Live from Wasilla...

Here's a prediction for you: Sarah Palin will be a successful television personality within the next two or three years.

While I think she would be a disaster as a vice president, there's no denying that the woman has an incredible back story and is charismatic. Hell, even Lorne Michaels sees it:

She could pretty much do better than development. I think she could have her own show, yeah.

And after yesterday's news that she fleeced the RNC for $150,000 for new clothes and makeup, you have to think her establishment party support is drying up quickly. As Marc Ambinder explained, that $150,000 could have bought the campaign a week's worth of TV spots in Colorado, a state McCain is reportedly abandoning.

So the question is this: Does she have the time and temperament to do all the work she'll need to rehabilitate her image in the next four years? I say she has the time but not the temperament, because I don't think she views petty score-settling, expenditure padding, and telling provable falsehoods as real liabilities.

She'll lose the next governor's race, if she runs at all, and wash out of politics. Soon after that, BAM! She'll show up on cable as a reliably non-political talk show host. And she'll be good at it. No hard news, but not blurry-lens softball interviews, either. She could make herself a niche as a Red State soothsayer on cultural issues.

Or I'm wrong and she's the GOP contender to beat in 2012. At least I have four years to disavow ever saying this...

Mother-humpin' Moose

All in all, Sarah Palin was a good sport on SNL. The opening sketch seemed a little stilted, but the Weekend Update segment (above) was fantastic.

Citgo Fire: A Sign Either Way

 

The Citgo sign caught on fire today. Is this a metaphor for the season going down in flames? Or are the Sox about to catch fire and once again come back from a 3-1 deficit?

(h/t: Universal Hub )

*Photo lifted without permission from WBZ, but I link to their article, so hopefully that's good enough for them.

Everything's Drawn and Super 80's

Brilliant!

Sarah Palin's Debate Prep Explained

 

(Adennak , via Andrew Sullivan )

French Toast

When Adam says it's time to dust off the ol' French toast alert system for the storm coming Saturday, I listen. You'll see the alert widget in my sidebar all winter.

If you aren't from Boston or don't read Universal Hub, the French Toast Alert System provides you with a color-coded reminder for when a storm's a-comin' and you need to stock up on milk, eggs and bread, lest you be snowed in and have to eat the children.

Of McCain and Money

A thought about the McCain gambit: A big part of suspending the campaign and pushing back the debate has to do with money.

What does he hope to gain from suspending his campaign?

1. This back his "putting country first" argument.
   
2. Delay the debate until Oct. 2, which would conveniently postpone of cancel the Vice Presidential debate.
   
3. Put Obama in a position to also take ownership of a politically risky bailout plan. McCain was needed to secure Republican votes for the measure, so this move helps him spread the risk.

Fortunately, most observers and voters have called this for what it is: A naked political ploy. But I think there's one other reason that could have a hand in this. Money.

Obama has more cash than McCain, and is spending that fortune to get his message out to voters. McCain can't hope to compete with  the resulting flood of Obama ads.

To neutralize that advantage, McCain needs to dominate national news coverage. He's succeeded in the past, most recently and spectacularly with the Sarah Palin pick. The fact that she's tanking now almost doesn't matter, from this perspective. He got two solid weeks of campaign buzz and momentum out of that.

The drawback for McCain, of course, is that this is tantamount to blowing hard into a toy boat's sails. It gives you a strong push forward in the water, but it slows to a stop almost as quickly. So you need to blow again. And harder. This gambit is another hearty gust from the senator. Unfortunately for him, it doesn't look like it's working. He may have blown a little too hard and capsized the boat this time.

(That's my tortured metaphor: John McCain blows. A lot.)

So what happens next? We'll see if people internalize this move the way McCain wants them to—as an act of integrity—or for what it is: A last ditch effort to get some free pub for a campaign that's faltering under a losing issue. This could be the move that decides the election.

I am Crazy Glue

Lunch was almost uneventful today.

I wasn't hungry, so I went to Starbucks to talk with a friend and do a little writing. Apparently, someone slipped some Freak Juice in my espresso, because they soon started flocking.

Everything was fine for most of the hour. But then a regular walked in, sat down in the club chair next to me, and starts talking, angry.

"Fucking women, man. Unfuckingbelievable! They are goddamned unbelievable!"

What the Hell do you say to that? I thought he was just being rueful. He was in earlier, talking to a friend about a divorce. They went outside to talk further and had just come back. Maybe this other guy's wife had taken him to the cleaners?

I tried to laugh it off. "Heh, really?"

"I'm serious! Don't ever get fucking married! Goddamned women!"



"OK! Well, I gotta get back to work. Talk with you soon!"

So I fled the scene and drove back to work. I walked into the building just behind a woman in hippie sandals and a long, flowing skirt. She headed down the hall as I walked into the elevator. Just as I was about to make a clean getaway, she came barreling back down the hall and stops the doors.

"I guess I'll try another floor."

What?

"Hah, OK. What floor would you like?" I asked, since I was standing next to the buttons.

"It doesn't matter."

What?

She went on: "The bathroom on this floor is not very appealing right now." And she started to laugh.

"Ah. Fair enough." I said, and then started at the floor indicator, praying to God the doors would open and I could get out of the box of crazy. I swear it took an hour to get to the second floor.

This is why I work from home three days a week. Yeesh.

Alaska: The Road Warrior with Snow

Chris Rock  follows Bill Clinton on Dave Letterman and lays into him, Hillary, and Sarah Palin. Funny stuff.



(h/t: Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose blog is a must-read)

Pedestrian Art

Technical difficulties at work led to a rare mid-day StumbleUpon fest. It led me to this collection of  pedestrian art.

Jane Swift, Stooge

Former governor Jane Swift has come out of the shadows as a John McCain surrogate. She took a starring role in McCain's "Palin Truth Squad" presser and proved to the listening world that she's an idiot.

Swift seized on Obama's use of a common idiom "lipstick on a pig," and repeatedly insisted he was talking about VP candidate Sarah Palin. Jake Tapper has the gory details:

Speaking on behalf of the McCain campaign, former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift tonight flatly stated that Obama had called Palin a pig.

"[T]he formation of the Palin Truth Squad couldn't have happened too soon, as we saw when Sen. Obama in Lebanon, Va., this evening uttered what I can only deem to be disgraceful comments comparing our vice presidential nominee Gov. Palin to a pig," Swift said.

"Sen. Obama owes Gov. Palin an apology," she said.

Asked why she was so confident Obama was "comparing" Palin to a pig, she said Palin was the only one of the four candidates on both parties' tickets who wears lipstick.

"She is the only one of the four candidates for president, or the only vice presidential candidate who wears lipstick," Swift said. "I mean, it seemed to me a very gendered comment."

Josh Marshall has more.

You've been gone all this time, Jane. Did you really return to become a shill and a liar? Do we need to call Christy Mihos to come chase you out of public life again?

Say it Ain't So, Beaker

Jon Stewart knocks one out of the park

(h/t: Ta-Nehisi Coates)

Play With the Seals!

My friend Nicole and I went to the New England Aquarium this past weekend. I got her two tickets to the “Play With the Seals” program. We were allowed into the Harbor Seals Habitat to goof off with the big furry guys for about an hour.
The program is designed to both educate the users and provide stimulation for the seals. Apparently, seals are very bright and get bored just swimming around. If you've ever been to the aquarium and seen a seal swimming in a circuit, that's them being bored.

We were given a couple of toys to play with. The first was literally just a garden hose.

Sure, it looks kinda lame, but when Nicole sprayed into the water, the seals came swooping in. They love the sensation, especially since they are finishing their molting season, which makes them feel like crap. The spray is like a little massage for them.

The other toys were “fishcicles,” which were ice toys filled with cut squid and a rubber chew toy. It looked gross.

But as the ice melts, the squid becomes exposed, and the seals WENT NUTS tugging and digging for that squid. According to Paul, the seal caretaker, the toys help the seals retain their ability to forage for food.

In all, it is a fabulous program, and definitely worth experiencing. Maybe instead of ripping off ideas for their ad campaigns, the aquarium could let more people know about these programs.

Mass. to Fast Laners: Drop Dead

Never be a sucker. Because if someone ever marks you as a sucker, they will always treat you like shit. Today's case in point: The Turnpike Authority's plan to jack up tolls on Fast Lane users.

See, people along the 93 corridor are not suckers. They said "Fuck no!" to tolls along the highway, and they got what they wanted. They pitched a fit at the very notion and the state backed off.

But Fast Lane users? Suckers. We've already agreed to pay to use the highways and bridges we need, so in the state's eyes, we'll pay for the entire burden of projects across the state.

If you live in Mertowest or the North Shore*, you're a sucker. If you live on the South Shore or the 93N corridor, you're a free rider. To illustrate the point, I made a map. Free Riders in Green. Suckers in Blue.:


View Larger Map

I have no love for tolls. I was psyched at the 2006 plan to get rid of them. But if we're going to have tolls, then let's put them where there's 1) demand for the roadway and 2) spreads the onus of using the highway system over the most number of people. If that gets more people along 93 to take the commuter rail, then great. But at least it shifts the burden to everybody taking a major highway into Boston. Toll everyone or no one. Take your pick.

*That's one thing that's annoyed me about this debate. People who live on the North Shore are not getting a free ride. We pay tolls coming over the Tobin or through the Sumner and Williams tunnels. If you ever bothered to look at a map, you'd see that 93 pushes significantly inland. Chealsea, Revere, Saugus, Everett, Malden, Lynn, etc. are all tolled heavily to come into Boston. Just remember that when you talk about this stuff.

Ken Lee Makes Me Happy

Old Man Oneupsmanship

Overheard in a Revere Diner this A.M.:

Peter Boyle Lookalike: What's with the jacket? What are you, in Florida?

Member's Only: It was cool out when I went out this morning.

Peter Boyle Lookalike: I was out at six, and it wasn't cool.

Member's Only: Well, I was out at five.

Whoa, THIS is What Real Governance Looks Like?

Another day, another example of Gov. Patrick taking a politically tough but important stand. Can there be any question that he's got a position secure in a possible Obama administration? There's no way we would see such political courage unless there was significant political cover.

Today it's police details. The governor is pushing to reduce the use of police officers to direct traffic at construction sites on state roads. It doesn't do anything about police use on local roads (which accounts for over 90% of the roads in the state, apparently), but it gives municipalities some political cover to save some money.

I don't have a problem with police details in the abstract. I do believe they help keep things orderly around a construction site, and it gives the officers a way to make some extra money while in a position to continue to help the community. All these cops who make serious money on details are going to go work second jobs elsewhere. Cities and towns may miss them when they're gone.

But the money at stake is too high, especially now, when we're going to go through another round of revenue shortfalls.

The governor's other big stance came yesterday, when he blocked pension increases for retired state employees. Again, it's tough because retirees are feeling the pinch, just like the rest of us. But the state just can't afford it this time.

Add to that the serious work being done to address the debt loads of the various transportation departments, and we are seeing the rarest of things: A governor working as though he has little time left in office to effect change, and a bureaucracy and legislature that doesn't realize he's already got a foot out the door (and thus are still willing to deal with him). If an Obama victory moves from a likelihood to a fait accompli, maybe things will change and the lame duck status will kick in. And hey, maybe he isn't gunning for work in Washington, which would be all the more extraordinary. I'll believe it when I see it. Most people agree with me, too.

For now, Patrick is working hard to make up for a disastrous first year in office with a breakout sophomore season. Can he see it through before the last Acela leaves for DC?

Good Riddance Wonderland Dog Track

View Larger Map

Suffolk Downs and Wonderland may merge, which is a great, great deal for the city of Revere.

All of a sudden, this blighted albatross around my home town's neck may disappear and finally meet the fate we all want: Redevelopment.

Personally, I would love to see dense mixed use on the 36-acre lot, similar to what's being planned on the other side of the Wonderland T station. Open a mix of stores, restaurants and a bar in a spot next to a T stop and across from Revere Beach.

There are some thing Revere should definitely require as part of the deal:

1. Require the developer to build a commuter rail station. Revere is completely bypassed by the commuter rail, which partially splits the city from it's waterfront. A commuter rail station would fit perfectly at the Wonderland site (which is adjacent to the tracks) and  give people from boston and all along the north shore greater access to the beach and shopping areas. It'll also provide Revere residents with a fast commuting option to North Station.
   
   
2. Connect the proposed commuter rail and Wonderland stations. Have the developer build an enclosed foot bridge and people mover, which could both connect the stations and offer the development unfettered foot access to the beach. Win-win.
   
   
3. Require locally-owned and original dining options. One upsetting byproduct of smart growth has been the generic dining options installed as eateries. Some places have made great decisions to involve local establishments. Station Landing at Wellington Circle, for example, has a new Pizzeria Regina, and people love it. Work with the developers to keep rents down in the retail sections, and demand they give local owners preference in opening businesses. No one is gonna take the Blue Line to Revere to eat at a Friday's.
   
   
4. Keep the buildings closer to the street. Have the buildings front North Shore Road and VFW Parkway, and put the parking in the back. That will keep the tall buildings away from the Sagamore Street residential area, provide a friendlier walking destination, and tie in better with transit traffic to the site and beach.
   

The state could make some smart decisions here, too:

1. Secure rights of way to connect the Blue Line with the Commuter Rail line for future expansion into Lynn , Salem, and Peabody. Creating a connector between these lines would greatly reduce the costs of any future Blue Line expansion.
   
   
2. Demand Level of Service upgrades for Route 1A, North Shore Road, and Butler Circle. Presently, the roadway is snarled with commuting traffic, even with a mostly dead track across the way. This could be as simple as eliminating the lights between Wonderland station and the dog track.
   

More doobies for movie crowds, please

So I saw Pineapple Express last night. Funny stuff, and definitely holds up as both a stoner movie and action spoof. James Franco was great, and Seth Rogen was his usual slacker self. The movie doesn't overreach, and it doesn't disappoint.

But. I watched it in the Revere Showcase cinema, and it felt like I was intruding on the Class of 2008's two-month reunion. People were turning the corner into the theater, scanning the crowd, and wildly gesticulating to their friends. Some were vulgar, others were throwing their hands in the air in universal "what up" gestures.

Ah, but here's the thing with stoner movies: These kids were quiet and VERY ready to laugh, because they were all stoned. What looked like it was gonna be a long night of asshole jocks talking shit to the movie and everyone moving up and down the aisle ended up being a quieter crowd than any I've ever seen at Kendall (Not that arthouse types are better behaved than 17-year-olds. They aren't).

This and this alone is reason enough to decriminalize pot.

Introducing the Manny Burrito Bet

After a vigorous exchange of opinions about the Manny-plus-the-cast-of-It's-a-Mad-Mad-Mad-Mad-World-for-only-Jason-Bay Deal, we have come to this: Gambling.

My buddy Pete has bet me a burrito that Bay will have 10 more combined runs and RBIs than Manny. I took the action. If I lose, Pete gets some Anna's Taqueria love. If I win, I get a commensurate gut bomb somewhere in Chicago.

I'll track the players'  progress in a new sidebar feature to the right. Keep in mind, Bay had 136 R+RBI to Manny's 134 as of last night. So remember to shave two off the season totals if you wanna keep track that way.

Can't wait for that burrito...

That's it? We trade Manny for a bucket of balls?

So we give up Manny, plus cash to cover his salary, a mixed-up reliever with potential closer's stuff (Craig Hansen), and a projected third outfielder (Damien Brandon Moss) for ONLY Jason Bay?

There had better be more to this deal than this, or else the Sox just hosed themselves because they couldn't handle a little whining. Good grief.

Good God, kids are evil

I was sitting under a pavillion on Revere beach, having finished work
for the day. I've got nothing to do, so I kind of zoned out for a bit.

Out of nowhere there's a flash in front of me. Some kid is hauling ass
on his bike and jumps the four steps at the end of the pavillion.

He missed, spectacularly. The bike landed, pitched and twisted right,
tossing him left. He landed on hus arm and ass.

I sat up, startled, and started to stand to to see if he needed any
help. He was alert, but just sort of lying there.

That's when his friends started to laugh at him. He quickly popped up
and did that thing where you're laughing, too, but are so totally in
pain. He mumbled something about the steps being high as the girls
were still cackling, and his older buddy recreated the landing.

Good times.

Vegans and Honey: A winning combination?

My friend Nicole (happy birthday, by the way!) was a vegan before most of anyone had even heard of the word. But she eats honey. I asked her, years ago, why she thought it was OK to eat honey. Her response?

"Fuck the Bees."

Well, Slate published an article today that sort of agrees with her. As my four loyal readers know, I'm no fan of bees, so enjoy that golden sticky goodness.

I Was Cut Off By Whistler's Mother

You know how sometimes you can tell when a fellow driver is gonna be a problem? Today was one of those days.

I was coming down the American Legion Highway in Revere when I saw mid-80’s shit brown Chevy Celebrity with its right blinker on, tailing an oil truck. I knew without seeing the driver that he or she was old. I knew that he or she was about to become a problem when the blinker turned off.



Her car (right lane, now next to mine) started to lurch towards me. I hit my horn. She looked at me, and I could now see that she was ancient. I mean, older than anyone I’ve ever seen try to drive a car in my life. She clearly saw my car next to hers. She didn’t stop. I slammed on the brakes, and she glided in front of my car with about two feet to spare.



Then she stopped. At a green light. On a highway.



Apparently, she wanted to turn left, but didn’t make it to the turn lane. She just stopped in front of me, next to the turn lane. I hit my horn. Several others behind me followed suit. She wouldn’t move.



After about 15 seconds of sitting at a dead stop in the middle of the highway, she cut her wheel and inched toward the turn lane. Then stopped. Then inched up again. Finally, there was enough space and I pull around her and shot down the road.



When I looked back, I could see she hadn’t stopped. She was now trying to plow through the opposing traffic to make it onto Revere Street. All I could see were taillights flashing and bumpers rising abruptly, trying to pull their cars to a stop.



I hope she made it to wherever she was going, and I hope her car immediately exploded after letting her out, like in the Blues Brothers.

I would happily pay more in gas tax if we could have a reliable shuttle service for seniors who can no longer drive.

Hooray Public Health Care!

Health Care for America NOW! is an advocacy group that wants to introduce public insurance as an option in America. It's what works in the rest of the world, and it's time to try it here. That'll require a change in law, which means it'll take some serious leadership (Read: A new presidident who's open to new ideas, and a Congress interested in solving the problem). In the meantime, it's decided that a little humor can go a long way in framing the issue. Slate has a short and good primer about how the HCFAN and the private insurance comanies are lining up for this fight.

But it's the right plan. Private Insurers rail against socialized medicine and say the market is the answer, so why not put the theory to the market test: Offer all americans the chance to keep their current insurance, try another private insurer, or sign up for public insurance, and see which one wins out. Public insurance plans, like Medicare, are famously more efficient and result in lower health costs for it's clients. Maybe that'll force Blue Cross and the rest to finally pony up and take care fo their customers. And it not, no problem. We'll have an alternative other than our employer's choice for our health care.

The Meanest Thing I've Said All Year

About a friend of a friend of a friend, and is best taken out of context:

"Lesbian or not, that's a hard face to look at in the morning."

OMG, Human Trebuchet!

How much would you pay to do this? I say I'd go $100, easily.

(h/t: Deadspin, via Weird Asia News)

Jeter Sucks: The Statistical Inquiry

I'm not saying Derek Jeter sucks. Science is saying Derek Jeter sucks:

"...Jensen's methods ("for each grounder ball-in-play—g-bip—we have the—x,y—coordinates in the field where the g-bip was fielded" and on and on) are grounded in the familiar language of the sabermetric literature. Mostly, though, the paper didn't provoke much intrigue because Jeter's badness is already an axiom of said literature. In fact, debunking the conventional wisdom about the Yankee captain's fielding prowess has become a standard method of proving the validity of a new fielding statistic. That places Derek Jeter at the frontier of new baseball research."

Dancing = Happy

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.


I know, I know, things on the Internet are offically over once the New York Times sinks its teeth into them, but I stumbled onto this video last night, and I still wanted to share it. I don't know why this makes me so happy, but it does. Enjoy.

But it was only a fever...

Maybe everyone already knows about this, but check out this online version of Oregon Trail. It's like fifth grade never ended.

Meanest. Brother. Ever.

Holy cow, this kid is evil. Funny, but evil.
(h/t: guzer.com)

The New England Aquarium: Biting Ideas from the Web

The New England Aquarium got a nice boost from the Boston Globe today. The paper wrote a short article touting the fish house's new ad campaign, which adds shark-y elements to some of Boston's landmarks, like sharp teeth to the Hatch Shell. Other elements include fake youtube videos of a shark chasing a duck boat.



Clever, right? Not so much.



The teeth ad here:

Is a total rip-off of omnomnomnom.com, a Web site devoted to putting teeth into regular photos, like this:

I realize ad agencies will routinely steal ideas and gags from people all the time. But I think it's a shame the Globe would highlight this campaign as being especially creative without mentioning where the Aquarium got the idea. To be generous, the ad agency have come up with this on their own. But the similarities are striking.



And also, what's up, Globe? Have you really been reduced to writing briefs about ad campaigns? Were you really that swayed by the press release? What's next, a ribbon-cutting at a new Arby's?

If you're gonna join the army...

...figure out a way to join the British Army.

An Open Letter to Boston.com

Dear boston.com,

We've known each other for a number of years now. When you're at your best, you're a fun mix of news and silly workday diversions. But you're hardly at your best anymore. Sorry, bro, but it's true.

Look, I understand that you're a Web site that doesn't understand how the Web works, and I'm sure that gets you down sometimes. So please, allow me to help you. I have five suggestions for you. Pick just three of them, and I'll walk the streets in a sandwich board advertising your site (which isn't an effective way to increase traffic, but I wanted to use an example you'd understand).

1. Stop spamming my RSS Reader. I know you're really excited about your “Most e-mailed articles,” and I'll tell you, I was happy to add that RSS feed to my list. But I just found 60 stories in the feed at 8 a.m. That's after reading all the items I had at 1:30 a.m. How do 60 stories become “most e-mailed” in the dead of night? Aren't you sort of stretching the concept? Are you following the “Dictator wins 102% of the vote” standard of superlatives?
2. Give me links. I know, I know, everyone yells at you about this. But people aren't saying it just to pick on you. It's super annoying to read about a Web site in your articles and not have a link to get there. Now, this isn't an invitation to over-link to every other word in the article, which is what other bad newspaper sites do. Just, you know, find that balance. It's not that hard.
3. Fix your photo-based features. You know those fun picture tours you do? Like “Outdoor Patio Dining In Boston” and all that? I'll take one for the team and tell you: We hate them. No, not the idea; the idea is fun. It's the execution. Use a flash-based element to change the pictures so I don't have to reload a new Web page every time. There are ways to do this and change the ads, so you won't lose any revenue. Are you seriously going to ask me to click though 62 pages to look at Red Sox picks and vote for my favorite players? What am I, a link-clicking monkey?
4. Put the blogs where I can find them. Where do you hide all your blogs? As an example, Ty Burr and Wesley Morris do a great job with Movie Nation. It's a fun read, and the Take 2 video clips are an interesting addition. So how come you bury these guys and their online efforts, huh? How come? Maybe a “Blogs” tab on your top navigation would help. Just sayin.
5. Stop booting me from reading articles to force me to sign in. OK, so I go through my 60-odd “Most e-mailed articles” this morning, and I select a few to read. But look at this! After the first few I select, the rest are Boston.com member center prompts, and once I log in, every damned tab redirects to the same story. Is it that hard to remember which articles I wanted to read? Are you forcing me to randomly sign in so I can lose my stories and then have to look for them on boston.com? Gah!

I still love you, boston.com, and I hope you don't take this too personally. Just, you know, shape up a bit. We're all rooting for you.

Love,

Berto

Bird Stares Down Revere Man

"You know what I hate most in life? Birds. I'd rather face a guy with a knife."

I went to a diner this morning for breakfast and the paper. While there, a bird got trapped inside the diner's little glass foyer area. The cook freaked out and closed the door, turned around and said the above to me and the waitress, the only other people in the building. Yeesh.

Plumbers of the World Unite!

Mario, Communist Poster Style.

Congratulations Jon and Maria!

Bee!

A bee fell from a tree and landed on my windshield yesterday. I was about to get out of the car and go to work, but stopped immediately. I had a bad experience with a hornet when I was a kid, so bees sorta freak me out.




But the bee was a little lazy or lethargic, and was just sort of hanging out on the windshield. So I grabbed my camera and took some pictures.



Then I opened the door and ran away. Stupid bees.

Kevin Garnett: Breaking down the breakdown

Kevin Garnett deserves every accolade he's getting today. Slate decided to go a slightly different way, embracing the Big Man's deliciously weird post-game interview with Michelle Tafoya. Great read. Here's the video:

Celtics!

(photo h/t: Celticsblog)

Man, that was a beat-down for the ages. As a casual Celtics fan, this was amazing. I can't imagine how the die-hards feel today!

10 Dimensions?!?

Holy crap.

Back to the Future with a Reel Mower

Treehugger had a great post about using a reel mower to cut your grass. I just bought one a month ago, and I love it. I'd recommend it to anyone.

People get a little freaked out by the thing. I think it's because they remember hauling out their dad's rusted out, impossible to use mowers and left them behind long ago.

The first time I took the mower out, a neighbor yelled out to me, "What is this, back to the future?"

There are a number of reasons to get yourself a push reel mower:

1. It's quiet. This could be the biggest personal benefit of a reel mower. You can cut the grass and think at the same time.
   
   
2. It doesn't take longer to cut the grass. Gas-powered machines require a little prep time and down time before a cut to check for fuel, oil level and cleanliness, and after a mow to clean out the cutting area (spark plugs detached, please!). A push reel can go as soon as you touch, but will take just slightly more time to cut the grass. Raking afterwards can take time, but you can solve that by getting a bag for your push reel. Yeah, they make them.
   
   
3. It's cheaper. All you need is the push mower and a little WD-40 to keep things loose. Occasionally, you may want to sharpen the blades. Gas mowers use, um, gas, and I hear that can get pretty expensive these days. You also need to get tune ups and oil changes. And they cost more to buy out of the box.
   
   
4. No pollution. Seriously, if you're considering getting a push mower, isn't that a big reason why?
   

But there are some issues to consider:

1. It takes a little more physical effort to use. It's only slightly more work than pushing around a gas-powered mower, but it's still more work. It's the same as a hard walk or slight jog, and you can control the exertion by controlling your own speed and effort. I'm very much overweight and out of shape, and can definitely feel the burn, but it's not a deterrent at all.
   
   
2. It doesn't cut the perfect lawn. If you're looking to model your lawn after the putting greens at Augusta, you're our of luck. Reel mowers, by their design, can't catch really tall blades of grass or weeds. It also leaves wider edging than a gas mower (maybe two to three inches total). You'll need to follow up on these errant strands with your weed whacker. If you do, buy a cordless model. Just as powerful as your gas-powered whacker, but not as heavy.
   
   
3. Expect to rake. There are bags for reel mowers, but the word on the Interwebs is that these bags aren't so efficient. I still haven't gotten around to ordering one, opting instead to rake my lawn after a mow. The whole process takes me only an hour, compared to about 40 minutes to mow with a gas-powered mower. Had I a bag, there'd be no time difference.
   
   
4. People are somehow threatened by push mowers. My mother and sister told me I was crazy for getting one. My next door neighbor offers me her gas-powered mower every time I go out. The guy across the street heckled me. You need to really stand strong in your convictions if you're gonna do this.
   

So go get a reel mower! It's quieter, it's free exercise, and it's better for the world, damn you.

Time to celebrate, every 90 seconds

Crosswalk Countdown - GuerilLA from Kelly Herrington on Vimeo.

(h/t to Andrew Sullivan, who's Mental Health Breaks get me through the day)

Um...

Either people have too much time on their hands, or the good people at the gummi factory should have thought this through a little better.



(from Consumerist via Buzzfeed)

Tim Russert RIP

He was a hero of mine and will be greatly missed.

What just happened?

Don't follow politics but wanna sound smart? Slate gets you up to date in eight minutes:

Science explained! Think of it as a creepy Euro party...

This is brilliant:

(h/t: Matt Yglesias)

Got an extra $1.4 billion you need to spend?

You can always do this:



Thankfully, both pilots ejected and were uninjured, according to Wired's Danger Room. Still, yeesh.

They're piling us like cord wood on the Blue Line

Globe Photo by Bill Greene


OK, so which is most retarded part of the Globe's Blue Line seat story?

1. The basis of the story is that "many passengers have found themselves alternately fidgeting and slipping since the T began introducing the cars in February." The support for that statement? Four people complaining during the reporter's ride-along with the unwashed masses of the North Shore.

2. Breathlessly reporting that a driver "conceded that many passengers are, in fact, slipping" with this graf:

"Some people do have that problem," he said with a laugh before zipping to the turnaround at the Wonderland stop.

3. The driver had to be quoted anonymously because of T policies that bar employees from talking to the press. This is a story of such urgency that we had to resort to anonymous sources. I sympathize. This is clearly the most explosive revelation in a major newspaper since the Pentagon Papers. Or last year's high-end stroller expose.

4. The scientific survey of pole gripping:

A ride on the new Blue Line cars this week revealed what appeared to be a higher percentage of seated passengers clutching the metal poles than on other lines.

Really. That's in the story. A page one story.

5. Ignoring a more relevant and interesting story revealed by riders and the T's spokesman: People are complaining, and the T is admitting, that people are falling over from hard stops on new equipment. Has anyone been injured? What about the equipment is so different that it causes hard braking? Will operator familiarity ease the problem, or is it an equipment failure?

Ah, but that's for another day. A reporter has to follow his gut, and this reporter's gut told him to feature the middle-aged lady whining about the seats because they have a great photo for it.

6. After heading out into the trains searching for piles of riders on the floor, the reporter waits until the 22nd graf to get the T's official number of complaints about the seats. We read for a screen-and-a-half before we're told there have been seven complaints about the seats in the last four months. Seven complaints. That's a little less than one every two weeks. I can see why we had to rush a reporter out onto the train.


Personally, I like the new cars and the new seats. When you walk into one of the car, you look at all the surfaces and realize a T worker could walk in and wash the entire interior with a garden hose. That makes me happy.

Obama wins!

Andrew Sullivan has linked to this a couple of times, but he's right: It sums up how I feel perfectly:

Skit of the year

Jonah Hill has jokes:

Olbermann scorches Clinton

Keith Olbermann unloaded on Sen. Clinton over her incredibly stupid and insensitive assassination comment. It's 11 minutes of fire.

(h/t: Nicole!)

Truth

The Onion does it again:

Could Hillary Clinton Have What It Takes To Defeat The Democrats In 2008?

Green Will Make Your Head Hurt

Wired has a great package up online that challenges some of the most revered ideas of environmentalism. If our overarching goal is to reduce global warming, then we will have to accept some things we have resisted for a generation, like nuclear power, genetically modified crops, and actually buying a used Civic instead of my beloved Prius.

X > Y

Radar has a pitch-perfect whine and defense of Generation X posted online.

You've earned your retirement, boomers. So rest assured that your babies are in good hands as you go. As a member of the nowhere generation, now come of age, I'm proud to announce that our time has arrived. We may not be the next Greatest Generation, but we're pretty good at calling bullshit.

Definitely cranky, but that's sort of our mode, isn't it?

A Beat Down For Our Time

Love him or hate him, Chris Matthews can help put things in perspective. He spent five minutes putting a hurt on a third-rate radio host trying to compare Barack Obama to Neville Chamberlain:



Every once and a while, it helps to ask people if they're full of shit. You'd be surprised how many ways they can say yes.

(h/t: TPM)

Wow.



(h/t: Andrew Sullivan)

Overheard at Fenway

From the asshole drunk college kids sitting behind me:

"So I went to take the train at 3 a.m. last night, and guess what? There was no train."

"I live near there! You could have stayed with me."

"I didn't know you then."

Facebook: For the ego that needs a beating

I signed up for Facebook. This is my second go-around with the site, to be honest. I tried it out for a week last year and didn't really like it. But a lot of people I know are using it, and I like to keep up with things.

Anyway, they have these targeted ads on the site. Facebook has decided that the targeted ads I want to see are from a "Thirty Plus" dating Web site.

Thanks, Facebook. As if I don't already feel like a weird old-man-stalker type using your site.

State of the Thunder Cats

Did you hear the governor last night? Massachusetts is on the move! So the governor's secret is out: He's actually Lion-O from the ThunderCats:



So if Massachusetts is the ThunderCats, who's Mumm-Ra, our sworn enemy? I say New Hampshire. I'm sure Dan Kennedy would say it casino gambling. The firefighters would say its Mayor Menino, although I think he's the perfect Snarf.

Memo to Tom Reilly: You suck

Lost in all the talk of the Big Dig settlement is this: Tom Reilly was ready to settle for less money than is needed just to repair the shoddy work left behind in the project. What in God's name was he thinking? And he wanted to be governor?

I am an iPod Jedi master

Guilty admission: I got a compliment on my iPod’s diverse music selection, and I have been gloating over it for two days.

(Yes, I am a dork)

Two friends of mine threw a fantastic New Year’s party in the Back Bay, and asked that people bring their iPods along to dock with their spiffy new stereo. That way, everyone could play DJ. That’s a fantastic idea and it’s something I’ll include in all future parties.

So I brought my iPod, and dropped it into the dock to play some Fratellis. After a while, I forgot about it, until someone got their hands on the thing and made a bitchin’ On-The-Go playlist that everyone loved. As I left the apartment, the music was still going, so I asked my friends to hang onto the iPod til the next day.

Yesterday afternoon, I got a text:

"BTW, I’m not giving your iPod back."

My heart went soaring.

I don’t know why, but it feels like a confirmation that years and years of collecting music has led to some sort of accomplishment. Stupid, I know, but hey, it feels good to think I’m some sort of Ahmet Ertegün in waiting.

Remember the 10 Immutable Laws of Local News Storm Coverage

With a foot of snow coming this way for this evening, and then another foot coming for the Pats-Jets game Sunday, I thought it would be important to remember the 10 immutable laws of local news storm coverage. Because honestly, can't we give Dick Albert his moment in the spotlight? I updated the list ever so slightly (goodbye, Dick Cheney gun joke!) to keep it fresh for the kids, but these rules are immutable, so they remain the same as last year.

Remember, if there's snow in new England, our local news teams will do the following:

1. Send out reporters to at least two of the following four coastal areas: Revere/Winthrop, Hull, Scituate or Gloucester. At at least one location a wave will clear the sea wall. Run clip 743 times.
2. Send a reporter to somewhere along Route 128. During the blizzard of '78, motorists died as they became stuck on the clogged road and snow covered their vehicles' exhaust pipes. That will never happen again, but there needs to be a reporter on the scene for the possibility of a corpse interview.
3. If the station has a bigger budget, send someone to Worcester City Hall, which serves as a reminder that there is some form of civilization in Baja Vermont after all.
4. Doppler radar: This is a new entry to the weather coverage. It's no longer good enough to get radar information from the National Weather Service. Each station must have its own doppler radar tower that will provide "up to the minute" coverage of a 36 hour Snow Event.
5. Call the storm a Snow Event. This is mandatory.
6. Keep at least two weathermen (ahem, meteorologists) inside the station at all times. It makes the team look rugged, like one is on the air while the other is catching 10 minutes of sleep on a cot set up in a broom closet somewhere. Like firefighters, or Jerry Lewis during the telethon.
7. The anchors get to wear sweaters, like they just came in unexpectedly, and weren't aware they were working the extended Snow Event shift like four days ago. No blazer or otherwise professional clothing. If I can't believe that Ed Harding was at home splitting firewood when he was called for the extended coverage, then clearly NewsCenter Five doesn't care about the Snow Event.
8. Nothing is a bigger story than the Snow Event, even when baseball announces everyone who ever played the game cheated.
   
9. The following events, if captured on film, must be shown at least 743 times: A man falls, a car fishtails, water clears the sea wall (see rule #1), close-up of plows clearing the highway, kids with shovels trying to make some extra cash, a reporter losing their hat or hood in the wind. There are others, but these are your meat and potatoes.
10. At least one meteorologist must wonder out load "Will we get to official blizzard status?" and then remind us of the rules of a blizzard as defined by blah blah blah.

Dennis and Callahan on the outs? It's about time.

Dennis and Callahan may be on the outs with WEEI. Scott's Shots broke it, the Herald led with it, and Dan Kennedy analyzed it.

Good riddance. John Dennis is still all right, and I think that the last four months of co-hosts has allowed him to work outside of the rigid lines Gerry Callahan draws for him on the air. The ratings apparently remained sky-high for Dennis without Callahan, according to Scott:

While it is believed the two sides are at least in the same neighborhood on salary and length of the deal, Dennis and Callahan are basing their demands on what they see as their combined value to the station. Entercom's perception of that value (especially with the most recent ratings book indicating the absence of Callahan didn't have any appreciable effect on the show's popularity) appears to be somewhat lower.

If the rating stayed strong without Gerry tossing hate-filled bombs every morning, then 'EEI could replace one or both of these guys and not miss a beat. Dan Kennedy agrees, and suggests moving Dale and Holley to the morning drive time. That's a fine idea. I also think extending an offer to Bob Neumeier for an noontime slot with another host would work as well. Maybe you pair him with Steve Buckley and Jon Meterparel. Or swap Buck for Steve DeOssie. Or keep Meter in the mornings for some continuity with the 18-24 demographic. The station has options thanks to the cast of thousands format The Big Show employs. They've developed a fairly deep bench of players to draw from.

Still, it's incredibly bad timing on WEEI's part, as the Jimmy Find Radiothon is this week, and they want their A-Game to raise some cash. Why create this swirl of garbage now? WEEI is still running an ad featuring Dennis for the Jimmy Fund telethon. Whether that's an oversight, a sign that this is more posturing than a true break-up, or an effort to keep the best face forward for the charity is anyone's guess. And if the true story of Gerry Callahan's prolonged illness is more serious than run-of-the-mill throat trouble, this could become a very damaging story for the station in particular and Entercom in general.

Revere Beach is noisy at night? WHAT?

Honestly, am I supposed to have sympathy for someone who buys a luxury condo on Revere Beach and is then surprised that there are kids outside making noise at night? These people wants some sympathy, and want the cops to push all the kids out into the sea, apparently:

"They sit on the wall, they talk loud, they laugh, they play the music, there's a lot of young girls," said Gloria DiSerio, taking a breath and mimicking a high-pitched yelling sound she said some of the girls make when they laugh: "'Aaaah! Aaaah!'"

Young girls laughing. The horror.

So what exactly is the next step? The article goes on and on about anti-gang measures and saturating the beach with cops, but how's that going to protect these poor luxury condo owners from young girls and their banshee-like laughter?

Or maybe they can get their neighbor evicted. She's an airline pilot. Think of all the noise SHE makes flying out of Logan every day.

Just like in Stripes!

Remember Stripes? One company in the Swiss army apparently does; They invaded Liechtenstein last night.

Gerry Callahan vomits on freedom of religion

Remember how I said I was done with Dennis and Callahan? I've been backsliding, and just now I got a reminder why he's an incredible bigot: Gerry Callahan just said Muslims should not be allowed to pray on an airplane, because it makes everyone else on the plane nervous. Apparently, keeping your backwards stereotypes is more important than protecting first amendment rights.

Hey Jason Wolfe, isn't that just as bad, if not worse, than John DePetro calling Grace Ross a fat lesbian? Can we expect Callahan on the bread line tomorrow morning? Please advise.

The Globe just ripped off Steve Garfield

The Boston Globe has an interesting follow-up on the new parking meters used in Boston. Apparently, the city is violating credit card company agreements by requiring a minimum charge on the meters. A nice get, no?

It would be, if Steve Garfield hadn't covered this ground yesterday. Sure, maybe the Globe was already on the story, but I doubt it. Steve posted his stuff at 8:24 a.m. yesterday. I think it's pretty clear the Globe saw his post and decided to follow up on the point. Would it have killed the writer, Bruce Mohl, to credit Steve in the paper?

That's so cheap.

The chickens have come home to roost. In my mouth.

I just got back from the dentist. We'll be seeing a lot of each other in the next few months.

I have four cavities. Four. How does that even happen? At leas they're "tiny" cavities, as my dentist cheerfully pointed out. I mentioned this before; she's really nice, even when telling me I'd be better off buying a new jaw at a local morgue.

Ok, she didn't say that. But I can tell that's what she meant.

It doesn't stop there, of course. I also need braces. It's like high school all over again. And what really kills me is I'll need braces because of previous dental work; my teeth are shifting because my wisdom teeth came out last year. Solving one problem in the back of my mouth led to me looking like Grace Ross in the front of my mouth. Aces.

But the icing on the cake has to be the now-necessary implant for a lingering baby tooth. The "adult" tooth was impacted and removed when I was like 12, so nothing ever pushed lil' baby out. But now baby's loose and ready to leave home and find an apartment in Allston somewhere. So I need an implant. That means they are going to push a screw into my jaw to hold down a fake tooth.

And of course, no one dentist can do any more than one of these things, so I'll see my regular dentist for the cavity, an orthodontist for the braces and a periodontist for the screw job. It's like I'm the golden goose of Revere dentistry. Yeesh.

More Boston.com shenanigans

After posting about what I think is partisan gaming on boston.com's "most popular stories" rankings, I've been keeping an eye on the list. It looks like supporters of both campaigns (or maybe the campaigns themselves) are playing with this list

There are a couple of things that make me think things are not occuring organically:

1. These top stories are listed according to e-mailed recommendations made within the last hour
2. The top stories all ran days earlier

Here's a screenshot of the top rankings at about 10 a.m. this morning:



The top story? It's LaGuer, which originally ran Oct. 4! All of a sudden, 262 people saw this and had to recommend it to their friend? Three weeks later? Same thing with the second story, which is about Patrick donating money towards a DNA test for LaGuer, which ran Oct. 5.

Remember, today's Oct. 24.

It doesn't just go one way, though, as a friend pointed out to me. A lot of recent "top stories" on boston.com have been about women's groups endorsing Patrick, Criminologists hating on Healey, and lawyers defending Patrick.

So you tell me: How do these weeks-old stories all of a sudden become super popular? Is it that hard to imagine both campaigns putting an intern in front of a computer to send out recommendations all day and keep stories up in the mix?

To test my hypothesis further, I just e-mailed a story (Girls Soccer Stars!) to five people at once, and it showed up on the list as one recommendation. So when we talk about 262 recommendations, that's 262 times people looked at the article, clicked on the "e-mail to a friend" link, and sent the article to a buddy. So 262 people in the past hour decided to e-mail out a three-week old story that's dominated the headlines and commercials for nearly a month? C'mon now.

No more tolls? It's about time.

Well, no more tolls in theory. Most likely, the proposal to get rid of them dies when Patrick is made governor.

It's about time the tolls were pulled out. I don't understand why transportation (roads, rail, busses, and subway) requires a user-based fee system for its maintenance and repair, rather than paying for it out of the tax rate. We all live in this state, and my tax dollars are being spent to pay for schools, cops, fire depts, etc all across the state. If it weren't for the state's tax dollars, cities like Lawrence and Springfield would have no public services. As a taxpayer, I pay for rape crisis centers all across the state, not just in my area code. And that's how it should be. We are a commonwealth, after all.

But if you insist that there's a good reason to make this a regional issue, try this on for size. My Plan B theory, which I came up with right now: Kill the tolls on the pike and replace them with a gas tax. Use that money to cover the expense of repairs to the pike itself and to funding the Big Dig bonds. What's left over should be used on road projects across the state. That's on top of normal yearly appropriations, of course.

Next split the state into five parts: North Shore, Boston, South Shore/Cape, Central and Western. The tax collected in each region can be used exclusively on projects within that area. So repairs can be made to bridges and roadways across the state evenly and according to road use in each area. And they can finally pave the road to Springfield. That's not ideal, but it could work.

Is Healey's camp gaming Boston.com's story rankings?

Here's something odd: I was reading Boston.com at about 11:30 and saw the top five most popular stories (as determined by who e-mailed the story, you know the drill). There was this story about Patrick benefitting from a Big Dig contractor's fundraiser. It seemed oddly familier to me, and when I clicked on the link, I saw that it was the same story that ran on Oct. 12.

What's a five-day old story doing on top of the most e-mailed stories of the day?

So I clicked on the "Full List" link for the most popyular story page. That takes you to a list of the most e-mailed stories in the past hour. The Anti-Patrick story had been sent out 247 times. Here's a screenshot:



When I went to look at the daily list (most e-mailed in the day), I saw the story had been sent 303 times:



And for the past week, the story had only been e-mailed 330 times:



So what's the deal? How did this story all of a sudden go from less than 100 recommendations in five days to 247 in an hour? Did a big blog link to the article? Or is some Healey fan or the Healey campaign itself sitting around e-mailing this article to everyone? Are there Shenanigans afoot? Seems so to me.

T fare rollback. I was almost right!

Well, the T has adjusted the proposed fare increases:

Subway and trolley rides would go from $1.25 to $1.70, bus fares from 90 cents to $1.25, and most commuter rail passes would cost 22 percent more.

Riders who pay cash or use automated fare CharlieTickets instead of CharlieCards, which will become available next month, would have to fork over 25 cents more to ride buses and 30 cents more to ride subways and trolleys. Under the original proposal issued in April, the surcharge would have been 40 cents for bus and 55 cents for subways and trolleys.

I came close to calling it a few months ago:

If I had to make a guess, the T will offer transfer to CharlieTicket riders and keep the increase at $1.70, instead of retreating on the final increase amount itself.

I suppose that's a good impetus to get people using the credit card style Charlie Cards, but still, it soaks the casual T user who has no idea there's a caste system for fares.

I live next to Wonderland. As a terminus, it attacts a lot of casual users coming to Boston from the North Shore every weekend. Now I get to deal with irate dads, confused old people, and stupid teenagers from Swampscott clogging up the Charlie pass machines, trying to figure out why their fare costs more than everyone else's. Awesome.

Nancy Pelosi needs to go

Nancy Pelosi drives me crazy, because she can take political slam dunks and turn them into half-court jumpers at the buzzer.

Take the recent case of Republican Rep. Mark Foley, who has resigned after sexually charged e-mails and IMs he sent to minors were uncovered. The Republican leadership apparently knew about this almost a year ago, and squashed it rather than chase Foley out of his position.

The problem couldn't be any clearer: A Republican was sexually
exploiting underage staff members, and the GOP leadership knew all
about it.

Instead of saying just that, though, here's what Nancy Pelosi wrote to
the Ethics Committe, knowing full well it was her money quote:

``It is a nightmare for every child, parent, and grandparent to learn
that a child is being stalked on the Internet by an adult in a
position of authority," House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, Democrat
of California, wrote yesterday to the Ethics Committee. ``The fact
that Mr. Foley was engaging in this behavior with underage children,
that the Republican leadership knew about it for six months to a year
and has characterized the inappropriate behavior as `overly friendly'
and `acting as a mentor' and that apparently no action was taken to
protect these underage children is abhorrent."

Instead of saying what everyone else is thinking ("what bastards!"),
she turns it into a treatise on how to say nothing by saying every
damn thing in your head.

She starts with a preamble on why sexual expliotation is bad. That's
followed by one sentence that makes seven different points, some
redundant, all completely clouded by crowding and a passive voice:

1. Foley did what we said was bad in the first sentence
2. The child was underage, which is redundant
3. GOP leaders knew about it for some indeterminate amount of time
4. They pooh-poohed it using awful euphamisms
5. They didn't do anything to stop it.
6. These kids, again, are underage
7. It's abhorrent!


Why not say this instead:
"Mark Foley--a congressman!--exploited and sexually preyed on
children. Republican leaders knew about this, but chose to cover it up
instead. Why? To protect their hold on power in this chamber. They
sacrificed the safety of children for the sake of an election."

The point is clear, language is active, and is a better quote for the
newspapers. And that was after a two minute pass at a rewrite. I'm
sure all of us can come up with better if we had a little more time.

Seriously, who's writing this stuff for her?