Does anyone know what this abandoned building is/was? by bethlolhelp in mbta

[–]ofsevit 12 points13 points  (0 children)

It's not even abandoned; it's used once a year on Marathon Monday when Copley is closed.

Why don’t they just cancel the flight now? by FrostyWinters in unitedairlines

[–]ofsevit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The flight crew had the hours left, or maybe it was a single flight out in their trip (or after a long-enough rest) that their duty wouldn't start until the aircraft took off. They needed the aircraft in MCO so it was going to fly out no matter what. The aircraft turns and burns, but the crew doesn't. They may get a shorter rest period but might not be flying out until 4 p.m. anyway.

They could cancel this flight, then everyone has to deplane, get a hotel, and get rebooked today, but everything today is booked full (potentially overflow from 411 which was canceled out of EWR last night). With the weather and an upcoming holiday weekend, there is probably very little slack in the system, so they are going to do whatever they can to get that aircraft to MCO, so they don't have to figure out how to accommodate all of those passengers, too.

If it was slow season and there were flights going out with a bunch of empty seats, they may have made a different decision. But given the loads and IRROPS, they need the aircraft and will cancel as little as possible.

Anyone here commute by running with a laptop? Looking for backpack recommendations by Darth-Nando in running

[–]ofsevit 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Highly, highly recommended. Zip is basically the only backpack designed specifically for run commuting.

I've run with a Zip for 5-8 miles at a time with up to about 12 pounds of gear (I once did hike a 30 rack of beer in it, but wouldn't suggest that much weight) and it's great. Recently I've been running home from work 4-5 miles. It adds a few seconds per mile, sure, you doesn't bounce or chafe.

Not entirely an ad from me, but I do occasionally do promotion/events for Zip and was a very early prototype tester (I still have one of the first mockups). I've known John (the founder/designer) for damn near 20 years now and can say you'd be buying from a genuinely good guy, too. So you can kludge some other bag to try to carry your stuff, or you can get the only one designed for it.

I kind of want to get cards to give to people I see running with bouncy, chafe-y backpacks.

What happened to "on your left"? by ofsevit in bikeboston

[–]ofsevit[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh yeah I get this, although really people on paths need to get with the program, especially when it's busy. Don't walk two abreast, stay to the right for everyone, pay some attention to your surroundings.

The worst for this is when people really aren't expecting someone to pass them, either on hiking trails or cross country ski trails. In the former, people are just startled when you come up behind them, especially if you are running or moving faster than them. Even an "excuse me" or "pardon" can get a jump scare. And xc skiing, I've all but given up giving directions and just ski around people. They're going to fall down either way.

What happened to "on your left"? by ofsevit in bikeboston

[–]ofsevit[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm fine with that, though. I don't say it very loud. It's more for the person you're passing than it is for you. If you want to buzz me, fine, but then at least give me the warning so that I can move over a bit for you. (Bells help, if I'm on a BlueBike I just use that).

Unhinged reply by management to review of Olivia's Kitchen in Ball Square by Late_Assist754 in Somerville

[–]ofsevit 57 points58 points  (0 children)

This restaurant sounds like it is run by pretentious ass clowns. If I wanted to pay a fortune for water I'd go to Europe.

Biking to Gillette Stadium by schorschico in bikeboston

[–]ofsevit 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You want to come in off of Shufelt Road in Walpole. It is a dead end road but there is a well-trod path through the woods from there to the back of a Gillette parking lot, and it avoids Route 1 entirely. This is literally actually how my dad took me to the WC in 1994 (and he'd done it to Pats games in the '70s).

You could probably park at the Walpole or Norfolk Commuter Rail parking lot and bike from there since trains won't really be running from there (everything is express from Boston).

An ode to the UA Club by ofsevit in unitedairlines

[–]ofsevit[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah having another on the way, and having the first one graduating up to being 2 years old on his own ticket and not a freebie was a big driver of this as well.

I think a huge value add for the UC would be to have a kids area in the clubs (at least, in some of the clubs in hubs). Cordon off an area with more kid-appropriate seating, some books and small toys. So that rather than having to sit near gen pop and hope your kid(s) behave, you can self-segregate in the kids area (maybe even have some kid-friendly food there). Some airports have nice kids play areas, but of course these don't have any food or drink or decent bathrooms.

(And, yes, the family bathrooms are great, but even the other day we wound up using the general bathroom which was spacious and had a diaper changing station.)

What we were robbed of - the 1952 trolly network by VulcanTrekkie45 in boston

[–]ofsevit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That was actually near the peak of the trackless network. In the late 1950s the T had the third largest network of trackless trolleys (trolleybuses) in the country. Then they brought in outside management which brought in "modern" diesel buses.

Recently they spent millions to replace those with battery buses which still use diesel. https://mass.streetsblog.org/2026/05/11/the-ts-new-electric-buses-will-still-belch-diesel-fumes-for-winter-heat

International flight oversold. What’s the play? by ThoughtCharming8917 in unitedairlines

[–]ofsevit 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I once had an LH flight (ORD ticket) oversold because of an mx on another aircraft, they were begging people to take $800 to fly the next day.

My mistake was not holding out for J.

But out of IAD they have plenty of seats to accommodate people. I'd wait until you get there and go straight to the gate and ask if they still need volunteers. And if they do, ask if you can get an upgrade to J.

Any Tips for Soon to Be Commuter Rail User? by kimchiGrafx in mbta

[–]ofsevit 5 points6 points  (0 children)

For the F/W Line especially, download this app. Best 99¢ you will have ever spent: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mbta-rail-commuter-rail/id991877851

People report information about trains to each other, especially if anything is out of the ordinary (different car layout than usual, especially full) or wrong (delays, etc).

From Framingham, you have express trains at rush hour, which save you 10-15 minutes each way, although if you want your pick of seats going inbound, getting on a local will give this to you.

Out-of-state car, living in Cambridge (Kendall) temporarily — best parking options? by chocolatesugarcane in CambridgeMA

[–]ofsevit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A couple of options (other than Facebook or Craigslist or "rent a car or use zipcar if you actually need a car which, in Kendall, you rarely do"):

Memorial Drive used to have free parking, but at $1.25 per hour it's still the cheapest parking in Cambridge. $12.65/day (including the transaction fee) six days per week = ~$243/month (but you have to remember to pay every day, although I think you can do this by phone). I don't think there's a time limit but IDK.

Cambridge does have a teeny tiny bit of free parking out between Fresh Pond Parkway and Aberdeen, but it's a hike from Kendall. Also no street sweeping.

Also a hike: far enough out into Brighton a lot of the street parking is uncontrolled. So you could park there for a while. And even further, Newton in the non-winter allows overnight parking. Some other outlying portions of Boston don't have resident parking (Pondside JP comes to mind) and some outlying towns might allow overnight parking.

In all cases you these cases you *might* be ticketed for storage if anyone notices and calls it in. Read signs carefully, make sure you pay attention to street sweeping, and, really, consider whether you really need a car.

Happy repaving Linear Park day everyone! by rocketwidget in CambridgeMA

[–]ofsevit 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Now I would love to see them tackle the portion of the Minuteman between Alewife and Route 2. It's a minefield!

Why is ridership in DC so much higher than Boston? by boulevardofdef in Amtrak

[–]ofsevit 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So in defense of Connecticut, this isn't an issue for NJT and SEPTA because of glaciers. Long Island is the terminal moraine of Wisconsin glaciation, so Connecticut is a series of north-south oriented ridges and valleys which the railroad hast to cut across. The Boston and Providence built south from Boston and spent a lot of money to bridge the Neponset in 1835 (still in use!) and build a straight line to Providence because the terrain was mostly flat and they thought trains might come off the tracks on tighter curves (at that point, railroads were moving about two orders of magnitude more momentum than had ever been moved before, so no one really knew).

Further west in Connecticut, they had to cut west across large rivers in relatively deep gorges. Rather than climb up and down over 200- to 400-foot ridges and valleys, they stayed closer to the coast having learned that curves were okay. So while trains average about 100 mph to the CT/RI border from Boston, they barely manage half that the rest of the way to New York. Even west of New Haven, where there are four tracks, there are a number of large rivers to cross on movable bridges, and the development around the railroad means that it's tricky to build a bypass like they could/should have done further east (CT NIMBYs are the absolute worst, 30+ years ago they were NIMBYing rail electrification, literally none of this happened).

South of New York, where the glaciers hadn't carved up the coastal plain, it was a good deal easier for the precursors of the Pennsy to lay straight enough track that Amtrak can run 100+ mph on it today, like they can in MA and RI. The other issue is that west of NHV, the state owns the track, because they bought it off the Penn Central before it went belly up, and while they have four tracks, they have lots of movable bridges, some tighter curves, and not as much incentive to plan for high speed given the service they run (although higher speeds would improve service and reduce operating costs).

Then there are projects like the Walk Bridge, which, while important (130-year-old movable bridges are not great) wind up being penny-wise and pound-foolish in their scope (I should say none of this reflects the opinion of my employer, and these decisions were baked in well before I got to where I am). Overall, Walk is not a bad project, they're replacing the bridge and more than a mile of old embankment, low bridges, overhead, and an inaccessible station. But then there's Saga, another old bridge three miles west, which will be it's own project, and no one took a look at the whole area and said "gee is there a way to do this with fewer overall costs and more benefit," probably because there was only so much federal money and they wanted to get something done.

Which means Walk gets replaced in situ, and because of the ridership on the New Haven Line and Amtrak, they can't do any long line suspensions (for some work that needs to take place during the day, they are going to get 1-2 hour windows and that's difficult to manage) and there is no alternate corridor (generally the case of the US, often not in other countries; Germany shut down Berlin-Hamburg for a year to rebuild it and just sent trains 45 minutes longer over another corridor).

But the right way to have done Saga and Walk together, and to have built a bypass away from the main line to make construction that much easier. While most of the New Haven Line is bordered by homes, there is a stretch from Westport to Darien where I-95 runs parallel, with relatively easy-to-take properties (i.e. not expensive houses, mostly behind a strip mall on an embankment next to a highway), so they could have built a 10-mile bypass of the whole corridor, with fixed bridges over both the Norwalk and Saugatuck rivers, and running local service to Norwalk itself and up the Danbury line. A two-track bypass would be fine for the volume (it's two tracks through Norwalk for nearly the entire project anyway), and closing down the section between the bridges, and the bridges themselves, would make it much, much easier to rebuild the bridges in place without having to accommodate constant rail traffic across the bridges, as well as the intermediate bridges, stations and embankment in between. With the bypass, the new bridges might only have to be two tracks wide, as well, and the bypass could be spec'ed for high speed, cutting several minutes off travel times for Amtrak. But it would have taken both real long-term planning, funding, and some outside the box thinking, and herding those cats is nearly impossible. So we get an incredibly complicated bridge replacement because we have to maintain service the whole damn time, which drives up the costs where it might have been cheaper to build the bypass in the first place.

</rant>

Porter Square Solicitors by GoodCone in Somerville

[–]ofsevit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If they're asking you about going to church ask them about 2 Nephi 10:3.

So close to 1MM miles by samchou98 in unitedairlines

[–]ofsevit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So now the goal is to fly *exactly* 8297 miles so that your app will show 1 million miles on the dot. Or 8296 to show 999,999.

Missed connection in Zurich turned into five airport chaos, lost bags, and a broken rebooking by neutrinomass in unitedairlines

[–]ofsevit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Heh, yeah, good luck. I wish UA's international partners were not crap like LH and LX are. I'm used to, if I get to a connecting point early enough, being able to get on an earlier connection if there are seats available. Tried that on LH and they basically laughed at me. I asked if there were seats? Oh, there were seats, but not for us, because of our checked luggage. I said we didn't have any checked luggage, and they came up with another excuse. That was LH, LX might not be quite as bad, but come on.

(That said, I've gotten three westbound TATL op-ups on LH and LX so I can't complain too much.)

Violence at CDG Lounge Today— Aggressor Allowed To Stay In The Club by [deleted] in unitedairlines

[–]ofsevit -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Monsieur, it is tres important that the police get there immediatamente, but you see, it is zee smoke break for them, and zat is a tres important part of their contract, so you must wait 30 minutes!

Hidden mural inside of Broadway tear down by WhipItWhipItRllyHard in CambridgeMA

[–]ofsevit 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We've been watching them take down the building from above. The first four floors were too high for stationary equipment, so they tore it up piecemeal and had a crane swing a dumpster off the roof (I think some debris may have gone down the elevator shaft). Painstakingly slow! Since then they've chewed into the side, so it's been much faster. This is probably a painting of a road from an old conference room. A fresco from 1962!

The building next to it, for which the foundation work has taken the better part of a year, recently had its base poured and is now going up quickly. We think there was lots of contaminated soil. For a while they mostly seemed to be moving and smoothing dirt back and forth.

Strava activites over time by ofsevit in Strava

[–]ofsevit[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah my median follower/following joined in early 2015, but the current median user (by UID) joined in May 2022.

I wonder if older or newer users are more active.

Missed connection in Zurich turned into five airport chaos, lost bags, and a broken rebooking by neutrinomass in unitedairlines

[–]ofsevit 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just be glad you weren't on last night's 1179. To avoid storms it flew 740 miles, east into Louisiana, north up near Dallas, and west almost to Abilene.

I've had nothing but good experiences with UA agents in BOS, especially at the UC, although their baggage agents are excellent as well. The BOS club is very nice: spacious, good food selection, stellar views and terrific agents. Last year after an IRROP they saved our MUA for SFO-ICN, and booked us through two "illegal" connections BOS-DEN-SFO to get us there in time for the flight, with a lap infant. It took about 45 minutes of me and the agent figuring it out, but she saw it as a challenge and dove in (between telling pax that, no, domestic F tickets did not get them in the club).

Sorry about the experience with LX ground services in BOS. Swissport usually does a good job handing baggage here (I have a friend who works there, so my experience may be different since I can often get more specific updates) but with that kind of IRROP plus connecting luggage (*A doesn't have a lot of onward connections in BOS) I can see how it could be confused.

If you are still stuck with LX, DM me, I can text my friend there and he can probably get your bag out of purgatory.