The Big Crumble

bfwebster on March 17th, 2009

. . . will be later today. Right now, it’s Tuesday morning, so it must be link time: President Obama’s War on Business continues. As I noted yesterday, I’m not happy with the AIG payout, but it is both unseemly and dangerous to have the President of the United States singling out and using taxpayer [...]

Continue reading about Tuesday afternoon . . .

bfwebster on September 24th, 2006

Despair.com — long one of my favorite sites — now has a web-based function to do your own ‘Demotivation’ posters. For example: Or: Or, in honor of the puppy postings below: Hat tip to Ace of Spades. ..bruce..

Continue reading about Do-It-Yourself Despair.Com Posters

bfwebster on August 1st, 2006

(UPDATED BELOW) (And, Megan, thanks for the Instalanche!) I haven’t been terribly happy with Sen. Reid’s battle against the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site over the years, but even I have to agree he’s got a good point here: WASHINGTON (AP) – Sen. Harry Reid has a new argument against the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste [...]

Continue reading about Fallout from the Big Crumble (so to speak)

bfwebster on July 31st, 2006

Well, no new loose bolts or other failures have been disclosed over the weekend. Mostly, people are jockeying for position, to either take advantage of or avoid fallout from the Big Dig Crumble. Design News (via Slashdot) asks whether the Big Crumble is one of engineering’s biggest mistakes. A few of the folks on Slashdot [...]

Continue reading about The Big Crumble – a quiet weekend

bfwebster on July 28th, 2006

While the State of Massachusetts has been carrying out its own investigations, the National Transportation Safety Administration has started its own separate probe into the causes of the Big Dig Crumble’s collapse earlier this month (via Andrew Miga at the Associated Press via Forbes): Federal investigators are looking into whether vibrations from nearby construction could [...]

Continue reading about The Big Crumble – Probes; evidence; memos

bfwebster on July 27th, 2006

UPDATED (07/27/06): The Boston Globe has a section of its website dedicated to the Big Dig Crumble. Yesterday, MTA chief Matt Amorello lost his legal bid to block today’s scheduled hearing to remove him from his post. It’s no surprise, then, that Amorello resigned today before the hearing could take place (via the Boston Globe): [...]

Continue reading about The Big Crumble – Amorello resigns

bfwebster on July 26th, 2006

UPDATED (07/26/06): Ken McCracken over at WILLisms has some futher observations and cogent comments (including about duct tape). He’s also got a great map of the Big Dig Crumble itself. Also, the Massachusetts Supreme Court has ruled that Gov. Romney can proceed with his hearing to fire MTA Chief Matt Amorello (via WCSH6.com). And now [...]

Continue reading about Big Crumble round-up (part VII)

bfwebster on July 25th, 2006

The Big Dig Crumble news cycle keeps churning away…. MTA Chair Matt Amorello has filed a lawsuit to keep Gov. Romney from forcing his resignation. On the other hand, the other MTA board members had already filed suit against Amorello: Romney loyalists on the turnpike board also sued Amorello, claiming he has “improperly and illegally [...]

Continue reading about Big Crumble update (part VI)

bfwebster on July 24th, 2006

The age-old dictum “Follow the money!” appears to apply to the Big Dig Crumble as well, and Aaron Margolis over at HubPolitics.com is doing just that. Margolis’s investigation starts with a few fascinating items: State Att’y General Tom Reilly was “pushing for a deal with Bechtel [one of the major contractors] that would have given [...]

Continue reading about The Big Crumble (part V)

bfwebster on July 23rd, 2006

UPDATED 07/24/06: Andrew Cline, editorial page editor for the New Hampshire Union Leader, proposes renaming the Big Dig after Melina Del Valle, the woman killed when a portion of the ceiling collapsed. ORIGINAL: The eastbound lanes of the Ted Williams Tunnel that were closed a few days ago have now been re-opened, but only for [...]

Continue reading about The Big Crumble (part IV)