If you’ve read my postings before you’ll be well aware that I love to write about world events or politics. You’ll also know that I travel a lot and work in the security industry so today I thought I’d take on a major issue(s) that’s been bothering me for some time now. I’ve decided to list the top 10 things that are wrong with the world and how to fix them. A lofty goal I’ll admit but hopefully I’m up to it.
10. International dialing – In the US and Canada we dial 011 to start an international call followed by the country code and the local number so it looks something like this: 011.44 (England). 123.4567. Now if England or any other person on the planet in any other country on the planet wants to call somebody in another country they dial 00 to start the process, which would look like this if you were calling England from say Spain: 00.44.123.4567. So why the difference, why is it that the US and Canada need a different international calling number? In this age of computer driven systems couldn’t we simply get on board with the rest of the world?
9. Driving – Most of the planet drives on the left hand side of the road but NO the Brit’s Aussie’s, South Africans a couple of small African countries a few former British colonies in Asia that didn’t get the memo have to make life tough on the rest of us when we visit. I first drove a right hand drive vehicle (on the left side of the road) in Kabul and was surprised at how easy it was because the pedals are in the same place which surprised me, why aren’t they reversed too? Anyway it’s foolish that in this day and age we haven’t managed to agree on which side of the road to drive on thus scaring the crap out of me every time I visit London. It’s time to make the switch and join the rest of world and proclaim left hand driving only.
8. DVD Zones – One would have thought that when we all switched over to the DVD format we would have learned our lesson about having different formats in different parts of the world, I mean really come on folks why do I need to buy a different copy of my favorite movie to play in a made in South American DVD player than I do to play in a European made player? Common formats for all things electronic can’t be that hard these days let’s make all DVD’s playable in all DVD players…don’t get me started on Blue Ray discs.
7. Phone Jacks – Although this is becoming less of a problem due to wireless internet I’m still forced to carry a package of 10 different styles of phone jack in case I run into a dial up situation. One would think that in the 21st Century we’d have figured out what the best plug looked like and come to some sort of world agreement so phone makers could cut costs and make one style of jack, mind you I guess the ever present lobby group in Washington promoting phone jack adapters would hit congress hard with boycotts so that will never come to pass.
6. Cell phone frequencies – Explain to me why I need to buy a special quad band phone to ensure I have coverage outside of North America and exactly why our friends in Europe and Asia use different frequencies? In the so called electronic age or communications age wouldn’t you think that we should be able to talk to each other without buying special quad band phones? Perhaps it’s time to standardize this industry so that my phone will work regardless of where I’m standing if I put a local SIM card in it. Oh yeah and by the way to those American and Canadian readers you should know that you are the only two countries on the planet that allow your Cell phone service providers to lock your phones so that you can only use their SIM card. What that means is that if you get to England, instead of being able to put a local SIM card in and paying local fees you’re forced to keep your AT&T SIM card in and when calling your buddy two pubs down the street you pay the long distance roaming fees as if you were calling him from Texas where you live.
5. Customs and Visa applications – At some point one would think we (maybe the UN) would / could come up with a standard form to fill out and perhaps even a standard fee which would result in a visa that provided you with the same set of rules (how long it’s valid for, if it’s single or multiple entry and if it expires in say 30 days if you don’t use it) but NO we have to go on with different forms, different rules, some need a letter of invitation from a company or person in the country you are applying to, some require a special Arabic stamp which translates your front page, some require 2 passport photo’s some 3, some will only give you 3 months, some 1, some 6 while some will only provide a single entry forcing you to repeat the process and pay the fee every time you want to visit even if your visit was only for a week and you had a 3 month visa…I could go on and on but I’m sure you get the point. It sure would make business more efficient which would led to greater investment instead of being turned off by petty fees and foolish hoops that you have to jump through to attempt to do business in a country.
4. Electricity and electrical plugs – Come on folks which is better 110 volts or 220 volts, 50 cycles or 60 cycles can’t we all just get along and pick one and if not lets settle on one plug style. Once again I have to lug around several adapters to plug in my laptop. To give credit where it’s due I must say I appreciate that all electronic devices now have a built in power adaptor so that’s no longer an issue but let’s pick a plug style and go with it. Just think in 20 years or so we can do away with the pack of adaptors or if you’re lucky the great (and large) multi adaptor that looks like a nuclear trigger and always amuses airport security personnel.
3. Currency – In North America we have 3 different currencies; in Latin America every country except Ecuador uses a different currency (they use old USD). In Africa there is a common currency for 6 former French colonies called the Central African Franc, but outside of those 6 countries nobody else will exchange it or accept it. In Europe we have the Euro but England still refuses to go along so the Pound continues. In Asia there is no common currency so we have about 190 different currencies floating around and I now have 22 envelopes full of small amounts of currencies that I trudge around in case I end up back in one of these places so I can either use it up or exchange it for the worlds common currency which is United States Dollars. This is the currency of business and is the world’s most accepted currency (although the Euro is working hard to change that) and should become the at least the currency of the America’s to start with. I know national pride is at stake here but maybe it’s time to start with regional or continental currency’s such as the America’s Dollar that would be used in all the America’s North Central and South, then the African Dollar, the European Dollar and the Asian Dollar. If managed that in say 20 years perhaps we could start thinking about a Western Dollar linking the European and America’s Dollar and an Eastern Dollar hooking up Africa and Asia. Who knows in 50-100 years maybe we could stop carrying around dozens of envelops and trying to remember the exchange rate as you’re trying to buy jewelry to make up for not being home yet again on your wife’s birthday.
2. Airport Security rules – Now it’s time to get serious, most of my other complaints are just nuisances that I can laugh about but airport security is getting beyond funny because there are different standards for every darn country I seem to travel through. I mean really why is it that a certain amount of gel or liquid is dangerous in North American when you can take almost 3 times as much onto a European airline? I can only assume that somewhere in the world an explosives expert figured out what amounts would be required to damage a plane and that became the amount which you couldn’t go beyond but NO, it would appear that either North American planes are easier to blow up or European planes are tougher. Not sure which it is since they both use the same planes.
I’m also baffled by the fact that when I buy duty free in a European hub such as London, Paris or Frankfurt and it’s double sealed with the duty free receipt inside and allowed in my carry on that when I arrive in North America I must immediately repack it in my checked luggage after clearing customs before I recheck my luggage for my ongoing North American connection. I’d also like to figure out why in the US I have to take my rubber sandals off while in Canada and Europe I don’t, the same goes for laptops, in or out which is it? I want to be safe and I don’t want planes blowing up or being hijacked but I find it hard to believe that we still haven’t managed to all sit down and work out the procedures. Currently you have to be a walking encyclopedia of International travel knowledge to avoid hang ups and delays that needs to stop, traveling sucks as it is and this just adds to the angst among the traveling public.
1. Language – The great barrier to business, travel and moving the planet forward. In the bible as I understand we all started out speaking the same language but God became angry and to force people to learn to get along he instantly had people speaking in different tongues. Well if that’s true it’s time to pick a language and reunite as the human race. It would appear that the leading contenders are English, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Arabic and French. Whiles there’s loads of other languages I based my top 5 on not only the number of people who speak that language but how many other countries do too hence leaving German out although the same argument could be made against Chinese as only one country speaks this language but it’s hard to ignore the numbers there.
I’m thinking that since English is the language of the sky, the sea, business and medicine that it’s leading the pack as a choice. I’ve also found that English is the leading second choice of the vast majority of the world’s population that doesn’t use it as a primary language. Spanish is probably the biggest challenger to English as an exported language as much of Central and South America use it while French and Arabic are prevalent throughout parts of Africa too. At the of the day I don’t much care what language we pick but it only makes sense to pick one and declare that in 50 yrs or so all the worlds business will be conducted in that language with all countries to keep their native tongue as a heritage thing. Every country would then begin schooling their children in that language and over the next 2 generations we’d adapt. Even if we adopted the currency model I’ve suggested and picked regional or continental languages as a first step it would certainly have huge long term savings in that you wouldn’t need all the translation services and your cereal box wouldn’t need to have several languages on it or that 500 page manual that comes with your new TV would only be 250 pages long thus reducing your carbon footprint dramatically and saving several trees in the process.
I’m sure national pride and bad actors like Hugo Chavez will get in the way of even the simplest reforms, as a Canadian who watches a few noisemakers go on forever in Quebec about language pride and also watches the cost of goods go up and the cost of government operations go up as every service, document and good sold in Canada must be done so in a bi-lingual fashion. It’s also foolish for a small country to have its own currency yet tie its economy completely with its larger neighbor.
I would hope that my rant will make a few of your laugh but also make a few say hum why we can’t solve a few of the simpler problems and move towards a better integrated world. It will take some giving in on all sides and I for one am willing to hand off our stupid international dialing code to get USD as the world’s currency or English as the world’s primary language.
