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A Geek's Tour Of North America?
PlanetThoughtful writes "Later this year I'm taking advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to backpack around the U.S. and Canada (Sept 2003 to whenever I have to come home again). Being a lifelong Australian geek (think of Steve Irwin and then stop, because I'm nothing like that and neither is anyone else, Steve Irwin included) I'm desperately curious: what would make it to the travel itinerary of Slashdot's all-time geek-tour of North America? Think electronics, architecture, astronomy, enlightenment! Think gadgets, bookstores, software, comics, The Library Of Congress, The Smithsonian, Wanting To See Really Amazing Things! Think travelling on a budget, then forget about that if it's a 'You Must See This Before You Die' sort of suggestion. And then stop thinking about these things, and actually tell me!"
You must go to graceland/Memphis. There are so many neat things to see there.. not really a techie mecca, but it will give you ideas on what to spend your money on... make a waterfall in your tv room!
http://www.burningman.com
you will not be disappointed
Twin Falls, Idaho is a technoplogy SINKHOLE! in fact, it might be a good idea to avoid Idaho completely, unless you're interested in Micron, the company behind Crucial Memory, which is in Boise, Idaho. but stay AWAY from Twin Falls! there's nothing but HICKS here!
grey wolf
LET FORTRAN DIE!
Of course, there are many, many other places to see, but I'm a space program nut and highly recommend seeing NASA, and do your best to time your arrival during a launch (of course, they launch may not happen, but you can check in "Florida Today" to see when the next launch is due).
You absoloutely have to come to the Bay Area, this is a technology haven, AND its a beautiful place in its own right. One of my most favorite places is the Golden Gate Bridge. Cross the bridge and head to the Sausilto side, then take a uturn right away, and you'll be heading back towards the bridge, but take the first right turn that goes up. And just keep going up, and up, and up and the top has one of the most spectacular views I've seen! Definitly don't miss it...
At Washington DC, it's the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. See them now before they go away completely.
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
Be prepared to spend LOTS of time in this city. The museums alone can take weeks to really get through well. I'm kinda partial to Cleveland as well, but that's because i'm from there. The Rock Hall is quite interesting to go through, and the Great Lakes science center is next door.
What you want to see if Fry's Electronics. They have them in Texas and California and a few states in between. Imagine something the size of that big desert you guys call Australia, and imagine it full of electronics at a decent price. It's not quite so big as the great aussie desert, I guess, but Fry's is huge. I'm not ashamed to admit I shed tears of joy on my first visit to this mecca of geekdom.
when I find myself you'll be the first to know.
You could spend a whole year just in Washington alone. But if you only have a short time there, go to the Air & Space Museum first. I've been there three times now (I'm from Canada, don't get to DC much) and every time it just blows my mind.
My law firm had a dinner there one evening last year in the great foyer hall, under all the oribters and rockets and planes, and we got hours of uninterrupted time in the museum. I've never been happier with my job, not ever.
Come visit Cedra Point ! The mecca of roller-coasters with many of the biggest ones in the world ! Very nerdy stuff.
Whatever you do, do NOT, I repeat, do NOT forget to bring along the most important piece of equipment.
...
a towel!
Game Overdrive - Gaming News
In Portland, you need to visit Powell's Bookstore. It is huge (a couple of city blocks in downtown) and has all kinds of cheap used books to read on your travels. Portland is also generally a cool place to visit, and if you're in the Northwest anyway it would be a good time.
Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash
35 Broad St
Red Bank, NJ
May I suggest the many fine establishments located in Nevada.
Very geek friendly.
Two definitely geeky things to check out in New Mexico.
The Very Large Array - Gigantic Radio Astronomy installation
The Trinity Test Site. Only open a few times a year, your chance to see where the first atomic bomb was tested.
'ARRGH! Pirate Designers of the Internet, we be!'
It's one of the most technologically packed areas in the USA. The whole park's monitored and run very efficiently. It's also a whole lot of fun. But last time I went, I was more interested in how much effort goes into making sure that paying customers are set up for the best time that is possible in a family-friendly environment. (Bring your own drugs, sadly they don't supply EVERYTHING!) The Disney Corporation owns such a vast amount of land that you're on their property before you even realize that you've entered Disney World.
Also, check out Downtown Disney, they have an excellent arcade there, where you pay ~$15 and you can play until it closes. Plus you can design and ride this cool virtual rollercoaster that rivals the real coasters there, if you make a point of making a very extreme virtual coaster. The guys manning the area can give you some pointers. Make sure you hit Epcot and MGM, you can speed through the Magic Kingdom (too much little kid stuff).
At least, this is what my friends in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco tell me. It must be true, because they're the elite of America.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Great fun in Chicago, and often overlooked in lieu of NY or LA. You can also hit the Art Institute of Chicago and the Adler Planetarium, and why not go up in the Sears Tower while you're at it? There are a ton of fun, geek, cheap things to do in Chicago.
Who needs technology, we have beer and deep dish pizza!
The NRAO in Greenbank, WV is an interesting visit if you're in the area. (I'm thinking about the Hiking part, and there is some great hiking in that area).
It has several HUGE antennas for radio astronomy, and they give the tour in an old 1950s diesel bus. Modern cars can only come within a certain distance, as they have too many electronics, and mess up the observations.
Very cool, although short, tour.
Well, If you want Geeksih how about this:
Palamar Telescope.
Then again there is Cal Tech in Pasadena.
Next you can stop at JPL.
There is also Mt. Wilson above Los Angeles.
Of course you could also goto Griffith Observatory but it's closed for a renovation.
All these are in the San Diego/Los Angeles area.
Heck, if you are into art/old books/old stuff there is the Getty.
And of course the Huntington with their copy of the Guttenburg bible.
We also have Edwards Airforce Base which is where the shuttle use to land, but they put on a heck of an air show.
And when traveling to the LA area you need to fly into the Burbank airport. They built the SR-71, the F117 and several other toys right there...
When you are done with Los Angeles area head on up to the San Fransisco area and check out the Valley. I'm sure a couple more people here can fill you in on those spots.
MAn I think I'm going to love looking at this thread!
Fantasy remains a human right; we make in our measure and in our derivative mode... -- JRR Tolkien
Last month I've been to the Bay Area for 10 days, and wondered where I could find "Geek Tour" recommendations. I even asked slashdot, but it haven't been posted. Anyway, I found the two following links, which have some good recomendations: Geek Tour and The Geek Guide to Sillicon Valley. Enjoy.
Book your reservation now, before its too late!!
C - A language that combines the speed of assembly with the ease of use of assembly.
The Kennedy Space Center offers two bus tours:
:)
- The "regular" bus tour which rides around some launch pads, gets you within a mile of the Shuttle launch facility. 45-60 minutes long
- The "space geek" premium bus tour. My wife and I took this April of last year, and I recommend it. Costs an extra $25 each per person, but you get a couple out in the launch area, drive within 1/4 mile of the Shuttle launch pad, and several hundred feet from the giant Shuttle housing building (if you're lucky, you might see part of one of the shuttles itself). Those things are HUGE!
The people who take the premium tour are very geeky. When we saw the left rocket and the giant fuel canister of one of the shuttles, people were hooting and hollering and clawing all over the bus to get a glance. Like birders who saw the super endangered blue-tufft penguin for the first time. Very funny
The premium tour doesn't happen during times of heightened security, and only runs a few times a day, so plan ahead. It was closed from Sept 11 - Mid April 2002. My wife and I were on one of the first dozen tours of 2002.
If the tour is running that day, consider yourself lucky, and jump at the opportunity. It's worth it.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
In Boston, check out the Computer History Museum
In Chicago
In the Bay Area there is
How to have the Burning Man experience from the comfort of your own home:
Pay an escort of your affectional preference subset to not bathe for five days, cover themselves in glitter, dust, and sunscreen, wear a skanky neon wig, dance close naked, then say they have a lover back home at the end of the night.
Tear down your house. Put it in a truck. Drive 10 hours in any direction. Put the house back together. Invite everyone you meet to come over and party. When everyone leaves, follow them back to their homes, drink all their booze, and break things.
Buy a new set of expensive camping gear. Break it.
Stack all your fans in one corner of your living room. Put on your most fabulous outfit. Turn the fans on full blast. Dump a vacuum cleaner bag in front of them.
Pitch your tent next to the wall of speakers in a crowded, noisy club. Go to sleep. Wake up 2 hours later in a 110+ degree tent.
Only use the toilet in a house that is at least 3 blocks away. Drain all the water from the toilet. Only flush it every 4 days. Hide all the toilet paper.
Visit a restaurant and pay them to let you alternate lying in the walk-in freezer and sitting in the oven.
Don't sleep for 5 days. Take a wide variety of hallucinogenic/emotion altering drugs. Pick a fight with your boyfriend/girlfriend.
Cut, burn, electrocute, bruise, and sunburn various parts of your body. Forget how you did it. Don't go to a doctor.
Buy a new pair of favorite shoes. Throw one shoe away.
Spend a whole year rummaging through thrift stores for the perfect, most outrageous costume. Forget to pack it.
Listen to music you hate for 168 hours straight, or until you think you are going to scream. Scream. Realize you'll love the music for the rest of your life.
Get so drunk you can't recognize your own house. Walk slowly around the block for 5 hours.
Sprinkle dirty sand in all your food.
Mail $200 to the Reno casino of your choice.
Go to a museum. Find one of Salvador Dali's more disturbing but beautiful paintings. Climb inside it.
Spend thousands of dollars on a deeply personal art work. Hide it in a funhouse on the edge of the city. Blow it up.
Set up a DJ system downwind of a three alarm fire. Play a short loop of drum'n'bass until the embers are cold.
Have a 3 a.m. soul baring conversation with a drag nun in platforms, a crocodile, and Bugs Bunny. Be unable to tell if you're hallucinating.
LOL... what is Burning Man... It's like explaining to a blind person what the color teal green is without using the colors blue and green.
However I have found one statement to be true for almost everyone you speak with in the community.
Burningman IS what you make it.
Is it a music festival? Maybe, there are a lot of neat bands out there and some really interesting musicians.
Is it a Crazy art festival with lots of nekkid people? Maybe, if you wish to be clothing optional yourself and see lots of neat art you can do that too!
It's much easier to answer what Burning Man is NOT.
Burning Man is NOT a festival where you go to see nekkid people, that's what Marty Gra is for.
Burning Man is NOT about buying and selling trinkits. Gifts have no price.
Burning Man is NOT a place where you can just show up and hope to pay X number of dollars to get a bed, some food and watch the whole thing. We WILL laugh and make fun of you at the gate if you try this, and we have.
Participate )'(
---- Fight to protect your right to keep and arm bears! ummmm... ya I think that's right....
Let me be the first to welcome you to Canada (considering you're not here yet, I _assume_ I'm the first at least :) ).
First things first. Canada is a REALLY BIG PLACE. You do not backpack across Canada. I know that Australia is a big place (a whole continent in fact...), and the US has a decent size, but Canada is in a whole different ballpark. Think of Australia. Now think of another 1/5 of Australia. Stick them together, and you get a bit closer to Canada's size. Canada is nearly 10 /million/ square kilometres of land, sprawling across 7 seperate time zones. It's a big place to walk across :).
As such, a good geek travel system to your trip would probably to take the train from coast to coast, getting off in major cities of interest.
Once you've figured out how to get around, where to go? Some good suggestions include (in no particular order, and probably leaving out all sorts of funky places in between...):
Well, that's what I can think of off