Thanks is ubiquitous, often in a mechanical way. We say thanks at the end of tedious emails to Customer Service or Human Relations. We exchange mumbled thanks at the checkout. We prompt children for ‘the magic words’. But sometimes...

If you’ve lived in Boston for even a little while, and you own a car, chances are you’ve had the perilous experience of driving on the Jamaicaway, a road that was built long before every household had 2...