Boston Blogs Network
Stopping Spammers
You might not realize it but evil spammers love to sign up for blogs witch they only use for evil. Evil I tell you! I am going to be rolling out some new spam blocking techniques over the next couple of days. The problem is that these methods might catch a couple real people who want a real bostonbiker.org account. If you are one of these real people that seem to have been caught in these spam blocking methods you can contact me and I will fix it for you. Otherwise if you are a dirty spammer please go away, no one likes you.
Related Posts:Wednesday’s Viewing Picks
College Basketball
Butler at Northwestern – Big Ten Network, 8 p.m.
Utah State at Utah – the mtn., 8 p.m.
CBE Classic/Western Carolina at Texas – ESPNU, 9 p.m.
Nevada at UNLV – the mtn., 10:30 p.m.
College Football
Buffalo at Miami (OH) – ESPNU, 6 p.m.
Central Michigan at Ball Street – ESPN2, 8 p.m.
NBA
Cleveland at Washington – ESPN, 7 p.m.
Utah at Celtics – Comcast SportsNet, 7:30 p.m.
San Antonio at Dallas – ESPN, 9:30 p.m.
NHL
Dallas at Detroit – NHL Network, 7:30 p.m.
NHL On The Fly – NHL Network, 8 p.m.
Entertainment
Human Wrecking Balls – G4, 8 p.m.
Inside the NFL – Showtime, 9 p.m.
Deep Secrets: The Ballard Gallipoli Expedition – National Geographic Channel, 9 p.m.
WWII in HD: Striking Distance – History Channel, 9 p.m.
WWII in HD: Glory at Guts – History Channel, 10 p.m.
The Ultimate Fighter – Spike, 10 p.m.
Nip/Tuck – FX, 10 p.m.
Late Show with David Letterman – WBZ/WPRI, 11:35 p.m.
The Economy: We are So Screwed
This morning I read a piece by Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics at the Stern School of Business at New York University, that was astounding. If you think the economy is going to turn around anytime soon, you are mistaken. Above, I’ve linked to Roubini’s entire piece and I recommend you read it. In the meantime, here are a few highlights:
…We can expect that job losses will continue until the end of 2010 at the earliest.
While the official unemployment rate is already 10.2% and another 200,000 jobs were lost in October, when you include discouraged workers and partially employed workers the figure is a whopping 17.5%.
…If you are unemployed and looking for work and just waiting for the economy to turn the corner, you had better hunker down…. The jobs just are not coming back.
Based on my best judgment, it is most likely that the unemployment rate will peak close to 11% and will remain at a very high level for two years or more.
novel ideas interview novel ideas
The Novels Ideas interview the Novel Ideas:
What are you guys hoping to achieve with the new album?
We were hoping to break away from the sound of our last album and create an album that better represented our live sound and show. Where on our last album, I played most of the instruments, on our new one we have a real band line-up, and I hope that it came through in the sound. We also decided to release it for free download in addition to selling copies because we figure that in this day and age, the more people who hear it, the better.
Where did you get the band name?
Honestly, I can’t remember which I thought of first, the idea to write songs about books or the band name which may have spurred this first idea. Either way it has something to do with books. I figured it would be easier to write songs existing stories that I related to than girls. Although originally I thought I was cool or something for this, I have since realized that maybe I wasn’t in touch with my feelings or something. Also I realized that much of the time I write about a situation in a book that correlates to an event in my life, I suppose it’s some kind of subconscious “art reflects life” type of thing maybe.
What do you try to do live?
One thing that I am really into is the idea of two distinct yet similar songwriters in one band. I love bands like Wolf Parade, or Blur (or the Beatles!) who have more than one songwriter each expressing his or her own voice. It’s like more music in one band. We definitely try to play on that, having two songwriters in the band. We like the idea of keeping the audience on their toes, we don’t them bored or just content.
Who writes the songs?
I guess I just answered that.
What is the strangest thing that has happened at a show?
Let see, we played at Newbury Comics in Norwood one time and a bunch of our friends were there on the left side of the room but then there was a big group of highschool girls on the right side that we didn’t know. After about the third song they started screaming really loudly after we played a song, which was funny because there were maybe only 30 or so people there. After we finished playing they began asking us for autographs on our CDs and T-shirts. I think our guitarist’s girlfriend may have even got jealous. It was hilarious and strange and I haven’t seen any of them at any of our shows since.
More from the Novel Ideas here. Download The Sky Is A Field.
Red Zone = Red Light for Patriots
Things appear back to normal on the written side, I’m still on the sports radio blackout, and will likely be all week…
Be sure to check out the latest Dan Snapp column on Patriots Daily: Beholden to None.
Albert R. Breer has a look at the Patriots continued struggles in the red zone, where they sit 25th in the league, behind such stalwarts as Detroit, Jacksonville, and Washington. Robert Lee says that those issues need to be corrected for this Sunday’s game with the Jets. Ian R. Rapoport has Matt Light looking to get back out on the field as quickly as he can.
Mark Farinella feels that Bill Belichick and the Patriots braintrust have lost their way, and that Sunday was perhaps an indicator of what is ahead for this franchise. Kerry Byrne separates fact from myth when it comes to the Patriots.
In the Midweek report, Breer looks at the struggles that the Jets have had since beating the Patriots in week two. Ron Borges says that the tears that Rex Ryan shed in his locker room on Monday show the difference between he and Bill Belichick. Glen Farley has the Jets coming in for a “Super Bowl” rematch.
Mike Reiss and Christopher Price have their weekly mailbags.
Joe Fitzgerald says that the fans are wrong to criticize Belichick for Sunday night.
The Globe notebook has the Patriots looking to keep their streak of games without consecutive losses alive this weekend. Rapoport’s notebook has Belichick ready to move on from the Indy game. Lee’s Patriots journal has Belichick getting back to business as usual.
CelticsGary Washburn has Kendrick Perkins not impressed with the Celtics practices this week as the team tries to bounce back from three losses in five games. Mark Murphy has the Celtics needing to get back into defensive mode. A. Sherrod Blakely says that defense is the key for the Celtics.
Jim Fenton has Paul Pierce returning to practice yesterday after sitting out on Monday. Blakely has a C’s vs. Warriors preview. Mike Fine has Warriors coach Don Nelson approaching more coaching records.
The Globe notebook has Andres Nocioni’s name being floated in possible trades to the Celtics. Murphy’s notebook has Piece back at practice.
MiscRich Thompson reports that Marc Savard could be back on the ice for the Bruins as early as tomorrow night. Brendan Hall has Milan Lucic returning to practice yesterday.
Michael Silverman has Mike Lowell once again in wait and see mode this offseason. Brian MacPherson has the Red Sox looking to make some noise in the Hot Stove league this winter.
Julian Benbow has a feature on BU mens basketball coach Pat Chambers, who set out on a new path in life after a brush with death in 2002.
Red Zone = Red Light for Patriots is a post from: Boston Sports Media Watch
Open Mic/Benefit For New Community Bike Shop
This looks interesting, free music at least.
———–
Friday, November 20 at the Eliconia House, (32 Mansfield St, Allston) 7pm-ish
The Eliconia house is throwing an open mic/benefit…party! Our goal is to raise some money so we can buy important (and kinda expensive) bicycle tools. Then we can have open hours for folks to come by and use the tools to fix their own bike, and more importantly LEARN how to fix their own bike. Eventually we will host workshops and other informative bike-related activities! Bikes are fun, good for you, and good for the earth! So, come and support the project… bring some donations (money, bike tools, GOOD bike parts)
If you wish to perform (which would be rad!), please show up on the earlier side, closer to 7, so we can organize the musical acts.
Bicycle-themed performances are encouraged
As usual, no bad vibes, illegal drugs, or oppressive behavior. We thank you and love you very much.
peace,
-D.Scan
–
Dave Scandurra
www.myspace.com/excitedpeople
www.myspace.com/changethroughmusic
The Longest Two Yards
(Photo from Yahoo! Sports)
It's been a few days. We've all calmed down a little. Nothing in my fancy new apartment is in danger of my destructive wrath anymore so...maybe we can talk about it a little. Maybe?
Here's the thing: I'm not going to excoriate Bill Belichick. I will not second-guess or verbally flay or make fun of his hoodie. (Besides, he was wearing the fancy prime time navy blue sweatshirt on Sunday night). And I don't think it's because I'm an unapologetic Belichick sycophant. I think it's because a true understanding of football and the strategy involved dictates that sometimes, you play the numbers. And sometimes, in so doing, you lose. There is no hard and fast rule about "If you do A, then B will happen," in football. Unless it's "if you let the Browns play professional football, they will find a way to embarrass themselves" but that's another issue for another day. My point is, I kind of, sort of appreciate the gusty call. Because if you've ever watched a football game with me, you know the number of times I implore a team to "Go for it!" on fourth down is roughly equivalent to the number of mentions of just what, exactly, Brett Favre is up to these days. Meaning, I say it a lot. Especially in short yardage situations. I hate punting. Punting bores me. Punting feels like defeat.
And yes, I realize that not getting the fourth down resulted in actual defeat but not, you know, immediately. I respect a coach essentially telling his team "I believe you can get two yards and if you can't, I believe the defense can stop them." It didn't work out and believe me, I am not happy about that. Instead of going straight to bed, I worked out my frustration by washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen (a rather industrious and productive use of angry energy, I'll grant you), but still.
There are questions regarding the spot and the fact that the Patriots were out of timeouts and so couldn't challenge it and I have my own feelings on that which I'll keep silent because the last thing I want is the internet raining down all it's "Coltz 4 EVA" nauseating bullshit on me but suffice it to say, I remain dubious.
That said, I don't suppose any of us should be surprised by Belichick's decision nor his subsequent refusal to apologize. The very reason we like the guy so much in New England is exactly the reason the rest of the league hates him. He's kind of an asshole. He's pretty much an unapologetic, football-scheming robot. He takes in information and yardage and statistics and spits out some play-calling decisions, never once letting emotion or personal feelings come into the process. So it shouldn't surprise any of us that when he made the decision to go for it on Sunday night, he did so based purely on the numbers. He was concerned with two yards and the statistical probability of Kevin Faulk gaining those two yards. He was not concerned with the emotional well-being of the New England fans or the fact that my new neighbors may have called the police when they heard screaming coming from Apt. E. And he certainly wasn't concerned with buying me a new coffee table. After all, he wasn't the one who nearly destroyed it.
That up there, by the way, was the rational side of my brain attempting to talk myself calmly through this process and find a way to accept a loss in a game we absolutely should have won. The other side of my brain? The part responsible for nearly going on a destructive rampage from which no remote stayed unhurled and no couch cushion remained untorn? That side of my brain is begging, imploring even the rest of the league to find a way to beat Peyton Manning. Because I will not be able to take it if the freakin' Colts go undefeated. I absolutely will not. Because rational thoughts and "it's just football" realizations aside, I am probably not a big enough person to accept that. Hey, we all have flaws.
Massachusetts New Americans Agenda
The drafting of the report involved an inclusive, three-pronged process. The information that resulted in these recommendations came from a combination of community-based input from more than 1,200 individuals at six statewide forums held in Chelsea, Hyannis, New Bedford, Lowell, Springfield, and Fitchburg; existing research and literature; and the expertise of more than 175 professionals in 12 policy working groups. We believe the product is a thorough and comprehensive set of recommendations that will help build a better Massachusetts for all its residents.
While some of the recommendations will garner all of the headlines, we welcome members of the Blue Mass Group community to delve deeper into a report that represents the best recommendations of policy experts and the immigrant and refugee communities of the Commonwealth. Immigrant integration is in the best interests of everyone in Massachusetts, since having an immigrant population that is fully engaged and supported benefits our economy and the strength of our democracy.
Some highlights include:
? Improve access to re-licensing for immigrants and refugees with professional degrees from their home country
? A recommendation to allow all students residing in MA access to in-state tuition rates who have completed 3 years of high school in MA, graduated, and sign an affidavit promising to pursue citizenship when a pathway becomes available, regardless of immigration status
? Provide parents enrolling LEP (Limited English Proficient) students in schools with a multilingual guide to navigating particular aspects of the state education system
? Funding for English for speakers of other languages classes to increase the available slots for the thousands of immigrants (17,000) currently on waiting lists
These recommendations are about benefiting the Commonwealth as much as immigrants: stronger schools, improved public safety, more qualified specialists, stronger families, and successful small businesses benefit all residents. We also hope this will help move the debate on immigration in Massachusetts from one based on rhetoric to one based on fact.
Rupe to Google: Bing this, mate
Two things are clear about Rupert Murdoch’s pronouncements that he will build a pay wall around his sites, and that he’ll make them invisible to Google’s search engine.
First, he’ll fail utterly if that’s all there is. (How much would you pay for NYPost.com? Yeah, I thought so.) Second, given his track record as a media visionary, we should be cautious not to assume that’s all there is. As I told Chris Lefkow of Agence France Presse a few days ago, Rupe has a history of being two or three steps ahead of everyone else.
Now, it’s unclear what Murdoch may have in mind, and it’s likely that’s because he doesn’t know yet, either. But a media-savvy Media Nation reader has been feeding me stories suggesting that newspaper publishers — including Murdoch — may be inching toward an embrace with Microsoft, whose well-regarded search engine, Bing, has quickly established itself as the number-two competitor to Google.
Imagine some of the ways that this might work. Let’s start with the fact that all any Web publisher has to do is insert some code into its site in order to stop Google News from including it in its search results. No one dares do that, because Google drives lots of traffic to those sites. But publishers have long chafed at Google’s refusal to share any of its ad revenue with them.
But if you had to use Bing rather than Google in order to find content from a number of Big Media players, then you’d have to broaden your searches to two engines. Murdoch and his fellow media moguls might keep their sites open (smart) in return for Microsoft sharing the revenue it earns from selling ads tied to news content.
Or Microsoft might devise a more fine-tuned digital-rights-management system so that content-providers could offer a variety of open, closed and semi-open options (not so smart). There might even be a way for Google to include such content in its own searches as long as it didn’t upset Bing’s infrastructure.
At TechCrunch, Mike Butcher describes meetings that Microsoft is already having with European publishers. According to Butcher, Microsoft is prepared to invest nearly $170,000 in research and development. (I realize this sounds a bit like Lorne Michaels’ offering the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on “Saturday Night Live.”)
Jason Calacanis imagines Microsoft making a pitch that goes something like this:
Want to search the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and 3,894 other newspapers and magazine?
Well, then don’t go to Google because they don’t have them!
Go to Bing, home of quality content you can trust!
At Slate, Jack Shafer has more, with links from others hypothesizing what may be happening.
What’s clear is that Murdoch is going to try something dramatic, and that he’ll most likely have some major players on his side. What he’s saying right now may bear little resemblance to the strategy that ultimately emerges.
More: Poynter’s Rick Edmonds is thinking similar thoughts.
Earlier: Rupe prepares to take the plunge.
A Crazy Theory
Obama knows that bringing KSM to trial in NYC will run into problems, namely, evidence obtained by means of waterboarding will have to be thrown out. My theory is that Obama is actually hoping for KSM to be declared not guilty, so that he can then say, “See, it’s Bush’s fault! If he just hadn’t waterboarded like we’d said KSM wouldn’t have slipped the noose on us…”
Retweet
Integrated retweet at twitter.com allows you to click retweet, and have newmediajim's tweet show up on your timeline:
Integrated twitter retweeted tweet
I don't see any way to see who the 3 others who retweeted this are.
Integrated twitter retweeted tweet in timeline
When you click on the permalink of my tweet, it goes to Jim's original tweet.
I can't see who the 3 others are that retweeted this though. I saw that feature in a preview. Probably will be rolled out later.
To see your retweets, and who's retweeting them, you can go to your Retweets by you page:
To see who's retweeted your tweets, go to your Your tweets, retweeted page:
There's also a retweets by others page, which for me, has no data at the moment.
In search results though, the integrated retweeted tweet gets shortened.
Search results, leave off important trailing content from Jim's original tweet.
kthxbai! </snark> is missing!
Hmm... That doesn't seem right.
Meep Emailer Reported to Danvers Police Department
School-girls #1 by Ed Yourdon, on Flickr CC BY-SA
Danvers High School baned students from saying the word "meep", Theodora Michaels sent an email to the school principal:An open letter to Principal Murray of Danvers High School (MA):
Meep.
Sincerely,
Theodora MichaelsHere's the reply email from Assistant Principal Mark Strout, which said (in full) "Your E-mail has been forwarded to the Danvers Police Department."via Universal Hub.
No interest
That's pretty much the gist behind the mail that has been trickling in over the last few weeks from Citibank, telling me my base credit card interest rate will now be almost double that of what I get charged on a non-Citi card.
And thanks to the federal dollars that have gone to lobbying and televisions commercials (not to mention stadium naming rights) Congress is going to let it happen without so much as a whimper.
Does something strike as just a tad wrong about this situation?
I guess I'll just keep paying my bills in full every month -- until they start to charge me for being a really good customer who, unlike them, spends wisely and actually meets his debt obligations.More blogs about Politics.
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Blocking schemes
Or not.
There was an interesting contrast to the two calls yesterday. One listed the number and only "Massachusetts" as the caller. Wow, a whole state calling me! The other listed the number and "Capuano for Senate."
I always understood the name of the caller needed to be displayed along with the number, although there certainly isn't a heck of a lot you can do about it, even though the attorney general's consumer protection office does take complaints -- if no action.
But what was interesting to me is the call from "Massachusetts" came from the campaign of Martha Coakley.
Would be nice if the candidate whose office is supposed to arbitrate the rules actually lived by them.More blogs about Politics.
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Links for 2009-11-17 [del.icio.us]
- Transformers
Some of my 5 year-old niece
Boston Latino International Film Festival - 11/19
The Boston Latino International Film Festival is here! From November 19th to December 13th, 2009, BLIFF will be presenting the latest films pertaining to Latino social issues in the US and Latin America.
Join us for the Opening Ceremony on:
Thursday, November 19th at 6:00PM (free event)
at the Harvard Film Archive (24 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138)
Over 75 films from over 14 countries will be featured, including the United States, Argentina, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Spain and Mexico, among others.
I swung by the film festival site and watched some of the trailers. Looks like some interesting stuff.
Click (here) for more details.
Know of Any Interesting Boston News or Events That You'd Like to Share?
Email me at beantownblog@gmail.com
Barbara Lynch's New Cookbook
Next up on the docket, her first cook book. Here's what Tasting Table has to say:
Now, she's bringing her singular culinary ethos to the home kitchen with her first cookbook, Stir.
The book outlines her trajectory from a scrappy South Boston upbringing to her time in the kitchen at Todd English's Olives to the opening of No. 9 Park. It's a fascinating tale, but her recipes provide an even more compelling narrative.
Sounds good to me. You know, I made pasta from scratch ones. It turned out pretty decent, but boy was it a lot of work. I've got all of Thomas Keller's cookbooks. Those are pretty impossible to cook out of. Maybe I'll give this one a shot.
Click (here) for details.
Know of Any Interesting Boston News or Events That You'd Like to Share?
Email me at beantownblog@gmail.com
A 2nd Sonic May Be Coming to MA
I never made it out to the Sonic in Peabody (here) after it opened back in August. I've been known to drive pretty far for fast food cravings (ie: driving to Burlington for Chic-fil-a) but I guess I just haven't craved Sonic yet.
For those of you in Marlborough, you might not need to drive too far to get Sonic if a new proposal gets approved.
Marlborough may eventually be home to an uncommon sight in Massachusetts - a Sonic Drive-In restaurant. The proposed location is on Boston Post Road West near Ames Street, beyond the Hannaford plaza, Vigeant said.
Council President Arthur Vigeant said he expects to set a public hearing for sometime after the first of the year, when the newly-elected council begins work.
For those of you that now crave Sonic's after reading this. I recommend a cherry limeade, the chili cheese tator tots, and a cheese burger.
Click (here) to read the article.
Email me at beantownblog@gmail.com
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