Boston + Cambridge + Somerville

MIT creates remote-controlled zombie moths

adamg — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 14:29:13 +0000

Electronics Weekly reports researchers at MIT have managed to stuff an electrode into a moth that can be used to control the moth's behavior:

"This is a major advance," says insect neurobiologist Roy Ritzmann at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. DARPA hopes this kind of control will one day allow intelligence agencies to use insects to carry surveillance equipment and spy on unsuspecting enemies.

The article does not say if they are also experimenting with ill tempered sea bass.

Via BostInnovation.

Longtime broadcaster Dave Maynard dies at 82

adamg — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:20:20 +0000

Channel 4 reports.

Dave Maynard introduces Sarah Silverman on Community Auditions:

Why is that guy smiling at me?

adamg — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:54:24 +0000

Jason Mihalko tweets:

I have said good morning and smiled at 12 people today. All have looked away. We can be so unfriendly in Cambridge.

Some tweets in response (may take a second or two to come up):

BPD to Anonymous: We're baaaack

adamg — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:02:55 +0000

Addresses hacked, now fixed, BPDNews.com.

If Frontline, or maybe Michael Bay, pondered why the T couldn't run 24/7 even if it had the money

adamg — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:23:15 +0000

This is the trailer for a video about the T late at night. Transit nerds will dig it; but so will regular riders who want to know what really happens in those tunnels. The complete video follows, complete with a tour of an abandoned tunnel still prepared for use as a fallout shelter and the unique problems T workers have with college students and people who fall on the tracks:

Suddenly, photos of men on the T are hot

adamg — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:25:09 +0000

Hotties on the T bills itself as:

Pictures of Men. Taken by Men. On the T.

And unlike that blow in from London, this site doesn't pretend to be about crushes:

This is about admiration. Admiration of fine looking men on the T. From a male perspective. We don't know our subjects, nor do we presume to know if they are gay, bi, or straight. We take unstaged pictures.

Via BosGuy.

Some Northeastern students marked down for unsuccessful pregaming before Barstool party; Barstool honcho told to sit down and shut up

adamg — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:02:12 +0000

The Huntington News reports at least three students got in a touch of trouble before they ever got to Barstool Sports' Northeastern Blackout shindig at the House of Blues, including two found on Columbus Avenue:

New York Times lives in a copyright glass house

adamg — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:50:22 +0000

The day before ex-Times editor and current Times thumbsucker Bill Keller blasted people who reprint Times content without its permission, the Times reprinted a PDF of a Real Paper story without permission from its current copyright owner, our very own Boston Phoenix. Not just the words, but the actual pages from that long-ago alt-weekly, whose remnants the Phoenix bought.

The Phoenix is not amused:

This is about the most literal instance of copyright theft, in terms of source material (someone else's), method (photocopied a print article), and intention of the law (don't copy someone else's stuff and distribute it as your own), as can be imagined.

ANSWER OF THE JUSTICES TO THE COUNCIL

adamg — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:51:13 +0000

NOTICE: The slip opinions and orders posted on this Web site are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. This preliminary material will be removed from the Web site once the advance sheets of the Official Reports are published. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030;

ANSWER OF THE JUSTICES TO THE COUNCIL.

SJC-11115

Feb. 8, 2012.

Council. Constitutional Law, Opinions of the Justices. Supreme Judicial Court, Opinions of the Justices.

On February 8, 2012, the Justices submitted the following answer to a question propounded to them by the Council.

To the Honorable Council of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts:

The Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court respectfully submit this response to the question set forth in a letter signed by five Councillors on December 7, 2011, and submitted to the Chief Justice on December 28, 2011, in the following form:

"Dear Honorable Justice Ireland:

AOL trims Patch

adamg — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:18:11 +0000

Jim Romensko reports a new "chief content officer" will reduce full-time and freelance budgets and call for greater emphasis on easily churned out content:

The editorial emphasis is now on "easy, quick-hitting, cookie-cutter copy," including mandatory "Best Of" features (i.e., best coffeeshop, best burgers, etc.) that compel businesses and readers to visit and participate in the Patch directories. (Each Patch has a directory of local businesses, organizations, churches, etc.)

We lose another online entrepreneur - but not to Silicon Valley this time

adamg — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:38:46 +0000

Xconomy reports Adam House, 33, is leaving Boston to become a player on the Rochester Razorsharks, a team in the Premier Basketball League.

Caffeine huffing just the thing for people who don't have time for one of those little energy-drink bottles

adamg — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:42:44 +0000

Associated Press highlights the controversy over a caffeine inhaler invented by a Harvard professor. It got mixed reviews at Northeastern, where the company marketing the thing gave away free ~~fixes~~ samples. The company says caffeine snorting is the perfect way "for people with active lifestyles to get their caffeine fix."

Without state help, MBTA will have to cut service, raise fares next year, too, regional planning group says

adamg — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:20:13 +0000

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council says payments on more than $5 billion in debt ensure the T will continue to lurch from one financial crisis to another, hurting riders and the regional economy for years to come, unless the legislature steps in to help do something about that debt.

Mayorless city still manages to raise kids with brains enough to stay out of traffic

adamg — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:30:20 +0000

In addition to wrangling over its next mayor, the Cambridge City Council continues to tussle with the issue of a rich guy with a large piece of land who wants to put in a second driveway. The driveway is opposed by some neighbors as the possible breaking of the seal that unleashes the spawn of Satan, but Cambridge Day reports one neighbor testified this week he is not concerned about kids getting hurt on the tiny street onto which the driveway would enter because:

When a car arrives, they get out of the way. After the car parks, they play more.

Media won't rest until all the Patriots run themselves through with swords

adamg — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:26:55 +0000

OMG, Matt Light and Gronk went to a party after the Super Bowl! Clutch those pearls closer to your chest, Mabel! Or as David Robichaud asks, as he wipes away a tear:

What do you think about this? Should they have been celebrating after a crushing defeat?