South Boston Convention Center

Pax East is not your typical convention-center kind of exhibition.

Pax East is in town this weekend, bringing a deluge of gamer geeks to town. And yes, there's already been one Mario and Luigi sighting.

Hint: The flashing alarms and the announcements to evacuate are a good indicator:

Protesting under a hot sun can wear you down, so protesters at the Bio show at the South Boston convention center came prepared with snacks, from cheesey puffs to boxes of cereal. Or maybe they were protesting genetically modified food stuffs in those treats. Courtney Sacco took some photos.

Photo copyright Courtney Sacco.

Seems that when a big convention is in town, the MBTA runs special Silver Line service to the airport straight from the convention center, rather than making people carry their bags on that long walk to the nearest Silver Line stop and crowding onto a bus there.

Are you outraged? The Herald is, to the point of displacing its long-running Indian Joke of the Day series from the front page, which today features end-of-world fonts to accuse the T of stealing "all" its buses to service fat-cat conventioneers. Who, the Herald grudgingly admits, pay their fares just like rest of us - but only after the paper's crack investigative unit did some undercover surveillance:

On Friday, a Herald reporter and photographer observed people at the convention center paying regular fares to board the nonstop airport-bound Silver Line buses. The drivers did not take normal Silver Line routes or make any Silver Line stops before dropping passengers at Logan Airport. A driver said the buses provide conventioneers with rides to the airport. A bus tailed by the Herald did not follow the Silver Line’s dedicated bus route, instead driving directly to the Ted Williams Tunnel.

The horror!

Ed. derail question: Why is the convention center stop so far away from the convention center?

Jeff Cutler reports from the New England Auto Show, which runs through Monday at the convention center.

There were a ton of cars shipped here right from the Detroit show and also a few vehicles that made their debut here. Count the Fiat 500 Abarth edition and the Scion iQ among that list of cool cars that have only been glimpsed briefly around the United States and visitors to the Boston show can boast they’ve got to sit in and play with the newest technology.

Paul McMorrow takes a look at the new D Street now that Southie no longer distrusts the convention center or the fancy-shmancy waterfront district.

Good news for people who keep kosher or just like the idea of easy access to a knish:

Hot Nosh Boston, LLC is proud to announce that our Kosher Automated Food Diners can now be found at our newest location the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The diners are located in the food court area and are available for use 24 hours a day. The menu will include Knishes, Onion Rings, Pizza, Baked Ziti Parm, Pizza Pockets and Mozzarella Sticks. The knishes, onion rings and vegetable cutlets are designated Pareve but are made on dairy equipment and should only be eaten before or after meat.

City, state officials are looking for tax breaks, road improvements to entice somebody to build a 1,000-room hotel at the South Boston convention center, the Globe reports. Best part is at the end, when the guy who runs the Mass. Convention Center Authority brings out the old world-class-city argument, as in: How can Boston be world class if it doesn't have a 1,000-room hotel at the convention center?