Wellyopolis

September 11, 2004

Fiddling while the republic burns

Oh my! The topic du jour of the election campaign seems to be whether typewriters had proportional and superscript fonts in the 1970s. Wake me when the republic falls! In the interim, some musings for y'all.

In the course of the last week I have traveled through or to, 5 other states. This explains the lack of posts. Hopefully the 2.5 people that read this regularly have all switched to some RSS feed, and have not had to check the actual URL for my thoughts too often.

Anyhow, I have some questions and observations from my travels.

What's with all the place name repetition in America? Down US-218 in Iowa, there's scarcely a town that does not share the name of another [larger town] somewhere further east. And Cedar Falls followed by Cedar Rapids just 50 miles away. How original! In particular, there's not a lot of obviously Native American place names, which suggests to me that compared with other countries I have driven through (that would be New Zealand) settlers on the American frontier didn't have as much reciprocal contact with the original inhabitants.

There's no money in nostalgia for Mark Twain. Hannibal (MO) has a lovely setting and some once lovely old buildings. But otherwise it's a rundown little town that reminds you that poverty is white and small town more than it is black and metropolitan. Galena (IL) OTOH. Who would have predicted that President Grant would bequeath his hometown with such a prosperous and kitschy tourist legacy?

Take the mitts off outfielders in baseball! Now, I know that baseball is a pitchers game [and cricket is a batters game] but there really is so little interest in outfield catching in baseball. If the ball goes up and comes down anywhere near a fielder there is nearly no drama about whether the ball will be caught. To add a little interest [and skill] the outfielders should not be allowed to wear gloves. In my humble opinion, of course.

Do not expect to check your email at O'Hare airport. This is a public service announcement! It is a very pleasant airport to pass through if you want to have a meal, read or buy a book, or have a coffee. It is, I discovered, not the best if you want to use the time productively. There are precious few locations which have outlets located near tables. There are lots of outlets for the cleaners, you just have to rest your laptop on your lap and sweat it out ... The outlets also come in groups of two, so invariably you are sitting beside someone else seeking to eke out some more time from their phone or laptop. As for getting connected to the web, well! There are hotspots. In the Red Carpet Club. Otherwise you can pay 65¢/minute to connect at Laptop Lane. At MSP you can connect for $6.95 for a whole day ... Cheaper than Starbucks, and in a captive market to boot.

Boston is unlike Minneapolis. Despite the similarities in the weather, the enthusiasm for ice hockey [actually, this being the east coast the Boston Globe sports section includes college field hockey results too.], and the river that runs through the city, there are many differences.


  • There is no grid system in Cambridge. Perhaps this is because many Cambridge streets predate wide knowledge of the Cartesian plane. Or maybe, it's because 'urban planning' in the 1600s sought to bend around natures curves, rather than impose a grid over them like cities did in the 1800s.
  • Downtown Boston is actually quite dirty.
  • Getting to and from the airport is kind of a drag.
  • There are no political ads on TV in Massachusetts
  • I have not seen a Bush-Cheney bumper sticker yet.

Posted by robe0419 at September 11, 2004 1:46 PM