Too hot to handle

Tuesday. A chance to restart the week.

The NWS is forecasting a ‘Max Apparent Temperature’ of 101 on the south shore today. That’s hot. You can always use a bucket of cold water to cool off.

ArtNews reported that a Picasso, stolen almost a decade ago in Athens, might still be in the country. It was cut out of its frame in a heist at the National Art Gallery. Sources said the painting went on the black market but it was too high profile for underworld buyers. Then, yesterday, police recovered it from a crypt in a Greek town. Good ending. Makes you wonder if those Gardner paintings will ever turn up.

The 41 year-old owner of a billion dollars worth of bitcoin drowned in Costa Rica. If he has a will – and has provided a password to his wallet – someone will get the coin. If not, it just ceases to exist, except in the ledger.

The New York Times features the recipe for Jordan Marsh blueberry muffins. Just looking at the photo brings back memories of how good they tasted.

And Facebook is worth a trillion dollars after this Supreme Court decision. What is it again that they sell? Oh, that’s right.

In left field

Happy Tuesday. For what it’s worth.

Who thought it was a good idea to allow an energy company to control your thermostat?

Crime is the new Covid. Or it will be soon. Progressive Democrats have mostly been playing to the crowd on crime and ignoring the serious and difficult discussions about law enforcement infrastructure, except for sloganeering about reallocating resources, etc. The media are amplifying coverage of police corruption and use of force while downplaying violence crime and effective policing. There’s no balance. Police are running for the exits. Republicans are going to be over all this like a cheap suit and hard won Democratic gains will soon be history. That’s my unfortunate take.

New York subway trains are being cancelled faster than flights on American Airlines.

As people head back to the office, those mid-day, between-Zoom Peloton workouts will soon be history. But not if Peloton has anything to say about it.

And a Fox News writer is mad about Maggie Haberman covering Trump and ignoring Biden. Is it opposite day already?

From the ivory tower

Good morning Saturday. The word of the day is abrupt.

The Wall Street Journal went to the beach. “Six pack abs, red Solo cups, thongs-a-plenty.” Where could it be? Ipanema? Diamond Head? Bondi? Nope, it was M Street beach.

The Globe doesn’t think people are interested in good police work so they don’t report on it. Maybe they’re right, maybe people only want to read the bad stories about the police and don’t want to know about crime around them. But Live Boston is out there covering this stuff. Universal Hub also keeps an eye on crime. One important takeaway is that guns are way too common on the streets and in the hands of young people.

MassNotify is finally up and running. But some Android users are complaining that the app is installing itself without user permission or knowledge. Weird.

Mayoral candidates are airing their ideas for fixing the problems of the Methadone Mile, which was toured by Essaibi-George and a globe photographer. What a mess. It looks like the Long Island bridge is no longer a viable solution. Most candidates are focused on increasing services. Duh. Michelle Wu apparently wants to spread the disfunction out across the city. That might not a great idea for winning over neighborhood voters.

And the budget is back before the City Council, just in time for July 1st.

Scattered to the wind

Saturday. At the weekend, as they say.

A Chinese satellite is expected to crash to earth tonight. It’s unlikely to hit anywhere near Boston. But it’s not impossible. Plan accordingly.

Danny McDonald tries to read the tea leaves on how Marty Walsh supporters will vote now that Marty is not in the race. Even this late in the game, it’s still too early to tell.

LiveBoston617 covers a shooting in Roxbury. (H-Block is a gang turf, not a neighborhood in Boston.)

I’ve never wanted to be this guy. Variety is the spice of life.

And the impulse to conform is a real thing. I knew the mask mandate had been lifted but, walking around the city, everyone was wearing a mask. So I wore a mask. Baaaa.

See no evil

It’s Tuesday. Have a dandy Devil Dog Day.

US population growth is slowing down but the population of the state has grown by almost a half million people according to the most recent census. As a result, Massachusetts will be able to maintain the current number of seats in the US House. The increase in population has mostly been in the eastern part of the state so lawmakers are drawing up plans to shift some district lines to even things out.

It was a busy week in the city as far as crime goes. Here are some headlines from Universal Hub just from the last few days:
Man shot in the side on Clarkson Street
Mattapan gunfire blitz leaves one shot, several cars, houses hit
Barrage of gunfire in Dorchester sends one bullet into a living room
Man shot somewhere south of Grove Hall
Gunfire in Roxbury sends bullet into house around the corner
Two shot on Glenway Street in Dorchester

Live Boston was also covering the neighborhoods over the weekend:
Over 200 rounds fired overnight as understaffed police work to keep up
Boston Police help save man’s life at BMC overnight
Car chase leads to crash on Dorchester Avenue
Neighbor caught in crossfire as Ormond St turns to shooting gallery overnight
Shooting on Glenway St leaves at least two injured

And from the Boston Globe in that same time frame:
Three men wounded in two overnight shootings in Boston
That’s it. These days the city’s paper of record appears largely blind or indifferent to violent crime in the city. Seems like a huge disservice to the people and neighborhoods affected.

The EU is working on a vaccine passport that Americans can use to travel abroad. Details are slim but I hope it doesn’t rely on those paper CDC cards that I keep losing.

Police in Washington DC have some kind of a server problem. The reports and statements about what happened are about as clear as mud but it sounds like ransomware. Speaking of ransomware, the payments demanded by hackers are rising. And people seem to be paying.

And where does a candle go when it burns? Inquiring minds want to know.


The power of commitment

Friday. The week concludes with sunshine.

Murder rates jumped back up in the US as the pandemic receded. And it wasn’t only here that that happened.

This year’s Mother’s Day Walk for Peace, on May 9th, will be a virtual one. Tina Chéry is doing the organizing, as she has for the last 25 years.

Restaurants are reopening at the same time as the pool of available workers is shrinking. Bad news for diners – but maybe good news for service workers, who are now in a better position to demand higher pay and improved benefits.

Many colleges and universities are requiring vaccines for returning students. Duh.

And the original artwork for the band Boston’s second album, Don’t Look Back, is up for auction. The big flying saucer/guitar illustration was going for just over $13 thousand bucks, last time I looked. (Why do I think it will end up in Ernie Boch Jr.‘s man cave.)

The great unmasking

A terrific Tuesday. 110 days down, 255 to go until 2022.

Pat Robertson is no Walter Cronkite. But his recent remarks might indicate a shifting of opinion by middle America on unconditional support for law enforcement, similar to the country’s shift on Vietnam after Cronkite’s report on the Tet Offensive.

I think it’s time to reconsider the need for outdoor masks. On my walks, I still put my mask on when people with masks approach, out of politeness if nothing else. But if they don’t have a mask on I don’t bother. Inside is a different story. Here are takes on the issue from Dr. Paul Sax, infectious disease specialist at Brigham and Women’s and Dr. Ashish K. Jha from Brown University School of Public Health. Shannon Palus, writing in Slate, rounds up additional expert opinion on the mask question.

In Louisiana, 60 kids were gathered at a party. An argument broke out. Nine people were shot. In Chicago thirty shots were fired in the middle of the afternoon at a McDonalds drive-through. A 7 year old girl was killed. W.T.F.?

It was an obscure race but what happened with the Boston recount? The numbers were small but the discrepancies weren’t. Actually, maybe in the grand scheme of things they were. For once I think I might agree with Galvin.

And I would go on record saying that Philip Roth was by far the greatest American novelist of the last century. He was a powerful writer of fiction and he wrote a lot of books. Which one should you read? The Times has some suggestions for newbies. They’re all good. But go for American Pastoral (breathtaking), Operation Shylock (intriguing), or, if you’re open to being shocked, Sabbath’s Theater (shocking). Remember, it’s fiction.

Belt and suspenders

Another Monday. It’s a birthday for both G. Gordon Liddy and Abbie Hoffman.

Ireland has become an importer of potatoes, getting the majority of its supply from the UK. New Brexit restrictions may threaten that supply. But in today’s Ireland, potatoes are less about subsistence and more about tasty fries.

Moderna will apply for emergency use of its vaccine today, just behind Pfizer, who applied about a week ago. People in the highest risk categories could have their first shots before Christmas.

The Baltimore County school system went completely to remote learning. Now they’re completely shut down because of a ransomware attack.

The oldest houses in Washington DC were built in the 1700’s. But they weren’t built in Washington. Both originally came from Massachusetts (one from Waltham and the other from Ipswich.)

And 71 year old Manson cult member Leslie Van Houten’s parole request was denied by California Governor Gavin Newson, who reversed a board decision that would have freed her. So, no Dancing with the Stars for her, I guess.

Belt and suspenders

Monday morning. On this day in 1994, IBM debuted the first smartphone.

Los Angles is having a bad year, crime-wise. 300 fatal shootings so far. The most since 2009.

And now there’s three. AstraZeneca and the team at Oxford have announced that their vaccine is up to 90% effective. Although slightly less effective than the Pfizer and Moderna versions, it tends to be easier to store and distribute. It’s amazing that this was all accomplished in less than a year. Go science!

It’s eerily quiet at the White House. It’s either a winding down or the calm before the storm.

Online security is often an act of faith in the companies that you entrust your information to. In this case that faith was misplaced. Along the same line, many banks are using computer code more than 20 years old that nobody on staff understands. They’re at the mercy of the high priests of COBOL.

And what’s old is new again. In this case, anti-maskers.

Building an innovation ecosystem

Monday morning. A bit cloudy but the forecast is good. On this date Auschwitz was liberated in 1945 and in 1973 the Paris Peace Accords were signed to end the Vietnam War.

Meet the iPad. Has it been ten years?

Portland Maine would like to become a tech hub, joining Boston, Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco and Silicon Valley as innovation centers. The political leadership seem thoughtful about the city’s economic health and its future. And they have some help: a local billionaire and Northeastern University. Not to mention the local food scene, which certainly won’t hurt when it comes to attracting talent.

This case is a mess. Looks like the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office didn’t anticipate how strongly Judge Sally Kelly would object to being sidestepped.

Dietary supplements are a $35 billion dollar business. They come in two flavors. The ones that do nothing and the ones that do something. And for the ones that do something, that something is usually not a good thing.

And the last time a folding phone was introduced it was a disaster. Apparently Motorola doesn’t want to make those same mistakes with its ‘new’ Razr.