As a preventative measure Northeastern University is eschewing the traditional congratulatory handshake at their graduate and undergraduate ceremonies tomorrow. All graduating seniors received an email Thursday afternoon from the University’s emergency communication service outlining “what we [University officials] believe to be appropriate precautions” as a result of swine flu concerns. The email reads in part, “We have decided to forgo the traditional congratulatory handshake as you come forward to receive your diploma and have your photo taken with your dean.”

Graduating senior Joey Sheridan says he’s confused about the decision but not particularly upset. “I didn’t know that it [swine flu] was that bad that we have to do this in the Boston area,” says the Business Marketing major. “I guess they have to take precautions.” He adds, “Maybe we can do ceremonial bows or fist pumps to replace the handshakes.”

Takuo Urushihara, a Communication, Production and Theater double major is a little less understanding. “I think everyone is overreacting,” he says. “If it’s that bad and that contagious, why have graduation at all?” (more…)

We know the Globe is in crunch-time negotiations with New York Times management to reach a $20 million cost-cutting consensus before the May 1 deadline, so we’re not even mad about “Lynn gambling ship now in bankruptcy.” Just disappointed.

This front-page piece is a model of armchair reporting, suspiciously similar to Lynn’s ItemLive.com article, “Lynn Bet Boat Goes Broke.” We didn’t see a single additional factoid not appearing in ItemLive’s story, which ran yesterday. The Globe appears to have simply conducted a second interview with James Cowdell, the same source used by ItemLive, for a couple of slightly different quotes. It’s even more of a shame because this is a story ripe with potential for investigative reporting.

Around midnight last October the SS Horizon’s Edge, a “Las Vegas Style Casino” cruise ship, sailed away from its pier in Lynn Harbor and never returned. A note left on the door declared simply that the ship had departed. After five years of twice-a-day sailing, charging rates of $27 per person on weekdays and $37 on weekends, the 500-passenger-capacity ship vanished overnight. (more…)

In high school one of my favorite substitute teachers, Mr. Tickle, was fired for what I considered dubious reasons. Tickle, along with having a great surname, was a retired mercenary and a writer. One class he disregarded the teacher’s instructions, opting instead to read out loud from his forthcoming book. A couple passages involved some scintillating material, not X-rated but enough to get us telling our friends. We talked too much, as kids are wont to do, and the administration caught wind of Mr. Tickle’s antics. They promptly blew it out of proportion, and he was asked not to return.

A similar scenario is playing out at a Lawrence school, but this time it’s the administrator that’s in trouble.

The Associated Press via the Herald is bringing wide attention to The Eagle Tribune’s story on Oliver School Principal Beth Gannon in Lawrence. The story reports that Gannon allegedly hawked a self-published, racy romance novel during functions at the grades one-through-eight school.

The furor stems from both the book’s contents and Gannon’s apparent violation of ethics law prohibiting personal gain from a professional position. (more…)

Here at Boston Daily, we think that until the zombie outbreak swine flu hysteria subsides, all news articles concerning the epidemic should bear the subtitle, DON’T PANIC! Ex. “Swine Flu Pandemic Sweeps World: DON’T PANIC!” See, doesn’t that feel better? (If it’s good enough for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, it’s good enough for our local media.)

Speaking of which, judging from the Herald’s front-page picture and accompanying story, it appears the influenza struck the “churlish booth jockeys” collecting tolls on the Pike about two years before the outbreak in Mexico. The disease appears to have mutated the pictured toll collector into Wolverine (ed. Product placement for X-Men Origins: Wolverine?).

In another Herald article, “Lowell pair feared first Mass. swine flu victims” the Herald reports on the risk of the flu touching down in Boston:

“As health officals sought to reassure the public, they also braced for the inevitability of swine flu touching down in Boston. ‘I suspect there is a little bit more swine influenza right now than we are aware of, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see cases in Boston,’ predicted Dr. Anita Barry, director of the city’s infectious disease bureau.”

And yet there are no reported cases in New England. (more…)

Faneuil Hall was invaded today by a quaint but lively group of Globe supporters. Amid balloon animals, clowns, and strollers—it was a little hard to tell if people came for the clowns or to cheer on the Globe–crowd members sported signs emblazoned with “Support Globe Workers” and “The Globe Belongs to Boston.” Excluding the abundance of minors (it’s school vacation week, after all) the turnout was a mostly middle-aged crowd who patiently waited out the blare of marching band tunes and the stares of inquisitive shoppers. (Said one passerby: “Save the what?”)

Undeterred, Boston Newspaper Guild President Daniel Totten boasted the Globe’s 137 year existence, nearly deafening the crowd as he sang the praises of the “HUMAN BEINGS who bring you the Boston Globe.” City Council President Michael Ross received some of the loudest cheers, as he declared the Globe a Boston institution. “We would fight just as hard to save the Red Sox, the Boston Common, or the golden dome,” Ross said.

Those in attendance would certainly agree. Eddie Beck of Quincy brought his three daughters to hear Totten speak. He’s been reading the Globe for 40 years, and well, Totten is his daughter’s godfather. Dory-Anna Waxman, a city councilor from Portland, ME, traveled all the way to support her husband, a Globe advertising salesman. Her connection to the paper goes way back: Her grandfather was a sportswriter back in the 1920’s.

And for Brenda Brenon, a stay-at-home mom from Concord, losing the Globe would be a tragedy. “If we turn to bloggers to get our news instead of real journalists, I’d hate to see where we are in a couple of years,” she lamented to a blog reporter. (more…)

An Affront to Newton’s Image?

Meghann Ackerman of Wicked Local Newton paints a grim portrait of the Boston Marathon in her article, “The Boston Marathon is neither decadent nor depraved.” Despite loitering around the seedier parts of Newton, i.e. B.C., she fails to find marathon watchers engaging in drunken antics. To her disappointment (and to those reading her article) she finds not a single red cup. She writes, “Instead parents pushing strollers and young professionals with their dogs greeted me. These people actually had water in their water bottles.” Hunter S. Thompson would be outraged. Perhaps next time Ackerman should venture outside of Newton for her revelry.

Game Time

I try to avoid nitpicking spelling and grammar in the community newspapers. It’s unproductive, and I feel mean. But this one in the Malden Observer is really asking for it. The headline reads: “Malden dance school searchs for alumni.” See how many additional grammatical mistakes you can count in this 100-word notice. I count five, excluding the title. (more…)

After watching Tuesday’s premier of “Life after People” on the History Channel, I can’t shake this post-apocalyptic mindset. Perhaps it’s because the first episode examines the collapse of Boston’s man-made structures after Bostonians vanish. The USS Constitution sinks within one year. The Old North Church is overrun with weeds within five years, and the Pru collapses in approximately 150 years.

These fatalistic musings dovetail perfectly with the strange goings on reported around New England over the past week. Do these foreboding events point to nature’s attempts to reclaim Boston a la “Life After People”? If so, we lay the blame for nature’s revolt squarely on global warming. Or the recession. You can get away with blaming anything on the recession.

This week’s signs of the forecoming apocalypse: (more…)

OK, maybe not, but in the thumping, cavernous darkness of the Paradise Rock Club, we couldn’t tell the difference. This was mostly because we could feel our clothes shaking around our bodies, thanks to the bass beats emanating from JDH & Dave P’s opening set.

The thought of Simian takes me back to the summer of 2003, when I was an intern at the Fox Theatre in Boulder, Colorado. We Are Your Friends was, quite literally, the jam. Ironically, six years later, I am an intern yet again. Simian, however, is no more, and two of its remaining members (James Ford and James Anthony Shaw) have morphed into Simian Mobile Disco, an English DJ duet.

We were in techno hipster heaven, surrounded by dudes wearing argyle golf sweaters and red sweatbands, plaid shirts and Max Headroom sunglasses. One guy busted out a pair of white gloves with lights in the fingers and proceeded to move his hands around with frenzied energy for the next four hours. PBR tallboys and iPhones were everywhere, flashing in the darkness. As the one-armed air pump got underway, it was clear that the time to dance was fast approaching. (more…)

Day nine and the Boston media continue to document every lurid development relating to the Craigslist killer. Boston’s print dailies fought out the media battle in typical form—on their front pages. The Herald opted for “SICK SICK SICK” followed by a blurb detailing the discovery of “hoarded panties” (!!!) in Philip Markoff’s apartment. The ever chaste Globe went with a picture of Boston Police Sergeant Detective Daniel Duff and a story describing the “old-school stakeout.” Yawn.

The “underwear” angle was stuffed on page A11. They managed to go even more conservative in the actual story, using 1950s-style terminology “underpants” and “undergarments.” This sounds less like prostitute gear and more like what grandmothers wear.

We’re guessing the Herald moves some papers today. “Panties” is really the only word one needs to see in a headline to make the story worth reading. Hell, we think this detail stops short. Don’t leave us hanging… Boy shorts? Thong? Lace? Granny? (more…)

Around 8 a.m. Monday morning, a ninja walked into a Tedeschi’s in Weymouth. The Patriot Ledger reports that the 20-something man ninja was, fittingly, wearing all black, a black ski mask, and a belt sheath with a “ninja sword.”

The clerk started to call the police when he walked in. The ninja stopped her and asked if she was calling about him. When she answered in the affirmative, the ninja took off his mask. (Seriously, doesn’t that break the ninja code, or something?) He then exited the convenience store and headed into nearby Galaxy Cleaners.

Inside the cleaners, he unsheathed his sword (no innuendo intended) and requested the clerk give him all the money in the register. The clerk said she couldn’t open the drawer. Presumably feeling like a loser failed ninja, he left the store. Police are still searching for a loose, armed, and dangerous ninja. (more…)