[Martin Tell]

If terrorists nuked Nashville ...

Thanks for your kind words (and yes, I would miss Modesto as well - it sounds so modest).

This reminds me of a (true) story I heard: During the Cuban Missle Crisis a local politician in rural TN was giving a speech about how they were ready for when the Cuban nukes hit the local town. The big city (Nashville) visiting pol, took the local aside and whispered, "Look no one is gonna lob a missle at Podunk!" The local looked offended and replied, "Well, we are the county seat."

[Arthalion]

LOL! Reminds me of the bomb blast drills we had when I was a kid. I grew up in a tiny little farm burb (~2000 people) southwest of Modesto, and I remember a girl once asking my teacher something similar after a duck 'n cover drill. She asked the teacher why the Soviets would attack such a tiny place, and the teacher launched into a 20 minute monologue explaining why the town grain silo and cheese factory were so important to the USA. Even at eight years old, we knew she was full of it :-)

Oh, and Modesto is the Spanish word for modest. History has it that the town was originally going to be named Ralstonville after William Ralson, one of the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad (who built the original town), but Ralston reportedly shot the idea down stating that he'd never curse a town with such a horrid name. Because of that modesty, they named it Modesto in his honor. About a year ago I had a friend visiting from Colorado. After being here a few days he remarked that this is one of the most accurately named cities he's ever visited :-)