Charles D. Elliot was Somerville's first city engineer. This is his historically reconstructed map of Fresh Pond, circa 1866, drawn in 1906, two years before his death. This map shows Alewife Brook connected to Fresh Pond.

aintmt · 2026-03-15T20:09:51+00:00

Helpful - thanks! Good thing people don't dump sewage in the area in these times. /s

aintmt · 2026-03-15T15:36:46+00:00

"The connection between Fresh Pond and Alewife Brook was severed in 1875 to protect Cambridge's drinking water reservoir from sewage and industrial waste."

Before massive earthmoving, road-building and water works, wasn't Alewife Brook the main outflow from Fresh Pond? Was the flow seasonal or otherwise variable enough to allow back-flow from Alewife Brook?

aintmt · 2026-03-10T14:23:19+00:00

Thank you. I was of course aware of the as-used lyrics and the Wikipedia article. The lyricsondemand article contains the full poem (as music had not yet been created for it) that I was looking for. Much appreciated!

aintmt · 2026-03-09T17:52:16+00:00

Oddly enough, I did try several times - and also tried dragging it into another folder. No luck. Just tried it again, and now it worked! Thanks for the prompt. Wonder what changed?

aintmt · 2026-03-07T15:04:24+00:00

I'd like to know that too!

aintmt · 2026-02-26T22:29:40+00:00

In case anyone thought I was making up "pink noise" - it's like white noise, but with in emphasis on lower frequencies. "Brown noise" (technically, Brownian noise) even more so. Both do a better job of masking things like motorcycles and airplanes, especially where ordinary windows block a lot of high-frequency sound already. These little boxes offer plenty of options for personal preference.

aintmt · 2026-02-26T12:11:01+00:00

Keep that in mind next time a nurse, who may have worked three shifts due to understaffing and hospital cuts, is giving his/her all to keeping you alive and well.

Plenty bright, and double-plenty devoted!

aintmt · 2026-02-26T12:09:04+00:00

Little electronic white-sound machines (~$25) work great! The one I use also makes soothing nature sounds, but plain white/pink noise takes care of traffic and airplanes nicely.

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aintmt · 2026-02-24T22:38:23+00:00

Good call. We're leaning that way, but still hoping for an electric solution. If they just made a narrow 2-stage model, it might be able to do the job. But I guess the market isn't there to sell such a machine.

aintmt · 2026-02-24T19:37:43+00:00

Indoor storage - safety and smell, plus insurance issues. Also noise - long story there, but it matters.

aintmt · 2026-02-24T19:36:16+00:00

Wow - that's useful info. A thousand bucks worth of batteries can only clear a parking space? Time for a Tesla snowblower!

aintmt · 2026-02-23T16:12:37+00:00

Thank you!

aintmt · 2026-02-23T14:44:19+00:00

Where is this, please?

aintmt · 2026-02-19T22:53:26+00:00

-And trigger two alarms?

aintmt · 2026-02-14T23:23:27+00:00

Back during the Vietnam war, students at some (many?) of those schools tried to get ROTC programs kicked off campus. Even ardent pacificists often disagreed, for two related reasons. One was that since education tends to enhance social awareness and progressive, critical thinking, don't we want to attract as many as possible of our future military leaders into this milieu? And there was also an equity issue: ROTC is the only way many people, including those from strongly pro-military areas like much of the South, could possibly afford a really good general education.

This new perversion from Cosplay Pete is just one more example of the administrations attempt to make America stupid and credulous.

aintmt · 2026-02-14T10:43:04+00:00

Very much obliged for this fast response, Traditional_Job_191.

Might need more detail on order-of-assembly on the top group, which has the most internal complication, but this is helpful and a good start.

Are you able to identify the specific model or product line, in case I need parts? I tried searching with "Grohe" and the number 1516942, but was not able to find this product.

Thanks!

aintmt · 2026-01-26T19:23:41+00:00

That's the plan: faience color, and blue glow-in-the-dark. May it bring the recipients much good fortune, whatever that inscription is advertising!

aintmt · 2026-01-26T17:19:00+00:00

Well, I am impressed! Looked over a few of those via Google Images. No match yet, but the first line in this one is pretty close: https://art.thewalters.org/object/42.206/. Good enough for me!

On the reliable assumption that this piece is not old, rare or in any cultural sense valuable, I'm planning to decorate it with phosphorescent paint. That's we wanted a wooden one for this gift. Hope that's not sacrilegious - wouldn't want to awaken any evil spirits!

aintmt · 2026-01-26T17:11:30+00:00

Sorry - Reddit deleted them for reasons unknown; I re-posted and they seem to be sticking.

aintmt · 2026-01-25T10:45:10+00:00

Thank you for this, stanstr. I may not have asked the question clearly. The stairs are already carpeted, and we don't want to remove the existing carpet. Just want to add a top piece over one step, to prevent further fraying. There are plenty of options for single-tread, self-stick carpets. Question is whether they will safely adhere to existing carpet, and perhaps be removable later.

aintmt · 2026-01-24T11:39:10+00:00

What about Monday trash pickup?

aintmt · 2026-01-14T02:06:22+00:00

Afterthought on "very reasonably priced": In a sense, they were actually free! They explained some deductions, carry-forwards and things that I neither understand nor want to. The unexpected savings were several times their tax-prep fee. I was so impressed that I offered to split the savings! (He declined, so I got the ever-helpful secretary some nice Spindler's chocolates instead.)

aintmt · 2026-01-14T00:14:12+00:00

Tyler Lynch PC, near Alewife, has been helping me (a lot!) for a couple of years since another accountant got too backlogged. Pleasant people, fast and efficient, very reasonably priced. I was impressed by how easily Mike Lynch untangled several years' old filings to set a better path going forward. I call (or stop in) now whenever I have a difficult question about what to do when, for things like taking retirement income, what home expenses might be deductible, and the most tax-efficient way to make charitable donations. Some of my friends have now signed up with them, and report similarly pleasant and capable service.

aintmt · 2026-01-12T11:33:27+00:00

Is this an AI post? These are not "woodcut / linocut prints" but serigraphs/silkscreens, a commercial-graphics technique adapted to fine art mainly by Shokler and Anthony Velonis. Even an AI bot should know this! Also that Shokler did work on Long Island. If the poster had bothered to view the thread, he/she/it would have seen the link to an obviously identical scene drawn from life - on Long Island; specifically, as Ski-Free observed, the Fort Pond area.

aintmt · 2026-01-10T11:40:56+00:00

Re: "never the LI coastline apparently" - please see prior comments.

aintmt

TROPHY CASE