World Hum columnist Rolf Potts recalls shredding the Sea of Galilee. Also in Forbes.com’ special section on water, World Hum contributor Jason Anthony explores Antarctica’s ice, and Elisabeth Eaves argues that sharks have more to fear from people than people have to fear from sharks. “Forty-four separate species of sharks and skates--among sharks’ closest evolutionary relative--are either endangered or critically endangered,” she writes.

I’ve had an eye-opening tutorial in travel through military checkpoints in the West Bank this month, getting turned away at one for not having the proper documentation, then getting barked at by Israeli soldiers at various others. I came across this surreal sign posted by Israel’s Ministry of Tourism at the checkpoint near Bethlehem. The checkpoint is covered with barbed wire and feels like an armed camp. 

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I know it’s a cliché for visitors to the Middle East, but the call to prayer has totally seduced me during my two weeks in Jerusalem. At different spots across the city, I’ve been amazed at how the wailing notes can vary depending on the muezzin. At the mosque near my hotel, the muezzin strikes a somber tone, voice cracking on the high notes, while others I’ve heard in the West Bank sound more like trilling songbirds, drawing out “Allahhhh” for all it’s worth.

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Slate’s deputy editor spent last year blogging the Bible, and he followed up with a trip to Israel “to experience the Bible through archaeology, history, politics, and faith.” Plotz’s chronicle of his journey got off to a promising start today as the latest installment of Slate’s excellent Well-Traveled series. 

For many, the little town of Bethlehem evokes a Technicolor Christmas image of a dainty village with baby Jesus in a manger, his glowing parents and wise men bearing gifts. But visitors experience a very different Bethlehem—one crippled with poverty, suicide bombers and menacing military division, and divided by a giant security wall. As Michael Finkel writes in a fascinating article in this month’s National Geographic, Bethlehem is one of the most contentious places on earth.

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We thought the Maxim photo-shoot controversy we wrote about in April was all over. We figured the whole question of whether Israel should promote tourism by inviting Maxim magazine to photograph babes in bikinis in Tel Aviv—or just stick to a more traditional campaign focusing on Holy Land sites—was finally chalked up to one of those great unanswerable questions, not unlike, say, Jon Stewart’s recent question to “A Mighty Heart” star Angelina Jolie about whether the burka she wore in Pakistan was capable of containing all of her hotness. Some questions are simply too profound for answers. But the Maxim controversy rages on.

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That’s the question vexing those debating how to market the nation to tourists. Interestingly, an Israeli consular official recently invited a camera crew from Maxim magazine to photograph a bikini-clad model in Tel Aviv, arguing that the best way to improve the country’s image among young men was with “good-looking women,” the official told Newsweek. Others insist that Biblical sites set Israel apart and should be emphasized. Which raises the question: Can you sell Holy sites to would-be religious tourists and secular good times to Maxim readers at the same time? 

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No kidding. The restaurant chain is bound for Israel. Declares the man behind the project: “I strongly believe that the Hooters concept is something that Israelis are looking for.”

Related on World Hum:
* Hooters Casino Hotel Opens Today in Las Vegas
* Lesson No. 1 of Hooters Air: It Is Awfully Difficult to Make Buffalo Wings at 30,000 Feet

All travelers want this week, it seems, are trips to Utah, San Francisco, Montreal, India and Ireland, and literary journeys to the top of Everest and into the mind of Bill Bryson. And they want airport security to leave their T-shirts alone. Here’s the Zeitgeist.

Most Literate U.S. City
Central Connecticut State University study (2006)
Seattle
* University President John W. Miller measured newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment and Internet resources to rank U.S. cities.

Most Popular Travel Story
Netscape (current)
Man Not Allowed to Board Flight Because He Was Wearing a ‘Bush is a Terrorist’ T-Shirt
* Add this to the airport ruckus-causing T-shirt Hall of Fame. Remember Meet the Fockers and We Will Not Be Silent?

Most Viewed Story
World Hum (this week)
How to Down a Pint in a Real Irish Pub

Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
The Best of India, One Cup at a Time

Most Popular Travel Podcast
iTunes (current)
Travel With Rick Steves
* Another reminder: ‘Tis the season for Rick Steves’ European Christmas.

Most Viewed Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
Tourism Suffers in Bethlehem, But Hamas Might Help

Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Now Boarding: Utah’s Polar Express

Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (current)
Farecast

Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson
* Two Three Six Seven Eight Nine weeks in a row at the top for Bryson’s memoir of growing up in 1950s Iowa.

Top Travel and Adventure Audiobook
iTunes (current)
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

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War may not be so good for children and other living things, but it sure clears out the tourists. So writes Kevin Rushby in The Guardian. Rushby is the author of the fantastic travel book, Eating the Flowers of Paradise, about the khat road though Ethiopia and Yemen, which I read when I was reporting on the drug’s use in the U.S. “The unfortunate truth about fear, tension or fighting,” he wrote in last week’s Guardian, “is that there are benefits to be had in neighbouring areas. That may be as simple as having few fellow visitors at great sites like Iran’s old Persian capital of Persepolis, or Jordan’s rose-red Petra -both badly affected by current troubles.”

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Sunday’s New York Times Magazine article by Bernard-Henri Lévy (recently featured in a World Hum interview about his American travels) caught my eye. The French writer’s latest journey, in mid-July, took him to Israel, a country he has visited on many occasions. This time it’s the war in Lebanon that he ponders. 

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As we mentioned the other day, Anthony Bourdain and the crew of his Travel Channel show No Reservations were caught in Beirut when the violence between Hezbollah and Israel began. He told the New York Post, among other things, that he just wanted to have a drink at the bar. “The mojitos here are great,” he said. His comments rubbed some people the wrong way and inspired a lot of posts at the eGullet and No Reservations message boards. In response, Bourdain has apparently posted his further thoughts on the situation. He writes at eGullet: “I’m very aware of how flip my response to the Post was (made last Wednesday, very early in the crisis)as I sought to reassure family and friends that we were safe and okayand in good cheer. . It was--at the time--very representative of the (outward) attitude of Beirutis themselves, who pride themselves on their resilience and their determination to ‘keep the party going.’”

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