Georgia Pok Guy

Roman soldiers on the streets of Rome?  Count me in!  Now if only D.C. would do something like that to celebrate its founding.  I’m sure it would look a little like this…

About this long… The sad thing is, I realized I hadn’t read them all, either. A pity, given how damn good their articles are…

Apparently there are international laws pertaining to births and deaths on boats and airplanes. I can see how on a boat, given the longer journey time, births are a fairly common occurrence. But how many people are born on airplanes? That would be an interesting statistic to come across. One to drop at parties, for sure.

What is fun about these laws are the potential citizenship combinations for newborns. The vessel one is born in abides by the laws of the host country. Compound this with the laws of any territory the vessel is in at the time. If the host country of the vessel and the territory the vessel is in have jus soli laws, the the newborn has citizenship in both countries (and if the citizeships of the parents are different from those nations, the newborn will have those too, assuming their nation(s) of citizenship have at least jus sanguinis laws). Assume that you are born on an Air Canada flight over Romania with an American father and a Armenian mother. Canada and Romania have jus soli laws, making you at least eligible for Canadian and Romanian citizenship. Your American father gives you instant American citizenship (because that’s how we roll). You can get your Armenian citizenship from your mother using their simplified process. So, expectant parents, if you want to give your children triple or even quadruple citizenship, think about giving birth on an airplane or boat.

For those of you interested, there is even a list of famous people born at sea. Everyone’s favorite founder of Singapore, Stamford Raffles was born at sea in 1781. Also of note is Oceanus Hopkins, who wins the award for most original name of someone born at sea.

You win some and you lose some, apparently.  First for the losses (so you feel better with the wins!):

• Betting against Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party would have been like betting against the Harlem Globetrotters.  Free and fair elections?  It’s just around the corner, comrade…
• According to a tidbit in the November 24th edition of the Economist, 20% of polled NYU students would sell their vote in the next election for an iPod (hopefully one of the high end ones, at least); 2/3 would do so for a year’s college tuition.  Half, it was found, would give up their vote for the rest of their life for $1 million.  So much for our civics classes…

Now, for the wins (unless you happen to lurve autocracies):

• Chavez’s power grab was defeated in a referendum!  He may have mastered the art of socialist populism, but he might want to take a page from Putin next time he wants to ride roughshod over the Venezuelan constitution.
• The pro-democracy candidate, Anson Chan, won in Hong Kong.  Hong Kongeese everywhere should feel relieved.  Her main opponent, Regina Ip, did try to pass an anti-subversion law that brought 500,000 to the streets.  Let’s just hope Beijing is big enough to honor the set back.

So, elections all about.  Can’t wait until 2008 when I get to participate in the noble sport.  And, no, I won’t be selling my vote for an iPod…

In honor of it being Guy Fawkes Day (for 2 hours and 8 minutes more), I direct your attention to this article (found with the help of elms-fu).  It is a rather excellent read, reflecting on important lessons to take away from the Gunpowder Plot and how they are still very relevant today.

I have returned from my travels abroad.  I suppose the idyllic life style I had assumed in Cyprus of lounging around on beaches and eating döner kebab and şeftali couldn’t last forever.  Especially since my money was fast running out.  Looking back now at the warm waters of Girne, the crowded streets of Istanbul, and the hot, dusty summit of the Acropolis, the prospect of doing laundry seems rather mundane.  But it must be done!  I promise to write more later, with more photos, but for now I shall leave this picture I took from a window in Hagia Sophia:

Tomorrow I am off for Cyprus, Turkey, and Greece!  It has been a lot of preparation, but this trip is worth it.  I know this may be hard to believe, but I think I might even be more excited than my friends who managed to snag an iPhone tonight.  So, goodbye America!  And merhaba Kıbrıs!  Time for some more stamps in my passport!

Sometimes it takes an immigrant to best express the principles of their adopted homeland.  Take the following quote from this BBC article:

Sarkozy says, ‘France, you love it or you leave it.’ But I have a different slogan: France, you love it and you change it.

Now if only you could convince the native French of this, they might be able to finally realize their own ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity…  Same goes for a lot of Americans.  I really despise xenophobia, and I am continually shocked at how Americans in particular keep repeating the mistakes of their ancestors.  It is particularly hypocritical coming from a nation of immigrants.  I just hope to God we never sink as low as the French in how we treat our immigrants…

Well!  I know what I’m seeing on March 9th!

I found the news in this blog to be rather interesting.  Apparently restrictions on examining Kofun, ancient Japanese tombs, have been slightly relaxed, with archaeologists given permission to walk on the tombs, but not excavate.  May not seem like much, but it is a start.  Early Japanese history is a rather murky affair, steeped in mythology.  Hopefully examinations of the Kofuns may lead to more restrictions being lifted, further elucidating the origins of the Japanese people.  Makes me want to pick up one of my Japanese history books, to review its early history.