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October 13, 2008
In a real shocker, the Boston Globe has endorsed Barack Obama for president "with great enthusiasm." He's called "charismatic" but also credited with "the temperament and the nerves to shepherd Americans through what promises to be a grueling period — and who has the vision to restore this country to its place of leadership in the world." Here's hoping the Globe staffers are right. Whether you agree or disagree, you have two days left to...
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The Guardian Angels are struggling in Boston. Yes, they claim to be patrolling. [Boston Herald] Even New Bedford policemen get lonely, so they post on Craigslist looking for chicks with "cop fantasies." [SouthCoast Today] Good grief! The great pumpkin of Sharon, Mass misses the world record over a technicality. [Patriot Ledger] Don't ask us why, but the stock market rallied as the Dow gained 11% today. [New York Times] Image by sissnitz from photos...
Continue Reading "Bite Size News, October 13"Yesterday, we were hopeful that Dennis the manatee could get happy and healthy after making it to Florida in a Penske moving truck. Turns out that wasn't the case, as Dennis died soon after a 27-hour journey to Orlando's SeaWorld. During the trip, workers were able to raise his body temperature 16 degrees, still eight degrees short of normal, but it wasn't quite enough. Let's hope we can prevent more poor manatees from getting off...
Continue Reading "Manatee Watch: Dennis Dies"October 12, 2008
Dennis the manatee, our massive mermaidy friend, was loaded on to a Penske moving truck today to return to his native Florida. Penske was picked over an emergency flight because it would have taken too long to coordinate a manatee-compatible aircraft. No word on if or how the moving truck was souped up to accommodate Dennis, or whether there's an extra charge for sea creature transport. The manatee's temperature was low as a result of...
Continue Reading "Got a Manatee to Move? Don't Use Penske!"
MIT economist Jiang Wang worries about the government's bailout of bad investments, pointing to the success of past private bailouts and suggesting this matter could have been resolved privately as well. Jiang also wonders if the bailout will falsely improve stock prices, hurting investors' ability to make money off the market's downturn. His final concern is about the distorted effects that the bailout may have on the housing market, distorting home prices even as it...
Continue Reading "MIT Economist Worries About Bailout"Advertisement: Bostonist Continues Below!
October 12, 2008
Last week, we were excited about Steve Connolly (of Sharon, Mass.) and his giant pumpkin. Estimated to weigh over 1800 pounds, the fine specimen of Cucurbita maxima seemed perfectly poised to break the record for largest pumpkin. Though Connolly's giant gourd tipped the scales at 1568 pounds (300 pounds less than last week's size-based estimate of its weight), it was disqualified due to a gash. It's not clear why a hole would disqualify a pumpkin;...
Continue Reading "Massachusetts Man's Marred Maxima Misses Mark"Gail Collins' recent op-ed in the New York Times waxes nostalgic about the old days of the presidential campaign, before we lost Mitt Romney and met Sarah Palin: Maybe the Republicans should have picked somebody else. I miss Mitt Romney. Sure, he was sort of smarmy. But when Mitt was around, the banks had money and Iceland was solvent. And, of course, when we got bored, we could always talk about how he drove to...
Continue Reading "The New York Times Misses Mitt"October 10, 2008
Connecticut has joined Massachusetts, California, Belgium, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands, South Africa and Spain as a part of the world where gay people share the same right to marry their lovers that straight people have. In a 4-3 ruling, the Connecticut Supreme Court overturned the state's law prohibiting same-sex marriage today. Welcome to the club, Nutmeggers. [Globe]...
Continue Reading "Hartford Poised to Become the Reno of Gay Marriage?"October 9, 2008
-- Benjamin L. Makinen stabbed a stranger to death yesterday in Worcester, according to police. The 23-year-old Worcester man, whom his attorneys claim suffers from mental illness, walked into a triple decker, knocked on a second floor door and allegedly stabbed Shelleigh Wilcox to death before calling 911 to turn himself in. [Worcester Telegram Gazette] -- The Herald is leading the charge to capture Massachusetts's most wanted sex offenders. [Herald] -- Woburn, already the by-word...
Continue Reading "Boston Blotter: Random Stabbing in Worcester, Perv Hunt in Boston"
A Boston College psychologist says McCain is blinking too much to win. [MetroWest Daily News] Gloucester High is hoping students will make a pact to use birth control. [Boston Globe] Boston firefighters don't want to accept drug testing, and they don't want anyone decide on it. [Boston Herald] A man who was exonerated after 19 years in prison may be deported before he can sue the Boston Police Dept. [Boston Globe] Whoever stole a...
Continue Reading "Bite Size News, October 9"
This piece by local artist Chaz Maviyane-Davies helped launch the countdown on 30reasons.org, which presents a new reason every day to vote in the upcoming election. So far, Maviyane-Davies' is our favorite, standing out as beautiful, dramatic, and not overtly political. Sign up for daily email updates of new posters--maybe it will help motivate you to register to vote....
Continue Reading "30 Reasons: Chaz Maviyane-Davies"October 8, 2008
Our Popular Mayor has been shelved by an impending knee surgery and will be back in Mayoral action by Monday morning, at the earliest, according to the Herald. The arthroscopic surgery, which will take place Friday morning, is required to repair damage to the knee sustained when Menino committed a costly error during the October 2007 Red Sox World Series rally, dropping the World Series trophy....
Continue Reading "Mumbles on DL, Expected to Return to Action Monday"
-- Somerville cops bagged an alleged car burglar Monday only to discover that he was armed with a sword, according to reports. No word on whether he was being pursued by an oversized Russian. [Somerville Journal] -- A tenacious Northeastern student tracked down his stolen bike three weeks after the theft and recovered it with the help of Boston police, according to authorities. The alleged thief, a 23-year-old from Jamaica Plain had repainted the bike,...
Continue Reading "Boston Blotter: There Can Be Only One"
Ferret crossing caught by volcanojw Maybe we're in a spending crisis because our cops commit citeable offenses? Just a thought. [WBZTV] Maybe John McCain could learn a thing or two from these real economic mavericks. [Herald] Virgin Mary window ousted from Springfield hospital. [WCVB] Osamu Shimomura, former Woods Hole researcher, shares the Nobel Prize in chemistry this year. He discovered GFP, green fluorescent protein. [WBZTV] A Newton jewelry store lost $100,000 in diamonds and...
Continue Reading "Bite Size News, October 8: Ferret Crossing, Nobel Prize"The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is on the verge of fiscal crisis. Standard & Poor's certifies that the state has enough cash to make it through the end of the year. After that, it's a toss-up. Revenue for the first quarter of fiscal year 2009 is down $233 million, and many believe that the state will have to slash $1 billion from next year's budget. The culprit? Capital gains tax shortfalls, according to one e-pundit. Are...
Continue Reading "Dystopian Urban Decay and Roving Bands of Face-Painted Thugs in Boston's Future? Maybe."Advertisement: Bostonist Continues Below!
October 7, 2008
-- Two men were found shot last night in Dorchester, one fatally. The dead man was found slumped over a steering wheel; the other victim was found outside the car, with a gunshot wound to the head that sent him to Boston Medical Center, where he remains in critical condition. Both victims were in their 40s. [BPDNews, Globe] -- In an unrelated incident, police found two men, also in their 40s, suffering from multiple gunshot...
Continue Reading "Boston Blotter: Shootings in Dorchester, Roxbury"Tom Brady's main squeeze and shopping companion, Gisele Bundchen, apparently sends 10 million dollars to her family each year. That's less than a third of her reported $35 million in annual earnings, but still a hefty hunk of change. Herald commenters have found a way to find the worst in even this gesture, criticizing Gisele's family for starting her in modeling at a young age and pondering whether all these funds have disappeared as the...
Continue Reading "October 6, 2008
-- Underage drinking and marijuana consumption occurred at college parties. You don't say. [BPDNews] -- And high school students bought a lot of liquor. [WCVB] -- A Lowell pizza joint became a "slaughterhouse" when a man was beaten to death there over the weekend. A suspect has been arrested. [Herald, WBZTV] -- Pervs are on the run. Arrests for subway sexual assault have doubled compared to the same time last year since the transit police...
Continue Reading "Boston Blotter: College Students Misbehave, Pizza Gets Dangerous"
Homelessness in Massachusetts is at an all-time high, and the future doesn't look bright. [Boston Globe] Even the state government is having trouble making ends meet and has requested funding assistance from the feds. [WBZ] The campaign to catch gropers on the T is leading to more arrests and more victims reporting assaults. [Boston Herald] After a robbery acquittal, a man is trying his hand at ripping off the state legally. [Boston Globe] A...
Continue Reading "Bite Size News, October 6"October 5, 2008
The Boston Globe has a stunning gallery of tuberculosis patients photographed by James Nachtwey, winner of a TED prize in 2007. The images are extraordinary not only for their stark depiction of illness, but also for how far removed they seem from everyday life--yet this disease is a reality for millions across the globe (1.7 million people died of TB last year). We may not think of tuberculosis as a big deal in the developed...
Continue Reading "James Nachtwey Photographs Tuberculosis Patients"The Annals of Improbable Research awarded the 2008 Ig Nobel Prizes Thursday evening. Awards were given for such remarkable achievements as electronically enhancing a chip's crunch to make the chewer find it more fresh, measuring the role of armadillos in rearranging archaeological artifacts, and--the one you've probably heard about most--proving that Coca-Cola is indeed a spermicide (but not recommended for everyday use). Our friend Dan Ariely won for showing that high-priced fake medicine is more...
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