Yesterday BBC World Service Radio reported on how second-hand clothes donated in the west to charities, end up being resold in a special second-hand market in Kampala, Uganda and how Kampalans prefer these cheap second-hand designer clothes, to the ones produced locally...Of course some are making a profit out of this, and I wonder, is anyone researching this process for possible charity corruption and tax evasion? Does anyone really want an Africa hooked on charity? Think of this before donating your next set of used clothes.

When one reads Wikipedia's list of ethnic slurs, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slursor the various ways people refer to foreigners around the world, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words...ot_one_of_us' one wonders if the current phase of globalisation will make things better or worse. Do we need to be totally amalgamated for bigotry to disappear?Recent troubles in France and Australia (and who knows where next) reveal that amalgamation is not an easy process. Looks and skin colour, unfortunately still separate people even in the most open societies. And all this has been made worse by the recent wars and continuing unrest.Racism creeps where you would least expect it to. Consider an interesting international tourism website such as bugbog.com for example, in the entry for Greece, it says: "people mostly agreeable", while Greece has been rated with a 3/5 for its local people...?! Excuse me, HOW do you rate local people? What ignorant nonsense.

Well, someone always has to go first It seems our Members are shy, so I will be the guinea pig (which was neither a pig nor from Guinea - but a rodent from the Andes, domesticated by the Incas)And talking of 'Experiment', have you seen "Das Experiment" the movie? Based on the real Stanford Prison Experiment of 1971, funded by the US Navy, it shows that both individuals and systems matter, and that ordinary people can very easily turn into monsters, if basic elements of what goes by the name of humanity are removed (or are lacking), and vice versa.Related:http://www.prisonexp.org/http://www.dasexperiment.de/intro/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Experimenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment