Daily Archives: June 24, 2010

NPR Covers BPD 'Gang' Flier

Published June 24, 2010

NPR’s Tovia Smith reports on the Boston Police Department’s latest tactic to combat gang violence — shame. Earlier this month, I asked whether fliers that look like “wanted” posters might infringe on alleged gang members’ constitutional rights. People I spoke with about the story were outraged that more people weren’t, well, outraged.

From the NPR story:

Bishop Filipe Teixeira, who works with kids in Boston, says the fliers will make those pictured into targets, putting them and others at even greater risk.

“You don’t shame a brother. . . . By shaming me, you make me more angry, more upset and more violent,” Teixeira says.

Teixeira says the fliers also raise questions of due process. They look like “wanted” posters. There are no names — only mug shots — and instructions to call police with any information about the young men who are “known to associate with criminals and gang members.”

But none of the 10 faces an arrest warrant.

“Anytime you have guilt by association as a kind of smear campaign, especially when done by a police department, which has the power of the state behind it, it should raise alarm bells as a matter of civil liberties and fairness,” says Carol Rose, head of the Massachusetts Civil Liberties Union.

Hubbub archives:

Found: Tilted Boston

Published June 24, 2010

I made a lovely discovery while searching for photographs of the work of Ralph Adams Cram, the neo-Gothic architect who designed BU’s Marsh Chapel and the Bourne and Sagamore bridges. (We’re talking about his legacy today on Radio Boston — after all, his bridges are the gateway to summer for tens of millions of people every year.)

These are images of Boston from above, all taken with tilt-shift lenses, which are normally used to shoot architecture but can be manipulated to capture ethereal, dollhouse-like scenes. Flickr user RawheaD Rex says he captured these images for a yearlong project called “Tilted Boston.” I particularly love the aerial view of the Christian Science Center.

Music for a Tilted Generation

I don’t own any tilt-shift lenses, which can cost thousands of dollars, but I have tried my hand at fake tilt-shifting before. (Check out the Flickr group.) You can try faking it yourself with help from this tutorial or this super-simple automagic Tilt-Shift Maker.

Twitter, Circa 1913

Published June 24, 2010

This edition of The Newtown (Conn.) Bee is dated Jan. 3, 1913.

This edition of The Newtown (Conn.) Bee is dated Jan. 3, 1913.

One hundred years ago, The Newtown Bee, a community newspaper for the town about 20 miles north of Bridgeport, Conn., was way ahead of its time.

Will Smith, our Web developer, discovered a copy of the newspaper dated Jan. 3, 1913. It belonged to his great, great, great grandfather, Botsford H Peet.

In the second column, right on the front page, there they are: trivial status messages — updates no more than a couple hundred characters — about what people are doing.

Tweets. There are even little advertisements, disguised as regular tweets, throughout the list. Promoted Tweets, if you will. Consider this sample:

Miss Louis Bigelow, Warren Yard and George E. Wilson have sleighs bought of A. M. Briscoe & Son.

Mrs R. N. Betts has been prostrated with a hard cold.

Misses Minnie and Elizabeth Sinnott of Hartford are guests of their brother, Rev George T. Sinnott.

Pratt’s poultry food, Pratt’s conditioner for horses and colts, Pratt’s hoof ointment, Pratt’s ointment and Pratt’s cow tonic are remedies to be relied on. Corbett, Crow & Co. sell them.–[Adv.

Miss Anna May Betts, who has been ill with an attack of tonsilitis, is convalescent.

Mrs Daniel Honan has been ill with the grip, under the care of Dr Kiernan.

Another gem in Will’s newfound collection is a Boston almanac, published in 1848 and authored by the “eminent mathematician,” Dr. Wistar. In an article about tuberculosis, the good doctor poses the question, Can pulmonary consumption be cured? The answer is Yes! The cure is in a bottle of Dr. Wistarm’s Balsam of Wild Cherry, which is on sale now at your local druggist.