Monday, September 29, 2014

Wellesley Babson Walking Route

I created a walking route for the area containing Wellesley College and Babson College. I thought long and hard re the best path through the colleges and the town. The distance covered is 6.5 miles.  It starts and ends at the intersection of Washington/Rte-16 & Kingston/State Street in Wellesley.

plotaroute.com walking routes - Wellesley Babson

The route goes through, by, or within 100 yards of:

Whole Foods (at start), Captain Marden's Seafoods, Dunkin' Donuts, Wellesley Volkswagen, California Pizza Kitchen, Bruegger's; at Wellesley College: Wang Campus Center, the Academic Quad, Wellesley College Science Center, Stone Davis Complex, Wellesley College Club; St Andrew's Episcopal Church; Blue Ginger,  Amarin of Thailand, Tutto Italiano, & Lemon Thai Cuisine (BYOB) restaurants; Unleashed by Petco; at Babson: Bryant Hall, Knight Auditorium, Malloy Hall, Webster Center Athletics Complex, Babson Hall, Horn Library, Sorensen Theater, Reynolds Student Center, Babson College Library; St. Paul School, St. Paul's Catholic Church, Wellesley Police Dept.  

Tech Note: The route computes to 6.396 miles with the 'autoplot' function off for certain segments, 6.462 miles with the 'autoplot' mapping function set to ON for 'On Foot' for every segment. The map is drawn with 'autoplot' set to off for some segments, and with the roads followed not exactly adhered to, in order to enhance map legibility.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Boston Mission Hill Fenway Back Bay 6-mile Walking Route

I have devised a walking route for the Northeastern University/Simmons College/Emmanuel College area. The distance covered is 6.1 miles. It starts at the Brigham Circle Stop on the Green Line, within a hundred yards of which, there is a Stop & Shop Supermarket with a bathroom (I suggest, if you use it, buy something from them). The route is structured so that no more than 2.6 miles are walked without passing by the start point.

For legibility purposes I have broken the simple route into three maps describing the first second and third phases of the route:

Total 6.1 miles. 

The route goes through, by, or within 100 yards of:

Harvard Longwood medical area, Mass College of Art,  Northeastern University, New England Conservatory of Music,
Mass College of Pharmacy,  Boston Children's Hospital, Simmons College, Emmanuel College, Boston Latin School,  YMCA Greater Boston, 

Museum Fine Arts, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston Fire Department - Engine Company 37, Ladder 26

Longwood Galleria Mall (Longwood Grille & Bar, Beantown Burrito, Bourbon Street Café, Chutneys, Dunkin’ Donuts);  McDonald’s, Sepal, Subway, Dragon Bowl, Red Barn Coffee Roasters, Sakura Japan, T. Sushi Wraps and Noodles),  Mondo Pizza, Penguin Pizza, University House Pizza,

TGI Friday's, Mission Bar and Grill, Squealing Pig pub, Conor Larkin's Grill & Tap, Flann O'Briens pub,  Punter's Pub.

Temptations Cafe, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Dunkin' Donuts (again), Pavement Coffeehouse , New American Cafe. 

Stop & Shop Supermarket, Wollaston Market.

Tech Note: The route computes to 6.148 miles with the 'autoplot' function off, 6.065 miles with the 'autoplot' mapping function set to ON for 'On Foot'. The maps are drawn with 'autoplot' set to Off, due to legibility difficulties involving crossing of a previously traveled path, and backtracking of a previously traveled path. 

Thursday, September 04, 2014

RE Interventionist Militarist Foreign Policy

Note (2:25 AM 9/4/2014): In the future, I intend to add thoughts re this topic to this blog-post on this page.

1. A potential foreign threat, can be dealt with by way of the offensive, the defensive, and also alternatives that fall somewhere in between the offensive and the defensive.

2.  An example of an alternative that falls between the offensive and the defensive: let the Arab world's internal boundaries and power structure be resolved by the Arab world; combine with non-Arab powers to prevent the Arabs from colonizing neighboring non-Arab territories.

2-A. When the US gets involved in intra-Arab conflicts, you get: the unpopular 'colonist' US & its unpopular Arab partner in military conflict with popular Arabs; strong Arab sense of righteousness re invasion of their fatherland.  Such a situation is inferior to what would prevail if the US stood by non-Arabs on the borders of the Arabs, to ward off Arab expansionism: non-Arabs fighting for THEIR fatherland, Arabs not having that sense of confident righteousness that comes from fighting for one's own land; the US as the popular partner against invasive colonialism; friendship between the invaded and their US defenders; the natural advantage of the defensive over the offensive; the relative ease with which enemy can be distinguished from friend.

3. Example of the defensive: render it impossible for an Arab aggressor to: do serious damage to  a protected territory; damage a protected territory without getting caught and punished.

4. Example of the offensive: Invade an Arab country; invade a non-Arab country whose culture has been Arabicized; send troops to help one side in a dispute between Arab nations; send troops to help a side in a civil war.

5. The danger a group poses does not reliably correlate with their level of verbal aggression.  A group truly intent on and capable of causing serious damage to the U.S., would competently hide its plot, not publicize it.

6. Radical aggressive violent middle-eastern gangs composed of a few thousand men, are not the only potential security threats faced by the US and other nations.

7. To prove that a serious prolonged US military attack against a US-hating middle-eastern gang, improves US and world physical and economic security, is not enough. Resources, time, energy, money, and personnel used in the attack on the gang, could conceivably accomplish more for the security of the US and its allies, if they were used for endeavors other than the attack on the gang.

8. There have been hundreds of changes in national borders over the past 200 years (List of national border changes from 1815 to 1914 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, List of national border changes since World War I - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Historically when nations have meddled attempting to influence such changes in borders, they have thereby sometimes harmed and sometimes helped themselves. Nations have grown in power while ignoring changes in borders other than their own. Nations have declined in power while meddling in changes in borders other than their own.
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