Tag Archives: location

Showboat

Nothing says Old World decadence like a showboat. These are not the luxury liners of today, but the slow, stately paddleboats of the previous century that meandered up and down the Mississippi and other large rivers. Men and women who can afford the steep prices travel down the Mississippi on these elegant vessels, drinking, dining, and sometimes gambling in the well-appointed salon and the impressive grand ballroom. Less affluent travelers buy economy tickets, which lets them take the riverboat but does not give them access to its top deck. Of course, where the rich and powerful gather, those who would prey upon them also appear, and showboats are a favorite haunt of showgirls, musicians, con artists, and the famous riverboat gambler. But the fact that these people are out to steal from, swindle, or seduce the rich only makes the journey more exciting. Read the Full Article

School

Schools come in many shapes and sizes, depending on the level of education they provide, as well as the school’s era and geographical location. Rural schools meant for children under the age of 12 can have as few as five or six rooms altogether, while even relatively obscure universities are often sprawling complexes of single- and multi-story classroom buildings, residence halls, and research facilities. Read the Full Article

Park

Parks provide urban denizens an escape from the sprawl of asphalt and concrete that binds them, whether it is a quick walk in the local city park or a camping trip to a state or national park. They are places dedicated to preserving one bit of nature for the enjoyment of the citizens. In a typical adventure, this happy, shiny fun is bound to be shattered by the intrusion of villains bent on crashing the party. Read the Full Article

Office

The office building remains one of the enduring symbols of white-collar workers, commerce, and business. The typical building contains multiple offices, ranging from the cubicle farms of low-level clerical workers to the scenic windowed offices of managers and company presidents. Offices contain all the elements for efficient conduction of business: desks, telephones, word-processing devices, and the like. The typical building also has all manner of office supplies, ranging from mundane paper, pens, and correction fluid, to more esoteric devices such as binding machines, paper cutters, and high- capacity shredders. Read the Full Article

Museum

The word “museum” comes from the Greek word “mouseion” – a place dedicated to the Muses, who were themselves the divine spirits of the arts. This ancient definition holds true today, as museums remain buildings devoted to exhibiting objects and displays of importance. What is on display depends on the museum. The art museum – filled with paintings, drawings, and sculptures of famous artists – remains the most popular conception, but museums exist devoted to all kinds of topics: science, history, sports and hobbies, and so on. The focus and scope of a museum determines most of its characteristics. For example, a regional museum dedicated to the history of coal mining in the area would probably be a modest building, possibly with a coal car in the center, and other artifacts or pictorials hanging loose on walls. A national art museum, on the other hand, might be a huge, impressive structure with towering statues, housing the country’s most valuable objects in phenomenal security. Museums can take the form of refurbished warehouses, rededicated palaces, or planned architectural marvels. Read the Full Article

Mall

The first indoor mall began operation in 1954. Prior to that, shopping locales primarily remained in downtown areas; stores opened to people off the street, encouraging them to see product, come in, and shop. The mall reversed this idea. Rather than exposing its stores and product outward, hoping to entice would-be shoppers to stumble into them, it turned its stores inward, creating a shopping experience free of distractions like road traffic and weather. It didn’t matter that people couldn’t see the smaller shops from the outside; people would be drawn to the mall simply for the promise of pleasurable shopping. Read the Full Article

Library

“Libraries,” in the sense of “places of knowledge and information hoarding,” have existed since the Sumerians of the third millennium, B.C.E. In fact, explorers sometimes stumble across these ancient troves of lore, their dusty pages kept as secreted away as they were back then. However, the concept of “library” as “site of publicly available information” is a much more recent development: In the United States, Andrew Carnegie’s library construction project from 1883 to 1929 was revolutionary. Before then, libraries had closed stacks; you needed to ask a librarian for a specific book, who would go get it for you. The Carnegie libraries had open stacks; patrons could peruse the collection and picked ones based on what seemed interesting. Read the Full Article

Laboratory

The word “laboratory” often conjures up images of strange chemicals bubbling through mazes of glass and tubes, or tests conducted on machinery of such complexity that even its creators cannot fully understand what they have designed. Many labs actually possess few chemicals and do not contain any equipment more complicated than a personal computer. They can focus on a variety of fields, including avionics, biochemistry, chemicals, electronics, the environment, genetics, medicine, nuclear and alternate forms of energy, physics, sewage treatment, and others. Which field and whether it focuses on research or development dictates how the laboratory will be stocked. (Thus, the “Things to See” list may not be appropriate for many circumstances, as it focuses on chemical- or physics- related fields. Read the Full Article