Katrina
18 - 25 August, Ian
So this is my first time back on line after
sticking my mac in the mail in Fairbanks and picking it up again at a hotel in
Chicago. Now we're flying out of the States, re-routed through Houston to avoid
the hurricane (Katrina) that's currently pounding the Florida
coast.
In our last couple of days we've seen the best and the worst of what the US can be. Heidi's bad tooth became infected again and she and I spent half a day getting politely sent away from a number of dental practices in Fairbanks, none of whom would see her. Finally, we went to the local hospital, who at least gave us a prescription for antibiotics; with the medicine they advocated costing over $200 you can see why everyone here needs medical insurance. (We ended up getting pharmacologically-identical capsules for a quarter of the cost.)
With one day to go I discovered the only internet cafe in town. It's cheap and comfortable, has the best coffee and sells The New York Times (I haven't been able to find non-AK papers apart from USA Today, if that counts, anywhere else in Fairbanks). Also atmospheric conditions conspired to give us our best views yet over to the Alaska Range from the lodge, though, sadly, we didn't get to see the Aurora Borealis here.
In the Times I read a feature article on the creationists, or Intelligent Design (ID) crowd, as they now style themselves. They can call themselves what they like (they also use the tell-the-controversy banner) but they're still dumb and, no matter what they say, clearly motivated by ideology rather than science: after all, they're not "telling the controversy" about the unsolved questions of, say, fluid mechanics (such as Gray's paradox regarding the impossibility of dolphins swimming at the speed they do, given the equations of the science). Arthur Koestler wrote well about the futility of trying to engaging with the zealots of a closed-minded system a long time ago. Like Holocaust deniers and Kyoto-rejectors, these guys make up their minds about the facts a priori. The whole creationist scene is just something I'm glad we don't have on any scale at home. We couldn't: apart from wider cultural considerations, no one has the money to support it. The lobbyists behind this bring to bear huge resources: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, for example, has donated $1M to a transport project run by one the main bodies advocating Intelligent Design (the Discovery Institute) and has pledged $10M more. Another guy from Microsoft, who actually took an interest in what we were up at work a few years ago, has set up another foundation - AMDG (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriem) - styled after the last pope's stationary, which also funds Christian advocacy.
Another group over here inflicting their dream on the rest of us are the so-called Pro-Life lobby. We saw them out in force the other day, making patients and clinicians in the most difficult and stressful of all circumstances feel even worse about the difficulties they face. I dislike them more than anything - even more than for their moral arrogance - for their lack of human compassion. Most of them were herding their kids along, as if their placards weren't already sufficient evidence of their neurology-level insensitivity. It's taken two months in the US for me to realise what it is for our society to be European.
Yesterday we flew to Chicago, which I love, and I wish that we were able to stay there longer. As with Boston we only overnighted, this time with no chance of a return any time soon. We had dinner at Giordano's, where we had the unique (as far as I know) Chicago pizza. If you haven't ever had one they seem to bake a regular pastry base blind with a high crust and slurp in the ingredients you ask for; it really is the "deep pizza pie" from That's Amore.
The big cities in the US - New York, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago - are probably the spots that I'll always want to come back to. Paula noted that Chicago is like Manhattan only nicer, and I agree with her with the proviso that nicer may not be the same as better.
En route to Chicago Zoe left her camera on the plane, which left for San Francisco at more or less exactly the time when we realised what had happened. The Alaska Airlines staff were almost creatively unhelpful (only outdone by the lengths that some of their colleagues in Fairbanks went to to try to get us to miss our flight) and I have no idea whether we'll get the camera back. In the meantime, we can't be in The Galapagos with too few cameras so we bought Zoe a new one this morning. I had a great purchasing experience at the Ritz store, which made up for the failings of the Alaksa Airlines baggage loss specialists.
So now we're in George Bush International waiting for our new connection to Quito. For all of the insanity of the US it is a great country and I can understand why half a million people each year come over here and take the pledge of allegiance - like our cab driver this morning who fled from the wars in Eritrea 14 years ago and has been in Chicago ever since. I don't think I'll be one of them but I'm sure we'll be returning. It's quite likely that we'll return to Alaska, probably in Winter next time for the contrast. I'd like to see everyone bumbling along in the minus 40's. They seem well-adapted - they have power outlets at the parking bays and plugs trailing out from under cars' hoods to stop any of them turning into an ice block and avoiding the "square tire" phenomenon.
I've posted a few snaps from our last couple of months here on our homepage - I hope you like them. Newsletters will be late this month, I'm afraid.
I've no idea whether we'll get any connectivity this coming month. My guess is that I'll find a way to post something once or twice. We'll see.
In our last couple of days we've seen the best and the worst of what the US can be. Heidi's bad tooth became infected again and she and I spent half a day getting politely sent away from a number of dental practices in Fairbanks, none of whom would see her. Finally, we went to the local hospital, who at least gave us a prescription for antibiotics; with the medicine they advocated costing over $200 you can see why everyone here needs medical insurance. (We ended up getting pharmacologically-identical capsules for a quarter of the cost.)
With one day to go I discovered the only internet cafe in town. It's cheap and comfortable, has the best coffee and sells The New York Times (I haven't been able to find non-AK papers apart from USA Today, if that counts, anywhere else in Fairbanks). Also atmospheric conditions conspired to give us our best views yet over to the Alaska Range from the lodge, though, sadly, we didn't get to see the Aurora Borealis here.
In the Times I read a feature article on the creationists, or Intelligent Design (ID) crowd, as they now style themselves. They can call themselves what they like (they also use the tell-the-controversy banner) but they're still dumb and, no matter what they say, clearly motivated by ideology rather than science: after all, they're not "telling the controversy" about the unsolved questions of, say, fluid mechanics (such as Gray's paradox regarding the impossibility of dolphins swimming at the speed they do, given the equations of the science). Arthur Koestler wrote well about the futility of trying to engaging with the zealots of a closed-minded system a long time ago. Like Holocaust deniers and Kyoto-rejectors, these guys make up their minds about the facts a priori. The whole creationist scene is just something I'm glad we don't have on any scale at home. We couldn't: apart from wider cultural considerations, no one has the money to support it. The lobbyists behind this bring to bear huge resources: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, for example, has donated $1M to a transport project run by one the main bodies advocating Intelligent Design (the Discovery Institute) and has pledged $10M more. Another guy from Microsoft, who actually took an interest in what we were up at work a few years ago, has set up another foundation - AMDG (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriem) - styled after the last pope's stationary, which also funds Christian advocacy.
Another group over here inflicting their dream on the rest of us are the so-called Pro-Life lobby. We saw them out in force the other day, making patients and clinicians in the most difficult and stressful of all circumstances feel even worse about the difficulties they face. I dislike them more than anything - even more than for their moral arrogance - for their lack of human compassion. Most of them were herding their kids along, as if their placards weren't already sufficient evidence of their neurology-level insensitivity. It's taken two months in the US for me to realise what it is for our society to be European.
Yesterday we flew to Chicago, which I love, and I wish that we were able to stay there longer. As with Boston we only overnighted, this time with no chance of a return any time soon. We had dinner at Giordano's, where we had the unique (as far as I know) Chicago pizza. If you haven't ever had one they seem to bake a regular pastry base blind with a high crust and slurp in the ingredients you ask for; it really is the "deep pizza pie" from That's Amore.
The big cities in the US - New York, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago - are probably the spots that I'll always want to come back to. Paula noted that Chicago is like Manhattan only nicer, and I agree with her with the proviso that nicer may not be the same as better.
En route to Chicago Zoe left her camera on the plane, which left for San Francisco at more or less exactly the time when we realised what had happened. The Alaska Airlines staff were almost creatively unhelpful (only outdone by the lengths that some of their colleagues in Fairbanks went to to try to get us to miss our flight) and I have no idea whether we'll get the camera back. In the meantime, we can't be in The Galapagos with too few cameras so we bought Zoe a new one this morning. I had a great purchasing experience at the Ritz store, which made up for the failings of the Alaksa Airlines baggage loss specialists.
So now we're in George Bush International waiting for our new connection to Quito. For all of the insanity of the US it is a great country and I can understand why half a million people each year come over here and take the pledge of allegiance - like our cab driver this morning who fled from the wars in Eritrea 14 years ago and has been in Chicago ever since. I don't think I'll be one of them but I'm sure we'll be returning. It's quite likely that we'll return to Alaska, probably in Winter next time for the contrast. I'd like to see everyone bumbling along in the minus 40's. They seem well-adapted - they have power outlets at the parking bays and plugs trailing out from under cars' hoods to stop any of them turning into an ice block and avoiding the "square tire" phenomenon.
I've posted a few snaps from our last couple of months here on our homepage - I hope you like them. Newsletters will be late this month, I'm afraid.
I've no idea whether we'll get any connectivity this coming month. My guess is that I'll find a way to post something once or twice. We'll see.
Posted: Fri - August 26, 2005 at 01:52 AM
Quick Links
Links
Archives
XML/RSS Feed
Calendar
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
Categories
Comments powered by
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Feb 08, 2006 06:20 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Feb 08, 2006 06:20 PM