There’s a big snow storm forecasted for Lowell Massachusetts this Friday and Saturday. I wonder if it will affect the Lowell Winterfest. Some reports say it’s expected to snow up to 2 feet.
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When I was young, it was ok for people to celebrate the myth of Thanksgiving as it had been told to us for hundreds of years. The Pilgrims landed on Plymouth rock and were met by some very friendly “Indians”.
These Indians quickly became friends with the Pilgrims. In a way of celebrating both the Pilgrim/Indian friendship and the wonderful harvest that the Pilgrims and the Indians worked together to cultivate…Thanksgiving was born.
Now as time goes on and the country becomes more and more politically correct we can see that the story behind Thanksgiving was based mostly on mythology and it has gone through great changes. This is, in part, due to the Wampanog tribe of Native Americans but more specifically a man named Frank B. James, the one time leader of the Wampanog tribe.
How did the Wampanog tribe of Native Americans turn Thanksgiving into the National Day of Mourning?
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts had decided back in 1970 to invite the then leader of the Wampanoag Native American tribe to Plymouth Mass, the site of the “first Thanksgiving”, and give a speech about the meaning Thanksgiving. The speech was set to take place on the top of Cole’s Hill.
Once the Commonwealth of Massachusetts realized that the Wampanoag tribe leader, Frank B. James, intended to speak out about the misconceptions of Thanksgiving and the way that the Native Americans were actually treated, they decided to un-invite him as a public speaker. This, however, did not stop the Wampanog Native American tribe, it’s leader Frank B. James, or it’s supporters.
Convening at Cole’s Hill in Plymouth Mass, The Wampanoag Native American tribe declared that the Fourth Sunday of November would no longer be known to Native Americans as Thanksgiving. They would now use this day as a way of protesting the Thanksgiving myth of how Native Americans were actually treated…The National Day Of Mourning was born.
Since that first gathering, Native Americans and their supporters have gathered on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth Massachusetts on the Fourth Thursday of November at twelve noon to commemorate The National Day of Mourning. There has been a plaque placed on Cole’s Hill at the yearly meeting site which reads:
“Since 1970, Native Americans have gathered at noon on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth to commemorate a National Day of Mourning on the US Thanksgiving holiday. Many Native Americans do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims and other European settlers. To them, Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of their people, the theft of their lands, and the relentless assault on their culture. Participants in a National Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples to survive today. It is a day of remembrance and spiritual connection as well as a protest of the racism and oppression which Native Americans continue to experience.”
I can certainly understand why Native Americans would take issue with their whole country celebrating the way that their people were murdered and their land overtaken. See I don’t know exactly what happened because A) I wasn’t there B) my “perfect world” history books told a story of two different types of people coming together to give thanks for their newfound relationship with each other.
The Wampanoag Native American tribe has been quoted as saying they will continue with their National Day of Mourning ceremonies and rallies until American history books reflect what truly happened to their people once the Pilgrims came to this country. While I think we have made definite steps in that direction…I can’t see that happening for a long, long time, if ever.
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On Sunday, clean-up and testing began on thousands of plastic discs from a New Hampshire wastewater treatment plant that have been washing up on local beaches.
The Department of Environmental Services said the white disks were first spotted on Friday on the beach at Seabrook.
“What we had was a discharge from a wastewater treatment facility along the Merrimack River during one of the heavy rain events we recently had in New Hampshire,” said Jim Martin, spokesman of the New Hampshire DES.
Authorities said the wastewater treatment plant in Hooksett had the discharge problems last Sunday after dealing with excess rain and melting snow.
The discs, about the size of a key with a screen mesh, made their way downstream. In addition to the banks of the Merrimack River and Seabrook, the disks washed up on Plum Island, Salisbury Beach, Mass., and Cashman Park, Newburyport, Mass.
DES said anyone picking up the disks should use plastic gloves because they may harbor bacteria. The disks can be collected into plastic bags and disposed in a landfill.
“(The discs) generally collect bacteria and help to digest the wastewater,” Martin said.
On Sunday, a command center was set up on Plum Island so DES could not only clean up the disks but take water samples to test for bacteria.
Asian longhorned beetles, a much-feared invasive pest with the potential to devastate New England’s forests, have been discovered in Boston, across the street from the country’s oldest public arboretum.
Six infested red maples bordering a parking lot at Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain were cut down early yesterday morning. Teams of tree climbers and spotters, sent in by federal officials, have begun laboriously examining every tree vulnerable to the beetle within 1.5 miles.
The sighting of the beetles fanned worries that trees would have to be chopped down in treasured open spaces including the nearby Arnold Arboretum, Franklin Park, and Jamaica Pond. The beetle, which thrives on New England’s signature maples, has no known predators in the United States, and infested trees must be destroyed to prevent the insect’s spread.
The insect has “the ability to be the beetle that ate New England,” said Frank Lowenstein, director of forest health for the Nature Conservancy. “The trees that are its favorite food are the very trees that are characteristic of our region.”
But preliminary surveys, begun over the weekend, provide reason for cautious optimism.
“The good news so far is this appears to be very localized,” said Ian Bowles, state energy and environmental affairs secretary.
Bowles and federal officials said the infestation appears less widespread than one discovered two years ago in Worcester, which led to the destruction of 25,000 trees at a cost of $50 million in federal and state money.
Workers up in the tree canopy and on the ground have not found signs of the beetle in other trees around the hospital. While the insects can fly up to a mile and a half after they emerge from a tree, they are often “lackadaisical” and will lay eggs nearby or on the same tree they emerged from, according to Clint McFarland, director of the US Department of Agriculture’s Asian longhorned beetle eradication program.
The early positive news did not diminish environmental officials’ sense of urgency. They imposed a ban on transporting firewood or woody material outside of a zone within 1.5 miles of the epicenter and asked Boston and Brookline residents in the target area to search their yards and neighborhoods for signs of the inch-and-a-half-long, shiny, spotted beetles with curving black and white antennae.
The USDA, which is coordinating with state and city officials, had 13 workers combing trees yesterday and plans to hire more to inspect tens of thousands of trees in the coming weeks.
Since the beetles were found in Worcester in August 2008, arborists around New England have been vigilant. Just two weeks ago, volunteers inspected trees on Boston Common and found no beetles.
The new beetles were discovered during routine grounds keeping, according to Deb LaScaleia, grounds supervisor at Faulkner Hospital. She saw signs of some kind of insect infestation, sawdust created when beetles bore holes, and sent samples to be tested by a private contractor.
The presence of the beetles was confirmed, and around 5 a.m. yesterday the trees were removed. About 10 adult beetles were found, and about 40 beetles in earlier stages of development.
It is not known how the beetles reached Boston. One theory is that they arrived in wood products such as firewood.
McFarland said scientists will use genetics to try to determine the origins of these beetles.
The beetle, which is native to Asia, is an invasive species of much concern in the United States. First detected in 1996 in Brooklyn, N.Y., it also has caused infestations in Chicago and New Jersey, where thousands of trees were removed. While it is not known how the beetles first got to this country, one potential source is wooden shipping pallets.
Besides its lack of predators, the beetle is especially pernicious because it threatens so many types of trees, including maple, elm, willow, birch, horse chestnut, poplar, and mimosa. In the spring, a pesticide can be used to treat at-risk trees to try to prevent future infestation, but once a tree is infested, the only option is to cut it down and turn it into chips or burn it.
The beetles chew an oval-shaped pit in the bark of a tree in the summer, and females lay one egg in each pit. When those eggs hatch, larvae tunnel into the heart of the tree, where they eat the wood and spend the winter. When the larvae are grown, they emerge as adult beetles the following summer by boring their way to the surface of the tree.
While a single year of infestation will not kill a tree, the holes and tunnels the beetles make structurally weaken a tree and make it vulnerable to disease.
“This is a huge deal,’’ said Bob Childs, an entomologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He said the new find is of particular concern because “the Arnold Arboretum is just a gem among gems.’’
“It’s a spectacular planting [ground] with great historic value, not to mention botanical value,’’ he said.
Julie Crockford, president of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, a public-private partnership devoted to parks protection and public education, said that teens working in Boston parks this summer will be trained to monitor for the beetle.
“We’ve been waiting for this shoe to drop, and now it has,’’ Crockford said. “I hope we can contain it.’’
Have you seen the Micky Ward movie “The Fighter” trailer yet? It’s wicked Awesome and I think it’s already showing that it’s going to capture the Lowell scene during the 80′s and 90′s and up to Micky’s epic last fights with Arturo Gatti.
Micky Ward retired at 37 years old with a boxing record of 38 Wins, 13 Losses with 27 Win coming via KO. His first fight was on June 13, 1985 in Lawrence, MA and his last on June 7, 2003 in Atlantic City NJ.
The upcoming movie The Fighter will start Christian Bale as Dick Eklund and Mark Wahlberg as Micky Ward and you can see the trailer below. I’ll add new videos as they become available.
Remember that email you got with that password you needed?
Where is that email with your bank information or vacation itinerary?
We’ve all seen Microsoft Outlook email archiving pop up and often they hit yes to archive old emails without knowing what it does. What is email archiving and how does it help? Is it worth it for the average person to archive emails? Does it save space or make it quicker to open emails? Many users have these questions when they first hear the term email archiving. Email archiving is an amazing tool for businesses, although for personal use email archiving may not offer many benefits.
In the case of Boston City Hall, a close advisor to Mayor Menino has been reported to have deleted items from his inbox, sent box and the deleted/trash folder on a daily basis prior to traditional end-of-day tape backup. Now the Massachusetts Secretary of State has forced the hiring of an independent expert to retrieve City Hall emails that were “improperly deleted.” If a Microsoft Exchange archiving solution had been implemented, these email records, including email, calendar items and records of email deletions, would have been captured immediately as they happened, regardless of what was stored on backup tapes at the end of the day.
UPDATE:
Metalogix has just released an email archiving product that is soooo much better than even other company’s solutions like Symantec. And their offering Microsoft Exchange email archiving at only $15 per mailbox. Microsoft Exchange Administrators use Metalogix Professional Archive Manager for Exchange to dramatically improve Exchange performance and:
* Decrease the mail store by 80% and provide an unlimited mailbox
* Cut backup and—more importantly—RESTORES by 50%
* Get one-click disaster recovery
* Respond to E-discovery requests in minutes, without IT assistance
Check out their free trial here.
Email archiving allows a company to store emails on a private server for its employees to refer back too at a later time. Many companies often will send out updates on a new procedure, which can be missed if a person that works for the company was not in the office that day. Email archiving can also be an excellent tool for training new employees on current and new procedures. Once you access the server files, it is easy to direct an employee to a certain file or old email that is in the system saving someone hours looking for it and resending it to single or multiple users.
One example of this is, imagine you run into a problem at work that only happens every 2 months, you remember getting the email on the proper procedure, although you have had so many emails since the update you just cannot find it. Rather than spending hours looking for one single email, often times a company server is available with file named procedures in email archives, for that problem, and you can just open, read it or you can re-email it to yourself and flag it for later use. Email archiving saves time and space on employee’s personal computer for that reason alone.
Personal email archiving may not seem to make much since when it is easy to simply store important emails in a private folder; however, many users often forget to move an email that they need until it is too late. Making auto email archiving a nice feature, it is also very useful with so many professional email users now working from home as much as from work. Smart phone users are very used to synchronizing emails at home as well as work, and email archiving those emails to home can be as much of a time saver while working at home too, although they do take up space on your personal computer.
Email archiving may not seem like it is very useful when you haven’t had a need for it, until you need an important email and find that you do not have it. The pop up from Microsoft may have convinced many users to use email archiving without knowing what email archiving can do. Now knowing you possibly still have those emails you thought you lost can now be a major cause for a sigh of relief. Go check that email archive folder and see if you can find what you are looking for, and never forget where it is again.
As the United States Postal Service, weighed down by a crippling multibillion-dollar deficit, shrinks its operations, post offices across the country are on the chopping block. Each year, hundreds of postal operations shutter, but this coming fall could be the single biggest consolidation in Postal Service history.
Over the next three months, more than 3,200 post offices and retail outlets out of 34,000 will be reviewed for possible closure or consolidation.
Downsizing is a business imperative, says Linda Welch, acting vice president of delivery and post office operations at the Postal Service. “Revenues have declined, and mail volume continues to decline,” she says.
I’ve been working a few hours each day since the announcement to build this list of post office closings so people can look up and see if their local post office will be closing. If you want to be notified of updates to the Most Recent Announcements and to Download the list, subscribe below:
If you know of any other post offices that are closing because of this please contact me. Partial list that I have got so far:
Kansas
New Albany, KS, Post Office, 101 2nd Street, New Albany, KS, 66759
Louisiana
Cameron Post Office (70631) is closed. Residents can pick their mail up at the Lake Charles Drew Station.
New York
The South Kortright, NY, Post Office 10675 County Highway 18, 13842 is temporarily closed. The mail is being redirected to Hobart, NY 13788 located at 698 Main St, Suite #1
Ohio
Birmingham, OH, Post Office 44816 is closed. All customers will be serviced at Wakeman Post Office, 16 W Main St. Wakeman, OH 44889
Not only have e-mail and electronic bill paying made for a skinnier mail stream, but the recession has caused a sharp pullback in advertising mail that has hurt the Postal Service even more.
In March, Postmaster General John Potter asked Congress for the right to reduce the mail week from six days to five, for a savings of $3.5 billion. Shutting down post offices will have similar cost-saving effects. And most Americans say they’re OK with the cutbacks, as long as they don’t have to pay more to send mail. A recent USA Today/Gallup poll found that more Americans would rather the Postal Service curtail services than seek a bailout or raise stamp prices.
At least, that’s what everyone says until it’s their beloved post office at stake. For various reasons, people tend to react with great fervor when their local offices are endangered.
Consider the case of the Hawleyville Post Office. After years of negotiations, the Postal Service in January notified the Connecticut community that its 166-year-old post office would close Feb. 14. An article in the local newspaper poignantly noted, “The long love affair between the Hawleyville post office and its loyal customers will come to an end on, of all days, Valentine’s Day.”
Its post office was rickety, but the community embraced it as a gathering place. One resident told the Newtown Bee, “The Hawleyville Post Office is like Cheers in Hawleyville.”
In fear of losing its precious haunt, the community mobilized. A Web site and online petition drive were created. Members got Congress involved. And lo and behold, the community won approval for a new post office, to be opened this summer.
Every time a post office is slated for closure or consolidation, the Postal Service is legally obligated to inform its customers well in advance. “There’s a very long process that they have to go through,” says Mario Principe, the post office continuance consultant at the National League of Postmasters. That gives the communities plenty of time, usually at least two months, to stage a rescue.
The Postal Service will typically send out a survey or host a town hall meeting before an endangered office closes. Perhaps the closing of a post office means too many lost jobs for an already-hurting community. The office might house the bulletin board that posts important community announcements. Or the next-closest post office may be really far away. If customers alert officials to such concerns, there’s a better chance that their office will be spared. Appealing the closure decision to the Postal Regulatory Commission often works, too, though it’s a step many communities don’t know to take.
It’s also important to check out why a post office is on the chopping block in the first place. Those under review this summer are mostly metropolitan branches or stations. But in the case of small post offices, federal law states that the reason can’t be just that the office isn’t bringing in enough revenue. If that’s the only explanation given, then the Postal Service can’t legally shut it down.
Oftentimes, post offices face closure because their leases expire. That’s the case in Deer Harbor, Wash. After attempts to find a new location for the post office failed, the community decided “in desperation” to buy the property just to keep it in business. If the community can raise the $250,000 purchase price by the June 30, the Postal Service says it will continue operations there.
The Postal Service seems willing to negotiate, and it’s not really bothered by the protests. “It actually it makes us very proud to know that we are a valuable member of the community,” says Welch. She says that the Postal Service appreciates the great lengths that some communities will go to just to ensure that their services continue.
What the Postal Service would appreciate even more: If those people would show their appreciation by taking the simple step of sending more mail. Oddly enough, that seems to be the unthinkable last resort.
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Dear Friend,
In 3 months, voters across the Commonwealth will head to the polls for the critically important 2006 election. It has been 20 years — far too long — since we elected a Democratic governor here at home. Massachusetts, like so much of the country, is ready for a change.
That’s why the Democratic Coordinated Campaign in Massachusetts has organized a series of cookouts in support of Massachusetts Victory ’06, the impressive grassroots organization that we Democrats are building to help Democratic candidates win in 2006. Several cookouts have already been held, and a dozen more are planned throughout the Commonwealth that you can sign up for today.
I’ll be at the Lexington grassroots cookout on Sunday, August 13 to show my support for Massachusetts Victory ’06, and I hope you can join me. If you cannot attend this cookout or if you simply live too far away from Lexington, please consider participating in another cookout or making a donation in support of Massachusetts Victory ’06.
It is the wholesome and fresh product line of our restaurant/takeout and franchise operations that has made Sal’s Pizza a unique and successful quick-server enterprise. The concept for the company originated in Boston’s North End, the renowned enclave of authentic Italian eateries, and where CEO Sal Lupoli did his culinary apprenticeship. This experience was to be a powerful influence in the development of his own signature recipes.
Massachusetts law makers pushed forward the proposed ban to make same sex marriage illegal in it’s state. Although 132 voted against the ban, 62 members voted to get rid of gay marriage. Since the cutoff to keep a proposition alive is 50 votes, this one will appear for further consideration on the next legislative which then has the possibility of appearing on the next ballot in 2008.
So what effect would this proposed amendment have on Massachusetts marriages? It would clearly define that Massachusetts marriages would only be legal between a man and a woman. Therefor, same sex marriage would no longer be considered legal. And all the current same sex marriages in Massachusetts would be safe. If this amendment was voted in, it would have an effect on the same sex marriages that took place before it came into effect. All of the gay marriages occurring in Massachusetts prior to this ban would be grandfathered in. I just don’t understand why the fear of gays in this state. Continue reading
Located in Dracut Massachusetts, Shaw Farm is the only operating dairy farm still around in the Greater Lowell area. You can be sure that when you visit Shaw Farm for your dairy needs you are purchasing fresh milk from a dairy farm on a very, very short list of dairy farms in still operating in New England today.
But how fresh is fresh? When you are talking Shaw Farm fresh, it means that the milk that you are buying in the afternoon more than likely came from the cow that very morning. You can’t ask for fresher milk than that. So what makes Shaw Farm so special? Continue reading
Recently, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) in partnership with the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA) assembled an Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) Enforcement Working Group to guide the agency in recommending changes to current OHV laws, regulations and practices. The Department is sharing this information with the extensive list of individuals and organizations who have expressed an interest in the subject of OHV management to allow you to follow the progress of this committee on Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation’s website and share your thoughts regarding OHV laws, regulations and management. Continue reading
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There has been a lot of focus lately on making sure that teenage drivers practice safer driving. One idea that was floating around for a while was raising the legal driving age. That obviously didn’t happen but some stricter laws for newer drivers are now in effect that will drastically change not only what is needed to obtain a license but also the repercussions for speeding. Continue reading
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Mixing explosive chemicals found around the house in a soda bottle to watch them explode was not the best idea that 15 year old Jared Richards of Swampscot, MA ever had but to be charged for it by the state? I really think that is too much.
Jared Richards and some of his friends had found directions on the internet for making a homemade explosive. To most 15 year old boys, that would sound cool. What wasn’t cool was when the soda bottle they used to hold the materials exploded in the face of Jared Richards. Continue reading
DROPKICK MURPHYS – “Last Letter Home”
Listen to Last Letter Home (Album Version)
Hello there my dearest love
Today I write to you about our sons
The boys start school today
They’re the spitting image of you in every way
Hey son it’s Dad
I hope this letter finds you well out of harm’s way
We saw the news today it frightened your Mom
Now all she does is pray
If I lead will you follow?
Will you follow if I lead?
Hey Melissa it’s me don’t be afraid
I’m in good hands I’m gonna be home soon
It’s time to watch the children grow up
I wanna be more than a voice on the phone
Thanks Ma I got your package today
I love “The Fields Of Athenry”
I swear I want ‘em to play that song on the pipes
At my funeral when I die
I stand alone in the distance
And the foreground slowly moves
“We regret to inform you that on January 28th Sgt. Andrew Farrar died while serving his country in the Al-Anbar province of Iraq words cannot convey our sorrow”
Five years after the worst terrorist attack on American soil, families of some of the nearly 3,000 victims gathered Monday at Ground Zero for a solemn ceremony.
The commemoration included four moments of silence. Two for the times that hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center towers (which Dracut’s own John Ogonowski piloted flight 11) and two for when the burning towers collapsed into mountains of rubble, killing thousands of people working there and first responders who were trying to rescue them. Including my friend Ray Rocha.
An estimated 2,973 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks.
Memorials were also held in Washington and Pennsylvania.
After the wreath-laying ceremony, the president and first lady attended a service at Trinity Church near Ground Zero. Continue reading
