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. . . so maybe we should listen to what he has to say:

If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.

- Albert Einstein

I’ll undoubtedly mention this site several times over the next year – but really, if you are serious about studying in the U.S., you ought to stop by Education USA and see what they have to offer.  Tons of useful information here.  For example, I can;t tell you how many times someone has asked me to explain the difference between a “college” and a “university” in the U.S. system.  Here’s the answer.

One of Barack Obama’s (many) priorities is the reform of what many Americans consider to be a failing educational system.  Obama has identified several key educational policies he’ll likely implement – among them universal pre-school education,  the expansion of charter schools, and increasing the affordability of a college education.  What he ultimately accomplishes will depend to a large extent on the skills of the individual he chooses as Secretary of Education.

Here’s a great article from Time magazine about the candidates.  The most interesting name on the list is Colin Powell, who, as we all know, has professional qualifications in an entirely different field.  The theory behind Powell is that he knows how to get things done, and that he would bring a fresh perspective to an ancient set of problems.

Very Short List has achieved a cult-like status in a very short time. It’s quirky, it’s only one page, and in the course of a week, will provide readers with many “I-didn’t-know-that!” moments of pure amusement, joy, knowledge, and astonishment. VSL, at www.veryshortlist.com, is a collection of free e-mails that each recommend one must-see, truly worthwhile, gem per day.

VSL points to excellent new (and sometimes vintage) entertainment and media that haven’t been hyped to within an inch of their lives. Each weekday, VSL plucks a jewel from the vast mass of films, TV shows, books, websites, music, and more, polishes it off, and presents us with something quite fine. The focus is on products that deserve attention but haven’t already been subject to excessive media exposure and adulation. VSL has added two newsletters to their daily mail: Science and The Web, with three more in the works: food, books, and kids.

The VSL archives containing remembrances of things past, is here, in case one per day is simply not enough.

Unless you have been living in a cave for the past several days, by now you have almost certainly heard that Barack Obama has been elected the 44th President of the United States.

Obviously, Americans have mixed feelings about an Obama victory.  After all, over 56 million people voted for John McCain in an election that featured a number of attacks on Mr. Obama’s character and on his “associations” with various controversial figures.  As an  example of the anger felt by many supporters of Mr. McCain, In his first broadcast after the election, conservative talk radio host Mark Levin referred to the 64 million Americans who voted for Obama as “socialists.”

However, even amongst those who most vociferously opposed Mr. Obama’s election, and who promise to oppose his presidency, there is basic agreement as to the historic nature of his ascent to the Presidency, and the powerful symbol it provides of America’s commitment to a diverse, open society.  To take just one example of this sentiment, here is Colin Powell on Obama’s election:

It’s a historic day for the United States of America . . . The American people are responding with great emotion, and with great pride in our system, that we have seen this latest step in reconciliation with respect to our race relations . . . He has run a campaign that is inclusive, and has reached black Americans, white Americans, Hispanic Americans — every income level. He’s reached across generations from young people to old people . . .

In 50 years, I have seen my country moved so dramatically . . .

Many Americans, on both sides of the political divide – and, again, regardless of whether they agree with Mr. Obama’s policies – see Obama’s victory as proof that America can live up to the ideals under which it was founded – most famously, the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Almost unbelievably, these immortal lines were written by a man – Thomas Jefferson – who owned a large number of slaves.  And the country that his document created was one in which hundreds of thousands of people – the vast majority of them African-American – were literally private property, to be disposed of according to their “owners’” desires.  The struggle of African-Americans and other minorities to claim their “unalienable rights” has been one of the great struggles of American history; and so, at approximately 11:00 p.m. eastern time, when the television networks announced that Obama had been elected president, Americans of all political persuasions could reflect proudly on the great, astounding leaps that had been made by generations, and which were so powerfully symbolized in the emergence of our new first family onto the stage at Grant Park in Chicago.  Obama himself paid tribute to Americans’ sense of accomplishment in the opening lines of his speech:

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

Tonight is your answer.  Powerful words for a country that has often asked itself the question, “Can we live up to the lofty ideals enshrined in our founding documents?”  Tonight is your answer, indeed.

This sentiment was captured powerfully – if a little playfully – in a political cartoon the following morning, and I will end this post with that:

Today is, of course, election day in the United States. During my recent trip to Kosovo, everyone we met expressed an interest in learning my opinions of the ongoing election – who did I want to win?  Who do I think will win?  Which of the two candidates will be the best in terms of their policy to Kosovo?

I thoroughly enjoyed these discussions.  One thing they showed is that Kosovars are keenly aware of the importance of the upcoming election.

Because KAEF is an apolitical program, it would be inappropriate to reveal my personal feelings about the election here.  But I would like to share some very interesting resources for the U.S. election – web sites that are going to allow you to track the campaign in its final day.

First, for information about who is “ahead” according to the polls, I recommend three sites:  fivethirtyeight.com, pollster.com, and Real Clear Politics.

For following election night results, I would recommend the Huffington Post’s coverage. (Note:  The Huffington Post has a definite Democratic bias, but it links to many different sources on this one page).

For some interesting views of how the world is feeling about the election (and the U.S. in general), go to the Pew Research Center,  or, for a more comprehensive survey, go to the Economist’s poll. According to that survey, by the way, 92% of Kosovars support Barack Obama, compared to 8% for McCain.

Today is Columbus Day in the United States.   On this day, many countries in the western hemisphere commemorate the “discovery” of the New World by Christopher Columbus.  This occurred on October 12, 1492, according to the (old) Julian calendar, and on October 21, 1492 according to the (modern) Gregorian calendar.

Columbus day is not uncontroversial in the United States, triggering each year a number of large-scale protests. as many people feel that Columbus’ “discovery” had catastrophic consequences – including plague and genocide – for the native inhabitants of the Americans, and therefore is not an event that should in any way be “celebrated.”  Others feel that Columbus’ voyage represents the beginning of European civilization in the western hemisphere; and, as Americans are all (to a greater or lesser extent) involved in that civilization, a commemoration of Columbus’s discovery is in now way inappropriate.

Certainly, by today’s ethical standards, Columbus would have a lot to answer for:

In an era in which the international slave trade was starting to grow, Columbus and his men enslaved many native inhabitants of the West Indies and subjected them to extreme violence and brutality. On his famous first voyage in 1492, Columbus landed on an unknown Caribbean island after an arduous three-month journey. On his first day in the New World, he ordered six of the natives to be seized, writing in his journal that he believed they would be good servants. Throughout his years in the New World, Columbus enacted policies of forced labor in which natives were put to work for the sake of profits. Later, Columbus sent thousands of peaceful Taino “Indians” from the island of Hispaniola to Spain to be sold. Many died en route. Those left behind were forced to search for gold in mines and on plantations. Within 60 years after Columbus landed, only a few hundred of what may have been 250,000 Taino were left on their island.

Columbus’ defenders, on the other hand, argue that according to the standards of the day – and even of the indigenous peoples he and his European descendants displaced – Columbus was within an ethical norm:

1491 was no golden age. Native American tribes and civilizations fought wars for territory, booty, and slaves. Life was not good for the vanquished, if they were even allowed to live. Is anyone defending the cruel rites of the Aztecs, or the chattel status of women in most pre-Columbian American cultures? Is it the lack of science, technology, the wheel? . . . Columbus unleashed the most significant migration in history, eventually leading to some of the greatest advancements in politics, trade, technology, the arts, science, and agriculture — the gamut of human endeavor.

The controversy over Columbus Day is a very recent development – as is the holiday itself.  Columbus Day was not celebrated widely for most of the history of the United States, and was made an official, national holiday only recently, by President Nixon.

Ironically, perhaps, scientists have produced conclusive evidence that Christopher Columbus wasn’t even the first European to “discover” the New World.  That honor belongs to the Norse people of Greenland, probably under the leadership of Leif Erikson.  Norwegian explore Helge Instad discovered the material remains of a Norse village at L’Anse aux Meadows on the northern-most tip of the island of Newfoundland.  Not surprisingly, then, several communities in the U.S. celebrate Leif Erikson Day on October 9, 2008.

Which day is the proper day to celebrate?  Do we need a celebration in the first place?  Are these figures of an earlier age heroes, men of great daring and insight?  Or are they villains, thuggish, violent men who did what they did for their personal glory and profit?  That is a debate that will long continue across the United Sates.

In an era when cell phones have internet access and global positioning devices keep you on the map, Garrison Keillor – creator and host of A Prairie Home Companion – implores listeners of his weekly radio program to slow down and lose themselves in a yarn, if only for a couple hours.

A relic from our pre-television past, A Prairie Home Companion is a live radio variety show, taped weekly in the old Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota. Known for featuring folk music and sound gags, poking fun at religion and politics, and advertising about ketchup, biscuits and rhubarb pie, the program offers keen insights into Midwestern American culture.

Wearing a nice suit and bright red sneakers that unfortunately only the live audience can enjoy, Keillor and his band open each program with the same bluesy tune. A soothing rumble of a voice then leads listeners through short stories, sketches and musical interludes, until reaching the climax of the evening, a recap of the latest news from Lake Wobegon.

Lake Wobegon is Keillor’s fictitious Minnesotan utopia, where “the women are strong, the men are good looking, and the children are all above average”. Along with offering the week’s news during the radio broadcasts, Keillor has also written extensively about the town’s characters in numerous books throughout the years.

Here is a clip featuring the rhubarb pie commercial from the 2006 movie about A Prairie Home Companion (by the same name), which weaves an intriguing plot within a broadcast of the radio program.  For podcasts of past shows and information about the program, check this website.

Garrison and some of his team during a live broadcast.

Autumn in much of the United States is noted for its crisp clear days, colorful display of deciduous leaves, and favored line-up of enjoyable holidays including Halloween and Thanksgiving. Yet, despite these wonderful attributes, many people would agree that the best part about autumn is the unique alignment of the national sporting calendar.After 162 regular season games, Major League Baseball (MLB) holds its playoffs just as college football, the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), and the National Hockey League (NHL) all begin their seasons. Being a sports fan in autumn is kind of like being a snow flake in the arctic.

This year the Chicago Cubs, perhaps the most tortured franchise in all of American sports, will be pursuing a championship in the MLB playoffs. The Cubs last won the World Series (the MLB championship) before any of your grandparents were born, seriously.

In 1908, the Cubs won their second of two World Series, and have not won the championship again. They have not even reached the seven-game series since 1945, when they lost to the Detroit Tigers. So woeful are the Chicago Cubs, their nickname is the “Loveable Losers” and sportswriters and fans alike have attributed their infamous failure to numerous curses throughout the years. The most compelling include the curse of the billy goat in 1945, the black cat in 1969, and, most recently, Steve Bartman in 2003.

For composite analysis and up-to-date information on all American sports, visit www.espn.com or www.cbssportsline.com.