h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Dirk another one of the ACE's was the first to welcome you to H2G2, yet you credit the guardian angels as being the ones to have made you feel at home. Why is that if you don't mind me asking? I'm just curious. Having been an ACE for awhile I've noticed the GA's usually always show up AFTER one of the Assistant Community Editors do. They don't offer any helpful links or advice, so in what way did he make you feel welcome? As I said, I'm just curious, online interactions has always been a hobby of mine.
~S

Well, let me try to explain: I got sucked into the Slashdot community a little ways back [Broken link removed by Moderator]). It was my first online community and the topics they discussed interested me--technology, free speech, government and the like. But despite "joining" their family, it was very cold and impersonal. I felt like an outsider and barely uttered a word. With h2g2, someone showed up at my door with something other than an automated response to say howdy with, and that blew me away.

And as to the whole ACE/Guardian Angel thing, chalk it up to a beginner's mistake. It wasn't till Shadow's followup message that I realized there was a difference, that Dirk wasn't an angel.

But regardless of where the appreciation is coming from, thank you. Feeling welcome is a wonderful feeling, even if you live across the pond.

Oh, no biggie about the mix up. Dirk is an angel, just not a part of the Guardian Angels, he's one of the best Holistic Detectives that money and donuts can buy. I was just curious as to the motivation behind the responce, it's really nothing of great importance, just my curiousity in all things related to human behavior. Which side of the pond are you on, if you don't mind my asking? Once again, just curious and there's absotively, posolutely no responce required, I understand and respect people's reasons for wanting privacy. Hope you had a good weekend.
~S

The left hand side. I live about 12 miles west of New York City.

Triv

Ah, same here. I'm several miles further inland though. About 20 or so miles from Chicago.
~S

ok, it's been a week, but I totally missed your 'chicago' reply. Sorry 'bout that.

I've never actually been to chicago but I hear t's a great town. Still can't beat New York City tho. The only cities that come close in my mind are London and Rome.

Everything else pales in comparison.

Triv

Actually Triv, I've been to New York (The town so nice they named it twice.) several times and IMHO Chicago is MUCH cleaner, it's easier to find parking and the people are usually friendlier in general. I've also bounced all around this big ball we live on and have come to the conclusion that Chicago truly is a unique place in the world. However, as I continue to live here in Chi-town, one could rightly say I'm prejudiced as to which city is the most favorable. Though I've relocated all over the world at one time or another, I prefer to remain here or having left, I always return eventually.
~S

Uh oh...American inter-city Rivalry...better let this one lie.

Triv

Nah, no rivalry atall. As I said, I have been to NY several times, ergo I speak from experience. On the other hand, you haven't been to Chicago as of yet. Therefore your statement is pure conjecture and doesn't have a leg to stand on. It can't until such time as you've come and been here as many times as I've been to various areas in NY. (Five in all so far.) See? Otherwise, even if you do come and visit only once, I can still claim greater experience having visited more areas of NY than you have areas of Chicago and would have a better basis for comparison. Heh, heh!
~S

PS, I love a good debate.

I know three things about Chicago.

It's windy.

Good pizza.

The Cubs live there.

Randy Newman's musical version of 'Faust' is in production there.

Everything else is hearsay.
As are those.

Triv

SHHHHHH!!! We don't like to admitt that the Cubs do indeed live here. Fortunately it's NOT all year 'round we send them to AZ during the off season so we don't have to see them. *shudders*
~S

Funny. We do the same thing with the Mets (but we send THEM to Florida)



Triv

With all this talk of intercity rivalries, I would like to pitch in on the NYC side. New York has hills; Chicago does not. New York has ocean beaches; Chicago does not. New York has a useful public transportation system; Chicago does not. New York has several beautiful bridges; Chicago does not.

New York also has pleasant suburbs like Montclair, NJ; Chicago has different ones that I can't comment on so readily. I like Montclair lots; I have a pal who lives in Cedar Grove, so I travel through Montclair frequently. It has the Yogi Berra archive at Montclair State U, it has a picturesque downtown, and the elsewhere-mentioned Cafe Eclectic.

Shadow--


Ooh! The opportunity to endorse an article! Can't pass that up (and thanks to jqr for letting me get my foot in the door)

If you're interested in the afforementioned Café Eclectic, check this out:

http://www.h2g2.com/A402256




Triv

Chicago has the lake front and you can actually swim in it without worry of polution. Though technically Lake Michigan should be considered an inland sea, anywhere else on Earth it would be. Chicago also has over 2000 artistic sculptures scattered throughout the city streets. Chicago also has a useful public transportation system, the buses go everywhere. The trains are set up for the commuters from the suburbs, not inner-city travel. We have cars and places to park them for that or for the less fortunate there are buses.

The Chicago suburbs literally stretch almost 40 miles in each direction and are still expanding daily. If you check a map of Illinois, the suburbs currently stretch to the very edge of Joliet in the South, Aurora in the West, right up to the Wisconsin border to the North and right up to the Indiana border to the East. Roughly 40 miles in each direction and spreading farther and faster and faster every day. On the plus side, we don't have gangs of guys molesting women at the numerous festivals in the parks.

Also uhm...I hate point this out, but Montclair is in New Jersey. That makes it part of New Jersey and NOT a part of New York, which is what the discussion was about.

Also, Chicago is NOT as desparate as New York is to gain Tourists that they steal other city's ideas. No really, we understand New York had the cows first...NOT! Chicago was at one time famous for its stockyards, not to mention the legend of the Chicago Fire being caused by Mrs. O'Leary's cow. What the hell do cows have to do with NY? Other than nothing.
~S

Well, I think the cows are kind of like gilding the lily...

ok, first off, New York is filled with sculptures, ranging from Claes Oldenburg to Calder. They're perfectly fitted into the landscape--you never realize they're there until you think about what it's look like without them. Second, Montclair, while being in New Jersey, is a suburb of New York and Newark. Most of New Jersey is a suburb of NYC and Philly, and Montclair is one of the nicer suburbs out there. A little dull, granted, but that's what New York is for. Third, New York's subway system, while being run down and a tad smelly (whadda you expect? It's one of the world's oldest and largest) is also one of the most used and efficient. It's servicing upwards of 13 million people--it might not look pretty but for the sheer volme of traffic it's transporting it does a helluva job, and with the construction giong on some of the stations are actually looking decent--Union Square, Astor Place, 72nd street. And New york has a perfectly servicable inter-cty rail system as well. Two of them, actually. NJT takes people into Jersey and the MTA services Conneticut and Long Island. Ok, Chicago's system is designed for suburb commuters, but that doesn't make it better than new york. It does what it's supposed to do, it just left a portion out.

Any other points I could deflect for you?

Triv

I'm sorry, I just don't accept the State of New Jersey as a suburb of the City of New York. You can dream all you like, but the fact that Montclair and all these other nice places are in New Jersey, means they belong to New Jersey and NOT New York City. If this wasn't true, then they'd simply erase the state lines and incorporate it into New York's territory. Now, since I don't see that happening any time soon, if ever, I suggest you just concede the point that these nice places you're speaking of are in another state that has nothing to do with NYC.

Just because most of the people that work in D.C. live in Virgina, doesn't mean that the State of Virginia is a suburb of D.C. It means that D.C., like NYC, is so yucky, people prefer to live in an entirely different state and travel long distance to go to work there. Unlike Chicago where the majority of the people who live in the city, also work there and the additional people who use the commuter trains and/or drive in because there are more jobs than there are people to fill them.

Even when people do commute into Chicago, it's usually less than 15 miles. You tend to have younger people living in the city and older to middle aged folks in the suburbs, since this is where a majority of the houses are rather than apartments. In short, you didn't deflect my points, so much as prove them for me.
~S

You're batty, and here's why--

The state lines are immaterial. What determines a suburb is where the people who live there work, its proximity to a major city center and how easy it is to GET there. New York City is, for the most part, on an island. Following your logic, because it isn't really connected to any other major landmass it isn't permitted to have suburbs, or that the suburbs it DOES have HAVE to be in New York State. That's ridiculous. Montclair is 12 miles west of NYC, but it doesn't qualify as a subrub, and yet a town that was, say, 12 miles northwest of the city and in New York State WOULD qualify?

No.

And as to your Virginia point, you're right--the state of Virginia is NOT a suburb of DC...but Alexandria and Bethesda are. The're easily connected to DC by the Metro, people live in Virginia (or Maryland) and commute into the city centre to work, so those cities ARE suburbs of the District.

New Jersey is a very special case--it's sandwiched in between two of the eastern seaboard's busiest cities, New York and Philly which makes the entire state look like a suburb. Realistically, this state wouldn't have the nation's densest population if it weren't where it is.

and finally, to your fifteen miles radius--that doesn't apply to New York/New Jersey because of one thing--the New Jersey Turnpike. I can get from Greenbrook (in central jersey) to New York City in 45 minutes and it's easily 25 miles away. Or I can take the train and be there in Newark in 45, NYC in an hour. Way to go mass transit.

So, in short, I rspect your opinion on Chicago, but you really DON'T know what you're talking about when it comes to New York. Apples and Oranges, don'tcha know?
Triv

So, Shadow, by your logic, my pal who lives in Kenosha, Wis. doesn't commute to his job in Evanston, Ill. every day so much as just travel there on an interstate voyage.

Plus, many NY workers choose to live in New Jersey because the state taxes are not as onerous. It doesn't mean that they don't live in the suburbs any more.