Harvard Square

It seems like each four minutes there's a new event happening in Boston proper or across the river where I sit typing right now.

These events range from knitting circles to test drive tweetups, and the thing these events have in common is that they're increasingly organized via social media tools.

So imagine my surprise when I found out this morning in one of the first sessions at the Social Technology and Education Conference at Harvard University, that this very conference was completely organized without any traditional marketing.

The Crimson reports on a new line of preppy clothes that licenses the name "Harvard Yard" from the BU of Cambridge:

... He said that a line of prep clothing bearing a "Harvard Yard" name did not run the risk of being elitist. "I think it would be aspirational," he said. When asked about student criticisms, he said that the line "is not geared for students, and is not being marketed to students." ...

Bill Forry reports there was a small fire this morning at 16-18 Eliot St. in Harvard Square, home to the Tanjore Indian restaurant and the IHOP.

Transit Police tweet some trackless-trolley wires are down in the Square.

Photo of workers trying to fix them.

Sorry, but clothing is not optional at Cambridge Center for Adult Education classes.

Namely, a list of spots at Harvard station that need buckets when it rains.

John from Cambridge filed this report this afternoon:

Just got back from lunch at Mr. Bartley's in Harvard Sq. where Food Network is recording an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. They had fill
lights all around the restaurant and everyone had to sign release forms before leaving. When we left at 12:45, the standard block-long line had formed outside. No sign of Guy Fieri.

Cambridge Police only acknowledge that after the woman's been dragged through the mud for a week - and after the woman's lawyer has a chat with the Globe.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Via Kisrael.com

Also, further proof of just how wonderful the Interwebs are comes when you look at how quickly somebody registered a domain name based on the incident.

And now he thinks he can get back to health care.

The MBTA reports the power's out again on the 71, 72 and 73 trackless-trolley lines into and out of Harvard Square - just like on Tuesday - only this time not at rush hour.

Via Laurence Grosbaum.

Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas said this afternoon the city is setting up a panel of "independent notable professionals" to study what happened between Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley last Thursday at Gates's Ware Street home.

Haas emphasized, however, that he stands behind Crowley and that nothing he has seen has convinced him that Crowley acted in anything less than a professional manner when he responded to a report of a possible housebreak.

"I do not believe in any way that his interactions were racially motivated," he said. He said every incident can be a learning experience and that the panel would be given full access to department records to come up with recommendations on how to avoid a similar situation in the future.

Also, the department takes great pride in its professionalism in a multiculti city and so was "deeply hurt" by Obama's comments about how stupidly it acted.

Sgt. Crowley tells Channel 5 he's not apologizing. And so it goes.

In an interview with The Root, Henry Louis Gates Jr. talks about his arrest and the outrage of racial profiling in America.

By Dayo Olopade | Posted: July 21, 2009 at 5:34 PM

STORY

No power on the 71, 72 and 73 lines in Cambridge. The T says it's replacing them with diesel buses for the nonce, but in the meantime, Mt. Auburn Street is a mess, Victoria Welch tweets:

big traffic snares and road rage.

The general mess there is probably affecting other bus routes through Harvard Square, such as the 77; Marcy tweeted at 6:39 p.m.:

Been waiting 21 mins. for the Evil77 that's supposed to come every 5 or less & a crowd was waiting when I arrived.

She later updates us that a bus finally came after 39 minutes - and naturally didn't have enough room for everybody who was waiting to get home.

DA ends case; city apologizes, Associated Press reports.

Here.

Via.

Seems Harvard prof Henry Louis Gates Jr. locked himself out of his Cambridge house the other day, so he tried to break open the front door, which prompted somebody to call the police who, when Gates refused to tell them who he was or why he was breaking into the house, arrested him. Gates charges racism, possibly on the theory that simply everybody in Cambridge must know who he is.

16WadeSt photographs kids sitting atop the T stop in Harvard Square.

Copyright 16WadeSt. Posted in the Universal Hub Flickr pool.

Oh, you know: Stuck train at Harvard. Nothing new. But signal problems at Wood Island on the Blue Line? The Blue Line?

The Crimson reports on the indictment of the Jewish student group's accountant.

Without any advance warning, the Harvard University Press Display Room bookstore in Holyoke Center closed on June 18. It had been in business for 61 years. I found out it was gone only when I walked by it this week.

Tomorrow (Thursday) at noon at the John Harvard statue in the Yard.

Harvard to lay off 275; all are office workers.