The Rozzie Plain blogger thing: Weds., May 14th, 7 p.m., Doyle's Cafe, JP. Be there.

Do-it-yourself traffic regulatin'

It's amazing what you can do with some yellow paint and a "No Parking" sign.

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Funding local investigative journalism

Combine a non-profit news organization with a locally-oriented ad network, Rick Burnes suggests (follow up).

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Jefferson Star Market?

Every time I go into Whole Foods in Charles River Plaza, I notice what a great music mix they're playing. It's safe stuff, to be sure - Sheryl Crow, Steve Winwood, very WBOS-ish - but it's upbeat, syncopated, and it makes me want to sing along.

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Great food ruined by awful service at posh Newton eatery

Karen explains why, after two visits with lousy service, she won't be going back to 51 Lincoln.

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Officer Mike needs your hel

He's been helping the ducklings get to the Public Garden for decades now, and now he could use a bit of help.

If you took any photos of Officer Mike at Beacon and Charles streets in 2005 or 2007, let me know. The actual Boston officer who played Officer Mike those years would love photos of himself in action. He was wearing his father's uniforms from back in the day - his father was also a Boston officer - and he'd love to have a picture or two or three:

... I have had hundreds of photos taken with the ducklings but with all those times I do not have one myself. ...

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Things he hates about the T

Part 1 of a series, including the fact that T employees still think they can harass people taking photos on the T.

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Contents under pressure

Tammy reports that a friend's husband found out the hard way this past weekend that homebrewing beer is not without its risks.

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Stupid yuppie scum in an SUV

Alicia normally just accepts double parking as a way of life in not-so-gritty Southie. But the driver of a BMW SUV double parked outside the PS Gourmet Coffee on Dorchester Street, keeping people from turning right, really got her dander up:

... [T]here was a lady behind the wheel just chatting on her cell. In that situation, if you're waiting for a friend, why not unblock the right hand lane and pull about 20 feet forward onto East Broadway? It's just common courtesy, people!

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Enemy of those who make him an enemy!

Why, it's Boston Blackie:


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Oh, come on now

Yankees fan suckers Red Sox guy for $25g:

... [A] Yankees fan sued a member of Red Sox Nation for injuries sustained to his hand while he was punching said Sox fan in a bar fight. ...

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Boston has a lot of car break-ins

Really. Only problem with the Herald's zeal to scare us all: Car crimes are actually way down in recent years.

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Goin' down Dudley

Third Decade posts a video of interviews of people who remember when Dudley Square was a "downtown" and when the area had much better public transportation than it does today:

... It would be great if the neighborhoods between Dudley Square and Downtown Boston could coalesce to demand improved public transportation from the MBTA in the same way that Somerville and Medford are doing. ...

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Bicycle fans allegedly try to teach motorist a lesson - with their fists

Cambridge Police report two guys, apparently fed up with a motorist who "swerved into and encroached upon" the Mass. Ave. bike lane around 11 p.m. on Saturday, caught up with the car, dragged the two people out and began beating them - one into unconsciousness - in front of 250 Mass. Ave.. Both alleged perps arrested.

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Ever wanted to write for the Globe?

The Globe is looking to replace some of the experienced reporters who took buyouts - they're looking for health care, commercial real estate, Washington and local-science reporters, as well as somebody to help write the Names page. "A demonstrable ability to write coherently and with style, as well as gather facts accurately," is a must. Also, you need to know how to type.

Via Dan Kennedy.

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Enough with Mall Cop already, this is what we'd want to see filmed

Beantown Bloggery stumbles on a Dunkin' Donuts commercial being filmed downtown.

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Take a letter, Maria, address it to my House

Sal DiMasi expresses his outrage at the calumnies of the Republican Party (Wait? We have one? Yes, seems we do) regarding his ethics, or alleged lack thereof, in a letter to fellow House members.

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Overused bike racks at Harvard?

Citizen Smith ponders a "Temporary Bike Rack 2 Hour Limit" sign at a Harvard building:

... Is there some sort of crazy bike parking going on where bikes are just piling up all over the place and people are leaving them there for days, weeks, months? If this is the case, which I don't think it is, because I've been walking by this for 4 years, and I assure you I would have noticed this rampant abuse of bike parking, but if it is the case, have you considered adding to the 2 small bike lock up bars that are there? Because there's plenty of room here. You could get two more racks in, easy. ...

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Calming a crying kid on the T

Aw: Little boy helps out a little girl bawling her eyes out:

... So this skinny little boy in a patriots cap, who'd gotten on earlier, trots down from the back of the bus with a big picture book about disneyworld. And asks if she likes Disney and wants to see it. She is intrigued, and stops crying. He plops himself down on the seat and proceeds to explain the whole book, page by page, showing off all the neat things. ...

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Keeping hospital patients alive

Paul Levy posts a report on a program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in which clinicians use a variety of "triggers" to take action that helps keep patients from dying or getting worse. Among the findings:

Always beware of unintended consequences: A program designed to let patients order food when and how they want it started causing problems for people who might swallow the food into their lungs (ditto for patients whose family members brought food in from outside).

Doctors really need to listen to nurses, especially when the nurses express "marked concern" about a patient's condition:

... When we implemented the Triggers program, many physicians were very nervous about giving this criterion. They were afraid that they might be called in the middle of the night for things that weren't really important, and that nurses might use this as a weapon if they did not like the physician or if they disagreed with the plan of care.

Well, it turns out that nurses use this Trigger quite judiciously – only 15% of our Triggers are called only for nursing concern. (In another 27% of cases, nurses express "marked concern" but the patient also meets other criteria simultaneously.) It also turns out that if nurse has "marked nursing concern," it means you're really sick. The in-hospital mortality rate for a patient who has a Trigger called for "marked nursing concern" is 10.7%.

This is roughly twice as bad as showing up to the Emergency Department with a heart attack. Literally.

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There's a lot the CHB doesn't know about Cleveland

The Outraged Liberal, a Cleveland native, couldn't get past the fifth paragraph in Shaughnessy's column today because it's so riddled with factual errors about his birthplace.

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Bag it, buddy

Jim Sullivan threatens to go postal the next time a supermarket bagger asks him if he wants his milk in a bag:

... Why is it that milk is the only thing the bagger at the supermarket won't automatically put in a bag? If you buy laundry detergent, it gets put in a bag. A bottle of dishwashing liquid? Into a bag it goes. Every other thing that comes in a bottle or jar finds itself in a bag after checkout. Cream - which is just milk with a college education - gets put in a bag. Hell, if you buy some paper bags, they put the paper bags into a bag. The only thing they don't automatically put into a bag is milk. Why? ...

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Roommate charged with stabbing JP man to death

Shortly before 7 p.m., 5 Gartland St. (on a map). Victim taken to Brigham and Women's with multiple stab wounds. Suspect is 52, victim in his 30s, according to the Suffolk County DA's office, which says an arraignment is likely this afternoon in West Roxbury District Court.

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Why a duck?

Probably just my imagination, but this chihuahua didn't seem exactly thrilled to be dressed up as a duck at the annual "Make Way for Ducklings" parade through Beacon Hill today. This kid more than made up for the pooch's demeanor, though:

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