10 for 10 (7th Entry): Virtual Postcard from North Carolina....

Greetings to our readers in Uruguay, Panama, and South Korea....

Our initial choice for a virtual postcard was the quaint small town of Madison, which is hosting a heritage festival on Saturday, Oct. 3rd, with 100 vendors, but we couldn't find a suitable image. Madison is in Rockingham County, which also includes the towns of Eden and Reidsville.

Instead, we opt for this photo of Old Salem in Winston-Salem, some 45 miles west of Madison. Winston-Salem is also the host of the River Run Film Festival in April, and the home of Wake Forest University.

In European soccer action today, Eden Hazard of Chelsea scored a late goal to solidify a 2-0 victory over their London crosstown rivals Arsenal.

In the Netherlands, Heracles upset PSV Eindhoven 2-1. And, in Turkey, the Istanbul powerhouse Galatasaray managed a 1-0 victory over perennial contender Trabzonspor.

http://www.townofmadison.org/

http://www.shoprockinghamcounty.com/

http://www.oldsalem.org/

http://www.visitwinstonsalem.com/

Dutch Soccer Scoreboard: PSV Beats Rival Ajax Amsterdam 3-1

Greetings to those of you checking out our blog in Denmark and Italy.

Even though it is very early in the season the two most storied franchises in Dutch soccer history played over the weekend (we were hoping the most would be on ESPN3, oh well!) as PSV Eindhoven beat out defending champs Ajax Amsterdam 3-1 thanks to the go ahead goal from Dutch national Luciano Narsingh (pictured top).

Den Haag, a team in Holland's other capital The Hague which is captained by Roland Alberg (pictured center) had a rousing 3-0 victory over Groningen with two goals from Micheil Kramer in the waning minutes of regulation time.

Finally, Rodney Antwi (pictured bottom) scored in the winning goal of the 72nd minute to lead road side Utrecht to a 2-1 win over Feyenoord, and, it was a disastrous weekend for American star Jozy Altidore's former team AZ Alkmaar as they fell to Willem II 3-0. Altidore now plays soccer in England.

Here are the scores from weekend play in the Eredivise:

1) Ajax 1 PSV 3

2) Den Haag 3 Groningen 0

3) Feyenoord 1 Utrecht 2

4) Zwolle 2 Vitesse 1

5) Breda 1 Twente 1, tie

6) Go Ahead Eagles 0 Dordecht 0, tie

7) Heracles 0 Cambuur 1

8) Heerenveen 2 Excelsior (Rotterdam) 0

9) Willem II 3 AZ Alkmaar 0

Top Ten Things To Do ...........for the rest of the week...........

Even though it is Wednesday, we thought we'd go ahead and share ten things we need to do for the rest of the week. Assuredly, there are other things that will come to mind as we type this list up!

1. Work-out at the gym

2. Take the trash down and recycle

3. Buy groceries (image #1, ironically, we don't have a Trader Joe's here in this zip code)

4. Look into day trip to Winston-Salem, NC

5. Oil change and wash car

6. Get over the summer time blues (image #2, the late John Lee Hooker)

7. Continue writing 750 words a day

8. Send card to Dutch Ambassador Rudolf Bekink for his country's third place finish at the World Cup

9. DVR "Scarface," the 1983 Al Pacino version directed by Brian De Palma (it airs at 2:00 a.m. Thursday night/Sunday morning eastern time on TCM)

10. Go to a minor league baseball game (#image 3, the mascots for the Akron Rubber Ducks, a AA team for the Cleveland Indians in Akron, Ohio, that was previously known as the Akron Aeros)

World Cup Lists (3 of 4): Dutch League Players

Though Aron Johannsson didn't play today for Team USA in a heart-pounding 2-1 loss to Belgium in extra time in today's World Cup action, he is one of many players seeing action in Brazil from Erendise, the Dutch Premiere League.

Here is a full list of 11 players who also play pro soccer in the Netherlands:

1) Aron Johannsson. 23. AZ Alkmaar. USA (pictured top)

2) Christian Atsu. 22. Vitesse. Ghana.

3) Alireza Jahanbakhsh. 20. NEC Nijmegen. Iran.

4) Bryan Ruiz. 28. PSV Eindhoven. Costa Rica (pictured middle, team captain)

5) Uche N'nofar. 25. Heerenveen. Nigeria.

6) Renato Ibarra. 23. Vitesse.Ecuador.

7) Memphis Depay. 20. PSV. Netherlands (pictured bottom)

8) Jasper Cillessen. 25. Ajax Amsterdam. Netherlands (plays goal-keeper)

9) Daley Blind. 24. Ajax. Netherlands.

10) Daryl Janmaat. 24. Feyenoord. Netherlands.

11) Jordy Clasie. Feyenoord. Netherlands.

Best Comics from the Sunday Washington Post (....and, how you can win a free trip to Amsterdam)

Thanks again for taking a look at this blog as we post our long-overdue entry on he best comic strips from the Sunday Feb.2nd edition of "The Washington Post"...........oh, about that trip to Amsterdam, we sort of used that just to get your attention (there is no free trip to Holland). Our apologies to Rudolf Bekink, the Dutch ambassador to the USA, for that! But, perhaps, you can go there and see an Ajax Amsterdam soccer game on your own dime:)

This Sunday, 1) Lio invited some ghoulish friends to watch the Super Bowl; 2) Hagar the Horrible reused to do the laundry (that strip did not make the top ten); and 3) there was a family feud in "Foxtrot" over whether to watch the Super Bowl or "Dowton Abbey." Of course, since the Seattle Seahawks won the 105-3, this proved to be a mute point in reality.

Here is the top ten:

1) Lio

2) Foxtrot

3) WUMO

4) Sherman's Lagoon

5) Brewster Rockit: Space Guy

6) Pearls Before Swine

7) Reply All

8) The Argyle Sweater

9) Prickly City

10) Dustin

http://www.washingtonpost.com

Comic Strip Dialogue from The Roanoke Times: Any Cheese Will Do

With Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek sandwiched between Gouda cheese, which should hopefully get us some hits in the Netherlands, and a chocolate glazed donuts, which New Jersey's Republican governor Chris Christie can eat by the dozen (well, even if we were Republicans, we'd have to admit the guy is a bit fat, but at least he's to the far-left of Rick Perry, the execution-happy Republican governor of Texas), we give you dialogue from comic strips which appeared today in "The Roanoke Times."

The Gouda cheese is in reference to "Blondie" as Dagwood asks Elmo, who is presumably the neighbor's son, what kind of cheese he wants on his sandwich. Zizek is in reference to a line in "Dilbert" about philosophy. And, chocolate donuts tempted both John and his beloved title character cat in today's "Garfield."

Here we go:

1) "How are you feeling today, Agnes?" (from "Agnes")

2) "I'm trying to develop a new philosophy for my life" (from "Dilbert")

3) "Look, we agreed this wouldn't be easy.....we BOTH have to be strong." (from "Garfield)

4) "How about Gouda? I've got some smoked Gouda!" (from "Blondie")

5) "It's a New Year Tradition" (from "Jump Start")

6) "Exercise is great, but it's important not to overdo it," (from "Pickles")

7) "You sneeze like a gerbil," (from "Zits")

8) "Now Boarding. Rows five and above" (from "Funky Winkerbean")

9) "Nice. So what's our exit strategy?" (from "Doonesbury")

10) "Security." (from "Pearls Before Swine")

http://www.slovenia.info/

http://www.dilbert.com

http://www.garfield.com

http://www.funkywinkerbean.com/

http://www.philosophytalk.org/ (NPR show about philosophy)

http://www.rnw.nl/english (Radio Netherlands)

Apocalypse Now 2: Who's Afraid of Virginia Foxx?

Forgive the biased political humor, but I think if Republican members of the House of Representatives in the U.S. Congress vote for a government shutdown this evening, they should clean up the elephant dung at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. (for those of you in Dubai, the elephant is the symbol of the Republican Party).

Alas, a family of six from Winston-Salem, NC, or Knoxville, Tenn., who were hoping to visit the National Zoo during a weekend trip to Washington, DC, will have to make alternate plans. Perhaps, they can tour the Dutch Embassy?! (yes, that is a joke, but it gives us a reason to post a photo of windmills).

And, this brings us to Cong. Virginia Foxx (R-NC, pictured top) who was at one time considered to be most conservative Congressional member of the North Carolina Republican delegation. But, those were in the grand ole days of 2009.

Here are 10 tweets regarding the mess in Washington, DC:

1) HuffPost Politics: Unless Congress acts, the govt will shut down in 4 hours.

2) David Frum (a conservative who has been critical of GOP): "Just to put things in context: tomorrow, the Italian government will be open for business as usual."

3) E.J. Dionne: "Great Edward Gluce column: It makes more sense for Obama to talk to the leader of Iran than the GOP in Congress."

4) WashDCNews: "WUSA9 speaks to DC Mayor Vincent Gray about government shutdown."

5) The Daily Edge: "Republican extremists dig in their heels 'We remain determined to kill as many Americans as possible."

6) Huffington Post: "Michele Bachmann compares being dependent on health care to being addicted to crack cocaine."

7) Talking Points Memo: "Senate will reject House's latest Obamacare gambit before midnight."

8) WashingtonPost: "Man arrested at the National Zoo after police find white powder, shards of glass at zoo exhibit." (This is our one tweet not related to a govt shutdown, but it caught our attention).

9) Amanda Terkel: "Ted Cruz, whose wife works at Goldman Sachs says he'll give up his salary in shutdown."

10) LOLGOP: "If you judge House Speaker John Boehner by all the laws he's repealed rather than the laws he's passed he's even worse."

http://www.rollcall.com/

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/

http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

http://www.visitholland.com

Soocer Week (1 of 8): A Look at Big Games in the USA, England, Mexico (and more)

This is the start of Soccer Week, which is also running on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire" http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com ..........In this edition, we look at ten important games in Europe and North America.

The above images are of: 1) David Ferrera, a Colombian international who is captain of FC Dallas in the United States, 2) Maurice Edu, an American international with Stoke City in England who also recently played for BursaSpor in Turkey and 3) Oswaldo Sanchez, the Mexican international who is the captain and goalkeeper for the popular Mexican team Santos Laguna.

Here are the games (we hope to post the results on Monday):

USA/Canada (Major League Soccer):

Fri: Real Salt Lake vs. Seattle Sounders (the two top teams in MLS)

Sat. Colorado Rapids vs. FC Dallas

England/Wales (English Premiere League):

Sat. Stoke City vs. Manchester City

Sat. Sunderland vs. Arsenal (this game will presumably be the first Arsenal match for Mesut Ozil)

Netherlands:

Sat. Ajax Amsterdam vs. Zwolle

Sat. Twente vs. PSV Eindhoven

Mexico:

Fri. Santos  Laguna vs. Club America

Sat. Cruz Azul vs. UANL Tigres

Germany:

Sat. Bayern Munich vs. Hannover

Sat. Bayern Leverkusen vs. Wolfsburg

http://www.fcdallas.com/

http://www.stokecityfc.com/

http://www.psv.nl/home-english.html (PSV Eindhoven web page)

Presidential Quotes, Cont'd: Jimmy Carter

Greeting to our blog readers in the Netherlands, Croatia and Uzbekistan.

Today, we are continuing our series of presidential quotes with a quip from Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer from Georgia who upset other Democratic candidates in the 1976 primaries and then defeated incumbent President Gerald Ford, whom Carter later became good friends with, to become president of the United States.

Other quotes in the series can be found on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire" http://www.nocturnalguys38.blogspot.com

Interestingly enough, the Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck also ran for president in 1976; we think he got more votes than Ralph Nader.

Here is the quote:

"America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, human rights invented America."

http://www.carterlibrary.gov

http://www.cartercenter.org

Yes, Prime Minster_ Turkish PM Says Protestors are 'Terrorists'

We were looking for an image of a woman in a red dress, but all we could find were famous celebrities, such as Cindy Crawford. But, the 'woman in red' we are referring to is an unknown Turkish woman wearing a red dress who was sprayed by a water cannon. The image of what was done to her has been the one which has most damned Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his grave mishandling of a protest to not develop at the historic Gezi Park in the Taksim part of Istanbul.

We asked Google who the woman was, and all we could find was an article in "The Daily Mail" (UK) explaining how many students in the same vicinity as the woman in red were also targeted by the police.

The protests in Turkey have made headlines around the world: "The Hurriyet Daily News" in Turkey quotes President Abdullah Gul as saying the protests were more like Occupy Wall Street than the even more massive Tahrir Square protests in Egypt (yeah, we aren't buying that either). "The Jerusalem Post," an English-language newspaper in Israel, looked at the nuanced differences between the Turkish and Egyptian protests, one of which is that Erdogan is a democratically-elected leader. And, "Dutch News" reported that people of Turkish heritage in the Netherlands held demonstrations in both Amsterdam and The Hague.

With that, we turn our attention to Erdogan, whom we feel is more or less as coniferous as this great white shark from South Africa pictured, who made the following dubious quote about the protests: "This is a protest organized by extremist elements," he said. "We will not give away anything those who live arm-in-arm with terrorism."

SIDEBAR: Those who might be traveling to Baltimore, Maryland, here in the United States, can partake in glimpses of sandbar sharks and giant Pacific octopuses/octopi; we are not sure if any of the octopi are predicting the outcomes of weekend Major League Soccer games this weekend.

http://www.dutchnews.nl

http://www.dailymail.co.uk

http://www.jpost.com

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com

http://www.aqua.org

Let's Check Out the Times Around the World Again

Since we listed various times from around the world like two weeks ago when the time last changed (forgiven the Americancentric sense of humor, well really it's just our own actually).

The images above are a map of Rotterdam, The Netherlands (Holland), the Dubai Mall and an antique grandfather clock that one may find at the Wheatland Antique Mall in Topeka, Kansas, where it's 9:00 p.m. now (Monday).

But, rather than Topeka, we will use New York as the city of comparison; it is now 11:00 p.m. in the Big Apple right now.....all times sprang an hour forward in the United States yesterday.


Here we go:

Athens, Greece: 5:00 a.m.

Barcelona, Spain: 4:00 a.m.

Auckland, New Zealand: 4:00 p.m.

Beijing, China: 11 a.m.

Bucharest, Romania: 5:00 a.m.

Cairo, Egypt: 5:00 a.m.

Dubai 7:00 a.m.

London 3:00 a.m.

Moscow 7:00 a.m.

Paris 4:00 a.m.

Rotterdam, Netherlands 4:00 a.m.

Tel Aviv, Israel 5:00 a.m.


http://www.visittopeka.us

http://www.shopbrookwood.org

http://www.antiquesoftopeka.org


http://www.mw.nl

And, Now a Word from Our Sponsors_ Brush Your Teeth with Astera

Today, we are trying to connect with blog readers from eastern Europe with a Czech beer, a Bulgarian toothpaste and a Turkish cola beverage; none of these are openly available in the United States, though Turkish stores like Haromny Market in Cary, NC, a suburb of Raleigh will likely carry Cola Turka.

We came up with this idea while rummaging through our back catalog of blog entries from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Though a number of name athletes like Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps came back for another Olympics in London, three of my favorite athletes from 2008: Alicia Sacramone, 24, USA, gymnastics, Merel Mooren, 29, Netherlands, beach volleyball and Elvan Abeylegesse, 29, a woman who won two silvers running for Turkey who is originally from Ethiopia in Beijing, were not in London. In fact, Elvan just recently had a baby!

But, it was still a fun Olympics, except at the end, I had Bob Costas fatigue and there were all those annoying commercials.

So, in that spirit, we are promoting these three products, which will not find at the Food Lion in Mount Jackson, Va.:

1) Poutnik Beer is a popular beer in the Czech Republic, reportedly this is especially true around Christmas time; it is brewed in the village of the same name.

2) Astera Toothpaste is apparently the leading toothpaste in Bulgaria. The web site for the product actually has this tagline in English: "The toothpaste that care for the whole family."

3) Cola Turka, first introduced in 2003, actually had a series of commercials featuring Chevy Chase_ of all people, a fact made more ironic because there are very few golf courses in Turkey (forgive the "Caddyshack" reference) . 

http://www.merelmooren.nl (in Dutch)

http://www.aliciasacramone.com

http://www.toothpasteworld.com

http://www.astera.bg

http://www.colaturka.com.tr/

http://www.harmonymarkets.com

http://www.czechbeerguide.com

Four Who Finished Fourth- The Men

This is a complementary piece to our entry on women who finished fourth at the Olympics at our other blog "The Daily Vampire" http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

1. Bernard Lagat, 37, USA (originally from Kenya), track and field/men's 5,000 meters (pictured below)_ Ironically, a Kenyan runner Thomas Pkerei Longosiwa kept Lagat from a bronze medal. Lagat had successfully competed for Kenya at the 2000 Sydney Olympics (bronze) and the 2004 Athens Olympics (silver). He began running for the USA in 2005. Lagat finished his race in 13:42.99, a mere one second less than the Kenyan who got bronze.

2. Andrea Baldini, 26, Italy, fencing (foil, pictured second)_ We debated about including Baldini as he did win team gold in the foil fencing competition. But, in the individual competition, the globally recognized fencer came in fourth. He lost to Choi Byung-Chui of South Korea in the bronze medal match. Italy came away with seven medals in fencing though, which was more than any other country.

3. Raymond van der Biezen, 25, Netherlands, BMX biking (pictured third)_ This was the second Olympics for the Dutch biker as he came in second at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This year in spite of an outstanding first run he finished fourth, just behind Carols Oquendo of Colombia. Maris Stromberg of Latvia won the event, which was the only gold for his country.

4. Kenenisa Bekele, 30, Ethiopia, track and field/men;s 10,000 meters (pictured top)_ He way well be the only athlete in London to lose a meda to his younger brother as Tarike Bekele, also running for Ethiopia got the bronze medal. But, the older Bekele still has more Olympic medals as he has won a total of three gold medals and one silver medal in Athens and Beijing.

http://www.raymondbiezen.com

http://www/andrea-baldini.com

Quote of the Day- John Quincy Adams

Dalma Malhans, the Saudi Arabian female equestrian athlete who tried to become her country's first female athlete at the Olympics is trending on Bing; alas, the same can not be said for John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), who was America's sixth president and the son of John Adams, the second president.

Before becoming president, the offspring Adams, who like his father was from Massachusetts, was ambassador to Russia and to the Netherlands, and several other countries.

Here is his quote, which is part of our series on quotes from the first eight American presidents:

"Old minds are like old horses, you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order."

Quote of the Day/Week- Vincent van Gogh

Today, we continue quoting famous people from each of the 16 countries represented in the Euro 2012 Cup_ a continental soccer championship being played as of right now in Poland and Ukraine.

The Netherlands/Holland lost to Denmark by a 1-0 in Group B, a group of death which also includes Germany and Portugal.

Our subject today is the artist Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) who died very young at age 37. The painter is known for "The Starry Night" and a series of sun flower paintings. The above image is a self-portrait.

Here is his quote:

"For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream."

http://www.vangoghgallery.com

From the Record Collection (4 of 8) "Zenyatta Mandatta" from The Police

Our choice for today's album collection entry is "Zenyatta Mandatta," the third of five studio albums from the English band The Police, one of the earliest New Wave to achieve Billboard chart success.

"Zenyatta Mandatta" only consists of two singles: "Don't Stand So Close to Me," a tale about a female student overtly flirting with a male teacher. The song, written by lead singer Sting, is likely the first and only top 40 hit which makes a reference to Russian literature with the line: 'Just like the old man in that book by Nabakov,' referring to Vladamir Nabakov's classic novel "Lolita."

The record, which runs for 38:16, was produced by the band and Nigel Gray, who would later produce albums for Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was recorded at the Wiseloord Studio in the Netherlands. On the day after the record's completion, The Police headed to Belgium for the start of a large world tour. In the late '70s and early '80s, bands were forced by record companies to tour, which lead to the spectacular burn-out of popular bands, such as Men at Work (the Australian band only recorded three albums, with their final one being a complete dud).

"Zenyatta Mandatta" is also known for having two instrumental tracks, including the Grammy-winning "Behind My Camel," which was the brainchild of guitarist Andy Summers, who just recently ranked number 85 in a list by "Rolling Stone" of the top 100 guitar players in rock and roll history.

The band also consisted of drummer Stewart Copeland, who is now known for recording music for soundtracks to tv shows and films.

The album had mixed reviews, but it sold well, reaching number five in the United States and number one in the United Kingdom. The Police split up in 1984, but reunited for a massive tour in 2007, which sold out proving the band's popular allure remains even though the band is highly unlikely to record another album.

Things We Learned on Google Today- Ajax Amsterdam Has Won It All

Today, we continue our look at soccer teams around the world (most entries have been for European teams), which has been on both of my blogs. And, we move to the Netherlands/Holland, where we asked the might Google: How many domestic titles has Ajaz Amsterdam won?

The answer is an astonishing 30 Dutch Premiere League titles dating back to the 1917-18 season (the team was founded in 1900). The latest title was won by last year's team.

This seaon Ajax Amsterdam is participating in the UEFA Champions League where they are currently in third place in Group D, behind Real Madrid (Spain) and Lyon (France), but they are ahead of last place Dynamo Zagreb (Croatia).

Over the weekend, in domestic play, Ajax Amsterdam tied AZ Alkmaar 2-2. Their next Dutch game will against rival Feyenoord Rotterdam in a game that will be played on Oct. 23 at 6:30 a.m., New York time (yikes!).

The team captain for Ajax Amsterdam is Belgian defender Jan Vertonghen, 24, (pictured) and the co-captain is Dutch mid-fielder Theo Janssen, 30. The team also consists of many star players, including Uruguayan Nicolas Lodeiro.

On an interesting note, while researching this piece, we saw that Aras Ozbilis, 20, was on the team's roster. We don't know all the details of his personal history. But, Ozbilis is a person of Armenian heritage who was born in the Bakirkoy suburbs of Istanbul, not far from where my late Turkish aunt resided. He apparently moved to the Netherlands with his family. And, earlier in the week, he was rewarded with Armenian citizenship which will make him eligible to play for the Armenian national team.

On a personal note, I want to wish the Turkish soccer team Trabzonspor from Trabzon, Turkey, a city in the eastern Black Sea region, well. The team is currently on top of Group B in UEFA play. Domestically, Trabzonspor beat Ankara Gucu 3-2 over the weekend. Goalie and team captain Tolga Zengin has been helping his team in their early successes so far.

We also learned that my two favorite teams BursaSpor and GalataSaray met this weekend, with GalataSaray prevailing 2-1. On Youtube, there is apparently a video of Kobe Bryant trying to kick a penalty kick against GalataSary goalie Ufik Ceylan while on a visit to Istanbul.

SIDEBAR: We forgot to mention in our last entry that Barry Manilow is playing a regular gig at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas from now until at least the end of the time.

SPORTS SIDEBAR: Since we mention the University of North Carolina Tarheels' succesful week of play in women's volleyball, we thought it was only fair to give equal time no not to the Duke BlueDevils, but the 'other UNC.' That would be the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo. Ironically, I saw a bumper sticker for that school during a visit to Chapel Hill a few years ago.

The UNC in Greeley, Colo., call themselves the Bears and their volleyball won a home match in straight sets thanks 15 kills from Amanda Arterburn.

My alma mater Radford University in Radford, Va., also had a solid week in women's volleyball action as they won home games over both Charleston Southern (in straight sets) and Coastal Carolina (a five-set nail-bitter).

Carly Fleming lead the Highlanders with 15 kills against Coastal Carolina for the major Big Conference win.

DC Diary_ Welcome to Kandahar Province

We are continuing our look at a hectic Day Two of our family DC trip (see "The Daily Vampire" for additional misadventures) with a look at some of the more unusual things that occured on Tuesday.

After visiting a staggering three Smithsonian in one day, we stopped by the Freer Gallery where we saw an art exhibit from avant garde Dutch artist Fiona Tan, which included a video came up of black and white Japanese schoolgirls from the 1960s, as well as a glance into the life of a Turkish immigrant shopkeeper in Amsterdam.

While visiting the gift shop of the gallery, which included many expected things like a cd from Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar, I noticed much to my immediate shock that there was a Lonely Planet Guidebook to.......Afghanistan?!

Of course, like everyone from Dubai to Anchorage, I was wondering what kind of insane lunatic would risk their lives for a frivilous travel adventure, and this coming from someone who went to Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2008!

After doing some web research, I did indeed confirm what everyone knew: there is a State Department advisory against travel to Afghanistan, hmmm....perhaps a war, the resurgence of the Taliban and armed warlords has something to do with that. Additionally, Wikitravel states that one should: Be aware of snakes and insects in Afghanistan, especially scorpions!

But, The Lonely Planet's tourguide for Afghanistan's web site says there are three places which are worth seeing presuming there is a ceasefire in the country for the day. These include the scared sites of Mazar e-Sharif, the caves of Samagan and the ruins of Bamiyan.

Additionally, I found much to my shock that there is an English pub in Kabul called Hare and Hounds (hmmm...I don't think that would be a good place to meet single women, irregradless if they are wearing a burqa or no burqa) and a German restaurant called Deutsche Hof. And, lastly, there is an outdoor cinema in Kabul called the Aina Media Centre where I expect "Brokeback Mountain," "Porky's" and "Debbie Does Dallas" never played.

One can also fly into Kabul from Frankfurt, Istanbul or Dubai, but your travel agent in Toledo, Ohio, might not be sure what to make of your mental state if you tell him your iteniary.

50 Beers Around the World- Heineken (The Netherlands/Holland)

The Dutch beer Heineken might well be the most popular brand we've featured in this series yet! The brand sells 250.8 million liters around the world, and it is perhaps the one European item that Republicans have no issues with.

Heineken was first made in 1873, and it consists of purified water, malted barley, hops and yeast.

You might even find it in Orem, Utah (just outside Provo).

Things We Learned From the BBC Today- Naomi Campbell Can't Be Photographed

The British supermodel Naomi Campbell, 40, is scheduled to testify this week against former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor in The Hague, Netherlands (Holland) on Thursday.

But, photographers will have to refrain from taking pictures of here according to a judge who will preside over the trial.

Campbell is testifying because she allegedly recieved a 'blood diamond' (that originated from Sierra Leonne) from Taylor in 1997 during a celebrity dinner in South Africa.

SIDEBAR: Though Twitter is banned here at the Pyongyang Public Library (actually a library in North Carolina), I did get word today from "The Hill" that Cong. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) tweeted that she is pregnant yesterday. McMorris, the third-highest ranking Republican in the House said the following in her tweet:

"Brian and I are excited to announce we're expecting. Cole will have a baby sister for Christmas."

Though I'm a Democrat, we wish them the best and perhaps they can watch that 'socialist propangandist' (according to a radical teleevangelist in Charlotte, NC) Barney the Dinosaur together as a family.