…and this is a 
It's feeling good — it must be Philly
Category: Personal
Posted on: November 19, 2008 12:02 PM, by PZ Myers
Fellow travelers, we all know this feeling of stepping off a plane into a strange city and following the signs to baggage/transportation, trying to get our bearings and find our way through these sometimes labyrinthine airports to just get out of these unattractive hubs — the whole thing with air travel nowadays is that you have to do it, and while you're doing it, all you want to do is escape from it. I know that feeling well lately.
Well, I have arrived in Philadelphia, and it was different. I lived here from 1993-2000, and I stepped off the plane and knew exactly where I was and what I had to do: I strolled unerringly to the train terminal, got on board and paid my fare (which had gone up $2 since I was last here), and rolled off to my destination. It was great. I've missed the familiar litany of stations called out by the porter as you travel through the city, and the ease of just taking one of those big bench seats and relaxing while traveling.
I got off at the 30th Street Station, had to go say hello to the big guy with the wings (Old train stations are built like temples, have you ever noticed? Vast spaces with ceilings lofted far above you, and with fabulous winged art deco icons to get you in the right mood), and then knew exactly what I had to do to get to my hotel — take the Market-Frankford line to University City. It was so liberating to stand in that cathedral of transport and realize that I could easily go anywhere. I could have gone down those stairs and taken a train to Trenton and New York, no sweat, and it would have been a pleasant, stress-free rockin' ride. Anywhere. I was tempted.
Compare the great Eastern urban transit options to our train station in Morris, Minnesota—a sad and shabby relic, abandoned. We've got the wide horizons, but there's a pinched feeling as well, that there is no way out. Cars have closed us off more than they've opened us up, I think. Those horizons become a void rather than a destination. They turn us inward rather than making us cosmopolitan.
Small town America is a fine place to live, but man, I want to see more connectedness than the isolation we've got now. Places like Europe and the East coast always seem to have more openness — and in large part it's due to the fact that you can go anywhere.
Comments
Posted by: Pete Rooke | November 19, 2008 12:14 PM
I would suggest a convertible.
Posted by: Touch of Grey | November 19, 2008 12:18 PM
I found this while I was looking at your train station video.
Maybe you've seen it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-7aAzjs7kM
Posted by: Touch of Grey | November 19, 2008 12:25 PM
Is that YOU at 1:18?
Posted by: Matt Heath | November 19, 2008 12:25 PM
I love train travel. It's the only way to see a place as you travel through it. Aeroplanes and motorcars are barbaric contraptions.
I think your generalisations about European openness are off the mark though. There is plenty of insularity to be found once you get away from the big cities and the university towns.
Posted by: Karen | November 19, 2008 12:25 PM
I've had the same sort of thoughts, even though I've lived in Florida all my life and never really experienced quality public transportation.
I mean, sure we've got Amtrak - twice a day, always late, and the only station nearby is old and rundown. The only reason I've been there is because someone hid a geocache there! Our bus service is coming along, but the places that have great systems are localized. When I lived in Gainesville, I could go anywhere in town quickly, reliably, and cheaply. Heading home, though, required a two hour drive, through (beautiful) old Florida and miles of forest. Certainly an isolating trip!
Anyway, I agree - we need more, better, and easier public transportation. It's good for the planet and the soul =)
Posted by: spgreenlaw | November 19, 2008 12:26 PM
Your train station in Morris is the mirror image of one in West Virginia that some volunteer workers and I waited at after helping repaint houses damaged by floods. The town we were in had been a mining town and those mines, now abandoned, had the bad habit of swelling up with water and flooding the entire community's homes. Most of that town was unemployed and on main street nearly all the shops were closed, washed out, and rotted from the flood waters.
This is all to say that Morris sounds extremely depressing to me, if I am to judge it by it's train station.
Posted by: Glen Davidson | November 19, 2008 12:28 PM
I don't know, we traveled by auto from northwestern Minnesota a fair bit. Trouble is, it generally is a long trip to anywhere.
I think the problem is that there's nowhere much to go in that area, and not the limitations of cars. My Dad and his partner had a plane for a few years, and that really opened up the world. The coasts were still fairly long trips in a small plane, but the middle of the country was opened up.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
Posted by: mh | November 19, 2008 12:36 PM
It's a bit hit and miss in the UK here too. Though I live in the south which has excellent train services - I can get to London, Scotland, France, all very easily; other parts of the UK aren't so lucky. When I used to live in Edinburgh the trains around Scotland weren't great. But we had absolutely amazingly cheap buses that travelled around Scotland nearly 24 hours a day. So it is a bit hit and miss but I think in general European public transport is much better than the American version. Although America is much bigger, which probably makes it tricky.
Posted by: Cheezits | November 19, 2008 12:40 PM
I think I was kind of awed by 30th St. Station when I was a kid. It's big and echoey and busy and you feel like you're really going somewhere.
Have a cheesesteak for me.
Posted by: Touch of Grey | November 19, 2008 12:44 PM
This seems like a perfect time to get out my old copy of
"Zen And the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"
http://virtualschool.edu/mon/Quality/PirsigZen/
"You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.
On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming. That concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing, the same stuff you walk on, it's right there, so blurred you can't focus on it, yet you can put your foot down and touch it anytime, and the whole thing, the whole experience, is never removed from immediate consciousness."
Oh, to be young again...
Posted by: The Science Pundit | November 19, 2008 12:49 PM
Welcome to Philly!
Posted by: Elliott | November 19, 2008 12:49 PM
You hit the nail on the head PZ - I'm an ex-pat Brit exiled to the Upper Mid-West. Don't get me wrong I like the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul ,but they are gilded cages. Go 10 miles from the beltway interstate of I494/694 things get crazy - faintly in the distance you can hear those dueling banjos. It's worse the further south and east you go - soon it's the flinty eyed types who tell you how their great grand-pappy fought in the War of Southern Liberation and even the Unitarians get you to handle poisonous snakes as a test of you faith.
Posted by: SteveN | November 19, 2008 12:53 PM
You're spot on, PZ. We are all trapped in our isolated cells--cars, offices, cubicles--yearning for some sort of connection with our fellow humans, yet finding that the only thing we have in common anymore is television shows. Public space has been annihilated.
Posted by: sjburnt | November 19, 2008 12:54 PM
Agreed. We sorely need mass transit here in Minneapolis.
At the same time, I gotta tell you how much it rejuvenates the mind to go out into the woods a few days and get away from all the people. After a successful deer season I am much happier!
Posted by: william e emba | November 19, 2008 12:54 PM
I hope you enjoyed your four block ride. You then probably had to walk two or three blocks to your hotel. Next time, take the LUCY (Loop through University CitY) bus. (You did check out their website, right?) For what it's worth, the 30 bus connects the station with University City also.
I commuted through 30th Street Station for years. I eventually discovered a side area with a massive frieze displaying the "Spirit of Transportation", and only because one day I very logically and very rapidly deduced there must be a shortcut to the north side men's room through that side area. Boy, was I flabbergasted, but art and I had a happy ending.
On the other hand, Thomas Eakins' The Agnew Clinic is apparently no longer on campus. I recall way back when I had cause to frequently use the Penn biomedical library, and for some reason one day had further cause to take a detour through the campus-members only wing of that building, and after I went down one hallway, there it was. I had no idea. Oh, right, I flashed, that wide open space was probably the very site in the painting.
Years later I learned Jefferson Medical School had The Gross Clinic, when their attempt to sell it out-of-town caused a ruckus.
Posted by: Ronald | November 19, 2008 12:56 PM
Hello to you all,
I'm too lazy to maintain a blog, but I want to share some of my best physics-links with you on my FAST website:
http://www.physicsworks.ca
I welcome your comments and looking forward to add way more valuable url's.
Thanks
Posted by: william e emba | November 19, 2008 12:59 PM
Oh, I just remembered, there is now a "University City" station for some of the regional rail locals, including the airport line. It stops just south of Franklin Field, and might even be next door to your hotel.
Posted by: Imrryr | November 19, 2008 1:01 PM
I lived in Philly for four years (until 2005). It was always a pleasure to go to 30th Street Station in order to catch the train to D.C. While reading the train time tables and marveling at the sights and the sounds of that building, I had the same feelings that you describe here. And I always liked how the trains had romantic names like the "Silver Meteor" or the "California Zephyr".
It's really frustrating to see Congress (cough... John McCain... cough) constantly try to starve Amtrak out of business.
Posted by: Salvatore Patrone | November 19, 2008 1:02 PM
I adore 30th Street Station. Did you notice the makeover that the suburban rail section has undergone since the addition of the Cirrus Tower?
The angel statue is homoerotic and sexy. It a great welcome home greeting.
Posted by: mattand | November 19, 2008 1:04 PM
I found it funny and shocking that someone was writing a blog entry about SEPTA.
Matt A
Posted by: Rieux | November 19, 2008 1:04 PM
Heavily off-topic, but PZ, you've got to read this Kathleen Parker op-ed from yesterday's Washington Post.
Parker has made a career as a consistent right-wing loon, but ever since she was one of the first wingnuts to notice publicly that Empress Palin had no (intellectual) clothes, she's gone further and further off the reservation. Today's WaPo op-ed is entitled "Giving Up on God," and Parker is in favor of the idea that that title denotes.
The essay is a blistering broadside at the Religious Right and the damage it has done to the Republican Party. It's even a tiny bit sympathetic to "secularists" and the "nonreligious"--and it pretty much demands that the RR utterly shut up about God.
Whoa!
Posted by: mattand | November 19, 2008 1:06 PM
Re: #20:
Make that "a positive blog entry about SEPTA."
I'm going to crawl back in my hole now. Ugh..
Matt A
Posted by: Paul Johnson | November 19, 2008 1:10 PM
Yeah my only issue is that navigating to boston by way of a plan to providence was the most annoying thing ever. The people who sold me my bus tickets were very rude and unhelpful as if i should have known what to do. they told me where to go and how it all worked but the whole time they gave as little info as possible while speaking in a really condescending tone like i should know better.
I love the northeast dont get me wrong, and the big cities and all the conveniences/diversity/intelligence of that, but i do wish we could adopt some of the southern hospitality i find when i visit my brother in tennessee.
Oh i also want a bullet train from dc to boston
Posted by: Blake | November 19, 2008 1:11 PM
Can't wait to see you tonight, PZ!
Posted by: Bill | November 19, 2008 1:18 PM
If you have the time, there's no need to fly.
Drive to St. Cloud (or St. Paul for better
train times and a first-class waiting area
if you have a sleeper ticket).
05:14 - depart St. Cloud on the Empire Builder
07:50 - depart St. Paul
15:55 - arrive Chicago
19:05 - depart Chicago on the Capitol Limited
13:30 next day - arrive Washington
15:02 - depart Washington on Regional train 148
16:55 - arrive Philadelphia
You can also go through New York City, or even take
a direct train from Chicago to Philadelphia three
days per week; but you'd arrive much later. The
westbound trip makes more sense through New York.
13:58 - depart Philadelphia on Regional train 176
15:18 - arrive New York
15:45 - depart New York on the Lake Shore Limited
09:45 next day - arrive Chicago
14:15 - depart Chicago on the Empire Builder
10:31 - arrive St. Paul
00:40 - arrive St. Cloud
With a same-day sleeper ticket, either departing
or arriving, you can use a first-class lounge called
the "Club Acela" at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station,
Washington Union Station, and New York Penn Station;
and you can use the "Metropolitan Lounge" at Chicago
Union Station. There's also an unnamed and unstaffed
first-class waiting area at St. Paul's Midway station.
Posted by: uncle frogy | November 19, 2008 1:28 PM
There is a level of activity that helps with that feeling of connectedness of "I could go anywhere" that comes in entering one of the great train stations. I live in L.A. where the transportation systems are almost completely auto base and spread out over the land of mostly one and two story buildings as far as the eye can see. The only real connectedness most feel is electronic. I think it is a testament to that earlier age that they looked to design in their buildings to express that feeling of going any where. The train travel options here are shall we say limited but Union Station down town does give you that same feeling being able to go anywhere. The freeways only make you feel trapped and wanting to flee out of the city to the end of the road. Air ports started out at one time to try to express that sense of free movement but business costs "people moving" , auto traffic, vast parking lots, huge roads and security theater decisions have stifled it.
We are threatening to become tawdry and mundane world in vision.
Posted by: Holbach | November 19, 2008 1:31 PM
So sad to see the abandoned train station in Morris; a sad sight in any city or town that once had regular train service through vibrant stations. I love trains and try to get on one at least once a year to a distant city, not including commuter trains. I love Philadelphia and have been there many times, some stays extending for at least two weeks. A great city, and one served by great train service from the 30th street station and the Reading Terminal. I have rode on the complete SEPTA lines, city and commuter lines to those nice suburbs. Philadelphis is one of a few cities that you can take a train from the airport to downtown, a very convenient alternative to taxis and driving. And great museums of Art and Science to hold one's interests, a great library and many other public interests for the city dweller. One of my favorites is the American Philosophical Society, with many well known members of science represented. Good restaurants, great communications in all fields and amenties to make it a great american city. And graced with the likes of Janet Browne and past greats of science. Regards and honors to the great city of Philadelphia!
Posted by: negentropyeater | November 19, 2008 1:42 PM
Maybe that's something Americans could start thinking about for these hard times, a real high speed rail infrastructure project to link the major cities from the east coast...
Of course, forget private enterprise, they won't do it, but that should be part of this new new deal that Obama should launch.
Just an idea to create jobs, increase long term productivity and save energy.
Posted by: Rheinhard | November 19, 2008 1:44 PM
I grew up in Philly and commuted via SEPTA to Penn, my alma mater, every summer I was in college. It is pleasant to go back now and see how much nicer 30th Street Station looks today than in the mid-late 80s.
I realized that 30th Street pales, however, in comparison to Union Station in Washington DC, which I just passed through for the first time yesterday when I took Amtrak (also a first) down to Washington from Metropark in NJ for a technical conference at the US Naval Observatory. Washington Station looks even more like a cathedral, more vaulted ceiling and gilded inlay everywhere! I *adore* wasted space! And it has a really nice food court on the lower level, better than 30th St (though that is still much better now than when I was in college.) And what a pleasure to ride Amtrak! Much more legroom than on planes, tray tables that give you enough space to really open your laptop, and electric outlets at each seat to plug them into! Plus bathrooms you don't have to fold your arms up in, and a snack bar where you can get up and get a drink or food when you want (and not have to navigate around those annoying aisle-blocking beverage carts)! I wish I traveled in the NE corridor more often!
Also I will add, that being physically on the grounds of the USNO, I couldn't resist flipping the bird in the general direction of Chateau Cheney up close and personal, after first getting some photos taken standing next to the Master Clock!
Posted by: C. L. Hanson | November 19, 2008 1:46 PM
That is so true!! It's one of the main reasons why I moved to Europe. You would expect that having a car would be the ultimate freedom, but really, it was a revelation to me to when I discovered the freedom of being able to go anywhere by train!
I've written about this extensively on my blog; probably my best article about it is here: Living downtown and car-free!!!
Posted by: davidst | November 19, 2008 1:48 PM
I generally don't like going places, particularly because I don't like spending time in transit. Traffic jams make me want to go back home and never leave. This makes visiting my parents (2 hours away) or old friends in New Orleans (1 hour away) very difficult for me. The one exception is big adventurous vacations to other states.
Would I be more likely to make such visits if I could hop on a train? Possibly. It would certainly be an interesting alternative to having to drive.
Posted by: Katrina | November 19, 2008 1:49 PM
PZ, I can sympathize. Living here in southern Italy, the opportunities presented by rail are endless. Why, I'm only 90 minutes away from Rome, and a few hours further would take me into an entirely different country.
But even European rail can't compare to the mass transit system in Japan. That was amazing.
Oh, of course here in Naples, there's the "spice" added by concern over whether or not your car will still be in the station parking lot when you get back. . .
Posted by: Sili | November 19, 2008 1:50 PM
I thought you'd lived in Minnesota forever ...
Sadly, our railroads are falling apart and the shiny new trains that were supposed to have run on them three years ago are still stuck at the factory in Italy. A travesty. And of course the state can't get out of the contract.
Still - I like going by train. I'm almost glad I'm not at uni anymore - nowhere to go: no need to fly.
Not that I don't enjoy flying, too, but I hate airports. If Obama does something those ridiculous 'rules' whose only purpose is to make us scaaaaaaared then he's done more than enough that he can coast through the rest of his precidency in my opinion.
Posted by: James F | November 19, 2008 1:51 PM
Sorry for an OT post, but check out this liveblog from Steve Schafersman, who is covering today's public hearing on the Texas science standards. My favorite picture so far: Barney the Dinosaur with a sign reading "Hey Don McLeroy: How old am I? 4,000 or 64,000,000?"
Posted by: ThatOtherGuy | November 19, 2008 1:57 PM
I noticed that while I was in Ireland. I had no car, but I never felt like I was stuck in one place, because Bus Eireann is so absolutely brilliant. I took a day trip to Dublin at one point, from Limerick, just hopped on a bus. Did the same with Carrigaline and Crosshaven.
Their air's the same way with RyanAir, though it is a bit sketchy! :p
Posted by: Julius | November 19, 2008 2:07 PM
That station in the video looks not entirely unlike the one in my mother's home town. Which is in rural northern Germany.
Posted by: Logicel | November 19, 2008 2:15 PM
That's why I want to remain in Europe, because of the excellent public transportation infrastructure...and because of nationalized medicine...and because religion is largely kept out of the public tax-paying sphere...and because there are such great opportunities to learn many different languages...and because there is a strong push towards environmentalism...geesh, no wonder I adore living here (we won't even get into the many fantastic cuisines and many cultural traditions/aspects)!
America still seems to be the one for economic/educational opportunities though. Since I have completed enough formal education for my satisfaction, and I have my own business, however, those advantages do not have much an edge for me.
Posted by: JB | November 19, 2008 2:21 PM
I think since you're already on the East Coast, you should just hop on an Amtrak and head up to Boston. The people up here could use some Pharyngulation!
Posted by: Emmet Caulfield | November 19, 2008 2:24 PM
That you think Irish public transport is not a total disaster speaks volumes about what you must be used to. I live 70km north of Stockholm and can reliably get from my apartment in the boonies to Stockholm Central in exactly one hour because the buses and trains actually do this really weird thing, entirely unheard of in Dublin, called "arriving on time". In Dublin, OTOH, I lived in the centre of the city and was much faster cycling to my parents' house (~15km), in spite of there being a door-to-door bus route, because the timetable was fiction, traffic was terrible, and the arrival time of buses a complete crap-shoot.
Regular reliable public transport is absolutely fantastic and it makes an enormous difference to one's quality of life. If someone had said that to me 3 years ago, before I moved here and actually experienced it, I would've laughed in their face.
Posted by: Walton | November 19, 2008 2:36 PM
America still seems to be the one for economic/educational opportunities though.
EXACTLY! When a country decides to move towards a socialist nanny state, it squeezes business harder - stifling entrepreneurship and the flow of the market, and therefore cutting off economic opportunity.
Imagine you have country A and country B, which are neighbours. They have good relations with one another, and open borders, so it's simple to migrate from one to the other.
Now imagine country A introduces a comprehensive system of socialised healthcare, free higher education, generous social security benefits, free prescriptions, etc. To achieve this, it introduces a progressive tax system, squeezing the wealthy harder, and imposes high corporation tax rates. It also passes large amounts of legislation to protect workers' welfare, and promotes strong trade unions, pushing up the cost of labour.
Country B, in contrast, maintains low tax rates, a free market economy, and minimal government intervention.
If you're a talented entrepreneur eager to start a business, where would you be more likely to set up? Considering that in Country B you will pay lower taxes, have lower labour costs and have capital more easily available, you're much more likely to set up in Country B. And, of course, you'll need people to work in your business - so you'll likely poach skilled workers, who've benefited from Country A's free education, to work for your business in Country B. So the wealth and jobs flow into Country B.
In contrast, if you're someone who relies on the state for your living - whether a public employee, student, or welfare recipient - you're likely to move to Country A, where you can receive more from the state.
What is the obvious outcome? Country A will be full of students, retired people, ill people, welfare claimants, and families with lots of children - the people who benefit from generous state allowances for welfare, health and education. As the children grow up and the students graduate, of course, they'll largely move to Country B, where there are more jobs and they can earn a better living. In contrast, the productive people - entrepreneurs, skilled workers - will be living in Country B, where there are lots of jobs and salaries for the taking.
Tell me, which country is going to do better economically in the long run? And which is going to be, in the long run, unsustainable?
Posted by: Nerd of Redhead | November 19, 2008 2:44 PM
I thought we were through with the libertarian tripe. You guys need to learn how to turn it off.
Posted by: Rheinhard | November 19, 2008 2:48 PM
Walton - except all the very best and brightest will want to stay in country A: the best researchers will want to stay there because there will be a better educated pool of students and better university facilities since in country B only the rich can afford higher education. The cultural benefits of country A will also be better so certainly all the creative people will live there and the easy transportation will make living in A much more pleasant. Most of the corporate CEOs will try to run their minimum wage sweatshops in B but maintain the palatial residence villas in A.
Posted by: Rey Fox | November 19, 2008 2:52 PM
Try living in Boise, 300 miles from the nearest comparably-sized city. And the trains don't come through here anymore, either. Our train station is kept up well since it's a local landmark, but Amtrak shut down the SLC-Portland run in the '90s. I love road-tripping, and even though there really is a lot to see in Idaho, it's still something of a drag to realize that you have to be in the car for a day or more to really go anywhere else. I had to break my boycott of the airlines last year (after they instituted the plastic bag rule, I had to fart in their general direction) to go to San Jose, because otherwise, I would have spent a good three days total in the car to be there for just under two days.
Zen & The Art:
"On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. "
Now just imagine doing it without a big ungodly loud engine under your ass! Pedal power!
*waits for the walking snob to show up*
Posted by: freelunch | November 19, 2008 2:53 PM
Walton, your little thought experiment ignores so many variables. It's almost as if you have to cheat to get your preferred outcome to be the result.
Posted by: Walton | November 19, 2008 2:55 PM
...the best researchers will want to stay there because there will be a better educated pool of students and better university facilities since in country B only the rich can afford higher education.
But those researchers working in the private sector, for commercial ends, will likely move to country B, where there are more jobs and higher salaries in the private sector.
You're right, of course, that academics and public-sector researchers will stay in country A, and that country A will expend more money on government-funded research and pure scientific advancement. Which will be a great expense to country A's taxpayers; and once it produces useful results, it will promptly be used by the private entrepreneurs and engineers of country B for practical commercial ends. See the point I'm making here?
Posted by: stogoe | November 19, 2008 2:56 PM
A couple years ago I took the Empire Builder (what an inspiring name) from St Paul out to Glacier and enjoyed every minute of it. The worst part was having to drive to St Paul to get to the Amtrak.
Posted by: spgreenlaw | November 19, 2008 2:59 PM
Oh my god. What is with some of the libertarians here? Any chance they get they derail a thread for the sake of their freaking politics. Sometimes I think they are worse than the religious trolls.
Posted by: Emmet Caulfield | November 19, 2008 3:01 PM
Re #40, #45
Paging Nick Gotts. Paging Nick Gotts.
Your patient has escaped again.
Posted by: Matt Heath | November 19, 2008 3:16 PM
@Walton: Seriously, get your own blog. Over-long comments are very annoying.
Posted by: Bill | November 19, 2008 3:22 PM
>
> ... I took the Empire Builder
> (what an inspiring name) ...
>
It was the nickname of James J. Hill,
the nineteenth-century robber baron
who built the Great Northern Railway.
A train named the Empire Builder has been run on mostly the same route by the Great Northern, Burlington Northern, and Amtrak continually since June 11, 1929.
...
Don’t get me started. 8-)
Posted by: Epikt | November 19, 2008 3:29 PM
The point you seem to be making is that country B's entrepreneurs feel a sense of entitlement with respect to the R&D from country A, even though they would not fund it themselves. Where's that rock-ribbed self-reliance you glibertarians are always yammering about?
Posted by: Longtime Lurker | November 19, 2008 3:34 PM
(Old train stations are built like temples, have you ever noticed? Vast spaces with ceilings lofted far above you, and with fabulous winged art deco icons to get you in the right mood),
The destruction of the original Penn Station in NYC is widely seen as a disaster of monumental (sorry!) proportions. It was one of the major catalysts of the landmarks preservation movement, along with Robert Moses' insane proposal to run superhighways across Manhattan at 125th, 42nd, and 14th Streets.
Famed art historian Vincent Scully of Yale University wrote of this barbaric demolition, "One entered the city like a god; one scuttles in now like a rat."
As far as the car goes, it provides the illusion of freedom (much like Libertarianism does)... while tying you inextricably to multinational corporations and autocratic regimes.
It's the bicycle that truly represents freedom, transportation-wise.
Posted by: kelw | November 19, 2008 3:36 PM
I'm planning to do a trip around the states by rail in the second half of next year, and am thoroughly looking forward to it. Everything I've read online has made me more excited (apart from Amtrak's tendency to be late, but I'm generally pretty patient, so it doesn't worry me a great deal).
Posted by: negentropyeater | November 19, 2008 3:41 PM
Walton,
Gee, it's as simple as that Walton, the jobs will "flow" into country B.
Because of course, the only ones who decide in your simplistic reasoning are the entrepreneurs.
The job seekers, where would they rather work ? In country A which offers a comprehensive system of socialised healthcare, free higher education, generous social security benefits, free prescriptions, etc, or in country B ?
With your line of reasoning, the best system is the one which is best for the entrepreneur, ie where labour costs are the cheapest. And that's it. Perfect. Simple. Nice society. Clean. Easy.
Don't you think it's time to grow up a bit Walton ?
You're so naïve, it's unbelievable !
Posted by: Randy | November 19, 2008 3:45 PM
PZ,
Feel free to grab a train to NY. We'll leave a light on. In fact, I'll bet we could muster up a fair number of people willing to buy you a drink.
Posted by: The Swiss | November 19, 2008 3:46 PM
ahhh... Switzerland! We have panoramic train lines that twist through the mountains, to the tourist's delight. I've been crossing the Alps twice every other week-end, as a student, getting back from Zurich to my Southern hometown. I still haven't tired of the view.
Now I still live in Zurich, where, some say (some of us at least:-), there's the best urban public transport system. What would you want a car for?
--
ah, yeah: trains are quite expensive though, especially for foreigners who don't get salaries in Swiss francs and don't really want a season-ticket.
Posted by: Randy | November 19, 2008 3:49 PM
kelw @53,
I'm hoping to take my sisters on a train trip in the spring. Any suggestions for North By Northwest style travel?
Posted by: Wicked Lad | November 19, 2008 3:52 PM
Welcome to Philadelphia, PZ!
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, Kot, OM | November 19, 2008 3:53 PM
Fucking Walton. Every god damn thread turns into a libertarian wankfest.
Posted by: Janine ID AKA The Lone Drinker | November 19, 2008 3:58 PM
Matt Heath, a couple of weeks ago I asked the same thing. The reply, in essence was the cost and that there is more traffic here.
It is one thing when the topic shifts, it happens. But having this kid constantly try (and sometime succeed) to hijack threads is as annoying as his recent conversion to libertarianism.
Posted by: Longtime Lurker | November 19, 2008 3:59 PM
Any suggestions for North By Northwest style travel?
Randy, do you really want to be chased in an open field by a biplane?
Posted by: llewelly | November 19, 2008 4:02 PM
Which has a track priority lower than garbage.No that's not snark; that's the literal truth. If a train full of garbage - or, for that matter, anything not passengers - has an unexpected need to use piece of track amtrack is scheduled for, amtrack loses.
Posted by: Epikt | November 19, 2008 4:08 PM
Rev. BigDumbChimp, Kot, OM:
Fundamentalists have to proselytize. They can't help themselves.
Posted by: negentropyeater | November 19, 2008 4:09 PM
The most annoying, I think, is that the countless number of arguments so far, maybe a few hundred by empty number of participants, seem to have been without any effect on him, like pissing in a violin.
Posted by: Kel | November 19, 2008 4:12 PM
He's done it again? Fucking hell. Isn't there a Ron Paul forum where he can post?Posted by: spgreenlaw | November 19, 2008 4:13 PM
Seriously. I can point to a number of discussions here where afterward I was able to say I learned something, or on one occasion, that I was almost completely wrong. The libertarian trolls, just like the christian trolls, never do that because they are committed to a "truth" that's far greater than any fact.
Posted by: Sven DiMilo | November 19, 2008 4:18 PM
I certainly consider Vin Scully an artist--used to catch every Dodger game on the radio when I lived in LA--but I had no idea he was affiliated with Yale.what?
Posted by: Randy | November 19, 2008 4:18 PM
Longtime Lurker @61,
Well, not that so much as shacking up with Eva Marie Saint.
Posted by: Matt Heath | November 19, 2008 4:44 PM
Walton: If what Janine ID AKA The Lone Drinker says is true, then note: a) The cost of a blog at blogger or wordpress.com is the same as the cost of commenting here (free). b) people who free-ride, such as leeching off someone else's traffic to get themselves heard are exactly why (at least the näive version you push of) libertarianism fails. Do you really want to discredit libertarianism?Posted by: Touch of Grey | November 19, 2008 4:48 PM
"Now just imagine doing it without a big ungodly loud engine under your ass!"
That's the best part of it.
Clearly, you've never had 1200cc Harley "shovelhead" between your legs!
It's almost better than coming...
Posted by: Loren Petrich | November 19, 2008 5:06 PM
Thanx, PZ :D It brings to mind such fond memories of living in Philadelphia. I didn't have much money, so I couldn't travel as much as I'd wanted to. But I remember those rock-steady regional-rail cars, and I remember the Market-Frankford subway-elevated trains. And I remember going by Amtrak to DC for day trips, mostly to visit the National Air and Space Museum.
Ithaca, NY wasn't that great -- the closest Amtrak station is in Syracuse, and I never bothered to try that, preferring to go by Greyhound to Philly.
The more urban parts of the Bay Area are nice, especially San Francisco, though farther out, it's lots and lots of suburban sprawl. But at least it has BART, a nice regional urban-rail system, and a nice light-rail system in SF (not just cable cars there!). I also remember going to Sacramento on Amtrak California's Capitol trains.
I now live in a small town in Oregon, and I've gone by train to and from Portland and Seattle -- nice ride. And I've gone to the Bay Area on Amtrak's Coast Starlight trains. It's rather slow going through the California-Oregon mountains, but when going north, I get magnificent views of them (northward: daytime, southward: nighttime).
-
Minneapolis now has a light-rail line going from downtown to its airport, and there's one being planned from downtown there to downtown St. Paul. Minneapolis is also getting a northward commuter-rail line, the Northstar, which should start next year.
As to Morris, some railroad lines still run through there, but I don't know how active they are.
Posted by: pacoyogi | November 19, 2008 5:17 PM
Welcome Back to Philly PZ!!!! Hope to see you in a bar this week!!!
Posted by: Longtime Lurker | November 19, 2008 5:26 PM
Well, not that so much as shacking up with Eva Marie Saint.
You know, Randy, she's still around, so maybe you could make it happen... Jeffrey Hayden may be pissed, though.
Posted by: Tony Sidaway | November 19, 2008 5:26 PM
St. Pancras, London.
From here you can go anywhere in mainland Europe by rail.
Eurostar at St Pancras Jan 2008
That lovely 243 ft span was designed by William Henry Barlow Rowland Mason Ordish in the 1860s.
Posted by: 'Tis Himself | November 19, 2008 5:38 PM
I loved my old bike. I had a '66 BMW R69S (600cc) that I rode everywhere. Of course, that's when I was young and dumb. Now that I'm old and dumb, I prefer my car. Among other things, it's weatherproof and has a working heater.
Posted by: bernard quatermass | November 19, 2008 5:53 PM
"I generally don't like going places, particularly because I don't like spending time in transit."
I have felt this way more and more, but I think it was fueled a LOT by the fact that my last job involved a 2-hour commute (each way). I dealt with it for 4 years and am glad that chapter of my life is closed (it would have been different, I am sure, had the job not been a dreadful one, to boot).
And as far as I'm concerned trains became much less fun once cell phones became so #)*QWE#!%)*#%!@!@)( common. I have an iPod now, but I think it stinks that I essentially HAVE TO use it if I want to be able to concentrate on anything. But I've been ranting about that for years, so I won't go on. Really. I promise.
Posted by: nnpowell | November 19, 2008 5:53 PM
kelw @ #53 I did that a little over a year ago - used a month long railpass to hit a bunch of Fark parties. Found the train to be far more civilized than a plane. Couple of tips:
1) Avoid the dining car. I got spoiled on my canadian leg (good food, reasonable prices) and tried the Amtrak fare based off of that (more expensive, and ravioli shouldn't crunch). Don't be like me. Pack some munchies.
2) You already mentioned it, but be sure to pad the time tables so you don't have to make any short switchovers. Usually I was less than an hour late, but the trip through Alabama ended up over three hours late.
3) If you're using a railpass which requires you to book a leg through Canada, the trip over the Rockies is gorgeous, and try the house stout at the Jasper Brewing Co.
llewelly @ #62 Frickin' Canadians one-upped us again - last round of contracts they got passenger service priority over freight.
Posted by: JJR | November 19, 2008 5:58 PM
Sad and forlorn as your station is, be glad it's still standing. The city of College Station, Texas (named for its station, ironically) was torn down some time ago. AmTrak passenger trains still go through but they don't stop anymore there.
I loved living in Tuebingen, Germany where I could step out from the front door of my dorm, walk down to the bus station, ride down to the train station, get to Frankfurt by way of Stuttgart, and from there to Berlin, and from Berlin Bahnhof Zoo go via S-bahn/U-bahn and wind up standing on the front lawn of the Reichstag, never once having to use a car. That was pretty friggin' cool. Of course, Germany has its backwater areas, too, for which car (or bus, if you're lucky) is the only way to get there.
Where I currently live, in Denton, Texas, I am eagerly waiting for the DART system to be built up and finally reach downtown Denton. I looked at the planning maps, and the new station, once it's built, will be within easy walking distance of my apartment. Which means easy access to Dallas without having to drive, which is a good thing.
It'll be really great once the lines get built out to DFW airport as well.
Hyperindividualistic car culture is really one of America's worst practices and I am hopefully it is a way of life that changing circumstances will eventually force us to give up on, and it will go back to being what it was--a luxury for the rich. I hope that an Obama administration will include rebuilding the national rail infrastructure part of his platform. But even if he doesn't, I'm hopeful regional systems will be re-built and then patched back together with a re-emerging national rail net. Mass rail will have to take over once the airlines completely collapse, which they have been teetering on the edge of doing for some time now.
Posted by: kelw | November 19, 2008 5:58 PM
Randy @57,
I have no idea, I'm in Australia and have yet to even visit the US, so everything I've read about rail travel in the states is via googling. I bought a travel guide (http://www.usa-by-rail.com/), but I haven't received it yet.