I scored 66 now and 67 then, or maybe the other way around. I'm sure I'd be a true Aspie except for my upbringing, when it was a survival skill to be able to read the parents. In fact, a depressing amount of my income today is dependent on my well-honed childhood skills of knowing what other people want to hear.

Also, I have always found the notion of "great cities" to be a peculiar one. Remember, Paris and London are both 'great' essentially at the expense of all the other cities (and regions) of England and France. Neither grew as a trade center, both are political/administrative centers, grown big (and rich) on politically redistributed income. Moreover, cities were/are health menances; a significant decline in American health and longevity occurred during the second half of the nineteenth century as a result of urbanization. (In fact, most of the grim impacts attributed to the Industrial Revolution were really the result of urbanization.)

Posted by: Friedrich von Blowhard on June 5, 2005 1:24 PM