoken language is. i probably only got 15 out of 20 right and i would say i’m reasonably informed. more important statistics would be on how well people can learn on their own when information or skills are needed. most of this crap doesn’t affect someone’s daily life. i also don’t think that it’s really that important for someone to learn a second language just for kicks. it’s probably a bigger deal in europe since every country (pretty much) speaks a different language. if every state in the u.s. spoke a different language that would be comparable. if i moved to a different country, i would learn the native language. i suppose you could argue that spanish is becoming more important in the u.s., but it’s the job of the new “citizen” to learn the local language. so if you moved to miami, you would need to learn spanish. this is way too much rambling for a link.
some group, non al-qaida, busted supposedly plotting to blow up the sears tower (in chicago if you didn’t do so well on that last survey). maybe there’s more info now. an important thing to look for is how much all that crap in the patriot act was used to bust them. my guess is none. from this article, it sounds like it was neighbors reporting suspicous activity.
i also updated the other article related to kangaroo meet, etc. it doesn’t appear to be a legality issue. more of being common or socially accepted. although, apparently for any meat sold in the u.s., it must be farm raised and not wild. the price is apparently a factor for the u.s. as it’s comparable in price to beef where we went here in germany. maybe beef is more expensive here. i expect in the u.s. it may be more an issue of pricing it higher to make it even more exclusive and exotic or a demand issue. here’s an article about its use in trendy restaurants. the unfortunate thing is that kangaroo and emu are low in fat (emu was listed as no cholesterol on the menu where we ate) and maybe that would help all the american fat asses. btw, i’m not sure what the stats are, but the view of what is fat in europe seems to be different (to the heavier side) from that in america. although, i would discount that more americans aren’t truly fatter as a percentage. damn, too much rambling again.