Three simple reasons why Palo Alto, California is like Reston, Virginia

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Business travel often takes you to places you normally wouldn’t visit. I’d never plan a vacation to Peapack, New Jersey, for example, and London, Ontario is another that surely won’t make anyone’s “bucket list.” The upside, however, is that you get to see places you’d never visit otherwise. And, you remember that “off the beaten path” – the goal very committed traveler – isn’t necessarily sexy. This is what I’m seeing right now as I sit in Palo Alto. The conference I attended is behind me, and I’m killing some time before catching a flight home.

What I can’t shake, a feeling that’s been with me since I arrived in town on Tuesday, is that I’ve been somewhere like this before. I spent a couple of months in Reston, Virginia on business back in 2003, and the parallels stood out immediately.

Are Palo Alto and Reston brothers from another mother? I think so, and here are three simple reasons why:1. They are immaculate: when I was in Reston, I was blown away by the absence of litter … and the absence of dirt. The place is frighteningly clean (in a creepy, Monaco-esque way), and I wouldn’t be shocked if you could do surgery on the street with no fear of infection. Palo Alto is no different. I feel like I should take my shoes off before crossing University Avenue.

2. Planning is crucial: Both Reston and Palo Alto carry the ethos of a planned city. The seductive curves of Boston’s narrow streets are not to be found, and centuries of mismatched architecture – of the sort you’d see in Manhattan – have no home in Palo Alto or Reston.

3. These cities are purpose-driven: Reston, of course, arose as something of an enclave for employees of the federal government. There are some businesses in town, and they have effectively become part of the purpose. For Palo Alto, subtract “government” and add “Stanford.”

It’s eerie, right?! A country separates these twin towns, but the connection, if only spiritual, will never be severed!

[photo by richardmasoner via Flickr]

Crazy squirrel attacks residents of Vermont

by Justin Delaney on

In Bennington, Vermont, a gray squirrel has been terrorizing locals with his own brand of march madness. Perhaps harboring a vendetta against humans or possibly mad from rabies, the squirrel has attacked at least three separate people. The attacks have been described as an unprovoked flurry of scratching and biting.

The “Beast of Benington” attacked one resident, Kevin McDonald, while he was innocently shoveling snow in his front yard. According to the Bennington Banner, the squirrel jumped McDonald from behind, scratching at his back until being thrown off. The persistent squirrel came back for two rounds before McDonald retreated to his home and the squirrel disappeared into a nearby tree.

The next day, he saw his neighbor battling the same rodent with a metal pole and a blanket.The local Game Warden has visited with several of the squirrel assault victims and reported that a woman that was bitten on the back of her neck will undergo a series of rabies vaccinations.

If your travels take you to Bennington, beware this hostile creature.

flickr image via bobolink

Fountain Art Fair: This Is the Future of the Creative Mind

by Tom Johansmeyer on


It isn’t unusual to see emerging artists speak angrily and earnestly about the evils of capitalism. They are hungry, struggling to be heard and eager to attain some degree of notoriety and success. Their voices, expressed on various forms of media, seek an understanding audience in a world increasingly programmed to reject the abstract and difficult in favor of that which can be digested comfortably and without risk of intellectual choking. So, it’s ironic to see such messages come with price tags that can reach into the thousands of dollars.

This is what occurred to me as I stepped off the in Manhattan, returning to terra firma from the dangerous, insightful and sometimes shocking Fountain Art Fair.

Fountain was among the Armory week satellite art fairs in Manhattan this weekend, though it won’t be confused with the rest of them. I was eager to visit Fountain. Rather than stumble through the same big names you see at the Armory, I prefer to spend my time with the artists who are fighting to become known. At Fountain, the pieces on display showed a violent desperation to be heard, with strong cultural and political messages that were impossible to be missed.

I left Fountain excited about emerging art again.


Some pieces, doubtless, were a bit heavy handed, and I do wonder how long the original messages can endure. One artist, for example, created a triptych lamenting the importance the art community places on an artist’s resume, bio and statement. Ironically, his rep was speaking from all three, at least implicitly, when explaining the work. And, if some possibility of commercial success emerges, I also wonder how long it would take the artist to polish up these documents for a major gallery or museum to review.

Another, in the “American Gangster” space, crowded the walls with as much work as possible, as if he wouldn’t have another chance to reach an audience of this magnitude – an assumption that, in itself seems tragic. While works such as “Snow White and the Seven Crackheads,” which actually included two (seemingly used) crack pipes, were a bit too blatant for my tastes, works such as an American flag devoid of color inscribed with “MADE IN CHINA” did a better job of hitting the mark.

Aside from these minor missteps, Fountain was full of work that would make you reconsider the world around you, with stunning photographs from depressed communities, street art that stretches the practical application of spray paint and performances that leave you paralyzed, unwilling to take another step before seeing what comes next.

So, will anything I saw really hit investment grade? I regret to say that I doubt it … but that’s not the point of it. Hell, it shouldn’t be the point of an art purchase anyway. After all, you purchase art to enjoy it, to derive pleasure or inspiration or understanding. If you’re looking for the sort of appreciation that comes in monetary form, you’re missing the point.

Explorer Ben Saunders gears up for North Pole speed run

by Justin Delaney on

This fantastic video provides a glimpse into the equipment and preparation necessary for a solo speed run to the North Pole. Ben Saunders, a world class athlete and explorer, will attempt to break the North Pole speed record on his 487 mile journey from Cape Discovery in Canada. No stranger to the pole, Saunders has seen his share of polar expeditions and will be setting out completely unsupported. He was the last solo explorer to reach the pole in 2004 from Russia.

Aside from polar bears and -50 degree weather, Ben must contend with the most dire of hurdles – equipment failure. His last two expeditions to the top of our world were stymied by such setbacks. For this trip, called North 3, he has provided this video to showcase the gear and tech that goes into a solo polar exploration. Shotguns for bear defense and custom made meals for snacking are two of the gear staples for this polar adventurer.

From bensaunders.com:

Ben Saunders is a professional endurance athlete and a pioneering polar explorer. He is one of three in history to ski solo to the North Pole (from the Russian side of the Arctic Ocean, in 2004), the youngest to do so by more than ten years, and holds the record for the longest solo Arctic journey by a Briton (1,032km). Ben is an Ambassador for The Prince’s Trust and a Patron of the British Schools Exploring Society, and is an acclaimed public speaker (the TED conference called him a ‘master storyteller’). He has been a global brand ambassador for Land Rover since 2009.

Ben Saunders – North 3 from Ben Saunders on Vimeo.

Ben Saunders – Living on Ice from Ben Saunders on Vimeo.

Safety concerns drive travelers to cruise vacations

by Chris Owen on

Say what you will about cruise vacations, they have been scoring bonus points with travelers recently as ships were easily moved away from scheduled stops in Nagasaki, Japan. One by one, cruise lines have come and gone from other troubled areas of he world too like Mazatlan, Mexico and troubled Egypt before that. The moves illuminated once again the simple fact that unlike land-based travel options, cruise ships are mobile and can be moved out of harms way.

At a cruise industry conference in Miami this week, the topic of safety kept coming up time and time again. Cruise line executives, without hesitation, all agreed that safety is number one on their list both at sea and ashore when guests get off the ship.Avoiding possible problems in Japan may seem an easy task, simply steer the ship in a different direction. But a whole lot more goes into those decisions that you might imagine.

Passengers choose a cruise for a number of reasons, one of which is the itinerary. When trouble ashore makes sailing elsewhere the right thing to do, that does not mean everyone is going to be happy about it. In the case of the massive earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan, the choice was clear and there was no advance warning. Passengers on board may have been disappointed but even the most surly cruise passenger would just need to understand and go with it. The same can be said for the Egypt problem when unrest caused ships to change itineraries there too.

In Mexico the situation is a bit different as cruise lines have to look at what is happening ashore each and every week. After ships pulled out of Mazatlan earlier, the Mexico government officials and tourism people rushed to speak to executives from the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) about the problem and what they were going to do about it. They told the cruise lines that extra security would be in place and that they had addressed the problem.

The problem is, as one cruise line executive told me, things change from week to week. “One week we pull up to the dock and it is lined with police…everywhere in the port there are security people all over the place. The next week, nobody.”

That’s a problem for the cruise lines who (rightfully) demand a safe experience for passengers disembarking at any given port. That same cruise line exec told me emphatically “We have GOT to provide a safe method of travel and consistently safe ports”

Another factor cruise lines have to consider is resupplying the ships. When ships change ports, a number of things already in motion before arrival have to be altered. Vendors had been scheduled to deliver food and supplies, those are needed and will have to be sourced elsewhere.

Can you imagine making a grocery list then going to the grocery store and it is closed? You have GOT to have this stuff so you go to a different grocery store, one unfamiliar to you so the whole process is not as efficient but you make do. Cruise ships don’t have the luxury of simply being able to make do. They have a lot of passengers on board who will need the stuff they were going to get. They also can’t just hope for a good parking spot at the dock like you might have imagined you would get heading over to that other grocery store. Ships are assigned berths and being able to have a place to park the ship is important.

The ship might have been refueled at that canceled port too and will surely need that fuel at some point. Unlike people in cars might do, ships can’t run down to “E” on the fuel dial and expect good results. That’s playing it a bit too close when you are responsible for many passengers in your care. Ships carry extra fuel just for reasons like this but eventually have to be refueled.

Other normally routine matters have to be addressed too and a change in the ships itinerary affects those as well. Making it all work happens behind the scenes without us knowing and in most cases, without rescheduling or rearranging affecting the on board experience. Shore excursions booked through the cruise line are canceled automatically and payments refunded. That’s the easy part. Setting up excursions for a new, unscheduled port at the last minute is another challenge they face.

The good news is that every cruise line has systems in place to handle every possible contingency when a port has to be changed. In the olden days, that mostly happened when a weather related event or some mechanical problem with the ship made modifying the itinerary the logical choice.

The bad news is that these days, an ever-changing world where security concerns keep coming up seems to be affecting itineraries much more often. The cruise lines will do their best to modify an itinerary in a way that provides the “best possible safe itinerary” that cruise line executive told me. Cruise passengers can be confident that where they may sail to is safe. Still, many are disappointed when changes are made to a vacation they may have been planning for years.

One primary factor of travel that those disappointed cruise passengers don’t get is the nature of travel.

Travel of any kind is a game of chance at best. Be it hiking, backpacking, a road trip or some other form of travel, unanticipated delays, problems, revolutions, or changes of different kinds happen. They just happen. In today’s world, they seem to be happening more. Having an open mind and going with the flow or “not sweating the small stuff” is a quality all cruise passengers need to have more than ever. Make that number one on your next packing list.

As safety concerns drive travelers to cruise vacations, look for the mix of people you see on ships to change if you pay really close attention. It will be interesting to see if traditional travelers, concerned about safety, sail and blend in with the typical cruise passenger, an animal that is getting harder to define anyway or if their addition will have an effect on that traditional cruise passenger.

Flickr photo by Tom’s Shots