We've got some cool stuff for the heat of midsummer. How we imagine our global viewpoint is created. New discussions highlight the continuity (or ooh, disconnect!) of the way we behave vs. our original culture.

Plus, tips on easy-breezy ways to track next week's international conference of game-changing rock star brainiacs.

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YOUR THOUGHTS

Let us know what you'd ask the expat+HAREM community.

What kind of global citizen are you? Most of us (35%) are "all the above", apparently.

Answers to our poll at the site and LinkedIn reveal that besides travel and interest in a wider world, we're global from birth (26%), plus we've been schooled abroad+lived overseas+worked in various nations (23%).

[August2010 update: "All of the above" (43%). Schooled, lived, worked abroad (21%). Travel and wider interest (15%). Born global (14%).]

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AT expat+HAREM

In the past month we've debated some ticklish topics: how risky behavior defines our world, the right time and place for flesh (it's not as clear-cut as you'd think), and a proud alternative to boo-yah culture.

Everyone wants to know more about our guest posters so we're happy to introduce a page of blogger bios...see what they look like, where they're from, where they've been and where they're headed now.

You probably noticed we've started using Disqus to integrate our comments across the web. Why's that cool? Lots of reasons for the commenter, but our favorite is what it does for the rest of us who like to follow your thinking: it creates a feed -- say, your voice at the sites you care most about -- that we all can subscribe to!

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AROUND THE WORLD & AROUND THE WEB

There's nothing bigger than next week's TEDGlobal, the international conference of ideas worth spreading, in Oxford.

This year's gathering of 700 aims to uplift. "And Now the Good News" brings together activists (like the guy who swam a *chilly* meltwater lake on Mt. Everest in a Speedo for heaven's sake), scientists, and artists (like the "Sweet Dreams Are Made of This" uberdiva Annie Lennox) to discuss their work to make this planet a better place.

There will even be a time-traveling retronaut. Dude says "if the past is a foreign country, this is your passport." See how he does it, you can too!

The potent 18-minute talks from this summer's program will be viewable eventually at TED.com but to track the happenings real-time through people on the ground, try my Twitter feed, peek at my list of 80+ Tweeting attendees, and search the conference's hashtag.

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Stay cool,

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MISS LAST MONTH?

Check out June's "Solstice reading"

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