The Early Bird Gets the Worm?

In this world, there are early birds and night owls. I personally am a night owl. For whatever strange reason, though I may be tired during the day, once the sun goes down, I happen to become more energetic. Although I admittedly do not stay up beyond 2 AM or so, the hours prior are spent fairly awake. I dread waking up earlier in the morning than 8 AM, and even at that time, it is difficult for me to completely function coherently. Needless to say, I am not very talkative and instead communicate through gestures.

Are you a night owl or an early bird? Now there's a poll!

Breed-Specific Legislation

As a dog-lover, my heart sinks whenever I hear about yet another dog attack. Nine times out of ten, it is what is considered a 'dangerous' breed--it is not often that you hear good stories about them unless they have been abused and found. Unfortunately, those are few and far in between in comparison to the attack stories.

I know that the constant publicity specifically aimed at portraying certain breeds as dangerous does more harm than good to all involved. Dogs then become abused because people think they are dangerous and must be kept in place through force. Then, when the dogs attack the people who are hurting them, it only reinforces this misled mentality. Therefore, people make it a self-fulfilling prophecy. Both parties are harmed as a result.

Breed-specific legislation is not the answer to stopping dog attacks. There will always be rogues of all breeds, from Pomeranians to German Shepherds to Fila Brasileiro. BSL may cut down on the attacks of one breed, but not all. When dog-fighters and people who train animals to be vicious can no longer get a hold of that breed, they will find another to fill the void. The only way I believe that dog attacks can be lessened would be through careful screening of dog owners, regardless of what breed a dog is.

Special Blog 1--Afghanistan

With this post, I start my special blog series. These will be the blogs which are off my regular schedule which I believe require immediate attention rather than wait for the following week.

As those who watch the news on television or follow it online have likely heard, Americans have found a fortune in mineral wealth in Afghanistan, now estimated at somewhere around 807 billion EUR/1 trillion USD/674 billion GBP/over 1 trillion CAD/over 1 trillion AUD/over 91 trillion JPY, I am sure you get the picture.

This is most definitely a disaster in the making. Certainly, this fortune could help the country, but it will most likely harm it instead. This has been the case ever since humanity began looking outside of its own community for resources. Being greedy creatures (particularly those who are delusional with concepts of immortal grandeur), they are not willing to use diplomacy as a first means of gaining access to the resources, but instead prefer to use force, uncaring of the effect such action could have on others. It is only when their actions negatively impact themselves that they even remotely consider cooperation.

Therefore, with this discovery of mineral wealth in a hotly contested area of the world which could help the people within that country, other nations will undoubtedly be eyeing it for their own benefit. Since there is already a war going on there, it will most likely get worse as the Afghan people hope to defend these resources to further their own country's development while other nations will try and take it from them in order to widen the gap between their own development and Afghanistan's. I will not even start discussing the environmental problems which await the exploitation of this discovery, it would make this post far too long.

Let the tug-of-war begin...

International Music

While discussing travel, and with the recent start of the FIFA World Cup, my mind has been wandering to the international music that I listen to. Though I am hardly a music connoisseur or even a consistent listener of music, I have heard my fair share of enjoyable music from around the world. I find that listening to music from other countries can be much more enjoyable than listening to the popular music of one's own country. Though I may not understand each language, An example of the sort of songs I listen to:

Anggun (an Indonesian singer who sings in three languages): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLAB94SyFl4

Within Temptation (Netherlands): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcwO0VS9FVo

A. R. Rahman (India): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ6XLg_39Mw

Nightwish (Finland--it has had two main singers over the years however):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UztEfwHt14

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlr82KonSww

Younha (a Korean singer who also sings in two other languages): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK-6E3MJKYE

Secret Garden (an Irish-Norwegian duo): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCYgh4UYoUs

Abingdon Boys School (contrary to the name, a Japanese group): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP62-bncFgw

I have yet to get the World Cup album, but I plan on doing so very soon.

Let me know your opinions of these songs if you listen to them.

Do you listen to international music? If so, who would you recommend?

The Destruction of Traditional Art

I have been a regular visitor to the site deviantart.com, or DA as it is called by those who have been longtime viewers. Over the years, I have watched in disappointment as the amount of traditional artwork done by the artists has diminished. Now, the majority of it is done through tablets and computer programs. Even those who had started as traditional artists eventually decided to stop doing it as their worlds had become more technological and they began to feel pressure to start using their computers for their work. This became especially conspicuous when animated shows began to switch over to CGI graphics, deciding to forgo traditional 2-D animation. Though it is understandable that it is more labor intensive to do work by hand, I still feel that the most satisfaction can be received through doing so and all the flaws make it that much more unique.

Thus, each time I see the front page of the popular section of DA and the profusion of CGI, I cannot help but think back to the old days. I know there are still those who admire hand-drawn work, since I have read comments on the rare traditional piece I come across praising the artist for using non-technological materials. Now if only those admirers would speak up more often...

Requisites for Travel

Never having had much money, I have never had the opportunity to travel outside of my home country. As a result, over the years it has become a near-obsession for me to find a way to travel and visit other places; the sooner, the better. This has especially been the case with the rise in the cost of air travel. I would like to get 'out there', so to speak, and visit these other parts of the world before travel becomes so expensive that only the most wealthy are capable of it.

Therefore, I ask any readers to provide me with tips about travel for a first-timer so that I may make the necessary preparations. What are some important things for a first-time traveler to do or keep in mind before they board that plane, train, or automobile? Which nations or cities do you recommend visiting for those without much money who love culture and history and wish to make the most of a visit?