Ambrose Bierce once said that "War is God's way of teaching Americans geography." Check out this CNN report on the dismal grasp of geography on the part of a sampling of American 18-to-24-year-olds, and you may doubt that even war can accomplish this Herculean task. In a way, the scariest one is that half of all 18-24 year olds can't find New York on a map with both hands and a flashlight. New York has been, you know, in the news and stuff. More importantly, MTV is based here. Granted its where we live, but my son knows where New York is, and he's five.