Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with national

Who named Ghost Ditch? And when?

carsonb — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:14:41 -0800

This past weekend I drove from Los Angeles to Tucson via Interstate-10, and took to noticing the names of the various ditches and washes that are spanned by the highway out in the middle of the high lonesome desert. There are a lot of them. Ghost Ditch, Taro Ditch, Larry Ditch, Stubby Wash, Fornat Wash, Itta Wash, Edom, Mccoy, Rollie, Bula, Sutro, Calotus, Esso, Arco, Teed, Turala, maybe a hundred between the ditches and the washes. The names don't seem to refer to nearby municipalities (there aren't any) or other geographical features, and are clearly part of the National Bridge Inventory. How were these 'waterways' named? Who named them? Were they named before the freeway required infrastructure to pass over them, or during the construction process, or when the NBI was implemented, or after the fact altogether? I have submitted a question at UglyBridges.com, which looks like a public-facing handmade front for the NBI. There doesn't seem to be much interest in 'bridges' over washes and ditches in the middle of nowhere, big surprise, and I haven't heard anything back from them. The NBI has a library but their services are mainly reserved for governmental employees doing important things that aren't based in idle curiosity. I imagine I'll hear back from them sometime next year. FHA has a boatload of documents and policy to wade through, and I'm sort of picking through it haphazardly. So, here I am, asking you. Any idea how that sort of thing works?

Vegas and National Parks Itinerary Help

RoadScholar — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 11:59:38 -0800

I'm looking for advice, suggestions, critiques, reviews of our July Las Vegas to Utah National Parks itinerary. All comments are welcome including alternative recommendations. We are two families of 4 adults and 4 children ranging in age from 8 to 14. We'll probably have 2 rental cars. We like outdoor activities but probably won't be camping or hiking strenuously (or more than a few hours). We are not planning to spend much time in Vegas just a pass-through to see the sights and hit some restaurants and maybe a show if there is a deal, a few relaxing days with a nice pool is our goal in or near Vegas.

Day 1 - Arrive evening, stay in/near Vegas 4 nights
Day 5 - Drive to Zion (3 hours), afternoon in Zion, drive to Grand Canyon (2 hours), spend 1 night
Day 6 - Drive by Antelope Canyon, to Monument Valley (2 hours) for afternoon, drive to Moab (2.5 hours), spend 4 nights near Canyonlands
Day 10 - Drive to Bryce (4.5 hours), stay 2 nights
Day 12 - Drive to Vegas (4 hours), stay 1 night
Day 13 - Red Rock, Vegas, depart afternoon

Thoughts? Too much? Too little? We are ambitious. Suggestions on where to stay? Locations with rentals through VRBO or other where we could save on 1 rental for both families and with a kitchen are good. Anything we shouldn't miss? Capital Reef, rafting, Anasazi ruins, Lake Powell, Rainbow Bridge?

Travel advice needed

melizabeth — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 18:45:33 -0800

travel advice needed: Has anyone visited Vermillion Cliffs National Monument? Planning a trip to visit Vermilion Cliffs National Monument near the AZ-UT border in February. Wondering if anyone has been out there during this time of year-- was there snow? Conditions of the road? How did you getyour permit?

We have a volvo station wagon.. A dog (heard it will need a permit too??).. Camping (recommended areas?)

I,ve read a few blogs mentioning that getting in during jan/feb is do-able because its low season, but would like to confirm this and what your experience was like.

Thanks everyone! Happy holidays!

What's your experience with the NPS?

melizabeth — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 12:30:06 -0800

Any National Park Service or other closely affiliated agency (BLM, Army Corps of Engineers, etc) able to speak about their experience with said agency? I'm aspiring to work with the National Park Service and between two potential internship opportunities in the realm of interpretation.

*note: I understand it is extremely difficult to obtain a position, as of now I'm applying for internship opportunities and trying to get more feedback on what your experience was like in your career in effort to help me with making a decision between two positions.

In regard to your position-- did you feel having a Master's level education helped? Or was it more about who you know/what you knew already?

What was/is your overall feeling about your career?

Did you find there were many opportunities and avenues to explore?

Any other helpful information about your experience that you could pass along would be greatly appreciated!

Were there tanks on the National Mall in DC on September 11, 2001?

Morrigan — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 15:36:09 -0800

Were there tanks on the National Mall in DC on September 11, 2001? In discussions about 9/11 on Metafilter, I sometimes see assertions that there were tanks on the Mall on that day. I was there for hours during the attacks and did not see any but I had pressing concerns and was certainly not everywhere. I do not recall seeing any news reports featuring tanks. Were there vehicles with continuous tracks on the Mall itself, as opposed to armored military vehicles with tires? Perhaps at the Capitol or at the White House?

Drive or metro to DCA?

anaelith — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 05:13:40 -0800

Drivers of NoVA: Starting from the intersection of 123/Ox Rd. and 286/Fairfax County Parkway, picking a friend up from DCA/National Airport, flight arriving at 7am this Wednesday. Should I drive the whole way, stop at Franconia-Springfield and take the metro, or some other plan C? What will traffic, parking at F-S, and metro crowding be like and how early should I leave? What effect will the holiday have?

Hiking in Shasta area

ethel — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 00:12:46 -0800

What are your favorite hikes in Shasta Trinity National Forest? Some friends and I are camping in a yurt at Lakeshore East campground in Shasta Trinity National Forest in Northern California this weekend, and are looking for some hikes. In particular we're looking for: views/vistas, lots of green, ferns, hot springs, moderate hikes that would take a day or less.

Thanks in advance for sharing your favorites!!

Help me make a list of the can't miss speeches of the 2012 DNC convention.

marsha56 — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:19:15 -0800

I need help so I don't miss out on watching the best "can't miss" speeches of the 2012 Democratic National Convention. I've already seen Bill Clinton's speech, liked it and wanted to be sure to catch the best of the rest. But according to this list from the DNC, there are around 100 speakers at the convention.

Can you give me your list of the speakers that I really should watch?

If you could give me some idea of what makes each one interesting, awesome, rousing, inspiring, etc or just the general theme of the speech that would be truly appreciated. BUT, please don't post any "quotes", "zingers", or "great lines" since I'd prefer to watch them fresh myself.

Also, it's not necessary to provide links to the speeches, since at least right now, I'm fairly confident I can locate most of them somewhere. BUT, again, if you do want to post a video link, please only post a link to the entire speech from beginning to end, as again, I would prefer to watch the best moments in context with a fresh eye, not spoiled.

Thanks so much everybody for helping me catch up.

What bank should I open an account with?

piedmont — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:00:18 -0800

I need a bank account for some work-related stuff. I need a debit card for it, like yesterday. What nationally available banks can I open a checking account with that will give me a (temporary, at least) debit card immediately? Bonus if they have a lower than $20 minimum balance. I'll be arriving in Wharton, NJ tomorrow to open this, so bigger bonus if there's a branch there.

Suggestions for Acadia National Park?

Dick Laurent is Dead — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 16:36:06 -0800

Suggestions for things to do in Acadia National Park? I am thinking about taking a camping trip up to Acadia in the second or third weekend in August. I would be going with a few friends and leaving from Northeast PA. We would be going to hike, fish and swim most likely. I would love to get some good fresh lobster somewhere.
Can anyone suggest good places to go when I am there?

Are the Cranberry Isles worth going to? Bar island seems like a cool hike but you can only get there in low tide, is there a good place to rent a boat there?

Any suggestions on where to go when I am there would be great. I think we will be there 4 to 5 days.

Best country with no universal health care?

Alexander Hatchell — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 13:35:37 -0800

In the wake of the Affordable Care Act being upheld, there have been a lot of (joking?) references to Americans threatening to move to Canada to avoid socialized health care. But now I'm curious: if someone were really determined to move from America to a country with no kind of universal health care for its citizens, what would the most attractive option be? By attractive, I mean: reasonably safe, with a decent standard of living. It's a bonus if the culture shock coming from America isn't too huge.

Whatʻs happening now?

wandering_not_lost — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:33:16 -0800

Does an agency track colds and minor aliments like colds? I know the CDC tracks influenza. Does anyone know if colds or other minor communicable aliments are tracked? If so, where is the data? I ask because every time a cold goes around I hear from people who live in other states that it just swept through their community. I am wondering if this is officially tracked.

I have found web boards where some parents talk about their kids recent illnesses. What I am looking for is something like the CDCʻs influenza tracking, but for the common cold.

Cultural values affecting foreign policy?

espada0 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:22:57 -0800

To what extent do cultural values affect foreign policy making between U.S. and China? Culture provides people with ways of thinking, seeing, and interpreting the world. People from different cultures will inevitably have different ways of looking at the world, so in situations where cross cultural communication is prevalent, such as foreign policy making, there will always be potential for clashes and conflict.

The conventional view is that foreign policy is dictated by economic and strategic interests, while that is certainly true on an overt level, there must be other factors that form the undercurrent of it all, or else a lot of foreign policy would be much simpler and frankly a lot less interesting than it is. Everything from our racial features, to the food we eat, the way we dress, what language we speak, where we live all form a part of culture.

I choose the examples of US and China because both countries are arguably the superpower in each of their respective hemispheres (West/East), and it helps for comparison as both nations play a significant role (I daresay they may even be the leaders) of the "Western world" and "the East".

Can you help me identify this image?

fatedblue — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:51:27 -0800

Can you help me ID this photo? Found clipped in a photocopier 7 years ago. Something about this image speaks to me and I'd like to know more more about it if possible. Funny leaf-raking stories in lieu of the provenance are encouraged.

Negative national stereotypes

Trurl — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 17:14:06 -0800

What are some negative national stereotypes that do not involve Americans as either the -typer or the -typee? In other words: a Frenchman's negative assumption about Americans would not be an answer, but his negative assumption about Belgians would.

Do ousted male lions lose their manes?

toekneebullard — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:25:52 -0800

I was reading a book to my son (Face to face with Lions from National Geographic) and found a very interesting statement about male lions that our ousted from their Pride. According to this book, a male lion averages only 3-4 years as a leader of a pride, before a younger lion comes in and kicks out the old guard. The book says that the old pride leader then tends to lose his mane, making him look more feminine, which helps him be able to stick around with his pride, without confusing anyone as to who the real leader is now. So my wife and I found this very interesting. A week or so later we go to the zoo, and while looking at the lion, my wife mentions this to the zoo guide. She looks at us very strangely and says she's never heard this before. I assumed the guide was just some retiree that learned some animal facts and walks around the zoo and didn't really know anything.

So we go home, and start looking around the internet for more info. And we can't find it. So now we're wondering, is this National Geographic book wrong? We're both a little saddened by the idea that this intriguing detail of pride life may me made up. But why would National Geographic make that up? It seems like, to make that claim, it would need to be pretty well documented...

So we've written the publisher, but not heard back, and I figured I'd use the power of the Filter to see if anyone else had ever heard of this, or if you knew of info on it.

Thanks for your help!

Quality and origins of the National or Ambassador brands of lamb sold in Korea?

Not Supplied — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 08:58:20 -0800

Can anyone tell me about the National or Ambassador brands of frozen lamb sold in Korea, but from elsewhere in Asia - origins, quality etc? Anyone enough of a web detective to find more info, or can make an educated guess from what you know? I'm trying to find information about these brands of lamb regarding the following - is the lamb grass-fed (pastured), is it farmed in a relatively healthy way and processed under clean conditions, what country are the animals reared in etc. Basically is it ok to eat probably in rare burgers.

The brands are 'Ambassador' and 'National'. One is sold as frozen lamb 'keema' which is Hindi/Urdu for ground meat/mince I think. They are packaged from an Asian country, I don't know which. India/Pakistan makes sense, but I was thinking Malaysia for some reason. I dunno. I don't know if the meat originally comes from this country.

How to illustrate U.S. public debt?

keijo — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 10:07:42 -0800

How would you illustrate the U.S. public debt of $14 trillion in a concrete way? According to Wikipedia, the U.S. public debt amounts to $14.26 trillion. Can you think of innovative ways to conceptualise that amount of money? For example, what you could buy with it? Use it for?

Or do you know of an existing infographic or an article that attempts to do anything of the sort? I'm basically trying to think of a way to make such an immense amount of money understandable in some concrete terms.

Making travel plans to San Fran.

melizabeth — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 19:49:39 -0800

Trip planning to SF/Yosemite help! A friend and I are planning a trip for one week in July to visit San Francisco, CA. We will probably spend 1 day around SF area and then looking to head to Yosemite, Redwood, etc.

Looking for some travel ideas and advice. Where do you recommend flying into for cheap? We were thinking Las Vegas, renting a car, driving through Death Valley and eventually making our way up to San Fran or direct to Yosemite to hit SF on the way back.

Also, we are under 25 so renting a car seems pretty expensive through enterprise.. any other options or car rentals for those under 25?

We both love the outdoors so primarily would like to spend hiking and exploring.

Both on relatively low budgets. Looking to keep the trip under $1,000.

Voting turnout in different countries

espada0 — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 15:59:53 -0800

“A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy but won't cross the street to vote in a national election” Why is there an apparent apathy of political participation in America, and to extend it a bit, how come voting turn-out is higher in some countries in others even if the countries in comparison are both recognized liberal democracies?

Is there a robust world holiday calendar?

drewski — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 10:55:51 -0800

This metafilter post got me wondering - is there a robust website with all of these kinds of obscure world/national holidays?

How does this rice cooker work?

sleevener — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:15:53 -0800

How does this rice cooker work? A friend recently bought a used rice cooker that she was told was in perfect working condition. It has a complicated pair of concentric dials and a couple of buttons, and she can't figure out how to make it work.

The brand is National, and the model number is sr-2103kt. She's not able to find the manual online anywhere.

Here's an image of the dials/buttons. Both of the dials can be rotated, independently of one another. As you can see, the counterclockwise numbers seem to correspond to the R.C. TIME arrow (rice-cooking time, presumably), and the inner dial with the orange hand indicates P. TIME, whatever that is.

When she tried to use it, she turned the dials to settings that she guessed made sense (not sure what those settings were), and pushed down the "rice cooking" button, but nothing much happened in terms of turning rice into cooked rice. How does this thing work? Thanks for any and all help!

Favorite trails in Utah's National Parks?

ztdavis — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:49:40 -0800

What are your favorite trails in Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park? Day loops are preferred, but if you think something is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING please don't hesitate to suggest it.

I am travelling out to Utah soon and will be hitting up arches and canyonlands for a day or two each without much of an agenda at this point.

Also:
Any restaurants that we must stop at in southeastern/eastern Utah? Any ruins / sights / cultural points of interest that are must see nearby? Any campgrounds that get wholehearted recommendations?

Thanks!

Help me with a move to Galway, Ireland!

ranglin — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 01:25:46 -0800

I've just been shortlisted for an academic position at the National University of Ireland, Galway campus, but I'm currently living in Australia! Help me with the logistics of starting to consider this move, how we might do it and what Ireland (and NUI Galway, Galway the town) is actually like! We were applying for jobs in the UK (I have UK citizenship because my father is British and my mother is Irish) and this one seems to have come good (!), but we're now starting to think about the logistics and have a million questions. Looking to the MeFi hive mind to help me with any (or all) of the following:

1. How do we manage an international move? We're thinking that we would initially store most of our stuff and just travel with the essentials, renting a furnished place when we get there. Does this sound reasonable?

2. What is Galway like? We were mainly pitching for areas around London, so Galway is a bit out-of-left-field, but sounds nice according to wikipedia? We currently live on the Gold Coast in Australia, which is a town/city of about 600,000 people. How does Galway compare to this?

3. What is NUI Galway like? Does it have a good reputation in Ireland? How do Irish universities compare to those in the UK? (I know some of this already, but interested in a personal opinion).

4. We have a 6 month old son? Is there anything special we need to consider when moving him to Ireland? My wife is particularly concerned about the availability of the same formulas etc when we get over there.

5. Any other considerations you can think of, or things we need to know about Ireland in general? We've made an interstate move before, but never an international one, so this (possibility) is new to us!

Many thanks all! MeFi is awesome... :)

I Long to See Your Smiling Valley

netbros — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:19:23 -0800

I am going to Shenandoah National Park for a few days the last week of September. What are your favorite hiking trails, and other sights, in the park? Where would you recommend I stay? I won't be camping. I will be coming up from the south, so I was thinking of staying in either Staunton or Waynesboro. If you have better suggestions, I'd like to hear them.

I'm looking for day hikes. Waterfalls are nice, but I mostly like to hike up mountains for the views and the vistas. I'm in good hiking condition, so length and elevation change aren't an issue—6-8 hours is fine—just not interested in any overnight stuff. If there are some exceptional 2-3 hour hikes, perhaps I could do two in a day. For those who have been, or live nearby, what trails did you enjoy most?

What else should I know?