Well, now that I'm back, a little news from Boston... Other folks are blogging the convention, so I'll just mention what it looks like from the outside, on the basis of one evening here, a taxi ride from the airport, and a little walking around; the city is dead. I talked to one of the guys who runs a local Indian restaurant (one of the better ones in town), and he's not pleased -- the convention is supposed to be good for his business, but he'd rather just keep serving his regulars. The problem, of course, is the security precautions, which have gone way, way overboard. On highway closures, for instance, I can sort of understand wanting to close Storrow drive east of, say, the Longfellow Bridge, where it actually does sorta kinda get near the convention venue. But closing the whole thing just makes it hard to get into neighborhoods which are a mile or two away -- it just inconveniences the residents. On Japan, by the way... if you can go to only one city, make it Kyoto. I might do a bit more travelog later, but I had a very nice time...