Around the globe, children are singled out for recruitment by both armed forces and armed opposition groups, and exploited as combatants. Approximately 300,000 children under the age of 18 are thought to be engaged in various conflicts around the world, and hundreds of thousands more belong to militias who could be sent into combat at any moment. Although most child soldiers are between 15 and 18 years old, significant recruitment starts at the age of 10 and the use of even younger children has been documented.
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How much does the price of a bottle of wine matter? Quite a lot – to women.

Researchers from the Stockholm School of Economics and Harvard University set out to determine whether knowing how much a bottle of wine cost would affect what people thought of the taste.

They found that disclosing the expensive price of a wine before people tasted it produced considerably higher ratings, although only from women.

“I was surprised. The men didn’t seem to be affected by the price. It might be the way men relate to wine. But the women reacted very strongly to a high price,” said Johan Almenberg, of Harvard University, who conducted the study among 266 volunteers in Boston.
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The long flight to Yalu from Bejing was worth it.  It meant that we were almost there.  So many wine getaways speak to fun, adventure and interesting people that it has become little more than a marketing cliche.  Been there.  Done that.  We wanted to really get a sense for what wine is like in a nation not burdened by texting, Twitter, reality television and wine blogs.  We wanted to taste out the best of what a region has to offer without the Orwellian presence of the Internet.  We only had that short hike across the border and then we would be there.

The idea came to us after a wine getaway in Napa this past spring.  The online brochure for that was filled with promises of rolling vineyards, friendly tasting rooms and very well crafted wines.  But you know what?  It seems everyone is saying that these days.  Why not explore something totally unexpected and original and come home with some real stories of adventure that dignify a good wine buzz.

So much has been written about how this country doesn’t have to rely upon lights at night.  No neon dependency to drag them down.  This was perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the whole trip for me.  Electricity was simply not important.  It felt like we were staring real innovation right in the face.  This was Green in a big way.

How do you chill the whites properly we asked our guide.  The wine community there calls them “Minders”.   But they are very attentive.  Nearly 98 degrees with high humidity on a balmy summer day.  They are probably really good with ice, I thought,  knowing just how long to leave the bottles in it before serving.  I couldn’t wait to find out and I had a delicious Viognier from France with me to test them.  I thought about declaring it when we got here but we crossed over the border in such a hurry…

This is a region very unlike Bordeaux or Napa.  The smells were all different and faces were quick to look away or even pretend not to see us.  We thought perhaps too many wine tourists being rude over the years has left the worst impression.  You know, the ugly American thing.  The guide just urged us to ignore them.  And we did.  We came for fun and that’s exactly what we were going to have.

It all picked up when our friend announced a special stop on our itinerary.  We couldn’t believe it.  The Dear Leader wanted to meet us personally.  Wow, we thought.  How could two attractive American girls in their mid-twenties expect to have a private tasting with Kim Jung Il.  Did he know about my blog?   Barely out of college, we knew more about Rioja Tempranilos then nuclear disamament and black mail.  I couldn’t believe our  good fortune.  I told my roommate to pace herself.   We might be on our way to a simple wine tasting but flirting and sending out the wrong signals to someone like Kim could lead him to think we were into a special kind of diplomacy.  Not gonna step on Hilary’s gig.  And I didn’t want them to just think they could just keep my phone.

Michael Jackson just left the world a few weeks ago. He was sent off with an admonition from Jamie Foxx that the “Black community shared Michael Jackson with us” like he was an unwanted toy one was ashamed to admit owning, until another kid asked to play with it. As I watched Mr. Foxx deliver this ignorant and hateful statement, I wondered if one day, the Vatican would claim that Catholics the world over loaned us U2’s Bono. Like a touring holy relic we could buy the t-shirt, the CD’s and the dashboard Saint Bono.

The media and celebrity pageant surrounding Jackson’s death was like rolling back a boulder only to find the tomb empty. What Mister Foxx fails to understand is that our nation’s roots in slavery gave us American music. That music became the game changer.  When kids in the 1950’s dropped a nickel in the Jukebox and listened to Chuck Berry, The Big Bopper, Little Richard, along with Johnny Cash, Gene Vincent and Dion they did not give a fuck about color. In the mid 1960’s Motown found its way into the homes off all kinds of people. Rock and Roll and Soul music ushered in change and helped to demand an end to segregation.

What do Michael Jackson and U2 have in common other than being two of the world’s biggest musical artists? Both made music that made us question political, social, and spiritual barriers. Eventually, however, the powerful, cultural phenomenon that was their music would give way to the cult of celebrity.

I remember where I was the first time I heard U2. It was 1982 and I was a sophomore in high school. I was sitting alone in my bedroom. My parents were recently divorced. I heard an “AAYEAHHHHHH” and a guitar that sounded like a freight train colliding with church bells. “All is Quiet on New Years Day/a world in white gets under way.” For a moment, I thought it was The Police. Then the DJ said “That is a new band out of Ireland called U2. They are fronted by Bono Vox, which is Latin for good voice, and a new guitar hero called The Edge”. It was “two fer Tuesday” and the DJ went straight in to Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Read the rest of Scott Herold's blog here.