He started snapping photos of religious icons while taking his son out for walks in the stroller near their Somerville home. Josh Michtom, an amateur photographer, public defender, and one of Bostonist's own, found the project to be addictive. His iconography of Somerville's Madonna statues (and other religious lawn ornaments) expanded his set of images into a 234 image set on Flickr, and last November the Somerville Madonna shop was born on the Internet. Note......

This week is officially Bike Week. Regular commuters, part time enthusiasts, friends, and allies of bikers will be donning their helmets (please put on your helmet) and taking to the streets to celebrate a great form of human powered transportation. While many events take place from Boston to NoHo we're focusing our attention on those happening close to home. Free biker appreciation breakfasts and group rides have been organized. Check out the full listing at......

The old saying goes that nothing is certain except death and taxes. You should add Fung Wah buses to that list. A Fung Wah bus was understandably overwhelmed by today's nasty weather. Mac Daniel reports that a Fung Wah bus hit a guardrail this morning on the Pike by the Allston-Brighton tolls. Another Fung Wah bus came by to retrieve the freezing passengers. For once, it seemed that Fung Wah could probably blame an accident......

The Madonna Project 2007 calendars (along with other wares) are still on sale. Somerville residents can grab their very own calendar for a discount and free delivery by the creator for a limited time. It's two bucks more plus shipping for people living outside of Somerville to get their own calendar featuring religious icons in Somerville lawns. Bostonist caught a glimpse of a billboard while heading back into Boston from the South Shore this weekend......

Bostonist went down to one of our favorite haunts to meet up with a couple of friends. You may know some of them; others were in from out of town. We got the announcement then that within 24 hours there would be at least one Somerville apartment whose living room would contain a stack of Somerville Madonna 2007 Calendars ready for delivery. Yeah, you read right. Somerville Madonna Calendars - and postcards, greeting cards, and......

All local and national news outfits have their eyes turned to London this morning. A terrorism plot has been uncovered in the UK which would apparently have resulted in planes on international routes from the UK to the US blowing up mid-flight. At least twenty-one persons have been taken into custody by British authorities so far, and they're still following leads stemming from the arrests. Here in the United States the Department of Homeland Security......

We -ists are an eclectic bunch, but there's a couple of things we all love: famous people, social causes, and wacky local facts. Join us as we starf**k, get virtuous, and learn across the -ist network! Austinist starts us off right by filling the famous person quota by interviewing Lewis Black, covers the social cause with a non-profit car sharing company, and gives us more wacky local facts than we can handle with Austin by......

Over the last week patrons and outsiders have been taking note of the imminent closure of the Waltham Taven in the South End. The closure was forecasted in the Boston Globe and then solidified when the Licensing Board met and ordered the bar closed. Bostonist will be honest, we aren’t surprised to hear reports of “shady goings on” at the Waltham Tavern, substantiated or not. We’ve walked by the dive a hundred times, and admittedly......

Our Senator may have lost the presidential race, but Massachusetts is nevertheless solidifying its control over the rest of the country: Our old pal Bill Weld is getting more press coverage than he has in years as New York Republicans consider whether to nominate him if their current governor, George Pataki, doesn't run again. The New York Times tells us that Weld, who now lives in Manhattan, has been looking to get back into politics......

Having once worked for a labor union, Bostonist knows that relations between workers and management can get more than a little tense. But we were impressed with the audacity of Harborside Healthcare: The Boston company is challenging the results of a union election, saying that the voting was not fair because a union organizer threatened to use voodoo on healthcare workers (most of whom are Haitian) if they didn't vote for the union. Bostonist's......

Poor Connecticut, such a lonely state, unable to settle firmly into the orbit of either of its more influential neighbors. Yankees or Red Sox? Moderate Republican governor or not-so-moderate Republican governor? Death penalty (on the books, anyway) or no death penalty? Well, chalk one up for the Commonwealth: Connecticut has followed the path of Massachusetts and approved civil unions for gay couples (OK, so we call it marriage, but here's a little secret that Bostonist......

As House Majority Leader Tom DeLay continues his campaign against judges, it gives Bostonist some pride to recall that it was a decision from our own Supreme Judicial Court that really got it all started. But DeLay's latest comments have left us a little perplexed. He singled out Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy (who is not nearly the most liberal judge on that court) and criticized him for doing his own research ON THE INTERNET,......

George Santayana said that those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. But George Bernard Shaw said, more astutely, we think, "We learn from history that we learn nothing from history." As exhibit one to illustrate the latter point, Bostonist offers Attorney General Tom Reilly and his bold promise on Sunday that, if elected governor, he will not raise taxes. Bostonist seems to recall that back in 1988, a certain Republican candidate......

With warm weather returning, the long-suffering, winter-weary workers of downtown will no doubt be returning to one of Bostonist's favorite outdoor lunch spots, the park at Post Office Square. Officially called Norman B. Leventhal Park (after a much-storied Boston developer), the quiet oasis bounded by Franklin, Milk, Congress, and Pearl Streets is run by the non-profit Friends of Post Office Square trust, who provide the free plastic cushions that Bostonist uses to keep our dress......

Monday is Patriots Day, another one of those Massachusetts-only holidays that Bostonist adores. Some cynics suggest that it is no accident that two of our unique holidays, Evacuation Day and Patriots Day, fall on occasions usually celebrated with hearty amounts of drink (St. Patrick's Day and the Boston Marathon), and the third, Bunker Hill Day, saves June from being a month without time off and falls conveniently half-way between Memorial Day and July 4th. Bostonist......

Can a daily newspaper's mood be affected by uncertain spring weather? Recent events at the Globe suggest the answer is yes. The fluctuating temperatures have certainly made Bostonist a little bit manic: when our town is bathed in balmy, 70-degree sunlight, we feel the exuberance of a schoolkid at 3:00 on a Friday, the notion that anything and everything is possible, that any passing glance from an attractive stranger might really be a lascivious come-hither.......

Like any sensible resident of our fair city, Bostonist loves going to the ballgame (although April night games can get a little chilly). Is there anything finer than seeing that first glimpse of emerald green grass as one emerges toward the field, or tracing the arc of a fly ball against the darkening sky, or haranguing the other team's relievers? We don't think so. Unfortunately, Sox tickets can be pricey and hard to come by.......