Paul Levy reports on a near miss. Complete with helpful diagram.

The Herald reports cheapskates from leafy suburbs like Milton are avoiding their towns' garbage-pickup fees by tossing their tony trash in Dumpsters and vacant lots in Boston. The Herald writes that City Councilor Rob Consalvo wants the city to install motion detectors in key trouble spots - such as behind the strip mall on American Legion Highway in Roslindale - that would emit stern beeps at people attempting to drop off trash after hours and take their photos.

John Carroll was less than impressed by Tina Brown's talk last night at the MFA:

Well the Missus and I trundled down to the Museum of Fine Arts Wednesday evening to catch its Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Celebrity Lecture featuring Daily Beast diva Tina Brown.

Of course it should've been called the Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Celebrity Commercial because Brown was there mostly to deliver a pitch for her new website, which she subsequently did in a straightforward and shameless fashion. ...

SuperMark reports that when his cab driver told him after an $18 ride that his cab's credit-card reader was broken, he told the guy he only had $8 on him and that he was breaking the law by driving around with a busted reader. Miraculously, the cab driver managed to get the reader to work.

Just because I can't think of one doesn't mean there isn't one. So why would a Boston Transportation Department worker block a Brighton Center bus stop and force a guy with a cane into the street to board a 57 bus?

Oh, of course there's a good reason! As the person who took the photo explains:

The BTD truck driver was parking to buy scratch tickets and ignored the man with the cane that was waiting for the bus. He threw the ticket out the window into the back of his truck afterwards.

Here's his license plate, should anybody at BTD wish to inquire:

Somehow I missed this account of what happened when some kid stole Ben Franklin's hat in Downtown Crossing last week:

... Ben Franklin catches up and starts whacking the thief with his cane, so the cop starts yelling, "Easy with the cane! Easy with the cane!" ...

I bet it's the Faneuil Hall Ben Franklin who gets mad if you take his picture without paying him.

Via Bostonist.

He manages to take up a seat without even sitting in it - or next to it.

Location

It's a faceoff! CT3 bus driver vs. SUV driver at W. Concord Street and Harrison Avenue in the South End.

Jason Laramie, who took the photo around 9:47 this morning, reports the two have been facing off like that for 10 minutes, blocking traffic (including him) all the way back to Mass. Ave.

John Ford reports on an apparent scam in Cambridge: A single guy rented half of a two-family house, then re-rented it - at a higher rate - to, natch, college students, and is now teaching others how to do this via that wretched den of scum and villiany known as Craigslist:

... Perhaps worst of all, the landlord wanted a single or couple living in her unit upstairs and now "I have drinkers, smokers and partyers who dance until two o'clock in the morning, keeping me up at night." ...

Mitch Blum tweets:

bummy kid shaking down commuters for cash on the [Newburyport/Rockport] train at N. Station...he scored $11.