Wapsi Square Forum

GlytchMeister wrote:

Sgt. Howard wrote:... but then... I wouldn't have an excuse to develop my MAXI-14 in .50 BMG... BWAAAAAAH!!! An, an, Glytch couldn't make his EMP generator... wait... is that a bad thing?

You'll see. I'm not done with it.

One favor, OK? When Glytch uses it to make the sun flare up, please have him aim the resulting Carrington-event-grade CME someplace other than right at us?

Burning out the entire planetary power grid would cramp pretty much everybody's style.

Dave wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote:

Sgt. Howard wrote:... but then... I wouldn't have an excuse to develop my MAXI-14 in .50 BMG... BWAAAAAAH!!! An, an, Glytch couldn't make his EMP generator... wait... is that a bad thing?

You'll see. I'm not done with it.

One favor, OK? When Glytch uses it to make the sun flare up, please have him aim the resulting Carrington-event-grade CME someplace other than right at us?

Burning out the entire planetary power grid would cramp pretty much everybody's style.

Oh, no. He's not going to do something like that.

That's downright pedestrian.

Sgt. Howard wrote: ... but then... I wouldn't have an excuse to develop my MAXI-14 in .50 BMG... BWAAAAAAH!!! An, an, Glytch couldn't make his EMP generator... wait... is that a bad thing?

Not to mention Al and Daisy would have never happened...sad for both of them, though her life has been a BIT too interesting of late.

Has it been pinned down precisely where the Alexander estate and AHI plant are?

I understand the house is on a large lot with a pasture (presumably shielded from outside view) and wooded area (providing said shielding in at least one direction), by Lake Independence... but there appears to be a lot of swamp (at least I think it's swamp - the scarcity of anything on it or crossing it certainly fits) in that area, which could be a problem. To me the north end of the lake, where the Vinland National Center is, looks like the best bet for the house. More options open up if that swamp stuff (e.g. all of the west-side lakeshore that isn't wooded between Pete and Lindgren) isn't swamp. Google Maps satellite view link

As for the plant, it needs to be reasonably nearby - Buck chose to start driving there for security reasons, as I recall, which implies he had formerly been walking or biking - but it doesn't need to be near the lake and would benefit by being near a major road and possibly railroad tracks*. There aren't either of those things all that close to the lake... of course, if the plant actually existed, a suitable road and railroad track would be built. Alternatively, there are a couple sets of buildings that look plausible near the railway and freeway to the south.

* I have seen a "unit train" of about 30 flatcars carrying two-each identical, brand-new-looking wheat-harvesting combines.

AHI's main plant is in Wayzata. Building #2 is over by Fort Snelling, where E.C. originally founded the company. The R&D is over by the U.

It makes sense, really.

EDIT: After discussion, the locale of Building 2 is in Minnetonka.

jwhouk wrote:AHI's main plant is in Wayzata. Building #2 is over by Fort Snelling, where E.C. originally founded the company. The R&D is over by the U.

It makes sense, really.

Funny, but when I type in "Fort Snelling" in Google Maps, it pin points it to the "Unorganized territory of Fort Snelling"...

Somebody ought to go there and tidy up a little...



*Drops a copy of a "Winning the clutter war", by Sandra Felton, of Messies Anonymous into the pun jar*

lake_wrangler wrote:

jwhouk wrote:AHI's main plant is in Wayzata. Building #2 is over by Fort Snelling, where E.C. originally founded the company. The R&D is over by the U.

It makes sense, really.

Funny, but when I type in "Fort Snelling" in Google Maps, it pin points it to the "Unorganized territory of Fort Snelling"...

Somebody ought to go there and tidy up a little...



*Drops a copy of a "Winning the clutter war", by Sandra Felton, of Messies Anonymous into the pun jar*

Perfect! Now Dave has a handy guide to help him organise his living quaryers, seeing as how he stuck himself in there...

Some questions and answers with our "created" characters:

BILLENS: What is it - Achilles? Jebadiah? Something else?

(Sigh) "Look, my mother may have been a minor paranormal offspring of a Greek god, but spelling wasn't her strong suit, okay? And it's not my fault that Homer was a better orator than a writer. All those copies of the Illiad resulted in a bad copy of my written name. Somehow, IA. BILLENS got confused with ACHILLES. I think someone didn't get the memo that beta and chi don't look anything like each other, but what can you do..."

So what IS your real name?

"Janus Billens. But obviously, over the years, I couldn't keep that charade up because of the age thing. Just like ol' Gaius Cornelius there has gone through more aliases than Liz Taylor."

jwhouk wrote:AHI's main plant is in Wayzata. Building #2 is over by Fort Snelling, where E.C. originally founded the company. The R&D is over by the U.

It makes sense, really.

So AHI still operates at its original location (site, not necessarily original buildings) in what is now the middle of Minneapolis, but had to go out to Wayzata to find enough reasonably-priced land for expansion and that facility grew to be the main plant?

(It's clear in The Redemption of Arania that Building #2 is in the boundaries of a busy AHI facility.)

No, the original site is where Mall of America is situated.

AHI had a large complex along the Minnesota River into the 30's, which they expanded to the site near the U with the post-Depression economy. The Wayzata plant opened after WWII. Building #2 was the only building in what was a much larger complex that survived the fire.

AHI was already a major farm manufacturer before the war; they had already expanded to Canada by 1939.

Hm... I think there are some continuity problems between that and Redemption. In the latter, Arania and the AHI person who hires security staff walk from the latter's office to Building 2. Also it's clear that there are AHI security staff monitoring the entrance to the industrial campus the building is on. Later Ari summons backup security staff and apparently expects a quick response, and when the stairway collapses it sounds like there are more workmen there to clear debris than Richer Engineering employs.

I think there are indications in other stories that Building 2 is near other actively-in-use AHI buildings.

In companies with more than one site, some people have more than one office/desk . . . in building 1 on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, building 2 Tuesday/Thursday.

Security would have a local headquarters, and maintenance likewise, plus an emergency response from other sites.

--FreeFlier

Also, AHI has multiple campuses around the TC - which is similar to General Mills, and how they're laid out in the city.

I contend that our HR lady was at the AHI offices that are just north of the plant where RE is based out of. There's a lot of office buildings in the area.

This is where I imagined Building #2 and its environs would be. That whole corner between the interchange of I-494 and MN-77 was, at one time, owned by the Alexanders. Some of it was farmland, partly to test products and partly to provide for workers and their families (and their bottomless stomachs!).

The Alexanders made most of their fortune on selling the land around the plant. They also bought places elsewhere in the TC, closer to where supply and transport would be located.

Remember: Ebbie was no dummy. And neither were his offspring. Heck, Rock had a PhD on the side from MIT that he never made known, because of a concept he came up with that led to efficient solar power cells that could be used in recharging farm equipment on a small scale.

I was just writing up a suggestion that AHI had multiple plants, and some years after the fire had re-expanded back to the Ft. Snelling site.

AHI doesn't have only offices near that building though, I think. It does some manufacturing very close by. The buildings just to the north of your suggested site might be producing, oh, lawn tractors and the like. (Why not? John Deere does.)

My understanding is that John Deere mowers are badge engineering . . . they put a John Deere badge and livery on machines made by someone else. (I think JD uses MTD machines . . . many people do.)

--FrfeeFlier

Okay, after a Loooong discussion, we've come to a conclusion: Building #2 is NOT next to MOA.

Instead, it is located in Minnetonka, along Wayzata Boulevard (aka US 12) and the I-494 freeway.

By the 1960's, all of the land that AH used to own in Bloomington had been sold off. It actually helped AHI weather financial issues into the 1980's and 1990's.

A major change to the Wapsiverse happened today - tangentially.

Prince Rogers Nelson passed away suddenly in his home in Chanhassen, Minnesota - which is located just west of Eden Prairie, on the southwest side of the Twin Cities.

His home was colloquially referred to as "Paisley Park" (which he also named his studio, located Chanhassen).