Welcome, Irish readers!

Welcome, Irish visitors to our blog! My experience with Ireland is limited to a couple of hours in Shannon's airport (reputedly the birthplace of Irish Coffee).

You know the public announcements person who reads stuff in the airport like "Delta 305 is arriving from Philadelphia"? Well, Shannon Airport had a woman with the sexiest voice you ever heard reading those announcements. I bet if I found her she'd have a mustache and weigh 400 pounds or something equally horrifying, but, man, what a voice.

I'd love to get back and see Ireland, the ancestral homeland of the O'Vidyarthi Clan (from way southern Ireland).

I did a little research and learned from Dave Barry that

A typical Irish town consists of several buildings, one of which is always a bar, called a "pub." Next to this there will typically be another pub, which is adjacent to several more pubs. Your larger towns may also have a place that sells food, but this is not critical.

Yeah, I need to visit there.

Welcome, visitors from Denmark!

Welcome to the blog, visitors from Denmark!

Denmark is Norway's neighbor and is thus locked in a terrible arms race over their coats of arms. Denmark's coat of arms features not one lion, but three lions with little crowns.

While this is enough to ensure peace via the theory of Mutally Assured Destruction, U.N. weapons inspectors suspect that Denmark is currently working on ax technology -- an outcome that will surely disrupt the balance of power in Scandinavia.

Denmark is also known as the setting for William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. This previously unknown play was later made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger's portrayal of the Danish prince.

Welcome, Swedes and Brazilians!

A quick peek at the analytic software tells us we have visitors from Sweden and Brazil. Welcome!

Internationally, Swedish meatballs are synonymous with the Swedish cuisine. In this age of DIY videos, we are pleased to share the following instructional video for you to make your own meatballs. The video features a well-known Swedish chef.



Of course, the Brazilians are well-known for their love of urinal soccer, known as futebol de urinol -- not to be confused with American urinal football made popular by the NUFL).

Futebol de urinol has a major effect on Brazilian culture. It is often the favorite pastime of youngsters that can be found playing it on the streets.

World Cup tournaments are a social phenomenon, and it is not unusual for people to skip work to watch the national team play, and in some cases the very workplace will set up apparatus for its employees to watch the event together.

Welcome, Hungarians!

Welcome to Voices from Main Street, Hungarians!

Hungary is known for it's many inventors. László Bíró invented the ballpoint pen, Ernő Rubik invented the Rubik's cube, and of course, Imre Krypton Electric Bulb invented the krypton electric bulb.

Sadly, Hungary has no monkeys. I'm giving them a pass, however, because they managed to cast off Soviet shackles and transform themselves into a republic with a market economy without fragmenting into a million warring villages, engaging in genocide or creating a kleptocracy. No mean feat.

Welcome to the blog, Albanians!

Welcome to the blog, Albanians! Many readers may remember Albania for a bizarre espionage incident in 1990. An exchange student named Adil Hoxha was sent to Springfield to obtain plans for the local nuclear power plant.

A plant employee from the host family unwittingly took Hoxha on a tour of the power plant and thought nothing of the many photographs Hoxha took of sensitive material. Hoxha was eventually caught by the FBI and was exchanged for an American spy caught in Albania.

Welcome, Greeks!

Welcome to the blog, readers from Greece! We're all familiar with Greek contributions to modern civilization.

I speak, of course, about the Greek invention of naming college fraternities and sororities. Without the system devised by ancient Greeks, we would have to refer to various fraternities and sororities as "the one with the crappy parties," "the one with all the jerks," or "the one with the crappy parties and the jerks."

The Greeks also gave us the gyro. Sadly, the correct pronunciation of this delicious sandwich is lost in the mists of time. Some linguists believe YEER-oh is correct. The majority of linguists, however, believe it's pronounced Gimme one of those things. Yeah, like what that guy's eating.

Greece also gave us George Stephanopoulos, the diminutive broadcaster and political adviser. According to legend, if anyone keeps an eye fixed upon him, he cannot escape, but the moment the gaze is withdrawn, he vanishes. If you capture him, he must be truthful and honest and tell you where he has hidden his treasure.

Welcome to the blog, Chile!

Welcome to the blog, Chilean readers! As you know, Chile is home to the vampire bat.

Identifying a vampire bat is pretty straight forward. Unlike fruit-eating bats, the vampire bat has a short, conical muzzle. Also, vampire bats will not cast reflections in a mirror and they often hesitate to cross running water.

Vampire bats are considered to be nocturnal, as exposure to sunlight tends to weaken them, sometimes even causing them to instantly turn into dust.

It is not true that vampire bats can be repelled with holy water, crucifixes and other articles of faith. This is a stupid and false urban legend with no basis in fact. They are, however, vulnerable to garlic.

Welcome, readers from New Zealand!

Welcome, New Zealand readers! New Zealand's coat of arms isn't as awesome as Norway's, but the country does have some stunning terrain.

Many readers may already be familiar with New Zealand's beautiful landscapes -- it was featured prominently in the boring Lord of the Rings trilogy. Yeah, you heard me, LOTR fans. I said boring. If I want to watch three hours of people walking around, I'll save my money and spend an afternoon sitting on a bench in the mall.

Bah. No monkeys in New Zealand. Wikipedia notes that new Zealand is home to a reptile called the tuatara, which I previously assumed to be some kind of South American dancing style. Wiki says there are no snakes either, but I doubt that. How can they operate without lawyers, politicians or salespeople offering extended warranty programs?

Welcome to the Main Street, Norway and Iran!

Welcome, Norway and Iran! That's Norway's coat of arms to the left. It's pretty bad-ass. As near as I can tell, it features a lion. With an ax. And he's wearing a little crown, as if to say, Go ahead and make fun of my little crown. I'm a lion with an ax. I think he's smoking a Clint Eastwood-style cheroot, too.

I'm not saying that I wouldn't taunt the fella, but I am saying that it wouldn't be on my list of things to do on any given day. Getting my head caught in the gears of a steam engine would come before taunting a lion armed with an ax.

I wonder what early drafts of Norway's coat of arms looked like. Maybe an earlier draft had the lion riding around in a tank and the King of Norway said "Looks good, Sven, but maybe we should lose the tank."

Does Norway have monkeys: No. But they get a pass for the ax-wielding lion.

And welcome to the blog, Iranians! Wikipedia says the highest state authority is the Supreme Leader, currently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Supreme Leader is a pretty sweet title, although I would've gone for Grand Poobah of the Universe.

While I'm on the subject, Persian food can be an amazing experience. I went to a place near Philadelphia called the Persian Grill and it was fantastic. I understand that it changed owners, so I need to get out there and see if it's still awesome.

Monkeys? Sadly, other than the infamous Filipino Monkey, the answer appears to be no.

Welcome, Macedonians!

Welcome to blog, Macedonians! Macedonia is the New Hampshire of Europe. Consider:

New Hampshire's motto? Live Free or Die. Macedonia's motto? Freedom or death.

New Hampshire's is 9,350 square miles. Macedonia is 9,779 square miles.

Now if New Hampshire applies for NATO membership, it's a lock. Case closed.

Monkeys? No.

Welcome, new international readers!

Whew, I have to lump a bunch of countries into one welcome post to keep up.

Welcome to our visitors from Ecuador, Spain, Malaysia, Singapore, India and Phillipines!

Ecuador raise your hand, please. Ecuador is the home of the Galapagos Islands where Charles Darwin did a lot of important work. Guinea pig ("cuy") is a popular dish in some regions there. Maybe you can bring some to share with the class on Show & Tell day.

Everyone here already knows Spain. Spain is a constitutional monarchy whose head of state is King Juan Carlos I, which is a pretty good gig if you can get it. No, class, not everyone can grow up to be the King of Spain. I bet he has a cool business card.

Malaysia is one of three countries that controls the Strait of Malacca. That's big-time strategic significance when you consider that about one-quarter of the world's traded goods (including oil) passes through the Strait (another source says 40%). Here's another fact: Piracy is a big problem there. Arrr, me hearties! Is that you snickering, Ecuador? Fine, you can write a two-page essay on piracy in the Strait of Malacca by Friday.

Singapore, don't think I don't see you hiding in the back. Stand up please. Class, did you know that Singapore is the 17th wealthiest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita? Singapore, if someone tries to take your lunch money at recess, report it to the nearest teacher.

India is home to over a billion people (making it the most populous democracy in the world) and some of the worst movies ever made. Trust me. Oh, and India also has the third largest military in the world, according to the CIA World Factbook. So don't try to take India's lunch money.

Ah, the Philipines. Class, pay attention to the Phillipines in Home Ec, because Filipinos know how to cook. I even had dinuguan, an alarming stew made out of pig's blood, and darned if it wasn't tasty. If you can make a tasty dish out of blood, I say that you know how to cook. Upon reflection, however, Yuengling Lager may have played a role there.

We're still missing two continents. I'm looking at you, Africa and Antarctica.

Maybe we need more penguin coverage to get Antarctica.

UPDATE: All six of these countries have monkeys. That means we are 6 for 6 today and all six countries meet our minimum standard for being cool (i.e., they have monkeys).

Welcome, Australians!

Welcome to the blog, Australians! I spent a little bit of time in Darwin, Australia (that's in the Northern Territory).

The croc is there because it reminds me of my brief stay. We were warned not to hit the beach lest we get eaten by crocodiles. I'm serious. Look at that picture to the left. Yeah, I'm not to take any chances.

I ate some crocodile later that trip. Who's on top of the food chain now, ugly? It tasted like an unpleasant cross between chicken and fish. Maybe it needed Old Bay.

Welcome, Mexican readers!

Welcome to our visitors from Mexico!

Did you know that our American brothers to the south represent the 12th largest economy in the world by gross domestic product by purchasing power parity? No, I don't know what "by purchasing power parity" means, but I can't spend all day on Wikipedia, can I?

About Mexican food: A lot of what we think of as "Mexican" food is better described as southwestern or Tex-Mex. Look, Mexico is a big country. Imagine someone serving hog maw, scrapple and York Peppermint Patties to to a Mexican and saying, yeah, that's what they eat in America. It's kinda true, but doesn't tell the whole story.

My point here is that Mexican food kicks butt in ways most of us don't even know about. And I am not talking about eating ant eggs.

Really.

Welcome, Argentines!

Welcome to our Argentine readers!

Let's see, what are some interesting things about Argentina? Well, Wikipedia points out that UN data shows Argentina with the highest Human Development Index level and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in purchasing power parity in Latin America.

We also learn from the same Wikipedia article that illegal immigration is a concern in Argentina. "The Argentine government estimates that 750,000 inhabitants lack official documents ... ."

When it comes to notable people, does the name Jorge Luis Borges ring a bell?

Finally, do they meet my measure of a cool country? That is, do they have monkeys? Yes.

Welcome readers from the Netherlands Antilles and Serbia and Montenegro!

Welcome to readers from the Netherlands Antilles and Serbia and Montenegro!

That's an odd combination. One is a state about to be dissolved (the Netherland Antilles will be dissolved on December 15) and the other (Serbia and Montenegro) came to an end in 2006.

It seems that my analytics program needs to have its political boundaries updated. That's a good thing, I guess. That's one more step Skynet needs to take before total machine dominance.

Welcome, Brits!

Welcome to our blog visitors from the UK!

I see that some of the buildings in Poplar area of London were designed by Ernő Goldfinger.

I planned to write a snarky comment about Goldfinger's wide-ranging interests: architecture, metallurgy, stealing gold from Ft. Knox, and so on. Turns out (according to an uncited source in the same wiki) that Ian Fleming named the evil mastermind after the architect.

So now I don't have anything to say other than welcome. Happy now?

Welcome, Austrians!

It seems that we now have visitors from Austria (Republik Österreich)! Willkommen! And my sincere apologies if I spelled that wrong or used it in the wrong context -- it's been ages since my two months of German in grade school.

Big-deal people like Kurt Gödel and Gregor Mendel were born in Austria. And the history! Oh, the history -- the name Hapsburgs ring a bell?

I wanna visit Vienna so badly that the horrific sausages sold here by that name have yet to dissuade me.

This will seem like a weird question, but can anyone familiar with Austrian cuisine tell me whether it's at all similar to Bavarian cuisine?

What do China, Canada and Germany have in common?

What do China, Canada and Germany have in common?

We've had visitors to the blog from those countries.

Foon ying, Willkommen, and how about that Tim Hortons?

Welcome to Voices from Main Street!

Well, here I am in the world of true blogging. I've got to admit that it is a brave new world with tons of possibilities, but we'll have some serious fun here as I get used to all of the bells and whistles.

Try us out and feel free to add comments on our look. We'll be adding a lot over the next few days, so stay tuned.

Let me take this opportunity to ask you: What kind of features do you like? How about content?

And welcome!