In yesterday’s New York Times Douglas Martin wrote of Lowell-born Roger Boisjoly who died a few weeks ago just before the anniversary of the 1986 Challenger Space Shuttle disaster. Why link these two events? Remember the O-ring question? An O-ring seal in Challenger’s right solid rocket booster failed at liftoff – a situation that…
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Kerouac played football like he wrote, with a lot of power and invention. He was an athlete at the typewriter who could compose with speed and accuracy. It is fascinating to see how he keeps popping up in the news stream. Today, boston.com and the Bos. Globe include an arts note…
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President Obama has had an ongoing focus on helping veterans and their families. In his State of the Union remarks last week President Obama announced his plan for American Jobs Act to spur police and firefighter hiring in 2012. This action as well as a plan patterned on FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps are targeted towards helping veterans. Today the…
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In today’s New York Times op-ed colummist Paul Krugman puts former Massachusetts Governor and GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s lack of concern for the poor “in context.” His statement: “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there.” has yet again got the pundits and his…
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Related to a post of mine a few days ago about the Museum of Science in Boston planning a $5M Life Sciences exhibit, here is news from boston.com about the N. E. Aquarium making improvements. Again, this raises the question of how a smaller cultural hub like Lowell should respond…
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Our far flung correspondent Ray LaPorte sends the following from one of the local papers on the island he calls home. Read closely. Ray said a poet could make something of this list.–PM Martha’s Vineyard Times FOUND Black Helix cash box. Call 508-693-4658. LOST CAMERA Canon Elf lost in Gay Head…
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A recent post by fellow blogger and downtown resident Kad Barma which showed fragments of a broken beer mug in a downtown doorway got me thinking about a book called “Ghost Map” by Steven Johnson. Subtitled “The story of London’s most terrifying epidemic – and how it changed science, cities…
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