The Roslindale Transcript reports on some mini-toughs who began pelting a member of the local constabulary with snowballs outside the Washington Irving Middle School:

... The suspects allegedly threw snowballs at Wilson's legs and chest for 20 minutes as he gave chase ...

Is the Point the first bar in Boston to offer an RSS feed?

Jen reports:

Last night, whilst driving in Waltham (home to my lovely hairdresser who does wonders with the walking disaster that is my hair), I saw a sign that said: "No jake braking." Which kind of made me step on my brakes, but then I let up immediately for fear that I was jaking. What the hell is "jake braking" and why have I never noticed this sign before?

She discovers the answer, natch.

Oh, no! The Globe reports that Hargo, a.k.a. Geoff Hargadon, has taken down his "Somerville Gates" Web site because so many people were visiting it that he now owes several thousand dollars to his Web hosting company. The article's well worth reading; he's an interesting guy, who got his own official Day:

"Hargo Day was established to also recognize the human capacity for appreciation, wonder, and awe that can be achieved when small plastic things are arranged in a certain order near and around a cat."

Update: Jay notes that one photo is still online here.

Despite what you might read elsewhere, nobody calls that squattish Back Bay building with the weather lights on top the Berkeley Tower. Bostonians call it "the old Hancock building." Also, the building Bostonians now call "the Hancock" was built in the mid-1970s, not 1968.

Dave provides photographic proof that MassHighway is, indeed, trying to plow every last sidewalk under control of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation (you may recall how Mitt Romney fired the DCR commissioner after some West Roxbury High School students got hit by a pickup on a DCR parkway).

But, he adds, plowing trails by the Mystic Lakes has meant ">plant damage and future erosion problems for the lakes. He adds this interesting tidbit about just how MassHighway came to take over snowplowing duties:

... As you may recall, Governor Mitt Romney make a point of saying that he was transferring street plowing for about 18% of the DCR parkways to the Massachusetts Highway Department (MHD) because of the dismal performance of the DCR. However, this turns out to be a very misleading statement. Senator Barrios pointed out in the inquiry that it was in fact Kathy Abbott who signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the MHD and the DCR the day before the accident occurred. ...

And the winna is ...

It was tough, but at Brigham's Wicked Good Boston Accent competition, we (the three other judges and I) chose the guy below (first name Spike; last name lost to my sieve of a mind) as the owner of the best Boston accent. Click on his photo to see and hear him in action (in QuickTime):

Shelly was one of the runners-up. She had a wicked-pissa accent, too:

That's Karen Blake of Star 93.7 (and late of Belmont) they're talking to.

Brian: I find it hard to believe that there's no full-time Jazz radio station in a city as culturally aware as Boston. He also wonders why WGBH doesn't do more podcasting.

Boston Globe today: Bellhorn connects with quiet approach.

Boston Herald today: Mark of a winner - Quiet Bellhorn lets others talk the talk.

Soxaholix notes this sort of Sox double-teaming has been going on for a few days now and wonders:

... You think the reporters call each other after suppah each night like a bunch of 14 year old girls to coordinate their outfits for the next day, too? [In falsetto] "I'm going to wear my Ugg boots with my Hollister skort tomorrow." … "Oh, me too! Me, too!" ...

Carpundit reacts to the Herald story on exhausted Boston cops - if they're being made to work overtime without enough rest, then take away their paid details, at least until the city can hire more officers:

... In my career, I've worked many a midnight shift with cops who were too tired to be out there. Often, it was because they'd worked the night before, worked a road job that day, and gone home for four hours of sleep before coming in for the midnight shift. Four days in a row. There's only so many hours in a week. Cut back the details, and you cut back the cops' time at work. Then, when the department has to hold some officers over, it's drawing from a pool that isn't already exhausted. ...

File this under "cool." Steve makes the pages of the New York Times today, in a column about blogging:

Some vloggers are further blurring the lines between journalism and blogging by producing news reports of local interest. Steve Garfield of Boston, a self-described citizen reporter, took a video camera to investigate, among other things, whether election campaign workers were following the law by staying 150 feet from polling stations. He posted his report at stevegarfield.blogs.com/videoblog/2004/09/150_feet.html

Note that the Times not only provided the URL, but hyperlinked it for your convenience in the Web version (something the Times-owned boston.com doesn't always do).

Over at Editor and Publisher (the trade magazine for the ink-stained set), Steve Outing writes:

The citizen-journalism movement is where journalism is heading. Newspapers, if they want to stay in the game, need to acknowledge the "lecture" model of journalism is dying, and join in the "conversation."

Jo, in training at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, has an assignment from her food management class:

We must decide upon 5 apps, 5 entrees and 3 desserts to use for our establishment and our project shall be to create these recipes, cost the ingredients, comparison shop at other establishments to find out what the market can bear, etc. I have the concept already. It shall be a gourmet style take out / pre-prepared food establishment. We will sell things fully prepared and ready to go as well as salad components you can assemble at home and pre-marinated meats and fish for you to just follow the heating/cooking instuctions, etc.

She's seeking suggestions on what folks would want to see in such an establishment after a LONG day at work.

Jenn lives on Beacon Hill and wonders if residents really aren't supposed to put their trash out before midnight:

... Now I just put my trash out because it's really smelly and gross and some idiot yelled at me, "It's actually midnight!" I didn't see who it was which kind of sucks because I'd like to know who the asshole is that feels like he needs to yell at me when I'm sure 80% of the neighborhood will have their trash out shortly.

Jenn, send that guy down here to Roslindale. We'll, um, educate him.

Rogue Slayer Law Student works a few blocks from Lilly's, a Watertown bakery that burned to the ground last night:

I often met a friend from school there for breakfast of croissants and Earl Grey, and loved their sandwiches at lunchtime. Even when I was avoiding treats, I could just walk by at lunchtime and inhale the wondrous aromas wafting through the doors and windows, and feel treated nonetheless. ... Always lively, full of old and new friends, and that delicious combination of chocolate, fruits, breads, cakes and conversation. Here's hoping the Sidiropoulos family is able to rebuild or relocate. We'll all follow.

Fire details from Channel 5

Phlip travels to Plymouth and takes photos of the world's most boring tourist attraction - but makes it look interesting.

Michael: Hey, South Carolina, You Can Have Him.

John: Under the "other skills" section of his resume, do you suppose Mitt Romney lists "brazen toady"?

Jay worries about the impact on the state's economy of its governor running around denigrating the place:

... [T]hat's when we should care. He touts Massachusetts to CEOs as a great place to do business and then mocks the state on a larger national stage?

Just curious here. Is there anybody who's ever worked as a staff assistant in a Boston-area college department who hasn't hated the job with the burning intensity of 10,000 suns?

Karl has a close friend who is near death from breast cancer:

... I was lying there on my side and reminiscing about the fun we'd had the past few years. Before I knew it, my tears had created a fairly large wet spot on my pillow under my upper cheek and forehead. ...