gdp's Comments

Brave New Traveler : When Does Budget Travel Become Exploitation?

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:48:11 +0000

Don't leave, Miquel! There's so much I can't possibly understand about taxis! If only I could think good. Maybe you know why brick is square, but splash is round? Stupid American genes! Need more hamburgers.

Brave New Traveler : At Home in New Places: An Interview With Pauline Frommer

Wed, 4 Feb 2009 23:18:52 +0000

You prove my point! True, business communication primarily uses e-mail, but the "paperless office" has never yet arrived. It's too early to make sweeping conclusions about books. Besides, what would all those law firms have behind their desks for a replacement? Legitimate credentials? :)

Brave New Traveler : At Home in New Places: An Interview With Pauline Frommer

Wed, 4 Feb 2009 19:41:28 +0000

I don't agree books will ever be phased out entirely, but will be greatly marginalized by "instant" technology. Frankly, a lot of us travel to get away from the ever-present video displays, and books just FEEL good. It's not an all-or-nothing market, but it's obviously being redefined. Let's see where the e-book trend goes after initial sales stabilize before prognosticating the death of books. They said we'd be living on the moon by now, too.

Brave New Traveler : At Home in New Places: An Interview With Pauline Frommer

Wed, 4 Feb 2009 19:41:20 +0000

I saw a fascinating TED lecture by lexicographer Erin McKean, who discussed the future of dictionaries. She suggested that although time-honored and not without charm, the medium of print isn't really appropriate for the ever-changing nature of a language. See it for yourself here: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/erin_mckean_re... Travel guides are coming to the same point, where up-to-date information on the 'Net is succeeding the clunky traditional format of books. But it's been that way for years, even before the Internet! Backpckers routinely tear out and staple what they need and throw the rest of the book out. I think travel guides are going to streamline into monthly, mail-order updates whose contents are propelled by Internet users and confirmed by writers in the field. It may be oh-so-cozy to travel with an electronic guide, but batteries never run out on the printed page.

Brave New Traveler : What Tyler Durden's Philosophy Teaches Us About Travel

Sun, 1 Feb 2009 18:30:37 +0000

So - if you define yourself by the things you need, were you your parents' house prior to moving out? If you compare the two cases, you can boil it down into "I am my sheltered outlook," and you might be making some progress here. Best of luck to you!

Brave New Traveler : What Tyler Durden's Philosophy Teaches Us About Travel

Sun, 1 Feb 2009 18:22:51 +0000

Can I have your plane ticket?

Brave New Traveler : What Tyler Durden's Philosophy Teaches Us About Travel

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 03:38:20 +0000

You speak as if mental illness were a BAD thing.

Brave New Traveler : What Tyler Durden's Philosophy Teaches Us About Travel

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 05:19:53 +0000

Er, not you, Sarah. You're just fine. I'm all the way back at tim's original argument. Sorry... Money's important, but it's not the root of all travel. I think we're agreed there. So... sorry again.

Brave New Traveler : What Tyler Durden's Philosophy Teaches Us About Travel

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:30:03 +0000

Let me get this straight: Maoris on walkabout, Marco Polo, Che Guevara, pilgrims and seekers throughout the ages, et. al. - they're all de facto "wealthy elite?" Gotcha. And, therefore, everyone who hits the road today is a pampered gadabout, right? All this coming from a guy who spend his time reproaching people for being privileged... via computer. This is just a backwards equation of money = happiness. Saying you need money to travel is like saying you need money to live a happy life, and that's absurd. It's the whole idea of the article above. (BTW - Durden ultimately goes too far by forcing a transformative experience on the unwilling, but much of his philosophy is sound in moderation.)

Brave New Traveler : What Tyler Durden's Philosophy Teaches Us About Travel

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:15:53 +0000

The student in question was probably talking about ideas from Paul Fussell's book "Class," in which each of the traditional three economic classes are split into three subgroups, a total of nine. If I were to interpret "upper middle class," it means you don't worry about paying off your house, but you can't quite afford Brad Pitt's. But all that is really academic, because travel isn't about money. All of you know this, including tim. I suppose that saying I like to walk to the end of the block once a day makes me an elitist, taking into account all those people who aren't able to walk. Where oh where do I sign up to hate my own guts? Spare me. This is not only a false dilemma, it's an exercise in pandering. Don't get suckered into it.

Brave New Traveler : What Tyler Durden's Philosophy Teaches Us About Travel

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 22:49:32 +0000

I don't know how any of you could waste time discussing this topic, when there are millions of children around the world starving at this moment. How do you sleep at night? Sociopathic punks.

Brave New Traveler : What Tyler Durden's Philosophy Teaches Us About Travel

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:43:53 +0000

Agreed. I only talk to natives, and when I do it's not in English. English is for pansies! I refuse to sleep in any form of dwelling whatsoever, and if the ground doesn't look miserable enough I throw out some roofing nails to be sure. I had a traveling buddy who suggested he knew an authentic Bangladeshi outhouse we could stay for free in, and I was so disgusted with him I immediately dumped gas down my pants and lit a match. Goddamn limp-wristed materialists! May they rot in hell with their cell phones and Ipods. I would never call a place "done," unless I've spent a minimum of five years there wearing only a thong. One must have standards. Punks.

Brave New Traveler : Interview: Jason Silva on How Science Will Make You Live Forever

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 21:41:28 +0000

You're right. Give the kid the keys to the car. I trust their judgment. In other words: huh? No, seriously - you're getting hung up on the word boredom. It's really about meaning and meaninglessness. > Perhaps to someone 1,000 years old, a 200 year old's complaints about boredom would sound analogously childish. If so, they should both be put to death!

Brave New Traveler : Interview: Jason Silva on How Science Will Make You Live Forever

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 21:39:38 +0000

...and Burger King! (See which)

Brave New Traveler : Interview: Jason Silva on How Science Will Make You Live Forever

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 16:41:42 +0000

What if we discover scientific evidence of an afterlife, but nobody's there? Most importantly, who do we sue?

Brave New Traveler : Interview: Jason Silva on How Science Will Make You Live Forever

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 16:34:55 +0000

It's hard not to answer that facetiously - but, assuming you're not asking facetiously... Kids aren't yet qualified to know the difference between meaning and pastime, so no. But an adult with a clear idea of their life and what they want it to be? Different situation. Quality of life and impatience aren't the same thing. Hopefully.

Brave New Traveler : Interview: Jason Silva on How Science Will Make You Live Forever

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 15:49:38 +0000

It's not the quantity, it's the quality. Some people swear they'd never live "hooked up to a machine" after some horrific accident, but how is that different from hyper-extended life? What they really mean is "I don't want to live a meaningless life," and many of the best things in life are made so because they're precious. You can no longer "give your life" to a cause because the choice is removed. You can no longer say "til death do we part" because all you have to do is wait. And as we mature past childhood, then adulthood, then middle age - how do you tolerate that again, or tolerate being in a class of your own? In the end, all that "eternal life" would do is take the choice from old age, but not from fate or your own hand. It would inevitably end in accident or suicide, so "eternal life" is still a myth.

Brave New Traveler : Traveling Solo: How to Tell Your Partner You Want to Travel...Alone

Wed, 7 Jan 2009 17:52:00 +0000

Erm... the picture of the porno show isn't there to reassure anyone, is it?

Brave New Traveler : Whopper Virgins: How Burger King Looks at People Worldwide

Wed, 7 Jan 2009 17:44:55 +0000

If these people are "Whopper Virgins," does that make me a burger slut? I think it does - and I like it MY way, baby... [Insert your own fast-food innuendos here]

Brave New Traveler : Interview: Jason Silva on How Science Will Make You Live Forever

Wed, 7 Jan 2009 17:15:38 +0000

I think it's human nature for people to promote their own well-being at the expense of everything else around them - including other people. Everyone has a secret desire to escape the dread of death, but if you think about it a little longer, 6 billion mortals sharing the planet with X number of immortals goes quickly past comedy and right into nightmare. Just because you can do a thing (i.e. potentially "cure" death) doesn't mean you should, and I pity the cat who goes on that remarkably lonely and inevitably boring trip. "Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon." - Susan Ertz.