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She obtained a high-visibility job that put her in a the position to affect the lives of thousands of applicants by intentionally and significantly lying to get her job - and now she and others want to call it an itty-bitty mistake - but only after she was caught of course.

Actually, she obtained a high-visibility job that put her in the position to affect thousands of lives by being damn good at it. Yes, she fucked up 28 years ago by padding her resume with degrees she didn't earn (to get a job that ironically, did not even require a degree). That deception was wrong, no question. However, she ended up being stellar at her job, and produced superb results for MIT and for the applicants and incoming students (and probably orders of magnitude more with her book on trying to de-stress college admissions). Pretty much everyone who has dealt with her thought she was the bee's knees. I'm not sure whether i think she should have been fired, lying is bad...but in this circumstance, it seems to me that the lie had approximately zero to do with her ability to do her job extremely well (and benefit loads of kids). Context matters, and in this case it's not totally clear-cut.

There are military officers who have committed suicide over less - but hey, this is the high-integrety acadmic world - blatant lies here are just - have a nice day - simple little mistakes.

Right, that's why MIT sacked her as soon as they found out about the deception...'cuz academics have no integrity. You are an idiot.

-Ted

she didnt just misrepresnet her degrees, she had none. She claimed that she went to various schools and had a phd when in reality the most college she had was some part time work and never completed anything other than high school. And the irony of this was this is the person in charge os admissions and very vocal nationally about how high school students should worry less about their resume. She got away with this in the public eye for 28 years and became the dean of admissions at a place like MIT. now that is impressive.

Boston.com has a much more informative article the summary does not tell you the scope of this.

Please ignore all that folks. Don't worry, in the future we'll have a bunch of new toys for you...

Suggestion to the brass: before you play with the high tech stuff, get the low tech stuff right first.

Roy Lichtenstein, anyone?

Bush is the first president in modern history who has never vetoed a bill, giving Congress no chance to override his judgments. Instead, he has signed every bill that reached his desk, often inviting the legislation's sponsors to signing ceremonies at which he lavishes praise upon their work.

Then, after the media and the lawmakers have left the White House, Bush quietly files ''signing statements" -- official documents in which a president lays out his legal interpretation of a bill for the federal bureaucracy to follow when implementing the new law. The statements are recorded in the federal register.

In his signing statements, Bush has repeatedly asserted that the Constitution gives him the right to ignore numerous sections of the bills -- sometimes including provisions that were the subject of negotiations with Congress in order to get lawmakers to pass the bill. He has appended such statements to more than one of every 10 bills he has signed.

Carter was more in the "Religious Right's" pocket than Bush ever will be. Were visiting dignitaries allowed a glass of wine with dinner while visiting the White House in 1978? Nope! Alcohol was banned in the White House by Carter.

Wine? That's your reason? Bush hires his top executives from a Pat Robertson (!) University.

Average mortgage rates during the Carter administration were over 15%! I don't even pay credit cards 15%!!!

You have good credit. So? Bush changed the bankruptcy laws. I'm sure he would've brought back debtor's prison if he was smart enough to know about those.

Inflation was through the roof (12%).

Highest home sales drop since the last Pres. Bush. Wait and see what inflation will be like.

Unemployment was high (7%).

Now it's too low. There's plenty of people working 2 jobs because no one can afford anything.

Deficit spending went through the roof (the deficit for the fiscal year 1979 totaled $27.7 billion, and that for 1980 was nearly $59 billion).

Same thing Bush did. Went from US in the black, to putting US squarely in the red.

Devaluation of the dollar.

The British pound is now worth $2 US dollars. A 26 year high (since 1981). Bush seems a lot more like Carter, don't you think?

Gas shortages.

Gas hitting $4 a gallon ain't quite the same.

Iranian hostage crisis. Failure to rescue Iranian hostages.

Held in Iran for Reagan's election. The amount of Americans killed over Bush's escalation in Iraq and starting a religious war is a little bit worse, don't you think?

Demoralization and dismantling of the US military

American civilians sending over armor to protect US troops, with Bush saying to knock it off. But it's okay to send Silly String to look out for traps.

Canceled the B1-B program as well as the MBT-70. (Both badly needed to compete with our enemy of the time... the Soviets who had the T-72 and the Tu-160 BLACKJACK)

The USSR collapsed. I don't think it made any difference what sort of Soviet weapons. We both have nukes.

I will pick up a few new items:

How am I trying to mislead? I quoted directly from Resolution 678. The UN explicitly gave the authorization for two things:

1. Implementing 660 and all subsequent relevant resolutions
2. Restoring international peace and security to the area

On item (2), I guess some other UN country will need to invade again and kick the US out, unless you are willing to claim that international peace and security to the area has improved. Surely that's not a limb you're willing to crawl out on.

And, while I said I wouldn't repeat myself, I feel I must again point out the fallacy in your overall argument here. Resolution 687 declared a cease-fire and reserved the right for the Security Council to take further measures as necessary. Therefore, 660, 678, and 687 are pointless in this argument. Further, Resolution 1441 does not authorize force.

The authorization from 678 and 687 was enough to justify military action multiple times in the 1990s...So, as Secretary General of the United Nations, I can say that this action was taken and conforms to the resolutions of the Security Council and conformed to the Charter of the United Nations

First, I've never seen the quote; I would be interested in knowing where I could find it.

Secondly, those military actions in the '90s were challenged as well, but they fell well short of invasion. And, to be practical, taking out a few missile factories or military airfields in response to large violations of the agreement (massing troops at the border again and going into Kuwait to recover abandoned military hardware) is easier to let pass. The 1993 attacks were supported by at least most of the Security Council (Russia was involved and France did a lot of the bombing).

More recently, the '98 bombings by the US and UK were roundly condemned in the international community. Russia, France, and China opposed the actions in the Security Council. And, it is worth noting that the US didn't use 660, 678, or 687 to justify those attacks. This was about the no-fly zones that were setup from the Safwan Accords and often linked to Resolution 688. However, 688 is not a Chapter VII resolution so it did not permit any military action for enforcement. The no-fly zones themselves never had UN authorization.

Vice President Cheney never claimed that Iraq was responsible for September 11, and I defy you to show otherwise. I remember a talk show that he was on a few years ago where he said that the Middle East is home to the fanatics that carried out the attacks, and some people misinterpreted that to mean Iraq, but he has never blamed Iraq for 9/11.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/09 /16/cheney_link_of_iraq_911_challenged/ This is but one example of how the administration used propaganda to those ends. The process was the same: White House sources leaked the information to the press, the administration refuses to confirm or deny it, then they said it seems to be true, and would refuse to deny the validity of the information long after it had been discredited. In the particular article linked above, Cheney doesn't say, "Saddam flew the planes into NY on 9/11". But he provides a very dishonest response, carefully calculated to continue the propaganda.

The facts that Iraq was one of the most active supporters of terrorism, especially against the West, are incontrovertible.

Then why weren't those facts used to support the war? The administration talked plenty about Iraq's connection to Al-Qaeda (intentionally playing on the Al-Qaeda = 9/11 connection) despite weak evidence that eventually crumbled around them. If there are tons of incontroverti

And MIT would finish him off once and for all with your cannon. 8)

In Russia they require permits and his permit was denied.Most don't know that here in the US you are required to have a permit also, just as they did in Russia they can refuse to grant your permit will try to silence your protest and just happened in Russia. If you March anyway you WILL be arrested for trying to exercise your free speech.

First off, if you read the news stories, they requested a permit for one area, were told no, and were given one for a different area. Moving along...

Your right to swing your fist ends at my nose. You do not have an unlimited or unrestrained right to free speech; see "libel" in your dictionary for an excellent example. Permits are required here too in almost any city or town of reasonable size, for two reasons.

Number one, protests usually lead to trouble, if they are of any size. People doing the protesting cause trouble. Or people tag along and take advantage of the anonymity of a crowd, to cause trouble. Or people who don't like the protesters cause trouble. Or the crowd by simple virtue of its size or density causes trouble with no specific fault. Say, someone lights a flag on fire, someone says "fire!", panic ensues, and you get people killed by trampling. Large crowds are very dangerous, because they have no intelligence: they have "mob mentality."

Number two, the city/town government wants a heads up so they can prepare, and see if you have any idea what you're doing, and if you don't, try to steer you into doing the right thing. Are you expecting 10 people, or 1000 arriving via busses? "Do you have a place for those busses to go? Do they need to have extra cops on traffic detail? Do they need to have a couple of ambulances nearby? Has your group caused trouble in other towns/cities? Is your message liable to inspire counter-protest? What are the counter-protesters like? Will they get nasty, even if you don't? Where are your people staying for the night? How are they eating? Where will they go when nature calls? Are you going to pick up all the trash you leave behind, or will we have to get the park department to pull overtime? Are you going to destroy the park's grass because of all the foot traffic, ruining it for everyone else?

Number two is important because more often than not, protesters only see their vision, and don't think through details, logistics, or the implications and consequences their actions have on the rest of society.

For example, most cities have very little patience for protesters clogging up major centers, where the effect will cause traffic throughout the city. That has a real impact on commerce, but also police, fire, and medical services for people that have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you don't like G8, NAFTA, green beans, Jewish Nazis, Yogi Bear, or whatever. The guy having a heart attack 10 blocks away just wants to get to the hospital, and his rights are just as important as yours. If a traffic jam prevents groceries from getting to market, and the market can't sell to the lunchtime crowd picking up stuff for dinner- well, maybe things are tight and the lost income means johnny the stockboy needs to be let go. What about his rights?

According to the Associated Press story:

Organizers sought permission to gather on Pushkin Square, a traditional site for protests, but city officials rejected the request. Instead, they approved Turgenev Square, about a mile east and away from the city's commercial and cultural hub. Organizers refused to cancel plans for the Pushkin Square rally and protesters started to arrive before 11 a.m. Police began seizing them a few at a time.

Some trouble broke out when protesters charged a line of riot police. Riot police responded, and the crowd broke up. A journalist was injured, riot police treated him.

Eventually the crowd of protesters melted into side streets, a

1) I find it highly offensive and irresponsible that the discussion on /. for this case (both this story and the one before) has automatically presumed that the disabled community is being used as a witless proxy for larger battles.

2) Having read and digested the entire nuanced thread, particularly posts like this and that, I have come to the reasoned conclusion that disability access is being used as a proxy for larger battles. I also duly note the similarly with the Massachusetts fight over ODF, but disavow that this is a pattern. Even if Peter Korn of Sun thinks differently. <*sighs deeply* />

I would like to quote a well connected individual who this all into perspective for me a week ago:

It is curious that the original inquiry sources a New York Times company product. The NYT Co. and the Sulzberger family that controls it have been highly skeptical in the advancement of independence for people with disabilities. The latest criticism and skepticality from them regards the cost and reliability of accessible voting machines. The NYT co. product below fails to explain that this is a simple contract dispute and does not involve access issues. Diebold believes it met the requirements of the RFP more than ES&S and therefore should be given the contract rather than ES&S.

The difference of course is that the Diebold system for access is completely electronic and would need to blend the results with the paper optical scan ballots while the AutoMark simply prints a completed paper ballot and no blending of results is necessary. The Diebold DRE is a lot less expensive than the Automark, which is their biggest selling point.

This is likely the last big contract outstanding and could add to the sale price of the election division when Diebold decides to sell it. The new CEO already has said in Fortune magazine that the election division is not a long term strategic fit for the company.

And I initially thought he was just being cynical!

Not that anyone at /. cares, but here is a link to Voluntary Voting System Guidelines which both the ES&S and Diebold products fail to completely satisfy.

In the 90s there was a great deal of urban renewal, and a lot of people who had moved out of the city starting moving back.

Much of the urban renewal going on is due to gentrification which creates more problems. One, two, or more people may buy property in a rundown neighberhood which they'll fix up. Seeing this others will as well which drives up prices pricing lower income residents out, many of whom rent.

Having done the Boston Marathon, I'm curious how she plans on emulating the experience of Heart Break Hill.

I think you are mistaken about the power gap between income groups shrinking.

Everything I've read on the subject (that is based in reality that is) shows that the income gap is growing enormously, as has been for a long time now...

Just one example, right off the top of my google is http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion /oped/articles/2006/04/19/income_gap_mentality/

And honestly, I'm 30, not 50, but all MY life I've watched as those around me, and then later I myself, work longer and harder just to not fall behind. Of course there were ups and downs, but the general trend has been lower quality of life and higher working hours.

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/07/28/fat.viru s.ap/index.html
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/ar ticles/2006/05/22/gut_bugs_studied_as_a_cause_of_o besity/
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/01/obes ity_virus.html
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/02/obes ity_environment.html

There is increasing evidence that obesity is caused by factors other than the willpower of the victims. It is very easy to be moralistic and point the finger at the fat among us but it may be profoundly unjust. It's kind of like shunning lepers or even shunning anyone who doesn't look like us.

My question is this: How is it that we now have an epidemic of obesity in third world countries whose living conditions haven't changed much and where most of the population is chronically undernourished.

If your body wants to make and conserve fat, it will do so at the expense of other functions. Starving yourself to lose fat means that you are also starving all your other systems and that isn't particularly healthy.

Indeed. I attended a week's worth of lectures on global warming at the Chautauqua Institution last month. Al Gore delivered the kickoff lecture, and, 10 years later, he reiterated Schneider's directive. There is no science on the other side, Gore inveighed, more than once. Again, the same message: If you hear tales of doubt, ignore them. They are simply untrue.

I ask you: Are these convincing arguments? And directed at journalists, who are natural questioners and skeptics, of all people? What happens when you are told not to eat the apple, not to read that book, not to date that girl? Your interest is piqued, of course. What am I not supposed to know?

Here's the kind of information the "scientific consensus" types don't want you to read. MIT's Alfred P. Sloan professor of meteorology Richard Lindzen recently complained about the "shrill alarmism" of Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth." Lindzen acknowledges that global warming is real, and he acknowledges that increased carbon emissions might be causing the warming -- but they also might not.

"We do not understand the natural internal variability of climate change" is one of Lindzen's many heresies, along with such zingers as "the Arctic was as warm or warmer in 1940," "the evidence so far suggests that the Greenland ice sheet is actually growing on average," and `"Alpine glaciers have been retreating since the early 19th century, and were advancing for several centuries before that. Since about 1970, many of the glaciers have stopped retreating and some are now advancing again. And, frankly, we don't know why."

While vacationing in Canada, I spotted a newspaper story that I hadn't seen in the United States. For no apparent reason, the state of California, Environmental Defense, and the Natural Resources Defense Council have dragged Lindzen and about 15 other global- warming skeptics into a lawsuit over auto- emissions standards. California et al . have asked the auto companies to cough up any and all communications they have had with Lindzen and his colleagues, whose research has been cited in court documents.

"We know that General Motors has been paying for this fake science exactly as the tobacco companies did," says ED attorney Jim Marston. If Marston has a scintilla of evidence that Lindzen has been trafficking in fake science, he should present it to the MIT provost's office. Otherwise, he should shut up.

"This is the criminalization of opposition to global warming," says Lindzen, who adds he has never communicated with the auto companies involved in the lawsuit. Of course Lindzen isn't a fake scientist, he's an inconvenient scientist. No wonder you're not supposed to listen to him.

Inspite of what you may believe, there is a politicaly motivated movement to ensure that scientists that do not agree with the Global Warming Consensus are not heard ...

How about you ask some of these people about whether there is not political agenda:

Dr. Christopher Landsea:
Leading expert in the field of hurricanes and tropical storms.
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory
- resigned as an author of the IPCC 2007 report, released earlier this month stating the IPCC was "motivated by pre-conceived agendas" and was "scientifically unsound."
- wrote a lengthy and detailed open letter to his scientific colleagues explaining why he was withdrawing from helping to author the report.
- "I am withdrawing because I have come to view the part of the IPCC to which my expertise is relevant as having become politicized." - "In addition, when I have raised my concerns to the IPCC leadership, their response was simply to dismiss my concer

Yes, skill-based compensation appears to be a radical concept in the halls of academia...or at least the public school variant thereof. Of course, we are talking about PUBLIC schools and teachers' UNIONS. Perhaps we are not in a dialog with a bastion of capitalists. ;-)

Some are trying:

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion /oped/articles/2006/03/29/taking_on_the_teachers_u nions/

Perhaps my favorite line from that article is:

Catherine Boudreau, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, predictably criticized Romney's proposals as ''inequitable, divisive, and ineffective." The MTA denounced the proposal as ''uniquely designed to destroy collegiality in a school," ignoring the fact that performance pay is routine in such other professions as medicine, law, and engineering, not to mention in the Commonwealth's first-rate universities, including those that are unionized by the MTA.

*sigh* Some folks need to leave the castle every now and again and see what life is like on the outside.



On that note, I have a couple of friends who are teachers. Yes they work hard and shape young minds. Granted. Good folks. That said, their stress level is about 1% of mine (working in a s/w dev field). Are they paid less? Yes, but their pay is not abysmal. Both make mid 50s...for a job with three months off in the summer, a holiday and spring break, a half dozen snow days, etc. Sure...they bring work home...and so do I. In general, they seem happier and more satisfied with their career choices than my friends in IT. So they make less. It's a choice.

We pay folks what we need to in this society. It's a fairly complex equation, but factors include skill sets, time to acquire those skills, desirability of the work, career potential, quality of life, and...yes...supply and demand. If we need better math and science teachers, we should pay for them. These are critical skills...and we should not let the grumbling art teacher get in the way of giving our children what they need (and deserve). Perhaps the economics and civics teachers should hold a brown bag on one of the snow days. They could discuss how autoworkers unions contributed to the quality of the American automobile industry...and how competition from the Japanese did nothing to help motivate the Americans to improve quality...and then discuss sarcasm.

BTW, I loved my art teacher. ;-)

U.S. Soldiers Force Reporters To Delete Photos of Casualties --- Meanwhile the U.S. military is being accused of trying to cover up the civilian deaths. A freelance photographer working for the Associated Press said he took photos of a vehicle where three Afghans had been shot to death inside. An American soldier then took the photographer's camera and deleted the photos. A reporter for Afghanistan's largest television station, Tolo TV, said a US soldier also forced him to delete footage. The soldier reportedly told the journalist "Delete them, or we will delete you."

Many books of antiquity have been bound in human skin. Science is not for the weak of heart.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/arti cles/2006/01/07/some_of_nations_best_libraries_hav e_books_bound_in_human_skin/

Meanwhile, Massachusetts, which is known for generally being stupid, is bucking its long-held tradition of stupidity by experimenting with longer school days. Check it out: http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg ?articleid=184827 , http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070224/ap_on_re_us/lo nger_school_days , http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles /2007/02/25/massachusetts_leading_national_effort_ for_longer_school_days/

2 billion a year!!! My god, that's a little over an entire week of war in Iraq http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articl es/2006/09/28/cost_of_iraq_war_nearly_2b_a_week/ And yet they haven't killed even one space insurgent. I demand a refund!

This is, probably, not enough to outweight the benefits, but is not anybody concerned about our sworn enemies using our scientific advances against us?

They already do that, but they want more...

"CompUSA Inc. will close six of its seven stores in Massachusetts by May 31st.."

http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2007/02/comp usa_to_clos.html

Exactly. You don't see terrorist bombings in Norway, because Norway isn't sticking their collective noses in other peoples' business.

I am quite certain that we will see things saying how appropiate. Yet, it will be overlooked that Windows is the dominant in totalitarian states.

If you wish to fire back, note that they're just starting a transition -- everything they've done to date has been backed by Windows. Now that Castro is about to kick the bucket, Cuba faces potential for renewal, and that can start with FLOSS.

Chavez is, unfortunately, on the other course. But while we've got former US Congressmen doing PR work for him Linux is the least of our problems. When they return the bribe oil and start lobbying for nuclear power plants or windmills off the coast of Massachusetts to actually solve the heating cost problem then we can can worry about computer software.

Kind of like how the sitting US president attaches "signing statements" to every new law. If you want to play games about how much or how little a country is a dictatorship, it can apply well to the United States.

It shows how even peer-reviewed papers can sometimes 'slip through the net' and get to publication with inaccurate data."

How about the misandry-filled assertations about how women use more words than men, have brains more "wired" for communication, etc? Turns out that everyone's been quoting each other and nobody can even stick to facts interview to interview.

What's appalling is that the author, Dr. Brizendine, not only holds a top academic position, but also has a best selling book that is full of "facts" that are complete fabrications.

I think this quote, by the Attorney General of the State of Massachusetts, Martha Coakley, sums up the overreaction and the unwillingness to look at the situation rationally:

"For those who responded to it, professionals, it had a very sinister appearance," Coakley said. "It had a battery behind it and wires."

(My source for that quote is a Boston Globe article.)

Oooooooh! Batteries and wires!! Run away!

My feeling is this: if I lived in the state, I'd damn well make sure I stayed away from Radio Shack, because I'm likely to get caught in the crossfire when someone buys a few electronics components and the SWAT team comes in to take out the "terrorist" with a storm of bullets. Have these people never, ever seen a homemade electronics project before!? For God's sake, MIT is located in their state!

1. Toss all politician into the sea
2. Encourage everyone to use solar heat and solar or wind power on their homes
3. Plant more trees
4. Stop wasting gasoline on mowing lawns

Problem solved. The bulk of global warming will be solved by #1 though, considering how many politicians proclaim themselves to be environmentalists and then oppose clean power projects.

From the article:

The companies said they understand that it was "reasonable and appropriate for citizens and law enforcement officials to take any perceived threat posed by our light boards very seriously and to respond as they did."

However, The Boston Globe gave a more revealing, if not vindictive, perspective:

The mayors also pushed for an admission from Turner Broadcasting that the region's high-intensity police response, now comedic fodder at Boston's expense, was warranted.

"We understand now that in today's post-Sept. 11 environment, it was reasonable and appropriate for citizens and law enforcement officials to take any perceived threat posed by our light boards very seriously and to respond as they did," Turner Broadcasting said in a statement yesterday on the cities' response to signs posted throughout the Boston area for the "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" show.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston and Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone of Somerville played key roles in pressing for the additional concessions. Menino was pushing for money beyond the direct costs with Turner chief executive Philip Kent within hours of the episode last Wednesday.

Curtatone threatened an independent lawsuit -- the city's lawyers were prepared to file it yesterday -- if his demands were not satisfied.

Menino and Curtatone were adamant that after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a marketing campaign that could be misconstrued as a bomb plot was irresponsible. And both have bristled at critics who have said the signs drew little attention in other cities that were also part of the ad campaign and suggested that Boston-area police overreacted by shutting down highways, subway lines, and the Charles River.

"The folks who second-guessed us because we did go out there and do our work, shame on them, because it's important that we did it," Menino said at a press conference yesterday.

So, in addition of asking for punitive recompense, the Boston officials decided that they needed to extort a statement to soothe their bruised hyperactive egos that they didn't overereact.

Because right now, you are the laughingstock of the US. Backwater hick towns in the south are laughing at what gullible rubes are you all are (I know, not everyone is, but you had widespread public panic when none of the other cities had a single incident over these signs). Not only were your people fooled and panicked by a light brite (which had been there for two weeks before anyone thought to call the bomb squad), but the police, city officials, up to the Mayor and prosecutors have all demonstrated a frightening lack of intelligence, reasoning, and common sense.

I know, in a post 9/11 world we cannot afford to depend on common sense and should rely on crippling fear and paranoia to get us through the day, but really. Even after learning their embarrassing mistake, the officials STILL continue to treat this like an episode of 24 and act like a terror threat had taken place. Heck, your news papers are playing along with the mass idiocy.

You would think after all the facts came out, the city would want this quietly brushed aside but it seems to be reveling in its paranoia and ignorance.

Finkployd

Since search engines somewhat care about links to pages and most front pages of news sites have headlines as links to the stories, I would assume that headlines on news sites have some significance. Additionally, look at http://boston.com/ and count the number of headlines on the home page.

Better hope it's not in Boston!!

Better hope it's not in Boston!!

The problem with most institutions like CEI is that when they fund the research, they typically add a clause that says that the results of the research cannot be published without their explicit authorization. (This happens in other fields, as well.) This is most likely not the case with either Branson or the Sierra Club. If it is, I'll gladly call shenanigans on them, as well.

Also, Senator Inhofe is not exactly the best source for such information. His position on the relative importance of the environment is well documented.

Since the so-called "Authorities" were made fools of, you know someone is going to pay. Fair or not...

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/break ing_news/2007/02/men_accused_of_1.html

"For those who responded to it, professionals, it had a very sinister appearance," Coakley said. "It had a battery behind it and wires."

Ooooo! Batteries and wires! Be very afraid! These are professionals and they can't take one look at an exposed circuit board and recognize a simple LED blinking circuit? Do we teach our bomb squads anything about electronics? One would think that they know how to design and build various kinds of timer and trigger circuits, so that they can recognize and dismantle them safely in the field.

I'm in the Boston area, and I'm embarrassed by the paniced reaction we had.

Peter Berdovsky, 27, of Arlington, and Sean Stevens, 28, of Charlestown, were arrested Wednesday night on one felony charge of placing a hoax device and one charge of disorderly conduct each, state Attorney General Martha Coakley said.

Boston Globe

Seriously this is pretty sad if there are felony charges for something as harmless as this. Intent should at least be considered.

Please stop mistaking the actions of Boston for the actions of the nation. This happened in Boston, and NOT in any of the other cities in which the EXACT SAME AD CAMPAIGN happened.

It's Boston being stupid, not the entire country. This is ENTIRELY a problem with the Boston area.

Remember John Kerry? Remember how he managed to make EVERYTHING boring? Remember how when he attempted to tell a joke he told the nation that all the soldiers in Iraq were there because they were too stupid to do something better with their lives?

That's what people from Boston are like - humorless idiots.

Which might be why Boston is apparently now bribing college graduates to come to the city. Intelligent people just won't stay, otherwise, as there's nothing useful done in the state.

The last time Boston was in the news was because the 2-ton tiles GLUED to a tunnel ceiling managed to become unglued and crush a woman. A tunnel that was built solely because the city didn't want an "ugly raised highway" and decided instead to waste billions of FEDERAL TAX DOLLARS to build a tunnel with 2-ton tiles GLUED to the ceiling.

Sounds like Boston has a healthy appreciation of the arts.

We do. We're home to The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Institute of Contemporary Art, The DeCordova Museum, and dozens of smaller installations in Massachusetts' 100+ colleges.

Looking for something arty in Boston? According to The Boston Globe's Arts and Entertainment Section there's no shortage.

Looking for public installations? We had CowParade cows which were placed all around the city and auctioned off for charity, for example. They were placed in public spaces after being painted by various groups or companies (for example, a local ice cream chain's staff painted one.)

The MBTA may have a tumultuous relationship with them, but there are quite a number of subway platform musicians, some of whom are extremely talented and enjoyed by thousands of MBTA customers. You'll find them in almost any station that sees a decent amount of foot traffic and is protected from the elements.

The MBTA also regularly purchases and installs artwork. Some of the stuff that was put on the Red Line around the early 90's is interactive- there's a gong which can be rang by moving a ratchet handle on the wall, and chimes at the MIT/Kendall stop which can be rung from either platform via similar handles. To this day, people still walk up and ring them.

THIS STUNT WAS NOT ART. THESE WERE DISPOSABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICES OF A PURELY COMMERCIAL, PROMOTIONAL NATURE, WITH A LIMITED LIFETIME, PLACED BY A BUNCH OF CASH-HUNGRY IDIOTS FOR A NATIONAL CORPORATION.

Boston has delusions of being a big city. So it plays let's pretend. The trains and buses have constant announcements to report suspicious bags. There are random bag checks. Bomb-sniffing dogs. After all, the 9/11 hijackers went through Logan! (Boston's single large airport.) The fear is pervasive and encouraged by both law enforcement and politicians. The transit cops apparently think themselve in the same class as London, Madrid, and New York. Boston, a city at the top of every world terrorist's hit list. It is all rather sad really.

The response would arguably be unprofessional over-reaction in New York. In Boston... we have lots of bad theater here.

Bare all this in mind as you consider Mitt Romney's presidential candidacy.

Because until it turned out to be nothing, it was unknown, in locations that could be consider ideal terror targets.

It's junk until something happens, eh?
A plane just crashed. - Junk

A plane just crashed into the WTC. Maybe News
The President's plane just crashed into the WTC as nuns and kindergardeners where visiting. Oh, okay, maybe I should pay attention.

A cute kitten stuck in a tree. Oh my god, why aren't people doing things about this?!?!?!?!?!?

Because until it turned out to be nothing, it was unknown, in locations that could be consider ideal terror targets.

It's junk until something happens, eh?
A plane just crashed. - Junk

A plane just crashed into the WTC. Maybe News
The President's plane just crashed into the WTC as nuns and kindergardeners where visiting. Oh, okay, maybe I should pay attention.

A cute kitten stuck in a tree. Oh my god, why aren't people doing things about this?!?!?!?!?!?

But a comparative analysis of U.S. casualty statistics from Iraq tells a different story. After factoring in medical, doctrinal, and technological improvements, infantry duty in Iraq circa 2004 comes out just as intense as infantry duty in Vietnam circa 1966--and in some cases more lethal. Even discrete engagements, such as the battle of Hue City in 1968 and the battles for Fallujah in 2004, tell a similar tale: Today's grunts are patrolling a battlefield every bit as deadly as the crucible their fathers faced in Southeast Asia.

GWB stated in circa 1999 that if he had the "political capital", he would invade Iraq--this was well before the dog and pony show of attempting to find a diplomatic solution. He repeated the same "political capital" nonsense in his inauguration speech in '04.

We opened a needless second front, went into Iraq without a plan for what to do after the initial phases of the war (Rumsfeld quashed any discussion regarding a post-war plan; and again, don't delude yourself...the "mission accomplished" thing was a cheap trick, one meant to deceive the American public) created a recruiting ground and haven for Al Qaeda, motivated all those millions of youthful would-be insurgents in the Arab world with fiascos like Abu Ghraib, Haditha and so on.

All the while, former White house interns are put in charge of something on the order of $13 billion (and much of it becomes mysteriously "unaccountable"), contractors with political connections get no-bid contracts and overcharge taxpayers to the tune of millions, and a war that will eventually cost on the order of $2 trillion keeps continuing with no end in sight.

I wonder how long your sort of blind party loyalty coupled with this sort of rationalization will continue...well, apparently you have the company of 30% of the voting population.

Uhh, wasn't guitar hero originally developed by a company in the Boston area?

wow, look what i found via one little google search: from the boston globe website

also, see the numerous other replies linking the website of the people on whom the article was reporting.

The govt is just like the mafia, beating me with a baseball bat
till a pay up!!

Coz if you dont pay, they will fucking kill you, because the govt IS LIKE the devil

MONEY is more important than LIFEs, which is really dumb, since money has NO VALUE, its made out of thin
air by the PRIVATE federal reserve, which is 100% private, by 12 central banks, including your evil Jp Morga/BA, etc....

http://www.boston.com/business/taxes/articles/2007 /01/18/man_holed_up_in_home_after_tax_verdict/?p1= MEWell_Pos2

Will the fucking govt just fuck off, if someone doesnt pay tax, LEAVE THEM ALONE, its not worth it, go sell some more BONDS,
if you are that fucking desperate for more money you damn assholes. Oh and get a real job, rather than work the damn tax dept.

Oh btw, mr tax man, there IS NO LAW saying you have to pay TAX, there is NONE, so stop fucking people up with the damn mighty law enforcement
of a GUN!!! Go away and die, I hope jesus comes back and turns you all to dust!!!

GOLD IS REAL MONEY, FDR notes are just ass paper!!

http://www.freedomtofascism.com/

There are systems in place, albeit mainly fixed location (for the most part) that perform this task. Shotspotter is one that comes to mind, along with FireFinder for larger caliber weapons.

What caught my eye was that it was BU doing this research and development. I lived in Boston for a long time (Cape Cod resident now) and still read the Boston Globe. Just about two weeks ago there was an article (beware, Undertone pop-unders) about the Boston city government looking into deploying Shotspotter in Roxbury and Dorchester, neighborhoods that have seen an uptick in gun violence in the last couple of years (after about a decade of falling rates of shootings).

Now, despite the OP's write-up, I don't anticipate F-16s with LGBs loitering over Grove Hall, waiting to drop a 500 lb. smart bomb on a triple-decker on Blue Hill Ave. Nor do I think that this will happen in Sadr City, Baghdad. Iraqi insurgents would quickly adapt to this tactic and hold human shields.

Bottom line, speaking domestically, the police depend on citizens to call in with a report of "shots fired". Anything that takes the voluntary calls out of the loop can only decrease response time, and it's the sort of surveillance that's targeted to the transient sound of a gunshot, not a camera on a lamppost taking indiscriminent pictures of anyone who happens to be on a particular corner.

k.

Dec. 30: When requested, scientific information ''prepared by government researchers and scientists shall be transmitted [to Congress] uncensored and without delay." Bush's signing statement: The president can tell researchers to withhold any information from Congress if he decides its disclosure could impair foreign relations, national security, or the workings of the executive branch. Link

Although I am sensative to the free information argument, I can see witholding things like weapons research, nuke material transportation and gathering, etc. There are just some things the sick people who have a need for such things should have to do on their own. What bothers me is any research that could impair the workings of the executive branch. Lets say the executive branch is working on promoting revised environmental policy loosened emmissions to save money. This would seem to say they could withold any public research that would hurt their goal.

So public research is not required to be given to the public, or even anyone besides the president. Should it be? I'd say in a vast majority of cases, yes. But I do think it is best we withold info that would make creating advanced weaponry easy for others.

Women mostly don't need to be self-taught. Colleges and educational institutions are happy to educate women. Meanwhile there's an increasing bias in educational institutions against males:

Schoolboy's bias suit
Where The Boys Aren't
Why boys can't be boys
The Trouble With Boys

and especially

How the Schools Shortchange Boys

It's not a big factor in this particular case, but one reason some guys are self-taught is because they've learned education isn't for them -- rather it's against them.