“In proportion as our inward life fails, we go more constantly and desperately to the post-office. You may depend on it, that the poor fellow who walks away with the greatest number of letters, proud of his extensive correspondence, has not heard from himself this long while.”

- HD Thoreau, Life Without Principle

Ed Wendler Jr., a developer, noted that most apartment and condominium units are smaller than most families prefer. And influential neighborhood activists, worried about bearing the brunt of growth, could make even those difficult to build along the city-core thoroughfares such as North Lamar Boulevard, South Congress Avenue and Springdale Road, as envisioned in the plan.

That would leave the city’s fringes as the logical place for most growth to happen, Wendler said.

“Families will not stop wanting that lifestyle,” he said. “All (Imagine Austin) is going to do is push families out to Round Rock, Pflugerville, Manor, Kyle, Buda or the unincorporated areas around Austin. There is a lot of reality that will get in the way of this vision.”

- New Austin blueprint envisions new direction for growth

Most folks are still looking for a suburban style place to live. Frankly, even my neighborhood in central Austin is in some ways less dense than the Boston suburb I grew up in which was 20+ miles from downtown. If Austin is going to try to stop suburban style growth and encourage more “urban” development, then San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston should send the Austin city government a thank you note. You can’t make people want condos, townhouses, and apartments just because that’s the only housing you’ll allow to be built. Folks can always move somewhere else.

John McCormack of the Weekly Standard fell Tuesday night as he tried to speak with the Democrat while simultaneously videotaping her and trying to pass a metal grate on a Washington sidewalk.

- Reporter takes stumble chasing Mass. candidate

Let’s see the video:

It’s hard to describe that as anything other than sheer abridgment of the freedom of the press. An unfriendly reporter was asking questions of a candidate and someone working for the candidate assaulted the reporter. I mean, what else is there? The Boston Globe is happy to edit history’s first draft in this case and YouTube is here to provide the second draft.

Ultimately, this incident isn’t about an election, or partisan politics. It’s about a fundamental American value that is being ignored by the Coakley Campaign (and the guy is definitely with the campaign). Americans want a free and functioning press. We want tabloid journalism and Pulitzer Prize journalism. We want to hear lies and we want to see journalists expose the truth. We don’t want to see some flack assault a journalist and we certainly don’t want to see other journalists covering it up. That is just as much against American values as police protecting themselves by arresting innocent cellphone videographers.

Upon common theaters, indeed, the applause of the audience is of more importance to the actors than their own approbation. But upon the stage of life, while conscience claps, let the world hiss! On the contrary, if conscience disapproves, the loudest applauses of the world are of little value.

John Adams in a letter to Charles Cushing, mid-1750s. Quoted in John Adams By David McCullough

I was born in Boston and lived there for the first 26 years or so of my life and I know virtually nothing about Roxbury or its history. My Dad grew up there, and I doubt that I’ve set foot in Roxbury more than 4 or 5 times. I think I’m going to go out of my way to visit over the next few years.

Moving out of MA has really enabled us to enjoy life so much more. Almost everything we do on a day to day basis is cheaper, easier, and often better than the equivalent in MA. Our house is WAY cheaper than the equivalent in MA. Driving from place to place is insanely easy compared to any driving in the Boston area and we can park anywhere at anytime. And here in Colorado Springs, virtually everything is newer and nicer than in metro Boston.

I do miss some aspects of MA. I miss the ocean most of all, but I do have an amazing mountain range nearby for a great view. I miss the oxygen at sea level, but I miss it less all the time as my body adapts to the high country. And I do occasionally miss some of the cultural content that Boston offers, but we do have some of that here, too.

I am glad we moved from Quincy to Colorado and I would do it again in a heartbeat, unless we moved to Austin or somewhere like that instead. I don’t know if I’ll ever move back to Boston, but I really, really doubt it.