Red Corner: Kalashnikov Proud of Kalashnikov

by Neil Woodburn on

The world is truly a global village when you can buy American Coca Cola in Bangladesh, watch Bollywood movies in Canada, eat French mustard in Bangor, and use Russian weapons to kill people in Iraq. I was a bit appalled today when I ran across an article about the designer of what is probably Russia’s most successful export-the Kalashnikov assault rifle-boast how wonderful his baby is performing in Iraq.

Mikhail Kalashnikov was given the challenge in 1947 of designing a gun that could perform across all of the Soviet Union’s varied landscape-from the deserts of Kazakhstan to the frozen seaports of Murmansk. Unfortunately, he did far too good of a job. With its signature banana-clip design, the Kalashnikov has become the weapon of choice for revolutionaries in the African desert, drug runners in the Colombian jungles, insurgents in Iraq, and practically anywhere else someone needs a cheap, easy-to-operate assault rifle that functions under extreme conditions.

If you see one on your travels, you’re probably not in a very safe place. Sadly, you’re nearly guaranteed to see one if you travel in third world countries-it is estimated that are approximately one billion Kalashnikovs on this planet. Now that’s something to be proud of, Comrade Kalashnikov! You and Charlton Heston should get a room together.

Albuquerque Turns 300

by Erik Olsen on

New Mexico residents we hardly knew ye. If youda
asked me how old the city of Albuquerque is, I might have said a hundred or so years. I’m picturing cowboys roaming the
range, settlers in Conestoga wagons. Well, all that is true, but it all goes back much further than a century.
Albuquerque, it turns out, is gong to be 300 years old in just a few days, and you, dear friends, can go there and help
her (him?) celebrate.

Yes, Albuquerque’s Tricentennial Birthday Party
takes place April 20-23 featuring the premier of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra’s original opera for the
Tricentennial. the opera is called "Time and Again Barelas," which in English means Barelas, the Time and
Also More. The event, should you decide that there is nothing better to do, will be held on Thursday at 8 p.m. at the
National Hispanic Cultural Center. So get your mountain bike, head to New Mexico and ready your lungs to blow out one
helluva lot of candles.

Roadtrip Prep

by Erik Olsen on

Ah, the road trip. If ever there was a pair of words that elicit great memories and the promise of future joy, it is road trip. I’ve taken my share of trips, mostly through the West and each time I felt an exhilarative rush being on the road. You, your car, the open windows, music blaring from the speakers, a whole galaxy of uppers, downers, screamers and laughers, a bottle of ether…no wait, that’s a Hunter Thompson book. But you know what I mean.

Well, we’ve done a few posts about great road trips here, and once I recommended (and till do) that you check out the epic tome on the subject: Roadtrip USA, which I highly recommend. But let me also point you to a nice article over at BootsNAll about road trip preparations. Written by Caroline King, the piece gives a quick and dirty list of ideas and Web suggestions for how to make your next road trip a big time success. We’ll be doing a BIG feature on road trips here in the near future, so stay tuned.

World Citizens Guide

by Erik Olsen on

The motto of this
new group should be Be Not Thee an Ugly American. And good for them for saying so. Yes, at a time when we
really, truly need to project the very best image we can overseas, it seems many folks are still heading abroad and
wondering out loud why it is these other durn counties don’t take American dollars. Oh, please.

And so
comes the "World Citizens Guide" published by
Business for Diplomatic Action Inc. The guide offers 16 tips to behave properly when overseas. Among the tips:

  • Try to speak a little of a foreign language and respect local customs. (well, duh)
  • Be safety conscious not fearful (OK, that’s cool)
  • Dress for respect (can’t tell you how many
    dreadlocked, stinky hippie college kids I’ve seen in places like Thailand…clean up your act people!)


Anyway, a good, informative list and you
gotta give some props out to the folks that put this lsit together. Now if we can only get people to download and read
the thing.

Ferarri Store

by Erik Olsen on

There are few brands as closely associated with
speed and style as Ferarri. The brand is a national symbol in Italy, a source of
pride and patriotism. And here in the states the Ferarri is lusted after by playboys and corporate raiders. And who can
forget Tom Selleck, zooming around Hawaii in his blood-red
Ferarri 308?

Well if you’re traveling to Italy, you might be interested to know that there is a Ferarri
store just waiting for you patronage. The five floor emporium is tucked away
just around the corner from the famous Duomo in Milan, and of course there’s a branch in Rome as well as outlets
in the Malpensa and Fiumicino airports.

The stores are a high-tech men’s dreamland where you can run your
hand over the burnished chrome of a bumper and play around with scads of interactive gadgetry. It is truly a shrine to
speed that has everything for the Ferrari aficionado. And of course if its swag you want, they’ve got lots of that,
too, from cashmere jumpers to t-shirts and luggage, all branded with the cavallo nero…the horse. And for kids you’ll
want to check out all the toy cars. A full-scale model down in the basement allows you to live out your Ferarri
fantasies with the help of state-of-the-art plasma-screen. This is a man’s Disneyland.