Do you have two sisters? Four friends? Seven brides for seven brothers? a.placebetween.us can help you find a meeting place. Earlier today, we updated a.placebetween.us to support an arbitrary number of addresses.

Thanks to everyone who suggested this improvement. By far, it was the most popular request!

As Matthew has been chronicling, the interest in a.placebetween.us has kept us wide-eyed and browser-refreshing all weekend.

Tonight, a.placebetween.us received a minor update in response to all the great feedback.

Highlights:

1. Improved interface: The first version of the site used some of the default search controls offered by Google’s Search API. This meant that there were multiple search buttons on the page, causing some confusion.
2. A draggable midpoint marker, allowing fine-tuning of the search results.
3. Directions from your address and your friend’s address to each search result.

In the spirit of further opening communication, we’ve removed comment moderation from the blog.

People have mentioned they don’t like waiting for their comments to appear.  Some have also complained about having to register just to leave a comment. 

We can understand how all of that can put a damper on the conversation.  So, commenting is now wide open for everyone.

We’ve put a spam filter in place.  Hopefully, it won’t catch any of your insightful comments!  Hopefully, it will catch the several hundred spam comments we get each month.

Discuss!

The other day when I wrote about the upcoming dedication of the Waverley Trail, I originally spelled “Waverley” as “Waverly.”  Not long after, in the comments, Brian Del Vecchio pointed out that he thought the spelling was actually “Waverley.”

At first, I was a little embarrassed because I was pretty sure that I had always spelled it “Waverly,” what I’ll call “the short spelling.”

So, I checked online and found that Google Maps thinks the official spelling is “Waverley,” what I’ll call “the long spelling.”  I checked with the MBTA, and the 73 bus is called the “Waverley Square - Harvard Square.”

Oh well.  I decided I had lost a brain cell somewhere and just went back and changed the post to use the long spelling.

But still!

Having grown up in Waverley Square, I found it hard to believe that I had been spelling it incorrectly all my life.  Before I went back and updated the post, I was going to make an argument that people in Waverley Square actually do spell it “Waverly!”

I did find a few people listing their address as “Waverly.”  It actually has its own ZIP code: 02479.  I went through a brief phase in my teens where I would list my return address as “Waverly, MA 02179.”  (It was changed to 02479 sometime in the last ten years or so.)

I also discovered a few local businesses that styled themselves with the short spelling.

Ultimately,  I felt these points didn’t add up to much of an argument, and I relented.

Since I was in the Waverley area today, I asked my mom–my folks still live in the area–how she spells it.  She responded with the short spelling.  So, at least I know why I spell it the way I do.

On the way home, I was pretty sure the Waverley post office used to be adorned with a simple sign that said “Waverly Post Office 02179.”  So I stopped by, only to find that the simple metal sign had been covered by a lit plastic sign featuring the US Postal Service logo and nothing more.

Then I spotted the window! That photo at the top of this post, ladies and gentlemen, the one with the short spelling, is a photo of the window of the United States Post Office in Waverly Square.  And if it’s good enough for the Post Office, then it’s good enough for me!

Now, I should probably try to draw some observation here, like: “this is how place names change over time,” or “now that these names are in databases instead of on paper and in people’s memories, place names might stop evolving,” or “maybe marketing interests will drive the naming of neighborhoods instead of the people in the area.”

No, that would take a long time, and this post has already gotten out of hand.

Instead, I’m just going to give reign to my wicked provincial nature, and heap scorn on all you people who aren’t from here trying to tell me how to spell things! :)

Our hosting provider had an (unexplained) outage from about 1:55 PM ET to about 4:05 PM ET.  Our apologies for the interruption.

We had a fantastic night last night at the Boston Web Innovators Group. Yesterday we briefly debated whether it made sense to lug two laptops and two large displays to the event. We brought it all and it turned out to be the right decision. Aron and I each gave and evening-long, non-stop demo to a constant crowd of visitors. I don’t think I’ve ever spoken so much, so continuously (and that’s saying something.) I hope my throat stops hurting by noon.

The photos are of Aron during setup. We didn’t get a chance to take any during the event.

A big thank you to David Beisel and the folks at the Web Innovators Group: thanks for having us. Another thank you to all of the people who kept Aron and me busy all night sharing their energy, enthusiasm, and ideas.

The next WebInno is slated for March 28, 2007, location TBA. See you there.

Update

Ben Saren of Citysquares and Your Suspect sums up his experience from the previous WebInno here. It is surprisingly similar to ours (except I didn’t get a beer and a burger after!) Greg Peverill-Conti at Over the River also covers the event here. C.C. Chapman also gives us a mention.  Barbara Heffner chimes in as well.

On to Indy!

No doubt this pseudo-Mii creator has already been seen by everyone in the world, but as I am not as cutting-edge as I like to think, please indulge me. Aron (indirectly) pointed me to it this weekend.

Over on the left there is my visage as rendered by my dear wife in the medium of Mii. I do believe she was being very kind.

No doubt Aron will shortly update this entry with a portrait of himself!

Here is Aron showing just how cheery he is about being guilted into making a Mii-portrait. Both Aron and Matthew need haircuts more than these digital visages let on.

Today’s story is about a simple map born with so much promise. As our hero entered adolescence, his face became pockmarked with too many trips to the database and not enough love from his family dermatologist.

Take care of your spots, people.

Matthew has been posting about his eight passions. Here is one of mine: cheese, melted on sandwiches.

A grilled cheese sandwich is the most pure of the cheese-and-bread combinations, yet is is not often surpassed. As much as I love tuna melts, turkey melts and quesadillas, they do not surpass the grilled cheese.

Butter (real butter, applied generously), hearty bread, a good combination of cheeses, and good, ripe tomato slices combine in just a few minutes into my favorite sandwich.