Re: [85attendees] ATL Travel Items

[nick black <[e-mail]>]

Dean Willis left as an exercise for the reader:
> For comparison, I spent one night in Quebec City until quite late in the
> court of the the local king of the street people talking and drinking.
> They were pretty nice people, and Quebec City seemed a lot safer than
> Atlanta to me. Atlanta is much more like  Dallas or Houston, but with even
> more street people. There's a hard edge to the homeless there that's kind
> of scary.

As a regular 0200--0400 walker of the A-Town, know that the streets
mentioned thus far are well-lit, well-walked, and well-patrolled. They make
up the heart of our downtown tourism/convention corridor, and are defended
as befits such earners. Yes, panhandlers (they're very rarely homeless,
especially after shelters close admissions at midnight, just unskilled and
unseemly) walk around and ask for money. Think of them as street vendors
selling crab juice or something similarly unpalatable; they're engaged in a
trade, and don't want to call down the wrath of APD through violence.

Home Park? The SWATS? Carter Street? These places are indeed to be avoided,
which you will do for the same reason you avoid, say, active volcanoes -- it
becomes rapidly apparent upon approach that you're out of your league, and
attempts to secure transportation in that direction earn quizzical stares.
The central hotel areas on downtown Peachtree are absolutely safe unless you
scurry around with big bug eyes looking like someone about to get mugged.

In summary: we don't rob people here, really. We do shoot them, but we shoot
them far away from where you'll be. If approached by panhandlers, ignore
them, or refer them to the people behind you, or ask them their opinion of
BGP security, or wonder aloud if they "really want to mess with the inventor
of STP" (if you happen to be Dr. Perlman, or even just claim to be so).
They're professionals, and will move on to less auspicious/eccentric targets.

In the meantime, enjoy our world-class nightlife and cheap cigarettes.

--rigorously, nick

-- 
nick black     http://www.sprezzatech.com -- unix and hpc consulting
to make an apple pie from scratch, you need first invent a universe.