Another water main burst this afternoon, this time under Bowdoin Street on Beacon Hill, buckling the roadway and sending a flood down the hill onto Cambridge Street, which had to be shut as well. At least this time, no bus or truck got eaten.

Brian D'Amico, who took the video, also posted photos of the watery mess.

Boston Police report a local man gained entrance to North River Outfitters, 124 Charles St., shortly before 2 a.m. by throwing a series of bricks at its front window until it shattered.

An eco-citizen on Beacon Hill complains of the annual December infestation of phone books:

Litter everywhere! Why are the phone companies allowed to dump a dead tree on everyone's doorstep?

Earlier:
The Globe's stupid pink bags.

Let's hope he doesn't find the giant shrimp, at least, for the shrimp's sake.

H/t Sarah J. Galvez.

Transit Police report arresting somebody too young to have his name released for the botched robbery attempt last week that ended with him being chased out of Charles/MGH by a group of fed-up commuters.

The teen was scheduled for an appearance in Boston Municipal Court's juvenile session on a charge of assault with intent to rob, police say.

Jed Hresko forwards this photo of some extreme passive aggressiveness: Somebody peeved at a cardboard box in an alley off Columbus Avenue in the South End spent some serious time explaining how to properly recycle the box - by writing down the directions on two sides of the box itself, because, naturally, whoever put the box out there will come out frequently to admire his or her placement of the box (see the second side of complaining).

At 7:28 a.m., Mike Connor tweeted:

It's officially snowing in Boston. Snow is blowing into the red line car "standing by for a moment" at MGH.

A train died on the Red Line this morning, of course, this time at Alewife. Also, the T reports issues on the Red Line and some commuter lines with slippery rail, caused not by the snow but by the pulpy, soaky remains of millions of dead leaves that just don't stop falling on the tracks.

The BPL's posted sketches by Robert McCloskey as he prepared the famous children's book, from studies of ducks (lots and lots of studies of ducks) to drawings of the Public Garden and the nearby areas of Beacon Hill.

Mike the Mad Biologist reports that a resident of the Beacon Hill street got so fed up with bags of dog shit being left all along the street that he or she put out a trash can in the hopes that dog owners would use it - and city trash collectors would empty it. Naturally, this being Beacon Hill, somebody else promptly put a note on the can that while the idea is laudable, the can "looks pretty ugly" and should be removed.