Here's my full disclosure regarding open-source/Free software issues: My brother once worked for the Free Software Foundation, which essentially invented open-source; he now works for, and I have stock in,...
By Charley on the MTA | Read Article | Comments (0)
November 24, 2005 | Oh the huM&Mity!The NYT reports: In a replay of a similar 1997 incident, the MM balloon at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City flew out of control, struck a...
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Happy ThanksgivingI'm heading off to the homestead for the traditional gathering of family and friends, and the annual exercise in overeating. I chipped in a donation to Rosie's Place this morning....
By David | Read Article | Comments (1)
November 23, 2005 | The wingnut-wanker continuum, revealed at last!From the always hilarious Editors over at Poor man, this fantastic graph of political figures and pundits, plotted on an x-axis of wankery vs. a y-axis of wingnuttery (click to...
By David | Read Article | Comments (0)
November 18, 2005 | Heavy navel-gazing on the blogiversarySo, we've been doing this for a year. I thought I'd share some personal thoughts... Early on in 2004, David and I started sending emails back and forth about doing...
By Charley on the MTA | Read Article | Comments (2)
Happy Birthday!As Bob said earlier this morning, today is Blue Mass. Group's first birthday. Frankly, a year ago I had no idea whether the three of us were cut out to...
By David | Read Article | Comments (10)
One Year for America and BMGA full 12 months have passed since David approached Charley and me with the idea for Blue Mass Group. Hurray for the thousands of activists that have united around this...
By Bob | Read Article | Comments (1)
November 06, 2005 | The West Wing "live debate"I just watched The West Wing's live debate between presidential candidates Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) and Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda). Enjoyable, entertaining TV. Even some interesting political points made. But...
By David | Read Article | Comments (3)
October 16, 2005 | 100,000 and counting!I'm pleased to report that some time this morning Blue Mass. Group received its 100,000th unique visitor since we went online at the end of November 2004. It took us...
By David | Read Article | Comments (2)
October 11, 2005 | Current.tvCurrent TV, the new San Francisco based cable channel chaired by Al Gore, offers a 24-hour stream of mini documentaries about ten minutes long. I watched the channel a lot...
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October 07, 2005 | I'll take StockholmSo, the Nobel prizes have been coming out this week, physics blah blah blah, peace yadda yadda whatnot. Look, genocidal radio-liar Jay Severin awarded himself a Pulitzer. Bill O'Reilly nabbed...
By Charley on the MTA | Read Article | Comments (4)
September 07, 2005 | The Theory of Disaster ReliefBy Bob | Read Article | Comments (3)
September 03, 2005 | Is FEMA Running Iraq As Well?An interesting piece today from Bill Fisher: Iraq “is failing, or perhaps already failed”, says an American contactor who continues to carry out economic development work there as the country...
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September 01, 2005 | What they're saying about usHere's some of what the outside world (outside the blogosphere, that is) has to say about Blue Mass. Group. If you happen across something that we haven't linked here, please...
By David | Read Article | Comments (0)
August 28, 2005 | Traffic on Blue Mass. GroupA regular reader posted a comment asking how many visitors Blue Mass. Group receives, and I thought other readers might be interested as well. These numbers are of course approximate...
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August 25, 2005 | Reality from IraqA bit of reality from Iraq should BMG readers want to take a break from MA politics: Under US noses, brutal insurgents rule Sunni citadel. Guardian gains rare access to...
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August 12, 2005 | Rove: The Other White MeatOutrage down here in New York (where this Massachusetts native finds himself temporarily transplanted) continues to bubble over a piece in the New York Press on 7/20 Death to the...
By Bob | Read Article | Comments (1)
August 09, 2005 | Blogroll updateWe are pleased to welcome two fairly recent additions to the Massachusetts progressive blogging community: Walk in Brain, written by recent MA transplant Wes F., and Dirty Water, whose author...
By David | Read Article | Comments (1)
Hey, check out the weird graphic!As you've undoubtedly noticed by now, I put a fairly primitive-looking stay-at-the-top box on our main page to create one-stop shopping for all of your Second Middlesex Senate race needs....
By David | Read Article | Comments (4)
July 23, 2005 | Excuse me.... is this strawman organic?Cookbook author Julie Powell writes an op-ed in the Times decrying the supposed gastronomic and class snobbery of those who buy organic food, finding herself uncomfortable in Whole Foods and...
By Charley on the MTA | Read Article | Comments (3)
July 20, 2005 | We're baaaaack!Well, after being unceremoniously dumped from Google News a few weeks back, it looks like we're back in! I received an email today passing along the good news. Might take...
By David | Read Article | Comments (3)
July 19, 2005 | Cell phones - one more thingOK, here's the last word on cell phones, at least for now. Seen yesterday while driving in Belmont: an older man riding his bicycle, not wearing a helmet, talking on...
By David | Read Article | Comments (6)
July 14, 2005 | U.S.A.F. Lifts London Travel BanFrom the Stories You Don't See Covered in The Boston Globe, or Why We Live in a Bubble Even Though We Think We Are Well Informed file: The ban on...
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July 11, 2005 | Google News blows off the blogsFor a while our posts were getting picked up on Google News. Which was pretty cool - it brought in readers we wouldn't otherwise get, plus we got to see...
By David | Read Article | Comments (7)
There's no blueberries in here.This is just doggone funny. (Thanks to Universal Hub for the...
By Charley on the MTA | Read Article | Comments (0)
June 28, 2005 | Blogroll maintenanceLast Friday was Dan Kennedy's last post over at Media Log, which has long been one of the more interesting reads around these parts. We will miss him. And now...
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June 24, 2005 | Home Sweet HomeDevoted readers of this page have noted that for the past two months my girlfriend and I have been traveling from Hong Kong to Istanbul through Central Asia: China, Kazakhstan,...
By Bob | Read Article | Comments (5)
June 14, 2005 | Mass. rules again!So the latest smartest state to dumbest state rankings are out, and once again, Massachusetts tops the list. (As Eugene Volokh accurately points out, though, these rankings really don't measure...
By David | Read Article | Comments (1)
June 07, 2005 | Divorce is, like, SO gayThe latest from Pope Benedict XVI:The various forms of the dissolution of matrimony today, like free unions, trial marriages and going up to pseudo-matrimonies by people of the same sex,...
By David | Read Article | Comments (10)
June 01, 2005 | A cheap shot (I couldn't resist)Hat tip to Poorman for this Reuters report:Amnesty International appeared to base some of its allegations on detainees, people who hate America, people that have been trained in some instances...
By David | Read Article | Comments (3)
May 27, 2005 | So it DOES make you go blind!The NYT reports:The Food and Drug Administration said today that it had asked Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drug maker, to amend its warnings on Viagra in response to scattered...
By David | Read Article | Comments (2)
May 19, 2005 | Life is cheapI know Tom Friedman takes a beating in liberal circles, but I really thought he brought up an important point yesterday about the violence in Afghanistan, supposedly/maybe not linked to...
By Charley on the MTA | Read Article | Comments (1)
May 15, 2005 | You know, they're not really THAT differentThis is really too good:Because of a transcription error, an article last Sunday in Summer Movies, Part 2 of this section, about the director Don Roos rendered a word incorrectly...
By David | Read Article | Comments (1)
May 10, 2005 | Crazies at KosSo I cross-posted my Baker for Governor?? post over at Daily Kos. And the comment thread it generated, though not huge, is pretty amazing (at least to me). In particular,...
By David | Read Article | Comments (9)
May 03, 2005 | What a curious town Washington DC must beThis appreciation by the always-interesting Murray Waas of the late Baron Edward von Kloberg III just makes you realize that it really does take all...
By David | Read Article | Comments (0)
Thanks, I'm here all week ... try the steak!Well, here's our answer: Charisma boot camp, is, in fact, the comedy club stage:A good stand-up can walk into a room, a bar with no stage and a shit mic,...
By Charley on the MTA | Read Article | Comments (1)
April 29, 2005 | Quote of the dayI just love this. From Jim Bouton (ex-Yankee pitcher and now author) on whether a gay baseball player would be accepted by his fans and teammates:I would say that the...
By David | Read Article | Comments (2)
April 27, 2005 | I dunno - you tell meI am not making this up. We report, you decide. (Click image to...
By David | Read Article | Comments (0)
April 21, 2005 | Mmmmm....beer....From BlogBeat via the Fray comes this breaking news. No sooner did the white smoke start wafting up from the Vatican than the brewers of Pope Benedict XVI's hometown in...
By David | Read Article | Comments (1)
April 20, 2005 | Did Someone Ask for a Subway?HONG KONG – There have in the past been occasional murmers of complaint about the quality of service on our MBTA. Those looking for models for improvement should consider the...
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April 16, 2005 | Outside the BubbleHONG KONG – I stepped out of The Bubble as soon as I stepped on to Korean Airlines 7854 from New York to Inchon Korea. The Bubble is the current...
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April 09, 2005 | More truly terrible musicFrom the Talent Show, via Crooks and Liars, comes this astoundingly bad music video, which we are pleased to bring you as part of our ongoing search for the worst...
By David | Read Article | Comments (1)
April 08, 2005 | Lessons from EinsteinThis op-ed in today's NY Times is much longer than most NYT op-eds. Yet its focus has little to do with the pressing issues of the day, the stuff of...
By David | Read Article | Comments (1)
April 04, 2005 | Pollution is so, like, last week.Jerome à Paris has a très nifty post à Daily Kos about the wave of the future, wind power. Great pictures, too. And there's something we can do to promote...
By Charley on the MTA | Read Article | Comments (8)
March 28, 2005 | No, look, they really are trying to kill you.Supersize me: MIAMI - Burger King began offering two new breakfast sandwiches Monday, including one that packs more calories and fat than a Whopper.The Enormous Omelet Sandwich carries 730 calories...
By Charley on the MTA | Read Article | Comments (0)
March 23, 2005 | With friends like this ...In our continuing series demonstrating that the Bush administration has been responsible, directly or indirectly, for some of the worst music ever created on this planet (or, quite likely, any...
By David | Read Article | Comments (1)
March 20, 2005 | Culchah Cornah: My least favorite kind of music reviewPerhaps this should go under How to Kill Classical Music Part MMMCLXLI (with apologies to Greg Sandow, e.g.) Bernard Holland's review of a new CD of Brahms 1st Symphony manages...
By Charley on the MTA | Read Article | Comments (1)
March 12, 2005 | Regressives Run from ResponsibilityAn instructive piece today from regressive David Brooks. The pundit had a rich meal in New Orleans, asked for decaffinated coffee, then lamented this, in his words, pusillanimous request. Why...
By Bob | Read Article | Comments (0)
March 07, 2005 | Live in Boston: The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to JohnIf you've read our About page, you know that Charley on the MTA and I are both classical singers (in addition to our highly lucrative day job as bloggers). And...
By David | Read Article | Comments (3)
February 28, 2005 | People who are much, much smarter than you or meThis interesting article in the New Yorker about ultra-geniuses Albert Einstein and Kurt Gödel is well worth reading (it's in part a review of Rebecca Goldstein's new book called Incompleteness:...
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February 24, 2005 | Pretty much sums it upGood old Tom Tomorrow. Click the image for the full-size, ez-2-read version. (Hat tip:...
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February 21, 2005 | Deregulate the public sectorSo, the Times checks into Philadelphia's providing of wireless broadband to its citizens. Verizon, of course, went totally ballistic, and strong-armed the governor of PA into signing a bill forbidding...
By Charley on the MTA | Read Article | Comments (0)
February 09, 2005 | Google continues its march toward world dominationI just tried Google's new map/directions feature, which you can try for your very own self here. It's really, really good. Much better than any other I've used. Which means...
By David | Read Article | Comments (1)
February 06, 2005 | Genius, Dynasty...And let's add... Democrat. Fantastic team. Heady QB. Amazing coaching staff -- to the point of near-clairvoyance. Give it up for THREE....
By Charley on the MTA | Read Article | Comments (1)
February 02, 2005 | GET OFF THE PHONE!Sorry to get all liberal/paternalistic, but I really think we need a law banning cell phone use while driving. Link:A report from the University of Utah says when motorists between...
By Charley on the MTA | Read Article | Comments (3)
January 23, 2005 | Is Mimi sick with a bacteria, or a virus?I'm not going to link to a bad review out of respect for fellow musicians, so I'll just quote this for you, from today's Globe, in a review of a...
By Charley on the MTA | Read Article | Comments (0)
January 21, 2005 | Dog Paddles O'Reilly's AssTired of our steady diet of tightly reasoned thought-provoking commentary that reinforced what you already knew? Take a break from your feverish reading of the sports pages in preparation for...
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January 15, 2005 | All the President's ballsAs you undoubtedly know, there are several balls planned for W's inauguration, all with names like Constitution Ball, Freedom Ball, Independence Ball, etc. Now, coming up with humorous names for...
By David | Read Article | Comments (0)
J.S. Bach is still speakingLast night I attended a concert featuring some choral works of J.S. Bach. I was struck by the following passage from Bach's Cantata no. 179, sung by the tenor soloist...
By David | Read Article | Comments (1)
January 13, 2005 | Sleepy, Doc?The idea that a resident doc is made to work over 30 hours at a stretch is insane and wrong eight ways from Sunday. Is the medical establishment finally... uh......
By Charley on the MTA | Read Article | Comments (0)
January 11, 2005 | Questioning the powerfulI have been struck lately by the spate of columns written by religious people struggling to explain how it is that a just God permits things like the Indian Ocean...
By David | Read Article | Comments (1)
January 08, 2005 | 24 is back!Fox's TV show 24 has been one of my favorite shows for the last three years, and now it's about to start its fourth season (Sunday night at 8 pm)....
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January 01, 2005 | About UsBlue Mass Group was founded in 2004 by David Kravitz, Bob Neer and Charley Blandy to provide reality-basecd commentary on politics and policy in Massachusetts and around the nation. Kravitz...
By David | Read Article | Comments (0)
December 25, 2004 | Peace on earth, good will towards humans...... without exception! Look, there are certain folks that are using the season as a political football. For us blue-headed folks, let's not play that game. Hug your kids ......
By Charley on the MTA | Read Article | Comments (0)
December 20, 2004 | Light blogging 'til 2005In light of personal and professional obligations - as well as the fact that no one wants to spend the last couple of weeks of December huddled over a computer...
By David | Read Article | Comments (0)
December 13, 2004 | Almost as goodOK, it's not quite as fabulous as the hoax chart purporting to show that states with higher average IQs voted for Kerry. But it's still pretty good. First, we're proud...
By David | Read Article | Comments (2)
December 07, 2004 | Things that make you say "hmm..."The LA Times reports on the increasing prevalence of adult superstores in rural America, primarily near off-ramps of interstate highways (hat tip to How Appealing). The story reminds me of...
By David | Read Article | Comments (2)
December 01, 2004 | Santa checks list twice, finds out that Pope is naughtyROME - Santa Claus declared the Pope naughty for the first time in recent memory, and delivered a large lump of coal to him in time for Christmas. In what...
By David | Read Article | Comments (0)
November 29, 2004 | 60 Minutes on steroidsI disagree with Oliver Willis that CNN should become a liberal Fox News. Nope, what we really need is a bad-ass, take-no-prisoners, Joe-Friday-just-the-facts-ma'am, let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may, old time Woodward-'n-Bernstein, [insert cliché here]...
By Charley on the MTA | Read Article | Comments (5)
November 28, 2004 | E-saving "The Listings"The NY Times's Public Editor reports that the Times is reconsidering its recent abandonment of the Sunday Arts Leisure Guide, otherwise known as the listings, in response to thousands of...
By David | Read Article | Comments (0)
November 18, 2004 | Bush Commutes Death SentenceWASHINGTON - In a surprising turn of events, President Bush rejected the advice of outgoing White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and commuted the death sentence of the turkey known as...
By David | Read Article | Comments (1)
