World War III

In my effort to add some more serious and political commentary from time to time, I thought I would weigh in on the current events in the Middle East, also apparently now known as the Mid East to some uber lazy journalists. I have seen and heard several references to the fact that the events between Israel and Hezbollah could escalate into World War III (why for world wars does it have to be roman numerals?). First it was a quote from some random Lebanese guy, but then it was an interview with a Congressman who shall remain nameless (mainly cause I don't remember his name). All these references got me to thinking what exactly World War III would look like if this conflict escalated into it.
Back in the day of both World Wars I and II, there were many great powers in the world. And it just so happened that with the exception of Japan and the United States (who weren't really powers until WWII), all the powers were concentrated in one of the smallest continents. All the money and power and great economies were in Europe, neighbors who competed with each other. But what about now? Many European countries still have the strongest economies, most notably Germany and the UK. The United States and Japan are also still going strong. Now, however, China and India would have to be factored in, and Russia would be less of an influence than in the past. After looking at the list of powers, however, there appears to be one problem...they aren't enemies. Well at least not so far in this conflict.
Most of the scenarios that have the current conflict escalating would be if Syria and Iran got involved, mainly by bombing Israel since they are both sworn to its destruction. Well of course the US would back up Israel since there seems to be some unwritten rule about that. And what about the others? Well India would support the US as would Japan. But most likely Europe would condemn unprovoked attacks upon Israel as well. And while Russia and China might be Iranian trading partners, I cant imagine either siding with Iran should such an event occur. More likely they would take a neutral position. But of course what if North Korea jumped in? Then China couldn't help but get involved. Most likely North Korea would invade the South at the same time Iran bombed Israel assuming the US, UN, and everyone else can only handle so many issues at once. And they just might be right. Anyways, that's my abbreviated, unresearched view of things. Please note, I am not an expert on international warfare, so this is all just a guess for your amusement.

Follow the White Rabbit

Today I decided that since I need more protein in my diet, that I would hunt down a Smoothie King and grab a protein smoothie for an afternoon snack. So while here at work I searched for the closest one, which happens to be in one of the tunnels. Now if you think back, you will recall that I am working in Houston for the summer. Downtown Houston has a series of tunnels that run under the buildings and have restaurants and shops in them. Most of the major buildings are connected, but sadly mine is not. So my first order of business was to hunt down an entrance to the tunnels. I feel weird walking into one of the office buildings just to use their tunnel access, so instead I did the exact same thing at CVS pharmacy. And immediately got lost. I generally have a very good sense of direction, and at least when given proper directions I can find places fairly easily. My navigation, however, relies upon reconizable buildings or street names, so in a series of winding tunnels with no discernible landmarks I quickly became lost. Now before you doubt my navigation skills, you must understand something about these tunnels. They were not built by the city, but the owners of the office buildings. Thus they are not organized and do not run in straight lines, or follow the streets or anything. Instead they twist and turn , and have many branches that go off to other buildings. So there is no just walking down the tunnel. You will come to many forks and have to randomly guess which way to go. Now I had the address of the Smoothie King, but those smart people at the post office assigned addresses to tunnel businesses based upon which street they were closest to. This might work for the mailman, but you cant just go to the address and expect there to be any kind of entrance to the tunnels there. I also loved the fact that the maps in the tunnels showed the surface streets, but lacked any street names. I found lots of cool places down there, but I have no idea if I will ever be able to find them again. I felt so like Alice going down the rabbit hole. Once I finally found the Smoothie King I had to find an exit that was somewhat close to my office. Here my magical navigation skills somehow took over and I emerged in the Reliant building, which happens to be only a block from my office.
And talk about an intimidating office. If you have ever seen Gattica, you will remember that to go into the office you had to walk through these turnstile looking things and touch it with your finger so it could take a DNA sample and make sure you were allowed to be there. Well Reliant isn't far off. You can walk through the lobby ok (no one accosted me), but to go to the elevators you have to walk through almost exact replicas of the Gattica turnstiles and swipe a card that gives you access. I assume if you walk through without that the motion detectors go off and some alarm will beep. It just seemed so eerie. Most banks don't have such security to walk in the building. Although granted they don't keep cash in their office buildings. If, btw, you don't know what Reliant is (and its very possible), they are one the nation's biggest energy companies, and along with Enron have been blamed for the California energy crises of a few years ago (Houston should be nicknamed the Energy City. Buildings downtown are named: ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, Shell, Penzoil, Dynegy, Reliant, Enron*, El Paso, Halliburton. Can we say terrorist target?).

*They tried to rename the building something generic but its still the Enron building on most publishings.

Is Anyone Out There?

So I was googling today (its an official word in the dictionary now), trying to locate the professor I used to work for, who seems to have disappeared, when I came across Professor Yin's blog. Back in the day when there was a blog that ranked all the Iowa ones, he was perennially the #1. Except for one week where, yes, this very blog that you are reading now unseeded him. But then I stopped blogging and of course turned this space into my travel journals while in London. I have to say writing for the Journal sure sapped whatever creative juices had flowed as well. But I came across his blog again and checked out his links and discovered that I am not on there anymore. With the death of Edward's blog, I think I was relegated to the scrap heap. The only way people ever got here was by clicking on the link on his page. So in essence I think I am writing this post for my own benefit. But that was my original intention anyways, so I guess I don't mind.
Since I was bored at work and needed something to do, I proceeded to read both Professor Yin's and some other law student's blogs. And they talk about much more intelligent things than I do. Professor Yin talked about the Hamdan case (for the record I did listen to the oral arguments on the oyez project), and then a law student talked about the flaws in the current arguments for gay marriage on their blog. So now I feel a little bit simple for talking about personal issues and such. I rarely ever talk about legal issues or analyze cases. Actually I call people law nerds who do such things. But to join in maybe I will write a little on it today.
Today marks the official opening of the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car?" here in Houston (I'm here "working" for the summer, so I guess I should be called TexanInTexas). Though I'm busy tonight with the guy I am dating (shocking I know, I for once am not single), I am definitely going to add this movie to my list of things to see. It is an interesting question. What happened to the electric car? It always got a bad wrap, and I vaguely remember people saying you couldn't drive it far and that it went really slow. But then I went to the movie's website, and it gives a very different image of the car. Which of course makes me wonder which is true. I'm actually leaning towards the latter view, especially since I just read an article about how people are rigging their Toyota Prius to be able to plug it in. Apparently if you do this its possible to get up to 100mpg. Talk about fuel efficient. I certainly can't afford a new car right now, but I am torn. I drive a SUV, and as someone who moves pretty much every year, it's been a godsend to have that space. But at the same time I consider myself a quasi environmentalist and would love a car that gets better gas mileage. What I don't really get is why they can't make a SUV hybrid that gets good gas mileage. There is the Ford Escape and Lexus RX300h, but they are smaller. I drive a Trailblazer, which is midsized. But its not a V8, and its not a 4x4, so why can't Chevy make a more fuel efficient one? Part of me thinks they are perfectly capable of doing that and just don't want to because it might be more expensive. But I have never worked in automobile design. I kinda wish I had a billion dollars so that I could host those international competitions. I could challenge someone to come up with a SUV design that got 40mpg. And I could also host an architectural contest as well, since I do love me some architecture. What you wanna bet if such a contest existed, there would be numerous entries. Makes me wish I was king. Anyways, there is a little to chew on.
If anyone knows how I can contact Professor Gaulding please let me know. I know she is leaving Iowa, but she isn't answering her UIowa e-mail and I needs to talk to her.