Take nothing but your camera. You defeat the purpose of travelling and gaining the real benefits of backpacking by loading yourself up with the trappings of your normal life.
There is so much beauty out there in the real world, and your ability to appreciate it will not depend at all on whether you have your iPOD or not.
It is a little to easy and a little too "20th century" to continue to believe that governments must solve all problems. Yes, poverty most definitely lies within the purvey of gov't, and it must make poverty alleviation a major priority, regardless of which nation we are talking about. But it is also the responsibility of all of us to take individual steps to help each person on this planet realize his or her full potential, to break the cycle of poverty, to get educated, to be healthy.
Check out this website if you want to take a step towards helping in that way -- http://www.results.org/ or http://www.results-resultats.ca/ or http://www.results-uk.org/
An optimist also is realistic about the past and its failure.
So while Britain did indeed leave a legacy that has made the modern world and its prosperity possible, it also entrenched power, disenfranchised entire populations, and also left behind the an equal number of institutions that pose such enormous challenges to the world now (unequal trade relationship between North/South, Israel and Palestine to name a few).
Britain and its imperialist past should not be remembered with fondness and should definitely not be the model for the new world order. It should be based on fairness and equality at its core -- neither of which were at the core of Britannia.
Most of us in the "1st" world are grossly overpaid as it is, for what your lives really require. Take away the 3000 sq ft home, an SUV in the garage, the 40" LCD TV, PS2, etc, etc and you don't really need the $80K/year job. $50K will do just fine, and you can live comfortably and simply in the 1500ft home, with a compact car,etc
A little downward convergence would be a great thing for the world, if it was accompanied by an upward movement wrt our spirituality.
That is about as ridiculous a set of thoughts as I've read on slashdot in some time. The US economy is the most globally-integrated economy in the world - we should be celebrating the fact that America has such extensive economic links with countries on the other side of the world like India and China. It makes the continent stronger economically and otherwise.
The US (and Canada to a lesser extent) have prospered over the past century for their continuing ability to integrate vast numbers of educated and hard-working people into their ranks. Their intellectual capital has helped forge the greatest economy in the world. That "six-pack of Hindus" are folks like the founder of Hotmail, the (former?) VP of Engineering at Intel, the CEO of Computer Associates, etc.
Calling India and Indian programmers parasites of the US economy makes no sense at all. The US has gained from their efforts not suffered.
You are one sad, scared little man.
This is the equivalent to making a joke about African-Americans and their love of collard greens and fried chicken. Fuzzy Zoeler tried for that kind of humour and he took a public beating for it (and rightly so). That particular incident was no "innocuous wordplay" and neither is this. Intolerant and ignorant remarks should be labelled as such. Demanding respect for a culture is anything but a "witchhunt".
Slashdot Mirror
Take nothing but your camera. You defeat the purpose of travelling and gaining the real benefits of backpacking by loading yourself up with the trappings of your normal life.
There is so much beauty out there in the real world, and your ability to appreciate it will not depend at all on whether you have your iPOD or not.
It is a little to easy and a little too "20th century" to continue to believe that governments must solve all problems. Yes, poverty most definitely lies within the purvey of gov't, and it must make poverty alleviation a major priority, regardless of which nation we are talking about. But it is also the responsibility of all of us to take individual steps to help each person on this planet realize his or her full potential, to break the cycle of poverty, to get educated, to be healthy. Check out this website if you want to take a step towards helping in that way -- http://www.results.org/ or http://www.results-resultats.ca/ or http://www.results-uk.org/
An optimist also is realistic about the past and its failure. So while Britain did indeed leave a legacy that has made the modern world and its prosperity possible, it also entrenched power, disenfranchised entire populations, and also left behind the an equal number of institutions that pose such enormous challenges to the world now (unequal trade relationship between North/South, Israel and Palestine to name a few). Britain and its imperialist past should not be remembered with fondness and should definitely not be the model for the new world order. It should be based on fairness and equality at its core -- neither of which were at the core of Britannia.
Most of us in the "1st" world are grossly overpaid as it is, for what your lives really require. Take away the 3000 sq ft home, an SUV in the garage, the 40" LCD TV, PS2, etc, etc and you don't really need the $80K/year job. $50K will do just fine, and you can live comfortably and simply in the 1500ft home, with a compact car,etc
A little downward convergence would be a great thing for the world, if it was accompanied by an upward movement wrt our spirituality.
Let's name it Mini-Me.
I am proud to announce that at 10:45BST
Dumb and totally off-topic question - what exactly is BST?
That is about as ridiculous a set of thoughts as I've read on slashdot in some time. The US economy is the most globally-integrated economy in the world - we should be celebrating the fact that America has such extensive economic links with countries on the other side of the world like India and China. It makes the continent stronger economically and otherwise. The US (and Canada to a lesser extent) have prospered over the past century for their continuing ability to integrate vast numbers of educated and hard-working people into their ranks. Their intellectual capital has helped forge the greatest economy in the world. That "six-pack of Hindus" are folks like the founder of Hotmail, the (former?) VP of Engineering at Intel, the CEO of Computer Associates, etc. Calling India and Indian programmers parasites of the US economy makes no sense at all. The US has gained from their efforts not suffered. You are one sad, scared little man.
This is the equivalent to making a joke about African-Americans and their love of collard greens and fried chicken. Fuzzy Zoeler tried for that kind of humour and he took a public beating for it (and rightly so). That particular incident was no "innocuous wordplay" and neither is this. Intolerant and ignorant remarks should be labelled as such. Demanding respect for a culture is anything but a "witchhunt".
More than racist, it is ignorant. So much for techies being more globally aware....