Search for “follow the money”

It’s Wednesday. Happy hump day. And happy quinquennial World Statistics Day.

The Franklin Park Zoo has a new addition. Very cute.

If you search for something in Safari on your iPhone, the default search engine is Google. Probably most searches are done this way and it’s a highly profitable arrangement for both Apple and Google. It’s also the focus of an antitrust probe.

When politicians want to seem genuine they eat fake food. Because that’s what real people eat. (Joe Biden seems to go to Dairy Queen a lot.)

What, exactly, is an “Electoral Intrusion?” And capitalized, no less. I guess we’ll find out on Sunday night.

And, what year did the word psychobabble appear? If you guessed 1975, you would be not wrong. (The Merriam Webster Time Traveller is a good way to waste a little bit of time.)

Hello, is this thing on?

Today is Tuesday. Two weeks until the election.

Even with Brady and Gronk as headliners, for the Buccaneers it’s all about the defense.

Another debate? Why? What’s the point? At least there won’t be any crosstalk. It’s still an open question whether the president will even show up. I’m guessing he will. It’s crunch time. If you value your sanity, now might be a good time to shut down all social media. And I know that there’s more at stake in voting than a sticker. But I still want my sticker.

Marc Hurwitz reports that the Beachcomber on Wollaston Beach may be turned into a park. It would be a very small park. But anything would be an improvement over the way it looks now.

The president is threatening to fire Dr. Fauci, who he now calls “a disaster.” Just a week ago the Trump campaign was trying to exploit Fauci’s high credibility to boost the president’s image. I guess it’s opposite day in the White House again.

And apparently the turkeys are too big this year. That’s a problem, how?

It starts with an earthquake

Monday once again. Today’s word is quotidian.

Here’s one more thing to worry about this election season: a refrigerator-sized space-rock, hurtling towards us at more than 25,000 mph. But don’t worry. Neil deGrasse Tyson doesn’t think it will destroy the entire world.

As we prepare for the third wave, the former FDA Commissioner says buckle up. The next few months may be the worst. Check. Also, Dr. Fauci weighed in on 60 Minutes about how easy it was for the president to get infected. Check. And there’s a crisis in chess and it’s all because of the the pandemic. Check.

AT&T might not have the best 5G options of all the carriers. But that’s OK, says the CEO. It’s because they’re so focused on 6G.

Expect a new Springsteen album this week. And a ‘making of’ film on Apple TV. Here’s the trailer. The band sounds great.

And Geoffrey Fowler googled Google and found that it’s getting worse at search (while getting better, apparently, at generating profit.)

Coming down to earth

Sunday. A day of rest. It’s Chuck Berry‘s birthday.

First the crash at McGoo’s and now another ‘drive-through’ in a different part of South Boston. I see a crackdown coming.

Massport was one of those agencies that seemed to have lots of money. The pandemic changed that.

Those football crowd noises that we hear on TV are not heard on the field. It’s quiet out there, and that’s leaving the defense at the mercy of the hard count.

Love these photos by Cambridge photographer Rosamond Purcel. Sometimes it’s the ordinary things that make the best subjects.

And it’s looking more and more like the New York Post is the new Wikileaks and Rudy Guiliani is now playing the role of Julian Assange. Nyet?

Blood in the water

Sat. 10-17-20. The anniversary of the London Beer Flood.

Dr. Fauci and other health experts talk turkey.

The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy shared a video of a great white hunting just feet from the beach in Provincetown. It didn’t turn out well for the seal, who apparently didn’t know that it was Sharktober. (The Globe reposted the video on its site but added a pre-roll ad to it. I wonder how that works.)

There’s something fishy about the latest deadlock in the ongoing Brexit saga.

These are just some of the scientific journals that have found it necessary to get into politics in this age of science skepticism: The Lancet, Science Magazine, Scientific American, The New England Journal of Medicine and Nature. Carl Sagan saw it coming. I can almost hear his voice reading the passage.

And if you have a melody stuck in your head, Google might be able to help with its new Hum to Search feature. I will be testing this.

One big nothing burger

Friday arrives. 18 days until the election. Libra clashes with Jupiter.

Curb your Enthusiasm is 20 years old this week. Pretty, pretty good.

It was billed in May as the ‘Greatest political crime in the history of our country.’ But, as it turned out, it wasn’t. But never mind. Americans have a short memory when it comes to bullshit. So how about something more recent like last night’s town meeting? The FBI says QAnon is a terrorist group. But the president, who the FBI reports to and who gets briefed by the FBI, said last night that he knows nothing about them and won’t condemn the group. Ouch. I think I’ve strained my credulity.

One doctor thinks trick or treating is safe. Let the kids have their candy, he says. They’ve had a tough year. I couldn’t agree more.

We knew it was coming but it’s still going to be confusing. MassDOT is beginning to re-number the highway exits to comply with federal milepost numbering standards.

And local morning news anchor Alaina Pinto lost her job because of a cameo as a newscaster in the new Adam Sandler movie. Things might have turned out better if she was able to plug her employer in the movie. But the fictional channel she appeared on was different from the one she worked at.

Not out of the woods

Thursday is upon us. It’s National Shawarma Day.

There’s new music from Stevie Wonder.

The South Shore is seeing an increase in cases. Marshfield, Hanover and Plymouth are in the high-risk category now, with Duxbury and Scituate not far behind. The death rate in Massachusetts, even with its concentration of quality hospitals, is higher than in surrounding states, which is a bit of a mystery. Nationally, it looks like the US is heading for a third peak. And Germany, Ireland and the UK are also bracing for more cases.

Ryanair is closing its bases in Shannon and Cork, at least for the winter, with more cuts expected to come.

I listened to the entire hour-long questioning of the guy who turned the supposed Hunter Biden laptop over to Guliani and the New York Post. (The journalistic badgering and cajoling made me uncomfortable and reminded me of Janet Malcolm’s writing. I guess that’s just the sausage getting made.) Maybe it’s my suspicious nature, but it’s clear to me that this whole fake laptop story was a plant, probably involving overseas actors. October surprise indeed.

And if some industries are thinking of leaving New York, Big Tech is bucking the trend by expanding its presence in the city. And they’re no dummies.

Return on investment

Wednesday’s child is full of woe. And in 2020, there are 78 days to go.

At 92, Burt Bacharach is still at it.

As the cold weather moves in, outdoor dining can be very expensive for restaurant owners. The Dorchester Brewing Company is making the investment. Now they need their customers to support them. Also, in Kingston, Regina Pizza has closed its location in the Kingston Mall (or Collection, as it’s known these days. A collection of empty storefronts, mostly.) And on Harrison Ave in Boston, Atlántico, a new seafood tapas restaurant, it hoping to make a go of it despite the tough times.

Sherrin Woods, my old childhood haunt, is in the news. A Universal Hub post reports that there’s a petition that suggests the city purchase a parcel along the tracks near Dale Street to incorporate into the woods, rather than have it be developed into condos. I’m on board.

I was really drawn in by Rukmini Callimachi’s reporting on ISIS. Her sources and online investigative methods seemed to be perfectly suited to the story. So it’s disappointing to see that a big story she reported for the Times may have been based on an unreliable source. It’s a ding both to her reputation and to that of the Times.

And African Americans for Trump are on Twitter. Actually, no, they’re not.

Vanilla nut taps

Tuesday, October 13th. It’s Ada Lovelace Day, a woman ahead of her time.

There were 765 cases reported in Massachusetts yesterday. The numbers are starting to climb. Let’s hope they even out.

It’s easy to laugh at us Bostonians. But we’re laughing too. There’s just enough truth in these bits to make them uncomfortably funny.

Bellow, Updike, Roth. All gone. But Don DeLillo, at 83, is still writing great American novels. His latest book, The Silence, will be available later this month. It may be his last. He talked to David Marchese (on a landline.) It’s a great interview: “Do you read any websites? No, I don’t. My wife has a computer, but no, I don’t have any interest in that.” Amazing. Love that throwback attitude.

Farmers are not doing as well as they were four years ago. Trump trade wars and embargoes have put them on their heels. But some shamelessly well placed subsidies ahead of the election just might help to ease the pain.

And there’s an Apple event later today, mostly focused on new iPhones. But you never know. Dan Moren tells us what we can expect.

Lights, camera… action

It’s Monday. Columbus Day.

Michael O’Sullivan thinks Robert De Niro has gone from a raging bull to an aging tool. I guess he must need the money.

Danny McDonald reviews Marty Walsh’s ‘nonrhotic‘ performance in Frederick Wiseman’s four and a half hour documentary on City Hall. Sounds like it would have made a great Netflix series if it had been broken into shorter segments. But I can’t wait to see it.

Veena Dharmaraj and Staci Rubin make the case for more public investment in electric car charging stations in Massachusetts. And speaking of electric cars, a vehicle engineering revolution is underway. Think big skateboard.

75 year old Ian Gillan, lead singer for Deep Purple, is still touring. He estimates that he’s sung ‘Smoke on the Water,’ 2500 times. That sounds low to me. I’ve probably heard it on the radio more times than that.

And a sitcom character walked into a bar. Right away they knew her name.