Cambridge

Why is that guy smiling at me?

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

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):

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."

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.

Rudderless city continues to drift along municipal shoals without a mayor

adamg — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:57:06 +0000

Yep, the Cambridge City Council once again failed to elect a mayor.

Why monkey with a good thing? Curious George bookstore to re-open in Harvard Square

adamg — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:50:23 +0000

Wicked Local Cambridge reports a Roslindale couple is working to re-open the shuttered kids' bookstore in the heart of the square. Reopening is sometime this spring.

Wait, we have a Miss Boston?

adamg — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:41:24 +0000

Indeed we do, and a Harvard sophomore is one of 10 competitors:

"Being from Harvard makes me unique, but I'm sure they all have their strengths and components that make them unique," Beck said.

It's amazing what you can get on Etsy these days

adamg — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:32:55 +0000

At least, we're assuming this guy got his unique jacket on Etsy - just look at that fine handcrafted design!

Rima Chaddha Mycynek spotted man and jacket at Harvard Square today.

Sandwich chain doing its part to destroy the wallet industry

adamg — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:38:16 +0000

Street Fight interviews Mike Conley, director of marketing at Sebastians Cafe, which now has 2,200 people signed up for its phone-based payment and loyalty programs - customers use their phones rather than old-fashioned cash or credit cards to pay for lunch. Naturally, the chain started with its Kendall Square location first.

It's just an easier, great way to pay. I forgot my wallet one day, going into a meeting, and I was like: "Oh, crap. I can't pay for food. Oh, wait a minute. I have my phone. I have LevelUp." It's interesting that everyone is starting to realize how this is a very usable tool for payments.

Cambridge remains mayorless

adamg — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:07:31 +0000

Cambridge Day reports they kept the dampers shut at the white-smoke chimney at Cambridge City Hall today.

Cambridge firefighters injured when ladder hits power line at 2-alarm fire

adamg — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:21:32 +0000

The three are expected to be OK, Samantha Butkiewicus at Channel 4 tweets.

They were on a ladder truck responding to an early morning fire at 8 Brewer St. Keven Wiles posted a photo.

Matt Drudge is probably not roaming Harvard stealing laptops

adamg — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:40:47 +0000

Stop, thief!But somebody who looks like him, at least in low-res surveillance photos, is.

Harvard University Police report this guy was seen entering Rm. 238 in Mallinckrodt Lab on Oxford Street, around 1:50 p.m. on Saturday and then exiting about a minute later - leaving behind a space where a laptop used to be. "Suspect is connected to numerous thefts on campus."

If he looks familiar, contact HUPD at 617-496-3223.

Actual Drudge, for comparison.

Venture capitalist: Cambridge is not Boston, dammit

adamg — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:37:16 +0000

Brad Feld, managing director at the venture-capital firm Foundry Group, says it's past time for Cambridge tech types to embrace their inner Cambridgeness (or maybe even their inner Kendallness) and stop using "Boston" to refer to themselves:

In my world view, the entrepreneurs drive the startup community. Focus on entrepreneurial population density and entrepreneurial density – and make sure your geographic region is small. Over time, linking the critical mass together in a larger region (e.g. Silicon Valley or Boston) is fine, but the real power comes from the startup communities with the largest [entrepreneurial density] in small physical regions which are big enough to have critical mass.

Ed. note: He lost me a bit when, after making his Cambridge argument, he wrote that the 128 and 495 tech belts are part of Boston. Um, what?

Chaos in the People's Republic as city council once again proves unable to elect a mayor

adamg — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:54:03 +0000

Cambridge Day reports the carnage that happens when one of the Commonwealth's largest cities goes leaderless: A city council meeting scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. didn't start until 5:38 p.m. And residents who rose to speak on various issues all spoke longer than their allotted three minutes.

How much worse could it get? Cambridge Day notes that in 1948, it took the council 1,396 ballots to elect a mayor.

Ed. note: Across the river, an eight-minute delay in the start of a city-council meeting would be referred to as "an early start."

Cambridge still mayorless

adamg — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:49:51 +0000

Robert Winter reports that maybe the city council today will get around to electing a mayor, or maybe not.

It's all been enough to inspire a Somerbridge cartoon in the local paper (in response to which Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone tweeted: "Perhaps Cambridge can form a committee to tweet a response").