Chris Mooney is a freelance writer and the author of two books, 
During our casual 3.5 hour dinner last night, Bora and I got to wondering...
Why isn't North Carolina's Research Triangle in grand prize destinations for the 500,000 comment contest? Winner receives a 5-day trip to the greatest science city in the world and the three contenders are Boston/Cambridge, MA, San Francisco, CA, and Cambridge, UK. Not a bad selection by any means, but the Triangle is home to cutting edge science and policy institutes, top tier universities, governmental agencies, leading tech companies, and more groundbreaking research in one area code than anywhere else I can come up with... there's reason after all, that it's the SciBling hub! And with Bora, Greta and David, James, and Abel Pharmboy local, I'm certainly in good company here.
Which begs the question: Which destination gets your vote for greatest science city? Or hey, worst science city for that matter...
Comments
We rock!
Posted by: coturnix | August 30, 2007 12:58 PM
It should be whichever city I am in.
Posted by: MarkH | August 30, 2007 1:17 PM
That shirt I'm wearing sure looks familiar...
Posted by: Sheril R. Kirshenbaum | August 30, 2007 1:25 PM
Nowhere in Australia is included on the list, either. Well, Melbourne just so happens to be a hell of a science city...
Posted by: Chris Mooney | August 30, 2007 2:06 PM
Hey, it is only a question of how to finagle the longest trip. for all the USA resident readers.
Posted by: Wes | August 30, 2007 5:51 PM
Speaking of shirts, may I suggest that the other one in the photo implies something.
Also, the Research Triangle was still Peet's-less last time I checked.
None of this is to imply that the RT isn't a contender for third place city, if only it was a city. :)
Posted by: Steve Bloom | August 30, 2007 7:12 PM
RTP may produce new science, it's just hard for an outsider to see. Plus, you can't walk anywhere in the Triangle (Though I commute from Morrisville, so I could almost walk to work. Almost.)
Posted by: Kent Kauffman | August 30, 2007 8:52 PM
The prize list can't possibly be taken seriously without San Diego included on it. I mean come on. Great science and FAN-Freakin-TASTIC weather. Why would you want to go anywhere else?
Posted by: BikeMonkey | August 30, 2007 11:38 PM
(Ha, you do look a bit like Winnie Cooper.)
I doubt the winner would want to visit the greatest powerhouse of science per se, so that could be why the Triangle isn't a top contender. I mean, think of how much research is done in New Mexico, but you wouldn't want to win a vacation there.
Paris or Barcelona would be my top two choices -- dream cities to visit (or live in!), plus plenty of people to talk to who are interested in ideas. Plus all the great-looking, stylishly dressed people to flirt with -- and with alluring accents!
Posted by: agnostic | August 31, 2007 10:56 AM