Published August 30, 2010

A National Weather Service image shows the projected path of Hurricane Earl.

Afternoon news in brief from around the Hub:

• Hurricane Earl is expected to brush the southern New England coast with rain and high winds. Kudos to Universal Hub for the best headline, graphic. (Universal Hub, Globe)
• Former Red Sox great Roger Clemens pleaded not guilty of perjury in a steroids case. (New York Times)
• Brookline police are looking for a missing officer. Thomas Shea has a gun and is “undergoing financial difficulties.” (WBUR)
• A federal judge in Boston has begun hearing arguments for a new trial from Gary Lee Sampson, who faces the death penalty for a week-long crime spree in 2001. (NECN)
• A Springfield has pleaded not guilty to charges of driving drunk and hitting and killing a 22-year-old man who was getting the mail at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. (AP)
• A golfer in Canton hit two holes in one in the same round. (WCVB)
• The time machine at MIT has moved from the little dome to the top of the Great Dome. (Universal Hub)
• White tigers are new to the Spencer Fair this year. (Telegram & Gazette)

Published August 30, 2010

I think my head just exploded. Apparently, the Boston Herald Traveler (a precursor to today’s Herald) used to run column titled “Hub-Bub.” And in this recently uncovered archive from Feb. 23, 1971, the hubbub is about a WBUR “radio soap opera” called Harvard Square. It sounded awesome:

WBUR, BU’s enterprising radio station, broadcasts “Harvard Square” Sundays through Thursdays at 11:15 p.m.–a program that centers around (sic) Harvard Square as seen through the eyes and experience of Scott Langer, a fictitious BU sophomore.

The first such show ever produced in the Hub! This was, of course, when WBUR was student-run radio (“Boston University Radio”).

For a fascinating historical detour, check the Wikipedia page of the Boston Herald, which has changed names or owners some 10 times since 1846. The American Traveler, eventually absorbed by the Herald, once served as a bulletin for stagecoach listings beginning in 1825, according to the source cited by the Wikipedia page.

Published August 30, 2010

This is a follow-up to my breakup letter to Brookline.

____

You're not so bad, Brookline. (Night Owl City/Flickr)

Dear Brookline:

Can we still be friends? Look, I realize it wasn’t classy to break up with you via blog post. But I wouldn’t have gone to the effort if I didn’t care.

I’m two weeks older and wiser since I wrote you, and I’ve done a lot of thinking.

A lot of your people are making fun of me for moving to a neighborhood they consider equally snooty, with equally bad parking and equally ridiculous rules. Even my new demonym — Cantabrigian — is pretentious, they say. But I find life to be quite easy on the other side of the river. With a residential parking permit, parking is no problem at all.

Others called me out for complaining about you instead of being more involved — calling my representatives, attending town council meetings and the like.

But I’m in my 20s, Brookline. I don’t have family here or a mortgage or any lasting ties to where I live. I never wanted anything too serious.

And that’s where we went wrong. We met at the wrong time.

You’re a beautiful town, Brookline. You have great schools, safe neighborhoods and quiet streets after 10 p.m. And many people who own a home there probably have a driveway or a garage and don’t care about your overnight parking rules.

As you so elegantly said in your reply, I’m just too young for you. And maybe in a few years, when I’m ready to settle down, we can try again.

Yours truly,
Andrew.

Published August 30, 2010

The students are back.

Welcome to Boston, young man. (Dan Foy/Flickr)

Harvard kids (starting classes Wednesday) or MIT kids (starting next week) should check out the list of links and tips from the City of Cambridge, including bike maps, street-cleaning days, farmers markets and parking information.

Boston kids could follow the new blog for ONEIN3 Boston, which is named for the one-third of Boston’s population between age 20 and 34. The Massachusetts secretary of state has a complete guide for the new Bay Stater.

The Neave Online Publication has some grown-up advice for college freshmen on a topic that admissions officers won’t touch: sex. And for the adults, Benoit College’s annual Mindset List is out to help bridge the generation gap with the Class of 2014.

Meanwhile, some Twitterers submitted their own advice:

• Sometimes the polite thing to do is to take the empty seat on the bus. No one can sit when you block it & you’re in the way. (@RachelCraves)
• When on the #mbta, remember to take your backpacks off & put on the floor. The same goes for non-students as well! (@aliphin)
• Pls don’t walk in mass groups off campus. It causes foot traffic. (@BaDaBingLany)
• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes; Pick challenging classes over GPA Boosters; Meet people and polish social skills (@bzheng)

What is your advice for incoming students?

Published August 30, 2010

We're in the dog days of summer. (Shot in May 2010 in Boston by Peter Pelisek/Flickr)

Overheard in the waiting room at the dentist:

Summah’s ovah.

It ain’t over till a Bostonian says it’s over. How are you marking the waning days of summer?