<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">From USA Today, 25 September 2014. Apologies if this has already circulated among the LWG. I don't remember seeing if before. CS<br><br><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/25/most-interesting-man-landmines/16228535/" target="_blank">http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/25/most-interesting-man-landmines/16228535/</a><br><br><font size="1"><b><span style="color:rgb(116,27,71)"><i><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;display:inline"></div>CHUCK SEARCY<br>Project RENEW / VFP 160<br></i></span></b></font><font size="1"><b><span style="color:rgb(116,27,71)"></span></b></font><font size="1"><b><span style="color:rgb(116,27,71)"><i>M +8 490 342 0769<br></i></span></b></font><font size="1"><b><span style="color:rgb(116,27,71)"><i>E <a href="mailto:chuckusvn@gmail.com" target="_blank">chuckusvn@gmail.com</a><br></i></span></b></font><i><font size="1"><b><span style="color:rgb(116,27,71)">Sk chucksearcy</span></b></font></i><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br><h1 class="" itemprop="headline"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">'Most Interesting Man' hunts landmines</span></h1><div class="" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span itemprop="name" class=""><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/staff/7077/nicole-gaudiano/"> Nicole Gaudiano</a>, USA TODAY </span><span class="">6:39 p.m. EDT September 25, 2014<br><br></span></span></div><div id="module-position-NqGPwflp_hE" class=""><div class=""><div class=""><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><img style="margin-right: 0px;" class="" itemprop="url" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/13e4740264da781e78d728dc6dc31251c253f82e/c=0-90-2127-2924&r=537&c=0-0-534-712/local/-/media/USATODAY/None/2014/09/25/1411682350000-INTERESTING-MAN.JPG" alt="INTERESTING_MAN" height="472" width="354"></span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span class=""><span class=""><br><b><font size="1">(Photo: Michael Loccisano, Getty Images)</font></b></span></span></span></div></div></div><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">WASHINGTON
— TV's "most interesting man in the world," known in Dos Equis beer
commercials for achieving the wildly impossible, probably could
eliminate landmines by himself — using only his beard.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">But actor
Jonathan Goldsmith, who has played the cultural icon for nearly nine
years, is looking for help from others. He's raising funds for landmine
removal in Cambodia, where accidents involving buried explosives have
spiked this year, through a contest to be his guest for a day in
Vermont. He won't be in character, but he'll make it interesting.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">"We're
going to spend a day doing some things — off-road driving and some
other little events, one being falconry," said Goldsmith, who turns 76
on Friday.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Goldsmith has volunteered for the Mines Advisory Group
since visiting the non-profit group's operations in Vietnam last year.
MAG has worked in more than 35 countries and shared the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1997. The contest will benefit the organization.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">"It's a
terribly important charity," said Goldsmith of Manchester, Vt.
"Accidents are up. Funding is down. Kids are getting hurt. I want to do
whatever I can to help and bring attention to it."</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">In the popular
Dos Equis ads — an Internet meme — Goldsmith's dashing, cigar-smoking
character can be found dog-sledding to a black-tie party, saving a
firefighter from a burning building or releasing a growling bear from a
trap. A narrator claims, "He's trained canaries in the art of falconry"
or "He can speak Russian … in French."</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Goldsmith often ends the
ads relaxing in a lounge while surrounded by young women. He delivers
his classic sign-off, "Stay thirsty, my friends," in a deep
Spanish-accented voice inspired by his late friend, the actor and
director Fernando Lamas.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Through his advocacy for landmine
removal, Goldsmith fills a void left by other celebrity advocates, most
notably the late Princess Diana, said Jamie Hathaway, a MAG consultant.
<span>"Ironically, when much of the world has lost interest in the
movement, comes the 'most interesting man in the world' to help us out,"
said Hathaway, a friend of Goldsmith's who got him involved with MAG.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">In
April, Goldsmith joined Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., for a reception and
photo exhibit honoring the group's 25 years of work. Leahy, a
decades-long proponent of landmine removal efforts, said Goldsmith has
"invested his time, his talent and the intangible capital of his star
power to bring attention to these vital missions."</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">The United
States is the biggest donor to mine removal efforts. This week, the
Obama administration moved closer to compliance with a global treaty
banning landmines, announcing the United States will not use mines
outside the Korean Peninsula. The United States is among 34 United
Nations members that haven't signed the treaty.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Casualties from
mines and other explosives totaled 3,628 in 2012, according to the
Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, an initiative of the
International Campaign to Ban Landmines. That's the lowest total since
the monitor began recording casualties in 1999.</span></p></div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><font size="1"><b><span style="color:rgb(116,27,71)"><br></span></b></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>