Where in the World Have You Been?

[Toonces]

A few states including Alaska. Most of the provinces. Germany, Mexico, and Cuba.

[gounion]

A few states including Alaska. Most of the provinces. Germany, Mexico, and Cuba.

I have several Canadian friends that have been to Cuba. It's illegal for Americans to travel there. Go figure.

The laws were loosened somewhat a couple of years ago, but tourist visas are still prohibited.

How was Cuba?

[Toonces]

I have several Canadian friends that have been to Cuba. It's illegal for Americans to travel there. Go figure.

The laws were loosened somewhat a couple of years ago, but tourist visas are still prohibited.

How was Cuba?

Cuba is beautiful and the people are great. Always friendly and appreciative of tourists, though I suspect they have their limits too.

I have never felt unsafe in Cuba. Sure, we spend most time at the resort but I've been to various towns and felt safe.

Because of the embargo, things can be expensive but you can still get some American products. I think lifting the embargo would do more to change Cuba than keeping it in place as is evident that keeping it in place hasn't changed anything.

If you like old cars, it's the place to go.

[Number6]

Cuba is beautiful and the people are great. Always friendly and appreciative of tourists, though I suspect they have their limits too.

I have never felt unsafe in Cuba. Sure, we spend most time at the resort but I've been to various towns and felt safe.

Because of the embargo, things can be expensive but you can still get some American products. I think lifting the embargo would do more to change Cuba than keeping it in place as is evident that keeping it in place hasn't changed anything.

If you like old cars, it's the place to go.

I've been in cities in Europe like Paris, Frankfurt, Naples, Berlin, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, and Dublin at night and I never felt unsafe in any of them. I'm more uncomfortable at night in cities in the U.S..

[Toonces]

I've been in cities in Europe like Paris, Frankfurt, Naples, Berlin, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, and Dublin at night and I never felt unsafe in any of them. I'm more uncomfortable at night in cities in the U.S..

I roamed around Berlin one or two evenings, not really with any understanding of the different areas, and I was perfectly at ease.

I have not felt safe any time I was in Florida. I didn't feel in any imminent danger, but I had some semblance of anxiety. Especially when someone tried to run me down with his truck. I'm mostly fine in Niagara Falls. Buffalo, on the other hand.

I've not personally witnessed anything to warrant paranoia and most people I've met are friendly enough.

Well, except for Ponderosa. YIKES!

Golden Corral? Dipping your steak in the chocolate fountain? C'mon!

[ZoWie]

The place that I had the most trouble with was Baltimore. It was quite some time ago, and I hope for their sake that things there have improved since.

They had just spent a bundle on the harbor area, making it a tourist place and a fairly good one, but they had done that by ignoring the real problems in the rest of the city. You got off the train several miles inland, and you could immediately sense the racial angst in the air. Usually in areas with a lot of traffic there are advertising signs, but the only one visible was a phone number to call if you had become addicted to heroin.

No buildings that I could see had been maintained in many years. The Maryland humidity mixed with the stale urine and hate in the air to create a very creepy atmosphere. Humans have weak senses compared to animals, but even so I felt like a frightened dog. Most taxi drivers avoided the area for good reason. It took forever to get a ride and get the hell out of there. This must be how East Berlin felt in the bad old days.

The harbor was nice, but artificial. Kind of like Disneyland without the good rides. It was Columbus Day, back when Italian immigrant descendants owned it in the NE US, and they tried to have a parade. I think there were two cars in it. People sitting in the back would wave. Nobody waved back because nobody even noticed their presence.

I was glad to be out of there. I never went back.

-----

Texas by comparison felt fine. I had no issues with it. It was kind of like visiting Orange County back in the day, when people actually did cover their garage doors with huge IMPEACH EARL WARREN signs. Different, but not scary. It was like how they used to describe New York when it was having crime problems. A nice place to visit but you wouldn't want to live there.

Now though I'd save that definition for Los Angeles. C'mon out and spend your money. If you really want to know I'll tell you where the good trails to the HOLLYWOOD sign are, since that symbolizes the whole city... a huge ad for nothing. Also, if you must see the Downtown Graffiti Tower that is currently being flogged through the Nooz as folk art, I'll tell you which subway gets you in photo range. But then, if you know what's good for you, leave.

[gounion]

You certainly haven't been EVERYWHERE in Texas, Z.

My worst experience is the several weeks I spent some years ago in Texas City, TX. Southeast of Houston off of I-45 along the coast, Texas City is a hub of petroleum and chemical refining and manufacturing. Think Bhopal by the Bay. You can just feel the poison in the air. The place really is poison.

Signs on the road and in the hotels explains the sirens and what they mean - right up to "kiss your ass goodbye, you're already dead". I'm just barely exaggerating. It's a very dangerous place to be, let alone live and work. It was also home to the biggest non-nuclear explosion during World War II. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster

Not long after I was there, an oil refinery exploded. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Cit ... _explosion Just one of a long list of "accidents" that left employees dead and maimed.

I'd never willingly go back.

[ZoWie]

I've seen all the footage of Texas City. It's quite the scene, all right.

Imagine a time when all your news footage came from three companies that used cameras made by Bell and Howell and Mitchell, and which needed at least two people to carry to the setup and a third to load film into magazines.

Nooz got too easy. Turn on a camera and let people blather for hours. Hmmmmmmpf.

Ever been to Alpine, TX? You'd swear you were anywhere but Texas. It's a whole nutter country in a whole nutter country.

[gounion]

I've seen all the footage of Texas City. It's quite the scene, all right.

Imagine a time when all your news footage came from three companies that used cameras made by Bell and Howell and Mitchell, and which needed at least two people to carry to the setup and a third to load film into magazines.

Nooz got too easy. Turn on a camera and let people blather for hours. Hmmmmmmpf.

Ever been to Alpine, TX? You'd swear you were anywhere but Texas. It's a whole nutter country in a whole nutter country.

You can just feel the poison in the air in Texas City. That'll be the country if the GOP has their way.

Nope, never been to Alpine. Haven't gotten near the Big Bend area. Looked it up on Wikipedia, looks interesting. Of course, the right wants to turn it into a war zone with hispanics.

[ZoWie]

Alpine is at the top of a branch of the Rockies or some such range. I think, though I might remember poorly, that it is almost as high up as Denver. There are mountains all around that look like the ones in Taos NM. Descend the mountain roads back into the desert, and eventually you come upon a border hamlet known as El Paso. That is ground zero for the current propaganda war. Two different worlds a day's trip apart.

[Number6]

Alpine is at the top of a branch of the Rockies or some such range. I think, though I might remember poorly, that it is almost as high up as Denver. There are mountains all around that look like the ones in Taos NM. Descend the mountain roads back into the desert, and eventually you come upon a border hamlet known as El Paso. That is ground zero for the current propaganda war. Two different worlds a day's trip apart.

I've been to Texas for basic training, technical school, and test writing questions for my career field's promotion exam which was okay because it was for a short time. Texas is an okay state to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. Late in my career, I had orders to McLaughlin AFB outside of Del Rio but I got them cancelled and went to Germany instead. My short stays in Texas showed me I really didn't want anything to do with the state.

[ZoWie]

Late in my career, I had orders to McLaughlin AFB outside of Del Rio but I got them cancelled and went to Germany instead. My short stays in Texas showed me I really didn't want anything to do with the state.

I've only been through Del Rio on the train, but what I could see of it didn't look like any place I'd ever want to live. Interesting to know that it's essentially a base town, because otherwise its sole claim to fame is the home of Doc Brinkley's goat gland clinic, where he did a completely ineffective, if not downright dangerous, medical operation in which he placed tiny samples from goat testicles onto the similar reproductive organs of male humans who had been feeling a bit old in the virility department.

Doc Brinkley of course went on to have a whole act of Congress named for him, but it was a major overhaul of US AM radio rules after he started a half million watt station just across the river in Ciudad Acuna, where the Mexican government let him run that kind of power to a truly majestic antenna system with a strong northward pattern. The station reached Russia at night, and in fact it was used by the commies to teach American English to spies. That's not why they had to shut it down. That came when Brinkley, being a good old boy at heart, decided that Adolf Hitler ought to be allowed to conquer the entire planet. He switched from plugging his quack clinic to plugging Nazi world domination. Not the best viewpoint to be covering the entire hemisphere and then some with when the executive branch is getting ready to join WWII. Therefore Brinkley is still a name that comes up in US communications law.

The station BTW stayed on-air with lower power as just another border blaster, still with pretty awesome coverage, and in fact that's where Wolfman Jack started.

For a while I was pitching a magazine article about this whole thing, with one eye on a screenplay in there somewhere, but no go on the history thing and so I dropped the whole project and never had to actually spend time in Del Rio. Lucky me.

[Number6]

I've only been through Del Rio on the train, but what I could see of it didn't look like any place I'd ever want to live. Interesting to know that it's essentially a base town, because otherwise its sole claim to fame is the home of Doc Brinkley's goat gland clinic, where he did a completely ineffective, if not downright dangerous, medical operation in which he placed tiny samples from goat testicles onto the similar reproductive organs of male humans who had been feeling a bit old in the virility department.

Doc Brinkley of course went on to have a whole act of Congress named for him, but it was a major overhaul of US AM radio rules after he started a half million watt station just across the river in Ciudad Acuna, where the Mexican government let him run that kind of power to a truly majestic antenna system with a strong northward pattern. The station reached Russia at night, and in fact it was used by the commies to teach American English to spies. That's not why they had to shut it down. That came when Brinkley, being a good old boy at heart, decided that Adolf Hitler ought to be allowed to conquer the entire planet. He switched from plugging his quack clinic to plugging Nazi world domination. Not the best viewpoint to be covering the entire hemisphere and then some with when the executive branch is getting ready to join WWII. Therefore Brinkley is still a name that comes up in US communications law.

The station BTW stayed on-air with lower power as just another border blaster, still with pretty awesome coverage, and in fact that's where Wolfman Jack started.

For a while I was pitching a magazine article about this whole thing, with one eye on a screenplay in there somewhere, but no go on the history thing and so I dropped the whole project and never had to actually spend time in Del Rio. Lucky me.

I think the best part of all my time I was in Texas was when I saw the "You Are Now Leaving Texas" sign.

[ZoWie]

For me, it was the "Don't mess with Texas" road signs, which apparently is Texas-speak for "No Littering." I mean, COME ON.

That was before my friend the classical musician got a real good job with a symphony orchestra in Texas, but had trouble concentrating on the music when some other musicians around her were open-carrying at rehearsals. She performed the old military drill known as getting the f--k out of there, and now she does sessions or something back in El Lay.

It's best to leave Texas to marinate in its own BS.