Daily Links

There are 848 posts filed in Daily Links (this is page 6 of 85).

Stating the obvious

Today is March 9th. A Wednesday.

There’s nepotism and favoritism in City Hall, according to the Globe.

Today’s headline is that Russia is leaving the Internet. Reports say that they will cut the line at the end of the week. Next month’s headline might be that ransomware attacks in the US seem to have disappeared. So there’s that.

At the United Nations, words and language can be important. But this seems a little nit-picky to me.

If you park at the commuter rail station in Cleary Square you’ll pay $6.50 to get into Boston. Or you could take a short walk over the hill to Fairmount station and pay two bucks less. Both routes take about 20 minutes to get to South Station. Or you could drive a couple of minutes down the street to Readville—and pay even more. Bruce Mohl highlights this weirdly inconsistent fare setting.

And after 106 years, researchers have found Shackleton’s Endurance. Amazing.

Having your cake

Welcome to Tuesday. It’s International Women’s Day.

Murder hornets are so last year. Make way for the giant, palm-sized flying spiders.

Over 70% of Americans support banning Russian oil, so that would be the politically smart thing to do. And yet…

I was an early Twitter user. A big early Twitter user. In the week after the Marathon bombing, when people were looking for information about what was going on, I could reach into my pocket, take out my phone, and engage with a half million people around the world in real time, something that had been impossible to do up until that point. That was the potential of social media as a transformative tool. But transformation works both ways and in the following years Twitter became toxic, a victim of its own success as a platform. I had enough. And apparently I’m not alone.

First, the irrepressible fishermen of County Cork took on the Russian navy and now an Irish truck driver has struck a blow against the Russian embassy by knocking down the gate with his truck. “I’ve done my bit, lads,” he said as he was led away by police.

And thanks to ‘Conservapedia’ we can read about the cons and pros of E=mc². And we thought all the relativists were on the left.

Either, or, or neither

It’s a marvelous March Monday.

It’s pothole season—and not just in the city. I’ve been dodging some huge craters while on the bike down in cranberry country.

Lawrence Freedman has another good post, this time on how the war is playing out, both in space and time. At the end of the day no one really knows what’s going to happen next. “The pre-war assumptions of a modernised and efficient Russian army that would soon overwhelm the outgunned Ukrainians have now been jettisoned,” he writes, “but it remains difficult to accept the contrary assumption that this is a war that the Russians might lose.”

Petro-politics is making a comeback. Old enemies are new friends.

It’s pretty crazy that your iPhone can take amazing photos with such a small camera. And it’s not just all that software correction, either. Check out this lens design.

And I’ve certainly benefited from some privileges over the years, but not this one.

A hard landing

Today is Sunday. Is that spring knocking on the door?

From BU, Grace Knoop has some tips for dining out on a college student’s budget. Lots of soup, salad and water. (Tip: the nearest Olive Garden is at South Bay.)

Russian airlines lease more than half of their fleet from foreign companies. Many of those companies are located in the EU. Per sanctions, those leased planes must be returned by the end of March. The remaining Russian commercial aircraft, those owned by the Russian airlines, will have trouble keeping up with regular required servicing. Aeroflot, the largest airline in Russia, has its maintenance hub in Germany, which is now out of reach. Even within Russia parts needed for servicing aircraft will be hard to obtain because of sanctions. A lot of planes will be grounded. As a result, some believe that domestic Russian aviation could pretty much shut down in the coming months. Not good for a country as large as Russia. Mentour Pilot has more here.

Ruby Cramer had to wait on a list to join the newest social media app, Truth Social. Now that she’s in she’s wondering where everyone else is. There are reports that Trump is angry that his platform is failing but why should he be? That was the plan from the outset.

Even though you’re using your bank’s app and communicating with people who appear to be from your bank, you’re not immune from being scammed. I’ve always been skeptical of the whole Zelle thing. Venmo seemed way better.

And if your GE oven needs a wifi connection to unlock some features like, you know, cooking, then you are effectively synergizing backward overflow.

Proxy wars

Today is Saturday, March 5th. The anniversary of Stalin‘s death.

Samsung is cutting off Russia. It’s a pretty big deal.

Glenn Gerstell believes that we need to get our cyber act in gear—especially now. The worse off Russia is economically as a result of sanctions the less they have to lose in launching a full out cyber attack against the west. Bobby DeSimone says the recent White House Zero Trust memo is a good beginning for getting our defenses up.

Ernie Boch Jr. is mourning the loss of his factory-fresh Bentley, sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic along with a bunch of rare 12-cylinder Lamborghinis. It’s a loss that’s “tough for the public,” he told WJAR before noting that he re-ordered another Bentley.

Dave Levitan and Lili Pike dig into the Russian attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and how it could have, and still could, play out.

And the People’s Convoy seems to have lost its focus as it nears Washington. No one seems to have a plan. “We still don’t know where and what the end game is,” one participant told the Post. 10-4 good buddy.

An economic siege

Friday. The word of the day is askew.

The Freedom People’s Convoy is coming. And they’re pissed. (Mostly that they’ve been upstaged by war in Ukraine.)

Dave Lawler reflects on how the war will end for Putin. Sanctions and isolation are taking a toll. And it’s not just yachts being seized, chess masters excluded or cats being kicked out of beauty contests. Russia’s Sberbank has collapsed in the face of sanctions. Shipping lanes are being shut down. Airlines are being deprived of passengers. China is staying out of the picture, holding back assistance to Russia for fear of being caught up in the economic war themselves. Emily Peck looks at potential blow back to economies in the west. Wired has more on this subject. Craig Timberg considers how shutting down access in Russia to popular western technologies will play out in the future. And the Times worries that a trapped Putin might lash out.

Bill Barr writes about how Donald Trump yelled at him and told him he was fired. Hilarity ensues.

A.I. chatbots are becoming pretty advanced. In the near future they’re expected to get even better. Is that a good thing? I’m not sure.

And here’s a roadmap for the Apple event slated for next Tuesday.

The dog that didn’t bark

Wednesday. The peak of the week.

The craic is back… Boston Irish reports.

We all expected a cyber attack from Russia. But it hasn’t happened yet. So far only Ukraine has been hit and that attack was largely mitigated. One reason may be that some hacker groups are siding with Ukraine. But that can’t be the whole story. Brian Krebs writes about what to expect going forward.

Nigel Gould-Davies thinks Putin has painted himself into a corner. Yuval Noah Harari says that even though the war could go on for a long time, it’s already over for Russia. And Justin Bronk, a specialist in air power and military science, wonders what happened to the Russian Air Force.

Beth Daley (late of the Globe and now managing editor at The Conversation (and no relation)) writes about Jeff Bezos’ quest for immortality.

And the Boston accent has been voted as the most annoying accent in the country. That can’t be true. But if we’re talking about non-Bostonian actors trying to affect a Boston accent, which is what most people have the biggest exposure to, I would have to agree.

Never liked that guy

Tuesday, March 1st. National Pancake Day.

The Florida teenager who was tracking Elon Musk‘s private jet is now tracking the movements of Russian oligarchs .

For years Russia has been testing limits. Political assassinations in the UK and Washington DC. Proxy cyber attacks and social media propaganda campaigns. (Not to mention the odd shooting down of civilian airliners.) World leaders in the west knew that Putin was trying to manipulate and undermine their political systems and economies but there was plausible deniability and a real risk in confronting him in a serious way. The attack on Ukraine has unleashed all that pent up anti-Russian sentiment in Europe and the west, giving common cause against a long-time enemy. It’s remarkable how much things have changed in just a couple of years.

Great behind the scenes look at a modern-day war footing mobilization of cyber assets.

Economists may have underestimated the impact that the war in Ukraine will have on the global economy. Within Russia, as the sanctions take their toll, the ruble may go the way of the bolivar. In the short term, the outcome doesn’t look good for Russia. But Putin could well play the long game, which would not be good for Russia, Ukraine, or the rest of the world.

And a bizarre tweet by Clay Higgins has spurred a competition for who could provide the best retort. I think we have a winner.

The Art Of The Possible

Monday, 2/28. A week begins and a month ends.

This archeological find is pretty cool. Nice juxtaposition with the Shard in the photo.

Michael Javen Fortner has been studying crime for years. He sees parallels in what’s happening today to what’s happened in the past and warns ‘professional’ and ‘amateur’ Democrats not to go too far astray.

The war in Ukraine, so far, appears to have been an ill conceived effort on Russia’s part—mostly spearheaded by an isolated Putin. It’s only been a week but even in that short time period the impact has been remarkable (see here and here) and not remarkably good for Russia.

“Tired of digging out in the wake of horrible winter storms? Disgusted with a poisoned political culture and a divided citizenry?” Charlie Flanagan wants to entice Irish Americans to come back home.

And some good news: at least you won’t have to charge that flip phone anymore.

Duck and cover

Good morning. It’s Sunday. John Steinbeck‘s birthday.

Russian nukes are on alert. That’s never a good thing.

Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King’s College in London, thinks Putin has bitten off more than he can chew. But Chris Miller, from the Fletcher School at Tufts, thinks the Russian knows what he’s doing and that he has a range of options. “Putin could simply choose to destroy Ukraine and leave the West to pick up the pieces. Such a dismembered, dysfunctional Ukraine could well suit his interests.”

Joshua Yaffa is on the ground in Kyiv.

For what it’s worth, US and Canadian liquor stores, including those in Virginia and New Hampshire, are ceasing the sale of Russian vodka. That’ll show them. Also Rick Steves is cancelling his St. Petersburg tour. Russia is kicked out of Eurovision. And Putin’s conductor friend lost his gig at Carnegie Hall this weekend. Tough medicine all around. Meanwhile, did I mention that Russian nukes are on alert.

And where there’s a crisis there will be scammers. In this case, crypto scammers.