Gee...Ya Think?

Something makes me think that there's a bigger story here.

Election Insanity

Hi my friends, I'm sorry it's been ridiculously long since I've put anything up here. The start of school is always disastrous for my free time.

Well, if you have any free time, check out these two sites...Put Your Party on Your Face and 7-Election.com Both are EXTREMELY unscientific polls about the upcoming presidential election. Watch out for the posts on the first site. There are some wacky folks out there. Don't get too caught up. It's probably better to do something more productive than read that nonsense.

Let me know what you think.

Well, it's happened again...

I've run out of time in all of my classes. I can't fit nearly anything of what I need to do into the ridiculously short amount of time that I have. 40 minutes??? Are they crazy??

I didn't get a chance to show my gov students the electoral college website, electoral-vote.com. And, I didn't get to review the Week In Pictures from the MSNBC site. Go, check em out.... don't worry... I'll be here when you get back.

Also (!!!!), I never got a chance to discuss with my little cherubs the Vanity Fair New Establishment List. I'd love to hear your observations about the list. Do you think they picked the correct person for #1? I wonder how it compares to earlier years.

OH!!! I almost forgot!!! The Rubin Museum of Art of the Himalayas is having a series of public performances of Bhutanese dancing. The last day of the performances is Sunday, September 21st. GO!!! It's going to be so cool. (And, if it isn't, at least you tried!!!)

Enjoy!!!

Mongolian Field Hockey

Enough said.

There's too much to say about the Olympics. WAY too much. So... here's a brief review...

1. Michael Phelps for President.

2. China has an approved list of cheers for spectators. Try to imagine what might happen if the US government tried to impose an approved list of cheers on Jets fans. (Having been a season ticket holder, I can speak from proud, grueling, foul-mouthed experience.) It wouldn't be pretty.

3. Iceland may win a gold medal in Handball. They've never won a gold medal before. Eric Weiner's book The Geography of Bliss argues that part of the reason why Icelanders are so happy is because everyone is mediocre. You can try anything and not have to worry about being bad at it. While Americans have to be the best(!), Icelanders can simply be. I wonder if this gold medal will mess that all up by raising the bar for them and making all the mediocre people feel bad.

4. Oh, I forgot, Michael Phelps isn't old enough. Dara Torres for President.

So Cool!!!!!

Yesterday afternoon, I spoke to Emily Dixon, a volunteer at Kiva. WOW!!!!! Kiva is developing a curriculum for high school students, and they want some of my ideas. Yeah!! I don't know if they'll use any of them, but if I can help in any way, I will be over the moon. So, I'm off to do that, then we McCabes will be at the beach for about two weeks. So, I may not post for a while. Sorry!!! (Yippee!!! Kiva!!! Yeah!!!)

More Top Tens

Top 10 Calorie Consumers

1. USA 3,744.1
2. Portugal 3,740.9
3. Greece 3,721.1
4. Austria 3,673.3
5. Italy 3,670.6
6. Israel 3,666.1
7. Ireland 3,656.4
8. France 3,653.9
9. Canada 3,589.3
10. Malta 3,586.9

World Average 2,804.4

This, again, comes from Russell Ash's The Top 10 of Everything 2007. He added this comment, one of very few commentaries posted in the book:

"The Calorie requirement of the average man is 2,700 and of a woman 2,500. Inactive people need less, while those engaged in heavy labor require more. The countries in the top 10, as well as many others, are consuming over 30 percent more than they need -- hence the rise of obesity and related medical problems. However, the Calorie consumption of over 10 of the poorest African nations falls below 2,000, with Eritrea's average of 1,512.8 standing at just 40 percent of the figure for the USA."

More to follow...

Scary Business

This next series of posts is inspired by what I saw in the stands at the Mets game.

We'll start with this series of Top 10 lists found in The Top 10 of Everything 2007 by Russell Ash:

Top 10 Countries for Global Sales of Fast Food

1. USA 148,612,900,000
2. Japan 13,875,100,000
3. Canada 12,709,900,000
4. UK 12,062,400,000
5. China 9,765,000,000
6. South Korea 9,249,100,000
7. Germany 7,367,900,000
8. Australia 5,685,300,000
9. Brazil 4,967,300,000
10. India 4,914,700,000

Top 10 Fast Food Companies for Global Sales

1. McDonalds $45,933,000,000
2. Yum! Brands (KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut) 24,418,000,000
3. Burger King 11,100,000,000
4. Wendy's International 10,200,000,000
5. Doctor's Associates (Subway) 6,523,000,000
6. Darden Restaurants 4,655,000,000
7. Domino's Pizza 4,193,000,000
8. Brinker International 3,807,000,000
9. Applebee's International 3,593,000,000
10. Starbucks 3,450,000,000