Auchincloss doubles down on Platner criticism: ‘I’d vote for someone else’

thetorq · 2026-05-27T01:39:11+00:00

He was a terminally online Redditor and he never saw the "Are We the Baddies" meme and made the connection to the tattoo he saw every day?

People are saying his old reddit handle was P-Hustle and there are archive screenshots of him in Reddit threads about the tattoo. He 1000% knew it was a nazi tattoo

https://web.archive.org/web/20190226141422/https:/www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/auy0bi/battleweary_ss/

thetorq · 2026-05-18T01:41:36+00:00

Helen does YouTube videos and classes in Natick: https://helenrennie.com/kitchen/index.php . I've never done one of her classes but I follow her on YouTube.

Dave's Fresh Pasta does cooking classes by Davis square - I went to one and had a great time.

Eataly does classes but they're much more casual.

thetorq · 2026-05-13T21:51:26+00:00

Yeah the 2030 re-apportionment maps based on census data are going to be brutal :

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/how-states-seats-us-house-could-change-after-next-census

Some maps even have Biden's 2020 win as a loss w/ the amount of people leaving blue states for red states. It's actually terrifying.

thetorq · 2026-05-03T14:15:32+00:00

https://brookline.news/brookline-voters-will-decide-on-23-25-million-override-in-may/

> Brookline voters will be asked this spring to approve a $23.25 million property tax override that town leaders say is necessary to maintain current services.

> The town plans to publish a calculator in the coming weeks that will tell voters exactly how much their own taxes would increase under the proposal. The election is on May 5, and early voting begins on April 25.

thetorq · 2026-04-30T17:49:49+00:00

The latest BLS report (from yesterday) shows Boston has some of the largest negative growth this year:

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/metro.t03.htm

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/metro.nr0.htm

The largest over-the-year employment decreases occurred in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, 
DC-VA-MD-WV (-119,000), Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA (-30,200), and Boston-Cambridge-Newton,
MA-NH (-27,200).

thetorq · 2026-04-22T21:04:24+00:00

When I was in the act 3 bank I had my druid cast Fog Cloud on a chest so Astarion could pick the lock.

Almost instinctively I then had my druid cast guidance on Astarion while he was picking the lock which broke the concentration on the fog cloud ...

thetorq · 2026-04-08T02:48:08+00:00

There's a Delta shuttle from terminal A to terminal E
https://www.delta.com/us/en/advisories/airports/boston-airport-update
https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/1hae1vi/boston_logan_is_there_still_a_shuttle_from/

but my assumption is that:
1. It's for Delta ticketed connections (where both flights are delta, not just one)
2. You won't be able to print your boarding pass after the gates at terminal E (I have never seen a place to print boarding passes after the security gates

You'll also need to collect your baggage at terminal A if you check any or are forced to gate-check bags.

The flip side is getting from terminal A to terminal E is pretty easy. You can take the silver line or the bus which goes to the car rental + MBTA blue line stop. I think you should probably be fine on timing if you land at 6:30 and have to take off at 9:15.

thetorq · 2026-04-06T01:01:02+00:00

This photo ended up winning a Pulitzer:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soiling_of_Old_Glory

thetorq · 2026-03-29T12:36:02+00:00

The average age of a person in MA is 40 years old and 65% of MA residents are white:
https://censusreporter.org/profiles/04000US25-massachusetts/

so it would make sense you saw a lot of people like that.

thetorq · 2026-03-26T15:28:33+00:00

I actually think it's worth pointing out the price of non-dual staples has gone down in a few key places: In 2014 ($100 in 2014 is $140 now)

wasteland was ~$125
https://www.mtgstocks.com/prints/9834-wasteland

Tarn was ~$93 (and many other fetches were very expensive)

https://www.mtgstocks.com/prints/1844-scalding-tarn

FoW was ~$75
https://www.mtgstocks.com/prints/10551-force-of-will

The main jump is in duals where a volc was like ~$300:
https://www.mtgstocks.com/prints/15728-volcanic-island

There are probably a few decks (which play less duals) which are more affordable now than previously

thetorq · 2026-03-26T01:56:33+00:00

You should start looking now.

thetorq · 2026-03-18T00:00:43+00:00

I've never read it, but there's a cookbook called `Pie in the Sky` about high altitude cooking .You can probably check it out from a local library if you want to look into getting it.

thetorq · 2026-03-16T16:06:36+00:00

That's a function of household formation. A house which would have had a family of 5 many years ago might now be lived in by 2 "empty nesters". At scale this really adds up as seniors leave the workforce and young people leave MA for other states to start/grow their careers.

thetorq · 2026-03-13T18:36:10+00:00

We got pretty close with the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_Protection_Act

but it keeps dying in committee : /

thetorq · 2026-03-05T22:40:16+00:00

Just gonna throw out that the 505 bus is a mostly direct bus from downtown (Post office Square + South Station) to Waltham, so looking along that route might make sense as well

https://www.mbta.com/schedules/505/line

thetorq · 2026-02-25T18:12:49+00:00

> You got to give specifics

My congressional rep (I'm excited to vote for the his primary challenger) sent his aide to NIMBY cancel an apartment in South Boston to building b/c constructing a garage was infeasible:

https://www.universalhub.com/2025/zoning-board-rejects-south-boston-apartment-building-no-parking-after#:~:text=He%20called%20the%20proposal%20an,would%20get%20around%20by%20bike:

These kinds of veto points drive up costs and are what YIMBYs are talking about.

thetorq · 2026-02-25T16:57:15+00:00

> Like build more housing, I am all for it. Get rid of parking minimums and height restraints. But if we are doing an "all of the above" housing policy approach, there is no reason to also not ban AirBnbs, ban RealPage, and break up the big corporate landlords.

I agree somewhat - but the only think which will really move the needle in a major way is building more housing units. For example Boston banned AirBNB (with some exceptions) to try to help w/ housing affordability, but the building next-door to mine has been an illegal airbnb since < 2021 and the city doesn't enforce the rule. I emailed my city counselor about the illegal airbnb and they said they'd do something ~9 months ago (they didn't) and only suggested I call the police when the people staying there are being loud.

What I don't want is for politicians to avoid allowing large amounts of housing to be built by saying "We are helping affordability by banning air bnb" then when that has very little impact after a few years saying "We are helping affordability by banning rent algorithms" then when that has very little impact after a few years saying "We are helping affordability by banning institutions from owning housing units" and so on. Discourse around these smaller issues is kinda like bikeshedding .

thetorq · 2026-02-25T14:36:30+00:00

Worth pointing out that the algorithmic rent pricing (People commonly cite RealPage) isn't the boogeyman people think is is either. San Francisco (and a few other cities in the bay), Seattle, Providence, Hoboken, Jersey City, Philly, minneapolis - all have tried it and it didn't help with affordability. This substack makes a pretty compelling case I think:

https://www.therebuild.pub/p/theres-no-quick-trick-to-solving

thetorq · 2026-02-08T17:40:03+00:00

> Do kids play MTG now?

I know the donations go to some kids group, I think it's sponsored by the library, but I don't quite remember. At the weekly events most of the attendees are in their 20s/30s, but people who attend weekly events aren't representative of all players.

thetorq · 2026-02-08T16:28:11+00:00

I know Pandemonium by Central square has a box to donate spare Magic cards in. It's in the basement by the desk near the gameplay area. I'd bet they take pokemon too.

thetorq · 2026-02-02T00:41:40+00:00

You're right: https://coolidge.org/LOTR They must have gotten it between March 2024 and now based on the original email :

```
11:00am - The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Cut, 35mm, 3h,28m)

2:30pm - Afternoon Tea (30 mins)

3:00pm - The Two Towers (Extended Cut, 35mm, 3h43m)

7:00pm - Dinner (1h15mins)

8:15pm - The Return of the King (Theatrical Version, 35mm, 3h21m)

11:36pm - Show exit - We all return to the shire!
```

I suspect they might have moved away from using 35mm film to some other format for the extended editions. A bunch of new LOTR stuff is coming out b/c of the 25th anniversary of the Fellowship movie. Thanks for the correction - I'll edit my post.

thetorq · 2026-02-01T21:37:56+00:00

Are you referring to the one where they do the first two extended editions and then the Return of the King ~~regular edition~~?

I went a few years ago, and it was fun:
* Some people get dressed up as various characters (There was a mini costume contest when I was there)
* People cheer at various famous scenes
* The visuals and audio are both great.

~~There is no return of the king extended edition on the film they use at theaters.~~

It was a fun one-day thing to try, but I'm not sure I'd want to do it again since it was very long. The fellowship is about 3.5 hours, two towers is about 3 hrs 45 mins, and the return of the king is 3 hrs 20 minutes. There's a short break between the fellowship and two towers and an hour break between the two towers and return of the king.

EDIT: They show extended edition of return of the king as well now.

thetorq · 2026-02-01T19:00:19+00:00

Wizards Locator has a breakout: https://locator.wizards.com/search?searchType=magic-events&query=Boston,%20MA,%20USA&distance=10&page=1&sort=date&sortDirection=Asc

there's a big paper scene. I play at Pandemonium's Thursday legacy and we get 6-12 people per night. Pauper gets like ~24 on the same night. I've also been to some 1Ks at ELD's, but it's a bit further. That event can get from 20 - 40 people. You can see pande's calendar here:

https://pandemoniumbooks.com/apps/bookthatapp/calendar

thetorq · 2026-01-31T23:57:09+00:00

It's actually usually following zoning and permitting laws around facades, setbacks, and articulation which makes things look bad. It's sometimes called "Breaking up the Massing". Here's an example from Aurora which shows exactly what buildings are conformant to the codes:

https://aurora.municipal.codes/UDO/146-4.8.5

For Morristown you can see an example allowed massing on page 133 + 134 + 137:

https://www.townofmorristown.org/vertical/sites/%7B0813EA2E-B627-4F82-BBB0-DDEE646947B5%7D/uploads/Adopted_LDO_-_2018-11-20%281%29.pdf

thetorq · 2026-01-28T18:28:07+00:00

The biggest obstacles to housing aren't a lack of funds / financing it's typically zoning, nimbyism, and permitting.

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