pimblr.com

B OSTON - City officials hoping to rejuvenate Boston Common are looking to a longtime rival for tips.
A Boston contingent put aside the well-known rivalry with New York in a trip to the city’s parks yesterday to see what they could learn.
Crime and drug use on Boston Common have recently made it a dicey place to visit, especially at night.
The 20-person Boston delegation, including city councilors and civic leaders, visited Madison Square Park, Bryant Park and Central Park.
The Boston Globe reports they were impressed with the food offerings, which seemed to attract vibrant crowds.
Mayor Thomas Menino’s office says he’s open to having a restaurant or food stand on the Boston Common.
Attempts to establish a restaurant on the Common have been stymied by difficulties getting a liquor license.

news.bostonherald.com

Happy Sunday, children. This joyous day brings with it four must-see (three can-see) NBA playoff games. Here’s your schedule:
The bad news? Rumor has it that the Nugs/Lakes tilt on ABC won’t be viewable in the New York area because the Pope’s visit to Yankee Stadium is gonna be televised on ABC. I don’t know about you, but until Benedict improves his assist/turnover ratio, I’d rather see Kobe. Oh well.
Meanwhile, if you were watching yesterday, you probably heard Mike Breen formally ask Mark Jackson if he had interest in the Knicks’ now-vacant coaching job. Here’s his reply:
“Well, I’ll tell you what, Donnie Walsh is a guy I have a great relationship with, I have a lot of history with,” Jackson said. “You talk about the Knicks, it’s one of the greatest franchises in all of sports. It is a job that is very intriguing.”
“This is a one-horse race right now; it’s Mark Jackson,” Van Gundy said. “It’s his time and he would do a tremendous job if given the opportunity anywhere, but particularly a New York guy in New York. Great idea on basketball philosophy, great communication skills.”
This certainly does seem to be the case. While we haven’t heard anything yet from Walsh, Jackson does appear to be the front-runner. It’s hard to take a stance when the guy has never coached before and we have no idea what his style is like. I can say that I’d be relieved to longer have to hear his announcing anymore…
More on this as it develops. Enjoy this glorious day and leave your comments here.
It’s being reported that Tom Thibodeau, the defensive assistant coaching expert on the Celtics (And one of our assistants during the Van Gundy days,) has contacted Walsh. This is going to be a VERY interesting offseason.

postingandtoasting.com

ALBANY, N.Y. — Registered voters across New York still favor Hillary Clinton.
“Whether voters have a clear candidate that they support, two thirds said yes they do. Among those, Hillary Clinton leads. She gets 36 percent saying that they support her,” said Steven Greenberg, Siena New York Poll Spokesman.
However, Democrats are split on whether she should end her campaign after Tuesday’s primaries if she continues to trail Barack Obama.
“It’s interesting that there’s this huge level of support for her, yet people are not sure whether she should continue her campaign after tomorrow. In fact, 28 percent of those who support Senator Clinton say that if she doesn’t do well tomorrow she should get out of the race,” said Greenberg.
A Siena Research Institute poll finds nearly half of voters in New York think Hillary Clinton should end her presidential campaign if she still trails Barack Obama after Tuesday’s big primaries. Ryan Peterson has the details.
Not surprisingly, Greenberg says, the majority of Republicans and Independents think her time is up if she fails to gain any ground.
When broken down by gender, the poll finds that women are also split — 42 percent think Clinton should step aside if she trails and 43 percent think she should stick it out. Men favor her ending her campaign 47 to 32 percent.
Greenberg said the poll has also shown the heightened interest this campaign has generated so far. He said it’s a perfect combination of the economy, the war in Iraq and our candidates.
“For the first time since 1952, it is not an incumbent president or a sitting vice-president who’s going to be a nominee. It really is making for a perfect storm for voter interest,” said Greenberg.
The poll also found that 56 percent of New Yorkers are satisfied with the choice of candidates in this year’s election. Here’s where Hillary gains some ground. Of the top three, Clinton’s favorability went up a point, while McCain and Obama’s fell slightly.

capitalnews9.com

I’ve been following the I-70 mountain corridor. Not in any literal sense. I quit driving that thing around 2002 because it scared the living bejesus out of me. Yeah, I’ve used it to access Colorado’s fabulous public lands. And back in the day, to go hang out in groovy places like Idaho Springs for a nice quick getaway. But if you try to, say, leave Denver on a Friday after work…well, those of you who have braved that know whereof I speak. Brings to mind the lyrics from that Police song: “packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes.” So I pretty much quit driving the corridor and instead, found other routes to the back country, varying my days. I do still follow the corridor, but in a more metaphysical, detached way. I’ve become an armchair observer of the discussion, debates, frustration, and freak-outs over what to do, how to do it, where to do it, and how much it’s all going to cost to decrease traffic jams on the corridor, increase safety, and make sure that everybody’s historic and environmental preservation needs are met.
Last summer was the busiest in terms of vehicles on the road in the 34-year history of the Eisenhower Tunnel. 2007 was pretty busy overall on the corridor. So busy it even made the New York Times. According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, a million cars log-jammed onto the corridor in March 2007. Thirty thousand cars daily use it, filled with commuters, tourists, outdoor recreation fans, and second-home owners. And probably their dogs, kids, skis, bikes, kayaks, newspapers, ebook readers, laptops, and PlayStations, as they all need something to do while they’re sitting in traffic for five hours on their way to or from the mountains.

read_more

In a move to calm growing concerns about the slumping economy, President George W. Bush assumed an optimistic stance as he addressed members of the Economic Club of New York in Midtown Friday morning.
“The economy is obviously going through a tough time,” said Bush, on a day that saw a stock market drop of 200 points and the near-collapse of the investment bank Bear Stearns.
Bush said this is not the first time the nation has faced an economic slowdown during his time in the White House, adding he’s certain the economy will recover in time as it has in the past.
“The interesting thing, every time this economy has bounced back better and stronger than before,” Bush said. “So I’m coming to you as an optimistic fella. I’ve seen what happens when America deals with difficulty. I believe that we’re a resilient economy and I believe that the ingenuity and resolve of the American people is what helps us deal with these issues, and it’s gonna happen again.”
The president used his address, carried live on NY1 and other news stations, to tout the benefits of tax relief, his economic stimulus package, and steps the Federal Reserve is taking to encourage economic growth.

read_more

I don’t know which is more surprising: That caped crusader Eliot Spitzer allegedly had sex with a call girl, or that he paid her $4,300.
If you haven’t been in the market for a prostitute lately, that might sound like a lot of money. But it’s pretty typical for a high-priced call girl in a big city.
The Emperor’s Club VIP, the New York agency Spitzer allegedly used to hire a prostitute, charged $1,000 to $3,100 per hour for its so-called models, depending on their “education, sophistication and ambience created,” according to a cached version of the club’s Web site, which has been taken down.
The club’s “most valued clients” were offered membership in the Icon Club, which allowed them access to “the most highly ranked prostitutes whose fees started at $5,500 per hour,” according to a complaint filed in federal court for the southern district of New York.
Spitzer allegedly arranged a four-hour date with “Kristen” - identified by the New York Times on Wednesday as Ashley Alexandra Dupre - in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 13. It was the night before Valentine’s Day and his testimony before Congress on bond insurance.
His $4,300 payment appeared to include $1,500 to be put on deposit with the Emperor’s Club for his next rendezvous.

read_more

What’s spooky about this is that the Mayans calculated the length of the lunar moon correctly thousands of years ago. So maybe they know what they’re talking about otherwise as well. Let’s hope not. But scientists say that the winter solstice of 2012 will feature the sun “having a bit of strife.” Old Sol has been in a period of relative stability, but solar storms are now kicking up, bombarding the Earth, knocking out power grids and satellites. This could get worse because even NASA sees the sun’s magnetic poles swapping places in a move that could burn Earth to a crisp.
Some physicists concur that the world is overdue for a major catastrophic event - such as one with the volcano under Yellowstone Park, which seems ready to erupt again and produce thousands of deaths and affiliated deaths the world over from a Volcanic Winter: no sun, no crops, starvation.
And then there is Eros, the second largest-near-the-Earth object, which will pass pretty close to us in 2012 on Jan. 31.
Personally, I’m a fatalist, and I have never paid much mind to this kind of stuff. I’d prefer to think that all those other people are right, the ones who believe that 2012 is a portal into what believers call a new “Golden Age.” But the other night I was at dinner with a remarkable woman psychic from Florida. She hit the nail on the head answering many questions from other diners. They found her to be amazingly right. So she made me tingle with apprehension when I asked about the year 2012?

read_more