Day 1

There's no disguising it, Tech*Ed has got smaller. The number of attendees is only slightly down (5250 to 5000 or so) but...
*comnet (although pleasingly spread about the conference space) is much poorer. No office, no outlook (OUCH!), feedback much more laborious, only 90Mb link
* transport - this year no transport from the airport. It only cost us 4.05 euros each, but when you don't get your metro T10 until the venue that adds another 1.30 to get to conference in the morning.
* exhibiton is much smaller. Disguised by placing in between the 2 halves of a split dining area, and a smaller comnet space, it's probably only 1/3rd the normal size
* dining - for a few days it's a pack up not a full sit down hot meal
* hands on labs - reduced in size, hidden away at the top of the conference venue - but at least it's well away from the cigarette smoke!
* some key speakers (external) are missing - Rafal, John and Sally on AD

Hmmm

Content seems to be holding up so far

Off to my 17th and 18th Tech*Eds

On board the Sunday train to Stansted and have just left Audley End so I should get there!

Had to deal with teenage sisters putting feet on table (because the notice only bans them on seats!) and their tinny mobile phone MP3 on speaker. Oh the joys of public transport!

I hope I have started a trend

Whilst in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia today (top 7 urban space! - more later) I visited a lovely tea room (The Garden Café I think) - it's down the hill from the stations, and well worth a visit.
Pam, the owner, is not trying to compete with the coffee stores (Starbucks is there, and Borders has a Seattle franchise). So tea is the order of the day. I went there for some water to cool down in the 91°F heat.
After leaving I realised that a) I'd not seen Pimms on this trip (except a largely unused bottle in a bar where they serve it neat); and b) I really wanted some to refresh me.
So I went back for a cup of assam tea :-).
We discussed liquor licencing (sic) and $100,000 ought to cover a licence (ouch), but free samples are OK.
So I told Pam about the English Pimms types (No 1, 3, 6 cups) and how we drink it and how wonderfully refreshing it is. She loved the idea. So she might well use it in a promotion event as an "English" thing.
I do hope I return to Philly in a few years to find afternoon Pimms in the heat is fashionable!!

The American obsession with status - a substitute for British class?

During this trip every tour guide (book, leaflet or human!) has obsessed with "the longest, shortest, oldest" to the point where the urban village I visited today is in the top 7 urban spaces/communities. Now I don't think Forbes publishes top 7 lists, so: either they were seventh and preferred that status to top ten; or Forbes does publish a top 7 list. Even so, my perception shows the point anyway, it's what I expected of them - 7th in the US was not enough.

I have visited the third oldest working watermill on the Eastern seaboard previously. Why cannot "very old" suffice? Was the Eastern bit added to make it third and not 10th?

But to my point. Class in the UK is about status (see the Frost Report sketch with Ronnies Barker and Corbett and John Cleese - I'm sure it's on Youtube*). People gain positive or inverted pride in their relative status.

In the US this was deflected into racial equal rights and so on. Now I'm not saying those problems are gone, but is there some latent human need to classify and position yourself in a list?

* yes it is - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0DUsGSMwZY