--One woman reminisces about her youth as a smelly lobster-monger near James Hook when she ogled cute fishermen. [shamrag] --To prepare yourself for the Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals, check out this chart of Kobe Bryant's strengths and weaknesses. [The Onion] --No love for the environment? Now you can wear your feelings on your shirt. [b0st0n] --Are you hot? Graduated from law school? Then you have the chance to get photographed in your "'natural elent' (sic)......

This Bostonist always pictured solar panels being best-suited to dot the rooftops of sun-baked, equatorial locales. But according to the Associated Press (via the Herald), the Commonwealth is quickly becoming a leader in solar energy. The AP piece talked to one solar executive whose biggest customer is Germany--not a country known for its tropical lifestyle. He says that, "Solar works better when you have cool, sunny days, so a solar system here in Massachusetts,......

The battle over global warming is escalating and it's being fought all over the cultural map, most recently in a three state struggle for the "right to dry." The Globe reports today that some environmentalists, specifically a group called Project Laundry List, are pushing for legislation in New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont that would guarantee residents are allowed to set up clotheslines. They claim that dryers are a house's second biggest electricity drain (number......

A state senator from Milton has unveiled a plan to apply a gradual tax to plastic bags, starting at 2 cents and then rising to 15 cents. Those who already use canvas totes or paper won't need to pay. If you're a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's type, you probably don't use them at all. We've been down this road before with the city council. Reasons for taxing the bags include the fact that they......

This week, the Civil Society Institute released survey results that showed 82 percent of people in Massachusetts approved of Cape Wind, which would install wind turbines in Nantucket Sound. The news came out just as Cape Wind supporters were pushing for US Rep Ed "Biz" Markey to publicly back the project. {They are not lobbying Senator Ted Kennedy, who, in a fit of NIMBYism, has opposed the project from the get-go because Nantucket Sound is......

While in San Francisco this past week Veggiest was able to take a trip to the beautiful headquarters of VegNews magazine. For those of you unfamiliar, VegNews is the premier (and only completely vegan) vegetarian publication on the shelves right now. What sets VegNews apart, aside from their fabulous staff of course, is that they seek to promote the entire vegetarian lifestyle and offer informative stories on a wide variety of veg topics. The......

Massachusetts is the hot battlefield for wind energy. What happens here will no doubt impact how seriously wind is taken as an alternative energy source in the rest of the United States. And, last week, a lot happened regarding wind energy that didn't have anything to do with Cape Wind. Hull, which already gets 12 percent of its energy from wind power, is hoping to install four turbines off shore, which will eventually lead to......

The owners of Clear Conscience Cafe in Central Square are on a mission. It’s pretty hard to miss… in fact, it’s conveniently spelled out on a poster behind the counter. They sell fair trade, shade grown, organic coffee and organic food “with an underlying agenda of social responsibility and environmental stewardship.” The counters are made of bamboo or crushed beer bottles; the ceiling tiles are made of 100% recycled material; the shop is illuminated......

Cape Wind has already suffered delays galore as opponents figure out what else they can study about the wind farm in Nantucket Sound--and they've received another delay for Christmas. The United States Minerals Management Service, which has the authority to yay or nay the project, announced yesterday that it will delay its report on Cape Wind until next year, the AP reports. Even though contributions to the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the project's main......

As Bostonians we pride ourselves on our history as a city steeped in sea-faring tradition. Whether it be our statuesque U.S.S. Constitution, the ubiquitous story of the Boston Tea Party, or the ever-present duck boats, Boston and the ocean will be forever intertwined. As such, Bostonist presents some last-minute gift ideas that pay homage to our salty roots. Looking for the perfect gift for the animal lover in your life? Consider giving a "Proud Parent......

"It's an important civic concern," Bos explained. "All of us are in the public sphere and we have to agree on the same tests of truth. Right now, we have different tests of truth."...

Or at least they need some sensitivity training. Via Universal Hub, we hear Harper's Ferry has some real racist assholes on its staff. There's one guy who was begging to be fired after insulting black hip-hop performer Bus Driver last week. Bus Driver promptly refused to perform, and the other act, Daedalus, followed suit. Etan at Basstown spoke with Regan Farquhar (aka Bus Driver) and his DJ. They say the sound guy at Harper's Ferry......

Mike Doughty proved Saturday night that the Hannah Montana scalping uproar could be easily solved if Miley Cyrus and her target audience were old enough to drink. While welcoming his audience of about 75 people to the intimate basement space of the Lizard Lounge, the singer-songwriter and former Soul Coughing front man explained that tickets to the evening’s show had sold out in one minute. There had been postings on Craigslist charging $100 a ticket.......

Today, House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi presented a major renewable energy bill today that will be debated next week. Right after DiMasi's announcement and also in the State House, authors Wendy Williams and Robert Whitcomb gave a presentation to legislators about a specific way to achieve that goal--investment in wind energy. ...

We've talked plenty about wind turbines. Now local legislators seem to be setting even more green goals. Legislators have proposed setting mandates to increase the blending of biofuels with heating oil. The Globe also reports that the legislature isn't stopping with biofuel: "The bill filed yesterday also would exempt from the state's 23-cent gasoline tax any gasoline that contains ethanol produced from plant products other than corn. The exemption would give gasoline dealers a financial......

We're sad to report that the NFL has determined there's no fire to go with the smoke. As sure as people were, and as hopeful as we were that it was true, the league has said there's no evidence that the Colts were piping in artificial crowd noise Sunday against the Patriots. CBS blames faulty equipment in the truck to explain why, at one point during the game, it sounded like a CD skipped, then......

Animator Dave Schlafman, of Boston, is in the finals of Current TV's Current and the Alliance Ecospot Contest to find the best PSA about the environment. The goal of the contest is to get people to look at the climate crisis in new ways. The masses can vote for the winning spot. All it takes is registering on current.com, and you can vote for the best PSA. Schlafman's is titled "The Sky is Falling,"......

Mayor Menino has gone so green that he might end up looking like Kermit the Frog. First Menino laid out his plan to improve life for cyclists in the city, and now he's drawing inspiration from Cape Wind by proposing wind turbines for City Hall Plaza. The Globe reported on Saturday that the mayor wants a single turbine that can "generate up to one-quarter of the electricity used at City Hall." Globe writer Peter Howe......

WGBH's Victory Garden has started its 32nd season with a new host, the beefcakey Australian Jamie Durie. When we heard about the new season and were offered a chance to chat with Durie, we were skeptical because we have neither land nor lawn upon which to garden. But we realized we were being short-sighted. All apartments, dorm rooms, and cubes could use some oxygen and a few natural processes just to freshen things up a......

Now that a partially dissolved piece of sodium metal has been deemed the culprit in the burning of several Charles River cleanup volunteers, the local news is playing up the MIT ritual known as the "sodium drop." MIT students like to drop stuff. Sometimes they drop pianos. In this case, at the start of each school year, students get the sodium from somewhere on campus, tote it to the Longfellow Bridge, and drop it bit......

NESN asks the question, "Will the poetry in the field spark romance in the stands?" Perhaps - but the first episode of Sox Appeal suggests that if you really want to woo someone, you're better off doing it without the distractions of a baseball game. Garrett Lucash, a retired figure skater who will apparently do anything to banish the stereotype of the male figure skater, meets with three different women. He tries to strike......

A team of MIT students and professors have completed the preliminary round in the Defense Advanced Recearch Projects Agency's Urban Challenge competition. Representatives from DARPA visited with the team and their vehicle to see if they would be one of the 30 teams of the current 53 who will compete in the semi-finals in October. From the Urban Challenge website: the Urban Challenge features autonomous ground vehicles maneuvering in a mock city environment, executing simulated......

The Boston wing of the FBI met with leaders of local schools because they think spies might try to steal research. The Herald writes, "Boston FBI Special Agent in Charge Warren Bamford recently met with officials at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, among other schools, to train academics on what sort of research could be used by terrorists." The FBI wants academics to watch their laptops and note any overenthusiastic......

Like just about anyone who thought their love of music was aptly captured onscreen by John Cusack in "High Fidelity," the folks over at Paste Magazine are fond of The Music List. So we weren't terribly surprised to see (via Stereogum) that the mag created a list of the nation's best music venues, broken down into regions. The criteria, as Paste spells it out in their June issue (Parkey Posey on the cover!): We weighed......

The films of Zhang Yimou will screen at the Brattle Theatre from Wednesday, May 30 through Thursday, June 7. Raise the Red Lantern starts the festival tonight and Thursday at 4:45, 7:15, and 9:45. Zhang Yimou might be one of the most consistent directors working today, but one movie immediately comes to mind when considering his body of work - Raise the Red Lantern. The Brattle Theatre scored a new print of his signature movie......

The Boston Babydolls will perform "Burlesque: By Women, For Women" on Tuesday, May 15, at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $12, and no men will be admitted. OK, men can read this to whet their appetite for burlesque, but they're not invited to the Boston Babydolls Ladies Only burlesque show at Coolidge Corner. The Babydolls are recreating the heyday of burlesque, when shows "for ladies without escorts" sold out. Bostonist asked Miss Mina some questions......

Emerge Spa and Salon opened its doors on Newbury street about a year ago and recently Bostonist had the opportunity to experience the best the Spa has to offer. Having once been to its sister salon, G20, Bostonist expected nothing but the best and Emerge didn't disappoint. Immediately, Bostonist was whisked up to the third floor while the representative explained such offerings as the roof garden, and the fireside lounge, juice bar and cafe. Weather......

The Boston City Council wants to follow San Francisco's footsteps and ban plastic bags from the city. Robert Consalvo (Hyde Park / Roslindale / Mattapan) is pushing the measure, and nine of twelve city councilors have offered their support. We're all for protecting the environment, but the way Robert Consalvo describes those bags, you'd think we were being attacked by plastic bags: "They blow in trees, they're floating in Boston Harbor . . . They're......

UPDATE: The venue has been changed for the Kerry reading. John Kerry and Theresa Heinz Kerry will read at the First Parish Church in Cambridge tomorrow, Saturday, April 21, at 12 noon. Theresa Heinz Kerry, coauthor of This Moment on Earth, sounded furious when she and Senator John Kerry dialed into a conference call with a batch of bloggers. And she has reason to be mad because of the research she's assembled about how toxins......

John Kerry and Theresa Heinz Kerry will read from This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future at Memorial Church in Harvard Yard Saturday, April 21, at 12:00 pm. Tickets are on sale starting today. They're $5, and you can use the ticket cost as a coupon for a purchase from Harvard Book Store. Plus, if you buy the book at Harvard Book Store, you get two free tickets to......