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Worcester Activist is down
In fact, more than a dozen local websites are down. The shared account got cancelled. Somebody is moving them today, and they should be back soon.

Giant flag looms over Worcester
I’ve seen them run studio photos of candidates in the T&G, but never one so photoshopped.

Tonic is closing
It’s the end for the Manhattan avant-garde music venue, reports the New York Times. I used to go there all the time when I lived in the neighborhood, and saw a lot of great shows. Did I ever tell you about the time my drunken roommate threw up on their couch? Ah, memories.

Is more landlord regulation coming?
Articles like this are frustrating. In it, Councilor Haller says she wants more regulation on Worcester’s rooming houses, but we’re never told what the proposed regulations are. Even more frustrating is this passage:

City activist Kevin Ksen was arrested for trespassing in September at the rooming house. Mr. Ksen said he was passing out fliers promoting a rally against the television show “COPS” filming in the city.

The article neglects to mention that the charges against Ksen were absurd and essentially dropped.

The president of Slovenia is vegan
Did you know that the president of Slovenia is a Christian vegan? (Note for overseas readers: Christian vegan Dennis Kucinich is running for US president, but is unlikely to win.)

Favorite April article title
Hitler Was a Vegetarian like Bush Was a Valedictorian

“A Dark Day for Oklahoma”
Bob Waldrop:

Yesterday the Oklahoma Senate passed HB 1804 – the “Oklahoma Citizens and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2007”, which criminalizes the Works of Mercy in the State of Oklahoma when the recipient is an “illegal alien”. The bill passed with “veto-proof” majorities in both houses and had strong support from both Democrats and Republicans, thus once again proving the old adage that there isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between the two major parties.

More well-deserved criticism of the Dems from Nate Wildermuth.

Who among us is the original gangster?
It is I, for via Interlibrary Loan I now possess a hardbound copy of The Wealth of Networks.

Journalism
In response to a confused post about Yochai Benker and journalism in an age of free distribution and extensive competition, Adam brought up the question of making newspaper achives available free. On this point, Doc Searls says:

That division is roughly between what I call “the news” and “the olds”. The irony here is that papers charge for the news and give away the olds in print (the olds being fishwrap and recycling fodder), while they do exactly the opposite online. So they compete with themselves in both areas.

Airport
Bill Randell is counting down the days until the Worcester Airport’s “MassPort Operating Agreement Ends.”