Dispatches from Philadelphia, vol. 2, issue 1

[tahnan]

Some helpful tips for the visiting Bostonian:

1. Both Boton and Philadelphia have a Bureau of Street Signs and Walk Signals. You should be warned that they have chosen to allocate their budget in very different ways.

2. In Boston, people recycle. That's the law, and it's easy to do, and people do it. In Philadelphia, it might be the law, we're not sure, but...oh, here, this should cover it.

3. Don't forget about the possibility of being "in a Philadelphia". No one seems to carry seltzer, for instance. Then there's this mailing list for my class that I'm trying to set up, but I inadvertantly mistyped an email address and now I can't actually change anything (or, indeed, send mail to it from my Penn address). There's a phone number for ISC, who seem to be in charge of this, but I'm not allowed to call it; I have to call my Local Service Something and have him call ISC, even though he didn't sound particularly certain what I meant by "mailing list". (I think he's probably very good at getting the desktops to run, print, connect, etc.)

Culture shock'll kill ya, folks.

Comments

[spenceraloysius.livejournal.com]

Philadelphia doesn't recycle plastic. A major city doesn't recycle plastic. Simply unbelievable.

Oh, and you should know that those push buttons for the crosswalks don't work. They are just there to make you feel better.

[dr_whom]

Philadelphia does recycle plastic, actually. They started very recently; it was maybe in May when I got a phone call from the city saying "You can recycle plastic now!"

[spenceraloysius.livejournal.com]

Philly can't be recycling plastic in all areas yet because they won't pick up plastic in my area with the curbside recycling.

[dr_whom]

Huh. They certainly do in my area, although not all plastic—sometimes I'll find a juice bottle or something left behind. But they pick up Coke bottles at least.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why the recycling rate here is 7%, and the person in charge quit in "abject frustration".