The most interesting house in the world...

While I may not win any competitions concerning "The Most Interesting Man in the World", I submit that this house is a candidate for a similar contest.  It is officially the "skinniest" house in Boston.  It dates back to the civil war.  Legend has it that two brothers were given a plot of land.  One brother left to fight in the war, and his brother built a big house taking up most of the lot, thinking that his brother would not come home from the war.  When said brother surprisingly survived the war, he returned to find his inheritance used up.  To spite his brother, he built this beauty.  It effectively blocked the view and the sunlight.

In related news, I visited DC and attended the Rally to Restore Sanity / Keep Fear Alive.  It was very highly attended (most of whom didn't know why they were there), and I'll give you two take-aways from the event.

1) America is full of nice people.  I was crammed into a subway like a sardine, (Seriously, there was a man in both of my armpits while I was standing butt to butt with some stranger and face to face to another.) and nobody got upset, laughing was the predominant noise, and conversations were struck up between absolute strangers.

2) America is ready for a little more sanity.  There will still be people out there who take advantage of systems, and there will still be idiots who make money from fear-mongering and insanity, but I truly believe that most Americans want to start trusting each other again.  They want to start believing in each other.

In some-what related news, I used to hitch-hike to class.  I lived a mile from campus, and I would walk there with my thumb out.  You could call me lazy, but I viewed it as a social experiment.  Do Americans still do the right thing, even if it poses a threat to their wellbeing.  (Good Samaritan sort of thing)  Probably 7 times out of 10 it worked. (Nebraska statistic - based on 2 semesters.)

I bring this up to mention that it is no different on the east coast.  While I was there, I had to walk to a restaurant, and I decided to walk back to my hotel with my thumb out.  It only took about 5 blocks before a woman in a Lexus picked me up and drove me the rest of the way.  Not bad.