Do you think women make it to the 3rd term of pregnancy and go “nah, I don’t want to do this anymore, kill it.” At the 3rd term you’ve gone through the worst of the sickness, you’re having baby showers and decorating the nursery. Then you find out your child has a heart defect and might possibly survive but will not live a full or healthy life and will probably require extreme and expensive medical care. People go “no, I don’t want this child” in the first trimester as they just find out. People who need late term abortions aren’t doing it on a whim, it’s medically necessary for the health of the mother or the child will not be born viable.

On the Merritt Parkway in CT, almost all on ramps have stop signs. Not that MA drivers frequent it, but an example of a stop to merge highway in New England. I think what you’re seeing is generally hesitation due to short merge land and congestion.

Buy a shovel now, and while you’re at it get a long handled snow brush for your car. The LL might do it, but who knows when they’re going to get around to it and how good of a job they’ll do. Be prepared to do it yourself, even if it’s only in the case of an emergency during the middle of a storm and you need to get out.

I’ve been getting so many asks for funds/donations. I don’t care what party running for, there is no way me giving any amount of money less than a week before the election is going to swing the vote either way. By this point people have either made up their minds or they’re apathetic. A friend/relative might get the apathetic voter to the polls, but my $8 ain’t gonna do shit.

I disagree. The coast is still really cold in April. It can be 70 in Springfield, MA and 45 in Boston in mid-April. It is a gorgeous time of year for the lower Connecticut River Valley. But April is unpredictable, it can really be anywhere between 25 and snowing and 95 and sunny, and you might see both of those in the same week.

The Berkshires is the Berkshires. It starts to become more like New York so they have their own region. They drive to Albany for the big city and root for NY sports teams.

Western Mass are the 3 counties in the CT River valley and the hill towns directly east and west. They have their own media outlets based out of Springfield that almost exclusively talk about the I-91 corridor, with some stories from The Berks, but they also get Albany news.

Central Mass is Worcester County, which is now part of the Boston media network so they are not Western Mass, but Eastern Mass doesn’t accept them, they are their own.

then you have Eastern Mass which is subdivided by North Shore and South shore, with The Cape and Islands as their own region as well.

Western Mass, along I-91 is past the vivid peak of a few weeks ago, but it’s still leafy. All the dull browns and dark red and orange. Simple, yet rewarding hikes on Mt Holyoke and/or Mt Tom, and a lot of good breweries. Great day trip.

For statewide candidates, it's probably more a "look at me, I support..."

I do find them a little helpful during primaries or very local elections. Things like school committee, selectmen/city council, etc. Those elections are often very small and there isn't much to get people's names out. I can see who's running, and then do my own research. Or, just vote on the name you recognize because you saw the signs (which I'm sure a lot of people do).

Celtics are on NBC Sports Boston which is on YouTube TV, Hulu Live, etc.

FUBO is the only one with NESN, but if you’re only looking for Celtics, the other streaming services have you covered.

Yeah, it’s hard to do anything outside “year round” in New England. But indoor markets and the occasional mid-winter outdoor festival are certainly good for the soul.

I think as with any group, most of the tourists are good respectful people, but the ass hats are the ones you remember and bitch about.

There are thousands of people driving around looking at the pretty colors in the north east right now, but if you encounter 5-10 of them that are entitled jerks, that’s who you’re going to remember and think “the out of towners are awful”

We know it’s coming, we know they suck. But take a moment to breath and look at where you live and how jaw droopingly gorgeous it is right now, and we get to live here all the time. They’ll be gone soon and we’ll be cozy by our wood stoves.