Pop vs. Soda Map

I love this map showing where in America people say pop, soda, coke, or something else. I grew up in the Midwest so it was always “pop,” but when I moved to Boston for college, it seemed like everyone else laughed at me for it, particularly the cool kids from California and the sophisticated ones from New York, as if I were some cute backwoods hick. Having not much of a backbone at the time and convinced that the rest of the country called it “soda,” I converted.

Then I moved to Houston. Now it’s “coke,” and I’m calling it the wrong thing again.

(This made no sense to me at first, but I discovered that the ordering process goes like this:
“You want a coke, hon?”
“Sure.”
“OK, what kind?”
“Mmm... I’ll have a Sprite.”)

So who wins? According to the map (by area, at least), the soda kids are in third, the cokes take second, and the cute backwoods hicks claim the majority. Ah-ha!

Pronunciation

I just finished reading The Bookseller of Kabul last week (which I highly recommend), but I can’t tell anyone about it because I don’t really know how to pronounce “Kabul.” Is it KAH-bul? Ka-BUHL? I googled it this morning and found this fantastic article about more problems than just pronouncing the name of Afghanistan’s capital. And according to the author, the jury’s still out on the official English pronunciation of “Kabul.”

A reason to appreciate growing up as a Yankee

Seen this afternoon on CNN:

Students attend first integrated prom

At first I couldn’t figure out what “integrated” was supposed to mean. Then I thought, that couldn’t mean what I think it means... could it?

Students of Turner County High School started what they hope will become a new tradition: Black and white students attended the prom together for the first time on Saturday.

Whoa. Does this really still happen in 2007?

Adkinson’s sister, Mindy Bryan, attended a segregated prom in 2001.

“There was not anybody that I can remember that was black,” she said. “The white people have theirs, and the black people have theirs. It’s nothing racial at all.”

My jaw dropped as I kept reading.

Nichols said while her parents were in support of the integrated prom, some of her friends weren’t allowed to go.

“I’ve asked, ‘Why can’t you come?’ and they’re like, ‘My mommy and daddy—they don’t agree with being with the colored people,’ which I think is crazy,” she said.

Do people really still say “colored”? I understand that racism in America hasn’t gone away, but I never realized that we still have such a long way to go.

Questions

Questions Couples Should Ask (Or Wish They Had) Before Marrying is the "most emailed" article today at the New York Times. What to do if the answer is, "We both aren't sure right now"? Where's the guarantee that you both will come to the same conclusion about that question after many years of marriage? I'm continually amazed at couples who stay happily married for their entire lives, because they've obviously mastered the trick of growing up and changing together. Maybe some of it's luck, but what's the rest of the secret? People change, develop different interests and hobbies, and come to expect different things from their partner, so it's easy to see how a couple could grow apart. Maybe that list should be titled "Questions Couples Should Ask Continually Throughout Their Marriage."

1. Have we discussed our expectations for how the household will be maintained, and are we in agreement on who will manage the chores?
2. Do we have a clear idea of each other’s financial obligations and goals, and do our ideas about spending and saving mesh?
3. Have we discussed our expectations for how the household will be maintained, and are we in agreement on who will manage the chores?
4. Have we fully disclosed our health histories, both physical and mental?
5. Is my partner affectionate to the degree that I expect?
6. Can we comfortably and openly discuss our sexual needs, preferences and fears?
7. Will there be a television in the bedroom?
8. Do we truly listen to each other and fairly consider one another’s ideas and complaints?
9. Have we reached a clear understanding of each other’s spiritual beliefs and needs, and have we discussed when and how our children will be exposed to religious/moral education?
10. Do we like and respect each other’s friends?
11. Do we value and respect each other’s parents, and is either of us concerned about whether the parents will interfere with the relationship?
12. What does my family do that annoys you?
13. Are there some things that you and I are NOT prepared to give up in the marriage?
14. If one of us were to be offered a career opportunity in a location far from the other’s family, are we prepared to move?
15. Does each of us feel fully confident in the other’s commitment to the marriage and believe that the bond can survive whatever challenges we may face?

Amazing

Last week in Brazil, a Boeing 737-800 collided in mid-air with an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet. In a collision between a big plane and a small plane, you'd expect the big plane to fare better, but incredibly, the Embraer 600 survived and the 737 did not. What's even more incredible is that the pilots of the business jet were able to safely land the plane, and all the crewmembers and passengers walked away completely unharmed. Joe Sharkey, a New York Times reporter and a passenger on the Embraer jet, wrote this article about the collision and its aftermath. I know I keep saying this, but it's incredible.

Headlines

5 of the 13 headlines seen on CNN just now:

+ Did Terrell Owens attempt suicide?
+ Squirrel jumps boy in park; rabies suspected
+ Porn star candidate campaigns on campus
+ Charlie Sheen to become highest-paid sitcom star
+ Ashton Kutcher tells secret to Ryan Seacrest

Either I'm turning into a cynical senior citizen, or CNN is really scraping the bottom of the barrel for news.

Overweight? Congratulations!

Seen in this article from the New York Times about the rising number of diabetics in India:

"In perverse fashion, obesity and diabetes stand almost as joint totems of success.

Last year, for instance, the MW fast-food and ice cream restaurant in this city [Chennai, formerly Madras] proclaimed a special promotion: "Overweight? Congratulations." The limited-time deal afforded diners savings equal to 50 percent of their weight (in kilograms). The heaviest arrival lugged in 135 kilograms (297 pounds) and ate lustily at 67.5 percent off."

Blogs and the World Cup

I was at REI during the final moments of the World Cup game yesterday, so I didn't know who won until I was biking home and I saw an SUV driving down Comm Ave with a giant Italian flag waving in the wind and heard the two guys in the car yelling something unintelligible (to me) in Italian. Later that night as I was walking down Newbury St, I heard a car down the street honking his horn in a sort of rhythmic way, not just the familiar 'hooooooooooooooooooooonk!" of a Bostonian who's mad at a tourist that can't navigate the city streets and traffic lights. Anyway, as the car got closer, I could see a guy hanging out the window, dressed in the Italian flag, screaming, "It-al-ia! It-al-ia!" along with the "honk-honk-honk" of the car horn. Not quite as crazy as this, but it was still entertaining.

Earlier that night, I was watching bits of Dateline as I waited for my laundry to dry, and they had a short story about how people in the U.S. haven't been watching the World Cup and aren't really that interested in soccer. I suppose the World Cup hasn't really reached the status of the Superbowl, but I read in the New York Times that World Cup viewership in the U.S. was up 126% on ABC and 70-something% on ESPN over the previous World Cup. Dateline, however, said that even with those increases included, U.S. viewership didn't amount to a large percentage of the total population. From my limited vantage point though, people have gotten into it a lot here - everyone's been coming to talk to my office neighbor (the resident Italian) about what's been happening in the World Cup over the past few weeks. My roommate went down to Fanueil Hall yesterday to watch the final game, and she said that after the game ended, the entire area turned into a crazy mosh pit. I suppose I'm not really a good counter-example to Dateline because I haven't been watching many of the games, but I don't really watch much football either. I only watch the Superbowl for the parties and snacks, and so that I don't look like an idiot when I come to work the next day and people ask, "Can you believe what happened in The Game yesterday??"

In other news, my friend Angela is currently in South Africa, spending a few weeks there sight-seeing and doing some animal conservation-type stuff. I think it's really cool that she's taken the plunge to go there without knowing anyone in her tour group, and it sounds like she's having a really good time. She's been keeping a travel blog here, if you're interested in reading about her adventures with cheap wine and elephants.


I stumbled across another interesting blog while reading a New York Times article about travel writers. The article focuses on how many people think of travel writing as a glamorous way to get paid to go on vacation continuously, but the reality is usually starkly different. It was interesting for me to read, considering that I'm one of those people who thinks travel writing would be one of the coolest jobs ever. The article mentions Leif Petterson, a travel writer currently in Romania, who blogs about his adventures here. I haven't read much of his site, but from what I have seen, it's pretty entertaining. My favorite quote so far: "I will do my best to not suck and provide insight into this low paying, exhausting, yet bizarrely fulfilling journey."