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.
posted on Jul 5, 2008 - View this thread

"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."
posted on Jun 12, 2008 - View this thread

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]
posted on Jun 2, 2008 - View this thread

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.
posted on Feb 29, 2008 - View this thread

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.
posted on Dec 6, 2007 - View this thread

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.
posted on Nov 19, 2007 - View this thread

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]
posted on Oct 29, 2007 - View this thread

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.
posted on Oct 24, 2007 - View this thread

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.
posted on Oct 18, 2007 - View this thread

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.
posted on Sep 21, 2007 - View this thread

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.
posted on Aug 31, 2007 - View this thread

Picnicmob would like to invite you to a picnic and seat you precisely with those most like you.
posted on Jul 25, 2007 - View this thread

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).
posted on Apr 8, 2007 - View this thread

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
posted on Mar 9, 2007 - View this thread

What is Philadelphia's trajectory in 2007? Seven cities are compared: Philadelphia, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Detroit and Pittsburgh.
posted on Mar 5, 2007 - View this thread

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?
posted on Feb 28, 2007 - View this thread

Save Boston from the Mooninites! Be sure to play this with the sound on. via
posted on Feb 10, 2007 - View this thread

A hefty chunk of Boston was paralyzed today in reaction to the discovery of numerous devices consisting of circuit boards attached to girders. The ones that have been found have been disabled. The subway is crippled; numerous lines have been shut down and been replaced by emergency bus service as authorities root out the remaining instances of what could be bombs! Here is a photo one of these nefarious devices in action.
posted on Jan 31, 2007 - View this thread

Save the world with used books? A bookstore I sometimes go to in Boston is doing a Used Book of the Month Club...and apparently trying to save the world. Has anyone else every sold anything used-of-the-month? I think this is new retail territory. I could save a few bucks with a Used-XBox-Game-Of-The-Month. Or does this mean the economy is getting worse, if people can't even buy new books?
posted on Dec 12, 2006 - View this thread

Streaming episodes of Spenser: For Hire Not available on DVD, not airing on any American channel. But available at the preceding link. Spenser! Hawk! Frigging HAWK! Watch it now and thank me later.requires activex plugin for Firefox

If Spenser makes you nostalgic for 80's Boston, watch Dana Hersey drop in at the Rat and grab a slice at the Pizza Pad in a Kenmore Square that no longer exists.
posted on Dec 5, 2006 - View this thread

Don't mess with my Citgo sign!
posted on Sep 24, 2006 - View this thread

The Boston Wi-Fi Network may be constructed within the year by a non-profit corporation. An appointed task force has produced a report (pdf) which recommends building the network on the cheap and allowing providers to compete over the chance to provide service. It won't be free though. Can this possibly work?
posted on Aug 1, 2006 - View this thread

Boston's population woes may have been partially solved.
posted on Jul 6, 2006 - View this thread

Tourfilter: Track your favorite bands. See who else is tracking them. Never miss another show! [Boston, Chicago, New York for now - other cities on the way.]
posted on Jul 5, 2006 - View this thread

On the day that the United States Senate rejected a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage Macy's alters a window display marking Boston's gay pride week by removing two male mannequins and erasing references to two websites. Why? A fringe, right-wing group complained. Their leader said that they found the mannequins "really disgusting", mistaking a rainbow-themed towel wrapped around one of their waists as being a "skirt"; muscular pectorals as being "enlarged breasts."
posted on Jun 7, 2006 - View this thread

'This is a difficult and sad day for Catholic Charities," says a representative of the church, who announced their decision to stop helping all foster children find homes rather than allow any of them be adopted by gay parents. After one hundred three years of service, Catholic Charities of Boston is exiting the adoption assistance arena because state anti-discrimination laws force them to allow same-sex couples to adopt children (despite the fact that the church considers this to be a sin).

While adoptions in progress will not be affected, on or about June 30, the group that proffers a "just and compassionate society rooted in the dignity of all people" will make chrystal clear who is included in that definition of "all." (Of the 720 children placed in homes through CCAB, 13 of them were placed with "same-sex families" [sic].)
posted on Mar 11, 2006 - View this thread

Pilot's eye view of a three day trip [Youtube]. A pilot at American Airlines made this video of his three-day trip from Boston to Paris and back so his young daughter could see where he worked. It's all shot from the pilot's perspective so there's plenty of eye candy for the aviation and gadget geeks. On his day off, fly4fun catches a cruise on a Bateux-Mouches river boat, sees the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, and grabs a few pints in Parisian pubs (including the expat bar, Le Mazet, where the last official sighting of Jim Morrison took place). It's all edited with iMovie and set to U2's Vertigo. [more inside]
posted on Feb 9, 2006 - View this thread

DriveTime. Live in Boston? Need a ride to (or from) work? You could be a guest on Ravi Jain's weekly video blog/talk show/commute. Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, (QT .mov)
posted on Nov 20, 2005 - View this thread

Fisher College sophmore Cameron Walker apparently didn't like a campus cop and posted about it on a forum at Facebook, a college networking site. He talked about watching the cop closely and trying to set the cop up which is admittedly some dodgy stuff, but is it worthy of expulsion from the university for his off-site comments?
posted on Oct 6, 2005 - View this thread

Scientific Sleuth Cracks Code to $54,000 Treasure The treasure was the 12th and last set out in Treasure's Trove , a children's book published last fall. People shared information on many forums. The solution to the Beetle puzzle is in this forum. Missed out? All is not lost. Apparently, a new 14th puzzle has been announced. Maybe we can solve it together.
posted on Sep 22, 2005 - View this thread

Earlier this week, Senator Santorum (R., PA) stood by comments he made on a Catholic website in 2002 when he said:

'It is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political, and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm" of the clergy sexual abuse scandal.

In a brief interview with the Boston Globe on Tuesday, Santorum reiterated his view that the 'basic liberal attitude" in Boston fostered an environment where sexual abuse of children could occur. Many slammed him for politicizing a scandal that has touched many across the country - way beyond the borders of Massachusetts.

Separate, but of great importance to one who waves a flag of "traditional family values" and repeated homophobic rhetoric, how does Senator Santorum "square the fact" that his "mouthpiece" to the world (Director of Communications, Robert Traynham) came out as a gay man this afternoon?
posted on Jul 14, 2005 - View this thread

The Destruction of Medieval Boston - "Most people think of Boston as a dense city, and it is, especially by American standards. Today’s city is, however, a pale shadow of the medieval maze that was Boston before large-scale modern planning and spatial concepts entered the picture... Here is what Urban Renewal replaced."
posted on Jun 24, 2005 - View this thread

Missing Friends - Information Wanted - a Database of Advertisements For Irish Immigrants Published in the Boston Pilot.
Boston College has posted more than 31,000 historical entries of Irish Immigrants who were looking to reunite with family and friends between 1831 to 1921 in a searchable database. The ads were published originally in the Boston Pilot.
posted on Mar 17, 2005 - View this thread

Sarah Roberts vs. Boston In 1848, five-year-old Sarah Roberts was barred from the local primary school because she was black. Her father sued the City (.pdf file). The lawsuit was part of an organized effort by the African-American community to end racially segregated schools. The book "Sarah's Long Walk: The Free Blacks of Boston and How Their Struggle for Equality Changed America" tells the story of the case of Roberts v. City of Boston, that remains a little-known landmark in the civil rights movement.
posted on Feb 24, 2005 - View this thread

Throwing the Book at Em'. 2,500 words about a memoir of growing up poor in South Boston. It seems like a great idea, but the book has glaring errors and many Southie faithful consider it a work of fiction. Nevertheless, it has to be a better educational tool than this Southie memoir written by a sociopath.
posted on Feb 11, 2005 - View this thread

FBI: SEARCH FOR 'DIRTY BOMB' IN BOSTON The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency Placed On Standby Status...Developing...
posted on Jan 19, 2005 - View this thread

World (er... MLB) Champions once more. The last time the Boston Red Sox lost was in the 86 World Series. The last time they won was 86 Years Ago, when they beat the Chicago Cubs in the 1918 World Series. (The Cubs finished that season with 86 wins.) This year, after retiring the Anaheim Angels 8-6, they lost three straight to the New York Yankees in the ALCS and seemed to be on the verge of failing once again. Eight straight wins later, they finally manage to eighty-six the Curse of the Bambino.
posted on Oct 27, 2004 - View this thread

Red Sox "Nation" After the Boston police take full responsibility for the killing of a student at the ALCS celebrations on Wedensday night/Thrusday morning, the Mayor takes aim at thugs and threatens bans on alcohol sales, bars showing the series in the city, and expulsion of students. The city wants more police presence at the World Series. Many news reports refer to mayhem and riots, but "video footage from the scene showed large crowds but no sign of rioting." Is this the face of the new Sox?
posted on Oct 22, 2004 - View this thread

Underdog to NY Yankees --> "Who's YOUR Daddy?"
posted on Oct 20, 2004 - View this thread

America at 10 MPH: Josh Caldwell is riding a Segway from Seattle to Boston. He's already gone over 2800 miles. [This project is independent of Segway.]
posted on Oct 14, 2004 - View this thread

I *heart* Bea Arthur:

Bea Arthur sparked a security scare at Logan Airport in Boston this week when she tried to board a Cape Air flight with a pocketknife in her handbag. The "Golden Girls" star, now 81, was flagged by a Transportation Security Administration agent, who discovered the knife - a strict no-no following 9/11. "She started yelling that it wasn't hers and said 'The terrorists put it there,' " a fellow passenger said. "She kept yelling about the 'terrorists, the terrorists, the terrorists.' " After the blade was confiscated, Arthur took a keyring from her bag and told the agent it belonged to the "terrorists," before throwing it at them. As she boarded the plane, she told the TSA employees, "We're all doomed."

Kuro5hin offers a novel proposition: Bea for President!
posted on Aug 28, 2004 - View this thread

The latest affront in a war of good vs. evil.
posted on Jun 11, 2004 - View this thread

"There is no separation of church and state," she said. The Boston Statehouse and surrounding area is crawling with fundamentalist Christians who have come from all over the country to push for a constitutional amendment in our state. You can read minute-by-minute updates on the debate in the Statehouse at Boston.com.
posted on Mar 11, 2004 - View this thread

"Kids were standing on chairs and dancing in the aisles the minute the police backs were turned. The building was dark with only the spotlights on...Satin jacketed packs of teens slugged, beat and robbed 15...Over my dead body will there be another rock show in the Boston Arena." ....from the 29 chapter History of Boston R&R at Dirty Water - The Boston Rock & Roll Museum.
posted on Jan 10, 2004 - View this thread

Ninepin, tenpin, fivepin, duckpin, candlepin. [more inside]
posted on Dec 17, 2003 - View this thread

Boston Herald sports reporter outs himself in print and asks why people in the world of sports still have to hide. Frankly, I'm out because I can't come up with a single logical reason why I should have denied myself the right to live and work as openly and freely as everyone else. Nor should anyone find a reason why an openly gay athlete should be denied the right to play a team sport without fear of becoming a target of prejudice or physical harm. See Outsports for more info on the subject, and an interesting pro and con on whether gay baseball players should come out.
posted on Sep 30, 2003 - View this thread

You're not from around here, are you? On Tuesday in Wellesley, MA a kindergartener was put on the wrong bus to go home from afterschool care. The boy is black, and the bus is for the Metco program, which buses minority kids from Boston to suburban schools. Random mixup, or racial bias at work? Much hand-wringing ensues.
posted on Sep 5, 2003 - View this thread

Who Wants To Marry My Daughter? Mom will interview suitors for her 22-year-old (who's also the mom of a 4-year-old), a la the NBC "reality" show. Mom's already booked some dates and a getaway weekend for the winner. Seriously. Must have "a steady job, a love of children, strong morals, and no criminal baggage." Livestock brideprice optional.
posted on Aug 19, 2003 - View this thread

GangRule - the history of organized crime in New York City. A growing database of photos, biographies, newspaper clippings and family trees from 1890 on. And for the godfather trackers among us, there's also Boston Mafia, which includes the history of a notorious contemporary fugitive, lately in the news via testimony from his brother, Billy Bulger.
posted on Jun 24, 2003 - View this thread

Virgin Mary lurks in Boston hospital. Or something.
posted on Jun 19, 2003 - View this thread