I’m a special snowflake – Atlanta born and bred. You won’t find too many of us so I’ve taken it upon myself to share my wisdom on being a true Atlantan. Continue reading
Travel
115 posts
This is a recipe for banh xeo, aka sizzling Saigon pancakes. The story is about how we had them in Vietnam on our trip there earlier this year. Continue reading
Jason deCaires Taylor – Vicissitudes – Moilinere Bay, Grenada – 2011
Sculptures placed in the bay are forming a new reef. Continue reading
Imagine waking up to this view. Continue reading
Speak of a tourist visit to Japan, and inevitably people will ask about places like Tokyo (for mine, the most amazing city in the world), Kyoto (gorgeous, worth as much time as you can afford to spend there) or Hiroshima (haven’t been, but there’s definitely more to it than its nuclear scars). Perhaps Kobe (great beef, and the earthquake museum is a must-see), Osaka (boringly industrial), Sapporo (cold) or Nara (doe, a deer, LOTS of deer). But some of the best places to visit in Japan are a little away from the usual sights. One such is Kanazawa, the highlight of my own time in Japan.
So. Public transit. Bus, subway, light rail. Do taxis count as public transportation? What’s it like where you live? Do you take it? Continue reading
Check out these incredible photos of Scotland and Northern Ireland taken by a camera-savvy motorcyclist.
If you want to be skinny, healthy and not suffer from soul-crushing loneliness, researchers say you should try living closer to where you work.
Those stressful hours spent listening to drive-time radio do not merely make us less happy. They also make us less healthy. The Gallup survey, for instance, found that one in three workers with a 90-minute daily commute has recurrent neck or back problems. Our behaviors change as well, conspiring to make us less fit: When we spend more time commuting, we spend less time exercising and fixing ourselves meals at home.
So economists who have studied commute times and how they affect us have found that we’re basically tricking ourselves into thinking we want a big backyard in the suburbs. Apparently what we really want is more free time to pursue our own happiness in an Escape From New York-esque urban hellscape.
This weekend marks the unofficial start of camping season. America’s parks and wilderness areas will be fill with city dwellers trying to get some peace, quiet, and fresh air. There is nothing more relaxing then lying in a hammock by a clear lake or watching wildlife on a remote trail. Continue reading
It is a mathematical fact that the shortest average wait time is to have a single queue with multiple servers. Yet there are so many institutions that insist on multiple queues with multiple servers. There is some psychology behind this though.
Multiple queues gives people the impression of a shorter queues since each queue may only have a few people in it. Would you rather wait in line with 100 people or with 10 people? It’s a trick question because you didn’t take into account the number of service points for each queue. Walt Disney figured this out long ago. But let’s take a look at the two most common multiple queue scenarios the average person faces and how to pick the right queue for those times when you aren’t dealing with someone as smart as Mr. Disney. Continue reading