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Today is Thursday. Hot fun in the summertime.

There’s plenty of quality ice cream in the Boston area. An aestival bounty.

Meg Irons reports that the Janey campaign has gained the support of the Arroyo family, which should help with the large, mostly undecided Latino vote in Boston. Also, in a report that Jon Santiago dropped out of the race earlier this week, the Globe mistakenly ran an accompanying photo of still-in-the-race John Barros, rather than Santiago. Ouch.

Windows as a cloud service for business makes sense. It would have made even more sense in 2015.

J.B. Smoove thought he was signing up for an appearance on Shark Tank. But it was really Shark Week. He explains: “It was relayed the wrong way, and then re-relayed the wrong way, and then it was relayed the right way but I still wanted to hear the relay of the wrong relay, you know what I’m saying? So in my mind, even though I heard Shark Week, I still wanted to hope and pray that it meant a weeklong version of Shark Tank.” …That actually makes sense to me. I can relate.

And Ted Lasso was the perfect show for 2020. It was just what we needed. Now it’s back for a second season, starting next week. The question is, do we still need cheering up?

Swag bag

Happy Wednesday. On this day in 1911, Harry Atwood flew from Boston to DC, landing on the South Lawn to meet a waiting President Taft.

Mickey Donovan received a warm welcome from Boston Fire this week.

Jon Santiago came out of the gates strong in the mayor’s race last winter with a bunch of statewide endorsements. But his prospects and polling have faded since then and now he’s dropped out. In other election news, frontrunners Kim Janey and Michelle Wu are selling t-shirts. Annissa Essaibi-George said she’s giving hers away for free.

REvil was one of the most active ransomware gangs in operation. And, poof, now they’re gone. It’s a mystery wrapped in an riddle wrapped in an enigma.

It’s marching season in Northern Ireland. Unionists are flexing and Sinn Fein is pushing back. Same as it ever was.

And NASA is reporting that a wobbly moon might put us under water. Didn’t see that one coming, did you?

Ten foot pole

It’s Tuesday, July 13th. Embrace your geekness.

What will happen when all the stimulus money goes away? We should know by next year. I think there’s a good plan in place. (I hope there’s a good plan in place.)

After once being a big supporter, Geoff Diehl is revising his position on Donald Trump. Apparently the Trump purity test doesn’t apply locally. Also, influential members of the Massachusetts GOP are pushing for chairman Jim Lyons to step aside to allow for a more moderate, less Trumpian leadership to guide the party ahead of the Governor’s race. As Dana Carvey’s Church Lady used to say, “how convenient.”

The Bolt Bus shut down ‘temporarily’ when riders disappeared during the pandemic. Some said the Bolt was finished for good. But apparently they’re planning to return. So that’s good.

Nice to see that Bostonians are getting back to normal, complaining about First World hardships. Beth Teitell reports that people are missing out on cannolis, tennis games, and in-ground pool installations because of all the rain. Oh, the humanity! At least somebody saw a rainbow. In New York, people are coming out of the pandemic with a slightly better attitude, noting happily how clean and uncluttered with passengers the subways are.

And Maggot Brain, one of the best albums of the 1970s, is 50 years old this month. Christopher Weingarten pays tribute.

Meet the new boss

Monday. Shark Week commences.

A billionaire goes to space and guess who takes the credit?

Lily Huang and Alicia Fleming wrote a piece in Commonwealth Magazine on how Henry-led Globe management treats its employees. Not ideal.

Apple is threatening to leave the UK market if a judge rules against them in a patent infringement case. That would be kind of a big deal. Are they bluffing? The company’s lawyers say no, it’s just a simple cost / benefit decision. In reality, it would be a very complex CBA.

Axios rounds up woke / anti-woke news.

And we all miss SkyMall. For Clive Thompson, Instagram is the new SkyMall. For me it’s Kickstarter ads during YouTube videos.

The big screen

Sunday, 7/11. Slurpee Day.

It’s time for city employees to go back to work. Some, anyway.

The Coolidge Corner Theater is back. That’s good. Being ‘engulfed by the screen’ is nice. But the Coolidge was always an outlier in the theater business. Kara Swisher isn’t so optimistic about the rest of the industry. Streaming is now where it’s at, she says. Being engulfed by your iPhone screen is the new moviegoing experience.

Google Maps or Apple Maps? I always prefered the former but privacy concerns may cause me to revisit that.

Two criminologist try to figure out why crime is rising. Lots of possibilities, but really, no one knows.

And, I know it’s only July, but it’s never too early to think about having fried chicken for Christmas.

A one-way mirror

Friday. Let’s just call it a week.

Travel site Matador writes about how great the North End is. But from an alternate reality. They insist on calling it Boston’s Little Italy. Very annoying.

The Legislature continues to mask its committee votes. Members insist that the normal sausage making requires it. They worry that how they vote on issues in committee might be misconstrued. Maybe, but aren’t these also the people that made the rules that require the official actions of all of the other public employees in the state be open for review – misconstrue or not? What’s good for the goose, right?

There are two sides to every story. But in this situation, only one side passes the smell test for Christopher Muther.

Bill Forry, editor of the Dorchester Reporter, has some thoughts about the current governing situation in the city.

And Heinz wants to know why buying hotdogs and buns always ends up in a mismatch. (I want to know why people think putting ketchup on a hot dog is an acceptable thing in a civilized society.)

Real fake news

Today is Thursday. It’s Marty Feldman‘s birthday.

The most recent Kaseya ransomware attack was billed as the biggest ever. They all seem to be the biggest ever. Who decides what’s big and what’s not? Scott Rosenberg and Ina Fried try to sort it out.

When did the Globe get so sleazy? I know it’s hard to make money in the news business but there should be some standards. As a paid subscriber, I chafe at prominently placed ads on the website. But I get it. What’s not acceptable is the dark pattern placement of ads that purport to be news. For example, under the masthead and main menu, there was this: “Grandma attacked outside store in [insert local town name based on IP lookup]. It links to an infomercial (don’t click) for a security device. The ‘news’ part appears to be completely made up. I know it’s all done algorithmically behind the scenes but at the end of the day the Globe owns it and their aging readership deserves better.

Spencer Buell has suggestions for making the T more fun to ride. Something about Jerry Seinfeld, Easter eggs, t-shirts and free samples.

Dorchester and Mattapan have a significant Haitian population. The Dorchester Reporter staff rounds up local reaction to the assassination of president Moïse.

And not only are we getting stupider, we’re also getting less creative. -I got nothing.

Hands out

It’s a beautiful sunny Wednesday.

Discussions about crime in San Francisco are getting nasty.

Now that legislators are holding on to federal stimulus money to disperse as they see fit, they will have to deal with the special interests lining up for their slice of the pie. And they all want a big slice. Meanwhile, the governor has been allocated only about 5% of the money to apply to strategic initiatives like housing. That’s a shame, says the Globe Editorial Board. I agree.

Rank-choice voting has been dealt a setback after election officials in New York screwed up their vote tallying process. The screw up may not have had anything to do with rank choice but the unfortunate association is now in place. Eric Adams is projected to win the primary but a hand count will be required.

The Apple fitness and watch apps track active calories, exercise and standing as the primary health metrics. Steps are not one of the big three. I always wondered about that as I walked in circles in the living room trying to get my 10,000 steps each day. Now, it looks like Apple knew something I didn’t. 10,000 steps is not really that big of a deal.

And Alexandra Petri considers what a Fox weather channel might look like. Dark clouds, indeed.

The shortest distance

It’s a Tuesday. We’re hooked on aphelion.

The workplace has changed significantly in the last year or so. Tech companies serving that sector have had to be very adaptable to survive.

As some people using public transportation begin to come back into the office, they’re finding their Charlie Cards expired. Why do Charlie Cards expire? Why do we need cards at all? It doesn’t sound very efficient. You should be able to use your phone or watch to pay. I know… it’s in the works. The T says next year for some stations. By 2024 the entire system will be up and running. But sooner would be better.

There’s one company holding all the chips. It’s not who you think.

150 people were shot over the holiday weekend. 95 of those were in Chicago, which actually saw a reduction in firearm violence from last year.

And why do ransomware gangs keep hitting us? For the same reason Willie Sutton robbed banks.