Without a Traceroute

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Can’t Touch This

June 13th, 2009 · Chile, Travel

In Puerto Varas, we (Turk, Canook, Swiss, and I) decided to rent a car to drive north. We were all sort of tired of buses, and figured having the car would give us the chance to stop off and see a few things along the way.

The Hertz rental office was like this tiny little cubical tucked under the stairs in a largish office building. We went there at around 11 am, and the door was locked, and there was nobody around. We asked the building security guard if the office was open, and he told us, “Oh yeah, definitely. He probably just went to the bathroom or something. Just wait five minutes.”

We waited, 5, 10, minutes, and nobody showed. We inquired with the receptionist at one of the nearby offices, and she told us that, “Well, the Hertz guy probably went to lunch. I’d try back this afternoon.”
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WTF of the Day

June 14th, 2009 · Chile, Photo of the Day, Travel

One of the best things about traveling is encountering totally unusual situations, and having no idea how or why they occurred. Sometimes, it’s fun to try to puzzle out these mysteries of the universe. Other times, you can only shake your head. This is one of those.

Um...what?

Um…what?

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Like a Pack a Day

June 15th, 2009 · Chile, Photo of the Day, Travel

In some ways, Santiago is an attractive city. Air quality, however, is not among them. Santiago is one of the smoggier cities in Latin America. According to a 2004 World Bank study (PDF link), it even beat out former reigning champion Mexico City in “particulate matter,” which are the little bits of crap that make it hurt to breathe (as opposed to gaseous toxins which just quietly give you cancer).

You might think that 4 years in the LA area would have conditioned me to accept a little bit of grit with my oxygen, but you’d be mistaken. Los Angeles, the United States’ smoggiest city, clocks in with with a measly 34 μg of particulates per m3 of air. Santiago boasts a robust 60 μg/m3, but still doesn’t come anywhere close to the big leagues of “developing” [lung cancer] cities. Cairo puts them all (or, really, itself) to shame with a whopping 169 μg/m3, nearly 5 times the level in Los Angeles.

Breathe deep, son!

Breathe deep, son!


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Censorship in Iran: The limitations of social media

June 17th, 2009 · Politics, Technology

NOTE: If you came here from a search engine or elsewhere looking for things to do to help in Iran, and don’t care about my opinions (I don’t blame you), skip to here.

In the wake of last Friday’s presidential election, Iran (or Tehran, at least) has erupted in massive demonstrations over the very questionable results. Much has been made of the use of the microblogging site, Twitter, as an organizing tool by the protesters. The mainstream media have gone on at great, irrelevant length about how wonderful this is. What’s a bit distressing is that bloggers, tweeters and other Web 2.0 types seem to be buying into their own hype as well.
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Cerro Santa Lucía

June 19th, 2009 · Chile, Photos, Travel

Statue on Cerro Santa Lucía

Here’s some photos from Cerro Santa Lucía, a park on a hill in central Santiago. It’s a really interesting place, with dozens of different levels, narrow passageways, crumbling stone stairways, fountains, statues, a cannon, a church, and lots of secluded corners where Chilean couples go to make out (PDA is huge in this country). The whole place has kind of a Love in the Time of Cholera feel, there’s lots of shady courtyards with ice cream stands, and it’s probably my favorite place in Santiago to hang out and read a book.
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