National Parks: The Best and Worst

by Erik Olsen on

I have raved here so often about how great our National Park System is in this
country that I sometimes get tired of hearing myself. I apologize for the drumbeat, but if there is one thing we should
be proud of in this country when it comes to government, it is the NPS. That said, there are some parks that rule and
some that suck. Some National Parks or Monuments or whatever, get their designation as a result of pork, because some
Senator or Congressman wants to dedicate the place that taffy was invented as a National Historic Site to please his
constituents.

So as consumers of the National Park System’s goods, to put things in strict economic terms, it is important for us to
know which parks are good and which are not. And that is where
this list by National
Geographic Traveler comes in handy.  This is serious stuff. They’ve got some of the best folks in the world to
help them rank the parks: scores of park staff, scientists, environmentalists, etc. The
folks who know
what they are talking about. They rank the parks from best to worst not just in terms if whether the park is great or
not, but also according to whether the park is facing pressures from over-visitation, pollution, infrastructure
degradation and so on. Parks
like the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Carlsbad Caverns, the list suggests, are being loved to death.

This is an excellent piece that really shed some light for me on what is going on in the parks system, and it could be
used as an excellent guide to help you determine which park to visit for your next vacation.

Aruba to US Media: Pls Go Home

by Erik Olsen on

Didn’t it used to be that places like Aruba welcomed Americans? Come spend your tourist dollars here, enjoy the sun,
the over-priced drinks. Now the island of Aruba has had
enough of Americans. Well, of the American media…particularly Fox. Since this whole Natalee Holloway thing broke
and ignited once again a media frenzy over a single missing girl, the island has been swamped with media types who, one
can guess, are not quite the laid back sort who populate the island. Islanders feel their country is being invaded by
media hordes and its reputation being sullied world-wide (or at least America-wide). 

There are all sorts of essays we can write about this. How the media so oddly focuses on one person (aka:
Laci Petersen, et. al.) and makes them the center of a frenzy that feeds the
public’s hunger for murder, intrigue, lost people (persons?). Every year, it seems, one poor soul or  case gets
selected to become the TV cause celeb du jour…to mix my foreign clichés.  The media juggernaut is largely
unstoppable. You’d have to put up a great wall to keep them out. Which is why you can understand how dismayed the folks
in Aruba are now when it comes to this case. Let’s hope for their sake that this thing gets solved and that the made
for TV movie gets made and the people of Aruba can go back to their quiet island ways.

Let’s Learn Azeri

by Adrienne Wilson on

Salam! Raise your hands if you are heading to Azerbaijan soon. Okay, not so many folks headed that way. However, a friend of mine who works for BP out in Trinidad is actually heading to Azerbaijan in a couple months for business purposes. I asked him if had been practicing his Azeri and as I expected the answer was “no.” Not wanting my friend to go off without even the basics I started sniffing around the web for some places he could learn a few things not only about the lingo, but the culture.

Azeri dot org fits the mold perfectly. You can see their tips for learning the language, a easy to follow pronunciation guide for the Latin Azeri alphabet and everyday expressions. Another nice spot to explore on the site is the art from several Azerbaijani artists. Fun to look at even if you aren’t going to the country now or never.

Another Cool Widget

by Erik Olsen on

Here’s
another interesting
widget for OSX users. Secret Agent Europe is a crime-solving game in which the player travels around Europe
following trivia-based clues in order to catch up with bad guys. You can visit 49 cities in 39 different countries and
learn facts everywhere you go.  Other “crimes” can be downloaded from the internet. It’s a MONSTER download
(almost 60 meg) for a widget, so beware, but it is a cool way to improve your geography knowledge and give the kids
something to do.

Death in the Afternoon

by Erik Olsen on

Alas, another edition of get wasted and throw your body into the path of oncoming angry bovines is over.  No
deaths this year, thank goodness. Certainly some squished toes and damaged livers, but no deaths. That is not how it’s
always been. Here is a very touching story from BBC News
about the personal experience of a reporter who was witness to the last death death in the afternooon in Pamplona. The
death took place 10 years ago, and the victim was 22 year old Chicagoan Matthew Tassio. It’s well-written, and a
reminder of how danerous this event can be:  The fighting bull which gored him weighed half a tonne. It hit
him in the abdomen, severed a main artery, sliced through his kidney and punctured his liver, before tossing him seven
metres (23 feet) in the air.