I’m pretty sure we’re all agreed that travelling the world is a great thing to do. And when you can do it on a frugal budget (not a cheap one), it’s even better!
That makes Plonkee’s latest post, 21 Resources for Budget Travel great in every respect - links galore!
take the train, not the plane - possibly the most civilised form of transport available. I love taking the train when I’m on holiday. My current favourite trip was from Budapest to Vienna, so cheap and so easy. One of these days I want to travel on the Trans-Siberian express from Moscow to Beijing.
My added tip? If you do consider using the train - even for a moment - you must check out The Man in Seat Sixty-One; the greatest site on the topic of intercontinental train travel (I have mentioned this site before).
Unsubscribe is an Amnesty International campaign asking you to ‘unsubscribe’ from the human rights abuses undertaken around the world in your name. Illegal detention and torture are just two of the acts that are common place in the so-called ‘War on Terror’, and guilty or not, people deserve better treatment than what they currently get in (illegal) prisons around the world.
To raise awareness of this campaign, Amnesty produced two excruciatingly powerful films showing, for real, the CIA-endorsed torture techniques enhanced interrogation procedures currently used around the world on prisoners who are yet to face a trial (i.e. in the eyes of the law, they are still innocent)*.
Waiting for the Guards depicts the horror of Stress Positions, held for a measly six hours.
The Stuff of Life shows us - in a real and unambiguous way - that ‘waterboarding’ is torture, not an interrogation technique. (Currently only available on the campaign’s main page.)
Whether or not you agree with the politics (although it’s difficult not to), these films are worth a watch - they are exquisitely directed and produced. The making of clip for ‘The Stuff of Life’ is also worth a watch.
* Only 1 in 10 people at Guantanamo are expected to face charges (and a court) - the rest will be set free without charge.
The X Prize Foundation is a non-profit institute that awards rather large prizes to non-governmental organisations who achieve a number of milestones, classed as beneficial to mankind. The most famous of these was the Ansari X Prize awarded to the first NGO to send a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice in two weeks - this was eventually won by the Tier One project, and they were awarded with the $10,000,000 prize in 2004.
Today it appears that everyone’s favourite animal rights group, PETA, is getting in on the action too; they have offered a $1,000,000 prize to the first organisation to create and market in-vitro chicken meat within the next four years. As El Reg puts it:
PETA announced today it will offer $1m to an organization that can successfully create and market “in vitro meat,” i.e. muscle tissue grown without the pesky animal attached.
To collect PETA’s $1m carrot, scientists must develop a commercially marketable in vitro meat in just four years. At least they’re first setting the bar down to creating a chicken flesh substitute, which reportedly tastes like every non-traditional animal in the known universe.
This brings to mind my favourite Threadless t-shirt… Meat is murder. Tasty, tasty murder.
This morning I read an interesting BBC News article titled Innocent photographer or terrorist? that tackles the issue of illegal stop and searches of photographers and the growing incidence of this in the UK. A good accompaniment to my previous post, The Photo Police.
It reminded me of this handy little booklet on Photographers’ Rights in the UK produced by Linda Macpherson in conjunction with The Camera Club of London.
Some years ago it was said in a judgement that there is “no law against taking a photograph”. This implies a general freedom to take photographs that, sadly for photographers, does not really exist. There are, in fact, many legal restrictions on the right to take a photograph, and it would be more correct to say that one is free to take photographs except when the law provides otherwise.
So the question is, when does the law provide otherwise?
Remember that great visual that accompanied Alisa Miller’s 2008 TED Talk?
Oxfam in Action have produced a similar graphic covering the topics of world poverty, education, HIV infection rates, hunger, population, and trade.
Ever wondered what extreme poverty on a global scale looks like? It’s not a pretty sight – as you can see on our clever interactive map. Oxfam is busy fighting poverty with partners and poor communities in more than 70 countries worldwide to reshape our world for the better.
Click on the categories above to find out what kind of shape the world is in on some of the big poverty-related issues Oxfam works on.
These maps were created by Mapping Worlds whose website also contains more great graphics - worth a look!