MetaFilter posts tagged with Boston

ACCORDION SOLO!

WCityMike — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:54:33 -0800

Be forewarned, the sound quality isn't the best. But for a dose of pure surreality strong enough to turn your socks into melted Dada timepieces, try mixing "Weird Al" Yankovic on accordion with the Presidents of the United States, performing a (non-parody) cover of Boston's "More Than a Feeling" (SLYT). (via Dave Dederer's Reddit interview)

There Goes Swifty

Gungho — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:33:26 -0800

Massachusetts witnesses the end of Greyhound Racing. Today is the last day of Greyhound racing at The Revere, Massachusetts Wonderland Greyhound track. After a 2008 referendum vote put on the ballot by Grey2K and others the 74 year tradition of Greyhound racing at the former Victorian era Wonderland amusment park will end with a slate of 12 races tonight. Some say this is a great day to be at the dogs, some say this is a great day for the dogs. Still others say that the majority of dogs will be moved to other states and lose out on the hoped for opportunity to be adopted. In the end hundreds will lose their jobs in a state with 9.7% unemployment. The fate of the dogs is uncertain, and Boston's famed Revere Beach loses its final attraction.

bookless library

tamarack — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:58:27 -0800

"When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before books," said James Tracy, headmaster of Cushing and chief promoter of the bookless campus. Instead of a library, the academy is spending nearly $500,000 to create a learning center. Where the reference desk was, they are building a $50,000 coffee shop that will include a $12,000 cappuccino machine.

A Geek Itinerary

netbros — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:58:14 -0800

Technology innovation will be a large part of late 20th century American history. Now the gearheads can explore the roots of all that geekdom. The Geek's Guide to Seattle is a virtual tour of some of the region’s most interesting and notable technology locations. A Geek's Tour of Silicon Valley hits hotspots there. Don't forget The Tech Museum and the Computer History Museum. Back east, there's Research Triangle Park (pdf) in North Carolina, and The Computing Revolution at the Museum of Science in Boston.

Duane Ingalls Glasscock for President!

not_on_display — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:11:07 -0800

BostonFilter: The Rock of Boston heads to the Big Mattress in the Sky... WBCN 104.1: 1968 - 2009

Dedication to your car: a $300,000 parking space.

jaimev — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:07:00 -0800

"There's only so many parking spaces in the city," said Sordillo. "And in this part, there's very few." A private parking space in Boston's Back Bay area sold for $300,000.

Steamer Trunks and Gang Planks

netbros — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 16:22:17 -0800

Travel Posters — a Flickr set from the Boston Public Library. "Combining superb illustration and hand-drawn typography, they produced dazzling images in rich vibrant colors rendered through the magic of stone lithography." (via)

He really did know your name

tommasz — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 07:20:47 -0800

Eddie Doyle, 69, has been laid off from his job in Boston. Who is Eddie Doyle? Nobody special, just a bartender at a bar in Boston (that used to be) called The Bull & Finch. If that doesn't sound familiar, you might have seen the outside of it in the credits of a little television show in the 80s. The show brought thousands to the bar each day but the current recession has taken its toll and the owner, who has been friends with Eddie for 40 years, had to make some tough choices. But Eddie was more than just a bartender, his annual Cheers for Children auction passed the $1 million mark in 2004 (although its future is now uncertain). He's responsible for a lot of other charitable events and even started a running club, The Boston Barleyhoppers, that resulted in 22 marriages. He organized activities for the bar's employees and started their softball team. Yet he was too busy to meet most of the people he had helped. So if you're in Boston at the end of the month, stop in and raise a glass to a Boston institution. Bonus Normisms.

So you ditched your car - here's help with public transit

desjardins — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:58:07 -0800

NextBus uses GPS to tell you the predicted time of the next bus. Google maps show buses in real time, and you can get updates on your phone/PDA. The coverage is limited to certain agencies within the US, so these other sites might be useful: Hopstop covers subways and buses in NYC, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, DC, and more. (mobile version) Google Transit has many US metro areas in addition to Canada, Europe, and Japan. (previously) Many more locations inside. Other trip planners (mostly mobile):

MTA (New York City)
MTA (Los Angeles)
Amtrak
New Jersey Transit
MBTA (Boston)
Washington DC Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Chicago Regional Transit Authority (CTA, Metra)
A Train (Atlanta)
Valley Metro (Phoenix)
San Francisco Bay Area 511 (BART, Muni Metro, VTA Light Rail, Cable cars, Commuter Rail, buses, ferries)
Portland (interactive map; roll your own app)
King County Metro Online (Seattle)
Toronto (TTC Buses and subways)
Vancouver (BC) Translink
Paris (RER, TGV, Metro, bus, more - in French)
London Underground and DLR
Norikae-Annei (Tokyo)

Your favorite band sucks.

lunit — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:10:22 -0800

50 Bands, 50 States: The Boston Phoenix declares the best all-time band, best all-time solo artist, and best new band from each state. West Virginia: The system cannot find the file specified.

Modern rationalization

setanor — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:22:54 -0800

"This all would have never happened if their windows were closed." Runner up: "I didn't feel like a creep," he said. "I didn't feel like a Peeping Tom. I felt like this type of thing happens a lot."

The Big Picture

mathowie — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 08:05:20 -0800

The Big Picture The Boston Globe launches a new blog focusing on a large single image from the day's news. It's kind of surprising how rare it is to see a really big photo on newspaper sites these days and this blog makes the simple concept work. [via mefi projects]

WE DID IT THROUGH TEAMWHURK!

Mayor Curley — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:15:40 -0800

Boston Mayor Tom Menino is running for president. Here's why he'd be a better president than Mitt Romney. And he's done vocals for a techno track.

Hear the Tintinnabulation of the Bells

canine epigram — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 07:15:13 -0800

Public sound sculptures can be beautiful ways of drawing passersby into creating music. Whether they're melodic chimes in subway stations, theremins in public parks, or the sounds of rivers and clocks in a art museum, all of them can add a little bit of magic to the everyday world. Paul Matisse is an artist who has created multiple public sound sculptures across the Boston Area. He built three sound sculptures in the Kendall Square subway station in Boston, and another in Charlestown, called the Charlestown Bells. One Bostonian lamented the struggle to maintain public sound sculptures, kickstarted efforts to sponsor their repair, and drew a response from Matisse himself. Not everybody appreciates public sound sculptures; The Musical Fence, originally installed in Cambridge, was relocated to the DeCordova Sculpture Park and a museum in Vermont after people kept playing it at all hours of the night. A few other public sound sculptures are: Gun Holstrom's "Omphalomin"creates sound through optical sensors in a Helsinki park. Bill Fontana's "Primal Soundings" brings the sounds of the River Aire and the sounds of a clock bell tower to the Leeds City Art Gallery and the Victoria Garden.

Mickey from Natick Confronts The End of Martyrdom

dhammond — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:39:17 -0800

Facing an unprecedented series of sports victories, the typical Boston fan is faced with the cold realization that success ain't all it's cracked up to be.

EveryScape

cashman — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 07:48:31 -0800

EveryScape launched this morning. It's a ground-level mapping service similar to Google's "Street View", only it offers you an "autodrive" feature that automatically moves you through a city or down a ski slope. There are links to information about stores and restaurants in the view and the ability to go inside buildings and look around. It currently features views from Aspen, New York, Boston, and Miami. And of course the obligatory view of a colorful mime with a man-bag. [via]

Wild Turkeys: Pigeons 2.0

lukemeister — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:07:35 -0800

Wild turkeys up to 4 feet tall are strolling on the sidewalks of Boston, Cambridge, and Brookline, Mass. Animal control officer Pierre Verrier suggests shooing turkeys away with a purse. But some people need to be near the turkeys.

I was a pre-teen Glicknick.

not_on_display — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:26:47 -0800

This man kept me awake at night as a child, As I stared, bleary-eyed, at my flip-card style analog alarm clock, willingly watching the hours go by, thinking, "How am I going to be able to wake up for school tomorrow?" And laughing, laughing. I place the blame for my night-owl-ness squarely in his lap. Larry Glick, aka The Godfathah Lorenzo Glickiano ("Do me a favor." "A Favah's a favah, what is your favah?" "Shoot me off the air, Godfathah!"), aka Commander Glick. He held down the late evening and overnight shifts for most of his career - primarily at WBZ AM 1030 in Boston - from the 1960's until the cusp of the 1990's, a golden era in AM Talk radio. He would scat out the sports scores, snapping his fingers. He'd spin discs: Spike Jones, Orson Bean's Baloney Song, and "Who Stole the Kishka?". He'd read articles at random from the National Enquirer. And Larry would chat with anyone about anything, if they could get through the busy signal at 254-5678. Callers would recommend interviewees: boxers, politicians, what-have-you, for the chance to receive a Glick University T-Shirt, should Larry have their guest on the air. People would relate stories of UFO encounters. Larry would interview psychics without the least bit of condescension. It was Larry's mission to keep you awake at night, to listen to him and the wide range of insomniacs whom he'd keep company with... and of course, his sponsors. (At that hour, with his listenership spanning 30+ states and provinces, the station would run as many ads as on the daytime drive.) Anyway, it was Larry Glick that I was listening to, after my parents had fallen asleep, in the years before I discovered Dr. Demento. Just Larry, his crazy callers and interviewees, and me, under my blankets, rueing missed sleep -- but not much. I even called up, twice. (First-time callers got a round of applause.) I was a pre-teen Glicknick. So if any of you remember Larry, you'll probably feel his presence is missed on the AM waves. (He's not dead, though, just comfortably retired in Boca Raton, FL, in some role as an ambassador to Legal Seafoods down there). To you, I present many links, in case you want to reminisce, or to hear Larry's avuncular voice again. A thread on someone's blog attracted a lot of appreciative nostalgia for Larry. A June 18, 1965 TIME magazine interview with Larry. Airchecks (via NortheastAirchecks.com) from: 1975: part 1, 2, 3. Larry, by now on the mid-afternoon shift, during WBZ's 65th Anniversary: Part 1, 2. From 1986 RealMedia Links Via Staffannouncer.com: .wma format From 1975 From 1975? Four shows from 1979 are available as links in .mp3 podcast format, via this link to http://larryglick.podomatic.com/ An interview from 1979. Here's a youtube link of someone sitting in his car listening to classic Larry. (Somewhat anachronistic, but I'll take it.) A links to clips of classic calls, which Larry would often play at the request of a listener: The Orangutan RealMedia The Cop in the Graveyard .mp3 The Guy Who Shot the Vending Machine .mp3 The Champagne Lady .mp3 And that's about all I could find for you. Now download those files, arrange them in your various media players as you wish, hit play, turn out the lights, crawl into bed, and stay up with Larry.

Keep the crafts at home, please.

Bovine Love — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 10:48:14 -0800

Star Simpson, a MIT student, wears her art project to the airport. Fearing her to be some sort of bomber, she is arrested for having a fake bomb. It sure looks like a bomb to me. I call the Boston tag. Much like all the other Boston incidents, I find the repeated use of the term "fake bomb" to be odd; it is as if every media outlet accepts the term at face value.

Roadtrip!

dw — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 08:02:51 -0800

Seattle to Boston in 15 minutes. Katja Suletzki drove the full length of Interstate 90, the longest interstate highway in America, from Seattle to Boston. Thanks to a webcam, a modified version of Flix, and a laptop, the journey was recorded for posterity as a 15 minute film.

Are you gonna eat that pickle? Can I have it?

sudama — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 13:37:08 -0800

Picnicmob would like to invite you to a picnic and seat you precisely with those most like you.

He weighs as much as the top three females--combined

Kibbutz — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 15:26:15 -0800

Any MeFis running Boston a week from tomorrow? Good luck! And I hope you at least beat this guy (who I'm sure will become another paragraph in the race's colorful history).

More than a feeling

lobstah — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 17:10:09 -0800

Brad Delp 1951-2007 Lead singer for the band Boston , dead at 55. "We've just lost the nicest guy in rock and roll." is all you will find at the band Boston's website

What is Philadelphia's trajectory in 2007?

jacobw — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 13:54:33 -0800

What is Philadelphia's trajectory in 2007? Seven cities are compared: Philadelphia, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Detroit and Pittsburgh.

Boston at Risk!

Bovine Love — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:46:28 -0800

Boston: First Aqua Teen Hunger Force terrorizes these gentle souls, now traffic monitors are terrorizing the residents. Who are they going to get to compensate them this time?