Earthquake insurance

Today is Tuesday. Opposite Day.

If Brady is a maybe on retirement, it sounds like Gronk is definitely a probably.

According to an Axios review of social media interactions, politicians who are moderate, competent and boring don’t stand a chance. That doesn’t bode well. Neither does this. The ground is rumbling.

Another milestone for the Webb Telescope. It has arrived at its destination at L2. Joe Pinkstone, writing for The Telegraph, tried to explain what L2 was but he didn’t quite get it right.

2021 was a banner year for ransomware. To make things worse, of the people notified that their account had been compromised in a breach, only about half bothered to change their passwords.

And those long promised flying cars are almost here. Right. I’ve heard that before. And it wan’t even Opposite Day.

Devilish details

Tuesday. The word of the day is flippant.

Buccaneers and Patriots in the SuperBowl. I’m calling it here.

Mass and Cass is a major test for the new mayor. Neighborhood residents are impatient to see campaign rhetoric turned into action. But anyone who thinks that Wu’s team is going to swoop in and solve an intractable problem are bound to be disappointed. The same goes for those waiting for her to free the T. Governing might look easy, but it’s not.

Travel restrictions around Omicron might cause foreign students attending Boston-area colleges to miss the spring semester.

George Dvorsky thinks 2021 may have been the weirdest year yet in space. It was pretty weird—and that’s even before Michael Strahan blasted off. Also, there are a bunch of boring non-billionaire enthusiasts and volunteers working on their own space program. God speed.

And that Succession season finale? It’s not exactly a spoiler, but it’s all here in this image.

Technocratic breakdown

Good morning. It’s Tuesday. That is all.

The MBTA Advisory Board is not happy with the Globe editorial board. The rest of us are just bored.

It’s clear that Massachusetts has had a tough time with its vaccine rollout. The state’s website is difficult to use to make reservations. People are frustrated and disappointed in Charlie Baker, who was supposed to be good at these kinds of things. But I think Baker is as frustrated as the rest of us and maybe his hands are tied since he’s reliant on sub-par government technology to solve this problem. But it is solvable, as these non-government programmers easily demonstrated.

France is worried about the influence of crazy ideas coming from the US, particularly from our universities. Now that is saying something.

I haven’t heard much about the guy that ran onto the field during the Superbowl. CBS quickly cut away and mostly ignored it, other than to use the time to show more commercials. But radio covered it the way it should have been covered.

And if you’re stuck in an assisted living facility during a pandemic, you might as well make the best of it. Cheers!

Generation gap

It’s Superbowl Sunday.

A local filmmaker is doing a documentary on our free-range turkeys. Pass the cranberry sauce.

Well, today is the day that Tom Brady gets to prove himself – again. The old, established QB is being challenged by a talented young upstart. It seems like only yesterday that Tom was that upstart.

Naturally produced antibodies may not be enough protection from mutated versions of the coronavirus. But the vaccines, so far, still seem to be effective.

The great bucatini crisis of 2020 is over. It should be coming back to supermarket shelves. The head of pasta company De Cecco breaks his silence on what happened. He doesn’t want to name names but he does say, “It’s always a good thing to know who your enemies are.”

And here’s another entry into the record books for 2020: A lot less lightening.

Full of holes

Good morning. It’s Wednesday. The day the music died.

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow yesterday so I wouldn’t put away that winter gear quite yet.

Valentine’s Day is coming and that means heart-shaped doughnuts. The most popular doughnut in Massachusetts, according to an analysis of google search results, is the chocolate frosted. But after dinner another favorite rules. I wonder why no one has invented a strawberry shortcake doughnut.

Residents are reporting problems in those new super tall and thin residential skyscrapers in New York. Pipes are leaking, walls are creaking and elevators are stuck. Who says you can never be too tall or thin?

Our own Tom Brady is becoming a mythical character. (We’ll see just how mythical on Sunday.)

And a couple of years ago people were actually complaining that there were too many quality TV shows to watch. The pandemic took care of that. Peak TV is now trough TV. But we do have more episodes of City on a Hill to look forward to.

Good cheap fast

It’s a stormy Monday. February is upon us. But not for long, happily.

Sawing someone in half is still one of the most popular tricks a magician can do, even after a century of performances. I don’t know how it’s done and I don’t want to know.

The software developed for the CDC by Deloitte to schedule vaccinations seems to have a problem or two. A no-bid $40 million contract to a consultant with a spotty history to develop a large-scale, critical system in the midst of a pandemic. Who could have seen this fail coming? Usually on a project like this you get to choose two out of three: Good, cheap or fast. All we got was fast. And it wasn’t all that fast. One more example of the problems with government software projects.

A Kansas City Chiefs’ lineman with a medical degree opted out of the season because of the coronavirus. Instead of playing he worked on a hospital ward caring for covid patients. Now his team is going to the SuperBowl. Should he get a ring if they win on Sunday? It would be nice if he did.

Leica lenses are not cheap but their value ages well. If you bought a Noctilux for $1200 thirty five years ago you could sell it today for about the same price, if not much more. In fact, that old design is being refreshed by the company and is now selling new for $7,695! A little too rich for my blood, though.

And on a day expected to bring a few, here is a very nice photo of a snowflake.

Cinematic endeavors

Today is Wednesday, International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Budweiser has announced that it is forgoing advertising for the Superbowl and donating the money it would have spent to help fund covid vaccination efforts, an advertisement itself, but a virtuous one.

For me, 2020 was mostly about catching up on TV shows. Since watching David Ehrlich’s brilliantly edited short video showcasing the 25 best movies of last year, I now have a lot of movies to catch up on. (And, yes, I got the ‘Directed by Robert Zemeckis‘ reference.)

As the coronavirus variant from the UK is spreading throughout Europe, people in the Netherlands are upset about new lockdowns and curfews. The otherwise boring, civilized and polite populace is boiling over into riots. Crazy.

Historian Jessica Boyall helps us get to know the Nantucket whalers (not the high school football team) through the records and art that they left behind.

And Larry DiCara has forgotten more about Boston politics than most of us ever knew. Here’s wishing him a speedy recovery.

Jumping the turnstile

Today is Monday, Opposite Day.

It’s not exactly The Villages but I guess it’s the same basic idea. Who doesn’t love a parade on Opposite Day.

One of the big reasons that Uber and Lyft took off is because they were low friction. No cash, no special cards to carry. No long-term commitment. You use it when you need it and you know what it costs. Compare that to the MBTA, where you have to get a Charlie Card, put some arbitrary amount of money on it, even for a single ride, and then worry about the balance for the next ride. So it’s welcome news that the MBTA is at least in the very early stages of switching over to a contactless payment system. Just like in London and Chicago, two efficient systems I’m familiar with. And New York, where the payment system upgrade is also well underway. Mass transit should be cheap and easy to use – and pay for. This is a step in the right direction.

Superbowl teams have been warned to stay away from Tampa. One team might have a problem with that.

Some say that Elon Musk’s Starlink system is going to be a game changer. Others (especially in the Telecom sector) say it’s just hype. I don’t care either way. As long as it’s sustainable it will be another choice for getting connected, especially in remote settings.

And if you mix this hot sauce with mayo, you can make yourself a “thermonuclear bologna sandwich.” It looks like the guy that killed Bin Laden is trying to kill the rest of us.

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?