Open Thread

[statler]

For those burning topics that just don't quite require a thread of their own. :D

[Patrick]

The Worst Cities for Road Rage:

1. Miami
2. Phoenix
3. New York
4. Los Angeles
5. Boston

Cities With the Most Courteous Drivers:

1. Minneapolis
2. Nashville
3. St. Louis
4. Seattle
5. Atlanta

netscape.com homepage

[statler]

Patrick, that .sig line is painful. :roll:

[Patrick]

Patrick, that .sig line is painful. :roll:

funny thing is people who have never heard 'at all' pronounced by someone w/british accent dont get it :lol:

[castevens]

when I asked the price of candy in London, the seller told me "It Depends". i said "It depends on what?" And she says "No, it depends?" So I repeated "It depends on what??"

Turns out she was giving me the price. 80 pence

[Corey]

Haha

[statler]

Goddamn golf umbrellas! It bad enough these are probably the same fucks that need 2 tons of car around them so they can hog the road, but now they need five feet of friggin' umbrella to keep their precious feet dry, not giving a shit they are hogging the entire sidewalk. :evil: :evil: :evil:

[Patrick]

self-important people. Massachusetts is full of them. :P

[bowesst]

Last week I was walking down Beacon Street in the Back Bay, towards Kenmore Square. All of the sudden I look up and see a huge pick up truck driving past me (toward the State House). For those of you who don't understand what that means - he was driving the wrong way on a one way street. As the truck passed I turned around to see if he was going to realize what he was doing. He had New Hampshire plates...but I'm sure they could have just as easily been Maine plates. :wink:

[Patrick]

Last week I was walking down Beacon Street in the Back Bay, towards Kenmore Square. All of the sudden I look up and see a huge pick up truck driving past me (toward the State House). For those of you who don't understand what that means - he was driving the wrong way on a one way street. As the truck passed I turned around to see if he was going to realize what he was doing. He had New Hampshire plates...but I'm sure they could have just as easily been Maine plates. :wink:

Fair enough :oops:

I was in boston in february and i must have pissed off plenty of people with my driving. either that or they were all just stretching their finger muscles.

[castevens]

I've heard that Rhode Island has the worst drivers. Us in RI think Massachusetts has the worst.

[Corey]

Driving in Massachusetts is so much fun. I honk my horn at everything and drive much more recklessly than I do at home. :)

[castevens]

You fit right in then, huh?

[Patrick]

Driving in Massachusetts is so much fun. I honk my horn at everything and drive much more recklessly than I do at home. :)

i know exactly what you mean. being in boston is sorta like a free pass to disregard the traffic laws. no signal, tailgating, honking...you have to if you wish to survive, there arent any friendly maine drivers down there (who youd probably know if you pulled up next to them at a redlight) haha.

[Patrick]

coincidentally I just ran across this short article on the homepage of netscape.com today...

Test scores are in: Northeast still has dumbest driversInsurance company exam indicates one in 11 drivers would fail state licensing exam.
May 30, 2006: 12:31 PM EDT


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The tiny state of Rhode Island still ranks rock bottom in terms of driving knowledge, according to a national test conducted by GMAC Insurance. Oregon drivers answered the most questions correctly.
The test revealed that about one in 11 licensed drivers in the United States would fail a state drivers test, according to GMAC Insurance.
Rhode Island ranked last year, also, with an average score of 77. Last year, Oregon's average score was 89, which still placed at the top of the rankings that year.
Based on average scores, northwestern states generally ranked highest while the bottom-ranking states were mostly in the northeast. One exception was Vermont, which ranked third. Washington state drivers ranked second. Drivers in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia ranked at the bottom, with D.C. finishing just ahead of Rhode Island.
The 20-question test was based on questions asked in state driver's license examinations. A score of 70 or higher is required to pass a standard state test.
The failure rate for drivers in northeastern states was about 16 percent, according to GMAC Insurance. The failure rate for drivers in northwestern states was from one to seven percent.
The test and an accompanying survey were completed by 5,288 licensed drivers including at least 100 from each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The survey asked about responses to specific driving situations.
(Cheat alert: The following paragraph includes some answers to the test.)
Approximately one in three drivers said they usually do not stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. At least one out of five drivers did not know that pedestrians in a crosswalk have the right of way. At least one in five also did not know that roads are most slippery when it first starts to rain after a dry spell.

[castevens]

KIEV (Reuters) - A man shouting that God would keep him safe was mauled to death by a lioness in Kiev zoo after he crept into the animal's enclosure, a zoo official said on Monday.

"The man shouted 'God will save me, if he exists', lowered himself by a rope into the enclosure, took his shoes off and went up to the lions," the official said.

"A lioness went straight for him, knocked him down and severed his carotid artery."

The incident, Sunday evening when the zoo was packed with visitors, was the first of its kind at the attraction. Lions and tigers are kept in an "animal island" protected by thick concrete blocks.

http://today.reuters.com/news/ArticleNews.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2006-06-05T133715Z_01_L05642927_RTRUKOC_0_US-UKRAINE-LION.xml

[castevens]

http://eepybird.com/dcm1.html

What happens when you mix diet coke and mentos

[statler]

Holt Crap!

When my wife and I were looking for a house 2 years ago we looked at a dilaptated Victorian in W. Roxbury that was listed at $299,000.

Well, it's back on the market. (http://re.boston.com/sales/View_Ulisting.asp?lid=168-70402239) :shock:

BTW: "meticulously restored" must mean "meticulously gutted and rebuilt from scratch" in real estate-ese. :roll: I think the original Victorian interior would have had a bit more detail.

[Patrick]

i thought roxbury was a very dangerous and murderous section of boston....but that house looks like it is in a very nice neighborhood...is west roxbury dramatically different from roxbury?

[statler]

i thought roxbury was a very dangerous and murderous section of boston....but that house looks like it is in a very nice neighborhood...is west roxbury dramatically different from roxbury?
Very, Very different. In fact, Roxbury & West Roxbury don't even share a border (http://www.tbf.org/indicators2004/executivesummary/summary.asp?id=3027).

West Roxbury is one of the most suburban parts of Boston.Very green and leafy and very white and Irish Catholic. I'd say it's mostly upper-middle to lower-upper class. Rather boring though. That's why you don't hear too much about it.

[Ron Newman]

Some history:

Roxbury was once a separate town. Part of Roxbury broke off and became West Roxbury. The dividing line ran through the middle of what we now call Jamaica Plain. Later, Boston annexed Roxbury. Still later, Boston annexed West Roxbury too.

Roslindale was once part of Roxbury, then part of West Roxbury.

[statler]

Here is a .PDF (http://www.cityofboston.gov/dnd/PDFs/Profiles/West_Roxbury_PD_Profile.pdf) with the 2000 census info for West Roxbury.

[Patrick]

ah, i see. When i went down to look at an apartment in Brookline the guy who gave us the tour said it actually was built right on the line of brookline and west roxubury, and so we would get a discount because no one wanted to live in west roxbury because that would mean that their children could not attend the very upper class elementary school a block away in brookline. i thought it might have also had something to do with roxbury's reputation but i had no idea they were separate sections of the city (west versus regualr that is).

[statler]

ah, i see. When i went down to look at an apartment in Brookline the guy who gave us the tour said it actually was built right on the line of brookline and west roxubury, and so we would get a discount because no one wanted to live in west roxbury because that would mean that their children could not attend the very upper class elementary school a block away in brookline. i thought it might have also had something to do with roxbury's reputation but i had no idea they were separate sections of the city (west versus regualr that is).
Fuck Brookline. Buncha fucking snobs. He should have charged you more because you would have been covered by the BPD & BFD as opposed to whatever rent-a-cops and volunteers they have out there. :D

[Ron Newman]

Sounds like you were apartment-hunting in Hancock Village. Any differential in price completely reflects the difference in the school systems' reputations. It has nothing to do with crime. West Roxbury's reputation is "boring and suburban".

[Patrick]

ah, i see. When i went down to look at an apartment in Brookline the guy who gave us the tour said it actually was built right on the line of brookline and west roxubury, and so we would get a discount because no one wanted to live in west roxbury because that would mean that their children could not attend the very upper class elementary school a block away in brookline. i thought it might have also had something to do with roxbury's reputation but i had no idea they were separate sections of the city (west versus regualr that is).
Fuck Brookline. Buncha fucking snobs. He should have charged you more because you would have been covered by the BPD & BFD as opposed to whatever rent-a-cops and volunteers they have out there. :D

true, but would these services even be needed, or worse, wouldn't they?

that is, i might be served by them in west roxbury, but suppose there is no need for police, then i am stuck with an excellent but uneeded service, and a poorer school system than the town ten feet away. worse yet, suppose they are needed, then id still rather be living in the next town over where it might be a different story.

at any rate, its not like i have kids to send to school in either town and to be honest i was unimpressed with both west roxbury and brookline, as well as the drive into the city from both spots. i would have much rather gotten an apartment in an urban section of boston; neither west roxbury nor brookline looked very urban, but driving into boston i got lost in dorchester which was very densely settled and it only got more urban from there if memory serves me correctly.

[garbribre]

Holt Crap!

When my wife and I were looking for a house 2 years ago we looked at a dilaptated Victorian in W. Roxbury that was listed at $299,000.

Well, it's back on the market. (http://re.boston.com/sales/View_Ulisting.asp?lid=168-70402239) :shock:

BTW: "meticulously restored" must mean "meticulously gutted and rebuilt from scratch" in real estate-ese. :roll: I think the original Victorian interior would have had a bit more detail.

Wow. I am surprised at the escalation in price in such a short time. But it does have 5 bedrooms and three plus baths. It's a big house.

I am most surprised because the homes in the nicer parts of Codman Square, all of which are bigger, and you could say more grand than those in West Roxbury, are hundreds of thousands less. I guess 'West Roxbury' sounds better than 'Dorchester.' (But I'd take Dot any day.)

Just for comparison, a friend just put in a bid on a house in a 'suburb' of Oakland at $590K. Bid 50K over asking just to keep in the running. It's only a 1,300 sq foot 2br/ 1-1/2 bath prairie-style bungalow. If that West Roxbury house was here, it could be $1.5M--no joke.

[Ron Newman]

[at any rate, its not like i have kids to send to school in either town and to be honest i was unimpressed with both west roxbury and brookline, as well as the drive into the city from both spots. i would have much rather gotten an apartment in an urban section of boston; neither west roxbury nor brookline looked very urban,

If all you saw of Brookline was the part next to West Roxbury, I can understand that statement. That part is quite sparsely populated, with more golf balls than people. But you should take a walk along Beacon Street or Harvard Street before deciding that Brookline is "not urban".

As for fire departments, I'm sure Boston and Brookline have a mutual-aid agreement.

[Patrick]

Holt Crap!

When my wife and I were looking for a house 2 years ago we looked at a dilaptated Victorian in W. Roxbury that was listed at $299,000.

Well, it's back on the market. (http://re.boston.com/sales/View_Ulisting.asp?lid=168-70402239) :shock:

BTW: "meticulously restored" must mean "meticulously gutted and rebuilt from scratch" in real estate-ese. :roll: I think the original Victorian interior would have had a bit more detail.

Wow. I am surprised at the escalation in price in such a short time. But it does have 5 bedrooms and three plus baths. It's a big house.

I am most surprised because the homes in the nicer parts of Codman Square, all of which are bigger, and you could say more grand than those in West Roxbury, are hundreds of thousands less. I guess 'West Roxbury' sounds better than 'Dorchester.' (But I'd take Dot any day.)

Just for comparison, a friend just put in a bid on a house in a 'suburb' of Oakland at $590K. Bid 50K over asking just to keep in the running. It's only a 1,300 sq foot 2br/ 1-1/2 bath prairie-style bungalow. If that West Roxbury house was here, it could be $1.5M--no joke.

I thought oakland, as urbanized as it is, was technically a suburb of san francisco, i didnt think it had suburbs of its own. I knwo it is an urban center, but in terms of importance, isnt oakland what it is because san fran is right next door, or would it have grown the way it has regardless? I dont know much about that area, how close are the two cities (i think ive asked you before, but since the old board crashed your answer would be irretrievable).

I think i read somewhere that san fran was the most expensive metro in the nation for housing. and now that i think of it, perhaps rather than being a suburb of san fran i just mean, isnt oakland in the san fran metro? or is it a separate metro core altogether?

[Ron Newman]

I thought oakland, as urbanized as it is, was technically a suburb of san francisco
I wouldn't call it that. Is Cambridge a suburb of Boston? In both cases, I'd say you have two cities, one better known that the other, separated by water.

[statler]

true, but would these services even be needed, or worse, wouldn't they?
But what if you had to deal with the dreaded Fruits & Vegetables Gang (http://weeklydig.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/article.view/issueID/5c58f01a-2cd7-4d79-8c5a-e39811a404a9/articleID/57e171fa-d823-4045-b1d5-6a6b07d14499/nodeID/4b1339d1-be3a-44a2-be8b-1484963a003a)? :lol:
Seriously though, you are right, Dot is far, far more urban than Westie & Brookline.

Wow. I am surprised at the escalation in price in such a short time.
To be fair, I would guess they put in about $200,000 worth of work into it. It was literally falling apart.

[garbribre]

I thought oakland, as urbanized as it is, was technically a suburb of san francisco, i didnt think it had suburbs of its own. I knwo it is an urban center, but in terms of importance, isnt oakland what it is because san fran is right next door, or would it have grown the way it has regardless? I dont know much about that area, how close are the two cities (i think ive asked you before, but since the old board crashed your answer would be irretrievable).

I think i read somewhere that san fran was the most expensive metro in the nation for housing. and now that i think of it, perhaps rather than being a suburb of san fran i just mean, isnt oakland in the san fran metro? or is it a separate metro core altogether?

Yup discussed and is now lost. **sniff**

Oakland IS it's own animal. Oakland Metro (Alameda County) is about 1.8 million people--just because you like the numbers, patrick.

Oakland is considered anywhere from 5th to 8th on the most expensive list, depending on which one you look at. Median Prices in SF over $750K; Oakland over $625K. Someday I'll repost the lost pics and some new ones of the mansions in my hood and in the hills. Makes Portland's Grand Promenade and Brookline's manses look quaint. :lol: :P Although the most expensive home in the US is not in the Bay Area, many of the $30-50M ones are. Hell, as a joke, I even looked at a condo in my hood that was $1.3M. A condo! And the monthly HOA/condo fee was more than my current rent.

[Patrick]

I thought oakland, as urbanized as it is, was technically a suburb of san francisco, i didnt think it had suburbs of its own. I knwo it is an urban center, but in terms of importance, isnt oakland what it is because san fran is right next door, or would it have grown the way it has regardless? I dont know much about that area, how close are the two cities (i think ive asked you before, but since the old board crashed your answer would be irretrievable).

I think i read somewhere that san fran was the most expensive metro in the nation for housing. and now that i think of it, perhaps rather than being a suburb of san fran i just mean, isnt oakland in the san fran metro? or is it a separate metro core altogether?

Yup discussed and is now lost. **sniff**

Oakland IS it's own animal. Oakland Metro (Alameda County) is about 1.8 million people--just because you like the numbers, patrick.

Oakland is considered anywhere from 5th to 8th on the most expensive list, depending on which one you look at. Median Prices in SF over $750K; Oakland over $625K. Someday I'll repost the lost pics and some new ones of the mansions in my hood and in the hills. Makes Portland's Grand Promenade and Brookline's manses look quaint. :lol: :P Although the most expensive home in the US is not in the Bay Area, many of the $30-50M ones are. Hell, as a joke, I even looked at a condo in my hood that was $1.3M. A condo! And the monthly HOA/condo fee was more than my current rent.

Condos currently underway in portland's eastern waterfront are selling for $5 million! :P I shit you not. several others sell for a million plus. there is a wave of condo demand and development underway across the nation to cater to the baby boomers....i wouldnt expect any of these prices, whether in maine or cali, to last long, although im sure they will remain relatively higher in cali than elsewhere just because good weather is always in demand.

but anyhow, thank you for the numbers, i love them, you are right. 50 million dollar homes are hard for me to imagine. My uncle was close friends with the CEO of STAPLES before he passed two summer ago and I heard my dad tell me that the guy is worth about $50 million. thats like taking this guys entire net worth and spending it on a home. insane.

[Patrick]

true, but would these services even be needed, or worse, wouldn't they?
But what if you had to deal with the dreaded Fruits & Vegetables Gang (http://weeklydig.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/article.view/issueID/5c58f01a-2cd7-4d79-8c5a-e39811a404a9/articleID/57e171fa-d823-4045-b1d5-6a6b07d14499/nodeID/4b1339d1-be3a-44a2-be8b-1484963a003a)? :lol:
Seriously though, you are right, Dot is far, far more urban than Westie & Brookline.

Wow. I am surprised at the escalation in price in such a short time.
To be fair, I would guess they put in about $200,000 worth of work into it. It was literally falling apart.

I thought that article was a joke until I read on. How funny. the kid in the middle photo looks like that fat red head from the sand lot movie haha. i wonder how well these suburban gang kids would fare in the more rough sections of boston? not well i bet.

[bowesst]

I find it interesting how some people claim to know so much about neighborhoods in which they have never lived.

[Ron Newman]

I've never lived in Cambridge, Brookline, or West Roxbury, but that doesn't mean I know nothing about them.

[statler]

I find it interesting how some people claim to know so much about neighborhoods in which they have never lived.

In this thread? :?:

[Patrick]

I find it interesting how some people claim to know so much about neighborhoods in which they have never lived.

please, then, tell us what interests you so much.

[Patrick]

[at any rate, its not like i have kids to send to school in either town and to be honest i was unimpressed with both west roxbury and brookline, as well as the drive into the city from both spots. i would have much rather gotten an apartment in an urban section of boston; neither west roxbury nor brookline looked very urban,

If all you saw of Brookline was the part next to West Roxbury, I can understand that statement. That part is quite sparsely populated, with more golf balls than people. But you should take a walk along Beacon Street or Harvard Street before deciding that Brookline is "not urban".

As for fire departments, I'm sure Boston and Brookline have a mutual-aid agreement.

I was under the impression that the whole town/city looked like that. How exactly "urban" dopes it get in other sections (Brookline, that is) ?

[Ron Newman]

do a Google image search on "Coolidge Corner", which is where Harvard and Beacon streets intersect.

[Patrick]

looked suburban, but developed. I still would have rather lived in the "city" if i were going to school down there.. keep in mind that when i say unimpressed i dont necessarily mean bad. just not impressed.

[bowesst]

Firstly the dissing of West Roxbury. People have called it boring several times. Why? Personally I find JP boring and very overrated but wouldn't just throw that out there in a discussion about JP because I've never lived there. Despite having walked and driven around the neighborhood numerous times, my perception of JP is drastically different than that of someone who has lived there. Also I don't really find West Roxbury that suburban. Sure some parts of it are (towards Dedham) but It also shares a border with Roslindale and there are alot of interesting "mini-neighborhoods" and more urban feeling areas in that section. If you looked hard enough I think you could probably find suburban looking areas in almost every Boston neighborhood. You're right though, some do have more than others.

Secondly, Patrick, I'm really not trying to be a jerk but if you don't know the difference between Roxbury and West Roxbury and you got lost in Dorchester on your way to Boston from Brookline/West Roxbury , you may not be too qualified to judge the "urbanness" of these neighborhoods. Drive west on Beacon Street from Kenmore square and without looking at any signs, tell me where you think Boston ends. You'd be driving for a while.

[bowesst]

I should also mention that much of my opinion on what is/isn't urban has been partially influenced by living in the southeast for a few years. Take a trip down there. When you come back West Roxbury will look like Brooklyn. :lol:

[Patrick]

Secondly, Patrick, I'm really not trying to be a jerk but if you don't know the difference between Roxbury and West Roxbury and you got lost in Dorchester on your way to Boston from Brookline/West Roxbury , you may not be too qualified to judge the "urbanness" of these neighborhoods. Drive west on Beacon Street from Kenmore square and without looking at any signs, tell me where you think Boston ends. You'd be driving for a while.

You are quite right, good point. Forgive me for "passing judgment" on these neighborhoods and towns. What I really meant to do was convey my perception of them from my limited experience, hoping that in doing so it would be validated or broken down (it has been broken down). Thanks for the info.

[bowesst]

Secondly, Patrick, I'm really not trying to be a jerk but if you don't know the difference between Roxbury and West Roxbury and you got lost in Dorchester on your way to Boston from Brookline/West Roxbury , you may not be too qualified to judge the "urbanness" of these neighborhoods. Drive west on Beacon Street from Kenmore square and without looking at any signs, tell me where you think Boston ends. You'd be driving for a while.

You are quite right, good point. Forgive me for "passing judgment" on these neighborhoods and towns. What I really meant to do was convey my perception of them from my limited experience, hoping that in doing so it would be validated or broken down (it has been broken down). Thanks for the info.

Brookline is strange because it blends with Boston so well but at the same time it definitely has its own identity. I've always wondered how different Brookline would be had it been annexed by the city. Would it have changed or pretty much stayed the same?

[statler]

Firstly the dissing of West Roxbury. People have called it boring several times. Why? Personally I find JP boring and very overrated but wouldn't just throw that out there in a discussion about JP because I've never lived there. Despite having walked and driven around the neighborhood numerous times, my perception of JP is drastically different than that of someone who has lived there. Also I don't really find West Roxbury that suburban. Sure some parts of it are (towards Dedham) but It also shares a border with Roslindale and there are alot of interesting "mini-neighborhoods" and more urban feeling areas in that section. If you looked hard enough I think you could probably find suburban looking areas in almost every Boston neighborhood. You're right though, some do have more than others.

I spent the first 22 years of my life living in Westie. Went to school at the Patrick Lyndon, then Holy Name, then CM. The only part of West Roxbury that could be described as urban is Centre St. Somehow The Corrib, The West Roxbury Pub and West (nee Buck Mullian's nee Charlie's) don't make for an overly active nightlife. The rest of Centre rolls up the sidewalk around nine pm (unless you count Roche Bros or CVS). During the daytime it can be quite active, and there are thankfully very few parking lots, but it's very long and stretched out, so always seems kind of dead. (Except during Sidewalk Sales Day -Woo-Hoo!) The only T access is a few commuter rail stops on the Needham Line and a couple of bus routes. The fact is, WR is 90% suburbia. Which is fine but it's probably the most suburban part of Boston. The are very few apartment buildings and mostly single family homes (see the .PDF).
Sorry, unless it's changed drastically in the past 3 years West Roxbury is quite dull.

EDIT: Ok, compared to the Southeast, West Roxbury could appear 'urban' I guess. :)

[Patrick]

Secondly, Patrick, I'm really not trying to be a jerk but if you don't know the difference between Roxbury and West Roxbury and you got lost in Dorchester on your way to Boston from Brookline/West Roxbury , you may not be too qualified to judge the "urbanness" of these neighborhoods. Drive west on Beacon Street from Kenmore square and without looking at any signs, tell me where you think Boston ends. You'd be driving for a while.

You are quite right, good point. Forgive me for "passing judgment" on these neighborhoods and towns. What I really meant to do was convey my perception of them from my limited experience, hoping that in doing so it would be validated or broken down (it has been broken down). Thanks for the info.

Brookline is strange because it blends with Boston so well but at the same time it definitely has its own identity. I've always wondered how different Brookline would be had it been annexed by the city. Would it have changed or pretty much stayed the same?

Is brookline that town which is surrounded on three sides by boston? If so, what are the surrounding areas of boston like (besides west roxbury, which we've already discussed, obviously)? are they drastically different from brookline? I think that would be a good place to start.

[bowesst]

I spent the first 22 years of my life living in Westie. Went to school at the Patrick Lyndon, then Holy Name, then CM. The only part of West Roxbury that could be described as urban is Centre St. Somehow The Corrib, The West Roxbury Pub and West (nee Buck Mullian's nee Charlie's) don't make for an overly active nightlife. The rest of Centre rolls up the sidewalk around nine pm (unless you count Roche Bros or CVS). During the daytime it can be quite active, and there are thankfully very few parking lots, but it's very long and stretched out, so always seems kind of dead. (Except during Sidewalk Sales Day -Woo-Hoo!) The only T access is a few commuter rail stops on the Needham Line and a couple of bus routes. The fact is, WR is 90% suburbia. Which is fine but it's probably the most suburban part of Boston. The are very few apartment buildings and mostly single family homes (see the .PDF).
Sorry, unless it's changed drastically in the past 3 years West Roxbury is quite dull.

EDIT: Ok, compared to the Southeast, West Roxbury could appear 'urban' I guess. :)

I use to live in Roslindale right near Fallon Field. I know its technically not West Roxbury but I liked that area alot. It was sort of right between Roslindale Village and Centre Street in WR. I think Centre Street has alot of potential. Its two biggest problems are that its too wide and in certain sections has too many parking lots (like where the Friendly's used to be). Admittedly, those are major problems but In the past few years some great restaurants and delis have opened up which make the area a little more lively. I don't know when it will be but the next time I'm around there I'll snap a few pictures. I don't know, you don't think parts of Hyde Park are more suburban? Like Readville? I suppose they're about the same.

[Waldorf]

I live in Coolidge Corner.

Brookline is a town of contrasts. North Brookline (Coolidge Corner/St. Mary's/Wash. Square - next to Allston/BU/Fenway) is quite urban in nature, matching that of Allston Village and even Harvard Square. There are, however, pockets of surburbaness within North Brookline. Generally speaking though anything on Beacon and Harvard Streets are pretty urban (I'm talking density compared to, say, Newton). In addition, North Brookline has three Green Line branches running through or near it (B in Allston/Brighton, C and D in the town).

Patrick, North Brookline is no Midtown Manhattan, if that's why you mean by urban. But it does have a great deal of energy and life and almost twenty-four hour activity. It's a good neighborhood if you are young/hip/whatever or if you are going to school or working. It is also very easy to get to DT Boston or Cambridge (via the 66 crap bus).

South Brookline is completely different. It is completely automobile dependent and is made up of primarily single family detached homes with driveways. The people that live here control the town, that's why the ridiculous parking ban is still in effect (I digress). This part of town looks a lot like the neighborhoods of Newton and West Roxbury.

This section of town is what Patrick saw. It's a scary place for someone who likes density and urbanity.

[Ron Newman]

Brookline is surrounded on other sides by Jamaica Plain, Mission Hill, the Longwood Medical Area, the Fenway, Kenmore Square, Boston University, Allston, Brighton, and the city of Newton. Except for Newton and parts of JP, all of these are quite urban.

[statler]

I don't know, you don't think parts of Hyde Park are more suburban? Like Readville? I suppose they're about the same.
I was going to mention HP. It's right up there but Cleary Square always struck as more urban than Centre St. Maybe it's just more run down. :?

[Patrick]

http://eepybird.com/dcm1.html

What happens when you mix diet coke and mentos

I never knew that when you posted that video it was of two guys from Maine. I was reading the newspaper this morning, however, and noticed the article below.


http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/photos/060629coke.jpg

Maine comedians get sweet TV break

A little fizz has turned into a lot of fame for a couple of Maine comedians.

Fritz Grobe, 37, and Stephen Voltz, 48, are scheduled to appear on David Letterman's late-night TV show tonight to demonstrate what happens when you mix Mentos candies with Diet Coke.

The resulting explosive geyser of soda - imagine the dancing fountain at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas - has earned the two Buckfield residents Internet fame.

Their homemade experiment involves more than 500 Mentos and more than 100 two-liter plastic bottles of Diet Coke. Since they posted a three-minute video in early June, they've had more than 3.5 million hits on their Web site, www.eepybird.com, and received dozens of offers to perform their chemistry live.

Tonight it's Letterman, on Friday morning they'll be on the "Today" show.

They've been written up in the Wall Street Journal and interviewed on National Public Radio, and are entertaining offers from media outlets around the globe.

"We've gotten e-mails from German TV, Polynesian TV, calls from Australia," Grobe said Wednesday from New York, where he was preparing for tonight's TV appearance.

"This has turned into a global phenomenon in a way that was totally unexpected. We expected to tell our friends, who would tell their friends, and then maybe a few weeks later we would start seeing some larger interest. But we never anticipated this."

Around Maine, Grobe and Voltz are known for their regular appearances as part of the "Early Evening Show" at the Oddfellow Theater, a 156-seat theater in Buckfield that's operated by Grobe's friend and performance partner Mike Miclon.

Their Mentos-Diet Coke experiment began on a whim eight months ago.

"Stephen heard from a friend that if you drop Mentos in soda it makes a fountain. We tried it, like so many others have, and said, 'This is really cool,' " Grobe said.

"The next day, we had a show at the Oddfellow Theater, so I brought home 10 bottles of soda and said, 'Let's try to do a fountain. Let's choreograph something.' When we saw what 10 bottles could do, we knew there were so many more possibilities. We were just scratching the surface."

In the video, Grobe and Voltz orchestrate the geysers to resemble a synchronized fireworks show. Some shoot more than 20 feet into the air, and others spin around. The splash area is 30 feet by 60 feet, Grobe said.

Tonight, Grobe and Voltz will attempt to shoot off 120 bottles of soda, a new unofficial record. Grobe said he wasn't sure they would have enough air time to go through all 120 bottles, and their appearance is contingent on the weather. It might rain in New York, and they are scheduled to perform outside so the soda doesn't fill Letterman's studio.

A spokesman for the confectioner Perfetti Van Melle, which produces Mentos, said he is thrilled with the publicity the candy has received.

"We were just really delighted when we saw the video. These guys cook. It's a lot of fun," said Pete Healy, vice president of marketing for the company's U.S. division, based in Kentucky.

A spokesman for Coca-Cola could not be reached.

Grobe said it isn't essential to use a Coke product, although diet soda seems to work better than regular soda.

"And don't forget Moxie," he said of the soft drink with its roots in Maine. "Moxie works very well, as well."

Healy said the experiment is safe to try at home, though he recommends that people do it outdoors. There have been no reports of injuries suffered from mixing Mentos and soda, he said.

"If a kid was going to do it, we would certainly hope their parents would be there," he said.

To date, Grobe and Voltz haven't turned their fame into fortune, though they have made some money because of advertising that has come to their Web site.

At the very best, a hot Internet video might make its creator somewhere in the neighborhood of $50,000 - good money for sure, Grobe said. "But it's a shot in the dark. It's a rare video that catches on that much."

Their larger goal is to translate other comedy routines they do at the Oddfellow Theater into Web videos.

"Most of all, what we're really trying to do is make eepybird.com a place where people will be able to see what we do in this crazy town of Buckfield.

"If we sell out the 'Early Evening Show,' we've sold 156 tickets. You start splitting that among a cast of five or six, the math is not good. If we start reaching hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions, the few pennies we could make on each advertising click start adding up. It could really provide us with a new way to reach an audience and a new way to be able to do what it is we love to do."

Still, Grobe is not counting his pennies quite yet.

"We're just the flavor of the week," he said. "In two or three weeks, it's going to be gone."

[Scott]

I don't know, you don't think parts of Hyde Park are more suburban? Like Readville? I suppose they're about the same.
I was going to mention HP. It's right up there but Cleary Square always struck as more urban than Centre St. Maybe it's just more run down. :?

The part of Hyde Park on the south side of the Neponset boardering a nicer part of Milton is very suburban.

[castevens]

Nowhere to post this but the open thread...:

I'M MOVING BACK TO BOSTON TODAY!!!

[statler]

Yea! Congrats! 8)

[kz1000ps]

Hey hey, very cool. If you wanna go for a photo walk or grab a bite/drink I'm all for it.

[castevens]

unfortuately im moving back later in the day, and work for me starts tomorrow (work being training to become an RA for the Northeastern dorms :roll:

But it is SUCH a beautiful day (at least here in Rhode Island), and I wish I was moving back earlier (eye doctor's appointment in RI at 4pm :( )

[kz1000ps]

Well I mean any time in general. We do live like a whopping 7 blocks away from eachother.

[Patrick]

A 21 year old man was trapped in a tub full of chocolate yesterday after attempting to unplug the vat or whatever it was by climbing in. http://news.netscape.com/story/2006/08/18/man-trapped-in-chocolate/

[statler]

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday

* by Joe Keohane
* Issue 8.34
* Wed, August 23, 2006

There?s a book called The Geography of Nowhere, by James Howard Kunstler. It?s about how ultra-consumerism, suburban sprawl and bad development have turned America into ?a nation of overfed clowns living in a hostile cartoon environment,? and as I sat eating a disgusting hamburger in a Ruby Tuesday in an enormous godforsaken suburban Connecticut shopping mall, the following passage kept popping into my head:

?Indeed, [during the late-?50s suburban boom] the relentless expansion of consumer goodies became increasingly identified with our national character as the American Way of Life. Yet not everyone failed to notice that the end product of all this furious commerce-for-its-own-sake was a trashy and preposterous human habitat with no future.?

The lady and I were on our way to NYC when we pulled off the highway to grab a bite to eat at this mall, assuming it must have a Bertucci?s, or some other middling-but-edible alternative. Turns out it had a Bennigan?s and a Ruby Tuesday. We went to Ruby Tuesday, and took a seat by the window. It overlooked the middle of the mall. There was a plastic playground there, a bunch of fake trees and several benches, on which exurban parents suffering from varying degrees of soul death sat idly as their fat children played in the closest thing the town had to a common space. (Ruby Tuesday also had an ?outdoor? seating area, which also overlooked the mall, only without windows.)

We ordered two bowls of chicken chili (gravy with things in it) and a plate of ?mini? hamburgers. (The waitress remarked ?Is that all?? as if four McDonald?s-sized burgers knitted together at the buns was something only infants could possibly be satisfied by.) I went to the men?s room, and as I came back, some woman grabbed my arm and snapped, ?Can we get some forks, please?!? I looked at her and her brood of greasy meat-balloon kids in disbelief, wrenched my arm away and said, ?Lady, my god, I don?t work here.?

?What?!? she snapped, like that was beside the point.

The next day, at the PS1 museum in Queens, doubled over from whatever Ruby Tuesday had done to my stomach, my thoughts moved toward the whole notion of urban elitists, specifically how I am the biggest one ever, and, at the risk of offending ?ordinary Americans,? how endlessly grateful I am for it.


KEOHANE@WEEKLYDIG.COM
Link (http://www.weeklydig.com/news_opinions/articles/goodbye_ruby_tuesday/)

[Ron Newman]

I keep seeing coupons for this place but I have never heard of it and have no idea where it is. It's strange they would bother sending me coupons for a restaurant in Connecticut.

[Patrick]

ru by tuesdays isnt in massachusetts?!?!? that strikes me as odd because we have at least two in portland, and I know there is at least one in NH. portland is notorious for banning chain restaurants, so if we have one im sure there is one lurking somewhere closer to you than connecticut.

[BostonSkyGuy]

ru by tuesdays isnt in massachusetts?!?!? that strikes me as odd because we have at least two in portland, and I know there is at least one in NH. portland is notorious for banning chain restaurants, so if we have one im sure there is one lurking somewhere closer to you than connecticut.

I've never seen a Ruby Tuesday's in my life...at least around here. I'm not sure if I saw one when I was semi-living in Atlanta, but if I did I didn't remember it. According to their website, there's one in my old stomping grounds-- Watertown at the Aresenal Mall. There's also locations in: Worcester, Framingham, Taunton, Marlborough, and Westborough.

I guess the best thing at Ruby T's is the hamburgers? I don't know, I know of a lot of good places to get a burger that aren't fast food or chains. It's not my type of thing to go to these chains or fast food joints anyways.

What's funny to me is how many ads are shown on television around here, for places I've never seen/seen around here.

Red Lobster? I know there was one in Nashua, NH (It's Smokey Bones BBQ now)

Long John Silver's: Anyone seen one aronud here?

Sonic: I fell in love with the slush type drinks at Sonic when I was in ATL. They show ads all the time here, yet the closest one is in Viriginia.

There's other places I can't remember off the top of my head, but I always see places and think "Where the hell is there one of those?"

[philip]

hey theres a long john silvers in malden on broadway sharing a store with a kfc

[Patrick]

ruby tuesdays isnt bad. it is comprable to an unos, vinny T's, Fridays, bugaboo creek, uhhh, stop me if you guys have never heard of those....

i could be off with vinny T's, which is out of boston and looks slightly more upscale than your run of the mill chain, but you get the picture. it is a family restaurant, burgers go for like $6.99-8.99 and there not half bad. although they just openned one up in westbrook (burb of portland) and the people that work there must still be stuck in their mill town past because they couldnt cook a burger to save the world....tasted like tar, bad tar at that :shock: ao it depends, like everywhere else, on whos cooking. but all in all, i would say ruby tuesdays is a nice venue.

red lobster i have never been to or seen either, and im from the lobster capital of the world (one of them anyway) so i find that odd as well. my only guess is that these corporations have to keep out competing their competitors with ever more expansive tele-advertising, or else risk losing market share by not focussing on the travelers...

[DowntownDave]

My 10 cents for today says:
"Photo editing on a 12" screen laptop sucks!" :evil:

[Scott]

Was that our historian from Dorchester quoted in Sunday's Globe Real Estate section? :wink:

http://www.boston.com/realestate/community/articles/2006/08/27/dorchester/

[kz1000ps]

Yessiree. Nice to see you're thoughts are getting proper exposure, CityRecord.

[cityrecord]

Yessiree. Nice to see you're thoughts are getting proper exposure, CityRecord.

Thanks, unless by proper exposure you mean lining birdcages. Given he only had 400 words or something like that, I'm happy with the way it turned out.

[Patrick]

I remember hearing about this tragedy a few weeks back, what a terrible thing...now it looks like they caught one of the guys responsible in Maine.

Police arrest Boston murder suspect

PORTLAND - Police say they arrested a Massachusetts man wanted in connection with the shooting death of a 20-year-old woman in Boston.

They said that they took Laron Richardson, 28, of Jamaica Plain, Mass., into custody after a standoff Tuesday morning at a house near the intersection of Forest Avenue and Dartmouth Street.

Boston police said Richardson is one of two men responsible for fatally shooting Analicia Perry, 20, at the same intersection where her brother was killed four years before.

After Richardson's arrest, a SWAT team entered the building to make sure there is no one else inside, according to police.

[kz1000ps]

I guess this is as good a place as anywhere to ask, but I was returning to Boston today via the Turnpike, and right around Framingham and Natick (exit 13) there were five or so cranes off to the south, in the area of the Natick Mall and Sherwood Plaza. Does anybody know what is going up here? I felt like we had entered Dubai for a split second the way how the cranes were clustered together on the nonexistent skyline out there.

[lexicon506]

http://architecturalboston.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=272

That should tell you a little about what's going on in Natick.

[kz1000ps]

Ahhh, thank you very much. Quite the development going on out there.

[castevens]

Well I mean any time in general. We do live like a whopping 7 blocks away from eachother.

Haha, thanks. Sorry it took me forever.

I am an R.A. this year for the school. It's busy...I've got freshmen.

I'm on Co-op next semester for MGH, I don't know if I'll have more, or less, time.

I realllllly want to go out and take pictures, my camera, though, is dusty and I would like to get that fixed before I do anything big... Has anyone ever done this?

(keep in mind- I've used the at-home kits, and it seems like I have more dust in the lens every time i do it. Also, btw, it's the inner glass of the lens, not the CCD sensor)

[Patrick]

http://www.americawestandasone.com/awsao.html

[castevens]

HAPPY OCTOBER!!!

[Patrick]

Three-year-old passes Mensa test

A three-year-old has become the youngest member of the high IQ group Mensa after taking a series of tests run by psychologists.

Mikhail Ali, from Bramley, Leeds was put through his paces by experts at the University of York.

Mensa spokeswoman Caroline Garbett said: "We have 25,500 members and fewer than 30 are under the age of 10."

Mikhail's mother Shamsun, 26, told the Yorkshire Evening Post: "We knew he was a gifted child."

Ms Garbett said the testing had been carried out independently by psychologists at the university as Mensa do not normally deal with youngsters below the age of 10.


Every day he amazes us, but underneath it all he's still our little boy too
Proud mother Shamsun, quoted by paper.
Mikhail undertook a series of tests involving maths, picture and logic puzzles and number sequences.

Mrs Ali added: "Every day he amazes us, but underneath it all he's still our little boy too.

"He still plays with his toys and demands food."

A spokeswoman for the university said they were trying to contact the member of staff who carried out the tests to verify claims that Mikhail has an IQ of 137, putting him in the top two per cent of the population.

[statler]

80's trivia pop quiz time:

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m35/rgatte/RickAstley.jpg

[vanshnookenraggen]

HAhahahahahahahahAH.

[JoeGallows]

Didn't really want to start a new thread for this, but does anyone know what seems to be on fire at the rear of the Federal Reserve tower? The smoke is coming from somewhere in the rear. I don't have a good look at it from my location. The wind is filling Dewey Square with smoke.

[Ron Newman]

On b0st0n LiveJournal (http://community.livejournal.com/b0st0n/5384411.html?view=61376987) people are saying that the Tea Party Ship on Fort Point Channel burned down.

[statler]

I just saw that too!
I didn't have time to walk down there.
Hopefully something will be up at Boston.com soon.

[statler]

On b0st0n LiveJournal (http://community.livejournal.com/b0st0n/5384411.html?view=61376987) people are saying that the Tea Party Ship on Fort Point Channel burned down.
What the hell? Isn't that the second time?

[Ron Newman]

which was exactly my reaction.

[czsz]

You have to give those vengeful British credit for being persistent.

[statler]

BOSTON[/b] frik'n Globe][...blah, blah, blah]
After his wrestling career began dwindling in the 1990s, Leslie bounced between jobs for a while before settling at the Metro Boston Transit Authority. ??I was stuck in a tollboth in Chinatown with the prostitutes and the bums and the rats,?? he says. ??You cannot imagine the filth I had to endure.?? He lived in his father-in-law?s attic to save money, he says, and hated the MBTA.
[blah, blah, blah...]

Link (http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/08/29/act_2_brutus/?page=2)

Who the hell are they getting to write these stories? Does anyone from this paper live in Boston?

[statler]

The Coast Guard says a man picked an unusual place to take a dip this morning: the middle of Boston Harbor near Rowes Wharf downtown.

Someone reported at about 9:15 a.m. that the man had jumped from the wharf and was swimming north toward the federal courthouse, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
Link (http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/07/mans_morning_di.html)

Have I been holding my map upside down this whole time?

[statler]

http://filespump.com/archive/venecia2.jpg

[kennedy]

Ahahaha. Darn terr'ists.

[JimboJones]

The absolute absolute worst place to be in the entire city of Boston at 4:45 PM is the JP Licks on Centre Street.

It is a f-ing absolute nightmare. Nightmare. Children. Dogs. Just about every obnoxious person in the entire city can be found here.

FYI.

[Beton Brut]

^^ I'll have to stop by some time.

[Scott]

Yes it is just wrong Jimbo, children should never be allowed in an ice cream parlor. :rolleyes:

[statler]

It's true. The 'pink hat' syndrome has spread to the world of design:

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x176/bstnstatler/ermes.jpg
Yes, that is a pink Eames Lounge Chair.

And evidently it is "HOT! (http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/at-email/hot-haverland-house-tour-ikea-follow-upemail-from-72908-058680#comments)"

[Beton Brut]

I'm not sure I know anyone fabulous enough to sit in that chair. Maybe my friend Isabella...

Do they make one in cordovan? That's how I roll.

[statler]

I know we have a thread for stuff like this somewhere, but I couldn't find it, so here you go:

Boston.com - August 28, 2008
Is the B-Side Lounge closing?
Posted by Devra First August 28, 2008 12:26 PM

Yes, according to Chowhound and the Herald. Both sources say that Daniel Lanigan of Amherst's Moan and Dove and Northampton's Dirty Truth is taking over the space and opening a beer bar.

A phone call with a B-Side staffer who declined to reveal his name shed no light on the matter. At this point, he said, it's all rumors, and the staff is getting very upset about all the people calling to ask if their place of employ is closing. Understandable, if coy.

Other inconclusive evidence (read: gossip imparted by a bouncer) points to a closure in the next few months.

The rumors began swirling in June, after writer Andy Crouch mentioned Lanigan's plans to open a Boston beer bar on BeerScribe. He wrote:

"Daniel Lanigan, proprietor of the Moan & Dove of Amherst and the Dirty Truth of Northampton, has long wanted to return to the Boston market and open his own place. A former worker at the under-appreciated Other Side Cafe in Boston?s Copley/Mass. Ave. district, Lanigan loved the location. For a few months, he was in negotiations to either purchase or take over the Other Side Cafe and transform it into his third beer bar. The deal fell through early this Spring and Lanigan wasted no time in looking for a new spot. The rumors report now, entirely unconfirmed by this presently lazy reporter, is that Daniel is in negotiations to open his third bar across the river in Cambridge. While I won?t report the name of the rumored takeover target (because I can?t confirm it and because people would likely riot if they knew, how?s that for a tease?), the spot, if it works out, is centrally located (no pun or hint intended).

"UPDATE: The location is confirmed and a deal is underway. At the request of Lanigan, I?m still deciding whether to post the name of the place. News of the deal is now the worst kept secret in the gossipy world of the Boston foodie scene as it has gotten back to me through four different sources at this point. In any event, you?ll learn the name soon enough."

If the rumors are true, it's bad news for fans of the cocktail. The B-Side is one of the best local places to sample concoctions vintage and newly invented. (I had a brief but meaningful relationship with their Sidecar, but had to move on because there were too many other worthy cocktails to sample. And their Bloody Mary got many of my Sundays off to a slow and pleasurable start.) It's good news for beer lovers, however, who otherwise had to trek an entire half-mile farther to find a good beer bar -- the nearby Bukowski Tavern.

OK, OK -- the cocktail crowd does have Green Street less than a mile away. But with No. 9 Park doing away with its cafe menu, if the B-Side closes, the landscape of places to get an excellent cocktail and something to eat without breaking the bank will look quite different.

Of course, Barbara Lynch's Drink is opening soon. The cocktail is dead, long live the cocktail.

[Beton Brut]

The cocktail is dead, long live the cocktail.

FWIW, I have an absolutely shattering hangover this morning.

[tobyjug]

Toby has been slacking lately. Yesterday it was the Rolex Vintage Festival at Lime Rock Park in the Connecticut Berkshires (www.limerock.com).

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh109/tobyjug_2008/L1090962.jpg

The setting is pretty.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh109/tobyjug_2008/L1090930.jpg

One can wander pit row.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh109/tobyjug_2008/L1090968.jpg

Most of the owners are friendly.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh109/tobyjug_2008/L1090925.jpg

Toby likes Lagondas.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh109/tobyjug_2008/L1090926.jpg

Toby isn't sure what Briggs Cunningham had in mind when he created the 1939 Bu-Merc. The 1963 Corvette Grand Sport is a different matter. It is the only Corvette that Toby has seen that could corner.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh109/tobyjug_2008/L1090934.jpg

Hey watch out Old Grey Mare! A blue French baby carriage is after you!

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh109/tobyjug_2008/L1090949.jpg

Merde! Italian heavy metal enters the fray.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh109/tobyjug_2008/L1090954.jpg

Gracious piloto of 34 Alfa P3 signals driver of 35 Alfa Tipo C to pass.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh109/tobyjug_2008/L1090951.jpg

The Tipo C is a pig to steer.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh109/tobyjug_2008/L1090965.jpg

Pork. The other red meat.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh109/tobyjug_2008/L1090963.jpg

American heavy metal.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh109/tobyjug_2008/L1090960.jpg

Isn't this thing supposed to have wings and a propeller?

[Beton Brut]

Excellent! Do you attend any of the Jaguar Club events?

[tobyjug]

I used to have a 52 Jaguar Mark 7MC, four speed, C Type head, big sand cast SU carbs. The interior was shot, so I binned it to save weight. The car was a load of laughs, like driving a high speed bowl of gelatine. It was fun running down a Mini on a straight, but the little pestoids would always escape in the corners.

JANE (Jaguar Association of New England) holds a good show, used to be in August. Since I sent the MK7 on its way I haven't been to the show in, oh, 10 or 12 years.

[ablarc]

Do they ever crash? Wouldn't it be a shame to lose one of the world's smallish stock of vintage Bugattis?

[Beton Brut]

You're a lucky guy, Toby. That's a handsome beast (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar_Mark_VII).

Do they ever crash?

A friend of a friend wrecked a Lotus open wheel race-car at Lime Rock about ten years ago. He's lucky to be alive.

[tobyjug]

The guys with the million dollar metal either drive balls to the wall, or play land shark and sit in their driving suits next to their cold stationary sculpture.

The most impressive sight I ever saw at Lime Rock was 20 years ago on a rainy day when a fleet of Bugattis, pre-war GP Maseratis and the odd Delahaye chased each other all out. Over the years I've never seen one of them smashed. There is an unwritten code of conduct. Push hard, but don't push anyone. Break it and you are out.

The nice thing is you get to see the machines used as they were intended. Most of the guys involved are pretty regular. The "in need of penile enhancement" types don't last.

[JimboJones]

Why do some people think that Starbucks is a good place to park their kids when they have nothing else to do?

Why is it always in the Starbucks I'm in?

[Beton Brut]

^^ Obviously, God hates you Jimbo...

Try Peets. Better coffee.

[AdamBC]

Peets always gives me the shakes... not sure what it is about their coffee.... but I don't dare have a cup within 8 hours of trying to go to sleep...

[vanshnookenraggen]

You haven't lived until you've had Puerto Rican coffee.

[Beton Brut]

Peets always gives me the shakes...

It can be a bit rough in the shop if you're not used to it. Try it at home in a French press. That and Howard Stern get me out the door every morning.

You haven't lived until you've had Puerto Rican coffee.

I've heard the same thing about coffee from Haiti, van. In general, I like the stuff from East Africa and South East Asia. Latin American coffees are tasty, but fail to motivate me in the morning.

[briv]

You haven't lived until you've had Puerto Rican coffee.

Years ago, I used to work with a Puerto Rican guy who's mother would give him a thermos full of "Puerto Rican espresso" before every shift.We were friends enough that he'd share it with me, and let me tell ya: the stuff makes Starbucks look like kool-aid.

I tried to get the secret out of him, but all I remember him telling me was that it involved a sock.

[statler]

I'm going to link this because it is pretty offensive. If you are easily offended (or work in an overly sensitive workplace) you may want to skip it.

What's the difference... (http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/9118/debatehv1.jpg)

If you laugh at that you are going to hell. I'll see you there. :)

[vanshnookenraggen]

I'm going to link this because it is pretty offensive. If you are easily offended (or work in an overly sensitive workplace) you may want to skip it.

What's the difference... (http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/9118/debatehv1.jpg)

If you laugh at that you are going to hell. I'll see you there. :)

See ya in Hell buddy.

[Beton Brut]

And then there's this (http://mail2.someecards.com/filestorage/hal_16.jpg) somewhat topical holiday card.

I'm going to Hell. I have back-stage passes.

[pelhamhall]

I love Sarah Palin and everything she represents. Especially the hatred she inspires in the "enlightened" liberal leftist cocktail crowds that I always find myself stuck within.

But man, those are seriously funny!

[statler]

I love Sarah Palin and everything she represents.

I support gay marriage, gun control laws, decriminalizing marijuana, abortion, and all kinds of other libertarian and leftist agendas.

One of these statements is false.

[Beton Brut]

Some people love Palin just because she pisses off the self-aggrandizing Left. I think it was Trey Parker (one of the dudes behind South Park) who said something like: "We hate conservatives, but we really, really hate liberals."

As a radical centrist, I don't love her by any stretch (indeed she's why I won't [CAN'T] vote for McCain) but I kinda get a kick out of her. She's like a right-wing, God-squad version of Margaret Cho or Sarah Silverman (in the way she get under people's skin, not her delivery). And that voice -- is she channeling Frances McDormand (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/67/Fargo_Marge.jpg) in Fargo?

[Lurker]

"I support gay marriage, gun control laws, decriminalizing marijuana, abortion, and all kinds of other libertarian and leftist agendas."

You can either be a libertarian or a leftist, not both, you can't be hyper focused on individual liberty within the limited rule of law while also wanting a nanny state to wipe your fanny every trip to the bathroom.

Gun control is a leftist, not a libertarian thing as well. Notice how far left governments always take away everyone's guns? It keeps the peasants from getting uppity when the party or dear leader decides something is best and a few million get to visit the gulag. Also look at the UK, Illinois, and Washington D.C., strict gun control has only increased crime as criminals who already don't obey the law have free reign over an unarmed populace. That isn't to say that there shouldn't be required safety classes, background checks to verify you aren't a convicted nutcase, required training for both concealed and open carry handguns, no heavy weapons (12.7mm isn't for hunting rabbits), and no full auto. By the way our neighbor Vermont has virtually no restrictions on firearms and has the 49nth lowest rate of crime per capita. /bet you didn't know that

Libertarians would allow gay marriage, encourage those couples to have a secured closet full of firearms, permit them to grow hash like tomatoes, although preferably not permit the smoking of that crop while handling the firearms, and allow them to have abortions should they somehow become impregnated from some rather foolish immoral unprotected experimenting with the neighbors.

And now for something completely different:
http://www.g4tv.com/thepile/videos/34590/Barack_Obama_and_Sarah_Palin_in_Mercenaries_2.html

[Beton Brut]

By the way our neighbor Vermont has virtually no restrictions on firearms and has the 49nth lowest rate of crime per capita.

You'll often see cars and SUV's in Vermont with bumper-stickers that read "Armed & Tolerant" in rainbow block letters.

[vanshnookenraggen]

Man, I love New England. It's both real AND fake America ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!

[czsz]

I love Vermont, but I can't pretend to understand it at all.

[statler]

Architect?s Dress Code‏ (http://blog.miragestudio7.com/2008/11/architects-dress-code%E2%80%8F/)
http://blog.miragestudio7.com/wp-content/uploads2/2008/11/architect_dress_code_uniform_outfit_black_formal.j pg

[Beton Brut]

^^ Minimalism.

Now this guy knew how to dress.

http://academics.triton.edu/faculty/fheitzman/Frank%20Lloyd%20Wright.jpg

[tobyjug]

When did Nathalie give up her gig with the Pretenders?

[Beton Brut]

Thanks Toby -- now I've got this little ditty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_on_the_Chain_Gang) stuck in my head...

[kennedy]

I thought that article was a joke until I read on. How funny. the kid in the middle photo looks like that fat red head from the sand lot movie haha. i wonder how well these suburban gang kids would fare in the more rough sections of boston? not well i bet.

I say we face them up against the "Pink North Face Gang" of the Marblehead Middle School 6th grade girls...they'd get whupped.

[statler]

Here you go Beton. Evidently the Vulcans are into Brutalism:

http://beyonddc.com/nonweb/trek10trailer2.jpg

Source (http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=161065)

(Looks more Klingon to me, but I'm not much of a Trekkie)

[Lrfox]

Test Photo (new to flickr, seeing how this will work):

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3179/3090396839_ecc0fa0faa.jpg

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/33201329@N08/3090396839/" title="HPIM0221 by Youth_in_Asia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3179/3090396839_ecc0fa0faa.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="HPIM0221" /></a>

... not so much apparently.

[Beton Brut]

Here you go Beton. Evidently the Vulcans are into Brutalism...

Makes sense -- say what you want, but the plans of most of Rudolph's work are logical.

(Looks more Klingon to me, but I'm not much of a Trekkie)

I'll wager that the Klingons would really dig Libeskind.

[statler]

http://cache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/eobs_01_14/e22_lasvegas_iko.jpg
Houses and streets in bustling Las Vegas, Nevada are seen in this image from the commercial IKONOS satellite taken in September of 2004. (IKONOS image ?2004 GeoEye

[kennedy]

Oh God, No! Spare meeeee...

Well, they got the density and the open space (mostly) right. I kind of wonder if they just use some formula to find out the maximum number of houses they can fit on a particular plot of land.

[Beton Brut]

With apologies to the Cocteau Twins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven_or_Las_Vegas), "Hell or Las Vegas."

[czsz]

Slice of Roxbury from same height:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=roxbury,+ma&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=31.784549,56.601563&ie=UTF8&ll=42.323588,-71.082101&spn=0.007234,0.013819&t=k&z=16

Hm.

[Ron Newman]

Flat vs. hilly, makes a big difference in how a place develops.

[statler]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8R5oGsEIpo

[statler]

This wants to live with me:

http://www.instablogsimages.com/images/2009/02/02/g1-pool-table_uxvBL_48.jpg
http://www.instablogsimages.com/images/2009/02/02/g1-tabvle-2_1Ce9Z_48.jpg

The G-1 Glass top pool table is something we can call a true innovation. Created by Australia-based Nottage Design, the G-1 offers a perfect blend of modern styling and latest technology. It enjoys a transparent playing area with a glass top and patented resin playing surface. The patented transparent Vitrik playing surface has been used instead of the traditional felt surface. It gives resistance to rolling balls, just like cloth does. The surface creates a stunning ?floating on air? effect as balls glide smoothly and quietly. On the other hand, the traditional slate bed has been replaced by toughened glass. Other salient features include a ball return mechanism, aesthetically integrated into the table design, BCA-specification pockets and K-66 bumpers.
Brainchild of Craig Nottage, the G-1 table was created as part of the final year assignment for his industrial design course at the University of South Australia. The Vitrik playing surface is available in a range of colors and both transparent and frosted finishes. The G-1 pool table comes for a whopping AU $39,900 (U.S. $25,150), but then, the innovation genuinely compensates for the hefty price tag.
Bornrich.org (http://www.bornrich.org/entry/nottage-design-s-g-1-glass-top-pool-table-is-one-neat-innovation/)

[Suffolk 83]

Stat's, just gained some respect for you.... I will fight you for that table.

could be a late pass, but anybody heard this Christian Bale blowout? Priceless..

http://www.aolcdn.com/tmz_audio/020209_christianbale.mp3

[Beton Brut]

could be a late pass, but anybody heard this Christian Bale blowout? Priceless...

Stern played it this morning -- a future classic! Can't wait for the prank phone calls...

Almost better than the Bill O'Reilly freak-out (http://www.archboston.org/community/showthread.php?t=2234&highlight=bill+o%27reilly)...

[tobyjug]

For a minute I thought it was a tape of Ned at a CAC meeting.

[statler]

I never really got the appeal of the whole 'famous person yells a lot' thing, but since it seems to amuse everyone else:

Christian Bale Soundboard (http://www.ugo.com/movies/christian-bale-soundboard/)

[Beton Brut]

I never really got the appeal of the whole 'famous person yells a lot' thing...

The Citizen Kane of the "famous person yells a lot" genre:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcYCccE9ziU

[blade_bltz]

Flat vs. hilly, makes a big difference in how a place develops.

This is hilly:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=russian+hill,+sf&sll=37.827108,-122.41765&sspn=0.012593,0.021887&ie=UTF8&ll=37.801951,-122.419817&spn=0.01219,0.021887&t=k&z=16&iwloc=addr

[Ron Newman]

San Francisco laid out a strict grid without respect to terrain, and I've always wondered why. Does any other city do this?

(Before someone says Manhattan, those hills really aren't in the same league as SF, LA, Boston, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, etc.)

[CDubs]

San Francisco laid out a strict grid without respect to terrain, and I've always wondered why.

From The Streets of San Francisco: A History (http://www.sfweekly.com/2005-06-29/news/the-streets-of-san-francisco/):

Back in 1839, when San Francisco was Yerba Buena, a Mexican outpost of cabins and tents huddled between a bayside cove and some chaparral-covered hills, the authorities asked a Swiss surveyor, Jean-Jacques Vioget, to lay out a rudimentary grid of north-south and east-west streets around a plaza (now Portsmouth Square). The resultant blocks measured 412 feet by 275 feet, just as most downtown-to-Arguello blocks do today. Vioget's streets were eventually named Kearny, Grant, Sacramento, Clay, Washington, Jackson, and Pacific.

Eight years later, just a year before gold was discovered in the Sierra foothills, Irish engineer Jasper O'Farrell codified and extended Vioget's grid plan over Telegraph, Russian, and Nob hills and out into the shallow cove itself. To negotiate the steep hills, O'Farrell wanted to terrace some roadways into gently sloping curves, but property owners insisted that the existing alignments remain. South of Yerba Buena Cove, landowners forced O'Farrell to offset Vioget's grid at a problematic 45-degree angle, with much larger, 600-by-400-foot blocks spreading over Rincon Hill to Mission Bay. To unite the two competing grids, O'Farrell devised a 120-foot-wide, diagonal boulevard, Market Street, which he aimed southwest at the summit called Twin Peaks. A century later, columnist Herb Caen characterized O'Farrell's great boulevard as "the obtuse angle that no traffic plan can ever solve."

Thus was Vioget's hills-be-damned geometry forced on the infant American city. Eccentric, enduring, and at times breathtaking, the grid has shaped the physical experience of San Francisco ever since.

[statler]

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/muppet/images/0/0b/FloydSeasonFour.JPG

In all my years of watching the Muppets I never caught on to the the fact that Electric Mayhem band member Floyd was pink.

Jim Henson was a genius.

[Mike]

30tdsgiwaVM

[czsz]

Whoa. Is that weather in sharpie?

[Mike]

^ Yes.

Here's former channel 5 weatherman, Bob Ryan (who was replaced by Dick Albert in 1978), to explain how it was all done right here:

RIlz4VsGzNk

[Suffolk 83]

I'm Ron Burgundy, go f*ckyourself San Diego

[underground]

^ Ha! I actually heard Jeremy Reiner, one of the channel 7 weatherpeople, say "stay classy, Boston" once. I laughed by ass off.

[Lurker]

Western Newspaper Union, Brooklyn 1910

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/6632/323707456118c2439d72opp7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Girls Operate Successful Meat Market

That the female ax is just as capable of carrying on business as men is now an established fact. Here is another instance that proves their ability. In Brooklyn, there are two young girls operating a meat market from which they derive a nice income. These girls, without any previous experience in this line, donned the butcher's apron and began to acquaint themselves with the essentials of the business with the natural result that they are now master meat cutters.

EDIT:Ok I feel bad the humor to have failed and for not posting about lovely ladies, visit the Miss Atomic Energy Employee Contest http://miss2009.nuclear.ru/ if you must feel better.

[ablarc]

^ Russia certainly has more than its share of great-looking women.

[statler]

^^ If you haven't read Jon Stewart's America (The Book) (http://www.amazon.com/America-Book-Citizens-Democracy-Inaction/dp/0446532681) I strongly recommended picking it up. The whole thing is wonderful but the bit on Russian woman is classic. :)

[tobyjug]

^ Russia certainly has more than its share of great-looking women.

I like Yulia, Svetlana and Natalia the best!

[Suffolk 83]

^since this was brought up, what's up with the fascination with this Bar chick on SI Swimsuit? Sure, smokin body but her face makes her look like she belongs on little house on the prairie... and the "rookies"... damn there was some dogs in there. The redhead? really? a gaptooth? ouch.

Paste some of these locals on there and we're cooking with spanish gas...
http://www.barstoolsports.com/article/wake_with_hot_chicks_spotted/2373/

Off to go blow too much money on the little woman for V-day. Aka the worst holiday of all time.

[statler]

Copyright, smopyright:
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x176/bstnstatler/img001-1.jpg

[Mike]

3nCdAY-UEeM

[JohnAKeith]

This is why the Internet was created!

[Lurker]

The internet was created to survive and provide a means a communication during a nuclear war while also distributing large quantities of pornography. Things like this were an unintended outcome which went from being a bug to a feature.

Ms. Vladivostok, the younger, looked like my mom. The climate, diet, alcoholism, chain smoking, abortion as the primary means of contraception, and the lack of quality husbands because of both world wars, revolution, and political purges all contribute to the conditions which rapidly age Russian beauties. That's why the ones whom immigrate here usually age much more gracefully.

[statler]

I always took that joke as a (very subtle) slam against American media (as Jon Stewart's jokes often are). The idea being that American pop culture, for what ever reason, will only portray Russian women as one of those two stereotypes. We never see middle-aged Russian woman in films or television shows. I assume they must actually exist, no?

[tobyjug]

Indeed they do. My Russian language instructor 30 years ago, Tatiana, was an ex-Red Army major who looked like Rebecca DeMornay's older sister. Probably looks like Rebecca's Granny today: must be at least 75 by now!

[Suffolk 83]

There's towns outside of Boston that have bars that stay open till 2? what gives? why wasn't informed of this much earlier?

[statler]

www.youtube.com/watch? v=LoGYx35ypus

[JohnAKeith]

Malformed ID ...

[statler]

These are the smartest public school kids in the state?!?

We. Are. Fucked.

Boston.com (http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/03/boston_latin_of.html)

Boston Latin officials seek to quash 'vampire' rumors
March 26, 2009 09:55 AM
By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

A school administrator wants to set the record straight: There are no vampires at Boston Latin.

The headmaster of the prestigious exam school took the unusual step today of sending a notice to faculty, students, and parents saying that "rumors involving 'vampires'" had begun spreading through the building Wednesday, causing disruption and anxiety for a number of students.

Lynne Mooney Teta asked everyone's help in calming the school community down.

"I seek your cooperation in redirecting your energy toward the learning objectives of the day. Please do not sensationalize or discuss these rumors," she said.

She also said she was concerned that some students' safety might be jeopardized because of the rumors, and asked students to report if any student is being harassed.

"At no time was anyone's safety in jeopardy," she said.

The notice, which was addressed to faculty and students and forwarded to parents, did not say exactly what the rumors were. Teta's office referred questions to a Boston schools spokeswoman, who didn't immediately have a comment.

"Seriously?" said Melissa Duggan.

Officer Eddy Chrispin, a Boston Police spokesman, said police went to the school Wednesday after hearing that some students were spreading rumors there were vampires in the school.

"I'm not sure whether [the supposed vampires] were among the student body or whether they were inhabiting the old corners and crevices of the building," he said.

"We did go over there and speak to some of the students and quelled the rumors that were going and kind of told them the effect those rumors could have on the rest of the student population," he said.

Teen interest in vampires has surged in recent months with the release of "Twilight,'' the first movie from a popular Stephanie Meyer book series. Last weekend, "Twilight'' sleepover parties were held in many U.S. cities coinciding with the DVD release of the movie, starring teen heartthrob Robert Pattinson.

The prestigious Boston public school was founded in 1635, and its students have included Ben Franklin, Sam Adams, John Hancock, Louis Farrakhan, Sumner Redstone, and Nat Hentoff.

[KentXie]

They are a total embarassment. I graduated last year and I have seen some of these 9th graders. They are gangster wannabes. That grade is utter crap. I heard that the headmaster rounded them up one time because they were very rude during a public declamation and told them they were the worst class to grace BLS. It is sad really. After the class of '08, the classes start to get worse. The class of '12 is a group of thugs. A good way to cut the budget and eliminate troublesome kids is to raise the standards of the test and accept fewer students. How some of these kids made it is beyond me. They brought nothing but shame and tainted the school's prestigious reputation.

[Beton Brut]

No vampires in the class of '88.

I believe this was an issue in suburban Denver, as shown here (http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/210813).

[KentXie]

The article is also misleading. Here's what "really" happened. I put quotations because of the fact that most rumors pointed to this story.

A female clique at BLS headed by a girl that actually had mental issues started dressing and acting like vampires. They requested that blinds be drawn during homeroom and one of them had tardy detention everyday because she refused to "rise with the sun" to get to school on time. They started cutting themselves and then started to drink each other's blood. Apparently, the leader tried to bite a girl during lunch. The victim was sent to the nurse's office while the police was called in. They arrested the girl. Afterward, the girl's boyfriend threatened to shoot up the school because of this incident. Fearing this, on Thursday, which is today, there are bag searches.

The rest is a cover up. This is why students were anxious because they thought a school shooting might happen, not because they thought vampires exist. Regardless, shame on the perpetrators. I hope they are expelled. They take up valuable space for more deserving students.

[statler]

That's a much better story.

I was honestly afraid that there were 16 year olds at BLS afraid of vampires.

Fear of being bitten by a mentally ill person is much more rational.

Edit: Now that I think about, I'm really annoyed with Boston.com. If true, that is actually a pretty serious story. If they couldn't get any official verification they should of held off on reporting it rather than passing it off as a 'wacky news' story.
If this turns into real story, they are going to look really foolish. The budget cuts are killing the Globe.

Hey Beton, my brother was class of '89.

[Beton Brut]

^ Ask him if he remembers the unpopular boy who drank and smoked a lot.

[Mike]

Hey take a look at our newest member.

[Ron Newman]

I don't understand. Link please?

[Beton Brut]

Robert Campbell (http://www.archboston.org/community/member.php?u=1094)

[statler]

Hmm.. an update on the vampire story:

A law enforcement official with knowledge of the case said a group of girls at the school had been bullying at least one other student who like to dress in the style known as "Goth."

The official said the girls began spreading a rumor that the student was a would-be vampire, who had cut someone's neck and sucked their blood.

When Boston police went to the school Wednesday for an unrelated matter, that only fueled the rumor as students began speculating that the so-called "vampire" was being arrested.

The headmaster's notice, which was addressed to faculty and students and forwarded to parents, did not say exactly what the rumors were. Teta's office referred questions to a Boston schools spokesman.

Chris Horan, a spokesman for the Boston Public Schools, would not confirm reports of bullying.

"My understanding is [Teta] got reports that the teenage rumor mill ... was getting out of hand and she wanted to help the teachers and students and families put an end to it and get back to the business of teaching and learning," Horan said.
Link (http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/03/boston_latin_of.html)
I still say Boston.com ran with this way too quickly.

[Beton Brut]

This is just too funny. I wore black back in the day, smoked cloves, listened to Joy Division, etc...But I never bit anyone (without their consent).

And one of my classmates from '88 writes modern vampire novels (http://www.amazon.com/Fixer-John-Merz/dp/0786015004).

Perfect.

[Lurker]

"These are the smartest public school kids in the state?!?"

Don't worry politicians and the Teachers' Union will continue to find ways to spend more on education every year while actually diminishing the quality. A little tomfoolery with the testing regime and abstraction of standards will result in a lovely set of manipulated statistics which will disguise any perceptible decline in quality to the casual observer or lazy reporter. So what if the children don't know geography, math, science, history, civics, can't read, write, or speak properly, they all get a diploma which certifies they do!

Remember that the teachers with seniority are willing to screw over hundreds of their comrades, who will be laid off with the current budget woes, and the students who require that number of teachers, to get a pay raise. The public schools' mission isn't to educate students, it is to provide well compensated jobs to the chosen few. Monopolies always wind up being bloated non customer oriented messes irregardless if they are publicly or privately owned.

[KentXie]

"These are the smartest public school kids in the state?!?"

Don't worry politicians and the Teachers' Union will continue to find ways to spend more on education every year while actually diminishing the quality. A little tomfoolery with the testing regime and abstraction of standards will result in a lovely set of manipulated statistics which will disguise any perceptible decline in quality to the casual observer or lazy reporter. So what if the children don't know geography, math, science, history, civics, can't read, write, or speak properly, they all get a diploma which certifies they do!

Remember that the teachers with seniority are willing to screw over hundreds of their comrades, who will be laid off with the current budget woes, and the students who require that number of teachers, to get a pay raise. The public schools' mission isn't to educate students, it is to provide well compensated jobs to the chosen few. Monopolies always wind up being bloated non customer oriented messes irregardless if they are publicly or privately owned.

Partially correct. I've seen the changes in BLS since I recently attended there. It seems to me each class gets worse and worse and I have to say it is the media that is the cause of this. Many of the kids that seem to do worse in school or get in trouble the most frequently are the wangsta types, those who wish to be a gangsta. The media today (ie music and tv) portrays these acts as cool and hip. These kids are disruptive in class. When I entered BLS, it was a no nonsense school. Now the school has become to lenient on these kids.

[statler]

The "full' story:
Boston Globe (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/27/vampire_rumors_spur_alert_at_boston_latin___on_bul lying/?page=2) - March 27, 2009
Vampire rumors spur alert at Boston Latin - on bullying

By Megan Woolhouse and Maria Cramer, Globe Staff | March 27, 2009

Boston Latin School headmaster Lynne Mooney Teta issued a notice to parents and students yesterday quashing rumors of vampires at the school. An odd move for the head of a historic elite preparatory school, but Teta and Boston public school officials declined to elaborate on what triggered the unusual message.

They did, however, adamantly offer assurances that no one at the school has been hurt, arrested - or bitten.

"The headmaster believes that the outrageous rumors had reached a point where she had to say something to families to ensure that all students felt safe and respected," said Chris Horan, School Department spokesman.

While the episode sounds like something out of "Twilight," last year's hit film about a high school girl who falls in love with a vampire, it may be closer to the movie "Mean Girls."

Two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the incident said a group of girls at the school had been bullying at least one other student who likes to dress in Goth-style, a vampirish look popularized by musician Marilyn Manson. The officials said the girls began spreading a rumor that the student was a vampire who had cut someone's neck and sucked the blood.

When Boston police went to the school Wednesday on an unrelated matter, their presence fueled yet another rumor: that a vampire was being arrested, according to one of the law enforcement sources.

Several students and parents of students said police officers were posted at the school's main entrance Wednesday but it was unclear why.

Eddy Chrispin, Boston Police Department spokesman, said police spoke with several students at the school Wednesday "to quell the rumor" of vampires.

"The whole thing kind of took on a life of its own," Chrispin said.

The officers determined that the situation was an internal school matter.

Horan said in reference to the rumors that when you've got "an $800 million budget and 212 layoffs, this is not really a priority."

Teta issued her notice to parents in an e-mail sent yesterday at 8 a.m.

"It has come to my attention that rumors involving 'vampires' began spreading through the building yesterday," it said.

"I am very concerned that the safety of certain students may be jeopardized as targets of rumors and speculation," she wrote. "Please alert any adult in the building if you feel that any student is being harassed or targeted."

Teta denied requests for an interview yesterday, referring all questions to the School Department spokesman. But the memo appeared to raise new questions and rounds of speculation.

One student who contacted the Globe said a male student, rumored to be a werewolf, had threatened on Facebook to bring a gun to school because he was being harassed. Other students at the school yesterday said they had heard that a student had been bitten.

John Maguire, who was picking up his 13-year-old at the school yesterday afternoon, said he didn't know there was an issue about vampire rumors until his son told him yesterday. He said he laughed it off.

"C'mon, a vampire in the school? Don't you think that's a little woo-hoo?" he said, pointing to his head.

Yet images of vampires are common in books, television programs, and movies, from "Twilight," the book series by Stephenie Meyer, to HBO's "True Blood." Susanne Toomajian, president of the Massachusetts School Psychologists Association, said middle school students might be drawn to romanticized vampire images in films like "Twilight" because they depict an outsider who finds love. But the issue is more about acceptance.

That's something "that early adolescents struggle with," she said. "The vampire themes are really ancillary to other themes of fitting in."

Students leaving Boston Latin yesterday said rumors about students claiming to be vampires, or more specifically "half-vampires," have been circulating for months. Several said two or three female students at the school carry umbrellas in all weather to avoid exposure to the sun.

Myles Friedman, a junior, said that after police appeared at the school yesterday, the rumor mill kicked into full gear. "I've never heard any rumor spread so fast."

Some at the school yesterday said they believed a student had been bitten. No one had heard about a problem with bullying.

Seventeen-year-old Davis Murphy said he heard that some students claiming to be half-vampires were draining their blood to make their skin paler or had claimed they could fly.

"No one bullies them," he said, laughing. "We just want to know why they're vampires."

Victoria Browne, a senior, said many of the rumors are so outrageous they make older students laugh.

"[I] heard people were biting people, but that vampires only bite the willing," she said with a smile.

Browne, who has been involved with the school's antibullying campaign, said she had not heard any reports of bullying.

In recent years, public schools have attempted to crack down on bullying because of its link to teen depression and suicide. Boston Latin has taken steps to make sure all students feel comfortable, she said.

"There's no bullying here," Browne said. "It's just that everybody is really weirded out."

Megan Woolhouse can be reached at mwoolhouse@globe.com. Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.

[Justin7]

So, to sum up: Some kids like to pretend they are vampires or werewolves or whatever. They get picked on for doing so. One threatens to bring a gun to school.

[statler]

So, to sum up: Some kids like to pretend they are vampires or werewolves or whatever.
Seems like it. Maybe. They may just dress 'goth'. Everythingthing else is rumor

They get picked on for doing so.
Maybe. Conflicting reports.

One threatens to bring a gun to school.
Rumor.

So to sum up: We have no idea what is really going on inside BLS and neither does the Globe.

[Justin7]

Fair enough, statler, though unless there is more too it, I think this is all pretty typical high school stuff. Kids get carried away. Vampire Romanticism (for lack of a better term) is big right now, and even a gun threat, which I feel should be treated as a very serious matter, usually turns out to be not serious at all. If this were any other school it would be non-news (which it probably should be anyway).

[Lurker]

And now for something completely different....

<object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1upZz3a-7iM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1upZz3a-7iM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object>

[Beton Brut]

^ These guys rule! We should totally book them for van's proposed meet-up (http://www.archboston.org/community/showthread.php?t=2814).

The cat with the bayan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayan_(accordion)) rocks!

[statler]

Very nice. :D

Personally, I like to kick old school:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV2NpPqIHnw

[tobyjug]

Tried a very good new restaurant last night: Dawat, 129 Brighton Ave. www.dawatrestaurantboston.com. You have to enjoy a place where you can hear the staff yelling at each other in Bengali in the back.

I'd say it is on about a par with India Quality in Kenmore and Bombay Club in Harvard Sq.

[Beton Brut]

I'd say it is on about a par with India Quality in Kenmore and Bombay Club in Harvard Sq.

I'm a big fan of Rani in Coolidge Corner (http://www.ranibistro.com/). Is it that good?

[tobyjug]

Rani is very good, and a fancier premises too. I would say the food and seasoning is very similar, probably closer to each other than, say, Rani is to the Bombay Club/Camb., which has excellent food but lighter taste. The parking is easier at Rani than Dawat for sure. But Green Line works too!

Either way, the Taj Mahal is cold!

[Beton Brut]

Side-note -- Should we have:

An actual restaurant thread?
Or one devoted to general interest books and periodicals?
Or a careers thread?
Others (for slow news days)?

[tobyjug]

I like that idea!

[czsz]

Seconded.

But while I can still raise a random topic: what's the cheapest and shortest way to go between Providence and NYC? Surely not taking the commuter rail to Boston and then the Chinatown bus...

[Beton Brut]

^ Years ago, Bonanza Bus ran from Logan/South Station to the Port Authority, via Providence, Hartford (change bus), Waterbury, Danbury, and White Plains. An awful way to spend six hours. Did it once, and never again.

I think you may be able to do the trip now via or Foxwoods/Mohegan: Providence - casino; change to casino - NYC.

[Lurker]

I think that deep down, at some primordial, instinctive level, we all know how it?s going to end....

It?s going to be us against the clowns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ3D4CqHbJM&feature=player_embedded

(It might take awhile for the video to load)

[statler]

Apartment Therapy (http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/boston/news/boston-new-england-blogger-search-help-wanted-082393)
Boston & New England Blogger Search: Help Wanted!

We are looking for a new blogger to help us cover Boston and the New England area. Do you love Apartment Therapy, interior design and all things home-related? Would you like a place to share your ideas and inspirations with a large design-centric community? Think you would like to join our team?

While we'd really like someone from the Boston area, we could be swayed to add an additional stellar voice from the surrounding New England region: Providence? Burlington? Portland? ? convince us!

Responsibilities include daily posting that fully communicates the design scene of Boston and the New England region with house tours, shop reviews, product reviews, interviews and random design notes.

This is a part-time, freelance position (1-2 posts per day) and it's great (but not required) if your other gigs plug you in to the design scene in some way.

You need:
? excellent camera skills and a good eye for stellar images
? strong blog-style writing skills
? a really good computer
? a totally reliable high speed connection
? a digital camera
? Photoshop or Photoshop Elements
? knowledge of how to use all these things

Deadline: Monday, May 4 (earlier is always appreciated!)

Please submit:
? Your name
? Where you live
? How long you have been reading Apartment Therapy
? What you do full time
? 2 sample posts with great pics (good photos are very important and we urge you to take your own pics to show off your skills) that would be excellent AT:Boston and New England posts ? keep it 200 words maximum and blog local subjects or give national subjects a unique, local twist. We want to be WOWED with your unique voice and awesome pictures! Please submit posts written specifically for Apartment Therapy and not for another blog. Look to the Apartment Therapy city sites for the general style and format of posts for submission.

Send to: aaron (at) apartmenttherapy (dot) com please put "AT BLOGGER SEARCH" in the subject header.
We will confirm your email, and then review your submissions. We will then ask our top choices to try out live on the blog.

I don't know why I continue to read this site, its "unique voice" annoys the hell out me, but if anyone was looking for a job annoying the hell out of me here you go.

[statler]

Sure, it is pure political propaganda but it is still pretty neat:

The Official White House Photostream (Flickr) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/)

[JohnAKeith]

My facebook account has been "disabled".

WHAT THE FUCK??? IT'S AS IF I NO LONGER EXIST.

[statler]

WTF? Really? Did they give you any kind of notice as to why?

[JohnAKeith]

I sent out 25 personal invites to my first kick-off party - I wrote a personalized first paragraph, then cut and pasted the rest. Facebook read it as spam.

How could it be spam if it's going to people on my friends list??

I guess it's not that uncommon. Yes, it was done without warning. It doesn't say, "Stop this or you'll be disabled."

You have to write a personal mea culpa to ask to be re-instated. I believe it will take days for the decision.

Eh, facebook is free, how can you complain when they do something like this?

I'm suing, nonetheless.

[statler]

I'm suing, nonetheless.

It's the American way! :)

[Ron Newman]

I thought it was pretty common to post an Event on Facebook and then invite people on your friendslist to it?

[JohnAKeith]

I didn't do quite that. I think if you create an event and do a "mass" invite, by inviting everyone at once, you'll be all set. It's only if you send individual messages to a bunch of people.

Either that, or one of my competitors ratted me out.

[Beton Brut]

Now that we're talking about Facebook, I wonder how many users we have. A few of us have connected that way (and via Flickr), but doing so defeats the (perceived) anonymity of the internet forum...

[castevens]

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/beantown/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1805232

[JohnAKeith]

Praise god, I live again.

[vanshnookenraggen]

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=26309738
If you add me send me a msg with your forums name just so I know who you are.

[statler]

A little something in celebration of May Day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRhPeJ3uzOc

(uh, you may not wanna watch this one at work ;))

[JohnAKeith]

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=693667396

[Lurker]

It's a small world
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN_oDdGmKyA&feature=player_embedded

[palindrome]

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1612948

[BarbaricManchurian]

Now that we're talking about Facebook, I wonder how many users we have. A few of us have connected that way (and via Flickr), but doing so defeats the (perceived) anonymity of the internet forum...

I'd like to remain anonymous, thank you very much :D I barely use facebook much anymore, there isn't much to do on it (at least for me, females might think differently :P).

[czsz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJT6eCcS0aI

Where is that Irish flag house!?

F-15 training!?

[Lrfox]

I'd like to remain anonymous, thank you very much :D I barely use facebook much anymore, there isn't much to do on it (at least for me, females might think differently :P).

I'm remaining anonymous as well. Maybe I'll give it out at a later date, but know at the moment. I do enjoy it though. It's a pretty good networking tool (if you remember to clean up those old college photos!) as well.

[Beton Brut]

For the record, I'm neither advocating nor dismissing Facebook or other social networking tools. For a thousand reasons, anonymity is important on this forum -- that's why I didn't post a link to my profile. If people do wish to connect, it may be best to do so via private messages.

(just a thought)

[kz1000ps]

I'm guessing - through all my band annoucements and photos - that I lost my anonymity a long time ago, so why the heck not:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=20801629

[Ron Newman]

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=577923756

[tobyjug]

Face this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OBafgG9SpQ

[palindrome]

I graduated from BC yesterday! :):)

but had to drive my gf to the airport today. :(:(

[blade_bltz]

RE: Statler's Jonathan Coulton post

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a youtube video of this, but if you go here (http://www.jonathancoulton.com/store/downloads/) and scroll down to the bottom, you'll find an amusing homage to (err, more like satire of) the country's finest municipality. No, I'm not biased or anything.

[bosdevelopment]

Bringing it back. Summer of '96.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkJtYbPnHGg

[Lurker]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,627912,00.html
Gents you really want to click on that link

06/01/2009 11:50 AM


'POSITIVE ENERGY'

Blonde Parade Lifts Spirits in Gloomy Latvia

Latvians may be feeling depressed as a result of the economic crisis which has hammered the Baltic state, but over 500 blonde women did their best to lift spirits in Riga on Sunday with a parade and other "Blonde Weekend" events.
The global economic crisis has hit the Baltic state of Latvia (http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,610991,00.html) particularly hard and left the population feeling blue. But one group of Latvian women has taken a novel approach to fighting the pervasive feeling of doom and gloom.
On Sunday, a procession of more than 500 blondes paraded through the capital Riga wearing pink and white. Many were escorted by lap dogs wearing the same cheerful hues. Their goal: to use their beauty to shine a little light into the dark mood caused by the global downturn. (http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,k-7312,00.html)
Though it was far from being a protest march, some women used the opportunity to counter stereotypes. "I am beautiful, but I'm not dumb," Ilone Zigure told the news agency AFP. The student added that she hopes that those of her countrymen who are depressed about the economic crisis will find her "positive energy" contagious.
It's a sentiment that many observing the parade shared. "Finally, something positive," one 70-year-old woman watching the parade told AFP. "I just can't stand listening to people talk about the crisis anymore."
The parade was just part of a range of events making up Riga's "Blonde Weekend," which also included a golf tournament, a fashion show, a ball and a drawing contest for kids. The Latvian Blondes Association (http://www.goblonde.lv/), which organized the events, hoped to use any proceeds from the weekend's activities toward a playground for handicapped children.
jtw -- with wire reports

[tobyjug]

^^^ Finally a stimulus package I can get behind.

[kennedy]

Blissful ignorance? All of these people who just want to ignore the crisis, who can't stand to hear people talk about it?

Or maybe, if they ignore the talk, they'll spend their money more freely.

[KentXie]

Blissful ignorance? All of these people who just want to ignore the crisis, who can't stand to hear people talk about it?

Or maybe, if they ignore the talk, they'll spend their money more freely.

I think it is to try to build confidence in people on the market. We all know the crisis is man-made and if people were to behave before the bubble started, the economy could be recovering a little faster.

[Lurker]

"If people were to behave before the bubble started, the economy could be recovering a little faster"

People no longer have unlimited easy credit to buy things they shouldn't can't afford in the first place. Nor do people have jobs to spend at the same levels they could before, even excluding credit. It doesn't help either that the rule of law has been eroded to scare off investors, given that the government is now breaking all existing legal precedent in bankruptcy court for politically connected entities.

The constant meddling of the government and uncertainty of the future is what's killing the economy. Government interference in the market created the mess and is only making it worse. Mind you this is before hyperinflation, or even worse a spiral indexed deflation across the board, kicks in thanks to the government borrowing itself into oblivion. Remember what happened to the USSR? We are on our way there economically if the trend continues.

[underground]

Remember what happened to the USSR?

Massive economic sabotage conducted by the US? Yeah, I remember that.

[kennedy]

"If people were to behave before the bubble started, the economy could be recovering a little faster"

People no longer have unlimited easy credit to buy things they shouldn't can't afford in the first place. Nor do people have jobs to spend at the same levels they could before, even excluding credit. It doesn't help either that the rule of law has been eroded to scare off investors, given that the government is now breaking all existing legal precedent in bankruptcy court for politically connected entities.

The constant meddling of the government and uncertainty of the future is what's killing the economy. Government interference in the market created the mess and is only making it worse. Mind you this is before hyperinflation, or even worse a spiral indexed deflation across the board, kicks in thanks to the government borrowing itself into oblivion. Remember what happened to the USSR? We are on our way there economically if the trend continues.

I remember, way back in about 2005 (maybe 2006), an article in Forbes talking about how the dollar was losing value very quickly, and that we could see an entire collapse of the American economic system if we didn't change things. Something about gold, I didn't really understand economics at the time (still don't, really). But pretty prophetic, I guess, even though it was only 4 years ago.

Anyhow, I highly suggest picking up this month's edition of Wired magazine, it talks about the economy, the new "socialism," and the future of Detroit and how they're related. How Detroit should emulate the computer industry, and the car companies should be at the center of a wheel, using parts from hundreds of different independent suppliers, rather than doing almost everything in-house (a model leftover from the pre-internet days, when communication between suppliers was far more difficult.) The article on "socialism" was focused on the proliferation of social networking and the internet (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and it's affect on society and the workplace. The "Googlenomics" article was about Google's advertising algorithms, haven't gotten through that one yet.

Here's a link to the online article, not sure if it includes everything, but poke around and I'm sure you'll get most of it.

"The New New Economy: More Startups, Fewer Giants, and Infinite Opporunity" (http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/17-06/nep_essay)

[palindrome]

I will not be voting for Marian Walsh in the next election.

[Ron Newman]

Since I do not see her mentioned anywhere on the last few pages of this thread, I'm not sure where that came from. What did she vote for (or against) that upset you?

[kennedy]

?

[statler]

!

[Lurker]

Massive economic sabotage conducted by the US? Yeah, I remember that.

Closed currency, meaning there is a major issue with creditors to buy debt

+

Massive spending without abandon

=

Collapse

At the rate China and everyone else is viewing the country's credit rating erode, that very well could happen.

The speed at which the USSR collapsed also had a lot to do with the inherent gross inefficiency of centrally planned economies. You have no idea what a pain in the ass it was just to buy basic things at stores parts of the year. Shopping was always an ordeal of waiting in line, with customer service, which made the RMV look like a slice of Heaven.

[kennedy]

I'm no economist, but could the growth of responsible businesses, banks, and consumers within the US, which at present is the wide minority, survive an almost complete collapse of our business system? Sort of like a phoenix metaphor?

Say, for example, that while the Big Three are going under (and bringing the US debt with them,) that smaller companies like Coda (http://www.codaautomotive.com/), Tesla (http://www.teslamotors.com/), and Smart (http://www.smartusa.com/) set the precedent for the American auto industry (except Smart, I don't think they're American?) As the massive giants of industry, in every industry, fail to innovate, doesn't it make sense to assume that out of their failures the new economy will consist of all the companies that did innovate?

I guess the pessimistic view is that, without the big companies succeeding, the small ones can't get any funding from the banks. I like the optimistic view, though.

[underground]

Put down the Rothbard and come back to reality.

[kennedy]

Your humor escapes me. Please, with layman's terms, come again?

[statler]

Murray Rothbard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Rothbard)

[JohnAKeith]

Murray Hill

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Murray_Hill_by_David_Shankbone.jpg/450px-Murray_Hill_by_David_Shankbone.jpg

[briv]

Hey John, heard you on Radio Boston (http://www.radioboston.org/shows/2009/06/05/local-sustainable-agriculture/)today.

[briv]

It's crunch time John, what do you have up your sleeve? How can I help out?

[kennedy]

Unrelated, but if you think Boston has bad NIMBYs, listen to this. A guy in Old Town Marblehead, in the 'Historic District,' had his request to put in double-paned windows put into his 1950s home because they weren't historically accurate. They had a 3 hour Board of Selectmen meeting to hear his appeal, where residents voiced their concerns about how they are the stewards of these homes. All because the windows were 'simulated divided light' rather than 'true divided light' windows. It was pitiful, and I really wished I had gone down to Abbot Hall to tell them to knock it off and focus on something more important.

One Selectmen joked that he had learned more about windows in the last few hours than he ever knew in his entire lifetime.

[statler]

I think that is actually fairly common in historic districts. They are a real double-edged sword for homeowners.

[Ron Newman]

I wouldn't think that a 1950s building in Marblehead could be considered historic?

[statler]

I would say it could be an example of a mid-century modern home, which are just now starting to fall under historic guidelines, but if it had divided light windows that is probably not likely.:confused:

If it is just a plain 1950's house that happens to be in an historic district and they are trying to make them put in divided light windows because the other (older) houses have them then that is beyond stupid.

If the divided light windows are actually an original, unique feature to the house *shrug* that's the price you pay for living in a historic district I guess. But I don't think many homes in the fifties were built with true divided light windows.

[kennedy]

Older house (1800s), but the current, divided light windows were put in place in the 1950s. It's really not a historic window, it's huge. Probably about 8x8'. Historic homes never saw that much glass in their life. It's almost mocking the colonial homes around it. The changes the owner proposed actually managed to make it look more historically accurate, as it was changed to a bay window. I'll try to find a picture.

[JohnAKeith]

Briv, I never said "thanks" for the offer. At this point, it seems that it's up to the voters, few that they are. I was in the North End tonight, not hostile, but very few votes to be had. South End is the unknown. I believe it will turn out for me. Chinatown and Roxbury, too. This weekend could make all the difference.

[statler]

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/7700/1243584857.jpg

Why did the pinnacle of fashion and design have to coincide with the Great Depression? So unfair.

(BTW, would you consider the above picture more Nouveau or Deco? It seems to have elements of both.)

[tobyjug]

I have that problem with trying to peg Maxfield Parrish. I don't think of the style as being Deco (as compared to someone like Joseph Stella), but it was so prevalent in advertising during the Deco period. I love old magazine advertisements for cars and Arrow shirts!

[tobyjug]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yJ2yWvGnkI

[bosdevelopment]

Ohhh shit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuSTiWRAoc0

[statler]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA1NoOOoaNw

[choo]

Does anyone know where I could find a list of urban planning/design firms for an entry level position? I am trying to get into that field, although I know it will be tough since my degree is not in that area. Thanks.

[ablarc]

^^ Truly hilarious, statler.

[statler]

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/4319/3642661392893103fda0ot.jpg

[kennedy]

Stat, I just busted my gut open laughing.

[palindrome]

That pic is hilarious!!!