Patting Myself on the Back
July 15th, 2008
I beat FactCheck to it by a full day. Although they have some interesting details that I missed. 
Categories: Bloggin, Economics, Politics | No Comments
I Suck at Geography, and Can’t Read, Either
July 15th, 2008
I have already noted how ignorant I am of geography. But this morning, on a whim, I started staring at a map of Europe, really paying attention to it for the first time in a long time, and I am aghast at how completely screwed up I am.
I had this vague mental map of Europe that I’ve been carrying around in my head, probably since high school (where, not coincidentally, they didn’t teach geography). It’s not like I haven’t seen real maps many times since then, but I never paid attention. And the few times I have tried to impress on myself the geography of a region - the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe - because it was relevant to some issue there, I have gotten only a distorted and out-of-context view of things. I have even lectured students on political geography (in a by-the-way, parenthetical manner - I would never set myself up as an expert on the subject) - sometimes with embarrassing results. And now when I actually look at the map, I am amazed at how wrong I was, and so uncomprehendingly, for so long.
Categories: Culture, Education, General, News & Current Events, Politics, Religion | 22 Comments
All-Star Game Open Thread
July 15th, 2008
digg asks, and he shall receive.
Categories: MLB/MiLB, Sports | 18 Comments
