World Hum’s Most Read: Aug. 23-29

What We Loved This Week: Las Vegas, Maui and the Street Art of Sao Paulo

R.I.P. ‘Staycation’

‘The Internet is About the Best Thing to Happen to Geography Nerds Since the Sextant’

A Tourist With a Shovel and a Hoe

When she arrived in Kenya to volunteer with the Maasai, Daniela Petrova looked down her nose at tourists there to have a good time. But was her own motivation much different?

How Should I Spend My Time in Spain?

Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel

Paul Theroux: Invisible Man on a Ghost Train

Jim Benning asks the author of “Ghost Train to the Eastern Star” about his new book, aging and the challenge of disappearing in the age of the BlackBerry

Eat Ceviche in Lima

Grab a Cusqueña and get comfortable. As Nicholas Gill explains, a trip to a Peruvian cevichería can be an all-day immersion in good conversation and raw seafood.

Unsentimental Journeys: Wrestling With Paul Theroux

Bronwen Dickey considers “Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: 28,000 Miles in Search of the Great Railway Bazaar”

My Travels, My Feet

After taking one too many headless torso shots of herself, solo traveler Sophia Dembling started snapping photos of her feet around the world, from the Grand Canyon to Red Square

Seven Reasons to Have a Foreign Fling

Sure, having an overseas romance is fun. But Terry Ward points out seven other benefits to cross-border love, mon petit chou.

Can Your Panties Help Save Burma?

Brilliant. Baffled embassy employees will now sell them to the japanese to put in vending machines.

That is the stupidest, most meaningless act I have ever heard. If I were a democracy activist in Burma I would be horrified.

I don’t know, is it any more meaningless than any other purely symbolic gesture of disapproval? Votes of censure don’t actually “do” anything either. I would think the purpose here is to try to prevent people from forgetting and moving on to the next cause du jour…

I get the impression since the group is based in Thailand that a number of escaped Burmese activists are actually involved in this campaign - and as for the ones that are still in the country, I’d be surprised if they ever have the chance to hear about it.

Different cultures have different means of protest.  Giving someone the pinkie, and flashing the okay circle offend other cultures.  A female African activist said on TV that a woman striping naked and shaking her breasts at a man was the ultime sign of disrespect.  I don’t understand this one myself.  I just know that if you want to support the Lana Action for Burma, fling your panties.

I actually sell bras and this is a great piece...perhaps the most creative protest after Gandhiji’s Independence struggle in India that I have read about....strong in its own way...go girls!

Whit