Green Corn Festival Unripe

by Erik Olsen on

OK, because I like to practice what I
preach, I actually drove up this weekend to see the Green Corn Festival in the Hudson Valley. Why? Because it was a
lovely summer day and I figured there’d be lots of corn and, hey, I like corn. But was there any corn? No. None to be
eaten, anyway.

 

The corn festival, it turns out, was a nauseatingly hokey waste of my $10 entrance fee (actually $20 since I took my
wife). The festival was spread out over the Philipsburg
Manor, an old mill and manor where they interpret life in colonial days. What does that mean? It means goofy,
retarded-looking people dressed in faux colonial garb who explain how the colonists and Indians “did things” in the
kind of detail only a stamp collector or Civil War re-enactor can appreciate. In other words, I spent an hour listening
to some lady explain how corn silk baskets are made and watched a half-naked guy (pictured…although you can’t
really see that he was half naked…that’s a leather apron he’s wearing…behind it was a pair of skivvies) who looked
like Eric Idle but claimed to be Cherokee shoot arrows at a block of styrofoam. And did I mention there was no corn to
eat?

 

Oh, the things I do for this blog.

Wikitravel

by Erik Olsen on

Watch out Lonely Planet.

 

If you’re a fan of the whole collaborative Wiki movement, you might be interested in checking out
Wikitravel. The site provided an extensive list of countries and
continents with, as far as I can tell, just about every country covered, if in just a small way. It’s all done in a
nicely organized classic sorta Wiki format with the ability to go deeper and deeper into a subject (be careful…I went
in to look for one thing about an upcoming trip to Armenia and spent an hour clicking around…not because I was lost,
but just kept finding new interesting thigs to read). You can not only improve your knowledge of a particular country
— learn about the political situation, geography and so on — but you’ll also find tips on etiquette,
events, things to buy, and travelogues.

There is also an events section and even a fairly comprehensive phrase book covering NUMEROUS languages (how about
picking up a little Afrikaans?). I am very bullish on this
site and the Wiki concept in general. I use Wikipedia for a good deal of research, even though I am aware of it’s
shortcomings (as should you) and always try and double check various facts. But over time, as this thing grows out, as
Wikipeia has, I bet you it will become one of the more valuable resources on the Web.

Go to the Top of Rockefeller Center

by Erik Olsen on

I regret the fact that I never got to go up in the Twin Towers and see the world from the observation deck. I’d
lived in New York for almost two years when they came down, and going up in the towers to the top was one of those
things I always figured I’d eventually get to. Now, of course, it is too late.

And so I was very intrigued to learn recently that the amazing Art Deco observation decks of  Rockefeller Center
will reopen to the public November 1. They’ve been closed for over two decades – since 1986 – but they have now
renovated the famous Top of the Rock, and the building
now includes three observation decks on the 67th to 70th floors, with open-air views that on a clear day will let you
see the back of your head.

Now, I am in no way suggesting that Rock Center will be wrecked by terrorists, but I am saying that when there is an
opportunity to do something like this, well, you should do it.

You can
buy tickets online and print them yourself, or call the center at (877) 692-7625 or (212) 698-2000.
Rock Center, for those who might be visiting, is located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, with the entrance on W. 50th Street,
between 5th and 6th Avenues.
Here is a Map.

Diving the Maldives

by Erik Olsen on


I was just recently talking with a diving friend about the places I’d most like to dive,
and both of us mentioned the Maldives. The Maldives are a cluster of small islands in the Indian Ocean whose elevation
is just a meter or two above sea level.
Some scientists have speculated
that if the global ice caps melt, the Maldives will disappear beneath the ebb and froth of the sea. But maybe you
already knew that?

 

One thing I’ll bet you didn’t know: the Maldives are actually their own country, and for a long time in years past,
they were famous for their cowrie
shells, which were used as currency. Sadly, no longer. You will likely get strange looks when you tip your dive
guide with shells.  Anyway, the writer of

this piece goes on a live aboard in the islands and confirms what many dive magazines say: that the Maldives are
the locale of some of the finest diving in the world. One of the more common sights are whale sharks, which are
the size of greyhound buses, but amazingly docile.

Theft Proof Road Signs

by Kelly Amabile on

Here’s some brief Friday afternoon humor as we head into the long holiday weekend. There is a town in Austria
that has an unfortunate name. I’m not going to write it here, but the photo and links on this page will clearly
illustrate the word. (Just to be safe, I should caution readers that the links include profanity,
but only to describe the name of this poor place.) Seems that English speaking tourists just can’t get
enough of the “Welcome to _____” signs, forcing city officials to
take extreme measures. They have bolted and welded
road signs to steel posts embedded in concrete to stop the continuous thefts.

So what the F? How did this tiny town get named? According to
Wikipedia, it is named after a man from the 6th
century called Focko. “Ing” is an old Germanic suffix meaning “people”; which forms the lovely ”place of
Focko’s people”, pronounced “fooking”. We all know it’s not nice to steal, and visitors traveling through a quaint town
not far from Salzburg surely have better things to be doing. Shame on them. Yet still I chuckle. Sometimes it’s the
silly things that get me through…

[via The Morning News]