Spatch reports on some rickrolling beer ads on the Red Line this morning - and suddenly, he wishes the sperm ads were back.

Obligatory rickroll explanation.

Every time I go into Whole Foods in Charles River Plaza, I notice what a great music mix they're playing. It's safe stuff, to be sure - Sheryl Crow, Steve Winwood, very WBOS-ish - but it's upbeat, syncopated, and it makes me want to sing along.

Things aren't going quite as planned at the uptown section of the Natick Mall (as opposed to the original ghetto wing, the one where you can still buy black-light art), the Globe reports, quoting analysts who blame New Englanders:

... While there is ample wealth in this region - the average household income is about $110,000, nearly double the state average - there is still a culture of buttoned-up Yankees who aren't accustomed to indulgent spending on luxury goods, according to Madison Riley, a retail analyst at Kurt Salmon Associates in Boston. ... "There has been a culture in the Boston area of that Yankee thriftiness, even when one had money," Riley said. "That's changed in the city of Boston but the mentality still resides in the suburbs, and that is impacting Natick." ...

Do citizens have a legal right to peacefully protest in front of organizations that they disagree with?

The 'Church' of Scientology says that we don't. They have filed a criminal charge of 'harassment' against Gregg Housh, a local participant in masked 'Anonymous' protests near their 448 Beacon Street facility. Housh was just one of many particpants in these events, but Scientology singled him out for prosecution because he signed the paperwork applying for a protest permit at Boston City Hall.

Housh will be arraigned tomorrow in Boston Municipal Court. Read more about the case at Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, or watch Housh and Scientology's lawyer go at it on the April 24 edition of WGBH's Greater Boston.

Harry Mattison took part in yesterday's "Boston Shines" spring cleanup and reports he paid particular attention to the area in front of the Sports Depot on Cambridge Street:

... The Sports Depot doesn't seem to put any effort into cleaning this area and a disgusting amount of garbage accumulates there. Passing by the same area later it was nice to see some other people continuing the cleanup there. ...

Apparently, Fresh City thinks the same thing applies to their wraps. Jocular Schlemiel reports he was grateful the chain had a Passover menu - until he noticed it included shrimp and rice.

... I understand that it is more Kosher style than truly Kosher, and while I think that a Kosher for Passover menu is a great idea, it may have gone over better had there been some research done before drafting an actual menu. The only hint of Passover I really received was a piece of stale matzah. ...

Paul Levy photographs some detritus from the Icelandic-owned BostonNow: A box dumped by the Green Line tracks at Longwood:

... Too bad, too, that they couldn't at least have picked up their trash before they folded.

No, it's not rapidly increasing food prices. It's that we're all in a food rut:

Shaw's Supermarkets said Tuesday it has forged a partnership with America's Test Kitchen that aims to get shoppers out of what they call a "food rut."

West Bridgewater, Mass.-based Shaw's said the initiative, called "Get Inspired," was designed specifically to stop New Englanders from sleep-shopping through the grocery aisles, cooking the same uninspired meals, week after week. ...

What?!? The signs in the freezer aisle aren't inspiration enough?!?

Gene Koo won't be taking Greyhound again, not after he discovered it's making up some of its discount fares by charging a "convenience fee" to people who print out their tickets.

Every college campus on this country has its own share of spooks, reporting to the various security agencies in the country; Harvard is certainly not alone on this.

It appears to be an attempt to put a chill on the freedoms of both speech and assembly for campus activists, and that is just the design intent.
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/paper-trail/2008/04/15/aclu-accuses-harvard-of-ties-to-the-fbi.html