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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 05/10/2026

Wendell Berry’s Message to Readers: All We Need Is Here Barbara Kingsolver remembers the man she counted among her most important literary mentors. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/04/books/re… […]

mastodon.social

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 05/10/2026

A beautiful blustery day yesterday at the MIT sailing pavilion, with students readying for their first sailing lessons and a model for an "adaptive archipelago" floating nearby. #MIT #sailing #Cambridge #urbanLandscape

A sunny day with a small crowd of people preparing to launch Tech Dinghies, small catboats with red sails, into the Charles River. A model of an "adaptive archipelago" floats on the other side of the dock.

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

Blown by nor'easter onto Quincy's Wollaston Beach: August 1930 by the great Boston Herald photographer Leslie Jones... ... and September 2026 by the great Boston Globe photographer David L. Ryan. #Boston #sailing #storm

Black-and-white photo of a wooden sloop on a sandy shore, with one person in the cockpit and two others standing by. Leslie Jones.

Color photo of a blue keel sloop ashore on a beach, behind a long row of brown seaweed. David L. Ryan.

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/09/2026

Here’s Your New House. It Comes With Friends. Fresh pies. Book groups. Puzzle challenges. Developers of master-planned communities see fear of social isolation and desire for friends as a business opportunity. Welcome to Amity Lane […]

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/09/2026

Paddling under the drawbridge on Stage Harbor, I immediately faced a question: Who today raises hefty new wooden buildings like this on a pier? Answer: the town of Chatham, installing a rehab of a historic Coast Guard boathouse […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Large wooden building being constructed on a pier, with one wall facing the harbor left open.

Historical black-and-white photo of Coast Guard lifeboat 36500 somehow bringing in 32 survivors of a wrecked tanker into Chatham Harbor at night.

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 22/09/2026

Starting Sept. 30, the MIT Future Fest will offer a cornucopia of events highlighting research at the Institute: mitfuturefest.org/program Most of the events require a $149 day pass or $399 5-day pass. However, the MIT Museum and events held there […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Conceptual illustration of a very large brick building that has been extensively rebuilt. "The Metropolitan Storage Warehouse opened in August 2026 as the new home of MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning after a makeover turned the century-old storage facility into a light-infused center for teaching, research, and public engagement."

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/09/2026

The Absurd, Unending Quest to Floodproof the New York City Subway In an era of heavy rain, a transit system with 47,000 openings is bound to leak. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/08/magazine… […]

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/09/2026

Our Wild and Crazy 13-Hour New York City Ferry Cruise We spent a day bouncing around the city on the expanded NYC Ferry system — making stops at beaches, festivals, beloved bars and more — for just $15 […]

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 17/09/2026

Public comments are due *tomorrow* for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility draft plan for Boston. Here's the comment form […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Conceptual illustration of the South Boston waterfront at Fan Pier, with preventive measures based on an added six-foot floodwall, looking toward downtown Boston.

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/09/2026

The Graves took a few more bites out of its Miss Cuddy III lighthouse tender this summer. #Boston #harbor #lighthouse

Miss Cuddy III, a small surplus Coast Guard rescue boat converted to a tender for the owners of the Graves lighthouse in outer Boston harbor, tied up at its East Boston dock. The cover of the boat's orange bumper has been ripped off in several places showing the white foam underneath.

A paper version of NOAA chart 13270, with a red star showing where the Miss Cuddy III tender ties up in East Boston and a blue star showing The Graves, miles east at the edge of the outer harbor.

A closeup of NOAA chart 13270 showing the Graves--yes, no harbor!

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/09/2026

Awe, Shucks Five Years Ahead of Schedule, Riparian Repair Project Is Making History on the Half-Shell "Thanks to a Lower Manhattan nonprofit, New York is making progress on recapturing its erstwhile status as oyster capital of the world.. Christening their […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

A worker digs into the bottom of a gigantic pile of oyster shells.

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/09/2026

The undersea world of Doc Edgerton World-famous for pioneering flash photography, MIT's Harold "Doc" Edgerton spent a surprising amount of his later years at sea. ericbender.co/history-of-the-harbor (Here, on the 1973 expedition that found the […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

MIT engineering professor Harold "Doc" Edgerton holding a side-scan sonar device and looking up from the deck of the research vessel Eastward on a sunny day at sea.

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/09/2026

Hopping smartly toward survival Should conservation organizations train frogs and other amphibians to prosper when they are reintroduced into the wild? www.nasw.org/article/hopping-smartl… (A pleasure working with Breyton Hill on […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

A Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog in an open tupperware container in front of a lake on a sunny day. Credit: San Francisco Zoo & Gardens.

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/09/2026

Wendell Berry, Writer Who Extolled America’s Agrarian Past, Dies at 92 A Kentucky farmer, he railed against agribusiness and championed small family farms and the environment, winning widespread acclaim […]

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/08/2026

Summer on Boston inner harbor: The autocarrier Dignity Leader creeps astern under the Tobin Bridge. The newest Boston fireboat ties up near the Coast Guard base. And the giant cruiseship Norwegian Breakaway and the small utility craft First Responder share […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Very large very boxy blue autocarrier Dignity Leader goes astern under the Tobin Bridge, nudged by three tugs we can't see because they're on the port side.

George Layhe, a new 38-foot fireboat with advanced-looking gear, tied up at the Boston Fire Department dock near the Coast Guard base.

In foreground, the small utility craft First Responder, black with a red cabin. In the background, the bow of the giant cruiseship Norwegian Breakaway, blue with Peter Max drawings.

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/08/2026

Sophie Poe has relaunched her grand series of profiles of museums around the world with a snapshot of Abu Dhabi's Qasr Al Hosn, plus some personal notes. splaces.home.blog/2026/08/23/qast-a… #museum

View of Qasr Al Hosn museum at sunset, with an ancient tower next to a modern tower.

A view in the museum's main exhibition space, "which introduces the story of the Bani Yas and the early history of Abu Dhabi. I particularly liked the changing animation projected onto the wall."

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/08/2026

Just saw this: What Do Students Lose When They Stop Writing? Educators are worried that many students can no longer write essays without A.I. And it’s costing more than just grammar skills […]

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/08/2026

Here's a quick look at Captain Drew's World, newly compiled and edited by W. H. Bunting, my favorite living maritime historian: ericbender.co/history-of-the-harbor If you're interested in maritime and/or late 19th-century history, find a copy! […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

Cover of "Captain Drew's World: Dispatches from the Age of Global Sail", compiled and edited by W. H. Bunting, showing two square-riggers moored in the Hooghly River downstream from Calcutta

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 18/08/2026

Quote of the day from Liz Ruskin of Alaska Public Media, about the Alaskan Senate race: "Political consultant Jim Lottsfeldt tells me there's so much money in this race that it can't all be spent on things that make sense." #politics #alaska #senate #npr

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 13/08/2026

My take on the draft plan to guard Boston against the sea, released by the Army Corps of Engineers and the city last month: ericbender.co/safe-harbor #Boston #climatechange #climatecrisis #sealevelrise #harbor @courtney @vida_latina @universalhub

Two firemen wading through water, with one carrying a motorist from an abandoned car, under a snowy bridge. Neponset Circle in Dorchester, January 2018, courtesy the Boston fire department.

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/08/2026

First trip to the justly famous Brooklyn Bridge Park, on a sunny hot Saturday morning with folks of every description enjoying everything from ping pong to kayaking to soccer to the Water Lab splash pad. And plenty of ships to watch! #NYC #Brooklyn #park #harbor

Empty sand beach, lined with a jetty, looking across the East River to lower Manhattan. Used mostly for kayaking I think.

Field of aged pilings pointing across the East River to lower Manhattan.

The fireboat Governor Alfred E. Smith, tied up on a sunny day in Brooklyn Bridge Park with lower Manhattan behind her, finally retired in 2016.

Catamaran ferry Waves of Wonder, with blue hull, red stripes and white topsides, turning around in about her own length in narrow waters in front of a large gray construction barge.

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Reposted by Eric Bender

ArthurGron @arthurgron.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/08/2026

Storage archive of the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough #Ontario #Canada #Museum Like library books on a shelf, the museum has an archive of canoes! www.openstreetmap.org/way/1375439338

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 06/08/2026

The museum versus the sea Boston Children's Museum launches $15M project to protect itself from sea level rise www.wbur.org/news/2026/08/06/boston… #Boston #museum #harbor #climatechange #climatecrisis #sealevelrise

Concept illustration of Boston's Children Museum, on Fort Point Channel, after a major revamp to deal with climate change.

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 28/07/2026

How to Predict the Weather in Our Era of Freakish Storms I didn’t want to have to depend on a weather app to know when the storms are coming. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/28/magazine… […]

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 21/07/2026

RE: mastodon.social/@ebender00/11695748… Progress, but... From the Globe: "D.J. Rasmussen, a former Princeton researcher who studied the Corps’ coastal defense mega-projects, found that even technically feasible and cost-effective projects have failed to advance. He said […]

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Eric Bender @ebender00.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 21/07/2026

Boston and the Army Corps of Engineers start to unveil $10 billion coastal defense plan (Draft plan not actually released until Friday.) www.boston.gov/news/plan-summary-bo… Boston Globe story (behind paywall, sorry) […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

One proposed option for downtown includes a floodgate spanning Commercial Street, shown here in a provided rendering.

Flood wall and levee locations proposed for Boston inner harbor in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers draft coastal protection plan.

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