HERE IS THE ORIGINAL TASK PROOF

SINCE IT IS SO LONG I HAVE ADDED IT AS A TEXT FILE.  I MADE UPDATES TO THE TASK but no one noticed. So I radically truncated it and I'm leaving this text in place to allow players to make up their own minds. 

Updates:
Jan, 2008 I have a confession to make. This is honestly one of the four or five favorite task completions I did during Glasnost, and every time I see another cool object annotation, I get nostalgic and very sad about this one. Why am I sad (and thus, I should note, embarrassed)? Because of votes, because of popularity. Something about this just doesn't appeal to people. There's no other explanation. It just...doesn't hook. I don't know how to make it more. I think it's the text thing, how some people don't like to read long proofs. When I let that thought creep in, that pisses me off, so I don't let it creep in very often. I'm usually busy being a grown up about this, so I don't broadcast these thoughts very often. Maybe it was a time of Burn Unit fatigue. This was when I was more or less stomping on the Glasnost leaderboard for points (maybe for votes too) not to mention the whole campaign trail--though I'll point out later players took care of the points angle and others produced more highly rewarded campaigns.

But this is just beyond my ken; I can't explain it. I did about three times as much obsessive, "weirdo voice" editing and physical work on this task as I did on split text. Comparatively speaking, I went over the top (laminated tags!). Is it the multi task angle? I really did do a strip map for this object annotation, but I think people have a problem with multitasks, a general conceptual unease that is sort of unspoken (except when we speak it at some people)

There's days I think I would gladly give up "the points" from the strip map task--even to earn just one more vote on this one. This is all very embarrassing to me as a player of considerable pride and what I think are otherwise inarguable accomplishments and contributions to the game. But there you are. I'm sitting here today looking at another object annotation (Ian and Jackie's) and knowing that since it was unretired at the start of Insatiability that there's going to be a bunch of object annotation tasks coming down the pike, and thinking, gat damn, whatever went wrong with my object annotation? If you've read this far, possibly you are also enduring some kind of problem with ocd; I commend you and empathize with your suffering.

But please don't vote on this proof out of sympathy for my sob story. Read the damn thing and decide if it's vote worthy by whatever standards you use. Failing that, some time in the future, when I do something for you that is awesome (and chances are, if you aren't a sucker you will receive some kind of awesomeness from the Unit in this game, in the form of either gifts or comments or votes or even hugs, or something impressive) and you want to reward it, just come vote for this task. Don't announce it or anything, I'll figure it out on the basis that all votes this task receives after the one from nora will have seen this notice. I'll figure it out but I'll still allow myself a little delusion, one that says, "yes, yes you did a good job on that one." Because I did, minimal votes, or sympathy votes, or "please stop hectoring us about voting' votes or regardless of nothing at all...

the view of the totally awesome minneapolis post office from the bridge
Back to the original proof and updates

I love Minneapolis' bridges over the Mississippi. All of them have their good features—except the one that collapsed, which is sort of visible from this one. I wonder what might have happened if the bridge I tagged had collapsed. I wonder if this task would have been found on the internet or if someone would have noticed the tags and gotten all suspicious.

Anyway, my love for our bridges remains deep. So I decided to annotate in detail what I liked about the 3rd Ave bridge in particular. I walked the bridge several times and observed features in all directions on both sides of the river. I counted the number of steps I took to cross it (approx. 775) and I wrote out my notes. I was going to just tag the bridge and print out an annotation guide, then I realized what I was doing was creating a combined annotation and process map of the bridge, so I've multitasked this together with Strip Map. I took pains to attend to the task's line about "in great detail."

I tagged the length of the bridge with homemade, numbered laminated cards. The numbers on the cards corresponded to a map that I placed at each end of the bridge and on the map I had detailed explanations in a kind of deranged tone of voice that indicated what it was about that particular spot I liked.

Anyone who walks the bridge can share in the reasons I like it so much, the views, the strangeness, the skyline, the river, the architecture, the sounds. It's a great bridge. I wrote out the notes and designed maps, printed and laminated them, along with some tags bearing number markers I had devised. I got some binder rings for the guides to hang from the thread, and some zip ties for the tags. After all was set, I took a slightly different bus to work and got off on the south (city, or "Gold Medal") side of the bridge. I waited for some people to exit the bridge and took a few "touristy" photos through the chain link next to the post office. Then I hung up one set of thread and guides on a bridge stanchion, 5 copies. The annotation reads as follows:

Thank You for traversing the Highway 65 bridge over the Mississippi! This short strip-map guide and object annotation will detail for you some of the features of the bridge that are sure to give pleasure to the discerning pedestrian. Please hang this guide on the provided line at the other end of the bridge. Waypoints are marked for you to stop and enjoy the particularly notable points of interest. The numbers on these waypoints are based on the number of steps your humble guide required to reach the spot in question from the end of the bridge. The first number is paces counted from the north (Pillsbury) side, the second is counted from the southern (Gold Medal) side. These pace counts are approximate only, fitting the somewhat-varied stride of a man about 6’ tall with a 30” inseam. However, if the waypoint markers are intact, they will help guide you regardless of your pace. Notes describe the up and downstream sides of the bridge. Upstream is toward Nicollet Island and the Hennepin bridge, and downstream is toward the Guthrie and University. Please enjoy. For more information about this and other city interface projects, you can review the work of the University of Aesthematics at www.sf0.org.

10/760 - A grapevine twines around the railings on the upstream side, a lovely reminder of nature harmonizing the urban landscape.

35/733 - These stairs lead down to St. Anthony Main, the oldest part of MInneapolis. Some really lovely taverns and restaurants are down here, along with idyllic walks along the river.

112/655 - This cutout provides good photo posing opportunities, though the view is marginally less dynamic than the other cutouts. Downstream on the south side is a good view of the Guthrie Theater (cobalt blue, cantilevered bridge); near that is the historic Gold Medal Flour/Mill City Museum building between them some daring and historically grounded architecture that will anchor the bustling riverfront on that side of the river for decades to come.

140/638 - Downstream are those leggy, alien looking powerline structures, each one seeming to evoke a different era of human accomplishment in energy. They no doubt carry forth the electricity generated by the squat brick building on the Pillsbury side, the Hennepin Island Hydroelectric Plant. Looking toward the Gold Medal side, at the base of the Guthrie now you can see into the eyes of playwrights Anton Chekhov and George Bernard Shaw, giants in the history of staged drama.

230/541 - Another cutout. Looking upstream you have a good view of Nicollet Island, which is a dynamic, beautiful study in the contrasts of the city. You can't see it from here, but there's a gorgeous neighborhod at the far end, like a tiny faerie kingdom. Go over there and see! Look across at the south side and you'll see the Post Office. From here the various structures of that long stone building echo the falls, the building tops cascading upon one another, tumbling downward toward you. This tumble effect is a key feature in Minneapolis architecture.

347/428 - Speed limit sign. Chekhov and Shaw are really staring now, the haunting gray of their limpid eyes slipping past your conscious mind's defenses. Upstream, witness the spine of Nicollet Island and its lovely Pavilion, site of numerous weddings and society affairs!

426/349 - Look down into the river! It's easy to feel hypnotized by the powerful yellow and brown effluvium below, its horrific beauty a roaring testimony to the effects of industry upon Nature. In time will these waters run clear again? Too soon to say.

492/272 - Mill City Museum is very visible now, the clever cutaway technique to expose and memorialize Minneapolis' industrial past. The skyline really looms at this point on the bridge. This is also the start of good views of the Hennepin Ave bridge, upstream of you here. Gaze upon the glory of the post office, Art Deco details really clean and crisp against its rich, subtly-toned sandstone exterior.

605/162 - Look down! There are cylindrical things in the river! What are they, you might wonder. They, together with the spherical buoys, are the last warnings given to travelers of the might and danger of the upper Saint Anthony Falls Locks and Dam. Looking further upstream you can see the famous Grain Belt Sign, which at night is a raucous beacon of the class-transgressing tradition of the value added side of the grain industry. A look toward the Pillsbury side reveals the splendid arches that hold this bridge up, gracefully curving along its bottom toward you.

685/87 - This cutout provides a view of the river walk below, and excellent people watching. The detailing on the post office is visible to anyone now, and should be enjoyed before it is lost in the macro view of the building a couple hundred steps away from here. You see here the "backside" of Nicollet Island. From this angle, and apropos of nothing, the water vaguely resembles a Star Destroyer in Return of the Jedi.

775/1 - Uphill from here you see the Pillsbury sign. If you are starting from this point (the Gold Medal or south side of the river), you are just about to emerge from the deep parts of downtown into the shining sun and wonder of our interaction with the river. If you are leaving the bridge, you may want to catch your breath from the excitement and vertigo before you begin exploring the box canyons and ravines of wild Minneapolis. That Dunn Bros. a block from here is very good. Enjoy a fresh roasted cup of something fair trade if you like. If you are starting out, proceed to the next waypoint marker, the cutout.

University of Aesthematics
Strip Map Guide to and
Object Annotation of Highway 65
Bridge Over Mississippi River page 2 of 2 www.sf0.org

Four days later, the guides were still there.
A week later the guides are gone, but several of the tags remained.
Four weeks later the tags appeared to all be gone.