Boston selected by the U.S Olympics Committee for 2024 bid

Boston’s Olympic aspirations are going international.

The city was selected Thursday by the United States Olympic Committee to bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, beating out competing proposals from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

“We’re excited about our plans to submit a bid for the 2024 Games and feel we have an incredibly strong partner in Boston that will work with us to present a compelling bid,” USOC Chairman Larry Probst said in a statement.

The USOC first announced the decision on Twitter at around 6:30 p.m.

Boston’s bid was submitted to the USOC in December after previously being selected to a shortlist of U.S. candidate cities in June. The group pushing the idea, Boston2024, is backed by leaders from the region’s business, sports, and education sectors, among others.

“Boston is a global hub for education, health care, research and technology,” said Boston2024 chairman and Suffolk Construction CEO John Fish in a statement. “We are passionate about sports because we believe in the power of sport to transform our city and inspire the world’s youth. A Boston Games can be one of the most innovative, sustainable and exciting in history and will inspire the next generation of leaders here and around the world.”

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has also been involed in the bidding process.

“It is an exceptional honor for Boston to be chosen as the U.S. representative in the running for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Walsh said in a statement Thursday night. “This selection is in recognition of our city’s talent, diversity and global leadership. Our goal is to host an Olympic and Paralympic Games that are innovative, walkable and hospitable to all. Boston hopes to welcome the world’s greatest athletes to one of the world’s great cities.”

The USOC decided on Dec. 16 that it would bid for the 2024 Games, but held off on making a decision on which city to go with until Thursday’s meeting at Denver International Airport. “The decision followed a spirited discussion and more than one round of voting. Ultimately, the Boston bid received the unanimous endorsement of the USOC’s board of directors,” the USOC said.

The committee will now work with Boston2024 on the bid ahead of submitting it this fall to the International Olympic Committee. The IOC will decide on a 2024 host city in 2017. Other potential host cities for 2024 include Rome, Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, and Istanbul. Melbourne, Australia, and other cities have also been said to be interested.

President Barack Obama offered his support for the Boston proposal in a statement from the White House:

The President and First Lady extend their congratulations to the City of Boston on its nomination by the United States Olympic Committee to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The city has taught all of us what it means to be Boston Strong. The President and First Lady couldn’t be prouder of this accomplishment and of all of our nation’s athletes, and strongly support the effort to bring the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games to the United States. We hope to welcome athletes from around the globe to compete in Boston in 2024.

Boston’s bid has generated debate in the city and the region. An opposition nonprofit, No Boston Olympics, is against the proposal. Its reasons: doubts that the Games can be held without using taxpayer money (Boston2024 says it can pull operational expenses off with private funding of $4.5 billion, and publicly-funded infrastructure improvements of $5 billion or so); the Olympics’ history of going overbudget; and the supposed “opportunity costs”—the idea that the city and state would be better served by focusing on other priorities than the Olympics.

But the aspect of the bid that has to this point been most controversial is what No Boston Olympics perceives as a lack of transparency. For several weeks, No Boston Olympics chair Chris Dempsey has called for the public release of the bidding documents that were submitted to the USOC. The group has also complained that no public meetings were held by Boston2024 or the city ahead of submitting the bid.

Dempsey doubled down in demanding the release of the bid Thursday night.

“The bid needs to be released immediately, and we need to have an open and honest and transparent conversation about what this means for taxpayers,” Dempsey said. “I think the people of the Commonwealth will demand it,” he added.

Dempsey told Boston.com the group also plans to hold a public meeting in the near future, perhaps as soon as next week, and said further details would be released later. In the past, Dempsey has said the group is considering a ballot question to try and oppose the Games if the bid advanced past the USOC selection phase.

For its part, Boston2024 has said it would begin holding public meetings in January if it got the USOC nod. “Going forward, Boston 2024 is committed to a thorough and extensive process to discuss the potential opportunity the Olympic and Paralympic Games present our community,” Fish’s Thursday night statement said.

Opposition like that seen in Boston was reportedly not evident in the other U.S. candidate cities. The USOC said in December that public support for the bid was an important element of the selection process, and that it was gauging the support in the four candidate cities.

The elements of the Boston bid that have been publicly discussed—and they could change over time—have focused on the use of existing stadiums (like TD Garden and college venues) as well as the construction of a “temporary” 60,000-seat Olympic stadium in South Boston. The bid has been pitched as efficient, and Walsh has pledged not to put the city into debt over the proposal. These principles are in alignment with the IOC’s recently-passed resolutions meant to make the Games (and bidding for them) less expensive, starting with the 2024 host city selection process. The Olympics have faced plenty of criticism in recent years for their expense to the public, and the IOC saw many potential hosts for the 2022 Winter Games drop out as a result. As a 2024 bidding city, Boston will be a test case for the effect of those resolutions.

New Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, who was just inaugurated Thursday, celebrated the selection, but said the promises of low costs and private funding remained crucial.

“This is great news for Boston and the Commonwealth as it provides an exciting opportunity to promote Massachusetts on the world stage,” Baker said in a statement. “I look forward to working with Mayor Walsh and the Boston 2024 organization to address the multitude of issues that need to be discussed, including keeping costs down and continuing to press forward on pledges of a privately funded Olympics as the process moves forward before the IOC.”

The United States has not hosted a Summer Olympics since 1996, in Atlanta. Bids to host the Games in New York in 2012 (they were held in London) and Chicago in 2016 (scheduled for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) fell flat in front of the IOC.

The USOC is expected to to fly into town for media availability on Friday. Walsh has scheduled an 8:30 a.m. press conference.

Source

Free hugs at the Boston Marathon

On the anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing: One victim's story

We Will Run: Boston Marathon video

The best walks in the U.S.'s most walkable cities

New York City

The Big Apple earns Most Walkable City distinction, thanks to its high density of cultural institutions, restaurants, parks, and public transportation services (for the return trip, if you don’t care to hoof it), especially in the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. In fact, many New Yorkers go their entire lives without ever owning a car.

Best Walk: Central Park
You can’t beat the smooth, rolling hills and lush greenery of Central Park, says Lon Wilson, president of the New York Walkers Club and a national racewalking champion. (In fact, his club holds walking clinics in the park every Saturday at 9:30 a.m.) For a nice 4.1-mile jaunt around the park’s famous Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, enter at East 90th Street and 5th Avenue and turn right, heading north, onto East Drive. Turn left at the transverse at roughly 106th Street, then left again (heading south) onto West Drive. Make another left at the 72nd Street Transverse (also known as Terrace Drive), and one more (heading north again) onto East Drive, back to 90th Street. To access the map, click here.

Alternate Walk: Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge

For a more urban stroll, start at the 9/11 Memorial on Liberty Street in downtown Manhattan. Walk west to the Hudson River, where you’ll turn left onto the waterfront esplanade. Follow this tranquil walkway around the bottom tip of the island, through South Cove Park and Battery Park and past the Staten Island Ferry and the historic Battery Maritime Building. Continue northeast along what is now the East River Waterfront Esplanade. Just past the South Street Seaport, pass under the FDR Drive and make a left onto Beekman Street, a right onto Pearl Street, a left onto Frankfort Street, and a sharp right onto Park Row, which will take you to the pedestrian entrance (via a tunnel and staircase) for the Brooklyn Bridge. After your 1.5-mile trek across the bridge (four miles for your total trip), take the subway or ride a Citibike back to Manhattan.

San Francisco
California’s City by the Bay has plenty of rewarding views for willing pedestrians. Its 42 hills and more than 600 stairways add an extra challenge, says Aaron Dence, a personal trainer and walk leader for the nonprofit organization Walk SF, but locals and tourists alike learn to love them for the built-in workouts and breathtaking vistas they provide. “Give yourself more time than you think you need for these walks,” says Dence, “since you’ll want to take your time on your way up.”

Best Walk: Chinatown, North Beach, Telegraph Hill, and Jackson Square
Begin this three-mile walk at San Francisco’s iconic Transamerica Pyramid Center, at the intersection of Merchant and Montgomery streets. Walk south on Montgomery and then right onto Clay Street. At the end of Portsmouth Square Plaza, turn right onto Walter U. Lum Place. Walk to the end of the plaza, then turn left on Washington Street. Make a right onto Ross Alley (grab a sample at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory!), a right onto Jackson Street, and a left onto Grant Avenue. Turn right on Jack Kerouac Alley to pass the famous beat poet hangout City Lights Booksellers, then turn left on Columbus Avenue. At Broadway Street, make a left and walk about 250 feet, then turn around and look up to catch a glimpse of the “Language of the Birds” sculpture, a collection of books seemingly frozen in thin air. Walk back to Columbus Avenue, making a left. Bear right at Stockton Street and walk along—or stroll through—Washington Square Park. At its northern border, turn right on Filbert Street. Follow Filbert Street as it twists and turns and becomes the Filbert Steps, and wander down the intersecting alleys to see picturesque San Francisco homes and gardens. In Levi’s Plaza, bear left at the circle and head north. Make a right onto Battery Street, then a quick left onto Greenwich Street. Follow the road (and stairs) to Telegraph Hill Boulevard, where you can check out a statue of Christopher Columbus overlooking the city. Turn back and head southeast on Telegraph Hill Boulevard to explore Coit Tower and its surrounding grounds. Return to Greenwich Street and turn left (west) out of the park. Turn left on Grant Avenue, then left on Vallejo Street. After the Vallejo Street stairs, turn right on Montgomery Street. Make a left on Gold Street, a right on Balance Street, a right on Jackson Street, and a left on Hotaling Street. Finally, make a left on Washington Street and a right into Transamerica Redwood Park, where your tour comes to an end. To access the map, click here.

Alternate Walk: Nob Hill and Russian Hill
This walk starts outside of Grace Cathedral, at the corner of Sacramento and Taylor streets. Head east on Sacramento Street and turn left on Mason Street, where you’ll pass the San Francisco Cable Car Museum. Turn left on Vallejo Street and follow it up one set of stairs, through Ina Coolbrith Park, and then up another set. Turn right on Jones Street, right on Green Street, left on Taylor Street, and left on Macondray Lane. Continue zigzagging through Russian Hill, turning right on Leavenworth Street, left on Greenwich Street, right on Larkin Street, left on Chestnut Street, and right on Polk Street. From here, turn right on Francisco Street, which curves north into Russian Hill Park. At the end of the park, turn right on Hyde Street and left back onto Francisco Street. Turn right on Leavenworth Street to head south, then make a right on Lombard Street to travel down the city’s “crookedest street,” consisting of eight hairpin turns and flanked by beautiful homes and gardens. To finish the 3.3-mile tour, turn left on Hyde Street, left on Filbert Street, right on Jones Street, left on Vallejo Street, right on Florence Street, left on Broadway Street, and right on Taylor Street to return to Grace Cathedral.

Chipotle's new menu option

Great news, tofu-lovers of the Northeast. Chipotle is expanding its braised tofu Sofritas to New York and New England, the company announced in a tweet Thursday:

The vegan option is coming March 3, the company told The Huffington Post in an email. Here's what else we know about the Sofritas burrito:

1. It looks like this:



2. It's already available in over a dozen states.

3. About 40 percent of Chipotle restaurants already have the Sofritas burrito.

4. The burrito chain plans to roll out Sofritas nationwide, but it's unclear when that will happen.

5. And it apparently tastes a lot like scrambled eggs.

Source

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck make fun of each other (for charity)

Boy with Down syndrome inspires as a high school basketball player

And a related video:

Bargain living in America's priciest cities

You can't afford Manhattan. Probably you can't afford Brooklyn, either. But listen up: Wherever there's a big city that everybody dreams of living in, there is an alternative that gives a savvy renter all the benefits of the city at maybe half the cost.

The same frugal magic can be worked in Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston -- in fact, just about anywhere that rents are sky-high. The keys: Demand good rapid transit links to the brightest lights in the big city, and also look for a rebounding neighborhood that may be a tad too gritty for the monied set.

Skeptical that this formula delivers housing bliss? Tune into the latest numbers from New York, compiled by Realtor Douglas Elliman, which puts the average Manhattan rental at $3,822 and, oh, if you aspire to a prime neighborhood like Tribeca, be ready to plunk down substantially more dough.

Brooklyn rents in the trendy north and northwest sections - Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill - are closing in on those in Manhattan. The Douglas Elliman July numbers for Brooklyn put the average at $3,035.

Do the math. That Brooklyn renter needs to be pulling in over $100,000 annually for many landlords to be willing to extend a lease.

The antidote: Cross the Hudson River into Jersey City and spend under $2,500 for a spacious one bedroom apartment in a newer building, very possibly under $2,000 in an older building downtown, perhaps in a restored brownstone, with convenient access to the PATH subway system that transports Jersey City residents to the World Trade Center on Wall Street in a couple minutes. Trips to 33rd and Sixth Avenue take maybe 20 minutes.

The town's new mayor, 36-year-old Steven Fulop, has announced his "Across the River" campaign to woo New Yorkers to live on the other side of the Hudson.

There are no restaurants or bars in Jersey City? There aren't many, admittedly, but that same PATH train runs 24/7, meaning Manhattan's night life is a quick ride away.

Chicago is your kind of town? Prime downtown neighborhoods are packed with one-bedroom apartments renting for $2,000 to $2,500 per month. So dollar conscious hipsters are heading to Logan Square, where Homescout Realty marketing intern Alexandra Wolf said large one bedrooms can be had for $1,300 to $1,400. It's about five miles from the Loop, maybe 15 minutes on the L train, and it's a neighborhood characterized by stately historical boulevards. To boot, it's now starting to show up on lists of the nation's hottest neighborhoods. Bonus point: Logan Square is home to Hot Doug's, revered by many as the nation's best purveyor of exotic sausages, like the 'Brigitte Bardot' ("hot, hot, hot").

Have $2,500 to spend on rent? If so, you can move right into Los Angeles's trendy Venice Beach or Marina del Rey, where your neighbors all drive newer Teslas or Priuses and will shun you if you motor in with the wrong wheels. Add the car to the rent, and you are left out of the equation?

Head to NoHo, the once dowdy North Hollywood, now riding high as a reborn arts district, and there even is a subway stop on Los Angeles's Red Line, which connects downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood and NoHo. There are many art galleries, dozens of live theater companies and Hollywood studios nearby, and it's an area filled with mid-century ranch homes and modestly priced low-rise apartment complexes.

Expect to pay under $1,500 for a well-located one bedroom and, did we mention, off-street parking will be free and NoHo is not known for snobbishness about car marques.

Don't go looking for an apartment on the cheap in any of Boston's trendy neighborhoods such as Back Bay, the South End, not even in gentrified South Boston. When Rental Beast, a brokerage that tracks Boston's market, last tallied the numbers in mid 2012, it said a two-bedroom in Back Bay would run around $2,857 and, worse, national tallies put Boston as closing in on the lofty rental heights of New York.

Head to South Dorchester, inside Boston's city limits, but a neighborhood where artists, hipsters and others are vying with the traditional Irish Americans for flats in affordable triple deckers and once-grand Victorians that have been carved up into rentals.Three bedrooms rent for $2,000 and bargain hunters can still score pleasant one-bedrooms for just a bit more than $1,000 per month. Look for convenient access to MBTA train stations -- Fields Corner and Ashmont are the ones to be near - and you can be in the restaurants of Harvard Square in just a very few minutes.

Add it up and ask yourself: Does it matter where you sleep? So, now you know where to rent.

Source

Alabama man raises over $50k for a Boston homeless good samaritan

A homeless man living in Boston had no idea he would become the talk of a nation after he summoned a nearby police officer to hand over a backpack he'd found with more than $40,000 in cash and travelers checks inside.
There are two reasons why this story renews faith in humanity. First, the simple fact that the backpack was returned when the man could have easily pocketed some quick cash. Glen James got his reward in the form of a special citation from the Boston Police Department, but if he thought that was the end of it, he was wrong.

The second reason comes as Montgomery, Alabama native Ethan Whittington read of James' story and decided to take action.

Whittington, who graduated from Montgomery's St. James School in 2004, has since moved to Richmond, Virginia, though his parents remain rooted just outside Alabama's capital city. In fact, Whittington's mom told officials at his alma mater that she thinks her son learned some of his volunteer ethic from the community service projects he did while in school.

After reading how James found the backpack and money and then selflessly returned it, Whittington was moved to action. A friend had recently told him about a website for crowd-funding and he decided to set up an account.

Whittington started a page on the website GoFundMe.com, jokingly thinking he could raise $300 or $400 for James. "I was going to send it to the P.O. box that it listed on the article I read," Whittington explained.

The outpouring of support was explosive. Within 24 hours, more than 2,000 strangers had donated more than $55,000 to the cause, shocking even the man who started the page. A new, more ambitious goal of $500,000 is now underway.

Whittington says he's talking with an organization that will help him manage the project adding that he's received offers for computers, clothing and possibly even a job and housing for James.

The two men spoke on the phone Tuesday, and both are a bit overwhelmed.

Whittington says he wanted to do something more than just hand over a check to James, that he wanted to positively influence the man's life, and spark others to do the same.

"I feel like, if everybody could come together and create one goal like we've done for Glen, why stop with him? Why can't we influence more people?" Whittington asked.

If you would like to donate, you can do so HERE.

Source

Boston Public Schools to offer all students free breakfast and lunch

The Boston Public Schools will serve free meals – both lunch and breakfast -- to all students, regardless of their income status this year. Boston becomes one of the largest cities in the nation to join a program aimed at serving healthy meals to more children and save families money.

“Every child has a right to healthy, nutritious meals in school, and when we saw a chance to offer these healthy meals at no cost to them, we jumped at the chance,” said Mayor Thomas M. Menino. “This takes the burden of proof off our low-income families and allows all children, regardless of income, to know healthy meals are waiting for them at school every day.”

Over the summer BPS and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education joined a national program, currently available in 10 states and the District of Columbia. The program, called the “Community Eligibility Option,” waives meal fees for all children regardless of income status and is also being implemented in cities such as Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago and parts of New York City.

“Children can focus on learning when they are well-fed, and families can focus on education when they don’t have to budget for school meals every week,” said BPS Interim Superintendent John McDonough. “This program makes sense for students. We expect that every major city will join this national program in the next few years – and we are able to put Boston’s families at the forefront.”

Already, 78 percent of BPS students qualify for free- or reduced-price meals due to their income status. Many of those who do not qualify fall just beyond income limits. Previously, families had to fill out and return forms to qualify for the meals program. By entering into the Community Eligibility Option, BPS can waive all meal charges for all students. Parents do not need to take any action to participate. Students can continue to purchase extra food items, such as snacks, for a fee.

“Our mission is to educate every student, regardless of income or ability, and this helps us achieve that,” said Boston School Committee Chair Michael O’Neill. “We are proud to take part in this project because it will help ensure every child is ready to learn, regardless of income.”

“We moved quickly to advocate for the ability to participate in this initiative and are glad to be one of the first major cities to participate,” said Michael Peck, Director of BPS Food and Nutrition Services. “It is truly a win-win for our students and our city.”

“Community Eligibility is a great new option that helps low-income children have better access to healthy school meals and helps schools reduce administrative burdens,” said Jim Weill, President of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC). “Boston Public Schools has been a leader in the effort to increase participation in school meals, and FRAC applauds the City for quickly embracing this opportunity which will benefit every BPS student.”

Last year, BPS launched a universal breakfast program that waived charges for all students for morning meals. This meant that families who did not previously qualify for free-or-reduced price meals saved approximately $230 per child.

The Community Eligibility Option means families will now save an additional $405 to $455 per child per year. The cost of lunch was previously $2.25 for elementary students and $2.50 for middle and high school students.

In total, the lunch charges alone added up to approximately $943,000 per year for families through reduced- or full-price meals last school year. However, BPS only collected about $585,000 of this total due to allowances for individual hardships or other situations.

Under the new program, federal meal reimbursements to BPS are expected to increase. This means that, even though the District would not collect money from students at cash registers, total meal revenue would increase by approximately $2.7 million per year.

Source

Things every New Englander knows

Smart Red Sox fans pulls a hat switcheroo

Ignore that video title :)

Rolling Stone's Boston bomber cover stirs controversy

Rolling Stone's cover treatment and glam photo of Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev touched off a firestorm Wednesday,especially from Boston-area readers who charged that it turns an accused killer into a "rock star."

The article by contributing editor Janet Reitman is titled "The Bomber: How a popular, promising student was failed by his family, fell into radical Islam and became a monster."

The lengthy article draws upon interviews with childhood and high school friends, teachers, neighbors and law enforcement agents, the magazine says.

But it's the soft cover image that seemed to rile social media.The Bob Dylan-style photo shows the 19-year-old Tsarnaev, with long, curly hair, mustache and goatee, staring directly into the camera.

The edition doesn't come out until Friday, but the advance news and widely circulated cover photo struck a nerve, particularly in Boston and New England, where "Rolling Stone" was trending all day on Twitter.

Tedeschi Food Shops, which is based on Rockland, Mass.,is refusing to sell the edition of the magazine at its nearly 200 outlets, saying on its Facebook page that it "cannot support actions that serve to glorify the evil actions of anyone."

"Music and terrorism don't mix," the company said.

CVS/pharmacy also said it was boycotting the edition. "As a company with deep roots in New England and a strong presence in Boston, we believe this is the right decision out of respect for the victims of the attack and their loved ones," the company said on its Facebook page.

Rolling Stone's own Facebook page was also flooded with comments, most of them negative.

Boston Marathon bombing victim update

In an iconic and affecting photo taken in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing in April, cowboy hat-wearing Carlos Arredondo rushes to push Jeff Bauman out of harm’s way in a wheelchair. While the photo showed the horrors of a city rocked by violence, it also captured the heroism and resilience that emerged from the tragedy.

Bauman lost his legs in the blast but managed to maintain an indomitable spirit. Since the bombing, he has continued his recovery and is learning to walk on new prosthetic legs. In May, he and Arredondo appeared at a Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park, where Bauman threw the ceremonial first pitch.

On Wednesday, Bauman and Arredondo sat down with NBC’s Brian Williams to talk about the bond they have formed in the wake of an unspeakable tragedy. In a segment that ran on the "Today Show," the two men talked about the bombing, their newfound connection, and Bauman’s remarkably fast recovery.

“I’m stronger,” Bauman told Williams. “Way stronger. I could lift my whole body weight with these [arms], probably about 100 times if I wanted to.”

Bauman likely would not have survived the bombing if Arredondo, a Costa Rican peace activist, hadn’t come to his rescue. In the famous photo, Arredondo can be seen trying to stem the massive blood loss from Bauman’s right thigh as a first responder and volunteers wheel him to safety.

“He was the one that picked me off the ground,” said Bauman. “He said his shoulder was hurting, but he grabbed me with one hand in the chair.”

Said Arredondo, “I saw the quantity of blood on the floor, and I knew Jeff was a person who needed to go soon, very quick to the emergency room, because he lost so much blood at the time.”

Still recovering at the time of the interview, Bauman remained optimistic.

“I really want to do something great,” he told Williams. “I want to be out there. I want to just help people. That’s what I want to do.”

Source

Boston cop's touching tribute to the Boston Marathon victims

America's snobbiest cities

When you browse Santa Fe’s galleries, a love of art isn’t necessarily enough.

Ysmay Walsh makes a point to dress up when she gallery-hops along the city’s Canyon Road. “I feel like I have to step up my game a bit, because I wanted to be taken seriously at the galleries,” says the founder of residential guide MetroSeeker.com. “Without a certain appearance or air about yourself, gallery owners barely acknowledge you when you walk in.

That attitude helps explain how the otherwise diverse and quiet Santa Fe made the top 10 snobbiest cities, according to Travel + Leisure readers.

To determine which city has the biggest nose in the air, we factored in some traditional staples of snobbery: a reputation for aloof and smarty-pants residents, along with high-end shopping and highbrow cultural offerings like classical music and theater.

But we also considered 21st-century definitions of elitism: tech-savviness, artisanal coffeehouses, and a conspicuous eco-consciousness (say, the kind of city where you get a dirty look for throwing your coffee cup in the wrong bin).

No. 1 San Francisco
San Francisco has cultivated its reputation as a serious foodie city, and readers gave it high marks for both fine dining and ethnic cuisine, even if they did also experience some sticker shock. To shop at hip boutiques, browse galleries, and dine among the cognoscenti, check out the Hayes Valley neighborhood and its Absinthe Brasserie & Bar. Any snobbiness didn’t stop San Francisco from being acknowledged for its welcoming attitude: the city also ranked first in the survey for being gay-friendly.

No. 2 New York City

The fast-paced manners of New Yorkers may put off some visitors, but there’s no denying that the Big Apple has ample reasons to be proud: it ranked at the top of the survey for its theater and art scene and for dressing to the nines. Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, with its exclusive clubs and stiletto-heeled crowd, is one see-and-be-seen area, as is Williamsburg.

That said, many New Yorkers’ definition of cool has more of a laid-back, off-the-grid feel: an example is Brooklyn’s Greenwood Park, a beer garden with 60 brews on tap and a bocce league.

No. 3 Boston
In this college town steeped in history, visitors may detect a certain air of superiority: after all, the locals rank near the top for their Ivy League-worthy brains and for supporting old-school culture, such as the symphony. On Harvard Square, you can tap into that brainpower by browsing high-concept bookstores—from Grolier Poetry Bookshop to Schoenhof’s Foreign Books. But there is one realm where Bostonians falter: their driving, which ranked near the bottom of the survey.

No. 4 Minneapolis/St. Paul
Perhaps readers felt intimidated by these bookish, indie-music-loving, craft-beer-drinking hipsters, who also ranked highly for being exceptionally tidy. If these Minnesotans feel self-satisfied, is it any wonder? They also scored well for being fit and outdoorsy; you can join them at the Chain of Lakes, where, depending on the season, folks are hiking, paddling, or even ice-surfing.

No. 5 (tie) Santa Fe, N.M.
Georgia O’Keeffe’s old stomping ground certainly ranks as an A-list art town with readers: it won the survey for being a cultural getaway and scored highly for its museums. Beyond the galleries and boutiques of Canyon Road, the New Mexicans also came across as being pretty affable—but it may depend on your topic of conversation: the city ranked near the bottom for its sports bars.

No. 5 (tie) Seattle
In this city of coffee connoisseurs and tech-savvy early adopters, it can be easy to feel hopelessly out of step. To relive the city’s pre-Internet tech scene, check out the Museum of Flight (home of the original Air Force One) or Everett’s Flying Heritage Collection, launched by Microsoft alum Paul Allen. And you don’t have to be schooled in contemporary art to appreciate the city’s Olympic Sculpture Park and its view of Puget Sound.

No. 7 Chicago
It’s not just hot air: one reason that the urbane Windy City made the highfalutin top 10 is its renowned theater scene, although it’s hard to call the sketch work at Second City, or the improv at iO Chicago Theater, snooty. A favorite among serious architecture buffs, Chicago did win the survey for one great (culinary) equalizer: pizza.

No. 8 Providence, R.I.
These New Englanders seem to embrace a café-culture attitude: after all, the city ranks No. 3 for cafés (such as the techy, artsy AS220) and No. 4 for cutting-edge performance art. Even its No. 1-ranked burgers exhibit a little healthy pretension: the sliders at beloved Harry’s Bar & Burger are 100 percent Hereford beef, and you can wash them down with a local beer (served, quirkily, in a 68-ounce boot).

No. 9 Washington, D.C.
The locals ranked as some of the unfriendliest in the nation, but the cultural scene—such as the no-admission-charge Smithsonian—is very democratic, and the city ranked first in the survey for free things to do. If you want to dine like a local power broker, though, check out the mod Rasika West End, which exemplifies the city’s fine ethnic cuisine and counts Michelle Obama as a fan.

No. 10 Charleston, S.C.
That refined, Old Charleston drawl may have you instinctively calling the locals “ma’am” and “sir.” The city seems to be owning its genteel attitude, too: the hot lunch spot these days is Slightly North of Broad, which combines locally sourced southern fare with innovative cuisine, and cheekily goes by the acronym SNOB. The city also ranked near the top for antiques, design shops, and romance.

Source

Jon Stewart rips CNN for their terrible reporting of yesterday's events in Boston

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Daily Show on Facebook

FCC overlooks David Ortiz's "passionate" Boston speech

David Ortiz delivered a passionate and mildly profane speech to Red Sox fans Saturday as baseball returned to Fenway Park — and luckily for the slugger, it looks like the team will avoid any fines from he FCC.


"This jersey that we wear today, it doesn't say 'Red Sox,' it says 'Boston,'" Ortiz said. "We want to thank you Mayor Menino, Governor Patrick, the whole police department for the great job they did this past week. This is our [expletive] city."

After the game, the FCC tweeted in response.

"David Ortiz spoke from the heart at today's Red Sox game. I stand with Big Papi and the people of Boston - Julius," the tweet said, signed by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

Here is a video of Ortiz's speech (warning: contains explicit language).



Source

5 stories about the Boston Marathon bombings that are not true

In the aftermath of dramatic events like Monday's bombing attack at the Boston Marathon, it's a truth of our times that millions of people will get early bits of news via social media.

To be sure, sites like Twitter and Facebook were used extensively by police, relief groups and governments to share important information about the bombings. But there's also a more unfortunate side to how the Web responds to sudden bad news.

Sometimes accidentally and sometimes maliciously, false information gets loose. And in the rapid-fire digital echo chamber, it doesn't take long to spread.

"On days like this, Twitter shows its best & worst: loads of info at huge speed, but often false & sometimes deliberately so," said Mark Blank-Settle, of the BBC College of Journalism, in a post on the site.

As always, news discovered online (or anywhere else, really) should be double-checked before it's passed along -- especially in times of tragedy.

Here are some of the most widely shared untrue news items we've found on social media in the past 24 hours.

Man planned to propose, girlfriend killed
Among the many gripping images to emerge from the bombing's aftermath was one of a man in a red shirt, kneeling on the ground cradling a woman in his arms. It went viral -- with a heartbreaking, but fake, story attached.

"The man in the red shirt planned to propose to his girlfriend as he crossed the finish line of the Boston Marathon, but she passed away" it reads. "Most of us will never experience this amount of emotional pain."

The image is, in fact, real. It comes from the Boston Globe and was shared through Getty Images. But the agency's caption merely describes the scene as a man comforting an injured woman at the finish line.

That didn't stop it from making the rounds in a big way. A somewhat misleading Facebook account pretending to represent actor Will Ferrell (it calls itself a "parody" but has 385,000 likes) shared the post. By Tuesday morning, the picture had more than 448,000 "likes" and had been shared over 92,000 times.

Young girl died at finish line
Another heart-wrenching image of a supposed victim went viral. In this one, a young girl running in a road race is pictured, with text saying she died in one of the blasts. As an added cruel twist, the post says she was "running for the Sandy Hook victims."

But a quick look at the photo shows that her runner's bib is from the Joe Cassella 5K in Great Falls, Virginia. Also, the Boston Marathon does not allow runners that young.

On Google+, one of the users who shared the image followed it with "poor little girl..got killed in boston..):" By Tuesday, it had more than 500 comments and had become a "What's Hot" post on the site -- appearing in the feeds of all users who haven't turned off that feature.

On Tuesday, organizers of that race shot down the tale on their Facebook account.

"We would like to clarify that the picture circulating on the web and Twitter of a little girl wearing a Joe Cassella 5K bib claiming to have been killed at the Boston marathon is being used fraudulently," read the page for the Joe Cassella Foundation. The group raises funds for the families of children who are ill in the Washington area.

Race organizers will donate for retweets
A Twitter account sprouted up under the handle @_BostonMarathon. Posing as the organizers of the race, whoever is behind the account tweeted: "For every retweet we receive we will donate $1 to the #BostonMarathon victims #PrayForBoston."

By Monday evening, the post had been retweeted more than 50,000 times.

It was, of course, fake. And to its credit, Twitter disabled the account soon afterward.

It wasn't the only Twitter phony. Another widely talked-about account, @Hope4Boston, shared both the image of the 8-year-old girl who supposedly died and a photo of a young boy, running in a race, who was another supposed victim.

Eight-year-old Martin Richard was one of three confirmed fatalities as of Tuesday morning. But he was watching the race, not running in it.

The "Hope for Boston" account was created on March 24, according to the Web tool When Did You Join Twitter? But account holders are able to change their handles and names on the site.

Authorities shut down cell phone service
Reports flew around social media, mainly Twitter, on Monday that police in Boston had shut down cellular networks to prevent an attacker from using a cell phone to detonate another explosive. At least one media report quoted an unnamed source with information to that effect, before later recanting.

In truth, Boston's wireless network was simply overwhelmed with the volume of calls and other communications in the aftermath of the attack. Service was slow and spotty, but never shut down. Verizon and other mobile carriers confirmed they'd never been contacted by officials asking them to shut off service.

Soon after the bombings, mobile carriers were beefing up their networks in the Boston area. AT&T made its Wi-Fi system publicly available for free to help take the load off traditional phone lines.

Conspiracy theories
We almost hate to even address this stuff. We'll start with a bottom line: Anyone saying they know what happened at this point is making it up.

But that didn't stop far-fetched imaginings, often based in political ideology, from flying almost immediately after the attack.

One syndicated talk show host (who won't be named and whose content won't be linked here) tweeted that the attacks "stink to high heaven" of a so-called "false flag," or staged attack. "False flag" is an old naval term that's come to be used for a military action that's not what it appears to be.

At least one Web user was ready for this. He registered a website --bostonmarathonconspiracy.com -- on Monday. Clicking the link reveals a white page with black text reading:

"I bought this domain to keep some conspiracy theory kook from owning it. Please keep the victims of this event and their families in your thoughts. Thank you."

Source