Second Boston Regional FIRST Robotics Competition

The Second Annual Boston Regional of the FIRST Robotics Competition was held this past weekend at Agganis Arena at Boston University.

Over 1,000 students on school teams, with help and support from mentors and sponsors, built their robots in a 6 week week time span from a common kit of parts and set of rules provided by FIRST. These robotics competitions are a multinational event with competitions held in North America, Europe, and South America.

FIRST is an acryonym for: For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.

The teams enter their robots with an eye on reaching the national championship in Atlanta this April. The competition, or as teams call it, "the game" or "sport for the mind" is different each year and is designed by Dean Kamen, Dr. Woodie Flowers, and a committee of engineers and other professionals. More information about this year's game can be found here.

Shadows and fire escapes

The fire escape stairs you see in the photo is really the shadows. The metal fire escape stairs are painted the same color of the building and blends in so well it is almost hidden in plain sight, like an optical illusion. A much better example of a shadow optical illusion can be seen in this National Geographic photo.

iPod, uPod, we allPod

Large iPod billboard sign at the corner of Stuart and Columbus. Doesn't it seem that advertising is encroaching on every part of society - sports stadiums are covered with advertising signs and are named for products or companies; city buses are moving advertising signs, and billboards are getting larger and larger.

Red Light District?

Oversize billboards in the Theater District at Tremont and Stuart.

Josiah Quincy

Statue of Josiah Quincy in front of the Old City Hall. Josiah Quincy (1772-1864) was mayor of Boston, a municipal court judge, and a president of Harvard College.

You can see the house he grew up in, in Quincy, Massachusetts here.

Here is a full-size view of Old City Hall. The Quincy statue is on the right. [click the image to enlarge it]

Wednesday Doorway

Outdoor sculpture

Sculpture outside Whole Foods market on Westland Avenue.

Boston Symphony Hall

Huntington Avenue view of Symphony Hall.

Symphony Hall box office on Massachusetts Ave.
[click image to enlarge]

Museum of Fine Arts

For Sunday morning who wouldn't like to visit a museum and wander its galleries gazing at some of the greatest art man has produced.

The life-sized statue on the front lawn of the museum is the Appeal to the Great Spirit by Cyrus E. Dallin and is the focal point of the museum's original Huntington Avenue entrance.

There is one other life-size copy of the statue in Muncie Indiana; a little trivia for locals, the statue is also the model for the mascot of Quincy High School.

Luxe Condo - update

Update on the luxury condominiums being built at 45 Province Street. It has just about doubled the number of floors in about two months.

The picture below shows how the site looked five months ago and indicates how fast the building is going up.

Anne Hutchinson

Statue of Anne Hutchinson on the front lawn of the Massachusetts State House. She was exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for her religious beliefs and because she offended the mores of Puritan society. Her particular "heresy" was to maintain that it was a blessing and not a curse to be a woman, making her perhaps the first American feminist.

Inscription on the statue:
In Memory of
Anne Marbury Hutchinson
Baptized at Alford
Licolnshire England
20 - July 1595
Killed by the Indians
at East Chester New York 1643
Courageous Exponent
of Civil Liberty
and Religious Toleration

Evening commute

End of the workday on a chilly March evening. You can see the entrance and exits from the Park Street Subway Station and the Park Street Church in the background.

Wednesday Doorway

This Wednesday's doorway is the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul on Tremont Street.

WWII Statue

World War II Memorial to the men of Boston who died in the war.

JFK Statue

Statue of John F. Kennedy on the grounds of the State House. This area used to be open to the public, but is no longer.

Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral

Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral on Park Drive in the Fenway.

Park Drive Buildings

Apartment buildings on Park Drive in the Fenway area of Boston.

Hard hats and pony tails

A couple of Boston's finest patrolling The Fenway area of Boston on horseback. I wonder if cellphones have taken over from police radios?


It's been a long week and I have been a little under the weather, so I'm glad to see the week end. TGIF. [click image to enlarge]

A study in blue

Blue sky, blue building, blue car. Usually new buildings are clad in yellow insulation materials before the exterior of brick and mortar are applied; this blue one caught my eye.

Wednesday's doorway

This magnificent doorway is located at 111 Park Dr. in the Fenway. The entire building and block can be seen in the picture below.

Tibetan Uprising Anniversary

March 10th marked the 49th anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising Day. The day when Tibetans took to the streets of their capital city, Lhasa, to protest China's invasion and occupation of their country. One week later the Dalai Lama was forced to flee to India. In the months following his escape, tens of thousands of Tibetans were killed as Chinese troops brutally crushed the uprising. You can read the report of the uprising by the Tibetan Government in Exile here.

The sign held by the demonstrators, partially obscured by the Tibetan flag reads, "China's record in Tibet: More that a million killed, more than 6,000 monasteries destroyed, thousands in prison. CHINA OUT OF TIBET!"

Iron Lantern

Iron lantern in front of the state house.

Graffiti

Graffiti in a school playground.

International Women's Day

The first International Women's Day (IWD) was observed in February of 1909 in the United States following a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. Among other relevant historic events, it commemorates the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (New York, 1911), where over 140 women lost their lives. Today IWD is more strongly identified with Russia and its former eastern bloc allies, but it is also considered the first day of the spring season so it is well worth observing on both accounts.

In honor of International Women's Day, I am showing the second of two female statues from the Brewer Fountain on Boston Common. You can see the other statue here.

Building frieze

Looking up at a building on Beacon and Bowdoin Street I saw this nice architectural detail.

Late Valentines

Seen on a brownstone on Marlborough Street.

Doorway

Doorway of a local church.

Vanishing point

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Statue of Nathaniel Hawthorne, favorite son of Salem, Massachusetts and author of Scarlet Letter and House of Seven Gables. This statue is by Bela Pratt, who also did the statue in Nurse's Hall in the State House.

State House Hall

Here is another view of an interior State House shot. The mural on the left depicts the War of 1898 against Spain, and just to its right is the entrance to the House of Representatives chamber we saw a few days ago.

Theme Day - March 2008

Today is theme day for the Daily City Photo Blog community. The theme this month is graffiti.