Can’t get there from here

Wednesday. Today’s word is cerebral.

The Times looks at how museums are dealing with questions about the origins of some artwork. The MFA even has a curator for provenance.

With all that federal money for transportation infrastructure in the mix, lawmakers decided that it was time to connect the western part of Massachusetts with the eastern part. Currently it’s easier to get to western Mass by train from New York than it is from Boston.

The DeSantis slap at Disney reminds me of Curley trying to slap Moe and instead smacking himself. Why you…

How does Ukraine intelligence continue to beat Russia at their own game? Looks like they’re getting a little help from their friends.

And this website allows you to enter a phrase and have it translated into ten different languages and then back to English. It’s fun for a while. I entered “synergizing backward overflow.”

Staked out positions

Happy Monday!

Heather Kelly provides a short but helpful list of home help desk tasks we should be on top of. (Have you tried turning it off and on again?)

I assume that the OPAT isn’t in the tank for the police. And yet it also isn’t finding lots of misconduct. The reaction from police critics is predictably strained.

Elon Musk and the Twitter board have been negotiating all weekend. We may learn today about a deal.

Apple Pay‘s, tap to pay, could soon work both ways. Tap to pay and tap to receive. Convenient.

And some people are concerned about unhealthy fast food coming to Mattapan Square. I guess if you want something healthy you could walk across the street to Simco‘s.

Priorities

Sunday. This morning’s album is Sleepwalker by the Kinks.

Covid giveth and Covid taketh away. It happened for Netflix and it happened with chicken wings.

Firearm deaths for people aged 19 and under rose 29% between 2019 and 2020. Shrug. Disney and math textbooks? Outrage.

One day there’s a housing crisis in Massachusetts. The next day it’s all about community character and the threat of poorly designed and incongruous housing projects.

The Belarusian Rail War against the Nazi’s was the inspiration for the more recent successful train war against Russia.

And Apple is removing apps that haven’t been updated in some time. Better get in one last game of Snood.

Assumed knowledge

Friday. Today’s word is simulacrum.

Universal Hub highlights a million dollar listing for a house in Hyde Park. The interior shots are… interesting.

Today’s Globe beef: a story about scientists pushing for more focus on the role of T cells in the fight against Covid. Interesting. But what are T cells? Strangely you won’t find out from reading the article. I found the answer in the comments, of all places.

The Twitter board told Elon Musk to come back when he was serious about financing. He’s back.

British lawmakers may be getting ahead of themselves with a new law that would allow the operators of self-driving cars to watch TV while behind the wheel. Unfortunately, there are no self-driving cars (yet).

And Ron DeSantis says math should be about getting the right answer, not about how you feel. For Florida residents, the math for the Disney dispute will add up to an extra billion dollars in taxes. I wonder how they’ll feel about that.

Kid gloves

Thursday. It’s the Queen’s birthday. Also Charles Grodin.

Joann Muller: Batteries are the new oil.

Catherine Carlock and Shirley Leung delve into Michelle Wu’s new pick to lead the BPDA and the mayor’s vision for development. Funny, I didn’t see the word “abolish” come up once in the story.

I agree with Farhad Manjoo. Riding a bike in America should not be this dangerous.

Incomes in Massachusetts are in the top five in the country. Even our poorest towns have higher average income than many states’ medians.

And Avi Loeb is in the interstellar extraterrestrial news again, thanks to a military memo. Don’t look up.

Timing is everything

Easter Sunday. With all the frills upon it.

The Pope is warning against a nuclear annihilation of the human race in his Easter message. Not a sermon to sleep through.

Today, the Globe runs a story about how the city of Boston and Mayor Wu are hamstrung by state laws limiting municipal power. And they’re right. It is a ridiculous situation. But it’s not a new situation. Maybe a better time for this story would have been back when all those campaign-trail promises were being made.

Lucas Mann teaches English at UMass Dartmouth. He has a thing or two to say about the atmosphere on campus in these times of political correctness and restrictions on speech. His message: In most schools it’s not that big of a deal. Relax. The kids are alright.

The Times and the New Yorker have stories about the manhunt for Frank James after the subway shooting last week. The New Yorker also has an interview with a witness. Scary stuff.

And here’s a wholesome Easter egg hunt tale.

Cash flow

Thursday. The word of the day is opportune.

Elon Musk wants to buy Twitter outright, now.

It’s budget season in these parts. Boston’s budget is pretty practical. Lots of necessary facility and infrastructure upgrades. Personnel costs dominate. Status quo. That’s not a bad thing. At the State House, despite overflowing coffers, the Governor’s plan for tax relief for for seniors, low earners, renters, and parents of dependent children was put off by legislators. Speaker Ron Mariano told Commonwealth Magazine that those tax cuts “weren’t necessary.”

There were lots of allegations of voting shenanigans investigated after the last presidential election and some were actually found to be legitimate.

Russia is blustering over Sweden and Finland joining NATO, throwing out the threat of moving nuclear weapons closer to the border. As if close to the border is worse.

And here are the winners of Apple’s ‘Shot on iPhone’ macro photography contest. Wow.

Cops and robbers

Wednesday. It’s a birthday for Butch Cassidy, Seamus Heaney and Al Green.

Gilbert Gottfried has died. The Miles Davis of comedy.

Many Democratic cities are backtracking on defunding the police and instead are moving to hire more cops. It’s amazing what a couple of years and an increase in crime can do. And in Maryland, a last minute police reform bill has made everyone unhappy. Which means it’s probably solid policy.

Sam Tyler weighs in on an appointed vs. elected School Committee. As you might guess, the practical-minded Tyler favors the former.

The war in Ukraine looks, increasingly, like an ongoing conflict. The other war—the economic one—will continue on as well. Whether we’ll have the will to persist with it is yet to be seen.

And insider trading, crypto-style? Sure looks that way.

Inflation theory

Tuesday. It’s National Grill Cheese Sandwich Day!

Even though this is Squirrel Week, the Times is featuring pigeons. Very disrespectful, don’t you think?

A report this morning on the consumer price index is expected to show inflation at an ‘extraordinarily elevated‘ level. It could be pretty ‘nasty,’ some say. Who could have seen this coming?

How to build your own cathode ray TV set, circa 1933. Sounds easy. Not.

Ethereum is moving closer to the merge. It might even be real this time.

And over at BU, they’re creating “a real love atmosphere.” What would John Silber say about all this?

Good news bias

Saturday morning music: Something/Anything by Todd Rundgren.

St. Brendan’s was once a powerful center of Irish Catholic life in Dorchester. Today it’s hanging on by a thread. Lauren O’Brien makes an appeal to the Cardinal to keep it open.

Inflation. War. Oil anxiety. God forbid we should concentrate on some positive economic news.

Walgreen’s is moving towards having robots mix prescriptions. In Japan, robots will bring your food. Elon Musk’s says his most important project this year is the development of a humanoid robot. It’s happening

One good thing to come out of the pandemic is better access to government through live streaming and remote access meetings. Let’s keep that going.

And anyone can be a great photographer. All it takes is a smart phone and lots of bad photos.