globalization

In a crazy proof that all this globalization stuff is really working—and by working i mean getting people to not give a crap about *where* things come from, under what conditions they are made, or who profits from them—Anderson Analytics released a new report on college student's inability to match brand names to countrie of origin:
http://www.andersonanalytics.com/reports/BrandAndCountries.pdf

A friend of mine -- let's call her Dead Star -- relocated to Dubai several months ago, to live with her dad (an engineer in the ranks of the Overseas Filipino Workforce) and his new girlfriend.

Her first weeks in the country left her bored out of her skull, unable to deal with the frustrating mix of large-scale consumption (grandiose shopping malls; opulent luxury resorts) and fundamentalist Islamic cultural practices (getting the stink-eye for her discount-bin harajuku fashion, and dealing with the inconvenience of buying cheap snack food during the Ramadan fasting).