I'm trying to decide just why, me, a child of technology, who doesn't go anywhere where I can't connect my computer. Why I 'm going to spend my vacation going to the edge of the desert in the middle of rural central China?

www.yellowsheepriver.com
Read through it, it's kind of spooky, as if reading through a page from "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" and the wonders and horrors of globalization.

"Plug into globalization without the right software and operating system (economic structures), and it will melt down your economy in the blink of an eye. Plug into it without enviornmental surge protectors, and it will pave over your forests in a flash. Open your borders to globalization's cultural onslaught, without protective filters, and you could go to sleep one night thinking you're an Indian, an Egyptian, and Israeli, a Chinese or a Brazilian and wake up the next morning to find that all your kids look like Ginger Spice and your boys all want to dress like Hulk Hogan."

Is this the frontiers of globalization?

Poor rural farmers in the middle of nowhere using the internet to check commodity prices in Chicago. So they know what a fair price is for their crops. They're not just selling their product in the local bazzar, but now competing in a global marketplace.

Why am I going to the edge of the desert in the middle of rural central China?

Answer: Because there's an internet cafe there.

PS: At this point I'm reminded of my buddy Darren sitting in the internet cafe in Brazil, exclaiming it's a microcosm for his life in Shanghai.