Posted Mon, Dec 12, 11:28 a.m.

I very much agree about 'government' as "the perfect culprit." It seems to me that what 'government' needs, more than just about anything, is a really big marketing budget. Government needs to remind us -- or tell us -- what it's done for us lately. Things like clean water (EPA) ...

Posted Fri, Jan 8, 8:57 a.m.

It's important to recognize that the books coming out of an EBM are not like the books you'd buy off a shelf, though. The books are 'perfect-bound,' meaning that a wad of glue is stuck to one side of the text block and a cover is slapped around it. Sure, ...

Posted Tue, Feb 24, 9:11 a.m.

And, if she'd been drydocked, there'd have been a chance to get her back in the water at some point -- that's what happened to Charles W. Morgan, the last existing wooden whaling ship in the US. She was in several drydocks for a while -- one in New Bedford, ...

Posted Thu, Feb 12, 8:15 a.m.

When people talk about the "sudden disappearance" of any group -- Clovis people, mammoths, dinosaurs, etc. -- what do they mean by "sudden"? Obviously, it varies from situation to situation. But still -- is "sudden" a week, a month, a year, a decade, or what? In the case of the ...

Posted Thu, Sep 11, 10:26 a.m.

RE: Crosscut Doesn't Ride the Bus: I'm really proud of Peter Lewis' "helluva" career. (I've never heard of him, actually.) But I agree with Cornichon, Lewis should try riding the bus some time. I've always wondered why we were building light rail to the airport when we already had a ...

Posted Thu, Sep 11, 9:23 a.m.

RE: Can we really enforce this?: Thanks for the points. Particularly the one about land use codes; that clarifies it for me. Also, I do accept the points about limiting loss on private lands; the tit-for-tat argument above notwithstanding, how much of the city does the city own, not including ...

Posted Wed, Sep 10, 6:24 p.m.

Can we really enforce this?: I don't see a solution here. If the problem really is individuals cutting down trees on their property (which makes sense to me), and if the city then creates some law with teeth that will, say, imprison those who cut down too many trees on ...

Posted Thu, Jul 31, 8:45 a.m.

A true Boston sports fan: My brother-in-law is from the Boston area, though he doesn't live there now. He's a sports fan, and a Boston fan, so that means he roots for every Boston team, everywhere. Doesn't matter where he lives or what the sport is; he's a Boston sports ...

Posted Fri, Jun 13, 4:12 a.m.

Palpable referees: A few thoughts... "As I remember my first impressions of this American city, the desperation I witnessed was palatable." I'm assuming the desperation was, as it usually is, "palpable." I do particularly like the simile that our government is "like a referee in a no-holds barred ultimate fighting ...

Posted Wed, May 28, 8:12 a.m.

Lowry who?: It's funny -- I saw the headline of the Crosscut email about the "ghost of Mike Lowry" and thought, oh, yeah, I remember him. He was a US Representative. How did I forget that he was governor?!? I now remember hearing him talk in early 1992 at Kane ...

Posted Thu, Jan 3, 7:07 a.m.

New Primaries Plan: The primacy of the New Hampshire and Iowa primaries is horrible and pointless and not at all representative of the nation. And the result is this crazy Super Tuesday where something like half the states have their primaries on one day. Two states see the candidates for ...

Posted Fri, May 11, 9:50 a.m.

RE: Send 'em south: No, most cyclists don't obey the rules. If they did, it wouldn't be a problem. Bicycles are required to be as far right as practicable -- not possible, so there's no reason to ride in the gutter -- but you are wrong, they can't occupy a ...

Posted Thu, May 10, 5:17 p.m.

Send 'em south: In my opinion, Joe is right but for the wrong reason. He said "I think bicycle enthusiasts might get more traction if they focused on changing long-term behavior." The real long-term behavior needing attention is the complete lawlessness cyclists show. I think that bicycles are like public ...