Open Thread

[kz1000ps]

Hmmm maybe this?

[BeeLine]

Map of Boston's West End by Boston Public Library, on Flickr

06_01_012709

06_01_012792

06_01_012793

06_01_012795

And Demo in progress.

West End 1959

Hope these help.

[datadyne007]

Originally Posted by kz1000ps

Hmmm maybe this?

I feel sick.

[statler]

Thanks guys!

[odurandina]

Free Speech Dead in snowflakeland


Felger spot on......







post-rant fallout







Speros: Felger show surreal in post-rant fallout
Admission enough, don’t punish him







Michael Felger yesterday held a four-hour press conference/confessional on air.

Felger expressed contrition a day after his rant on the death of Roy Halladay scorched the internet, igniting cries for his head across social media, and triggering a one-man, sign-wielding march on the CBS Boston studios in Brighton by WEEI’s Kirk Minihane.

“I had no self-management. I couldn’t control myself,” Felger said.

His primary crime — which he copped to multiple times during the “Felger and Mazz” show on 98.5 The Sports Hub — was a lack of decorum, humanity and compassion for Halladay’s widow and her children. The man called a “doting dad” and “a love bug” by his wife in a recent profile came off as a dunderheaded daredevil with a death wish.

“Soooreeey” wasn’t going to cut it.

Felger stood by his take that Halladay took a foolish and needless risk given the issues surrounding the type of plane he was flying. Halladay’s family yesterday refuted claims that he was a reckless pilot.

Meanwhile, Roy Halladay is unable to defend himself. Criticizing the dead when we don’t know all the facts surrounding their passing is lazy and dangerous.

Yesterday’s show swung into the surreal early and never left. Felger and Tony Massarotti took calls from supporters and detractors, and answered questions from media types. To Felger’s credit, he ducked nothing.

Yet his customary air of confidence all but evaporated for a day. He appeared sullen, at least through the lenses of NBC Sports Boston. If this was an act, an Emmy is in the offing.

Felger was “not ordered” by management at either The Sports Hub or NBC Sports New England to issue an apology. He did admit he may have been pushed into one if he had not taken the initiative to do so. He said he didn’t know whether he would face any further discipline from either of his Boston media employers, CBS Radio and NBC Boston.

Felger said he knew he screwed up Wednesday after seeing a Deadspin story featuring the headline: “Boston Sports Radio Chud Goes on Long Rant About How Roy Halladay Deserved to Die.”

The internet was littered with similar headlines. Boston was again held hostage by the musings of a media personality whose passions and DNA lie elsewhere.

Felger and I have lived in Wisconsin, Florida and Massachusetts. I never went full-Cheesehead during my days at Marquette University, nor would I expect Felger to ever go full townie, even though he’s worked in Boston for 20 years. You have to be born and raised here to know how all of this really feels.

Felger should neither be suspended nor fired for his stunt. The marketplace will determine his fate. There is something fundamentally wrong when an industry rooted in free speech punishes anyone for speaking freely. That holds for Minihane, Curt Schilling, Jemele Hill and Felger.

[Lrfox]

“Free speech” is protection from government persecution for voicing one’s opinions, nothing more. Is the government persecuting Felger for this? If not, then it’s not an issue of free speech. There are always consequences for the things people say, even if they’re protected from government persecution.

[stefalarchitect]

Unrelated to Odura's post, but I just thought I'd post the insane stories I've been seeing about different mega-tech-companies building their own cities:

Google's Sidewalk Lab's gigantic 800 acre project in Toronto

YCombinator looking to build new cities (plural), or at least improve existing ones

Bill Gates' spends a spare $80 million for controlling interest in smart city project in Arizona

Wonder how much silicon-valley-esque reinventing the wheel we'll be seeing. These are tech companies, not urban planning or architecture/engineering firms.

[bigpicture7]

Yesterday Bose announced that they sold off their (freaking incredible) electromagnetic road-cancelling car suspension to a start-up...

If you haven't see the video of the test car gliding over road obstacles, check it out within this article:
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/b...o-clearmotion/

I wish the startup luck in incorporating this into a product someday.

[tobyjug]

The new Mythbusters is still fun.

That new BMW electric sports car is good looking, and very sculptural.

[tobyjug]

Boston is 14th in the world for a good night out? Never realized the world was so dull!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/tr...night-out.html

[vanshnookenraggen]

Travel more. Most of the country goes to bed at like 9pm.

[tobyjug]

I travel quite a bit, actually!

[bigpicture7]

Originally Posted by vanshnookenraggen

Travel more. Most of the country goes to bed at like 9pm.

This point resonates, though. It wasn't until a previous job took me on extensive travel to a lot of boring U.S. cities did I realize how special boston was. When I was in my 20s, I always thought boston was boring, small, went to bed early, etc. I took for granted that we had a world-class symphony, world-class art museum, very solid restaurant/bar scene. No, we're not NY, Chicago, LA....but beyond that, we're tops of the rest of them.

It wasn't until that extensive domestic travel that I fully appreciated that. European and Asian (and beyond) cities will always be different in their own ways (and are expected to be). Those weren't in my frame of reference...but Boston -vs- similar sized U.S. counterparts is appropriate for comparison.

[datadyne007]

Toby's link said "14th in the WORLD," not "14th in the US" too. Boston might be active for US standards, but I think it is genuinely surprising that it ranked so high in the world.

[bigpicture7]

Originally Posted by datadyne007

Toby's link said "14th in the WORLD," not "14th in the US" too. Boston might be active for US standards, but I think it is genuinely surprising that it ranked so high in the world.

I agree it's surprising. Sorry my point probably wasn't clear...my point is that I would guess that a world ranking would ensure a sampling of different cultural renditions of a city (e.g., a few from each global region). And after comparing against our domestic counterparts, I am not hugely surprised Boston would be on there ahead of many other U.S. cities...

I do agree its still a bit surprising to make the global list.

[odurandina]

I've never been this close to a raging wildfire of this scale..... The mountains between Oxnard and Ventura are on fire. The winds are 40-50mph. It's miles wide and moving fast. People are losing their homes here.... Losing everything.

.

[tobyjug]

Spent a lot of happy times in Manhattan in the late 60's, early 70's. Place been whitewashed since. Some of change, it's good, some bad. Just like everything else.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...t-Tribeca.html

[kz1000ps]

Originally Posted by bigpicture7

This point resonates, though. It wasn't until a previous job took me on extensive travel to a lot of boring U.S. cities did I realize how special boston was. When I was in my 20s, I always thought boston was boring, small, went to bed early, etc. I took for granted that we had a world-class symphony, world-class art museum, very solid restaurant/bar scene. No, we're not NY, Chicago, LA....but beyond that, we're tops of the rest of them.

I've come to the same conclusion as well. I grew up in the gravitational pull of NYC so that's always been my standard for what a city should be, and during my 10 years in Boston I always thought it seemed small and sleepy. But then I started traveling and quickly realized Boston is in the top 97th percentile of places to live in the country, EASILY.

Originally Posted by tobyjug

Spent a lot of happy times in Manhattan in the late 60's, early 70's. Place been whitewashed since. Some of change, it's good, some bad. Just like everything else.

Agreed, but the totality of said whitewashing is stunning. It's hard to care for a city that no longer cares about its history.

This gem? Fuggedaboutit



Now demo'd and to be replaced with characterless ooze

[commuter guy]

Depressing...

[TheRifleman]

That’s a SIN

The building architecture is priceless.