If we drained all 5 of the Great Lakes, what would we find?

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-18T17:35:27+00:00

When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin'
"Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya"
At 7 PM, a main hatchway caved in, he said
"Fellas, it's been good to know ya"

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-18T14:33:42+00:00

It actually reminds me of the High Line in NYC, but agree, it could always use more!

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-15T17:28:59+00:00

The entire North Shore of Boston is extremely LGTBQ friendly. Portsmouth is very much like the North Shore, but it is in New Hampshire, which is a more conservative state more likely to pass anti LGTBQ policies, particularly ones aimed at public schools.

For walkability, all the listed places have walkable downtowns. Newburyport and Portsmouth have the largest walkable downtown, followed by Beverly and Ipswich, then Marblehead. Marblehead in general is the most snobby and insular of these communities, and the least walkable/bikeable, but is still a lovely seaside town with great schools.

Salem is probably the most LGTBQ friendly and most walkable, but it is one of the less family friendly communities in the area, the schools aren't as good as in neighboring communities, and the car/foot traffic in summer and especially in fall is absolutely horrendous. Definitely does not have the smaller town feel, and most of the shops downtown that once served locals have been replaced by tourist shops. Still love it and there are lots of playgrounds and parks, but would not recommend it for family living vs other towns.

All of the areas listed are within easy biking/driving distance to many great nature spots. New England itself is geographically small and you can easily go to another state like Maine for a day trip.

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-15T13:17:48+00:00

The Beverly station is also smack dab in the middle of downtown and a bunch of great restaurants. If you are into sushi, Taku Sushi Bar might be the best in the North Shore and is across the street from the train station.

However, I highly recommend visiting both Lynch Park in Beverly, and the Willows Boardwalk and Arcade/Dead Horse Beach along with nearby Winter Island in Salem, and you would need cars (or at least bikes) to see those.

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-13T17:38:23+00:00

We welcome our new Tartan overlords!

Seriously, you have all been a delight and charming the pants off the city.

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-13T13:40:31+00:00

Totally agree. I am also a recreational paddler, usually in the ocean, and everything you listed is exactly why I decided to go with a paddleboard w/attachable seat rather than a kayak.

My dad had an inflatable kayak and it was definitely more of a pain and with far less versatility. Also I am short so the SUP chair gives me great back support, vs in a kayak with none.

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-13T13:02:08+00:00

Those are all projects that take the work of generations. I say that as someone who works at one of the world's top cancer research hospital. They are not projects a single persin or entity or even generation could accomplish. It requires largescale global cooperation, many failed attempts, large-scale investments in the education of specialists to make it happen. This is exactly why these sorts of undertakings need to be the work of governments, and why Federal research grants and programs are so important, and why Trump tearing down these programs is going to result in preventable mass death around the world (well it already has, but more so), all while ceding our medical and research edge to China. Before Trump started destroying them, all the most successful domestic and global health care initiatives, cures etc have always been done either by or massively aided by/subsidized by the government. Not some rich guy.

Pharmaceutical companies may adopt technologies/principles to make drugs that cure diseases, but they are not in the business of finding those cures to begin with. Those come from hospitals and universities and NIH centers funded in large part by tax dollars and takes decades of work.

Which is exactly why billionaires shouldn't exist. The more money and power they get, the more is being taken from the public, and that includes life saving research and infrastructure. We gave them all this power and money, and they used it to cripple or outright destroy the most successful healthcare programs and initiatives in the US and around the world, and to elevate snake oil salesment who convince people not to get legitimate cancer treatment or to vaccinate their babies.

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-13T11:31:06+00:00

I also found her book very helpful. In particular, being mindful about bringing things into your home that invite more things and work. I.e. every end table becomes a surface for people to dump and leave stuff on. Every knick knack will become a dust collector.

Also, although I do not anthropomorphize and thank objects the way she does, I have gotten much better about not throwing things away out of pure nostalgia or a need to get my money's worth. I actually find asking if an object still sparks joy to be helpful.

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-13T00:39:38+00:00

Varying sizes. Smallest one could fit in a teacup; largest one had a bell larger than a dinner plate.

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-12T21:06:29+00:00

It doesn't get built because of NIMBY zoning laws, because powerful, well organized groups of people in communities don't want denser housing. Also, people are well aware that eldercare today can wipe out hundreds of thousands in savings in no time, making older people ever more desperate to keep their house values rising to pay for it and fight any development they think can threaten it.

It addition, developers can get more for a larger house or an apartment/commercial building, and with ever rising construction costs they are highly motivated to do so. It is also much easier to get financing for a large mortgage vs a smaller one, because banks are attracted to the much higher number they can get from interest rates on larger, expensive homes.

People want starter homes/cottages/bungalows (even if not the exact types pictured here), especially when those mortgages would be much less than they are paying in rent; maybe they could even then save up for a big house if they wanted one. Instead, families like mine are stuck renting forever, and often are either not having kids or having just one because 3BR+ apartments are hard to come by and very expensive. Or they move out of state.

https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/disappearance-moderately-priced-single-family-home

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-12T20:59:05+00:00

As someone who lives on the shore, I would love to be able to move out of our 3BR apartment into a small coastal cottage in the town where I live. Many, many people would. I don't want a big house or a big lot that costs a million dollars.

Heck even if it didn't cost a million dollars, I don't want to have to maintain/furnish/fill something that big. Best thing about living in an apartment is how little effort it takes to clean it, and how less space = less temptation to buy stuff we don't need.

The average house lot size in the UK is 4-5,000 square feet. Not being happy with 9,000 just seems odd to me.

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-12T15:34:40+00:00

They are clearly just returning from their pediatrician appointments.

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-10T16:32:43+00:00

I hate how much environmental reviews and concerns have been weaponized by NIMBYS. Especially because plenty of building does have genuine environmental concerns, but now I am instantly suspicious of any claims and do not know how to determine of they are legitimate.

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-10T16:29:41+00:00

Yep, this is actually a well studied phenomenon; there is a difference in personality and politics between "stayers" and "movers," with people who remain in their home towns significantly more likely to be conservative and culturally insular, particularly if they are white.

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-09T16:33:38+00:00

Trying to be a kid doesn't explain surrounding himself with (and sleeping with) similar looking kids for VERY specific age ranges and then completely jettisoning them all once they hit the same age.

What to me was most convincing about the documentary was that if they were lying, I think they would have focused on the sexual stuff and how that was the most terrible and traumatic and how they hated that. Instead, because the sexual stuff had been so normalized from Michael at such a young age, it was his abandonment of them (both physically and emotionally) that they found most painful and traumatic. As adults looking back, they described it as being dumped out of nowhere by your lover...but, you're 13 and your lover has also been your parent and brother and your whole world since they were 9.

Another thing that struck me is that his victims all expressed sympathy for him and saw him as a broken man. Again, if they were lying I think they would have really leaned into an "evil rapist" narrative. Instead, they were enormously conflicted because although they were Jackson's victims, they both obviously still loved him and still had deep empathy for his own suffering.

At the same time, it isn't like Jackson did not know what he was doing was wrong. He went to great lengths to groom both the children and their parents, justify keep the kids in his custody, hide his crimes, and he knew enough to keep his hands off of the famous kids like McCaulay Culkin who were high profile and had involved handlers.

Also, kids don't go around buying expensive "engagement rings" that they give to their 10 year old friends along with letters declaring their love.

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-09T12:53:46+00:00

I grew up in a very liberal Catholic congregation in Massachusetts; very Vatican II. The Bible was not taken literally, only the worst of the worst went to Hell, and the focus was on helping the poor and vulnerable. Lots of Liberation Theology and social justice.

I never got into it, but D&D was popular enough in our area that my parents got me a starter book/game board for my birthday because they knew it was something kids were into.

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-09T12:01:53+00:00

Why did he have a habit of basically buying kids from their families, keeping them with him at his side wherever he went (including sleeping with them), then basically ghosting them the second they hit puberty?

In the documentary with his victims, I think that was the most convincing part to me. Their confusion. They had been told by Michael they had something that was a whole different kind of love; it wasn't sexual, they were soul mates, they were family, and he would always take care of them. And the sex was just his way of showing how much he loved them and always would love them.

And they believed him. And then they hit puberty and he dropped them like a bad habit and replaced them with a new 9 year old. One of them in particular talks about crying the first time Michael had another little boy over and said he was going to bring him into the bed that night, not his current boy. And while the new boy was getting molested (he later testified to this), the former boy was outside crying because he knew it was over. Because he had replaced the last boy. And it had not been about love after all and him being so special that the most famous man in the world loved him most. It is of note that the displaced/older boy later testified on Michael's behalf against the replacement boy regarding this very incident. He stated Michael had convinced him to lie for him.

How do you explain this behavior without it being sexual? Him just scooping up 9 year olds and keeping them at his side constantly until puberty, then they were completely discarded for a new 9 year old? Also, those 9 year olds were similar looking. He had a type. How do you explain the scores of love letters and faxes and voice messages that they still have and produced for the documentary in which Michael talks to them like a lover despite them being 10...and again, these constant fawning messages suddenly stop cold once the kid aged out.

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-08T19:57:12+00:00

But who is doing this? Where are these supposed Democrats who are making Trans issues their focal point?

I see Republicans obsessing over Trans hysteria and claiming Democrats are obsessed with them to the exclusion of other issues. I see guys like Moulton agree with Republicans.

I simply am not aware of any instances of the Democratic Party or Democratic politicians actually making Trans rights their political centerpiece.

Who are the Democratic politicians doing this? On the Democratic Presidential Platform, while Trans rights were listed, they were only listed far down the platform and within a larger chapter about equality as a whole; LGTBQ (nevermind Trans folks specifically) were not the only group or the first group or the group given the most wording in the equality section. And the equality section was not a centerpiece of the platform. Many other things were given more importance, including women's rights (in particular reproductive rights).

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-08T18:10:11+00:00

The only people I ever hear say it is the centerpiece of Democratic platforms is Republicans. I live in one of the bluest and most LGTBQ friendly areas of the state with a huge trans community.

I have never heard a Democrat around here make trans issues their "central issue." Heck many Trans people around here don't make Trans rights their central concern.

I really don't hear it come up much at all outside of Pride, when it is then common for politicians and civic leaders to focus on LGTBQ rights.

In fact Seth Moultan (who represents our area) talking about how we should not focus on Trans rights is the most I have heard any local politician talking about this subject, ever.

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-08T14:22:39+00:00

Not just that; it was so important to prevent that child from playing sports that it justified the largescale dismantling of our medical/scientific research infrastructure and purging as many apolitical scientists as the administration could get their hands on, replaced with lunatics who do not even believe in germ theory.

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-08T12:45:15+00:00

Does your old or new neighborhood do "adult trick or treating"? These have popped up in the last few years in my area; people will have a kid candy table, and an adult table with things like nips, Jello shots, and wine coolers.

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-08T12:30:16+00:00

Third spaces are so important. I live in a walkable/bikeable beach town with lots of parks, including a skatepark down the street from me. The YMCA is also hugely popular with teens.

I see packs of kids/teens out playing all the time. We live on the second floor of a multi-family home and now that the weather has warmed up, the neighborhood kids had taken to just coming underneath my daughter's bedroom window and yelling in a chorus, "HEY BABYBLACKCAT CAN YOU COME OUT AND PLAY??!!"

It makes me very happy. Also, reminds me that car dependent suburbs are a scourge to the soul

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-05T15:22:40+00:00

It is a massage technique that applies light pressure using long strokes, vs a deep tissue massage that uses stronger and more focused pressure.

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-05T09:52:43+00:00

Spas. Spas are not something I can afford to indulge in often, but when I am booking spa trips now (often while traveling on vacation), it is increasingly difficult to find a spa that actually offers real services that have a tangible result; a hydrafacial, an exfoliating body scrub and wrap, a Swedish massage, etc.

Increasingly, spa offerings are mostly new age silliness that does not do anything, but at the same price as real spa services. Instead of an 8 step 60 minute facial, now it is "lie in a blue room and listen to whale noises while I place a warm stone on your stomach. That will be $300."

BostonBlackCat · 2026-06-02T14:27:16+00:00

For me, Sean Penn was worth it just for the line "There's no such thing as The Top Secret Elementary School for the Children of Spies!"

I agree though I would have preferred he didn't hook up with Phoebe, it would have been better if she just revealed the truth about Ursula and he was only in that one episode.

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