The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human , by Siddhartha Mukherjee

The first pride parades were actually held on June 28, 1970, the first anniversary of the brutal police raids of Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village. The date is important, as is the reason for the march, and it is the reason the June is Pride Month. Gay people were fed up with the harassment and abuse they faced constantly, and decided it was time to be heard.

It was the moment when gay people bagan to be heard and to feel comfortable being who they are. I was hopeful we were finally through all that, but alas, the right wingers driven by the religious right and neofascist groups are trying to turn back the clock, aided by their allies in the Republican party.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3521947-pride-month-marred-by-rising-anti-lgbtq-hate/

Memoirs, like any other genre, have examples I like, and others I don't. A lot of memoirs are plagued by a lack of self-awareness, or attempts by the writer to present themselves exclusively in a positive light. Of the books you read, I only read "Educated", and I know Westover was criticized by family members. I'm not a fan of celebrity memoirs (or most political memoirs, for that matter), as they tend to be self-serving and narcissistic. I can't imagine ever reading Jennette McCurdy or Tom Felton's. One exception from a celebrity was Trevor Noah's "Born a Crime", but he had a genuinely interesting life, and he's funny. Other memoirs I enjoyed in no particular order ... Lit, by Mary Karr; Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir, by Natasha Trethewey; and Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren. Robin Wall Kimmerer's "Braiding Sweetgrass is a mix of memoir and nature writing, and is one of the best books I"ve read in years.

There are a lot of excellent biographies. Ron Chernow has written a few excellent ones about important people in US history. "Hamilton" is perhaps his most famous. David McCullough wrote an excellent biography of John Adams. Walter Isaacson's biographies are uniformly excellent. His biographies of Leonardo Da Vinci and Einstein ware particularly good.

GEB isn't literary fiction. I'd call it a "popular science" book, in which big scientific ideas are introduced in a creative and accessible manner. I had already taken a course in theoretical computer science class before I read it, so I was very familiar with the ideas in the book. I enjoyed the presentation. It was very creative

Others have already suggested you talk with your town's building inspector. That is the correct answer

If you have a septic tank, make sure it has the required capacity for the number of bedrooms you're listing the home as. The building inspector would now about that too. You can't sell a house with a two bedroom septic as a three bedroom house.

If you don't have a septic tank, consider yourself fortunate. I had to replace my septic system to sell my last house, and it was a whole lot more expensive than the most expensive closet you could ever build.

When Kate Matrosova died a few years ago, the temperature was -35F, and winds were 79MPH, for a wind chill of -88.

Weather is already more severe than that. Temperature is -35F, but winds are 89MPH, with gusts to 107MPH. Windchill is -90F. It will get worse. If someone tries to summit anything in the Northern Presidential today, they cannot be rescued. Anyone up there without a survival shelter will die. With a survival shelter, you have to hope you can live until conditions ease to the point where humans can walk again. That won't be until tomorrow, at best.

It would be possible to summit something below treeline, but the only reason to do that today would be to brag about it. Every summit will still be open on Sunday, when conditions are expected to be be downright pleasant.

There are many words for them, most of them not suitable for children. Only exception I can think of is "idiot", but that word is more often accompanied by a more offensive adjective that starts with "f".

People in Colorado must be a lot nicer to use something inoffensive like "flatlanders"

There is substantial evidence that consumers associate higher prices with higher quality for similar products, resulting in firms being able to charge higher prices for new products. As consumers become more informed about the products, the power of this signaling declines. Bagwell and Riordan developed a model of this some years ago

https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/research/math/papers/808.pdf

From the abstract, it sounds as if the study participants were choosing from among beverages they did not have specific knowledge of, as the tests included some choices described as "decoys".

When I was starting out in my career I read career oriented business, leadership; self help, and technical books at the expense of fiction and nonfiction for fun. I came to realize these books were all pretty much the same, and they didn't male my life better. Now I read more fictions than non fiction, and when I read non fiction I do so because it's interesting.

Sure. Here are some books off the top of my head:

These two were on the 2022 booker long list

Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan

Trust, by Hernan Diaz

This was a stunning debut in the Historical Fiction genra

Black Cake, by Charmaine Wilkerson

Here's a science fiction book that was unusually character driven

Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St John Mandel

Then there's this, which is pretty much all character development

A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles

I don't think this is a valid generalization at all. There are plenty of new books with strong character development and older books without it. You're just reading the wrong books.

If there are still tickets, Tower Hill.

The common, as already mentioned is done up nicely.

WAM has holiday decorations and events.

The dispatcher, the only woman there, later told investigators that Officer James Quilty stuck his hand down her pants and groped her. Then after the four other officers left, she said he trapped her in her car, undid her bra, kissed and fondled her, and forced her hand onto his pants over his crotch.

...

But Middlesex County prosecutors say Natick police initially shrugged off the allegations. And even after the town completed a formal investigation, records show they didn’t initially seek criminal charges. Instead, they signed a deal with Quilty to keep him on the police force after a suspension. And Natick officials have fought for more than two years to keep almost all the records secret.

...

Prosecutors said the Natick Police Department “chose to do nothing about the incident” until the town administrator hired a Springfield law firm that handles sexual harassment cases to investigate in July 2020. The department also put Quilty on leave. In October 2020, the town notified the Middlesex District Attorney’s office about allegations that Quilty violated the town’s sexual harassment policy.

...

Court records also show Quilty's ex-wife accused him of rape. Middlesex prosecutors told the court they investigated the allegations and ultimately decided not to bring charges, but said that decision does not necessarily mean the allegation was false.

https://www.wbur.org/news/2022/10/30/natick-police-department-misconduct-sexual-assault-accusations

Quilty's then supervisor, who tried to hide and excuse the conduct, is now Chief of Police in nearby Ashland

I hike in the whites about every other weekend throughout the winter.

As others have said, you need to know what you're doing, even for a modest hike. Trails are typically have a mix of ice and snow. Even beginner hikes require insulated boots, microspikes, and often snowshoes, plus a pack with clothing, food, headlamp, etc. You need to know how to get yourself out of trouble, as there is rarely cell coverage. There are easier and harder hikes. The Northern Presidentials and Franconia Ridge are very dangerous, and require advanced skills. I bring crampons and and ice axe for self-arrest on these hikes, and I know how to use them. Hikes like Willard or Sugarloaf are much more welcoming, but if you think sneakers are fine you shouldn't do them.

Title is misleading. They made a FOIA request some time ago, and these agencies haven't responded. The lawsuit is simply a way to force the agencies to respond to the request they already made.

ref: https://www.aclum.org/en/news/aclu-massachusetts-files-lawsuit-seeking-trump-declassification-order

I don't know why they initially made the request, and it's not important. But Federal agencies are legally bound to respond. They cannot be allowed not to.

It is an excellent school for Engineering and its graduates are well prepared. I have hired quite a few of them over the years.

The Boston Marathon isn't really available to most runners, given the requirement to qualify or raise enough money. There are marathons in Lowell. Providence, Holyoke, Lincoln RI, Nashua, among others.

It's a great race. It's on a Sunday, so traffic is light to begin with and most of the roads aren't busy at all. It's a little congested as you approach the finish in Clinton, but there's good traffic control and it didn't bother me

Putting on an urban marathon is expensive due to street closures, plus police and ambulance costs. The surrounding towns could easily support longer races, though. I've run Stu's run, a 30K that goes around the Wachusett Reservoir. It goes through West Boylston. The nearest half marathon I can think of is in Upton. Marathons are further away

I probably buy 2-3 tickets per year, and only when the jackpot is absurdly high and I happen to be someplace that sells tickets. That's because it's fun to imagine what I'd do with a half billion dollars or whatever. In that case, I buy it where I happen to be when I see the jackpot sign. Most likely it would be at a convenience store I stopped in to buy a gallon of milk or a package store I stopped in to buy some beer. I have never, and will never, go somewhere specifically to buy a ticket.

He's definitely just showing party loyalty with the goal of an appointment in a future Republican administration. He's so far behind there's nothing that could help him in Massachusetts.

Returning to "Christian foundational values" actually means going back the the 1950's social hierarchy, where men like Diehl had all the power they wanted. It's not as if they care about Christian values like "love your neighbor", "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me", or "turn the other cheek", as these require kindness and a willingness to give up some of your power.

If you're willing to go nearby, but not in MA, consider:

Portland Maine

Portsmouth NH

In MA:

Newburyport

Northhampton

Lenox (Canyon Ranch is a well-regarded all inclusive resort there. I know there are others in Lenox.)

It is already peak in NH north of Lake Winnipesauke. Was up there yesterday. Over the next week it will move south. The summit of nearby Mt Wachusett will be a nice place to see it in the coming week, as will be Mt Watatic and Mt Monadnock.