Worcester Critical Mass
I managed to get stuck behind the local Critical Mass tonight (background for the uninitiated) and found the whole experience quite pleasurable. It definitely added a few min to my drive time, but comic relief in the form of reactions from other motorists totally made up for any inconvenience. People laying on horns, yelling and weaving in and out of lanes to try and pass the group was a fascinating glimpse at futility in motion. The only thing better was the friendly waves and smiles the cyclists offered up to angry motorists. The event, the last Friday of every month, is still in its infancy locally. But has grown since the last time I saw photos; I’d guess there were 35-40 people tonight.
Another Pol quite new to the polls
You may remember two years ago, District 1 Councilor Joff Smith was given some shit for not having voted in a municipal election prior to his run? That was only half fair since the guy was away at college for most of the missed races. But what do you think District 5 (my turf) candidate Rich Balls excuse will be? It’s been on the street for about a week now, that Mr Ball has not voted in the last three municipal elections; his last vote in a local race according to the Worcester Election Commission was cast November of 1999. I haven’t seen a single mention of this in the local press, I can only assume a late breaking pumpkin carving contest or some such foolishness is temporarily distracting our local scribes. With the recent restructuring of the Election office, one can only hope there will be a poll worker on stand-by to walk Mr Ball through the process come election day.
Rushton on Rushton
There are those of us in Worcester who find great pleasure in harping on public personalities who don’t take advantage of the multitude of free, readily available tools available to spread a message; PR 101 stuff. City Councilor and Mayoral candidate Rick Rushton is officially off that list. Following up his two formal ad spots on youtube (1, 2) he now has a whole slew of policy videos laying out his plans in plain words.
Interested in Ricks feelings on education? Here ya go.
‘Hey Rick, what are your thoughts on local Business?’ Oh, that was easy.
What’s all this I hear about ‘3-1-1 one call to City Hall’? In Ricks own words.
Interested in Somervilles experience with 3-1-1? Here’s the Mayor of Somerville, Joseph Curtatone and his thoughts on the plan.
Not enough 3-1-1 yet? Maybe Sean Murphy, the Director of Constituent Services for the city of Somerville can help you with that.
This is how a campaign, even a local one, should be run. It’s not make or break material here, on the contrary it’s pretty basic stuff. But it take a lot of the guess work out of who stands for what in a city with a low voter turn-out and light media coverage of the municipal circuit. So to the other 16,835 people running for At-Large seats this year, please get off your asses and do something besides assume I know who you are and what you stand for. Thank you in advance.
Jeff @ wormtown taxi
Jeff drives a taxi. Which means he probably knows Worcester, MA better than you and I ever will. Most cab drivers I’ve known are good like that. Jeff also has knack for words, someone should attempt to take him out of his cab and hand him some real coin for his commentary. I’ve had Jeffs site ” Wormtown Taxi” linked over there in the side bar for some time now and he never fails to entertain. From stalking pols to play by play of local bridge repair; if you haven’t bothered to check him out, I recommend you begin immediately.
Start here.
What the hell is going on here?
Still confused? Let me help you with that:
“I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because…ah some…people out there in our nation don’t have maps and…ah…I believe that eh-education such as in South Africa and the Iraq everywhere like such as and I believe that they should….our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or-or should help south Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for our gen…”
Ok, so that didn’t help one bit. Can someone please explain this to me?
Taste of Shrewsbury Street College Shuffle
A few weeks back I made mention of the promo video the Worcester College Consortium unleashed on youtube, a spectacular example of how promotion can be, but rarely is, done on a local level. Today I noticed they have a second video up promoting the ‘Taste of Shrewsbury Street College Shuffle’. Now we’re right back at square one. This clip actually made me vomit, twice, with it’s crazy Blair Witch style photography.
Consistency folks, it’s not a bad thing.
2nd Rushton ad on youtube
Here’s advertisement #2 from the Rushton for Mayor campaign. I’m not finding anything on my own, does anyone out there know if it’s only Rick using youtube to get spots out?
Hot Chicks with Douchebags
This goes immediately into the best of the web category.
hotchickswithdouchebags.com
Pictures of hot chicks with total and complete douchebags.
With commentary.
What can I possibly add to that simple yet elegant description? A sample, perhaps?
FIRE DOUCHE
When attempting an upper level ‘bag hunt like the aristocrats used to do in England, to hunt the truly repugnant ‘bag/hott duality, there are some test cases worth avoiding entirely.Beyond even helping through the benefits of the collective mock that we provide here at HCwDB on a daily basis.
Can’t help save ya, perky ski slope nose brunette hottie with ample bosom. Your proximity to Fire Douche means any attempted saving would result in my whiskers getting singed by the sheer force of uber-scrotology.
But the choke necklace is choice.
I’m sold. link
NEWSFLASH – Neo-Luddites live among us!
1. Some guy gets his daughter a mobile phone.
2. Daughter uses the thing.
3. Dad looses his marbles when his bill is off the charts from over use and feels this must be news.
4. Diane Williamson to the rescue.
The only reason to actually read this drivel is, of course the money line:
Mr. Coulter admitted that he never read the contract and was unaware that “unlimited” meant “messages to other Verizon customers and 500 messages to out-of-network customers.”
Great, so all it takes to get some copy is failure to follow instructions? I can’t wait for the T&G Christmas exclusive Son reports: “Daddy broke my Cyber Stompin’ Optimus Prime”. Of course in this case dad has taken a sensible approach to his failure to pay attention; blame the damn kid. On the bright side, after dad takes away her txt plan and daughter dearest learns to hate dad, gets hooked on meth and ends up stripping in Vegas we’ll all be able to look back on this and have a good laugh. Right?
Anyway, as has been the case of late, the real story is in the reader comments comments. You wanted human interest? Well how about we throw in some interesting humans free of charge! Coming soon to a book burning near you:
I have an even better idea. Punish the kid and take away the cell phone. Text messaging is the most ridiculous,anti social invention I’ve ever heard of. Only half wits and immature people engage in such practices
-ALGORE
What kid needs to be using a cell phone to text anyone???? These kids are spoiled rotten.
Give em a cell phone with one plan only - to call 911 and two or three other numbers (like their parents???) and no texting - in case of emergency only, thereby removing the threat of killing themselves by using a cell while driving or cheating on tests. This is ridiculous. The technology is there, and some company could make gazillions with that kind of plan. It’s perfect for parents, if they would just learn to say no to their spoiled brats!
-Peg
I agree with Landline - just the phone please!
I don’t need the extra BS.
: )
-WPS
I have no sympathy for either the parent or the child. This whole usage of cell phones and text messaging is ridiculous and out of control. Outlaw cell phones I say.
-Me
I’ve also been the ‘victim’ of texting….although it was blocked from my daughter’s phone, something happened & it got ‘unblocked’. Well, it didn’t take long for her friends to figure it out & she thought she hit the lottery. It got way out of control, in our perspective & cost her about $150.00. She tells us she got carried away and was trying to counsel two friends who had recently broken up. I asked if it was worth $150.00 to her. It’s now blocked again….
I also work in an office and can tell everyone that today’s worker is different because of technology. It’s like the new worker has trouble with everything that doesn’t have ‘immediacy’. If they don’t get a quick answer, they can’t cope, etc. A college professor has also told me the kids in school can’t even read an entire chapter anymore. They ask for the hi-lites to study…again, immediate, quick info needed. Texting is killing our society.-Mom D
Where do these people come from?
Raindrops (and the occasional piece of twisted steel) keep fallin on my head
Good news kids, only 500 leaks are waiting repair in the Big Dig. Well it’s 500 if you don’t count the 2,000 or so already being handled by contractors and of course, the promise of future leaks. And if that wasn’t enough motivation to speed up your commute, the geniuses running the show have a sneaking suspicion all that water will begin rotting away the steel holding the whole damn thing up starting…well actually it already started So good luck out there. The obvious solution then, playing right along with Howie Carrs master plan, is to find yet another bright bulb from Worcester to whom raising tolls (and raising them extra for us asshat commuters with the best odds of being buried, literally, in this mess) is the perfect solution.
Now that we’re on a roll, any bets on how long it takes for the state to try and sell us a bridge. Oh, right, already working on that.
