Jon Keller is on a roll: he points out to the right-hand side of the aisle that Lee Bollinger's smackdown of Ahmadinejad was not only wholly appropriate, but also about time someone put the phrase "speak truth to power" into more accurate use. (Two "finger quotes" up, Jon.)
I graduated from college many moons ago, but my major was in the "hard" sciences. You could not refute, argue or dissent from anything that read "Proof," "Lemma," "Corrollary" or "Postulate." I think this is still true for the "hard" sciences today, as professors of that stripe are somewhat more apolitical than the liberal arts professors - I can't imagine a physics professor marching around campus with the sign "EMF is not the answer!" or a electrical engineering professor screaming "Stop the Illegal Occupation of the Wheatstone Bridge!"
On the other hand, I don't think my political leanings would endear the liberal arts professors of today, especially the ones who believe in the so-called dogma of "social justice." That's shorthand for "highly educated, elitist, condescending white people so guilty of their good fortunes they fake piety to make themselves feel superior." In fact, I would write in the professor's review, "Looks and acts like Marx - and I'm not talking about Chico, Harpo or Groucho."
9/22/2007
Our new shingle...
Here's as close to a press release as I'm ever going to get...
Only in Boston, Kids! (onlyinboston2.blogspot.com) is no more. It's now Cleary Squared (clearysquared.blogspot.com.) Please change your bookmarks, links, next of kin cards, etc.
Only in Boston, Kids! (onlyinboston2.blogspot.com) is no more. It's now Cleary Squared (clearysquared.blogspot.com.) Please change your bookmarks, links, next of kin cards, etc.
9/21/2007
Making crab cakes out of cancer
All I ask is that you watch the video of Randy Pausch, a computer science professor from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and once you're done, ask yourself how a man with terminal pancreatic cancer can still have the vim and vigor of a freshly-minted assistant professor. Never mind your political bent - see if you would face the end of your life either severely depressed or looking forward to it as if it were a long-term vacation.
Courtesy of Power Line.
Courtesy of Power Line.
9/04/2007
Where has the middle class gone in Boston?
Leave it to the Globe Magazine to substitute to give its view of middle class flight. Our header is what the Globe should have put to make the article more accurate.
Boston has made a paradigm shift within the past two decades. What hasn't changed is prejudice and mistrust between the classes and races. One neighborhood fears declining property values (sketchy people, groups of kids acting up); another neighborhood fears gentrification (big luxury condos, luxury stores and restaurants) and commercialization (big box stores). In the twain are people who have lived in their neighborhoods for decades, paying higher property taxes - sometimes overriden over the 2-1/2% limit - for what is purported for education and health care, but ends up elsewhere, like the general fund or for pork projects.
The middle class in Boston is existent - but it is not as obvious as it once was. In the 1960s, Blue Hill Avenue used to be a enclave for the Boston Jewry. By 1970, it became mostly Afro-American. You have to travel to the far-flung borders of Boston to see a thriving middle class. Hyde Park, West Roxbury, Roslindale, and other parts of the city are good examples where the middle class has not been shoved out and force to flee to a better middle class climate.
What really ruins the dream of the middle class living in the Athens of America is what has oiled the cogs of Boston for centuries - corruption in politics, sky-high housing prices, elitism, a transit system that constantly begs for more money from riders and spends them on vanity projects, and a smug attitude of "we are the best," even contrary to the fact (viz. The Big Dig) . People who have never been to this city or have toured the city only see the surface of what Boston really is, and if the tourist trolley companies had an all-Boston tour, it would certainly take the Athens of America moniker and turn it into the Most Dysfunctional City of America.
The middle class notices this with a gimlet eye for BS. They are taking a look around in their areas, don't like what they see, and plan to leave the area, and quite frankly, I don't blame them.
Update: Here's a different take. There's also the attitude in the suburbs that "if we were like Boston, we'd be successful too, bringing in all that revenue and taxes so we can have better things." Building multi-million dollar condos in Newton will come after they shove a camel through the eye of a needle.
Boston has made a paradigm shift within the past two decades. What hasn't changed is prejudice and mistrust between the classes and races. One neighborhood fears declining property values (sketchy people, groups of kids acting up); another neighborhood fears gentrification (big luxury condos, luxury stores and restaurants) and commercialization (big box stores). In the twain are people who have lived in their neighborhoods for decades, paying higher property taxes - sometimes overriden over the 2-1/2% limit - for what is purported for education and health care, but ends up elsewhere, like the general fund or for pork projects.
The middle class in Boston is existent - but it is not as obvious as it once was. In the 1960s, Blue Hill Avenue used to be a enclave for the Boston Jewry. By 1970, it became mostly Afro-American. You have to travel to the far-flung borders of Boston to see a thriving middle class. Hyde Park, West Roxbury, Roslindale, and other parts of the city are good examples where the middle class has not been shoved out and force to flee to a better middle class climate.
What really ruins the dream of the middle class living in the Athens of America is what has oiled the cogs of Boston for centuries - corruption in politics, sky-high housing prices, elitism, a transit system that constantly begs for more money from riders and spends them on vanity projects, and a smug attitude of "we are the best," even contrary to the fact (viz. The Big Dig) . People who have never been to this city or have toured the city only see the surface of what Boston really is, and if the tourist trolley companies had an all-Boston tour, it would certainly take the Athens of America moniker and turn it into the Most Dysfunctional City of America.
The middle class notices this with a gimlet eye for BS. They are taking a look around in their areas, don't like what they see, and plan to leave the area, and quite frankly, I don't blame them.
Update: Here's a different take. There's also the attitude in the suburbs that "if we were like Boston, we'd be successful too, bringing in all that revenue and taxes so we can have better things." Building multi-million dollar condos in Newton will come after they shove a camel through the eye of a needle.
8/13/2007
Get your control freak hands off my "everything!"
We read this article regarding an overarching desire for change (through the good people at lucianne.com) and discovered a few things that shocked us.
1. People secretly adore criminals because they're the ultimate rebels, until said criminals turn around, point a gun at your head, demand all your money, shoot you dead, and your friends are agog at the ruthless efficiency of their criminal nature!
2. "Everything must be different!" is a battle cry for "We're so overwhelmed with guilt we can't stand it! Let our control freak flag fly, establish totalitarianism for everyone, make people exceedingly poor - except us, where we'll be off in our own island, using the same slave classes to bring us drinks and food chop-chop while we bang out press releases and enjoy the fruits of their labors!"
3. "Now normal folks are speaking out in their own media, and it just freaks out our socialist Ruling Class." That's because the socialist Ruling Class are a bunch of control addicts who deserve every bit of venom cast towards their simpering maws, including extended middle fingers, blogs that blast every single conspiracy theory to dust, and people who "just don't get" the spoiled elite and find out answers for themselves!
1. People secretly adore criminals because they're the ultimate rebels, until said criminals turn around, point a gun at your head, demand all your money, shoot you dead, and your friends are agog at the ruthless efficiency of their criminal nature!
2. "Everything must be different!" is a battle cry for "We're so overwhelmed with guilt we can't stand it! Let our control freak flag fly, establish totalitarianism for everyone, make people exceedingly poor - except us, where we'll be off in our own island, using the same slave classes to bring us drinks and food chop-chop while we bang out press releases and enjoy the fruits of their labors!"
3. "Now normal folks are speaking out in their own media, and it just freaks out our socialist Ruling Class." That's because the socialist Ruling Class are a bunch of control addicts who deserve every bit of venom cast towards their simpering maws, including extended middle fingers, blogs that blast every single conspiracy theory to dust, and people who "just don't get" the spoiled elite and find out answers for themselves!
8/12/2007
Notre T-shirt - 'Un piège de touristes… mais notre piège de touristes!' (Our T-shirt: A tourist trap - but our tourist trap!)
We went to Maine yesterday on the Downeaster and when we passed by Old Orchard Beach in the early evening, roughly 7:15pm or so, we saw crowds upon crowds of people lining the streets.
So when we took a glance at this story regarding OOB and French-Canadian invasion, we know exactly why they come down from Montreal and Quebec City.
1. The exchange rate about four years ago was 65 cents US to the Canadian dollar. Now, it's 95 cents US to the Canadian dollar. Also, the only taxes Quebeckers have to worry about is the Maine state sales tax of 5% for general sales tax and 7% for food and lodging.
2. Gasoline is cheap, cheap, cheap, even after they cross the border into Vermont. At the border, gas is about $2.88-$2.95 a gallon, or $0.76-$0.78 per liter - a full $0.25 per liter cheaper than what they sell in Canada. The further south you go, the better the prices are; in OOB, $2.79 ($0.73 per liter) is a huge bargain, compared to the $1.01 per liter ($3.81 per gallon) they pay in Canada.
3. Maine is not like the "big cities" of Boston and New York. It is truly a vacation land where a Quebecker can relax and indulge in the big waves in the sea and buy tacky souvenirs without the veneer of unsubstantiated stereotypes, like robbers and con artists lurking in every corner, and gangs of toughs intimidating poor souls and upping the murder count. Not every part of Maine is perfect and full of "Ayuh" salties; there are places where everything's not hunky-dory; the more unsavory of characters (bums, drug addicts) and the social fringe have filled the places where bustling businesses once were. More about that later.
4. Unlike other tourist spots in Canada, in which a leisurely drive from parts of Quebec may take over 10 hours, OOB and New England is easily accessible. Vermont and Quebec are an hour's drive away; OOB is 5-3/4 hours away; Boston is roughly 6-1/2 to 7 hours; New York City (via I-87) about 5-6; and Cape Cod is about 8-9 hours away.
So when we took a glance at this story regarding OOB and French-Canadian invasion, we know exactly why they come down from Montreal and Quebec City.
1. The exchange rate about four years ago was 65 cents US to the Canadian dollar. Now, it's 95 cents US to the Canadian dollar. Also, the only taxes Quebeckers have to worry about is the Maine state sales tax of 5% for general sales tax and 7% for food and lodging.
2. Gasoline is cheap, cheap, cheap, even after they cross the border into Vermont. At the border, gas is about $2.88-$2.95 a gallon, or $0.76-$0.78 per liter - a full $0.25 per liter cheaper than what they sell in Canada. The further south you go, the better the prices are; in OOB, $2.79 ($0.73 per liter) is a huge bargain, compared to the $1.01 per liter ($3.81 per gallon) they pay in Canada.
3. Maine is not like the "big cities" of Boston and New York. It is truly a vacation land where a Quebecker can relax and indulge in the big waves in the sea and buy tacky souvenirs without the veneer of unsubstantiated stereotypes, like robbers and con artists lurking in every corner, and gangs of toughs intimidating poor souls and upping the murder count. Not every part of Maine is perfect and full of "Ayuh" salties; there are places where everything's not hunky-dory; the more unsavory of characters (bums, drug addicts) and the social fringe have filled the places where bustling businesses once were. More about that later.
4. Unlike other tourist spots in Canada, in which a leisurely drive from parts of Quebec may take over 10 hours, OOB and New England is easily accessible. Vermont and Quebec are an hour's drive away; OOB is 5-3/4 hours away; Boston is roughly 6-1/2 to 7 hours; New York City (via I-87) about 5-6; and Cape Cod is about 8-9 hours away.
8/08/2007
Shut your damn cellphone off or else you get NOTHING
That would be the Boston version of this Bob Slate request.
Here are some variants of that sign for various neighborhoods...
Hyde Park: Please don't talk on your cellphone. (Hyde Park is known to be very simple and straightforward.)
West Roxbury: Like, your cellphone conversation, like, bothers me. Take it outside so, like, I don't have to hear it. (West Roxbury has had that "Valley Girl" kind of patina. Roslindale would omit the 'likes.')
South End/Beacon Hill: Hey, I know your phone conversation is really interesting, but how about fishing out your platinum American Express so we can complete your purchase and extend to you our wonderful customer service?
Dorchester/Roxbury: Hey, man...dig, I have one of those cellphones that bleep and chirp and I gotta tell you, they're convenient. But I gotta tell you - stop chirping now, 'cause I get it mixed up with my alarm system.
Charlestown/North End: Yo, you with the %&#$@# idiot device glued to your skull! You're holding up the $%#&@ line! You got FIVE seconds to hang up that phone or else you're gonna make medical history when MGH takes it out of your intestines!
East Boston: Hey, man...nice phone! Who you talkin' to, pal? Listen, my grandmother's just been learning English (she's from the old country, know what I'm sayin'?) and last week she asked me something about what you're talking about now...she thinks it's funny, but you know, Granny's forgets sometimes that certain combinations of words ain't good, and my mother, she's gotten quite embarrassed. You know where Cleveland is, right? You know what a steamer is, right? You put them together...that what my grandmother said in front of Monsignor Delgato, eh? So to put me in good spirits with my mother again, I gotta ask you to put the cell phone away.
Here are some variants of that sign for various neighborhoods...
Hyde Park: Please don't talk on your cellphone. (Hyde Park is known to be very simple and straightforward.)
West Roxbury: Like, your cellphone conversation, like, bothers me. Take it outside so, like, I don't have to hear it. (West Roxbury has had that "Valley Girl" kind of patina. Roslindale would omit the 'likes.')
South End/Beacon Hill: Hey, I know your phone conversation is really interesting, but how about fishing out your platinum American Express so we can complete your purchase and extend to you our wonderful customer service?
Dorchester/Roxbury: Hey, man...dig, I have one of those cellphones that bleep and chirp and I gotta tell you, they're convenient. But I gotta tell you - stop chirping now, 'cause I get it mixed up with my alarm system.
Charlestown/North End: Yo, you with the %&#$@# idiot device glued to your skull! You're holding up the $%#&@ line! You got FIVE seconds to hang up that phone or else you're gonna make medical history when MGH takes it out of your intestines!
East Boston: Hey, man...nice phone! Who you talkin' to, pal? Listen, my grandmother's just been learning English (she's from the old country, know what I'm sayin'?) and last week she asked me something about what you're talking about now...she thinks it's funny, but you know, Granny's forgets sometimes that certain combinations of words ain't good, and my mother, she's gotten quite embarrassed. You know where Cleveland is, right? You know what a steamer is, right? You put them together...that what my grandmother said in front of Monsignor Delgato, eh? So to put me in good spirits with my mother again, I gotta ask you to put the cell phone away.
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