Sunday, September 30, 2012

[Insert U2 song title here]

Once in a while, it's nice to get a reminder of how the little things you take for granted in life are actually kind of important. Case in point:
"My current home address is 200 meters north of the Pizza Hut then 400 meters west, but in a few months, I will be able to give a proper street name and a number..."
That's a quote from one Johnny Araya, the Mayor of San Jose, Costa Rica. Mind you, this is a city of nearly a million and a half people and the capital of the country, and it's just now getting street signs.

The article mentions several times that the locals have been able to navigate the city by using "landmarks" like the Pizza Hut Araya mentioned, but about 25 percent of the country's mail never gets delivered--resulting in about three quarters of a billion dollars in "economic losses" per year--so I don't think they've really been doing all that well with their system of doing things up until now.

Anyway, that's something to think about next time you get a little miffed about Google Maps neglecting to tell you to keep to the right side on the freeway.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012