Slashdot Mirror
Seeking Interesting Sites When Travelling the World?
An anonymous reader asks: "Is there anyone besides me who likes to travel and look at engineering projects? When I first read Neal Stephenson's Wired article on his trip around the world to watch an intercontinental fiber cable being built from England to Japan (still available at HotWired) I knew this was what I wanted to do with my vacation days. Space launch sites, high-speed rail lines, container ports, technology museums - I've tried them all. Does Slashdot have suggestions for destinations, or for web sites where people share their experiences."
sPh
I'd vote for teh Chicago Museum of Science and Industry (see the everything2 node). It's cool, they have a WW2 U-Boat you can tour, the first desil-electric bullet train in the U.S., some cool airplanes, an engine from a V2 rocket, some cool old cars, a complete scale model of all the railroad connections in Chicago, and much much more...
In general, it rules, and it's only $9 to get in for the day.
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Play Six Pack Man. I
Canada Science and Technology Museum
I went twice this year, and it has everything from trains, to boats, to satelites.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
Don't just look at it walk across it. Walk over it! The tour guides know their stuff, they'll tell you lots of intresting things about its contruction: why it hasn't rusted away, how it supports itself, and how many rivets were used.
Some of the best money I have spent.
"Go into the hall of mirrors and have a bloody hard look at yourself" - HG Nelson
A group of us used to do the same thing you mentioned, and we've been to their conferences and tours. One of our friends subscribed to all their newsletters and journals, and passed them around. The ads in there alone will point you to other organizations just like it. It's amazing.
I smiled while reading your description of awe-inspiring marvels of the world. I must say that being able to run a 5K race on the Great Wall of China was most amazing experience I've ever had.
I highly recommend the London Transport Museum, but probably not for the reasons train buffs (railfans?) would suggest. It's a spectacular repository for historical graphic design . . . .
It's over now. That, or it's go time. One of the two. acts of gord
If we are going in this vein then I would have to suggest Angkor wat, in Cambodia. It has been described as one of the most amazing structures concieved by the human mind. For something more moddern you could try the petronas towers in Malaysia. Tallest buildings in the world, even if they only let you go up to the bridge. Or a bit closer to home (if you are in the US or Canida)is the CN tower and Gloden Gate bridge A bit closer to home if you are in the UK I would say Eden and the Faulkirk Weel, not to mention the london eye. All are great enginearing feets in their own right. I am sure you will get more replys that you can see in a lifetime so I will leave it there.
No, before they finish the dam, and flood one of the more beautiful spots in china, displacing millions of pesants, and forever changing the geography, ecology, and economy of the region. Close the dam up so it blocks water.
Sex - Find It
There are a number of fascinating museums and sites in the UK that chronical the industrial revolution. Start at Ironbridge which is literally where it all started - the first industrial scale ironworks were here. Also take in the National Railway Museum in York which details the rise and development of the railways. The Science Museum in London is a more general review of science and industry, but includes some fascinating exhibits on (mainly British) science of that time. Finally - representing an earlier pivotal period - is the Greenwich Royal Observatory also in London that tells the story of the development of accurate clocks that allowed global navigation and exploration.
The UK is full of historical sites of that era, when Britain lead the world in science and industry. A historically-inclined geek's paradise.
Sailing over the event horizon
> Is there anyone besides me who likes to travel
3 19%40fnald.fnal.gov&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain
> and look at engineering projects?
Frederik Pohl, the great science fiction writer,
for one. He recently published a book called
*Chasing Science* which is a guide for people like
you (and me).
Fred describes himself as a "science fan" and
he's fascinated with science and technology
as spectator sports. He's visited labs, digs,
observatories, volcanoes, museums, and historic
sites. He also attends technical conferences.
Good homework for a hard-SF writer, to be sure,
but to Fred it's pure fun.
In the book Fred describes some possible
destinations, tells a lot of his science-tourist
stories, and provides lists of places to visit.
It would be a great gift for a kid who's gobbled
up books about his favorite science topics and
wants to find ways to learn more.
By the way, I really liked the Stephenson article,
too, but "hacker tourism" is scarcely new. Here's
something I wrote when it was first published:
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=1996Dec3.133
Summary: Charles Babbage did it, too.
Bill Higgins
Fermilab
Check out http://www.atomictourist.com
Someone suggested SLAC. I'd add to that Fermilab, in Batavia, Illinois, not too far from Chicago. They have a circular ring (4mi circumference, I think), and a buffalo herd to keep the grass short..
Some slashbots will moan and groan about the NSA...
But I've been to their museum, and it is incredibly
interesting. Don't be dissuaded by the outside either!
http://www.nsa.gov/museum/index.html
There are better places to go in Chicagoland if you're interested in technology history. Like the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, where the first web browser (Mosaic) was developed. Or the University of Chicago, the site of the Manhattan Project, where the first atomic pile was developed and the first artificial nuclear chain reaction occurred. Or the Fermi national accelerator laboratory. Or the Argonne national laboratory. Or the Northwestern University Institute for Nanotechnology. Or the Northwestern University's International Center for Advanced Internet Research. The first sandwich transistor was also designed here, while William Shockley was in town for New Year's Eve, 1947/8.
Also, the MoSaI is a damn sight more than $9, especially now that they encourage you to buy "city passes", which are a combined ticket for the MoSaI, the Field museum, the Shedd aquarium, the Adler planetarium, the Art Institute, the Historical Society, and probably a whole fucking slew of other things.
The Big Dig _is_ really cool, although right now it's just a major construction project that is not quite complete. One of its drawbacks is that most aspects of it will become available for use right at the same time. By now the project has been underway for over ten years, and although it is mostly finished, a relatively small amount of it is being used. It just worked out that way because each part of the project relies on the completion of other parts.
Since this was such a huge undertaking, the state went all-out on the PR front. The practical upshot of this is an amazing web site that changes constantly and is always interesting to look at when you have some time to kill.
http://www.bigdig.com
-- Have you ever noticed that at trade shows, Microsoft is always the company that is handing out stress balls?
This will never get mod'd high enough for anyone to see it... but, I lived abroad for a couple of years and toured all over Europe and S. Africa. Motorcycling the Pyrenees, drinking beer with elephants, and exploring the castles of Prague never could compare with the wonder of the Parisian sewers. Les Musee d' le Egouts, about a block from the Eiffel Tower takes you through a live working sewer. They had a ton of cool info on how during the 19th century London and other cities had the same thing.
It was without a doubt the coolest thing I've seen thus far. And my female companion didn't even get disgusted. Mostly grey water from sinks and whatnot anyway.
A geniune mine shaft dug underneath the museum, that cronicals the modernisation of mining as you progress.
Other highlights: technical toys, a BWM robot, and the the first jet aircraft to be produced in quantity the Messerschmitt Me 262
1) Big Brutus, in West Mineral, Kansas - the second largest electric shovel in the world, and (IIRC) the only one still in (more or less) one piece. If you are in Branson, MO you are a couple of hours out.
2) The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, Hutchinson, Kansas. See where Apollo 13 and Liberty Bell were restored, and (in a couple of months) watch them restore a V2 rocket (and even help them do it!). (While here, if it isn't Sunday, get directions to The Carrage Crossing restaurant).
3) EBR-1 the world's first breeder reactor, and the first reactor to make electric power, just outside Arco, Idaho (first city to be powered by nuclear power) (while here, you can go through Craters of the Moon National Park, one of the places that the Apollo astronauts trained. Stay in the DK inn, and you have a good chance of staying in one of the rooms they stayed in).
4) The Very Large Array, outside Socorro, New Mexico. While here, you could also go through White Sands National Park.
5) The London Bridge V2.1 in Lake Havasu, Nevada, where the entire London Bridge was relocated to.
6) The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial a.k.a. The Saint Lewis Arch - there is quite a museum below the arch, and I found it mind-blowing to realize that Saint Lewis is an ocean port.
7) Mount Rushmore National Park - go through the Rushmore Borglum Story for how they carved it and the tricks Borglum used to make the faces look more alive. While there, stop by....
8) Crazy Horse Memorial to see such a work being created.
9) Mesa Verde National Park, near Cortez, Colorado, and Walnut Canyon National Monument, near Flagstaff, AZ, are great examples of how people can eake out a living and build a city where you wouldn't think anybody could survive.
Of course, just look at The National Parks Service website for all sorts of cool places to go.
www.eFax.com are spammers
In Munich, Germany
:)
This museum is HUUUUUUGE!
It has all sorts of industrial and technological
artifacts and exhibits, from a viking warship to a long hall of exhibits that mix two chemicals to demonstrate the reaction.
I've heard it would take you a year to see the whole museum if you spent a minute at each exhibit. But I had fun just visiting it for one day
And not to forget the Lehrter Stadtbahnhof, a new huge railway station. It includes a couple of tracks in a tunnel, crossed by several others on a dam, and the whole thing is covered with one of Europe's largest glass roofs. Really impressive.
Most of the sites have some kind of viewing platform. The Potsdamer Platz and the government sites used to have visitor centers proper, with models, guides, video, coffeeshops and souvenirs to boot! If you expend some effort to establish local contacts to one of the engineering firms, you may get more access than a regular visitor. Maybe www.berlin.de has more information on the engineering projects.
-- H. Wilker
I'm surpirsed nobody mentioned CERN yet, a huge kick-ass particle accelerator among many things and the birthplace of the WWW by the way.
A must-see for any self-respected geek!
Idempotent operation: Like MS software, wether you run it once or often, that doesn't make it any better.