Jul 4-10, 2012
Vermont’s Hackers, Artists and Inventors Are Sharing Ideas — and Solving Problems; Noise in the ‘Hood About Mayor Miro’s Development; A Beloved Ballpark’s Bio; Motorcycle Touring in Vermont; Newport’s Cuisine Scene
Cover Story
Vermont Hackers, Artists and Inventors are Sharing Ideas — and Solving Problems
Remember when geeks were uncool? John Cohn does. The 52-year-old IBM fellow recalls the disapproving look people shot him when, growing up, he told them he wanted to be an engineer. “I’ve spent my whole adult life trying to get other people interested in geekiness,” he says. Looks like it worked — the Age of…
Weinberger Nominates Eileen Blackwood for City Attorney, Would Be First Woman in Top Legal Job
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger’s first pick for city attorney ended badly, but his new nominee appears likely to win confirmation when the City Council meets on July 16. On Monday, Weinberger announced the nomination of Eileen Blackwood (pictured with the mayor), a former president of the Vermont Bar Association and for many years the principal…
Growing Issues: Burlington’s Urban Ag Task Force Seeks Feedback On Its Draft Report
Want to raise alpacas on Peru Street? How about cherry trees on Washington Street, or goats on Grant Street? If you’re an urban farmer, gardener, beekeeper or tender of livestock within Burlington city limits — or want to be — the Urban Agriculture Task Force wants your feedback ASAP. Last week, the Urban Agriculture Task…
Movies You Missed 46: God Bless America
This week in movies you missed: Comedian-turned-director Bobcat Goldthwait brings us a darker-than-dark comedy. A war vet decides we’re a nation of mean-spirited vulgarians, so he starts executing annoying Americans. Surely you guessed the title was ironic? What You Missed Middle-aged Frank (Joel Murray, who played Fred Rumsen on “Mad Men”) is having a bad…
An Old Tower Clock Is Discovered Anew at Green Mountain College
Green Mountain College’s Ames Tower was looking pretty shabby, so facilities director Glenn LaPlante was inspecting its domed cupola, airborne in a hydraulic lift, paint scraper in hand. And that’s when he made an amazing discovery: a glass-encased, art deco clock, still in “excellent condition,” LaPlante declared, despite a layer of 1960s-era paint. It was…
Don’t Tread on VT: State Conducts First-Ever Survey to Identify “Problem” Tire Piles
Got tires? No, not that set of four bald radials gathering dust in your garage. We’re talking about big, eyesore-sized tires piles, the kind that spawn mosquitoes, become nesting grounds for snakes and rodents, block out the sunlight and — worse-case scenario — can potentially catch fire and take firefighters weeks to extinguish. If you’ve…
![Dirt Divas [273]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/episode273.webp?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1)
Dirt Divas [273]
6/28/12: Dirt Divas is a Vermont Works for Women mountain-biking program for girls entering grades 6-8. Eva strapped on a helmet cam and went along for the ride Thursday at the Catamount Outdoor Family Center in Williston. Music: Avi & Celia, Off the Floor, “Down to You” This episode of Stuck in Vermont was…
Letters to the Editor
What Kind of Clover? Can someone please follow up this article [“Whoa, Nellie! Essex Equine Got Burned by Unlucky Clover, Not Battery Acid,” June 27] with information about the specific species of clover and what horse owners should look for in their fields? Many horses live in Vermont, and I’m sure their owners, including myself,…
Century Clubhouse
Vermont author Glenn Stout chronicles Fenway Park’s remarkable first year
WTF: Are Burlington gas stations gouging customers?
Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot: We had to ask…
News Quirks
Curses, Foiled Again Police investigating the murder of Juliana Mensch, 18, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., identified James Ayers, 32, and Nicole Okrzesik, 23, as their suspects after obtaining the couple’s internet searches, texts and Facebook messages. Five days after the victim was strangled, police found her body under a pile of clothing in the couple’s…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Members of the Nevada Republican Party have concocted a bizarre version of family values. A large majority of them are opposed to gay marriage and yet are all in favor of legal brothels. Their wacky approach to morality is as weird as that of the family-values crowd in Texas, which thinks…
Frozen in Time
One waitress has watched 64 years go by at Rutland’s Seward Family Restaurant
Tiny Bubbles
Side Dishes: Champagne & Sparkling Wine Bar, 56 College Street, Middlebury, 989-7020
Smilie School Garden Probable Casualty of Contaminated Compost
Some home gardeners are reeling after learning they’ll lose their vegetable patches to contaminated soil from Green Mountain Compost. That disappointment is particularly acute at Smilie Memorial School in Bolton, where the school used a $7300 grant from Fletcher-Allen Health Care to build their first-ever garden this spring. The grant, aimed at improving kids’ eating habits…
Ice Factor ‘Disappointed’ in Mayor’s Moran Decision — Also Not Pleased With How It Was Handled
Officials with Ice Factor, the Scotland-based company that planned to build an ice-climbing wall in Burlington’s abandoned Moran power plant, say they have not been kept adequately informed of Mayor Miro Weinberger’s decision to kill the Moran redevelopment plan. The company adds that it is disappointed with Weinberger’s move, which he announced at a press…
