Cathy Huyge profiles Jack Walsh, a Salem glass artist who got the idea for his technique of etching glass through sandblasting while spending 30 years building and cleaning bus motors with a sandblaster:

... The sandblasting machine looks like an incubator in a hospital's neo-natal intensive care unit, complete with arm holes with gloves on the inside that Jack inserts his hands into and uses to manipulate the blasting hose and the bottle. ...

Some examples of his work.

The Salem News reports:

An MBTA bus driver was cited after he swerved around traffic that was stopped for a couple pushing a baby carriage through a crosswalk, Salem police said.

The Salem Gazette reports Salem police have arrested a man wanted in connection with 10 years' of graffiti on MBTA trains and on buildings across the North Shore and Boston.

Adam Michael Brant, a.k.a. SPEK, was arrested Wednesday on 16 counts of tagging and 16 counts of malicious destruction of property.

Some examples of his oeuvre.

The view from our Roslindale front porch a few minutes ago: Five or six inches of new snow and howling winds - and now sleet (or maybe it's just very cold rain - hard to tell when it's whipping into you horizontally). Ashamed to admit that when I went shopping last night, I forgot to get bread! Plenty of English muffins, though - French English muffins, anyone?

10:45 update: The cavalry arrives (this actually shows the front end loader's second pass):

Lorianne DiSabato sees a similar view out her window in Newton.

David Moisan snaps Salem this morning:

Steve Garfield looked out from his porch in Jamaica Plain this morning:

Steve also videos himself shoveling this morning - looks kind of difficult to shoot with one hand and shovel with the other.

Jen Stewart looks out her window:

Susan Senator marvels:

... It is no secret that I hate the winter and the cold. And yet, today, looking out at the vigorous storm, I do feel a sense of wonder similar to my springtime feeling, when I just can't get over the activity of things that are not alive: the ground, the wind, the leaves. So much is going on out there, it feels a little exciting, like I'm anticipating a fun event. ...

Karl, however, declares that Mother Nature is Satan:

... For what it's worth, and I don't like thunderstorms either, but I'd rather have a thunderstorm than a blizzard any time. In fact, I wish there were one now as the lightning will INSTANTANEOUSLY melt melt the snow and the ice underneath it too.

Jack Hodgson: This winter wonderland stuff is getting old fast....

Karen prepares a little math quiz for her kids in case school is canceled tomorow:

If we already had a foot of snow on the ground from Thursday's blizzard, and Daddy was letting Mama sleep in today, but she was rudely awakened by the kids' whoops of joy at the news that Sunday school is canceled because we're in the midst of another blizzard today with expected accumulation of 5–8 inches, how many cocktails will Mama need by the end of this day trapped home with the kids while trying to finish up her big Spanish project, which is due this week?

Leslie after shoveling: My back has held up pretty well until now, but I think it's starting to protest...

Kelly: It's a good day to stay inside, drink gallons of hot tea, and paint or quilt while watching Marx Brothers movies.

Lori Magno has some nice friends.

All three of the Salem plant workers injured yesterday.

The state wants $2 billion to fix its college system, but does that conceal a classist public/private school divide? A Salem Blog is not optimistic.

Night Owl Gal and friend are having lunch in a Salem restaurant, when she takes a pretty near instant dislike to some Midwesterners at the next table:

... Their waiter (also our waiter), probably a gregarious, beer-guzzling Salem State college student named Vinnie, came over. Vinnie is all Massachusetts, probably has family in Southie who taught him how to talk. He is annoying in that way that some waiters cannot help but be, and he saw midwesterners and turned up his accent a bit, giving them the show they came for.

"Hello folks, I'm Vinnie and I'll be your waiter today" he smiled down at them, hoping for a tip that John and I already knew he wouldn't be getting, not from that table. The asian man looked up at him, in all seriousness, and said "Did you know that you talk funny?". They all laughed, and tried to mimick their best Boston accent, which invariably makes people sound as though they have swallowed golf balls in their effort not to pronounce the letter "R". ...

First we read about the dismembered-raccoon pyschic-hotline case. Now we read Rebecca's report of the worst psychic reading ever in the Witch City:

Listen, I believe in magic. I believe in miracles. I believe in hopes and dreams. I believe that some have a gift, and are able to use more of their minds than I am capable of doing.

The woman we saw today in Salem...is not one of them. She's clearly someone who takes advantage of the tourism and the town. And that's okay too. Just not what I was looking for. ...

The Salem Evening News reports on a case involving a dismembered raccoon, a blackmail threat and a psychic hotline relationship gone bad:

... "What has been done here is not witchcraft," Watson, who describes himself as a witch, said outside Salem District Court, where he was seeking a restraining order against Graham yesterday afternoon. "In witchcraft, rule No. 1 is to harm none."

Instead, Watson told police, Graham hoped to frame Christian Day, a local Wiccan and businessman, after he let Graham go from his psychic telephone business last spring. ...

The witches of Salem apparently study other historical periods beyond the witch-trial era - such as the Robber Baron era of American capitalism. Gary McGath discusses their attempts to limit competition.