There are no sidewalks in RTP. How’s going collaboration here if you need to drive to meet other people? #scio10
The first thought that came to my mind after I read this Twitter post from ScienceOnline2010 was “This is the South. We don’t wander around outside socializing. We’re private and polite and our social events are productions. We stay inside, where we eat fried foods and drink sweat tea.”
My second thought was that those are, of course, crude generalizations. The Triangle is one of the fastest growing areas in the U.S., because people from all over the world move here. Southerners live next to Yankees (a term that is used by the local newspaper in page 1 headlines), Chinese, Indians, Europeans, Africans, you name it.
Still, public transportation, bike lanes and sidewalks aren’t on top of the priority list in large parts of the Triangle. So we have to come up with other ways to connect.
Since this area also has one of the highest concentrations of Ph.D.s in the U.S., science and technology come to the rescue. That makes this the perfect spot for ScienceOnline2010, doesn’t it? We’re tweeting, life-streaming, blogging, spending Linden dollars in Second Life.
My third thought was that after living here nearly 10 years I would still like to see more sidewalks.
For more interesting articles on science and technology and laboratory equipment like where to buy industrial autoclaves, you can check out the new posts at scienceinthetriangle.