USA. Part III. Typical CharacteristicsMapDecember 30, 2007 — January 25, 2008 Wooden Utility PolesThe wooden utility poles were the main aesthetic discovery of my cross-country trip. Whenever I see something like this in a Russian village, I always think about our traditional backwardness and how post-war modernization has yet to make its way to this hole, while other places have long had concrete or metal poles. ![]() The poles look brand new, so it’s not like everyone just forgot to take them down after the Great Depression. They’re considered to be a perfectly modern way of supporting overhead power lines. ![]() Many of the poles have drums the size of diesel barrels hanging at the top. Must be capacitors of some kind. Or transformers. ![]() In the US, wooden poles make up over half of the utility pole population. ![]() Americans use paper mail in pretty much the same way we use email. The average American receives several pounds’ worth of paper spam each day. Newspapers, letters, bills, postcards, documents, packages are all delivered through the mail. The official website of the Russian Post helpfully informs us that transit regulations for messengers have existed in Russia since 1266, a hundred years before Germany. Yet we can’t even begin to imagine the volume of mail traffic in the US. The average Russian would be hard-pressed to recall the location of even a few post boxes in their city. (But hey, at least we have concrete utility poles.) Meanwhile, a normal post box here is the size of a small dumpster. This serves as a good indication of how much mail there is. ![]() Special relay boxes and bins are set up in places where there’s no need for a separate post office. These are for postal workers’ use only. ![]() Post offices (in this case, one for parcel post) are serious institutions. They often look like banks. ![]() Postage stamps are sold right on the street—everyone always needs some. You can even pay or get change in stamps at small convenience stores—it’s the same cash value either way. ![]() Even UPS trucks have letter slots on the side, allowing you to mail an envelope on the go. This comes in handy for many people. ![]() FoodAmericans eat mostly crap. What’s more, nothing here tastes good—not just the prepared food, but also its source materials. The produce is inedible. Strawberries taste like cotton. Apples can be described as generously waxed blobs of bland plant matter. Raspberries smell like raspberries, but do absolutely nothing for the taste buds. Everything edible is amazingly photogenic but completely disappointing in terms of flavor. You can get good-tasting vegetables at farmers’ stands in the countryside, but you have to know where to go. Good restaurants exist in bigger cities, but you have to study online reviews in advance to find them. All this is a far cry from Italy or Greece, where you’d be hard-pressed to find food that isn’t good. But at least it’s cheap here. A double cheeseburger will only set you back a buck. ![]() Every restaurant provides ketchup and mustard on the tables (in addition to salt and pepper)—to instantly create flavor in any dish. Sometimes there’s also a sugar dispenser and a napkin holder, both of which are horribly uncomfortable to use. ![]() Anyone who watches American movies will remember scenes in which the characters try to get in the good graces of the maître d’: it’s impossible to get a table, and only a bribe or pulling some strings can save the day. Why does this situation arise in the first place? Because the food at other places is crap. Salvation can be found at ethnic restaurants. The vast majority of Mexican places, for instance, serve reliably tasty food. MuseumsOne of the few things that everyone could stand to learn from Americans is the skill of amassing, preserving, and passing on knowledge. Here we must tip our hats and bow our heads in admiration: no other country offers as many tools for learning as the US. Even if you don’t live in the States, the books published here alone are enough to fill a lifetime. ![]() Western culture in general deals only with things that are documented. And Americans find it particularly important to create descriptions of every form of activity, turn everything into instructions and manuals, and explain everything through pictures and models. The museums here are second to none. ![]() For example, here’s an entire multimedia display explaining heart attacks to children. Sure, you can laugh at the fact that the heart has eyes like a cartoon character. But in Russia, we have nothing which offers even the slightest indication that someone may have started thinking about creating something similar. ![]() Human ResourcesThe American educational system is designed to function as an assembly line for the production of corporate robots. On the one hand, the average American has an incredibly rich and varied life outside of work. There are all sorts of top-notch workshops, classes, clubs, societies—anything you can think of. On the other hand, every American is taught to play certain roles from childhood, and knowledge is evaluated through standardized multiple choice tests (I’ll never forget having to take a written test for gym class at my American school). Although Americans will argue that their upbringing is nothing like an assembly line, this becomes immediately apparent when you compare them to their Russian colleagues. The US places a high importance on having everything be of the same consistent and predictable quality. This is why hamburgers always taste the same no matter where you go. Why the entire country has identical concrete sidewalks. Identical light switches. Starbucks—the most popular coffee chain—has people lining up for equally average-tasting coffee at every location across the country. And their staff all wear identical smiles. They’ve been trained, they’ve studied the employee manual, and they earnestly play their part. Some tasks are automated. For example, one fast-food place I visited had a special coin change dispenser hooked up to the cash register (bills were still handed to customers by the cashier). By the way, people in the US always hand you money directly into your hands, rather than plopping it down derisively onto a tray like in Russia. McDonald’s employees will always hand you your change directly, even in Moscow—because them’s the rules. ![]() Sometimes—like when it comes to directing rush hour traffic in New York City—machines just aren’t up to the task. Then a live person steps in. ![]() New York City is so large that people jaywalk here all the time, crossing at red lights or even in the middle of a block. If everyone always followed the rules, the city would come to a halt. ![]() RoadsMy trip began in New York. And the first thing I encountered was a giant pothole in the middle of the highway. Fifteen thousand kilometers later, I realized that it must have been the only pothole in the country. There are some road surfaces of questionable quality—making any Russian feel instantly at home—but even then the damn asphalt is still smooth (the photo shows a street in Dallas). ![]() The highway system is simply perfect. This is the American talent for organization in all its glory. Driving down the highway feels like flying through a pneumatic tube in a capsule: the road just carries you along, requiring no thought on your part. The transportation logistics solutions here are simply amazing. ![]() You can cover a thousand kilometers a day with no trouble at all. The downside is that you’re not allowed to pull over anywhere on the highway. There’s little opportunity to stretch your legs or take a few snapshots of the scenery. ![]() The typical American truck has a very long hood, while trucks in Europe have no hood at all—their motor is tucked under the cab. This is because European regulations limit maximum truck length, and every transportation company would rather have a longer trailer than a longer tractor unit. US regulations, on the other hand, allow people to use trucks of whatever length they wish: there are plenty of roads with enough space for everyone, and Americans (long-haul truckers included) are all about big cars. The sleeper compartment above the cab is necessary for two reasons: the distances are very long, and your own bed is always cheaper than a motel. ![]() Taking the above into account, it’s unsurprising that the US is the world leader in terms of the number of weigh stations. You pass one practically every hour. All trucks have to turn off onto the side road and get weighed. If a truck decides to breeze past the station, special gadgets installed on a pole over the main roadway can track it. ![]() Americans are a nomadic nation. Almost no one lives and works in the same place where they were born. Multiple companies exist to help people with their moving needs, the most popular of which is the aptly named U-Haul. You can rent anything from a small cargo trailer to a large box truck. ![]() Using towropes is prohibited here—only rigid hitches are allowed. U-Haul has locations in every city and even provides branded car trailers for those who need to move their second car. ![]() |
december–january
|
december–january
|
december–january 2008
USA. III. Typical Features
← Ctrl →
|
december–january
|
january
|
© 19952025 Artemy Lebedev |