In 2005, Thomas L. Friedman published, "The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century". The title of the book is a metaphor for viewing the world as a level playing field in terms of commerce, where all competitors have an equal opportunity.I encourage you to explore the many other ways the world has become flat on the Internet, with a multiplicity of resources available to everyone with very little effort.
Here are some tips - from the sublime to the ridiculous:
Oh To Be In England - The people in Great Britain, Australia and a host of other countries speak English. Guess what - They often have books, articles, blogs and other great stuff earlier and better than we do. Here are a few examples from my international surfing adventures:
I certainly wasn't going to wait for the third book in the Millenium Trilogy, "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" to be published in paperback in the US. I ordered it from Amazon.co.uk months ago.
As a slightly plump but radically cool person; I wasn't going to restrict my retail therapy to the unimaginative US "plus size" market. Instead, I ordered an awesome leather biker jacket at a great price from ASOS.com. Their international shipping rate is only $6.00!!! (News flash - many international websites offer amazingly attractive shipping rates.)
People in other countries often have a different perspective on things. If I want to know what's really happening in the world, I go to foreign online news outlets to get the rest of the story. For example, Google.com.au will give me the Australian side of the coin. If you are lucky enough to speak a foreign language or two, there is a Google News outlet for dozens of countries from Spain to Singapore.
Oh Canada - I never used to know people who didn't have medical insurance. But now, thanks to the recession, I do. When my insurance challenged friends need meds, I steer them to the Canadian Drugstore where they can save about 50% on drugs.
How many different ways can you say Wikipedia? We knew that my maternal grand-father, Jacob Schapiro, was a pioneer in the German automotive industry, but information was hard to come by. Until I had the idea to check out Wikipedia.de. Found him! Is your German on the weak side? Mine is - so I translated the Wikipedia entry with a click of the mouse on "translate this page" in the Google listing. Not exactly elegant, but readily understandable.
Bottom line - don't limit yourself to US websites. The resources of our flat world are at your finger tips. The easiest way to access a foreign source is to go to the relevant Google site as your starting point. I speak fluent French, so when I am craving something Gallic, I go to google.fr, enter my query in French and voila - I access a site that I wouldn't ordinarily find.
Bon voyage!
The world is flat. In some way yes it is. Through internet, I can attest that the world is flat because we can have an immediate access to anyone.
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