Minute Man National Historical Park is Closed Reopened?

I took a bike ride out to Minute Man National Historical Park today.


The parking lot at North Bridge in Concord was chained off. A line of cars was parked along the road.


The parking lot at Merriam's Corner was also chained. Someone left a note, "Have we forgotten what we fought for in MA? End the Obama tyrannical anarchy.


"Area Closed" a sign announces. "All National Park Service area beyond this point closed to public use and travel because of the government shutdown."


The Old Manse is open, because it is run by The Trustees of Reservations, a Massachusetts charitable organization. The National Park Service would prefer you not ponder too long on that thought.


A few sightseers at the North Bridge.


"Here once the embattled farmers stood, and fired the shot heard round the world."


More sightseers at the North Bridge.


This helpful Tea Party patriot informed me that as I was on the other side of the chain, I was trespassing. It did seem a trifle unfair that I had just twice ridden across the bridge that he had spent the last 5 hours clamoring to be reopened.


"Historic hay field" according to the marker. The colonists hand dug ditches to drain this field so it could grow hay, but it has now been restored to marshland.


One of several closed buildings along Battle Road. I don't have a problem with closed buildings. I do have a problem with purporting to close open public spaces.


A spot called Parker's Revenge. The Lexington militia who were fired on by British soldiers in the morning waited here in ambush for their return.


The east entrance to the Minute Man Park at the base of Fiske Hill. No closed signs.

Boston under a Steady Stream of Crap and Piss

I was surfing through Universal Hub when I came across this gem of a picture taken on the Tobin Bridge which connects Boston to points north and east of the Mystic River.



The picture came with this complaint: "These cows just pooped all over the lower deck of the Tobin Bridge. Got on cars. Could someone please cleanup? Rain won't get there. Thanks."

I live across the Charles River from Boston, but will given them this sage advice based on over 50 years experience with cow manure: "Don't worry, it will powder off."

It turns out the city has a website called Citizens Connect devoted to the self-reporting of these gems. Some examples of the crap citizens using their Androids and iPhones to send in, just from today:

Curb cut fills with water. When it freezes this becomes a dangerous slip hazzard.

The last "parking space", L side on Brimmer @ Pinckney is probably illegal but badly marked and curb paint gone. Cars parked there like dark blue one in photo prevent garbage, fire, lg. delivery trucks fm turning.

283–339 Boylston St, Boston. Throughout the common and public garden all of the fences are broken, missing parts, unpainted etc. they look third world. How about a new design that doesn't look horrible and is vandal proof ! It really looks like crap everywhere ! ...

On the Inbound side of Centre St just before you enter the rotary, directly in front of police district 5, the road significantly dips. Please level and grade it.

That's all well and good, general constructive comments on how to improve the city, but many of the complaints take a more personal turn:

50 Garden Street. Trash out on wrong day.

47 garden street. Trash on wrong day.

46 Garden St, Boston. Construction trash and household trash on sidewalk for 48 hours, not a pickup day

2–8 Utica St, Boston. Public Urination. Man exposed himself and urinated behind 107 South Street

You can see where this is going, getting people to report their neighbors for minor code violations (although you'd have to be braver than the average officious asshole to take that last picture). It goes on for pages and pages, and the city of Boston pays someone to read through and forward each report to the appropriate commissar department for action. And maybe they do take action, although I somehow doubt it.

Still, I'm adding Citizens Connect to my blog list for a good laugh now and then.

Blink and You May Miss the Government Shutdown

The U.S. government shut down at midnight, according to Piers Morgan at CNN, who keeps showing a closed but still well-lit Washington Monument. Same for the Statue of Liberty. Did the last guys out forget to turn out the lights?

It would suck to be a tourist in Washington, DC tomorrow with all the federal museums closed. You'd be forced to wander the Washington Mall, visit the Holocaust Museum, go shopping in Georgetown, hike around Great Falls (slip under the National Park Service entrance gate, if necessary). If you were really hard-pressed for something to do, you could stop by the Capitol building and yell at Congress.

The Washington Monument, by the way, is already closed for repairs due to an earthquake on August 23, 2011. The Statue of Liberty actually closed at 5pm, when the last ferry of the day departed from Liberty Island. That's when most of the federal offices around the country closed too. Maybe they will open tomorrow, or maybe they won't.

If I were a nonessential federal employee I would be quietly happy if this shutdown goes on for a week or more. The fall weather here on the East Coast is nice and the long Columbus Day weekend is coming up. You can drive back to DC from the beach or the mountains in a couple of hours if there is an early resolution. A lot of times the federal employees get paid retroactively for the hours they didn't have to work during the shutdown without having to make up the hours when these things are resolved.

As for me personally, I suspect it will be several weeks before I suffer even a minor inconvenience from the federal government being closed. I do have one increasingly serious problem. I have been looking for 12-packs of Diet Dr. Pepper for the last 3 or 4 days and haven't been able to find any at the usual grocery and CVS stores. I have a small supply, but when that runs out, look out!

Update: CNN is reporting that Giant Panda Cam at the National Zoo has gone dark. It's sponsored by the Ford Motor Company Fund, and was still live earlier this morning. That means some federal employee came in to work this morning and turned it off. I smell a criminal violation of the Antideficiency Act of 1870.

Update: I have acquired two 12-packs of the elixir of life so I am good for the duration:



Update: No barricades at our National Park Service site in Cambridge:





All it takes for a federal closing is a piece of paper and some masking tape. Anything beyond that is a gratuitous violation of the Anitdeficiency Act of 1870.

Just How Long Can Ted Cruz Stand?

"I intend to speak in support of defunding Obamacare until I am no longer able to stand," vowed Ted Cruz as he took the floor at the U.S. Senate floor today at 2:42 p.m.

The U.S. Senator from Texas, 2016 Republican Presidential hopeful, and former Canadian will need to stand for at least 13 hours by my calculation.

That's because Wendy Davis went on for almost 11 hours in the Texas Senate this summer, before her filibuster was ruled out of order for straying off the topic of the abortion legislation before the emergency session of the Texas Senate. Rand Paul droned on against drone strikes for almost 13 hours in the U.S. Senate this past spring.

So Ted needs a full 13 hours for bragging rights in Texas and the Tea Party. Anything less would make Ted look lame relative to Rand and Wendy.

Still, seeing how long you can talk without stopping is not very much of a challenge as endurance feats go. Diana Nyad took nearly 53 hours to swim from Cuba to Key West, Florida earlier this month. That's something to brag about.

Not unlike the Nyad feat, where the downplayers were quick to jump on various alleged minor technicalities, Ted Cruz already has his naysayers. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says this is no filibuster as the budget vote scheduled for tomorrow will not be delayed. Of course, he might have held the vote this afternoon if he hadn't made allowance for Ted Cruz speaking.

The current record for filibusters in the U.S. Senate is held by Strom Thurmond who spoke against the Civil Rights Act of 1957 for 24 hours and 18 minutes. That means the magic moment will come if Ted Cruz is still speaking at 3:01 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.

Will Ted Cruz set the new record or will Harry Reid prevent him from wiping Strom Thurmond out of the record books? You can watch live on C-Span.

Update: Strom's record stands as Ted clocks out at 21 hours and 19 minutes. Ted edged out the 1908 effort of 18 hours and 23 minutes by Robert La Follette of Wisconsin to take the #4 slot on the all-time list of windy Senate gasbags. Take that, Wendy and Rand.

Masse Hardware Going Out of Business

Masse Hardware at the corner of Sherman St. and Walden St. in Cambridge is closing. The Boston Globe, Wicked Local, and Cambridge Day have the details. In short, the third-generation owner is retiring and his son doesn't want to take over.

Watertown-Cambridge-Belmont-Arlingon Bike Trail Connection Nears Reality

A Putinized and Atheistized Pledge of Allegiance

With Vladimir Putin twerking America ideals in The New York Times and atheists suing the state of Massachusetts, it's time to revise the Pledge of Allegiance:

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Here's the rewrite:

I begrudgingly acknowledge the existence of the flag of the United States of America, and the putative republic for which it sometimes stands, one nation still suffering in many precincts under the god delusion, unexceptional and indivisible from all the other nations in the United Nations, with illiberty and injustice all too often. Void if I flee to Canada or Russia. All rights reserved.

Have a happy Friday the 13th. E pluribus unum!