Attention: Take this newspaper and chuck it
There's a lot to annoy the average Boston commuter, whether on the T or on the road. But even stressed-out commuters can find ways to enjoy the ride. Read on:
Media frenzy
On her Commuterrant, Ellen McCullough wonders why the Red Line announcer never asks passengers to take their Big Gulp cups: ''The announcer on the Red Line really wants you to take your newspaper with you and throw it out when you leave the train. He said so at Davis. And Porter. And Harvard. And Kendall. And Charles/MGH. By the time you get to Park Street, he is sobbing over the PA system: 'Please . . . I beg you, for the love of God, TAKE YOUR NEWSPAPERS WITH YOU AND THROW THEM OUT. Good God; have you no mercy? Can't you see how I am suffering!?' "
The scenic route
Alison Rose has a particular Boston love: ''Is there any more beautiful drive in urban America than cruising past the Charles early on a sunny Saturday morning? . . . Rowers on the river, runners on the pathways, sailboats, trees in full leaf, dog walkers, book readers, strollers -- both the baby kind and the leisurely walking kind. I fell in love with this drive when we first moved here, and I always make a point of taking summer visitors there at least once during their stays."
A downgraded name
Long live Newstead Monteglade! When last we talked of Newstead Montegrade, the federal government officially considered it a ''populated place" 4 miles outside of Boston, even though it's really just a spot near White Stadium in Franklin Park. Numerous Web sites that rely on the solemn word of the federal government (including MapQuest) used the data for directions to the ''city" of Newstead Montegrade.
Thanks to research by Mary Devine of the Boston Public Library and some doggedness by Ron Newman of Somerville, however, the US Geological Survey is correcting its database. Newman e-mailed the Geological Survey's Geographic Names Office with Devine's information: basically, that there is no such place as Newstead Montegrade but that there used to be estates called Newstead and Monteglade before the park's birth. The office recently e-mailed Newman that it will change the official designation of the spot to Newstead Monteglade and designate it as ''a locale" -- a fancy way of saying nobody actually lives there any more.
Looking for a new bank
Philip Greenspun notices that all the shiny new
Out of Avalon
Jarrod Trainque went to a recent concert at Avalon with his laptop in a bag. He got past one security guard before another told him he'd have to check his bag. Not wanting to leave an expensive laptop in the checkroom, he figured he'd stash it in a friend's car. But the first guard said he wouldn't let him back in: ''Apparently they have a firm 'no re-admittance' policy that they were just sticking to. So this left me essentially stranded in the hallway of the venue between two security guards, one that wouldn't let me enter and another that wouldn't let me leave." He eventually fled the place, vowing to never return.
Reach Adam Gaffin at adamg@gaffin.com. You'll find links to the complete items listed here at www.universalhub.com/0619.html. 
