Medium rare

It’s Friday, January 24, 2020. Happy birthday to the Mac.

Police in the UK are upping their use of facial recognition, with real-time analysis of faces.

It may be too cold for some but my grill goes all year long. I don’t have one of those outlandish looking top-of-the-line status grills. It’s just a modest two-burner Weber. Solid, and it works like a charm. Engadget introduces us to Weber’s newest innovation: pellet grills. Seems elaborate. Probably not for me but I’ll keep an open mind.

Universal Hub reports Boston’s second murder of the year. It happened on Juliette Street in Dorchester. (Random association: the street was once memorialized by a character in John Updike‘s 1988 novel S.)

We shouldn’t panic yet, according to the World Health Organization. They’re keeping an eye on what’s happening in China but they didn’t declare a global emergency. Part of that decision was based on what they know of what’s happening in China. But that may not be reliable. In the meantime, here’s what you need to know.

And it will be an interesting dynamic between San Francisco’s offense on the ground and the Kansas City defense but at the end of the day it will be up to Garoppolo to step in and fill any gaps.

Ready for our closeup

Thursday is here already. And it’s National Pie day. (Not to be confused with National Pi Day or National Boston Cream Pie day.)

Boston Globe food reviewers seem to be afraid of the south shore. But if they did deign to venture beyond the Neponset I’m sure they might have found at least one or two new restaurants worthy of being listed. (How about Oysterman or The Fairview to start?)

It’s a legitimate question whether the Massachusetts film tax credit is a good deal for taxpayers. Bruce Mohl reports that location scouts and some municipal officials are lobbying for an extension ahead of the law’s sunset at the end of 2022. Everyone loves to see movie stars around but lawmakers should just run the numbers and ignore the bright lights.

People often joke that stress turned their hair grey. According to a new Harvard study, it’s no joke.

Service animals are getting more and more common on airplanes. It doesn’t stop with dogs but where does it stop? Small horses are OK but no frogs, ferrets, hedgehogs or goats are allowed on American Airlines. And no ‘comfort turkeys’ on Delta. But rabbits wearing bowties are alright in business class. Now the Department of Transportation is proposing uniform regulations. Maybe it’s time to put this genie back in its bottle.

And we can all breath easier; the mad shitter has been caught.

We buy ugly federalist townhouses

It’s Wednesday. Expect a warming trend. All the way up to 37°. Happy birthday to Sam Cooke, Lord Byron and Malcolm McLaren.

Last night’s State of the Commonwealth speech was not overly inspirational. It was more of the ‘blocking and tackling‘ that we’ve come to expect from Baker. And that’s OK.

If you’re looking for a fixer-upper, this Louisburg Square gem shouldn’t break the trust fund.

There had been suspicion that it was the Saudis that hacked Jeff Bezos phone back in 2018. The Guardian is now reporting that the hack came in a message from the Saudi Crown Prince himself. Bizarre. It goes without saying that this raises new questions about the Khashoggi murder.

No laptops or smart phones are allowed in the Senate chambers for the impeachment trial. But how about an Apple Watch? They seem to be sneaking through.

And though few even know what a boom-box is these days, this law is still on the books. Radio Raheem would not have approved.