Harvard Square

Rob Sheppard witnessed the carnage at the annual pillow fight on Cambridge Common today.

Meanwhile, people gathered in Jamaica Plain's Hyde Square for, well, you know why:

Tigger photo posted under this Creative Commons license.

It's a Harvard thing.

There's a two-day conference that starts tonight by some group that wants to restore Harvard to its 17th-century role as a Christian theology school.

Sure, sure, back then, Massachusetts office holders had to swear an oath that they were good Christians. But Hebrews and Muhammadans have nothing to fear from a revived Christian university on the Charles, even if, as the Crimson reports, one speaker says Muslims, along with gays and abortion, are proof of the coming Apocalypse and another wants Christians to "reclaim" government and the media. Because, see, it says right on their site that:

Many secular or non-Christian leaders have also successfully employed faith-based principles to better our society or to effect change without necessarily being believers themselves. We thus invite all interested in exploring the subject to attend this conference regardless of their current faith posture.

Historygradguy went for a walk last night and photographed the Weeks Bridge in the snow.

Copyright Historygradguy. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Limeduck displays what he bought at the Church Street store, which is closing forever this Sunday (to be followed quickly by the other two Bob Slates).

"We won't pay for your crisis"

If you have $3 in your wallet, you have more money than Bank of America paid in corporate taxes last year. On Saturday, USuncut took peaceful action against the Bank of America branch in Harvard Square by protesting the unfair tax code and drawing attention to that fact this ginourmous Bank of America happily profits from taxpayer-funded bailouts and banking business but avoids paying almost anything in Federal taxes.

A notice was taped in the window of the Mass. Ave. store in Harvard Square making the announcement about the store, which has two locations in Harvard Square and one in Porter Square, an alert correspondent reports.

In 2009, the two Slate brothers announced they would try to sell the store started by their father, Robert, more than 75 years ago. Apparently, they were unable to find a buyer, and now the leases on their Harvard Square stores are expiring soon.

And in the stomach, around 2:45 a.m. Saturday, Wicked Local Cambridge reports, adding one arrest was made.

Brad Kelly was in the right place at the right time last night.

Copyright Brad Kelly Films. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Squonktweets captured an elusive snow koala at JFK and Mt. Auburn this afternoon:

The Crimson reports on changes at the venerable Harvard Square sandwich/pastry shop, which is adding a salad bar and a soup bar.

John Tammaro catches a couple in the act outside Charlie's Kitchen in Harvard Square one recent night.

Copyright John Tammaro. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

The Crimson reports the demise of Arrow Street Crepes.

This is not Tokyo at rush hour.

Danforth Nicholas took some photos of the platform at Harvard station around 7 p.m.:

The train I was on had to push another disabled train into the station. And then they both emptied onto the platform. Travel time Kendall to Harvard: about 45 minutes.

Photo used under this Creative Commons license.

The Feast reports a beret-clad guy upset with the quality of the print of "The Sound of Music" the Brattle Theatre was showing last night took his anger out on a theater cash register and destroyed it:

The enraged film snob decided to show his displeasure by vandalizing the lobby and terrorizing the staff.

Or as the Brattle itself tweeted:

Beret-man cuffed by fuzz. He (wildly) overreacted abt print quality. We'll get a new register. No one hurt. Head mgr heroic.

The Crimson reports a computer lab had to be evacuated when a student spilled some mercury:

The student had the mercury in his possession for no particular reason, according to Mathers. "It was something a friend gave him some time ago that he happened to have in his bag," he said.

The Crimson continues to stream news of the urine bottle and the library books: Officials now say the LGBT books were only accidentally given a golden shower when a worker noticed the bottle and knocked it over as he tried to remove it:

[I]t remains unclear why a bottle of urine was stowed in the library.

Out on the West Coast, states have a persistent problem with truckers relieving themselves into bottles and then tossing them out the window. In the summer, the contents ferment and the containers can explode.

Sara Scott wonders: Maybe someone was studying for a urine test?

With what appears to be urine, the Crimson reports.

UPDATE: It was urine, but it was also an accident - somebody peed in a bottle and somebody else managed to knock it over while trying to get rid of the bottle. See comments.

So stationing burly men with boiling cauldrons of hot pitch above the gates is out as well. Instead, Harvard is looking at other ways to protect students following 10 robberies on or near campus since Nov. 1, the Crimson reports.

Photos of a bygone Harvard Square, including the famous sign atop the subway entrance.

Colin Steele posts a photo of a mini-van driving through the Harvard Square bus tunnel tonight.

The Boston Foodie spent Monday helping to bake pies at Harvard Square's Rialto for Thanksgiving delivery by Community Servings. You can buy some of their work until 4 p.m. at the Park Plaza castle.

Cambridge Police report a guy who'd just robbed three men at gunpoint on Brattle Street early Saturday took a shot at a pursuing police officer but was disarmed and captured when he fell down some stairs as he tried to flee.

Kai Robert Kruger, 21, of Grozier Road, was charged with armed robbery and assault with intent to murder after the 2 a.m. incident, police say. The Crimson reports his three robbery victims were Harvard freshmen.

This comes just two days after somebody walking through Harvard Yard was held up at gunpoint.

Innocent, etc.

The Crimson reports a man was held up at gunpoint near Thayer Hall around 2:45 a.m. on Thursday.

Tiny Urban Kitchen reports on a Monday talk at Harvard by a chef who spends considerable amounts of time figuring out out what to do with meat glue (exactly what it sounds like, only edible), such as making "pasta" out of a paste made from ground-up shrimp and gluing pieces of flank steak together to make a sort of flank-steak log.

BostonZest reviews the new restaurant on Holyoke Street by the people behind the Clover food truck: "Love those rosemary fries!"