UPDATED: The earthquake that rocked Haiti back in January caused unimaginable death and destruction, and as the poorest nation in the Westen Hemisphere, Haiti lacks the resources for a high tech (or even normal tech) rebuilding of its infrastructure. But what the country's inhabitants lack in material wealth they almost make up for with their ingenuity and perseverance. Check out these amazing videos of Haitians rebuilding their country one brick and one shovelful at a time.

Via the comments, the following video appears to be from Bangladesh, not Haiti. Still, impressive!

[HT: Chris Blattman]

Ring in the weekend the right way, with our daily look at what's going on in the wonderful world of travel...

• Over at World Hum, Rick Steves has a brief essay on the pleasures of wandering through Tangier, a city I unexpectedly fell in love with during my time in Morocco.
• Cool time-lapse photography from the Canary Islands, Tibet, New York City, and elsewhere.
• Nomadic Matt compiles a short guide to my favorite cuisine.
• Some interesting dating tips from around the world.
• Matt Gross takes his final trip as the New York Times' Frugal Traveler-- walking(!) from Vienna to Budapest.

More Gadlinks here.

If you've spent much time in the company of the British, you've probably been involved in one of those tired arguments about the proper spelling of color and why Americans have forsaken the entirely sensible football in favor of the word soccer. These arguments, in my experience anyway, almost never end with the two sides "agreeing to disagree." Feelings are usually hurt, friendships are often ended, and foreign exchange programs are sometimes cut short.

So give credit to actor, comedian, and Guardian columnist David Mitchell for trying to establish some common ground between the two camps. In a new video for the Guardian website, Mitchell forgoes the "standard, tedious British sneering about lieutenents and aluminum" to embark on an English-usage crusade that even this American can endorse. Why, Mitchell asks, must Americans insist on using the phrase "I could care less" when in fact they mean precisely the opposite? "If you could care less about something," Mitchell says, "then all you're telling us is that you do care at least a little bit. Because you could care less... 'I could care less' is absolutely useless as an indicator of how much you care, because the only thing it rules out is that you don't care at all, which is exactly what you're trying to convey."

You'll find Mitchell's humorous rant, including a discussion of the misguided phrase "hold down the fort" and a "graph of caring," here. Also check out Mitchell's hilarious series Peep Show on Hulu.

[HT: The peerless Anglophile Scott Harris]

Time now for another edition of Gadlinks, your go-to source for all the latest happenings in the world of travel...

• John McWhorter writes that David Simon's new series Treme makes New Orleans feel "strangely unwelcoming."
• Why tech-nerds should choose Japan for their destination weddings.
• From The Onion archives, "Activities Director Makes Most of Hostage Situation."
• A quick run-down of what the hell is going on in Thailand (again).
• The recently redesigned BootsnAll offers 10 Reasons to Travel to Australia Now. Yes, Vegemite (somehow) makes the list.

More Gadlinks here.

More disturbingly hard Travel Trivia here.

Check out more tough Travel Trivia here.

Dear traveler,

You may not realize it, but a lot has changed in the travel world since my fellow Gadling bloggers and I were roaming the globe back in 2010. If you'll indulge me for just a moment, my dear traveler from the future, I'd like to share with you a look at how things used to be...

First of all, it won't surprise you that air travel was much different way back in 2010. The airlines were starting to charge us extra for all sorts of things that used to be free - headphones, meals, checked luggage, carry-on luggage, using the bathroom - which inspired many an indignant blog post. (In the previous sentence, you'll notice I referred to them as airlines, plural. This was before the Great Airline Merger of 2043 in which every single airline merged into UniAir.)

Haven't got enough travel news and views on Gadling today? Well check out what else is going on in the travel world right now...

• Is the iconic "Hollywood" sign about to be turned into a hotel?
• Alain de Botton imagines a world without air travel, a world he says "would return travellers to a wisdom that their medieval pilgrim ancestors had once known very well." [HT: Vagablogging]
• Slate's Anne Applebaum tries to explain just what the hell happened in the British elections.
• BootsnAll has some tips on how to make the most of your meager summer travel budget.
• The LA Times reports on the bizarre travel habits of Kim Jong Il. [HT: World Hum]

You'll find more Gadlinks here.

If you're like me, you probably don't associate North Korea with comedy. But after reading the jokes below, told by North Korean defectors to Radio Free Asia, well... you still won't. The jokes, most of which lampoon Kim Jong-il and the North Korean police state, bring to mind a North Korean Yakov Smirnoff.

Here are a few of the North Korean knee-slappers (more here):

Chang Man Yong works on a collective farm in North Korea. He goes fishing, gets lucky, and brings a fish home. Happy about his catch, he tells his wife: "Look what I've got. Shall we eat fried fish today?"

The wife says: "We've got no cooking oil!"

"Shall we stew it, then?"

"We've got no pot!"

"Shall we grill it?"

"We've got no firewood!"

Chang Man Yong gets angry, goes back to the river, and throws the fish back into the water.

The fish, happy to have had such a narrow escape, sticks its head out of the water and cheerfully yells: "Long live General Kim Jong-il!"

Ba-dum ching!

Happy Wednesday, Gadling Nation. Here's a look at what's captured our interest in the travel world recently...

• The always-entertaining Gadling alum Leif Pettersen offers some tips on wine tasting etiquette.
• Are "charter cities" the key to helping alleviate Third World poverty? In this podcast with Russ Roberts, economist Paul Romer seems to think so. (More on charter cities here.)
• Some remarkable photos of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill from the always-excellent Big Picture blog.
• BootsnAll on how to make sure your cheap European flight stays that way.
• Eric Weiner sneaks a peek into a future of air travel in which everything costs extra.

Want more Gadlinks? Get 'em here.