henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (07/10/90)
In article <1990Jul9.133059.25973@DRD.Com> mark@drd.Com (Mark Lawrence) writes: >} There may be a problem doing this for Dallas: the Grand Kempinski (sp?) >} is off by itself, well away from any other hotels. > >Last winter Usenix at Dallas, I stayed at the Hampton Inn which is just >a few blocks from the Kempinski... You'll need a rental car >(or know somebody who has one) to get back and forth though... If you need a car to get back and forth, I think classifying the distance as "a few blocks" is misleading advertising. :-) I've grumped to the Usenix folks about this in the past, in fact: distances between hotels should be specified in walking minutes unless you really could (say) throw a rock from one to the other (or unless walking is inadvisable for reasons more compelling than weather, in which case said reasons should at least be hinted at). "Blocks" are not the same from city to city, and chamber-of-commerce maps with vague blobs for the hotels and no scale are useless to car-less attendees. Even relatively short distances can present problems, as witness the Inn at the Park in Anaheim, which was "across the street" from the Marriott... except that what was *really* across the street was the IatP's big dimly-lit parking lot and grounds, with the hotel at the far end. Unaccompanied women would have had a better idea of what to expect if the distance had been given as "five minute walk", which is about what it was. -- NFS is a wonderful advance: a Unix | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology filesystem with MSDOS semantics. :-( | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry
david@dhw68k.cts.com (David H. Wolfskill) (07/12/90)
In article <1990Jul10.024932.24563@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >...distances between hotels should be specified in walking minutes ... (or >unless walking is inadvisable for reasons more compelling than weather, >in which case said reasons should at least be hinted at). Considering differences among the human population, I would prefer that the distances in question were specified in some reasonably standard "distance" units. (Granted, "walking minutes" may be "reasonably standard" for some folks.... :-) Anyone for meters? I second the suggestion regarding (at least) "hinting at" reasons to avoid walking (although "weather" might be worth mentioning) -- I attended a conference (not USENIX, for which all concerned may be appropriately thankful) in August of a recent year in Orlando, Florida (USA).... The conference was spread out over several hotels, and the organizers had arranged a shuttle service; unfortunately, the timing for the shuttles with respect to the timing and locations of some of the sessions didn't quite work out always.... I managed to walk from the Peabody over to the Sheraton -- but I certainly wouldn't wish that on anyone. (No sidewalks; the mud was not particularly pleasant for walking, in my opinion; distance was about 800 meters -- about 0.5 miles. I was not a particularly happy camper....) Toward better conferences, david -- David H. Wolfskill uucp: ...{spsd,zardoz,felix}!dhw68k!david InterNet: david@dhw68k.cts.com CompuServe: >internet:david@dhw68k.cts.com
henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (07/15/90)
In article <1990Jul12.144038.2883@dhw68k.cts.com> david@dhw68k.cts.com (David H. Wolfskill) writes: >>...distances between hotels should be specified in walking minutes ... > >Considering differences among the human population, I would prefer that >the distances in question were specified in some reasonably standard >"distance" units... Most of the seriously non-standard :-) members of the population have some sort of idea about how their walking speed compares to the norm. The point is, walking minutes is what people *care* about; anything else requires them to convert, and many people don't have a very good feel for how long it takes them to walk, say, 57 furlongs. :-) -- NFS: all the nice semantics of MSDOS, | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology and its performance and security too. | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry
roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) (07/15/90)
henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: > many people don't have a very good feel for how long it takes them to > walk, say, 57 furlongs. :-) Case in point; at the San Diego Usenix, the conference hotel was all filled up and they suggested putting me up in their sister hotel "just across the road". They didn't mention that "the road" was a superhighway, not to mention that to even get from the conference area to "the road" you had to hike through the entire hotel complex parking lot which must have been a good 1/4 of a mile. When I agreed, I had visions of being able to duck into my hotel room between sessions to pick something up or drop something off; no such luck; it was a good 10 minutes each way. They also didn't tell you that you could stay in the Budget Motel for half the price, get a room that was just as nice, and be a few hundred yards closer, which I did after the second night. Even had phones that let you use your AT&T calling card without tacking on some evil hotel charges. -- Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu -OR- {att,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy "Arcane? Did you say arcane? It wouldn't be Unix if it wasn't arcane!"
bobk@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Robert Kinne) (07/17/90)
In article <1990Jul12.144038.2883@dhw68k.cts.com> david@dhw68k.cts.com (David H. Wolfskill) writes: > >Considering differences among the human population, I would prefer that >the distances in question were specified in some reasonably standard >"distance" units. (Granted, "walking minutes" may be "reasonably >standard" for some folks.... :-) > In many of the major cities of the world, specification in distance doesn't capture the time or difficulty involved in traveling between two spots. 'Walking minutes' or 'driving, 'cab, or 'subway minutes' is a much more appropriate and accurate measure, and gives a fast cue as to the means of travel most would select. The experience of hailing a cab, or getting a car from a parking garage, only to find that the destination is only a few blocks away, or alternatively, driving to a remote spot, and learning that there is no place to park within half a mile, but a subway stop is across the street, are much worse than having to hike a few blocks. >I managed to walk from >the Peabody over to the Sheraton -- but I certainly wouldn't wish that >on anyone. > ... about 800 meters ... I was not a particularly happy camper....) > Hmmmmm.