Crafts & Supplies

Silver Leaves

Somalia, Long John Silver and the U.n

What do Somalia, Long John Silver and the U.N. have in common?  The answer, unfortunately, is confusion.
 
Somalia is a regime without a central government.  The country would be an Abbott and Costello routine, little more than a vaudeville act in uniforms and machetes, were it not for those machetes.  Who's on first?  Better: Who's in Mogadishu?
 
Let's move on to Long John Silver, the character that Robert Louis Stevenson cobbled from "Chronicles Of Pirate Life" by Defoe, and muddled with his own hobbled editor, William Ernest Henley, to form a man by turns brave and cowardly, almost good and at times evil.  In other words, Silver is a paradigm for modern moral relativity.  He is neither very fine nor very foul.  I would say that this character is confused.  Put him in the Twentieth Century, sic Sartre on him and he would be, nearly, existential.
 
Which leaves the U.N.: a quasigovernmental body that says much and means little or means much and says little.  (These are the mixed-up minds that not only put Syria on its Security Council, but also appointed Syria as the capo de capo of the Council in the Presidium.  Syria, for those who care about such matters, has been linked to assassinations, the development of nuclear weapons and the aiding and abetting of terrorists.  It is a country that should be developing pistachio nuts rather than plutonium.  The market, I imagine, is so much better for pistachio nuts these days, as just about every country can do plutonium.  I mean if the North Koreans can assemble a nuclear warhead, plutonium must be so last month.  You have to be really advanced to grow perfectly green little pistachio nuts.  But, I digress . . . Just like the U.N.)
 
Almost every family has a demented aunt or uncle.  We invite them over for Thanksgiving dinner and can't wait for them to leave.  That's the U.N.  It is forever having senior moments and slipping the silverware into its pockets.  (See oil for food scandal for example.)  It hardly knows whom to condemn and whom to commend.  The U.N. has no difficulty condemning and commending the same countries, sometimes in the same week, sometimes on the same day, sometimes in joint resolutions in which the ambassadors don’t agree why they are agreeing to it.
 
These three befuddled parties are, unfortunately, collectively and cumulatively contributing to piracy along the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
 
Somalia has no functioning government and is run by competing warlords, militias and terrorist groups.  It cannot provide basic services to its citizens, who are poor, starving and lacking in any education except robbery and murder, and that they have learned through experience.
 
So why blame Long John Silver for this African nation's calumny?  Long John Silver's confusion of character is our own confusion about his character.  He is a pirate, and therefore a romantic character, a swashbuckler, a corsair, mythic by means of movies and literature.  Close your eyes and say the word "pirate", and I guaranty that you do not conjure a ragged starving Somali at sea.
 
The Somalis that attack innocents are not adventurers, and there is nothing admirable about their cruelty. 

There was little to nothing admirable about pirates a couple of centuries ago.  They were killers too.  Francis Drake got knighted and became a "sir".  He wasn't a pirate at the time, but in the service of the Royal Navy, which needed his skill in fighting Spaniards; but there is no need to be overly technical is such matters.  Pirates became privateers and privateers became pirates when the mood and the money were right.  We are entitled to our myths.  They help get us through an otherwise boring day, but we should not mistake myths for reality.  Long John Silver and his pirate progeny may be devilish rogues, but the Somali pirates are merely devils.  There is no romance in a beheading or a ransom.  These are acts of cruelty and cowardice.
 
The U.N. Security Council, in a unanimous vote, passed a resolution allowing foreign navies to combat Somali pirates along the 1,800 mile-long coast of the country.  Unanimous?  Warships?  The U.N. did this?
 
Where then is the confusion?
 
The resolution is limited to Somalia, and a slam-dunk for the U.N. because piracy is a violation of international law.  The combating of piracy does not require a permit.  Somalia need only invite other countries to enter its territorial waters and the navies can come.  The controversy is what did not pass, which countries were left out of the resolution -- like, for example, all of the countries on the rest of the African continent.  China, Vietnam and Libya, according to the BBC, only voted for the resolution because it will not affect the sovereignty of other countries.  Why risk the good will of dictatorships by expanding the resolution to apply to -- let us say -- West Africa, which is also beset by pirates?  And which, as coincidence would have it, has untapped natural resources . . .
 
Here is where all three parties meet at the crossroads.  They, thoroughly confused, cannot determine the difference between what is right and what is in their best interests.
 
By way of coda, the Somali government -- such as it is (or isn't) -- is fighting Islamic terrorists.  The Ethiopians are fighting al-Qaeda in Somalia and helping to prop up the current rulers.  The terrorists won’t talk to the U.N. or meet with representatives of the Somali government until the Ethiopians leave.  The Somalis are, of late, willing to try this bargain.  Of course there may be no need for talks if the Ethiopians leave, because terrorists tend to shy away from talking after they take over a country.  They prefer to toss true believers strapped with bombs at dissidents.
 
Terrorists are not confused.  They want Somalia, have no romantic notions about pirates and no fear of the U.N.  It appears, then, that the only condition worse than confusion is a lack of confusion.  Doubloons anyone?

©2008 Edward Chupack

About the Author

Edward Chupack is an attorney for a major law firm. He lives near Chicago. His first novel, Silver, is available now from Thomas Dunne Books. To learn more about Long John Silver, please visit www.silverpirate.com.

In the new Pokemon games, Heart Gold and Soul Silver, what is the Gold and Silver Leaves?

I found them originally in the old Pokemon Gold and Silver, didn't know what to do with them though. Now i read that they will be in the Remakes of Gold and Silver. What i want to know is, what are they for and how to use them.

The Gold and Silver Leaves (Shining Leaves) is an extremely rare item that your Pokemon can get. It is only seen when it is on the status screen.

The Gold/Silver Leaves can be found by talking to your partner (Pokemon) (the Pokemon that follows you) while in a patch of grass. You know you found the Gold and Silver Leaf when you're going through grass, and when you turn to talk to your partner Pokemon it resulted in an exclamation mark above their head. It will then do an-awkward-to-see dance and have a musical note above their head. You then automatically attach the Leaf to parter Pokemon. The Leaves have no in-battle effect nor outside of battle. It is a decoration that you can view in the status screen on your Pokemon.

Once you're in a patch of grass on a the respective route, you can constantly talk to your Pokemon and they will eventually pick up one of the leaves. You do not need to move in the grass. All you have to do is to talk (and annoy) them and they will eventually dance and pick up the leaf. This can take a REALLY long time and makes a lot easier to get them. You're able to get them even if you use Repel since you don't need to encounter any Pokemon to get the Leaf. It USUALLY won't take very long if you just talk to them constantly. When you find the Leaf you'll see the exclamation mark, etc.

The location of these leaves is based solely on your parter Pokemon's nature and can be found in several areas. Note that Leaves can't be picked up twice on the same route, so to get five on one Pokemon you MUST visit five different areas.

Just to note that ALL of the natures have at least five places to pick up leaves. Some of the natures have more. Regardless, it is possible that all the natures have up to seven different routes to find the leaves. However, not all of them have been discovered as of the moment (as the game is still relatively new).

The known natures and routes that contain the leaf are as follows:

Adamant Route 9, 15, 22, 24, 37, 42 and 46

Bashful Route 10, 16, 27, 38 and 43

Bold Route 10, 16, 27, 38 and 43

Brave Route 9, 15, 22, 24, 37, 42 and 46

Calm Route 2, 4, 6, 28, 32, 34, and 48

Careful Route 7, 8, 13, 14, 33, 36 and 45

Docile Route 7, 8, 13, 14, 33, 36 and 45

Gentle Route 2, 4, 6, 28, 32, 34, and 48

Hardy Route 10, 16, 27, 38 and 43

Hasty Route 11, 18, 26, 39 and 44

Impish Route 1, 3, 5, 31, 34 and 47

Jolly Route 1, 3, 5, 31, 34 and 47

Lax Route 2, 4, 6, 28, 32, 34, and 48

Lonely Route 10, 16, 27, 38 and 43

Mild Route 11, 18, 26, 39 and 44

Modest Route 7, 8, 14, 33, 36 and 45

Naive Route 1, 3, 5, 31, 34 and 47

Naughty Route 1, 3, 5, 31, 34 and 47

Quiet Route 7, 8, 13, 14, 33, 36 and 45

Quirky Route 11, 18, 26, 39 and 44

Rash Route 11, 18, 26, 39 and 44

Relaxed Route 2, 4, 6, 28, 32, 34, and 48

Sassy Route 1, 3, 5, 31, 34 and 47

Serious Route 13, 14, 33, 34, 36 and 45

Timid Route 10, 16, 27, 38 and 43

After obtaining your first leaf, go to New Bark Town and into the house with the postbox at the bottom. Go up to the top floor and talk to the opposite gender of your character and he/she will tell you more about the Gold and Silver leaves and challenge you to get five of these leaves on the SAME Pokemon.

Once you manage to get five leaves on a Pokemon at once (simply just do the same annoy-your-Pokemon-by-talking-to-them trick in at least five different routes) talk to the your opposite gender character again to get a star on your Trainer Card. He/she will also convert the 5 leaves into a Leaf Crown for your Pokemon. That's pretty much all what the Gold and Silver Leaf does. It is kind of disappointing although it looks quite nice on the status screen too.

Hope this helps =)