Stuck in the middle with you

De Gaulle resigned on this date in 1969. And then he went to Ireland.

In the most recent French election, despite some rotten tomatoes, the center held. Matthew Yglesias draws some parallels to what’s happening in the US.

Here in Massachusetts it looks like the center is holding as well. For now, anyway.

Great. Everything will be able to make noise now that a team at MIT found a way to create loudspeakers from anything, even a sheet of paper. One consolation is that the same technology can also provide noise cancellation.

I think, maybe, we waited just a little too long to tackle inflation after covid. In the meantime, a war popped up in Ukraine and upset the global economy. And now the cure is going to be doubly painful. ~~I told you so.~~

And, I’ve been writing or posting here every day for about two and a half years. I think it’s time for a little intermittence.

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.”

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.

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.

Inundated

Marathon Monday.

Ahh, spring. Sadly, that means it’s shooting season, locally and around the country. (overflow)

I’ve been using email since before Gmail was invite-only and spam is worse now than it’s ever been. It’s a fire hose. Unsubscribing doesn’t work in many cases (I’m talking to you MLB). Something has to give.

Billy Baker surveys the woods. Old folk in New England still get excited when we see a deer or eagle.

Justin Franz goes planespotting with the aviation geeks.

And Better Call Saul, maybe the best TV series ever, is back today with the beginning of the end. You only have a few hours to catch up on Netflix.

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.

Hanlon’s Razor

Friday, the first of April.

How a scam prevention expert got scammed.

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. In the case of that 7 1/2 hour gap, either one is a problem, of course. But my money’s on Hanlon here.

Christopher Muther ranks those lunchbox-sized Table Talk pies, with lemon at the top of his list. I mostly agree with his choices but I would have moved blueberry up a notch or two.

What is the Strategic Oil Reserve and how can it reduce gas prices? Amber Phillips brings us up to speed.

And Betty Reid Soskin, one hundred years old, decided it was time to retire. Good for her.