Gothic Google

I love it. Click over to google.com and be dazzled by the Earth Hour motivation.

Between this, and the 800,000+ Facebook users who joined an Earth Hour fan club, momentum is building in the final hours.

Will it matter? I hope so.

Earth citizens emit 27 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year.

That is a lot, and according to a TIME Magazine story in yesterday's online blotter, will it matter if the entire world, time zone by time zone, turns off their lights? Will such an electric reduction really matter?

It's a good question, TIME admits in the course of its interview with World Wildlife Fund President & CEO Carter Roberts, regarding tomorrow night's Earth Hour momentum that has built up globally since last year's Sydney, Australia experiment.

Last week, I briefly discussed Earth Hour and cross-posted one of the official videos, challenging local residents and business owners to turn off lights and shut down appliances.

In a quest to build local momentum, I wrote a letter to the editor that ran this week in the Daily News and the Current.

In the aforementioned article, TIME argues that the concept of Earth Hour is all and well, but climate change will not be cured in 60 minutes, even if the whole world participates.

It is our charge, as Earth citizens, to allocate funding and research for newer and greener technologies that should lead us to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, replenish the ozone layer, and slowly make the world a better place.

Roberts, the WWF head, told TIME, "Unlike most of the issues that we grapple with, climate change is global. The pressure is on us to do the right thing."

I don't expect every Newburyport resident and business owner to meet my challenge. Clearly, there's no way to test it. I've heard from residents who, like me, use energy efficient light bulbs in their daily lives.

We turn on lights when entering a room and turn them off when leaving a room. If the sunlight is strong, then daylighting takes priority over artificial lighting. I received an email from one local man who unplugs every appliance every hour of every day when not in use.

Perhaps a few households is enough to start to make a difference.

Healthy cattle come here

Maybe it's because the Newburyport School Department cafeterias are privatized operations, or maybe for some other reason, but I'm glad to see in the wake of yesterday's announcement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that listed 226 pages of School Food Authorities that received 143 million pounds of tainted beef from a California slaughterhouse that Newburyport is not included.

This doesn't necessarily mean Newburyport doesn't receive bad beef, but at least we're not in this recall.

Bartlet's gold

Faced with an uncertain economy, a local man searches for buried treasure today at Bartlet Mall.


I don't know what else to say on this subject.

Local blogging continues

Gillian Swart, former Newburyport Current freelancer and staff reporter, is no longer associated with the weekly and launched her own blog this week at Port Reporter Unlimited.

Welcome, Gillian. I look forward to reading your wares.

All local blogs, as I find them, are linked on the right side of this page.

Fight club, anyone?

Earlier this month, a birthday party held at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Natick was the setting of a fistfight between two mothers when their sons argued over who can play a video game, reported The MetroWest Daily News.

But that fight only involved two women.

Switch to Somerville, when about 200 people broke into a fight with bats and knives during an Easter Sunday party at the Good Time Emporium. I love this part of the Somerville News article:

In the midst of the brawl, Regina Hunter, 17, of Randolph, allegedly threatened another female with a knife and fought violently with police trying to detain her. She was arrested and charged with resisting arrest, possession of a dangerous weapon and disorderly conduct. Police allegedly found a six-inch black pocket knife on Hunter.

When will Newburyport share in the fun?

Scratch that. Maybe it shouldn't.

Green water

A judge at the Newburyport High School science fair on February 28, I spent some time with students Bria Boschetto and Sadie Cathcart who led me through their hypothesis and experiments in an exhibit called, “The Cosmetics of Water.”

Bria and Sadie compared the chlorine and pH levels of tap water, Brita-filtered tap water, refrigerator-filtered tap water, and bottled water, and asked which water was cleaner and cost effective.

The bottled water was most expensive, regardless of brand. And the chlorine and pH levels in bottled water is not much different than tap water. The tap water was cleanest, but because piping systems are typically old, the result is dirtier water. But, a Brita filter, performing more efficient than a refrigerator filter, removed all the "dirt" while maintaining proper levels.

Thus, the students reasoned, a glass of Newburyport tap water, via a Brita filter, is the cleanest and cheapest.

I graded the girls an "A."

In today's Boston Globe, this story talks about 80 Boston restaurants which no longer offer bottled water to their patrons. Restaurant owners cite empty bottles produce waste, not to mention the costs in manufacturing, shipping, and purchasing the bottles in the first place.

At a Harvard Square restaurant, for instance, the menu includes a note that bottled water is "[n]ot sold here because plastic bottles are BAD BAD BAD for the environment and that water is really no better than tap water."

Bria and Sadie were on to something, and I'd like to see them pitch their findings to the community at-large.

I challenge you

You, the reader of the Newburyport Report, I challenge you.

I challenge you to turn off your lights and turn off your appliances, unplug unnecessary equipment for one hour, Earth Hour, on Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m.

I further challenge you to challenge everyone else you know, whether a person or a company.

Let's go dark for one hour. Let's react to global warming on a personal level for one hour. You won't be alone, and I don't mean just me...

Goat Week

In a story in today's paper, the Rowley Board of Selectmen voted to put a dog to death after the Rottweiler allegedly killed a neighboring goat.

First of all, it's a Rottweiler, not a pit bull which is known to attack other animals and people.

Second of all, both the dog and goat owners should be thankful as there was another story today, albeit in Clarkesville, Tennessee, about a 76-year-old preacher who was killed by a goat.

Nothing beats the incident from August 2007 when a 60-year-old Australian woman was killed by her pet camel after the animal tried to have sex with her.

Newburyport Mountain

Named after the street it is situated on, the Crow Lane landfill may as well be called Newburyport Mountain as it's the tallest structure in this seaside community of 17,000 people.

Yesterday afternoon, in the moments before dusk, I found myself driving around the landfill and shot some pictures. (You can click on the pictures to see them blown up.)

From the east:


From the south:


And for posterity, take a gander at the archaic Federal Express trailer smack-dab next to the dump, as if manager New Ventures can't afford newer equipment:

Link House luncheon

To the folks at the John Ashford Link House: thank you!

I attended this afternoon's 6th annual St. Patrick's Day so-called corned beef and cabbage luncheon (that also included carrots, potatoes, rolls, and beets) and the food was delicious. I didn't eat the beets, but others seemed to enjoy them.

Sharing a table with City Clerk Rich Jones and seven Newburyport City Council members--James Shanley, Kathleen O'Connor Ives, Donna Holaday, Barry Connell, Ed Cameron, Steve Hutcheson, and Larry McCavitt--was a treat. Thanks, James, for the invitation!

On my other blog, I wrote about yesterday morning's breakfast and political roast in South Boston, so it was refreshing to spectate a toned-down local version today. And a fundraiser to boot!

More thoughts may arise later but for now I have two comments:

First, I realize that tables were smashed together for the most effective number of seats in the Masonic Temple room, but the people who were seated immediately underneath the raised table couldn't even see the speakers if they craned their necks up.

Second, how come nobody thanked the men and women behind the Link House until Senator Bruce Tarr? (He was also at yesterday's breakfast.) Five people rose and spoke, telling bad joke after bad joke, but none of them thanked the host until Tarr.

Beannachtai na Feile Padraig!

Yay Geordie

About six weeks ago, I emailed all city hall employees with a link to American City and County Magazine's website, indicating that the publishers were interested in publishing weekly photos of urban life on their website. In the email, I encouraged employees to submit their works of art.

Geordie Vining, senior project manager in the planning department, stepped up and the magazine published his choice on their website earlier this month.

Click here to see his photo of city hall.

Karp speaks

At the beginning of the month, I wrote about Thursday night's public forum with Stephen Karp and wondered aloud how many residents would trek to the Nock Middle School to hear the presentation.

Try 700 residents, according to one of the news reports. The auditorium was nearly full, but it didn't look like 700. Definitely 300 or so. Maybe it was 700. Nevertheless, I was surprised by the number of people.

I also presumed Karp would offer little information that was otherwise not known. Karp met that presumption.

Fact is, even if New England Development presents design plans for X, Y, or Z, local boards and possibly some state boards would need to approve those plans and the devilish details (to steal a clause from Ed Cameron and Larry McCavitt) would likely change.

Distorted News

In a story in today's Daily News on a cellular tower to be built off Storey Avenue is the following paragraph:

The company, 5G Investment Trust, filed a lawsuit in federal court in late October or early November last year over the denial of a cell tower at 74 Storey Ave., land located behind Dunkin' Donuts that is not zoned for that use, said Nancy Colbert, the city's planning director.

Let me get this traight. Reporter Stephen Tait spoke to the planning director and paraphrased her words. But someone failed to specify the date of the lawsuit.

Late October or early November? Which was it? And how can the Daily News be the so-called paper of record if stories are distorted?

Protocol for guests

A Daily News story about Mr. Karp's visit tomorrow to the city includes the following sentence:

The mayor said that when there is a guest to the city it is proper protocol and etiquette for the guest to meet with the city's officials.

I agree with the essence but disagree that the entire city council be privy to such guests.

If one makes the parallel between Newburyport City Hall and the State House, then the only city officials privy to such a reception would be the mayor, the city council president, and/or any cabinet members, aka department heads, who's line of work encompasses the visitor's mission.

But for the entire city council? I respectfully disagree with that idea.

Current Events

If the Cambridge Chronicle can write a funny albeit sad story about a Cantabrigian turkey that was hit by a car and relocated to Dedham, then surely similar animal stories could be featured in the Newburyport Current if for no other reason than between the Parker River wildlife refuge and the Mass Audubon center there must be human-animal stories.

Alas, Gillian Swart is no longer employed by the Current, which begs the question what sort of news and events the paper will include this week.

Local blogger sparked by female drivers

On March 6, 2008, the Newburyport Daily News published a letter to the editor from a British researcher writing a book about a stock car racer who spent some time in Beverly in the 1950s.

Apparently, this to-the-point letter sparked local resident Peter McClelland who blogged this week about his disappointment and that he felt let down that the Daily News piece was not an op-ed on female driving.

I was anticipating some mention of a woman at a traffic light in town using her mirror to rearrange her facial appearance. When the light changed, she failed to notice and instead continued with her cosmetic surgery. How thoughtful of someone to honk their horn in appreciation of her improved looks!

Farther down, Peter opines:

Many men are too aggressive behind the wheel and many women are too distracted.

Perhaps, Peter. But I've also seen far too many aggressive women and distracted men.

Curious Steve

Steve Hutcheson is serving in his second term on the City Council, yet during tonight's meeting he publicly asked why orders are approved in one reading and not two.

The response was ordinances take two readings but orders take one.

Shouldn't he know this by now?

Blog comments

Mary Eaton, bless her heart, does not allow comments on her blog.

Perhaps she takes the perspective of Seth Godin, who wrote two years ago:

I think comments are terrific, and they are the key attraction for some blogs and some bloggers. Not for me, though. First, I feel compelled to clarify or to answer every objection or to point out every flaw in reasoning. Second, it takes way too much of my time to even think about them, never mind curate them. And finally, and most important for you, it permanently changes the way I write. Instead of writing for everyone, I find myself writing in anticipation of the commenters. I'm already itching to rewrite my traffic post below. So, given a choice between a blog with comments or no blog at all, I think I'd have to choose the latter.

I can understand Seth's point, and I can see how Mary might take his perspective, but if that is true, why does she include testimonials? I don't get it.

Seized

Rosie O'Shea's, an Irish pub steps from the public library, is closed.

A large red sign is posted over the door, proclaiming, "SEIZED!"

Apparently, the owners were delinquent on paying state taxes, so the state now owns the property.

Forbes and Karp

Stephen Karp, chairman of New England Development, may be the wealthiest land owner in Newburyport, but he's not top of the chart rich.

Forbes Magazine's 2008 ranking of 1,125 billionaires in the world places Karp's net worth of $1 billion at #1062, compared to #891 in last year's list of 946.

He doesn't even make the Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans. His net worth hasn't changed in two years, so while he was ranked #374 then, he didn't make the cut in last year's list.

I bring this up in reference to next week's public forum when King Karp will appear beside the mayor and other city officials to talk about the so-called Waterside West development.

It is typical for Forbes to list corporate chairs and presidents and while they can speak at length about vision statements, it is usually up to their managers to delve into singular issues.

I'd be surprised if Karp says a lot next week that isn't already known.

Lacking in the tech department

Over on my other blog, I wrote about a new printer I bought today.

I agonized over location, going back and forth between websites for Target, Walmart, Costco, Circuit City, CompUSA, and Best Buy--which appear to be the only places in a 30-mile radius to purchase computers and printers--before settling on Best Buy in Salem, New Hampshire.

I suppose I'm biased, living the past two years in Somerville and frequently buying computer equipment at Microcenter, the badass warehouse on Memorial Drive.

Is there no comparative independent bulk reseller in the Merrimack Valley? Where do locals buy CompUSA-like equipment without paying jacked-up prices?

Waterfront development forum

As reported in the Daily News and the Current, and on blogs by Tom Salemi and Mary Eaton, New England Development chairman Stephen Karp and his entourage will appear before a public forum on March 13 at the middle school.

Mayor Moak and Planning Director Colbert are spearheading this forum as a means to further talk about New England Development's plans for developing the so-called Waterside West acreage adjacent to the Merrimack River.

I wonder how many people will attend the forum. Moreover, I wonder how many people realize Karp may have very little to say in terms of plans for this, plans for that, as such is typically the work of his management team. I'd be very surprised if much is said that hasn't already been reported or presumed.

Mister Ed

Ed Cameron, the Ward 4 Councillor who won an amazing victory over incumbent Erford Fowler almost four months ago, posted on his blog five times since last November's Election Day.

The first two posts, on Nov. 7 and Nov. 13, were reactionary perspectives to the election and do not contain any promises for future entries.

The next three posts get interesting.

On Dec. 17, 2007, Ed wrote, I have not posted anything on this blog in a month....As to the blog, for now, I'm going to attempt a once a week post, probably on Monday, with some thoughts on Newburyport current events...

He failed to deliver on that weekly pledge.

On Jan. 2, 2008, Ed admitted he is already not blogging enough, but will make that a resolution for 2008.

Ed, do you remember Gomer Pyle? Fool me once, shame on you, the TV character said, Fool me twice, shame on me.

Out of habit, I continue to click over to Ed's blog every few days, wondering and hoping he has some new intellectual ideas online. Not yet.

Last month, and a good six weeks after his New Year's Resolution, Ed wrote on Feb. 13, To those who actually look forward to reading my ramblings here, I apologize for my disappearance, talking about the good news of adopting a Chinese daughter which required a two-week trip to the foreign embassy.

When I visited China in 2006, I was online every few days, emailing friends and blogging on my then-Livejournal.com page. Apparently, either there was no Internet connection where he was or Ed didn't think to post any Asiatic thoughts.

I don't want this to sound like I'm blaming Ed for failing to do X, Y, or Z, for he clearly had valid excuses. But when an elected official states in clear terms that he will do something, and online at that, I expect that the person will follow through.

According to entrepreneur Seth Godin, making promises and keeping them is a central facet of advertising and marketing.

Before Election Day, Ed's blog was a part of his campaign. Now that he's no longer a candidate but a councillor, I half-expect his blog to represent who he campaigned to be. Missing meetings is one thing, but making promises on a blog and failing to keep them is something else entirely.

Ed, if you're reading this, I'm a devoted reader of your blog and I'd love reading more.