DHarbecke

DHarbecke

47p

96 comments posted · 0 followers · following 0

15 years ago @ Brave New Traveler - When Does Budget Trave... · 0 replies · +2 points

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.

15 years ago @ Brave New Traveler - At Home in New Places:... · 0 replies · +1 points

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? :)

15 years ago @ Brave New Traveler - At Home in New Places:... · 0 replies · +1 points

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.

15 years ago @ Brave New Traveler - At Home in New Places:... · 0 replies · +1 points

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.

15 years ago @ Brave New Traveler - What Tyler Durden's Ph... · 0 replies · +1 points

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!

15 years ago @ Brave New Traveler - What Tyler Durden's Ph... · 0 replies · +1 points

Can I have your plane ticket?

15 years ago @ Brave New Traveler - What Tyler Durden's Ph... · 1 reply · +1 points

You speak as if mental illness were a BAD thing.

15 years ago @ Brave New Traveler - What Tyler Durden's Ph... · 4 replies · +1 points

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.

15 years ago @ Brave New Traveler - What Tyler Durden's Ph... · 0 replies · +1 points

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.)

15 years ago @ Brave New Traveler - What Tyler Durden's Ph... · 8 replies · +1 points

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.