Anthony Bourdain:

One of the great wonders of the New World Order is how you can find an internet connection, a cell phone signal, just about anywhere. At a tiny bed and breakfast in a far flung 16th century village in Yunnan Province, high speed wireless that beats what I’ve got in my apartment in New York City. At home, my cell phone kicks out ( Read more... )

Alex Tabarrok:

There's nothing like visiting a foreign country like China to get an appreciation of what it's like to live under an authoritarian regime. I was reminded of this when I arrived home and found that the TSA had rifled through my baggage.

"Nothing special.  Just went to Iraq, hung out with a few jihadists."

I'd say this would qualify for a cracking good episode of The Simple Life, except for the potential kidnapping-and-beheading part.  Yikes.