Back Bay

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today a former executive at an Amazon subsidiary owes the state more than $320,000 - and interest - on Amazon stock he bought and then sold while living in the Back Bay.

Kenneth Dotson, originally a Florida resident, had argued he didn't owe the money on the $5.3 million he made selling the stock because he never intended to stay in Massachusetts and was in the process of moving to Florida.

The court, noting that Dotson had bought a condo in the Back Bay, had his mail delivered there, got a landline phone there, joined a local gym and obtained a subscription to an unnamed Boston newspaper, said he was most definitely a Massachusetts resident when he executed the options and sold the stock. Even though he was in the process of fleeing the state, he had not yet actually taken up residence again in Florida, the court said.

OK, so we had a stuck truck on Saturday, but really, that was just a prelim. Place your wagers on times and spots for the Labor Day Weekend Storrow Pool.

GlenDiesel, meanwhile, suggests a new Boston fall tradition:

I want to drink a pumpkin beer on top of a bridge over Storrow Drive that has a moving truck stuck underneath it

But around 3:10 p.m. this afternoon, Galen Moore noted a truck stuck in the Storrow tunnel eastbound. And that means Allston Christmas is right around the corner.

"Who won the pool?" Dave Hodge promptly wondered.

Mike the Mad Biologist spies a praying mantis on Exeter Street.

Seems a guy decided the commuter-rail tracks near Back Bay was a great place to take a nap yesterday.

Ed. note: No, he was not wearing an oversized Fedora and a blue suit.

Microsoft Line 1.0. Cognoscenti know to wait for Microsoft Line 3.0.

Wes Teasdale photographed the line outside the grand opening of the Microsoft Store at the Pru at 7 a.m. today. No doubt, most people were eagerly awaiting their shot at the latest Windows Phones, rather than the 1,000 Lenny Kravitz tickets Microsoft was giving away.

Boston from the Red Line is a site that only posts photos of Boston from the Red Line.

Via BostInno.

Especially when it's getting dark and you still want to read.

Fortunately for passengers on the belchy commuter-rail train at Ruggles around 8 a.m., they could all de-train and continue on their way on the Orange Line. Interestingly, not long after, Anthony Bonaceto tweeted, Back Bay station began filling with smoke. Maybe Puff the Magic Loco was on its way to the yard?

Tyler Brewer captured the scene outside H&M at Clarendon and Newbury Street around lunchtime, where a hydrant was busy pumping water into the street.

A Boston cop who just didn't want to leave Daisy Buchanan's at closing time on June 3 - and who ordered a round of beers for himself and two friends nearly an hour later - earned the restaurant a trip to the Boston Licensing Board today, because two on-duty police detectives spotted the trio drinking their beers.

Owner Joseph Cimino apologized to the licensing board this morning. He said he realizes he should have kicked the trio out at 2, but that he felt "a little uncomfortable" because at least one, whom he said he knew, was a cop.

Penny Cherubino alerts us that not all manhole covers are the same. In the Back Bay, some of them are actually old coal-vault covers, through which coal would be delivered to people's homes. And some are encrusted with glass prisms, the better to shine light into the basements of the homes they belonged to, back in the days before electricity.

What a gas: Former flaming tank. Photo by BFD.

Update: Fire declared out at 10:49 a.m.

Firefighters are on the first level of the garage at the Westin in Copley Square, where an acetylene tank began spewing fire around 10:15 a.m. The hotel itself did not need to be evacuated.

Penny Cherubino wonders if she's the only person to notice that more people are using parasols these days.

Or as Mediacrity captioned her photo around 3:25 p.m.:

Take cover, Back Bay!

There's a severe thunderstorm watch for the area until 8 p.m.

Photos from a mass political chalking in the square yesterday.

A man with a record that includes stalking and witness intimidation was charged with groping a woman on a Green Line trolley Tuesday evening - and then trying to chat her up later when he spotted her as he drove away.

BOLO: Bowling ball stolen in the Back Bay.

Chris Devers has posted a series of time-lapse sequences from around the Boston area yesterday, including this one overlooking the Back Bay.

Smoke was seen billowing off the roof of a building located on Commonwealth Avenue, this afternoon. Twitterer @alertnewengland reported that a rooftop air conditioning unit (presumably, not a window unit, but the condenser) had caught fire.

While that Twitter report had the fire located at 13 Commonwealth Ave, the location of the fire from my cub reporter observance was on the even-side of the street. It was either 16 or 18 Comm Ave.

Google Maps shows several a/c units on the roof of #16 - no signs of any grills, though ...

Why, yes, that was a limo driving down Stuart Street this evening with an anatomically correct naked blow-up man perched on the sunroof:

Grazing herd on Huntington.

You're making quick, purposeful strides on your way to an important meeting or assignation or whatever, when you have to stop short because of a slow-moving herd of tourist right in front of you. You get ready to zip around them, when blam: You have to stop again because another lumbering herd of tourist is coming at you head on from the other direction. You're trapped: You have to wait for the two herds to slowly shuffle past (and hope they don't get helplessly entangled).

It's especially acute on Boylston and Newbury streets, but a frustrated citizen complains about the tourist resting grounds on Huntington Avenue by the Pru:

The Duck Tours departing from Huntington Ave are no doubt extremely popular but there needs to be some effort to keep the sidewalks clear by seating those waiting. It's like trying to walk through a packed bar sometimes.

Late this morning, a guy was sailing this remote-controlled boat in the Christian Science Center. Little kids who got near the water would be greeted with a vist from the boat - although if they tried to grab it, he'd make it beat a hasty retreat.

A Proper Bostonian spots and photographs the mystery Tesla roadster of Beacon Hill:

[I]t's a very rare, very quiet, all-electric sportscar for people who like to go sneaking around at high speeds without being heard.

Down in one of the hollows that surrounds Beacon Hill, Penny Cherubino spots and photographs the mystery generic crapster of the Back Bay, so filled with stuff the driver can barely squeeze in.

It's like the return of Kozmo.com, only colder. Uber, the online taxi dispatching concern, is launching an app to summon an ice-cream truck to your locale - assuming your locale is the Back Bay, South End, Beacon Hill, North End, Financial District, Seaport or South Boston - between noon and 6 p.m.

You'll have to buy a minimum of five ice-cream things - your credit-card will be dinged a minimum of $12.